For foamed PVC board sheets look for Sign Supply companies. Should be able to find 3mm, 6mm, 12mm and 25mm in 4x8’s. Still pricey, but not $500/sheet!
Jon,
I called a local sign shop, and the owner said she would might be willing to sell scraps (2x2) for $25, but that’s the same price per sq ft I can get at the local plastic supplier an hour away. I’m still experimenting with some scraps that Cliff mailed me a a while back. I’d really only use it for my brick building if that.
Ooof. I guess many sign shop owners are both cheap and greedy! My boss refuses to sell material only and chases people away who dumpster dive! But he will let me take home any off-cuts I want (within reason) and give them away. Strange!
I was actually talking about sign supply wholesalers, not retail sign shops.
I haven’t found a sign supply wholesaler other than the big plastic supply house in Kent, WA. Funny how much of this type of stuff is local vs national. Guess our huge supply of wood in this area makes wood signs more popular than plastic. 
If I can figure out a decent way to carve either the foamed PVC board, or PVC lumber that might be an option for my brick building. But that’s go nothing to do with this build.
Back to the glass, I might try swinging by the dollar store today and grabbing a couple glass picture frames for the big window glass. If that doesn’t work, it’ll abandon it and go with lexan that I think I can get from Lowes.
Might try a glass shop for the PVC board, I get it here from a glass shop in Medford, they bring it in, it’s not stock, at about a 100 bucks a 4x8 x 1/4 but come to think about it the last sheet I bought was about 4 years ago.
Yah I’m going with the lexan route…
Tried some picture frame glass from the dollar store. Thinner than the slide glass and snaps a tad easier but still my technique need work. Lowe’s website says they have some in stock. I think I’ll “cheat” and go with lexan just so I can move forward.
Well as soon as say that of course I get a clean snap and get one door window from the dollar store stuff. I wonder if the slide glass stuff is just “that much” thicker it requires more skill that I don’t have.
Now to repeat that victory with less failures. Brother in law is a glass man, I will ask him for some tips this weekend
Gave up on the glass and made the second purchase. Bought a big sheet of acrylic but I’ll only use a small section so probably less than $5 total “cost” towards the build so far.
Glued up the rear of the building. I cheated on the board and batten and used strips I had on hand. For some reason it went really fast when I didn’t have to cut them all first.
Skimmed the roof with concrete repair stuff.
The goal this weekend is to glue up the other half.
And I really should have not said I would do two buildings… I haven’t even started the other one. Oops.
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Craig, I use my cricket to cut paint mask. works great.
I wouldnt worry about the second building, we will give you more grief if you dont finish one building. If it comes to having time I think I would focus on finishing one rather than one and a half. As always my.02c worth
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Yah i know. This one doesn’t really have much more. A few glue joints, and then figure out a roof for the other half. The anti skid tape stuff is just not holding up in our rainy PNW. I might try layering some styrene strips for shingles and then skim coat this concrete stuff.
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Started the glue up after I realized I made a mistake. All along I was thinking there was a small 10x8 office off to the side. Yah, no. There was at one point but it was removed. So I had to cut a filler section and glue it back in.
In looking at the possibility of doing the other building on the block, I’ve decided that I probably won’t try and tackle that one during this challenge. And plus I discovered it’s a cinder block construction. So I’ll have to solve that problem at a later date. I maybe embossing more PVC than I originally thought. Or figure out a different solution. But for now I’m going to put that one on official hold.
Craig,
Just a quick comment on the glass cutting above…I happen to be in the optics biz, so maybe I can offer some help!
So, not all thin glass is called “slide glass,” but often slide glass that is what is most available for retail.
Unfortunately, often what they sell as slide glass can be very hard to score and break. Just looking at the white edges of the glass, I would guess you have a thin borosilicate glass, which is an excellent material, but can be hard to score.
If you’re willing to step out of the norm…I would suggest finding common soda lime glass. Most glass shops should be able to provide slg down to around 0.028in thk. They have it all the way down to 0.016in thk, but that might be harder to get and is certainly harder to work with.
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Blocks are easy with yout 3d printer
Are you suggesting I print a million and half of them and glue them together with 3/8" “mortar”? 
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Sounds like a good plan 
In it’s all glued up glory.
You could print up rows of block with a scale 3/8” mortar spacer then just fill with putty , best of both worlds, accurate blocks and still putting it together to satisfy the scratch build issue if you don’t glue them up straight.
May I refer you back to this thread I asked about a few months ago…
Yah.