This old house

I have finally got around to completing that house I started in March last year, this was before I became distracted by the invitation to the Caulfield Exhibition that year.

The saga of the house goes like this,

- I found a kit in the back of the cupboard after the refit
- Start building the house
- Obtained invitation to Caulfield
- Put house in study cupboard
- Completed other tasks for exhibition
- Unattended nephew, niece and youngest daughter find house in study cupboard
- Then they 'remodel' the house
- I find house needing some work with one window missing
- Repair house, make missing window into a box aircon conversion
- then find missing window after rework.

Then it was forgotten until the layout expansion, then it was plonked on the layout as potential.

Since then, the construction of buildings on the new modules has gone full parallel ahead, the servo, the depot admin building, the terraces and finally this old house.

This again is another local production, 'Grosvenor Cottage' by BC Models, a highly detailed full coloured printed card kit, HO scale but it works on Victoria Street. As per usual, I have taken some artistic licence with it, the installation of 'fibro' on the rear, then the fit out of alfoil corrugated iron on the roof, together with the addition of a back veranda, plus some external plumbing.

 

'God's own country'

 

 

'it may not be much, but it's home'

 

 

'position and potential'

 

 

The long view from the Ammo Factory terminus

(note the beverage chimney in the background)

 

 

Welcome to 'Plonksville' junction

(nothing is fixed yet, nor are the chimneys)

 

 

The eventual concept of this house is that it is removable so I can take photos of the depot at ground level.

 

From my ever expanding property portfolio under the wires.

Glenn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some urban density.

Another structure has been built to add to the Junction module, in typical inner urban style a row of Victorian Terrace Houses, this is a local kit that features the style that lined the main roads and back streets of inner Melbourne.

 

Urban Reality

These houses are modelled on the British 'two up and two down' but have verandas/porches on the exterior in an effort to tame the Australian summer, usually of brick construction, these houses were built for the working class that served the industries of a inner suburbs.

For a fair time these sort of properties housed tenants that were on the lower end of the social economic scale, Melbourne suburbs such as Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond and Carlton are still full of these houses, but the demographic has moved on from the working poor, migrants and university students to urban professionals (yuppies/trendies/dinks) and recently the hipster generation. This is due to the proximity to the central business district/city centre.

A certain number were obtained and demolished by authorities after the second world war as these were the worst of slum housing, and were replaced by prefabricated concrete high rise flats (public/community housing), a concept that still reverberates to this day.

The era I am trying to capture is the transition from a gritty working class area to gentrification, each of the three houses tell a story, the left house features a 'home business', the second/middle house a student share house, the right a recently renovated/restored home.

 

Student share house

(I just noticed I have not fitted the facia board)

The kit while basic, was improved with addition of printed brick sheet, and the course of bluestone foundation, is a strip of 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. The middle house has had the top veranda built in as an extra room using my 'Fibro' technique. The kit came with printed windows and iron lace work that offers some character, and as with all structures on Victoria Street, was extensively kit bashed to fit in as a low relief structure.

 

The fast filling junction module.

 

There are still some more details to add such as chimneys and weathering. All the buildings on this module are not fixed to the surface as yet, so I can finalise positions of span poles and the trolley wire, also a back board needs to be installed to all newer modules.   

 

Gratuitous tram photo.

 

 

 

From another time before hipsters sat around on milk crates stroking their beards while sampling bespoke micro brewed beer from jam jars after riding their fixed wheeled pushbikes.

 

 

'Heading out to the races'

 

 

'A quiet Saturday afternoon'

 

 

From the wrong side of the tracks.

Glenn