Wombat Creek is a H0 (1:87) scale model of a fictional town situated somewhere in the Victorian Goldfields, Australia.
The time is 1963. Geelong wins the VFL Championship against Hawthorn (109– 60). John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. ValentinaTeresjkova is the first woman in Space. The men behind The Great Train Robbery get £2.6 million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London.
The town consists of several buildings. The “Wombat Creek Bank and Gold Exchange” is a prominent building in the town centre. You will also find several other commercial buildings; among them the daily newspaper“W.C. Chronicle”(colloquial known as the "Toilet Paper") and “Wombat Creek Brewing Company” (Famous for the “Wombat Bitter”). “The Big Nugget Gold Mine” is situated at the Western outskirts of town near the small Chinatown. The War Memorial is in a small park along East Street.
The town’s mayor Alfred Campbell together with his son David Campbell owns several businesses, including the bank, the pub and the newspaper. AC/DC basically run the town and make most decisions on behalf of the rest of Wombat Creek’s residents, who, on the other hand, are too busy with their own businesses.
The mayor’s latest initiative is Wombat Creek Tramways. Wombat Creek doesn’t really need a tram system, but AC reckons tramways will improve the town’s reputation. Partly because of limited funds the tramways' construction and rolling stock depend heavily on second-hand requirements from other Australian and overseas tramways.
The main frame of the poppet head has been made from 36 pieces of balsa wood. Still to come is ‘flooring’ at level 1 and 2, stairs from the ground to level 1 and ladders between the three levels. Two wheels are to be installed at the top. They have already arrived by train. To save money the mine manager has decided to reuse the wheels from the steam roller! At the moment the boiler sits in an unusual position. Later it will be properly propped up.
I have a drawing of a poppet head from the Victorian goldfields. I can’t read the scale, but I have made a mock-up in a suitable size to get an idea how it will fit the space available. The base is a bit wide, but the height is right. I don’t want to change the proportions, so I will try to arrange the other features of the mine around it.
The Big Nugget Mine is yet to been built, but the grass has grown on the slopes surrounding the place. Even with a proper crossing of the railway, the road access to the mining site is still pretty bad.
A few weeks ago I bought another kit which can be turned into an ex-Hobart tram. The kit didn’t come with a motor, but Japan Plaza sells an Aru Model with the right distances between the wheels. It looks like this:
I was informed from the website, that the instructions is in Japanese only. I thought, the instructions would be something like the ones you get from an Ikea flat-pack. Mostly drawings, so hard can it be? Well, the instructions look like this:
If you think I speak Japanese, think again!
A common problem (for me at least) is lack of space. The Big Nugget Mine will be limited to the area bordered by the slopes seen in this photo.
It will work out with the interior tramway handling the firewood for the steam boiler, the tailings from the stamper and the explosives for the underground mine.
The chief engineer has again been spending money. This time an unusual purchase for a gold mine – an old steam roller. He is certainly not going to start flatting the surface around the mine. Instead the roller will be taken apart. Only the boiler will be used at the mine. It will be installed in the power house powering the poppet head and the rock crusher (battery).
The engineer’s main headache: How to get the roller to the mine site!
With the Bellcord finished and positioned next to the fire station my attention has turned to the tunnel entrances for the mining railway. The entrance near the bridge/creek could be done at any time, but the position of the entrance near the fire station was more ‘precarious’, depending on the placement of the fire station. Because of the rather short railway tracks around the mine every millimetre counts. The further ‘back’ the entrance could be set, the better.
After almost three months I am pleased the Bellcord, or as it is known by the good people of Wombat Creek ‘the Jazz House’, is finished.
The sign at the top of the building is made from ‘stem wire’ (used by florists), super-glue and some patience. As a template I printed the sign in a appropriate font called ‘Jam Session’ and bent the wire following the outline of the letters. Once glue together, the sign was a little hard to read being green letters on a green ‘scaffolding’. Painted black they stand out a bit better and also tie in with the letters on the balcony.
I have enjoyed building the Bellcord, but I look forward to smaller projects which can be done I far less time.
