The year is 1963 somewhere in Victoria, Australia

For this shop Claus ?
Hearns Hobbies

[user=606]Sol[/user] wrote:

For this shop Claus ?
Hearns Hobbies

:thumbs

The Hobby Shop - part 3




Citizens of Wombat Creek on their way to the Bank have stopped outside the Hobby Shop. They can't believe their own eyes. Never has a town building been erected with such a speed.

An easy option


After days, weeks and months of drawing, measuring, cutting, glueing and painting my own designs it was rather nice and relaxing to sit down with a Metcalfe kit with just a bit of cut and glue.






The 'Regal' was intended to sit to the left of the photo, just opposite 'Myer', but I find the building to low for that position. Instead it will be the focal point at the end of Main Street. It is a low relief building so it sits perfect against the backdrop.


The building will be raised a few millimetres once the pavers at the front are laid. It will also be changed from a cinema to a theatre showing 'Wildcat The Musical'. Not a huge success, though!

The Hobby Shop – part 4










The Hobby Shop is finished. All it needs is a proper sign to lure the customers in!

The Model Dockyard?  ;-)

Fantastic progress, Claus.

The track to … nowhere?





At the moment the newly laid track is just leading to the abyss (read edge of the layout). It will eventually be part of a loop around the gold mine and join the main line again at the intersection near the Bank. I had to do the track before I could proceed with the footpath (pavement) around the Regal Theatre.

The Royal Arcade


For a confined spot next to the Regal I wanted a building (or rather a facade) which was rather short and at the same time with some features. After some investigations on the internet I found the Elizabeth Street entrance of The Royal Arcade in Melbourne. Short and distinctive. It came up quite well with only one 'mistake'. I glued '1901' above the wrong set of windows!






The Mechanics Institute to the right looks out of place. It is less than 10 mm thick and designed to fit in along the curve, but I think it needs to be replaced with a two or three storey building.

Now that threw me young Eleff, but yes I agree with you the Engineers Institute to the RIGHT doesn't quite fit the bill. Not high enough and doesn't quite fit in with the other two. Wonder if a fancy swimming baths facade would fit the bill ?  :hmm
Must admit I'm loving the variety of buildings you are coming up with  :thumbs

Cheers

Matt

"To the left - to the right" - I'm pleased he's not driving !!

 That's the problem with trains and trams, they can only go where the tracks take them, left and right matters not one jot !! :cheers

Is the "Regal" a Metcalfe structure Claus ?   It doesn't quite come up to the standard of the bank………………. :hmm

[user=2080]Barchester[/user] wrote:

Now that threw me young Eleff, but yes I agree with you the Engineers Institute to the RIGHT doesn't quite fit the bill. Not high enough and doesn't quite fit in with the other two. Wonder if a fancy swimming baths facade would fit the bill ?  :hmm
Must admit I'm loving the variety of buildings you are coming up with  :thumbs

Cheers

Matt

  Hi Matt,
 
The Mechanics Institute is on its way to storage. It doesn't sits right (well, I must admit it sits to the right) next to the Royal Arcade and the Regal, which is a bit of a puzzle. Back in the days we could go on holidays here in Victoria and I came across the said building in Lancefield. I took a 'straight-on' photo, put it through Photoshop to clear up colours, to remove a street sign and to adjust the size of the building. The height of the doors matches other doors in Wombat Creek, so everything should be fine. But it is not. The building appears to be too high for a one storey building. I think it comes down to the thick brown 'frames' around the doors and windows. I like the idea of swimming baths façade. I would never come up with that idea myself, since I can't swim!  :hmm

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

"To the left - to the right" - I'm pleased he's not driving !!

That's the problem with trains and trams, they can only go where the tracks take them, left and right matters not one jot !! :cheers

Is the "Regal" a Metcalfe structure Claus ?   It doesn't quite come up to the standard of the bank………………. :hmm

Hi Petermac,


You are right - it is right!


The Regal is a Metcalfe structure with less features and details compared to the Bank. It is okay for a building at the very back of the layout (the Bank sits around 20 cm from the front), but it is obvious on a close-up photo. I have done quite a few less detailed buildings along the backdrop. From the distance it works quite well and also gives me time to construct the more detailed ones at the front.


The next detailed feature is rather small. It will require vermilion paint, which I don't have. My supplier is unfortunately just outside my allowed 15 km traveling zone (Postage will be twice the price of the paint!). The roof will be curved with curved and glazed roof tiles, which I may be able to make myself. The original is in Adelaide, which at the moment is absolute out of reach for a Victorian. Add to all this a few dragons! This will eventual be good fun  :Happy

A roof with a difference


This build is a bit different. I have made a roof without having something to put under it! And the shape – it is quite unusual for Wombat Creek.






As the composite photo shows, I started with a rectangular base. I used OpenOffice Draw to make a template for the supports. The four corner ones are 'elongated' versions of the regular side supports.


Next step was adding strips of 350 gr paper to the supports. By adding the paper as strips overlapping each other I get a 'stepped' look of the final roof (like roof tiles slightly overlapping each other).


The tiles are corrugated plastic strips. I did look into buying ready made roof tiles 'Spanish style' but I fund the price including postage too high. Instead I used some left-over sheets. The capping tiles along the ridges are tiny pieces of 50 gr paper.


Finally I painted the roof with 'burnt umber' with a small amount of red to give the tiles the appearance of yellow terracotta tiles.


Time consuming but fun to make the this Chinese inspired roof. Of course I have an idea of what will be under the roof, but it has to wait until shops are open again. I need some additional supplies.

Only one storey, but could be a nice challenge:

Google street view Nicholson Street and Gertrude Street corner - the old cable tram engine house, so partly relevant: (Google Maps)

and Avant d'accéder à Google Maps 

[user=321]SRman[/user] wrote:

Only one storey, but could be a nice challenge:

Google street view Nicholson Street and Gertrude Street corner - the old cable tram engine house, so partly relevant: (https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.8053652,144.9736416,3a,75y,143.48h,89.63t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sb_ojxn72-juAczxXoeYNug!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Db_ojxn72-juAczxXoeYNug%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D83.4159%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192)

and https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.8055639,144.9739636,163m/data=!3m1!1e3 

Hi Jeff,

You are right. That would be a challenge! :???:

The back corner






Recently I have spend some time modelling around the back corner of the layout. As seen on the photo it is a fair distance from the normal viewing point.






A closer look as seen by the phone's camera (apologise for the somewhat blurry photos), reveals a couple of customers at the market blocking the view of the interior. The interior is just a photo of the main 'arcade' of the real market in Melbourne. To the right of the market a small alley branches off the main street. Unfortunate the shop front of 'Rogers Diamond Emporium' can't been seen, but the arrow with the diamonds points potential customers to the shop. The sign on the wall of McPhee's Fine Antiques' advertises an Aussie stable, 'Vegemite'. Greatly overrated in my opinion! The 'One Way' sign is a result an investigation into 1960s road signs (Thank you, Robyn and Trevor for your help more than a year ago!).






The alley is very narrow but the forced perspective works quite well. The front of the Emporium drops 2mm towards the back and the hight of the rear shops is approx. 20 mm less than the Antiques shop.






The last photo is a close-up of McPhee's Fine Antiques and LJ Hooker Real Estate. The awnings do stick out but the rest of the buildings are complete flat!

For completely flat buildings Claus, they look superb !

I also like your ideas for forcing perspective down the alley - it works very well.   :pathead

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

For completely flat buildings Claus, they look superb !

I also like your ideas for forcing perspective down the alley - it works very well.   :pathead

Agreed, they look great as always. 

Some superb modelling, to great effect there, Claus.

But where's MisterHookerBear? (Talk about clumsy advertising names!!).  :twisted:

:doublethumb

The sign says it all

In a previous post I included this photo



The roof has now got some support and looks like this



The photo is obvious not 'in-situ', but shows how far the gate and background buildings have evolved. The 'cobblestones' warps a bit hence the gap under the buildings. Once in place the cobblestones will be glued down and everything should look all good – I hope.
The shops still need some signage, but the sign above the gate says it all. Ron (Sol) may recognise the gate and be able to translate, if needed.



The corner of the awning has been fixed and the signs are in place. In fact, the gate and shops are in their proper place in Wombat Creek. Being Wombat Creek the Chinese lions have got a twist!