I have zero experience with neon, zero neon tools, and zero motivation to get either of those two things. But, I do have an interesting idea if anyone wants to try it, I think it would be an enjoyable experience for others on this platform as well. This isn’t technically a neon sign, but it uses neon-making supplies. To be crystal clear: I don’t want anything to be sent to me. Keep what you make and just post some cool pics of it. The plan consists of three short tubes constructed as follows:

• A 20”/50cm straight tube filled with a mercury gas mix, with half of the tubing clear and the other half white phosphor
• A 20”/50cm straight tube filled with argon fill only, with half of the tubing clear and the other half white phosphor
• A 20”/50cm straight tube filled with a neon fill, with half of the tubing clear and the other half white phosphor

I know that the tubes with just neon and just argon will likely not illuminate the phosphor pure white, but this is part of the experiment and I think it would be cool to see how the different gas fills affect the phosphor colors. The tubing diameter and length doesn’t really matter, but 20” would (in my opinion) be a pretty good size to look at. I was also thinking of maybe making another half-coated tube with some approximate penning mix (99% Ne + 1% Ar), but I don’t know if this would run well on a neon sign transformer due to the much lower voltage drop (try it if you want). If you have any other gases you want to try that would be pretty cool too.

Again, this is just for entertainment/educational purposes and I am not asking anyone in particular to take on this task, but if you are interested let me know, and keep us all updated in the comments. I do have another idea for someone who can do neon signs, but I will wait for after this one as it is quite the challenge.

Odd  I believe I probably only know the deep bowl version instead of the regular bowl version. I saw another of these in Lutterworth but with a more deeper bowl

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ot1TJJPLqLAS1j3o6?g_st=ac

Oh wow okay thanks for that! I’ll save the original components in case I ever decide to sell it, or in case I want to properly restore it.  Figured it’d look pretty cool centered over my office desk in my basement that I’m refinishing.

Just so you know, this fluorescent fixture design is highly sought after by some collectors and if they wanted the fixture, they would prefer new preheat fluorescent ballasts. Those European style ballasts that I linked do not leak PCBs at all as they have open cores.

Heyy thanks for the reply! The ballast was definitely bad, it was leaking and I scraped it off the inside (I was wearing gloves).  New to this and now not sure how I’m going to dispose of it, but I’ll look up the proper channels for my area.  I’m retrofitting it with non shunted tombstones and 4ft LEDs

Thanks for the info! I also think the ballast is bad, it was leaking and I (wearing gloves) scraped off the inside of the fixtures where all the wiring is held.  I’m retrofitting it with non-shunted tombstones and one sided LEDs. 

Learning now that the black stuff are PCBs…

Fortunately, this don't happening here in Israel, but the Israeli driver uses to honk when someone blocking them.

So it turns out the particular new one that I was think of didn't have the sticker, but this MDCL did!
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0549466,-118.2105268,3a,15y,48.64h,131.77t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sjzhNE_bUAJjlQ32Yvpu-DQ!2e0!5s20150801T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-41.76769592716445%26panoid%3DjzhNE_bUAJjlQ32Yvpu-DQ%26yaw%3D48.639766471907016!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMyNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Here's the newest MSCL that I found.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0545323,-118.2119365,3a,15y,243.86h,157.84t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sOD14BsA3sDz773q09lgNyg!2e0!5s20140901T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-67.84226376620316%26panoid%3DOD14BsA3sDz773q09lgNyg%26yaw%3D243.85835517060727!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMyNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Also, what do you make of this?
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0549036,-118.2110223,3a,15y,350.96h,166.52t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s9_zk0tfIQmiYVdr7AQZYlw!2e0!5s20140901T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-76.51729394656229%26panoid%3D9_zk0tfIQmiYVdr7AQZYlw%26yaw%3D350.96027877375127!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMyNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Did CalTrans put those stickers on the M-400s and 125s as well? The only lights that I know of that had those stickers were the M-400As and 325s. But if a light has one of stickers then yes it is a CalTrans installation. Can you post a link to the sticker MV GE?

Perhaps, you know the white stickers next to the nema tags on the later Caltrans MSCLs? The newest MV installation that I saw there featured one of them. That makes me think that it was a Caltrans installation, though I could be completely wrong.