Wombat Creek Tramways

While waiting for the balustrades to arrive from England my attention has been on the road at the back of the bank. It will hardly be visible from a normal point of view, but I know it is there and it must look right.

The area has been raised some 15 mm above the baseboard, which has caused a small issue with Myer’s display window. A few steps will connect the lower footpath to higher grounds. The surface of the road is made of fine sandpaper which looks quite real apart from the joints. Retaining walls will be built along the footpath next to Myer and in front of the vinegar factory. Why vinegar? It will give me a reason to model a famous sign (at least famous around Melbourne) of a skipping girl. Not sure how I make her skipping at night time. Neon lights in H0/00 scale are rare!

Life in Wombat Creek is pretty quiet at the moment. Recent work includes some ‘underground’ adventures. To make room for the basement of ‘City Hatters’ a crossbeam under the Bank has been moved 45 mm to the west.

The roof of the building is finished, finally. The central dome has been topped with a flagpole, which bring me to the following question:

How to model a flag?

A paper flag will look like – a paper flag on a stick!

The copper roofing has been finished with capping along the ridges, windows and ornaments. I still need to finish the roof with small spires and a flagpole.
The top of the facade will be finished with balustrades. Ordering pre-made ones from Britain is out of the question due to postage ($75+), so I need to come up with something else.

I had hoped Myer (department store) would be ready for Boxing Day sales. Despite three days of intensive construction work on the site the extension of the original store front still lacked roofing and other features. Hopefully the store will be ready for a ‘grand’ opening in January 2021.

After a few more frantic days of work the roof is finished and signs and railings are up. A taxi rank in front of the store is ready for use – unfortunately the town’s only taxi is on route to Gum Nut Valley.

As can be seen on the photo entering the department store will be a bit of a challenge due to the lack of a footpath near the revolving door, but I am sure that will not deter the customers getting to the good bargains.

Deliveries to the department store are through the doors at the back. At the moment the sit high above the ground but that will be rectified at a later stage with an elevated back-road.

The Melbourne Tram Museum has been closed since late March 2020 due to COVID-19, but with the restrictions easing in Melbourne the museum may soon open to the public again. After being closed for such a long time the trams had become rather dusty, so some of the volunteers went back on the 2nd of January to start cleaning.

On my way to the museum I did a brief stop at Flinders Street Station. The facade is the inspiration for Wombat Creek Bank and Gold Exchange. As can be seen from the photo I think, I have done a good job so far considering I have done all the modelling from pictures found on the internet. I also took the opportunity to photograph a few details of the roof along the concourse and the area in front of City Hatters.

I began the construction of the Bank during the lock-down here in Melbourne and have been relying on images I can source from the internet. One image showed some dimensions of the room above the entrance, which made it possible to calculate the width of the model. Another image showed an overall drawing enabling me to calculate the proportions of the building. Unfortunately the second drawing isn’t quite true to the building as it stands in real life. To the right of the main entrances the drawing didn’t show the extension of the booking office and the upper parts of ‘City Hatters’. I have begun to rectify this ‘mistake’ as shown.

You may notice a screw in front of the new extension. It is set into an ‘underground’ beam. Unfortunately the entrance to ‘City Hatters’ is in the basement! The beam must be moved. Fortunately all the screws are still accessible. The run of the steps down to the shop entrance can’t be found remotely, so I may visit central Melbourne for the first time in many months. At the same time I can do some photos of the window displays, which I can use for the model. Perhaps I will also purchase a new hat at the same time!

Lately I have been working on the interior of the Bank. I have decided only to do the entrance hall and the central banking room. The remaining rooms will not be visible once the building is in place.
Well, the same could be said about the central banking room, as seen on the first photo.

If the roof is removed more details are visible. Of course the bank needs its roof, so the long term solution will be installing a few lights in the ceiling above the tellers. Long time ago I bought a string of 100 micro LEDs from Bunnings. It is a matter of digging them out from storage, cut a few from the string, calculate the need of resistors and install them above the tellers and in the entrance hall. Perhaps a project for the approaching holidays.

From now on the attention will be at the roof. The domes aren’t finished and balustrades will be placed along the edge of the roof.