I've stumbled upon another huge 3D archive, much of it modern furniture and furnishings, all free for the downloading.
http://archive3d.net/?category=0
Two snags-- Well, three, really...
The objects come in either or both 3DS and GSM formats. The few 3DS meshes I tried only have one (1) material, so some deconstruction and editing is required for most objects. Happily, they seem modest meshings, rather than photo-real.
The downloads do NOT use meaningful names. Each has a one-line string of gibberish that reads like a password-from-hell, you must remember to get the thumbnail and match it to the un-zipped / un-rar'd directory. At least the 3D files within the archive have real names...
Apart from that, their server is *fast*. I collected some nice furniture, noticed a wide variety of mannequins, accessories, doors, windows, cranes etc etc.
But what reads / writes .GSM format ? And what does it do ?? Irfanview claimed it as NLM, then failed to open. 3DOC shrugged. Google offered me a zillion GSM mobile phones...
D'uh...