Marquee printing/lighting

[Craig]

I am just wondering what thickness paper the marquee needs to be so it can light up? How good are Cold Cathode Fluro lighting for marquees?

Thanks.

[independentthread]

I tried using a cold cathode on mine (standard 12 inch blue) and you could barely telling it was there behind a normal marquee.  Using two was fairly effective.  I mounted 2 of them three inches back from the marquee and it looked pretty kewl.  In the end, I wanted to keep those in my computer though, so I opted for an $8 18 inch florescent tube from Wal-Mart.  As far as the paper, I don't know, I'm a sucker for the old school marquees so I hit up e-Bay for mine.

[fredster]

I agree.  The $8 light at walmart is good.

It's not paper you are looking for, it's vinyl.  If you go to kinko's you can ask to see what kind of vinyl paper they have.

I have used bond paper off of a plotter and it blows.

Here's some on ebay (not mine): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46741&item=3824369934&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

If you have a CP you want to make, here's the stuff on ebay (not mine) :http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46741&item=3823700589&rd=1

[Craig]

How thick is the vinyl? Can it light up a marquee and can it be printed on with inkjet?

[REBIRTH]

Actually the best in my opinion is "backlit film", this can be done at Kinkos or most printers.  Backlit film is exactly what you are using it for, to have a light behind a picture to light it up.  All those movie posters, etc., that you see at the malls and stuff, where it is a poster lit up from the back - those are printed on backlit film usually.  

You can buy this stuff to print on a home inkjet printer, but I think you can only get 8.5x11 sheets so you would end up with seams.  I would recomend a pinter like Kinkos if you can afford it.

A standard flourescent light (like described above) is fine.