After letting it sit under a cover for a couple of years, I’ve decided to finish my store, which is a model of a 200-some year old building near Albany, N.Y. Years ago, I saw a picture of it in a book about historic New York State structures, liked the unusual look of the place, so I flew back there, measured and photographed the whole place and commenced to build a 1:22.5 model, which was lookin’ pretty good. Then came that “devil in the details moment” and I pooped out–until now. I’m determined to finish that puppy by year’s end if I don’t flame out again because of the current problem.

See, the store has these huge display windows, which means it’s gotta have an interior 'cause you can see in. Also, it has one of those recessed double door entries, which was a bee-itch to build. When I visited the place several years ago it was a tack shop, you know, horsey stuff. Now, after a fire and a major rebuild, it’s one of those cutsey, coffee and muffins places ya visit during a drive in the country. In a former life the place was a grocery store.

So here’s the dilemma: make it a store, which means shelves full of canned goods, boxes and stuff (more work for me), or maybe make it a restaurant or coffee shop, which means I’d only have to put in a few tables and stuff, maybe even in the front windows, which would have to be filled with merchandise if I made the building a grocery store. BTW, I already have a hardware store.

I’m not posting a photo because I hate to show an unfinished building and because I’m lazy. Bottom line, what would YOU do? Not sayin’ I’ll take your advice, but would appreciate your two cents worth anyway.

Joe, maybe combine flat pictures with a couple of actual 3D models. Like, shelves of actual wood and pictures of product on the shelves.

The pictures make the 3D models look real by association and the 3D stuff makes the pictures look, well, 3D by comparison.

That way you don’t have to go crazy modelling every little detail.

Maybe not a great example, but here’s an interior I did for the 2014 challenge. A few “real” objects and the rest are pictures. Not a lot of time involved.

You can do a lot with a few actual model details backed by photos.

I agree with what has been said. I would make it a “General Store” then you could add 3D elements of a barrel with a checkerboard, a stove, and some crates or bins. A counter and some flat backgrounds would complete it.

Good luck. Let your imagination run amuck!

I like the idea of a general store. You can get lots of “detail” parts from places like Michaels or Total Crafts. That’s where I got some of the stuff for my 5 & 10. I found a background print on line and had it printed on the color laser at Staples. Then clear coated it.

Think about putting some 3 D objects in front of any backdrop. It helps with the illusion of depth. Notice the clerk and cash register on the counter.

Not all the detail will be as visible when surrounded by ceiling and walls.

For my grocery store, I made many of the cans out of styrene rod, then printed up some decals to put on them. Background was found on line and printed at Staples.

Again, once you surround it with a building, you’ll lose some of the effect, but it also means you don’t have to super detail the interior.

Joe

My advice is that you go all in. If this store is as nice of a building as you say then you will regret not taking the opportunity to detail the interior.

Instead of setting yourself a completion goal of this year set shorter goals and eliminate the calendar. Take each step in a mall block but with a definitive goal: interior walls, fixtures, shelf goods, window display, people. I think you will find this helps avoid the overwhelming burnout feeling.

That’s some nice work!

GREAT !!!

Thanks, all. I will make it a general store or a grocery. Bruce, your store with the inset doors is exactly what mine has. It looks terrific. What a bee@+&% to model those double inset doors. I must have cut and pasted a zillion times to get the proportions right and finally made the doors a plug in module that fits between the windows. I still need to make the porch pillars, attach the shutters on the front upstairs windows and figure out how to make the front porch, which is “concrete” look more realistic. I painted it Aged Concrete and the color is OK, but there’s no texture to the surface. On the interior, I think I will make a plug-in so’s I don’t have to stick my hands into the store to mess around. BTW, it’s a two story structure. And no, I’m not gonna detail the upstairs living space except for curtains and maybe a candle in the window. When I was at Strasburg Railroad one year, I noticed them folks down there like to have a single candle in every window, Christmas or not. Maybe it’s a Pennsylvania thing.