East End Market

[Erieman]

Frank, I find e inner core idea interesting. When you build the previous structures that curled, was the inside painted/sealed?


Marty

Marty,

the quick answer is no. That being said, I brace all the walls prior to any application of A&I/ pigment / etc...This has only occurred on the really long structures like Chester station and Ironia Station. Both are 20 plus inches in length. both buildings were heavily braced. both had a cardstock inner rib to prevent any potential foe warping in the long direction. The worst case of warp was on Ironia Station where the warp was consistent on both ends of the building ( about 1/8 at both ends. some yellow glue, a couple of "C" clamps and a plywood base and some groaning during the clamping process. About an hour later the clamps ere removed and held. Problem solved, kind of...

The front of most of my structures endure multiple layers (coats) of A&I and pigment. Pigment is never applied in full strength, but applied and wiped. A&I is applied, but not wiped.

I have considered applying pigment to both sides, but to date have not done so. Hence the technique that I am now trying. Essentially a web of a beam. The exterior walls will be braced / painted / A&I / etc..., then mounted to the center core. time will tell if this idea works.

If you have any thoughts, please let me know.

Frank / Erieman

[donatode]

I strongly feel that your technique will work.  (keeping my fingers crossed)

[Erieman]

I strongly feel that your technique will work.  (keeping my fingers crossed)

Donato,

Your comment is a big 10-4. I really hope that it works out too. I have been cutting openings for the doors and windows on the front of the building. hope to layout and cut the rear wall tomorrow. This is a slow process. I keep measuring the building for any signs of warp. so far, so good.

Frank / Erieman

[Erieman]

Not a laughing matter - One of the dilemma facing scratch built structures is dimensional accuracy. An other is cutting all the openings very accurately. singularly or together, there is the possibility of disaster. As i was completing the front wall, I realized that I had a couple of mistakes or what ever you want to call it. so here I am cutting the second front wall. Just a quick update on the forward or backward progress of the structure. I will say, that the second cutting is progressing faster and better, but I better keep my mouth shut should I jinx this project. Back at it.

Frank / Erieman 

[Erieman]

Progress is being made. All the four walls have been cut, windows added. The spacing from the center core to the exterior walls has been checked and looks great. There are some custom windows that need to be fabricated. The rear panel needs all the windows and doors cut, but that is another day. Pleased with the progress. More later...

Frank / Erieman

[S&S RR]

Looks like you are making great progress Frank. It's great when a plan starts coming together!

[coors2u]

Frank, your scratch work is always so fascinating to me. Sure is looking good so far.

[Erieman]

Looks like you are making great progress Frank. It's great when a plan starts coming together!

Good Evening John,
Thanks for stopping by. progress on the layout and East end Market are coming along. How is your full size project coming. Looks like lots of storms back your way. Stay off the roof. I keep having to work on my plan every day. It may look easy, but don't fool yourself..Enjoy your week.

Frank / Erieman

[Erieman]

Frank, your scratch work is always so fascinating to me. Sure is looking good so far.

Dustin,

Thank you for your kind words. I really enjoy scratch building as you might have guessed. Always plenty to think about before every cut. I especially enjoy the structures from New England because of the interesting roof lines as well as unique structures. This one is especially interesting because there is so-o-o much going on. You really can't design everything beforehand because this would have been a major architectural project. It still is, but with some creative solutions that look good, or so I hope. I guess I should have been an architect, but no. Glad you are enjoying the build. I give a lot of credit for my skill and scratch building enjoyment to Bob Van Gelder. If you have ever built one of his SRMW structures, you know what I mean. Again, thank you for your kind words. Stay tuned for more of this project later in the week.

Frank / Erieman

[Erieman]

Good Afternoon All,

Well, progress is slow, but consistent. I still have bracing to do on several walls before I can assemble them. I have applied the first coat of paint as you can see from the photo. I painted the front first and the paint was not as "wet" as I would have liked. I typically like to have the first coat somewhat wet, so I can control the wiping of the pigment. I only use Acrylic paints. The sides and rear are a little more "on the thin side" which I prefer. The front also will have a lot more extra pieces "porches" to cover the rather heavy coating of pigment. The next color will be "White Wash" drybrushed on all the walls. The last color will be A&I to fill in the nail holes and loose boards that will be cut into the current walls. I typically assemble all the components to each wall first. Because these walls are so involved, I will probably assemble only the windows, then assemble all the walls to each other and then start on all the additional components. but, as we all know, everything is subject to change.

I have been sketching a lot of the structure details so I can figure how to build them. and when to build them! I need to pick up the build tempo once I get all the details designed, laser cutting dimensioned and purchased some more windows.

Frank / Erieman

[Erieman]

While on a recent vacation, I had time to work out many design details of this structure. There are now many pages of design details which should aid me in the build. Pictures you say?! Well, I am almost ready to post some. To date, I have all the walls of the main structure cut. The front building wall is also painted and most of the windows installed. There are couple of windows that need to be scratch built. The small West wall is done. The other walls need bracing, window installation, etc. etc...

Yesterday I received a letter from  Howard Reed in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. He is the area historian and has filled in a lot of details on the building. I thought that I would share them before I post some pictures.

The area that the building resides was originally called Summerville back in the 1800's. It was later annexed by St. Johnsbury. The town of Summerville was farm land. From 1803 - 1885, the land was farmed by Winthrop True. From 1885 - 1890, the Bishop Family owned the property.  In 1890 the property was purchased by Edwin L. Hovey.

Edwin L. Hovey, was known as the father of Summerville. At nineteen, he left the farm and attended St. Johnsbury Academy. While a sophomore at Dartmouth college, a second call for troops came and Hovey enlisted. He returned from the war as a first lieutenant.

After the service, he returned home to Summerville. Stopping by to see his sister;Steven Richardson, his brother-in-law, sold him half the farm. In 1864 he  married Ella Carr and settled down to farming.

He became interested in real estate ventures, buying the Tobias Lester and Armington farms - some 1800 acres. He purchased a printing plant and founded the St. Johnsbury Times. He sold the paper one year later and purchased a saw mill. In 1870, he purchased 18 acres from Winthrop True. While many thought that this was a folly, he laid out Lafayette, Lincoln, Liberty, American and East Streets in summerville and starting building houses. For 16 years, his saw mill sawed a half a million feet of lumber annually, During this period, he built around thirty houses.

Mr. Hovey has built or rebuilt all the stores on Portland Street, besides nearly 50 houses. He built the house at 623 Concord Avenue around 1900.  Besides being a residence, the structure on the far west end of the building was made into a fire station. On word of a fire, horses were gathered from a nearby mill.

In 1905, the house was purchased by Roscoe Renfrew, who turned it into a general store and Post Office.  The Post Office was run by Volney Powers.

In 1946, The Clouatre family purchased the structure and so began the East End Market. soon after, a fire occurred, causing several damage to the inside of the building. Alex Clouatre took over the business from his father and sold the business in the 1990's.

The building was sold and now sits empty. there has been no mention of the future of the building.

Well, that is what I know about the history of the structure. Pictures soon. enjoy.

Frank / Erieman   

[Erieman]

So here is a photo of the walls as they are currently. Doesn't look impressive or that I have gotten too far. All the windows have been heavily modified, many of the doors have also been modified, the big windows on the front wall are modified and the list goes on. I am hoping to have all the walls done early next week or so. At that point I will assemble the basic structure. All the front porches will come next, followed by the rear portions of the structure. There is still a loooong way to go.

Frank / Erieman 

[Raymo]

Frank,  The walls look great!  I don't know if you received my text yesterday but if the weather breaks, I'll try and get photos of that neighborhood this weekend.

[Erieman]

Frank,  The walls look great!  I don't know if you received my text yesterday but if the weather breaks, I'll try and get photos of that neighborhood this weekend.

I got your text yesterday. Kind of hectic with my sister-in-law here. Really appreciate your help with this project.

Frank / Erieman

[Erieman]

Here is a pic of the main window details. There are two of these windows on the front of the building on the right side. I used a Grandt Line "O" scale 6 over 6 window and cut out some of the horizontal bracing to create a 3 over 3. I then added two pieces of styrene to create a new header for the window.  the window frames were then enlarged with styrene strips to provide a broader window frame. All windows on the building have the same design. I will show you what I did to the smaller windows in a few.

The double front door has also been modified. I used styrene to create larger side rails for the door frame. There is a double door with glass windows. In front of that is a set of double doors with screen doors.

More in a bit.

Frank / Erieman