Miniature Time Traveller Issue 1

Miniature Time Traveller Magazine Issue #1/12 redecoration consisted of wallpapering over the previous paper. Rimu timber had the advantage of being resistant to the native wood worm or borer. It was used nationwide on all houses of the time. As a result of this sturdy construction these Victorian villas and cottages which survived the many earthquakes in the land, can be relocated easily from one location to another. Nowadays they are usually sawn in two and transported on the back of large trucks to a new location. Paint finishes were prosaically limited to what was available, as were building materials. One of the most bizarre products was ‘Imitation Rockface Galvanized Steel Sheeting’ especially suited to districts subjected to earth tremors. The corrugated iron roof was either red (dark if made from NZ hematite oxide) or a brighter red if imported. On colour schemes it was suggested by a Victorian designer that exterior trims should be a deeper colour than the walls to bring out the detail i.e. exterior walls being Buff, walls of a recessed porch in deep Ultramarine Green, trimmings of Indian red relieved (?) by lines of black, and a coved ceiling of Brilliant Blue. I can’t say I have seen this colour scheme around the country, but some brave soul may have chanced it. I am tempted to decorate at least the parlour in his suggestion of a pattern on the ceiling in dark blue and cream, the cornice dark blue, the walls being cream down to the dado; the border separating the dado from the wall black on a dull orange colour and the dado chocolate with a black rosette upon it. The skirting boards then being bright black.’ He suggests a border running around the upper portion of the wall in dull orange and chocolate.’ He does advise avoiding huge bunches of flowers and animal or human figures. Gooood!! There are so many variations on the shape of these early pioneer homes. Some had a bay with a veranda like mine. Some had double bays with a central veranda for areas that had a lot of wind and rain, primarily. The roof line of mine was bad enough to construct with my limited knowledge of geometry. Nearly all had a lean-to kitchen on the back along with a ‘wash house’ or laundry. The toilet was always a long drop type, some distance from the house. Ours was past a line of chicken houses with their own pens, which made it a dire exercise if the gates were all closed and fastened over the pathway. My Uncle drew a cartoon of me racing along this path after eating green apples, opening and closing the gates as I went. A tale recounted with great gusto by my Uncle at the dinner table. This Project turned out to be an incredible experience crossing between a full scale building project and the more familiar 12th scale one. Like my big work mates I started from the ground up. On the floor I marked out the recesses for the walls and routed them in. The walls were all cut to size and doors and windows were penciled on. From then on all resemblance ended. While the builders were fixing pre-nailed wall frames in place I was carefully glueing on weatherboards across the outer faces of the walls. While they contracted out all the old style sash windows and doors I was sitting patiently painting ready made mini sash windows and doors. Boy do those sashes stick with paint. In the end I carefully removed the top of the window and removed the windows and painted them separately before gluing back together again. I made the bay window first. This was a fiddly job. It was here that I realized how woeful I was at geometry. I determined the angles of the windows by eye! I arrived at 26%. I found out later that the real one was 22.5% being half of 45%. See, I flunked ‘geo’ at school. Never mind, my angles made it possible to use ready made windows so onward I went. I had a few sleepless nights thinking my way through how to make corbels. They are the ornamental thingies that sit under the bay window. Back in the real world I managed to find ten full size corbels on “Trademe” on the internet and successfully bid for them. To be continued next Issue... Victorian Villa - A journey through time—continued