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.
More than 150 cities and towns around Australia have ‘a big thing’. Coffs Harbour has the big banana; West Ballina the big prawn; Tully the big gumboot; the big pineapple on the Sunshine Coast and the big koala in Cowes to name a few.
Of course Wombat Creek has to join in with the ‘Big Spoon’!
It is temporarily placed in front of the Bank.
Ok, this may not make any sense at the moment, but some time next year it will all fall in place!
On behalf of Alfred Campbell, Mayor of Wombat Creek, Chairman of Wombat Creek Bank and Gold Exchange etc. etc., I wish you all
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Work on the RSL building is progressing. The walls have been rendered and painted, even the finishing isn’t too good. It seems a major part has fallen down! After parking his trusted VW van in front of the Mechanics Institute carpenter Ray Knott has gone inside the building to discuss the issue of window frames with the president of the RSL. The latter is pushing to get the job done, but the approaching holiday period may cause a delay until after New Year.
The next addition to Wombat Creek will be the RSL building (RSL – Returned and Services League of Australia). The building is inspired by the RSL building in Clunes, Victoria. The photo also shows the return of the Mechanics Institute, which has been in storage for a few weeks. The Institute didn’t seem quite right by itself, but the RSL has enhanced the look.
A happy trio are leaving the Hobby shop. Dad is carrying their newest purchase. The Tri-ang train set R4A consists of a Princess Victoria locomotive, two BR coaches, tracks and a battery operated controller.
The Pedal Place appears to be fully stocked inside, but it is a little wonder they haven’t utilised the space in front of the shop to show off their newest bicycles. Maybe later!
The regal is a Metcalfe construction in the background, but still needs a few details added. Instead of ‘cinema’ it now states the name of the musical Wildcat. The posters at the entrance have been replaced with appropriate versions. Some ‘cut-outs’ on the balcony could draw in crowds as well.
The area between the Royal Arcade and Chinatown still creates a challenge. It is quite narrow, so the building will be very low relief. A public bath and a RSL building are both on the drawing board.
From a bird’s eye view Wombat Creek looks like this
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. If you live in Adelaide, you may recognise the gate and be able to translate the sign.
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!
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.
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!
