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 Long Tunnel Mine is in operation (sort of). Signs above the entrance and on the ‘Explosives’ storage have been added. Most importantly, though, is the flight of stairs joining the village to the mine. The purpose for the mine is getting some gold out of the ground. The state of the stairs is obviously less important.
Hard to imagine this is working gold mine. At the moment it looks like an abandoned mine shaft and s rusty shed without any access point for the miners.
With an outside temperature of 35.5 degrees, the best place to be is in Gumnut Gully working on the rocks around the gold mine.
The construction of The Long Tunnel Gold Mine in Gumnut Gully has commenced. Unexpectedly, the rails for the mining carts have been put in before the mine itself! The gauge is just 5mm (18 inches) and made of timber sleepers and I-profile polystyrene strips. How the ore will be transferred from the carts to the wagons is still to be determined.
It is Boxing Day and the local crowd has begun walking up the path to the Cricket Ground. The train with the players and spectators from Wombat Creek is about to stop at the halt. Before long the Boxing Day cricket match known as the ‘Clashes’ between Gumnut Gully and Wombat Creek will begin with the coin toss.
The small forest with the path leading up to the Cricket Ground is finished. Six gum trees (eucalyptus trees) and 12 shrubs have been planted. The leaves on the shrubs are made from ‘rubbed’ oregano leaves bought at the local supermarket. In the beginning they did smell like pizza!
The path is unused at the moment, but I think it will be busy before the local cricket derby on Boxing Day.
This may sound like a contradiction. However, I have been busy in the garden. Only today I did find some time to work on the trees for the small forest near the Cricket Ground. The trees have got the first layer of ‘leaves’. Once the glue is properly dried I will add more foliage.
Second step: Gap filler and paint have been applied to the wire frames. The the gap filler stays flexible once dried. Excellent if I need to make minor adjustment to the branches.
