Hoyt & Olmstead Cigar Factory

[deemery]

Here's a quick summary of a multi-year project.  I was visiting Craig Bisgeier's Housatonic RR in 2009 (!!), and we were discussing structures, getting information from Sanborn maps, etc.  I asked, "that's a nice spot, what goes here?" 

Craig said, "It's a cigar factory, wooden building according to the Sanborn Map."  We discussed it, including the lack of good Victorian mansard roof structures, and I offered to build that.  I did some quick measurements of the site, both the ground plan and that change of elevation leading up to the brick building.  We exchanged some sketches, and eventually (a year or two :-) ) later, I sent Craig a mock-up, which he printed out, assembled and tried in the location.

The basic "look and feel" was good, but the structure was a bit small compared to the brick building behind it, so I adjusted that.  We also captured the topography a bit more accurately, to make sure the foundation would fit on the site.


The foundation uses Monster Modelworks cut stone.  One thing I've seen on large stone walls on the prototype, but infrequently on models, are buttresses to take some of the lateral pressure from the walls.  Jimmy Simmons cut some of his stone corner pieces with a 3rd side of relief, which I then shaped into buttresses.  From that, I assembled the foundation.

I primed it the mortar color and then applied Pan Pastels to color it.

The walls were done with Mt Albert clapboard and Tichy windows, pre-painted before assembly.  Craig and I worked up some sign prototypes.  Craig did the finished artwork in Adobe Illustrator (which allows me to print at highest resolution) and I printed them onto color laser decal paper.  Here's a mock-up of the the signs, work-in-progress.

I did an angled tower entryway, which looked great on paper, but turned out to be a bit of a pain to actually construct.  The entrance door is an old cast metal part, and the large picture windows are scratchbuilt.  The project languished for quite a while while I pondered how to do the mansard. 

Eventually I decided to cut the mansard subroof pieces from 2"x2" stock on my regular table saw.  I assembled everything using thick wood and a lot of bracing, because I knew the roof would get a lot of handling. The roof fits snugly over the siding, thanks to the brackets and (thin styrene) trim at the top of the walls.

I rigged up a jig to cut the slots for the dormers on my modelers (Proxxon/Micro Mark) table saw.

The dormers required a bunch of similar sized parts for sides, gable end and roofs.  The sides I cut from styrene strip (so I could use styrene cement to glue the windows to them).  The modeler carbide saw blade kerf is .060 wide, a piece of serendipity.   The dormers were assembled and glued into place. 

Because of all the angles, I did a lot of cardboard templates.  The hip roof at the top of the mansard was particularly complex and needed to be exactly right.  It took me 3 sets of templates to make it so.

I used styrene for details and where I needed to do small part assembly or thin cross-sections.  I used large pieces of wood for the base and the subroof, and of course scribed siding for the walls.  The shingles are Northeastern Scale Lumber paper slates, which I special-order unassembled. 

I delivered the foundation to Craig earlier this year, so he could "dig it into" the location on the layout.  The remaining structure will be delivered at Mid Atlantic RPM in September. 


If you have any questions on specific items, let me know. 


dave

[donatode]

WoW!!!  Dave, all I can do is sit here with my mouth wide open and drooling....

[deemery]

Front view.  I have some store fixtures to fill that empty space behind the picture windows.



dave

[tom.boyd.125]

Dave,
Very nice work ! 
Tom

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looks great, Dave!  Love the end view.

Cheers, Mark.

[cuse]

Great. Great. Great. Please more pics once it's on the foundation. Really love the roof, particularly now that I've seen the 2x2 guts. Crazy!


John

[Mike Engler]

Dave, that is one very fine structure. Great work.

[Mike Engler]

Dave- just which side is up?

[postalkarl]

HI Dave:

WOW!!!! Very nicely done. I love the color combination and the nice unweatherd look.

Karl

[Zephyrus52246]

Wow.  That is one impressive structure.  Great work, Dave.

Jeff

[deemery]

Dave- just which side is up?

Yes. 

(For this stone sheet, it doesn't make much difference.)

Karl, Craig and I agreed we didn't want the "George Sellios Depression-era look," commercial buildings were generally better maintained in the 19th century, particularly those that served an advertising purpose.

dave

[BandOGuy]

Dave- just which side is up?

Yes. 

(For this stone sheet, it doesn't make much difference.)

Karl, Craig and I agreed we didn't want the "George Sellios Depression-era look," commercial buildings were generally better maintained in the 19th century, particularly those that served an advertising purpose.
dave

If this structure had had directions, wonder if they would have read, "Place walls 'This Side Up'"?

[ACL1504]

Dave,

That is one impressive structure. Well done.

Tom

[Erieman]

Dave,

That is a great looking structure you have built for Craig. I also like the mansard roof, building color and graphics. How are you going to handle weathering? This is a beautiful structure and will be a place of honor, right up front. Kudo's.

Frank / Erieman

[GPdemayo]

Great build Dave.....I especially like the looks of the shingles on the mansard and the standing seam roofing.