Jim, check out Larry G Scale on ebay for merchandise accessories.
https://www.ebay.com/str/Larry-G-Scale?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
Jim, here are a few ideas, these are from my produce but a lot of this could be in yours being it is more of a general store. Believe the large crate veggs came from Al Kramer, the bananas for Larry, the small crates I made from styrene strips, oranges I made from lava beads pained 3 different colors and the cucumbers I made from dyed rice, Larry has got bags of goods like flour and stuff, good luck great looking store, Bill
These are great ideas and pointers Dan and Bill. Thanks!
I’ve made very slow progress toward a load for the delivery truck. I started with what I thought would be the hardest thing: barrels. I have some relatively poor barrels (no details) and wanted something that was more equal to the truck itself, so I figured: how hard can it be?
Well, that didn’t work out so well. I am just wrapping up my 4th try on building a barrel that is not completely laughable. My basic approach is to use 1/2" PVC pipe inside the barrel, wrapping it with wood. I’ve been struggling with 2 things: getting the overall shape right and getting the staves to be curved in the right way. Hoo boy. Lots o fun.
My first try is too skinny and not very curvy:
The barrel on the right is one that I had laying around that is considered to not have enough detail. Getting the staves to curve and getting the barrel to be fatter were the subjects of the 2nd try (no pics on that one, but staves were breaking after soaking and drying).
My 3rd try (after some suggestions from David Marconi (aka Hollywood)) I tried soaking the staves in vinegar. When wet I then bent them over some 3.5" PVC pipe and used rubber bands (and some 1/2" styrene pipe) to hold the to shape while they dried.
This got them bent reasonably, and I ended up with this (the one in the middle):
Better but still too skinny at the top. The middle was fattened up with 2 strips of .04" x .25" styrene but I used my dremel too aggressively to taper the ends of the PVC pipe.
My most recent try (yup, this is #4) did way less tapering of the PVC pipe and things look ok to me so far. I’ll add banding to this one and think I’ll call it a barrel:
The barrel minus bands is on the left. It is a bit dark in this picture because I had just applied an India ink wash to weather it. On the right are 2 more of my PVC + styrene monstrosities ready for staves.
While waiting for staves to soak and dry, I have also been building crates. Here are a few that are pretty much done:
Oh, and I also purchased a few things. So far I’m not so totally happy with my purchases. G scale is extremely variable in my experience so far and things look too big or too small pretty often. Examples:
Oh well, live and learn.
You may also notice, btw, that I added some tie down bars and hooks to the truck so when I get a load ready I have a place to tie ropes.
Cheers!
[edited to add a picture of the Rube Goldberg device used to bend wooden staves]
Last barrel looks good, don’t press your luck, you can make some nice cucumbers using rice painted green and oranges and grapefruit using lava beads, truck is great, Bill
Jim, I agree with Bill, your latest barrel looks fine. Once the bands are on and it’s loaded on the back of the truck, it will be quite realistic. Thanks for sharing your techniques.
Wow Jim,
This is looking very nice, your fruits and veggies almost look edible
Dennis
Completed 3 barrels and a set of crates, talked a neighbor into helping me sew some burlap bags full of “stuff” for the back of the truck, because the ones I have (shown here) are too frickin’ big. Here’s where I am so far:
Getting there…
[edited to clarify that the bags you see here are too big and the ones I’m working on (well, working on getting somebody else to do it) will replace them]
“Getting there?” Oy! I’d’ve believed it if you said this was done and had already won a contest!
Very realistic looking load, Jim. Thanks for pointing out that the bags were too big, I would have never got that one on a test (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)With all due respect to the sewee, they look just fine (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)I know you have a better eye for detail than I do, much better, but from my vantage point they’re perfect. The barrels turned out great too. This has been a fun build to follow.
Thanks Dan. The bags are actually 2.5’ by 4’ (in my scale) whereas it seems that many bags are something like 2’ by 3+’. So not a huge difference, but it is for some reason bugging me. We’ll see if I get something back from my neighbor. Hopefully I’ll be done with this at some point…
Jim,
First off, what a fantastic model, so realistic. The barrels look fantastic along with all of the other items. I agree that I would not have known the bags were oversized except that you pointed that out. However I was wondering what did you use for the bands around the barrels?
Thanks, Colin, for the kind words.
As to the bands on the barrels, I used some styrene that was laying around from my HO days: HO scale 1x6 strips, which is in real life .011" x .066". They were painted flat black and glued on using Goop.
OK, my neighbor, Lisa, came through on the bags-o-stuff and to me they look better size-wise. I am pretty much declaring this to be done:
Beautiful work Jim. I really like the detail.
Doc
Jim, I was in the grocery store last night and your barrel was on display, nice job
Jim,
Beautiful. Oldest Daughter is inspired to try her hand at those sacks for our own RR!
Eric
Well put together Jim, those sacks do make a difference.(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
for me, the barrels are favorites.
Korm: the barrels are my favorite too, if only because of the satisfaction of beating those into the ground and making something that I’m happy with after many false starts.
Hollywood: thanks!
Eric: I’m thrilled to have inspired one of your kids. I’m sure she’ll do a much better job than I did (which is why I ended up begging my neighbor to make these).
Cheers!