Earlier this year, I took a trip to my hometown in Sydney, Newtown.
Myself and Juli mostly went to see the Umbilical brothers with some friends but it was also a chance to re-explore some of the novelty and op shops that King St Newtown has to offer in abundance.
One particular store had a small selection of cultural Australian landmarks as models. Most of them were Nano blocks or other small plastic creations but one stood out among the rest to me, as a fan of public transport services. The Melbourne Route 35 W-class Tram from the 1900s.
While other model kits might be easier or more eye catching, this one was $20 and came in a package not much bigger than a envelope. So much in fact, that I think you could easily slip this into the standard Australian post as a letter without much trouble.
After a single request, Juli rushed to buy it for me as a small gift. The rest of the weekend was typical Sunday morning shopping along the quirky stores, relishing the cafe breakfast we had at Brewtown Newtown.
Upon returning home, I was excited to build my new little model. Having ridden this particular tram a few times over the years and loving both its visual design, the ding it makes and the importance of accessible inner-city transport, I was enamored by such an elegant thing.
Elegant. That’s a fun word. Some people, like, me, might correlate such a word with delicate. And that it was…..
Each small paper piece needs to be handled with care. It could so very easily be torn or splintered. The paper is thicker than your standard A4 sheets stuffed inside an office printer but its still paper.
During my work lunch breaks and coffee breaks, I slaved away, bit by bit. The project took an entire week, chipping away at it. It was my zen and it was also my enemy. Multiple steps were extremely fiddly and caused me some minor fits of rage directed at my new small friend. In particular, the on-board hanging hand holes (Also called a Grab Handle) caused problems as they are long, thin and loosely connected to the yellow doors.
Once all built however, I was rather proud of my little project and I had, the same week, ordered its new home….
An IKEA Display Cabinet! Filled with all my other models from over the years including Gundam, Lego, video game characters and a functioning foam-dart firing shell ejecting shotgun in bright pink. (It is not a real gun, don’t @ me)
I know its been a while since my last blog post. Things have been busy and I am only recently re-engaging more with my creative hobbies. I hope to see you again soon 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions! Would love to hear from you.
Signing off,
Jackson