Kitbashing Background Flats And More Ghost Signs

I've noted here now and then that a good successor to the now-gone Kingmill line of background building flats is Angie's Trackside Flats. The principle is very similar, photo-realistic images of older brick buildings, many with very appealing details and ghost signs. I've also noticed that modelers, including George Sellios, have been very creative in kitbashing Kingmill flats, but so far, I haven't seen Anglie's Trackside Flats matched with Kingmill.

One of my favorite Anglie's buildings carries a ghost ad for Texas and Pacific "23 Hours to St Louis Free Reclining Chair Car". However, Angie, unlike Kingmill, puts its image directly onto a sheet of foamcore. I find that a paper sheet attached to foamcore is in fact likely to warp, so I like to build a more substantial backing for either Kingmill or Angie's.

Not only do top, side, and bottom pieces stiffen the front, but I put an intermediate horizontal piece inside, backed up by the rear wall, to stiffen the assembly further. So far, I haven't had warping problems with Kingmill buildings roughly this size if I build this type of backing. However, I wanted to add this Anglie's building to a larger Kingmill flat I did several years ago. I found the amount of stiffening I added to the larger Kingmill did lead to a certain amount of warping, but it's still acceptable for a background building. Here are the two assembled into one piece:

My experience with the slight warping on the building to the left led me to use the more substantial form of backing that I now use on the Angie's T&P building.

I've also found a supplier for ghost sign decals that will fit on DPM type buildings, T2 Decals. You can get them most cheaply on Amazon. I do find that they're quite hard to get off the backing, and in fact on the set I got, I had to soak them in water for about half an hour and then use an X-Acto blade to peel the decal away. But it finally came off. Here are two examples on model buildings:

Finally, Blair Line makes business sign sets for DPM type buildings. A couple of sets have lasted me many years. Here's a sign I just recently added to a 25-plus year old DPM building: