Btw, I freaking love neon. All that crap that came after (like duralight and led strips) doesn’t even come close to the warmth and beaty of actual neon. It has this weird aura-like glow around it that just doesn’t seem replicateable.
Kinda like the soft glow of those sodium streetlights, it’s streets ahead of most other incandescent/led lighting, being softer and much more coherent in color. Which is also totally physics-based, btw, since sodium produces only a certain spectrum of light.
Anyway, analog lighting FTW! Kinda sad it’s so inefficient.
Edit: and getting myself one of those old neon vendor demonstration suitcases has been on my wishlist for years. I’ll probably design my own one day.