Scratch Build a Pushcart Fruit Vendor

Detailing your sidewalks and streets in your cities and towns has become a recurring topic on N Scale Limited.  We believe that it is often a missed area that can hurt a layout if it is forgotten about.  So today I introduce another detail that can be added, to enhance any street scene; pushcart vendors.

Introduction

Pushcart vendors are a common site in just about any city, today or in the past and in some way shape or form.  There are dozens of styles, types and sizes out there for each era.  For the era and locale I model, the 1950’s, some of the more common items sold were fruit, candy, pickles, flowers, nuts, newspapers or other types of produce.  I decided for my first attempt at a pushcart, I would do a fruit vendor selling apples, pears and oranges.

Image from the Library of Congress

Image from the Library of Congress.

Construction

Materials Used

Evergreen

• .010x .040″ Strip
• .015x .020″ Strip
• .020x .100″ Strip
• .020x .250″ Strip
• .030x .030″ Strip
• .060x .060″ Strip
• .020″ Rod
• .030″ Rod
• .080″ Rod
• .250″ Tube
• .060″ H Beam

Polly Scale

• ATSF Red
• Depot Olive
• Dirt
• DRGW BLDG Brown
• D&RGW Orange
• Earth
• Grimy Black
• Sand
• Weyerhauser Green

Halcraft USA

• Tiny Glass Marbles & Bead Accents

This is something I have wanted to attempt to build for some time.  The biggest obstacle was what to use for the fruit.  I had originally thought of using candy sprinkles or “Jimmy’s” depending on where you live.  But the smallest I could find were about a scale 9 to 12 inches in diameter, that would only work for watermelons and cantaloupes.  Then when I was building the Paw of a Bear kit for a review, I discovered micro beads that were included in the kit for door knobs.  I was able to find more of the micro beads at Michael’s Craft store in the scrap book section for about $2.49.  With those in hand I was ready to begin.

Wheels

I didn’t put too much thought into the wheels, I assumed I could find something to work but nothing was found.  You can get various carts and wagons in N scale but I didn’t want to spend $20 plus dollars on something I am going to rip apart.  So I thought I could scratch build them.

On my first attempt I used some .030″ styrene rod for an axle and used .020″ rod for the spokes (thats the smallest available).  I then was going to wrap some .015x .020″ styrene around the spokes to for a hoop.  This turned out to be a horrible mistake.

The next attempt I decided to start with the hoop, but what to use?  The best thing I could think of was using a .250″ styrene tube cut in to a thin slice with a razor saw.  Once I had two hoops that matched in width I moved on to the spokes.  For these I went back to the .020″ rod as in the first attempt.  I first added a piece that spanned the full inside diameter, and then added two half sized pieces on the opposing direction.  I let this dry and then I did the 45° angle pieces.  I used the same length as the two previous half pieces but bevelled on one end so they would fit.  After both wheels had fully dried, I added an axle made from some .030″ rod cut it to a length that felt right.

These seemed to work, although they are a little chunky.  I am still going to try to find a better method to build a wagon style wheel for future pushcarts.

Build a Box

For the body of the cart I built a simple box.  I cut some .020x .100″ strip styrene to a length of 8 scale feet long for the sides.  On the front and back I cut some of the same strip to .250″ long.  I then built a bottom for the box from some .020x .250″ strip to fit inside.  I thought the box was deeper than it needed to be for the model so I didn’t waste material.  So I cut a piece of .060x .250″ strip to fill it in.

On the bottom of the box I added two .030″ square strip skids that were cut to the length of the cart.  Before I glued them on I beveled the ends at a rough 45° angle.  Next I added two handles that were glued to the underside from .030″ rod.

I then moved back to the top of the box and added a .010x .040″ shelf around the top of the box.  After this was dried I made a channel for the axle to rest in on the bottom.  While this may not be prototypical, it works, I wasn’t about to build a suspension system in N scale.  I didn’t have any channel available so I took some .060″ H beam and filed one side down to make into a C channel and glued it into place.

Painting

First I painted the box of the cart with some Polly Scale Depot Olive, however I wanted to age the cart.  I then dry-brushed on some DRGW BLDG Brown to all of the faces to age the paint.  After this dried I took an almost white sludge (paint at the bottom of a bottle of thinner) and brushed it on to further age it, this seemed to work for me.  I then painted the handles with some Polly Scale Dirt.

I left the wheels off so they would be easier to paint.  I painted the wheels ATSF Red, the hoops I used Earth and I left the axle unpainted until I glued it to the cart.  Once the paint dried I glued the axle into the  channel, and then painted the axle and channel Grimy Black.  I also weathered the wheels in the same manner as the box.

Loose Ends

Before I added any fruit to the cart I need to do two things.  First I needed something to keep the cart upright.  On many carts of the era I was modeling there is a third, smaller wheel.  Not wanting to make one, I decided to do a much simpler method I have seen…. a board.  I just cut some scale 4x 4 basswood strip for this.  One solution for the wheel I have thought of now is to use a break wheel from a freight car.

The second item left was to add a few dividers in the box to prevent fruit from mixing.  I wanted something that looked like cardboard, so I used cardboard… well sort of.  I cut some of the external paper layer off and cut it to size and glued it in.

Making Fruit

I was worried about this step, but it turned out to be very simple.  The beads I am using are about .020″ in diameter, so if you are not careful, they will go everywhere.  So I devised a method to add them and glue them into position.  First I added a layer of CA glue in the box of one section, then I dipped it in the beads.  Then I added more CA on top of this layer and dipped again.  I did this as many times as necessary for each section.  For the Oranges I added pots that they rested on, I made these from .060″ rod painted Sand and cut to length.

When each section dried, I painted them with a very fine tipped brush.  The Polly Scale colors I used are as follows:

• Apples – ATSF Red
• Pears – Weyerhauser Green
• Oranges – D&RGW Orange

After the paint dried I used a little india ink/alcohol wash to give a the illusion of shadows so it wasn’t all one solid color.

Final Details

After I was finished with the fruit I added the pricing signs for each fruit.  I copied the design from a prototype pushcart that is in a book of mine.  I printed the signs on basic 20 lb. copy paper and glued the cutouts to a strip of .015x .020″ that I painted DRGW BLDG Brown.

I wanted to add a scale to weigh the fruit but I have not been able to find a good way to realistically suspend it.  If I figure out a way then I will update about it.

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• Scratch Built IRT Kiosk: Part 2 (7)
• Scratch Built IRT Kiosk: Part 1 (13)
• Scratch Building 101: Section House (11)

About the Author

Chris Brimley — Co-founder of N scale Limited, Chris was bitten by the model railroading bug when he was 14, originally working with HO scale he soon discovered the limitless possibilities of N scale. It was only a few years ago when Chris decided that it was time to break free of the kit bubble and begin scratch building structures. The few structures Chris has built have gone on to acquire multiple Best of Show awards in NMRA and non-NMRA judged shows. He is also a member of the budding Junction City N-scalers modular club based out of Ogden, UT that will strive for the best of what N-scale modelers have to offer.