SEEN BY MODEL

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 1, 1 July 1935, Page 7

SEEN BY MODEL

USEFUL CIVIC ART

MAPS OF OLD WELLINGTON

BUT NO MODELLERS THEN

The mapper can do much to convey, on a flat surface, a topographical idea. But, lor topography a modeller can do more. The day of the modeller in landscape and topographical developments has arrived. Pity we have no models of the Wellington of 1841, 1851, 1861, etc.! Such .is the reflection that arises on reading the following article from "Focus" (monthly publication of "The Local Bodies Officers' Guild"):— . Maps and plans, more or less accurate, have been an essential in municipal activities from the beginning. In New Zealand we have had the advantage of an excellent Government survey system coupled with a Land Transfer Act which insists on super-accuracy in title measurements. A CITY ON PAPER: THE PLAN'S JOB. From the Standard Survey blocks and efficient private surveys, the city plans have been evolved, and working sheets for the plotting of dwellings, services, and roads are, in the main, sufficiently accurate for the purpose. In major development schemes, however, something more is required. The position of roads, section boundaries, buildings, gas mains, electric cables, and sewers must be known, but what of the contour of the land which in many cases is such an important factor? , Of course, barometrical heights above a datum line can be shown, but they are not sufficiently "seen at a glance" to be of great assistance. The next step is contour lines, which, when surveyed and plotted on a plan, show a continuous line for all land at the same height above sea level. The result is that on inspecting a contour plan one who is used to reading such maps may see quickly the lay of the land. To the uninitiated, however, contour lines are confusing and the writer remembers having two loYig prints of a contour plan hanging up to dry, arid hearing a lady, who was examining them,, say. in all, seriousness, ','O, is that, a ,new. wallpaper pattern?" '' . \ .'.'..> : , ■ The method .of obtaining the data for plotting contour lines is tedious and expensive, but the resultant plan may save many expensive municipal mistakes and is therefore justified. FROM CONTOUR TO MODEL. v' Contour plans are necessary . in dealing with large areas for subdivision, but in certain other development schemes something more is.required, arid that is where the scale model comes in. ■ A model of a section of the earth's surface shows the physical -.features just, as they would be seen from, an aeroplane and at a distance which varies with the scale to wriicli the model is built. In natural scale models the, accuracy depends iipon the scale used and the contour interval, but for certain purposes very ' satisfactory results may be obtained'even when small scales and large: contour intervals are used. ■.'.'■' Small-scale models down to about onQ to five hundred are very simply constructed with paste-board or beaverboard. A suitable board to accurately represent the width of the contour - interval. is chosen,- and each-suc-cessive contour is marked on the board and then cut out by fret-saw or jigsaw.:- The cut boards are then fas tened'orie omtpp of the/other in their correct positions and there results a correct representation; of the physical features, except that .it appears rather unnatural, being all in steps The steps'are filled in with plaster of paris and finally, .with,the addition bi.suitable colouring and minor details, such as houses, woods, rocks, etc., the model becomes recognisable. . BEAVER-BOARD OF EXACT THICKNESS. Beaver-board with a thickness .of one fifth of an inch is required for a model on a fifty feet to one inch scale (1/600) when using a ten foot contour interval. A small error in the thickness of the board will soon accumulate and produce a large distortion of vertical heights. Models do not. appear to have been used very much in New Zealand in connection with Government or municipal undertakings. Certainly not to the extent that they have been used in England, America, and Germany, but there is every possibility of a change in the near future as they facilitate the understanding of proposed works, produce a picture that the layman cannot visualise from plans and specifications, permit of experimenting that cannot otherwise be done except at a huge expenditure, and invariably more than pay for themselves in indicating improvements and desirable connections that do not always become apparent until after the works are i commenced. In England models are extensively used in showing housing details, in town planning schemes, in reroading proposals, and the improvement of transport facilities, in factory extension, and in,the lay-out of estates. In the case of civic buildings, etc., where ratepayers are invited to sanction the raising of a loan, have they not a right to see in an understandable form the goods they are asked to purchase? MODELLING A BRITISH HOBBY. , Models are used for many other purposes, such as street traffic accidents, disputes concerning ancient lights, and are therefore not unfamiliar in courts of law. They are largely used in shipbuilding, are found in schools and colleges, in physical laboratories, and in .the British Government Departments, such as the Admiralty and the War Office. There is another interesting side to models, and that is as a hobby. It is one of the oldest .hobbies and almost peculiar to the British Isles. Many charming and interesting models have been produced in England and probably the most famous is the Queen's dolls' house designed by Sir Edward Lutyenc on a scale of one inch to a foot, and a marvellous piece of work it is, being complete in every detail. As. a method of preserving stages in development arid the change of styles, models definitely excel. How interesting, for instance, one finds the old photographs of Wellington city, but how much more interesting would be a model of Wellington in 1850