The year is 1963 somewhere in Victoria, Australia

Hi Claus,
Some of the Trainz buildings and other textures that you can find on the net are good enough that you can get away with stickers particularly at normal viewing distances. To wit as an example…   

https://www.shutterstock.com/search/galvanized+sheet  which if you can manipulate it a  bit with paint or similar (who needs photo shop?) can look quite presentable!

Cheers

Trevor

[user=374]xdford[/user] wrote:

Hi Claus,
Some of the Trainz buildings and other textures that you can find on the net are good enough that you can get away with stickers particularly at normal viewing distances. To wit as an example…   

https://www.shutterstock.com/search/galvanized+sheet  which if you can manipulate it a  bit with paint or similar (who needs photo shop?) can look quite presentable!

Cheers

Trevor

Hi again,Leaky's Plumbing Services is situated right at the front of the layout, so I need to get the lettering right. I am back at work (though it is teaching 7from home) so Wombat Creek is at standby, but I hope to get bit of work done during the week. 

Hi Claus,
Good luck with the online stuff… I've been doing a bit with my U3A lot on a one to one basis and that has been heavy going! 

You may be interested in the following thread on the Model Railroader site. Tom did also have a section on Australian signs (Golden Fleece, Ampol, Brockhoff Biscuits etc as I recall) but not sure where they are on this thread!

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/162879.aspx

Hope this helps!

Trevor

An Aussie icon in the backyard

No backyard would be right without a Hills Hoist. Of course the two gardens around the houses had to have the Aussie icon for drying your laundry. A bit fiddly to do. I had to reduce the number of strings from six to four, but I think they came out all-right. The clothes are made from tissue paper painted with a very diluted acrylic paint.

The garden around the green house still needs some work. The garden bed is too empty and where is the second icon from the 1960's – the incinerator?

Brilliant!
D

I'm with Doug here Claus - brilliant modelling !!

That first shot looks so realistic ………………………………….. :roll:

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

I'm with Doug here Claus - brilliant modelling !!

That first shot looks so realistic ………………………………….. :roll:

Thank you. I am especially pleased with the green hoist in the background!

Gum tree for the brewery

The paved area behind the brewery, the shops and Ray Knott's joinery has been somewhat 'boring', so something had to been done to make it more attractive. A while ago a small building – formerly the stables for the brewery's draught horses – got erected and some fencing applied, but the area still needed more to be attractive. So I decided to plant a tree – a rather big gum tree.

I started off with florist's wire to form the trunk and branches.


The wire was then covered with no-more-gaps filler. It takes a while to try but remains flexible for some time, which gives you the opportunity to keep adjusting the shape of the tree.


Once dry the whole tree was painted light grey with a few darker strokes. Brownish paint simulates rough bark at the base of the tree as found on some gum trees. Finally the canopy was added using Woodland Scenics light green foliage.


Before planting a small area of cobblestone was 'dug' up and replaced with some grass made from 'teddy bear fur' sprayed with a light green paint.

That's a beauty Claus. So very Australian.

All looking very neat.  I live the hoist - a great idea and replica.
Michael

Running out of room


Stage 1 of Wombat Creek Tramways is almost finished. Well, it will probably/hopefully never be finished. Still some 'concreting' to do between the rails and a couple of points to wire. But otherwise, all major features are done. So it is time to think ahead.


Unfortunately I am running out of room. 'The Tram Room' should have enough space for stage 2, but at the moment the room also serves as a office. My wife and I are both working from home due to COVID-19.


But I have done some forward thinking. I do have a plan for Wombat Creek Tramways, so I had a pretty good idea of the next step, which will have to fit onto a 900 x 900 mm square. On Ebay I got a very good deal: two Peco points fitted with motors for $25. Unfortunately they are a quite long version, so could they fit in?






Some cardboard was cut to the right size and I could measure it all up. The points didn't fit in the expected spot, so the plans had to be redrawn. The result is a far better line-up! The points will sit at a major tram stop, which gives the opportunity to go in two directions. It will also save me two point a a crossing on stage 3. The 90 degree crossings (four of them) will connect to the existing track at the front of the lay-out. The points near the church will lead to a track at the back of stage 1 (behind the town hall). The last three points are spares for stage 3. The two quarter circles are for drawing curves.


So what now? Wait for the virus to disappear or try to get started on stage 2 already. It can be done without being put in place. Just a matter of lining up the tracks. I prefer the last option.

Running out of track

In my previous post I was running out of room. A bookcase was 'un-stacked', moved and finally re-stacked and more room for Wombat Creek Tramways appeared! It is now possible to extend into stage 2, The photos shows 'the blank canvas' that will be the town centre in a couple of years!

    So enough room, but not enough tracks. I have the five crossings and the points needed, but a mail order will soon be done for more flexible track. I will keep to posted on the progress!

Wow, that looks like a very useful extension Claus.  Do you have plans ready for it or are they still being formulated ?

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

Wow, that looks like a very useful extension Claus.  Do you have plans ready for it or are they still being formulated ?

HiI do have a plan. In fact I have already put down four 90 degree crossings at the end of the tracks in Main Street.  A photo will soon follow. 

Inspecting the curves 
  The work on the extension of Wombat Creek Tramways is on its way. A couple of engineers are inspecting the latest track work at the intersection of Main Street and The Golden Mile. The four right angle crossings are working quite well, but the crossing just to the left and outside the view has caused some issues with older locomotives. The engineers also have some concerns with the curvature right before the points. The track geometry isn’t great.



  The reason for this is partly how Wombat Creek Tramways is constructed. The mayor of Wombat Creek, Alfred Campbell, decided with the help of his son David, editor of the W.C. Chronicle, the town needed a tramway. (The rest of the good people of Wombat Creek are too busy with their own businesses to care). To keep the costs down AC/DC decided to purchase tracks, points and rolling stock second-hand, if possible. So they bought a pair of points for a very good price, and as a result of this the Tramways got an unnecessary curve!

A day for celebrations in Wombat Creek
 
 Saturday 30 May 2020 is a day to remember in Wombat Creek. The tracks on the new extension have been laid (and re-laid due to a curve being too tight) and wired. The circle line is now fully operational with up to three trams running at the same time.


 
 The photo shows the single line along Lt. Church Street. The line was planned to run in front of the church, but resulted in a curve in Church Street being too tight. The curve was eased but one of my three identical (?) still derails negotiating the curve. A problem to solve at a later state.
 
 The shop fronts are mock-ups of real shops from the streets of Melbourne. They have just been printed and glued to cardboard to give me an idea, how they fit in. Before a final print each shop front has to go through Photoshop to get rid of electric wires and poles in front of the shops.


 
 The control panel for the extension is a temporary fixture made from a take-away container! The tracks are still the original lay-out. The two unused holes are for the now re-positioned points into Little Church Street.
 
 

 Quiet days in Wombat Creek
  
  It has been quite a while since I have posted an update from Wombat Creek, but here is some news.
  
  Even with two weeks of holidays the progress has been rather slow. Not due to lack of time, but because the tram room also serves as an office for my wife, how has to work from home due to COVID-19.
  
  During the last few weeks the main focus has been on the shops along Church Street and the church itself. The shop-fronts are made from photos of real fronts from Melbourne streets. They have been through Photoshop to remove unwanted features like parked cars, tree branches and people. The depth of the houses varies from less than a centimetre to 5 cm. I still have to do awnings and signs.




  
  The church is a second-hand Hornby model, which I purchased a while ago. I plan to change the colour of the walls and of course install the stained-glass windows. The railings are made from thin plastic card and green stem wire. I think they came out quite well.
  
  Hopefully I will get more work done in the weeks to come. Who knows - we may unfortunately soon be under stricter lock-down here in Melbourne.
 

Oh no, I'm sure your wife doesn't mind you working on the railway while she is working….. 
Looks good, I like the idea of printing off the shops for the back scene.

Wombat Creek Bank and Gold Exchange – part 1
   
  Until recently my main focus has been on the buildings in Church Street and the Market. The next task is putting up signs for the different shops and businesses. The signs are ready to be printed on 300 gr. paper, which I can’t do at home. Unfortunately the printer at my local Officeworks doesn’t work, so I have to wait finishing the buildings.
   
  Instead I have put forward the construction of the Wombat Creek Bank and Gold Exchange (for now on just called the bank!). It will be the most challenging construction so far and I don’t plan to see the finished building in the near future.
   
  The walls are constructed out of 2 mm mount board. The first photo shows the parts making up the front of the building. Everything will be cut by hand, which has been time consuming, but the current lockdown here in Melbourne gives a lot of time at home!
   
  The second photo illustrates the assembled front and end walls in its future position at the intersection between the Main Street and the Golden Mile. The proportion between the bank and the building to the right of the photo isn’t quite right, so the latter of the two may need to be repositions further back on the lay-out. Fortunately it is not a major challenge to move a 4 storey building in scale HO!

Hi Claus,

On first glance on the mockup, I was thinking Flinders St Station!!  It should look quite good!
Cheers Mate,

Trevor