Sunday, January 25, 2009

Latest Models

I've made 2 more models for my Woy Woy Historical Buildings collection at Sketchup this long weekend. I'm finding the whole thing quite enjoyable as I get to use my intimate knowledge of old buildings to help me in my projects.
You see I've been a painter since I was 16 and have spent countless hours working on older buildings , years of sanding and painting barge boards and finials have left their distinct shapes and colours permanently etched in the old grey memory bank.
If a detail in an old photo is a bit blurry then I can usually guess what goes where and picking the old colour schemes are a snap

Gilans Refreshment Rooms

My first project for this weekend was Gilan's Refreshment Rooms , located in the Boulevarde at Woy Woy , now long gone I used old photos to rebirth her , originally a big old house it seemed to have been renovated once and was replaced by a brick building at some stage , though keeping the original facade.
I gave it a nice green period paint job , it could have been a pink or beige colour as well.

Gilans

Gilans sold pastries and drinks of all kinds , as well as having a Tobacconist , Barber and Fishing Tackle store at one end of the building , noting the stripey posts on the left in the old pics.
As I finished that one fairly quickly and had spent a few hours working out the positions of the buildings in the Boulevarde , I decided to knock up the first Post Office recorded in Woy Woy.

First Post Office

Handily it is located right next door to Gilan's and it was also a test to see if I can get the models to sit side by side nicely in the correct location.
Again working from old photos I managed to build it in a couple of hours , I also used bits that others have made it this one.

Original photo P.O

The good thing about sharing with Sketchup is that others have made things that you can use in your own model.
I needed an old style gas lamp for the awning on Gilans and found one on the site , for the post office I nicked a tree and planted it in the correct spot according to the photo.
I painted the P.O a brown colour but for some reason it looks as though it could have been painted dark blue or green , both of these colours would make the model hard to view in detail so I've used a lighter period colour
I must say that painting the finished product is truly pleasurable like icing a cake , if only painting in real life was as easy as point and click !

Google Earth placement

All my models are here , you can download them and place them in Google Earth , all models should load into the correct location apart from the Picture Theatre and the Masonic Hall , you can locate them yourself and save the position in your copy of GE if you are handy with editing and right clicking , I may post a tutorial on this once I fully understand the process !
Interesting to note that in the 24 hours these new models have been up , they have each been downloaded by up to 10 people already

and..

Happy Oz day - don't get too pissed - good to see all the aussie flags in yards along O.B road today

Why not drop in and check out Grumpy Old Journo , another local , and Spike is always a good read

ah I just noticed demolition fencing being erected around the Masonic Hall , could this be the end ? I wonder if they will find any freaky shit in the long closed upper level like human leg bones ( this actually happened when they demolished another old Masonic Hall years back in Sydney , evidently it was used in ceremonies ! )

ooh and grab a copy of the Peninsula News with my article on Rock Davis that I wrote just before Xmas , will do some more soon once the shock of returning to work subsides !

2 comments:

  1. Excellent models again. Dunno where you get the patience.

    Not happy about the Masonic Hall. Do not want it replaced with some characterless crap.

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  2. those models have been the easy ones so far im dreadig trying to build all the turrets on the alecia tearooms !

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