Miniature Buildings

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Cockington Green

Just outside Canberra, the capital of Australia, visitors to Cockington Green can experience a little piece of traditional England and a taste of buildings from around the world.  Described as a "Display of Miniature Buildings" rather than as a model village the Sarah family have not attempted to reproduce a single location but have created a lovely garden setting in which they have set their finely crafted model buildings.

On a visit many years ago now I was fortunate enough to be shown around the site and workshop by Mark Sarah.  This article should have been written then but life got in the way.   I'm sorry it has taken so long to publicly acknowledge their hospitality that day.

The origins of the Cockington Green project go back 50 years to 1972 when Australian builder Doug Sarah visited the Babbacombe model village in Devon, England.  His mother was English.  Inspired by the possibilities, Doug set about producing a little piece of green and pleasant England in the rather drier landscape near Canberra.  After a gestation period of 7 years Cockington Green (or "CG" from here on) was opened to visitors in 1979 and now welcomes thousands every year.

Seven years might seem a long time but to make a viable exhibit you need more than just a couple of buildings.   Doug and his family worked in their spare time alongside their day jobs to build up a stock of exhibits and develop the site.  As well as constructing the first model exhibits Doug also built the handsome English style timbered building which sits at the front of the display site - arguably a full scale model in its own right. 

The 1/12 scale model of the full size entrance building

I will return to the English display later but it only represents one third of what CG is now involved in.  The second part is an international display of a truly varied selection of prototypes and the third, in the early stages of development when I visited, is a display of Australian buildings. I'm back in Australia next year and hope I might be able to see how it has developed.

One of the first Australian models on display.  A typical rural Australian cabin with its veranda. The roof shape, with two different angles of pitch is a very distinctive component of all kinds and sizes of Australian Buildings

A more modern Australian example

This is surely a wise and welcome step into the future. The Sarah family have done a great job of producing a little bit of England for visiting Brits and nostalgic Australians born of English immigrants but Australia is no longer a colony.  It is increasingly multicultural, will inevitably one day break the last remaining ties to become a republic and has a "western" heritage going back over 240 years.   The indigenous Aboriginal culture goes back a lot further of course but does not provide much inspiration for model buildings.

Manager Mark Sarah at work in a non-managerial role - the reality of a small family business.

During my visit to CG during a Christmas trip to Australia I was shown round the exhibit and the workshop by Mark Sarah, the son of founder Doug Sarah, and now the manager of CG. Although it was great to get an insider's view as we walked around, the regular visitor is also well served by informative exhibit labelling giving information about scales, modellers and the prototype buildings.

Just the sort of labelling we want to see

The main focus of our conversation as we walked in the hot December sunshine was the International section, which is what the on-site workshop was then devoting its attention to.  In an imaginative move some years ago the Sarah family approached overseas embassies and consulates based in Canberra and offered them the opportunity to sponsor a site within the gardens on which a building from their own country could be displayed. 

Many countries took up this offer and the CG garden has a range of international exhibits on show.  There was, when I spoke with Mark, a five year waiting list for construction since new buildings can take up to 3000 hours to construct and CG had only three active modellers.  These were Mark himself,  brother in law Roland Schmitz and full time model maker, former school friend ,  Robert Pavlekovic. 

Many of the countries represented have asked the CG workshop  to build the models for them but some have commissioned their own nationals to produce a model which is then shipped and installed on the site prepared for them within the international garden. 

The workbench at CG featuring their Korean and Mauritian exhibits

Under construction in the CG workshop at the time of my visit were an observatory and two pagodas for the Korean site and a detailed copy of the official  residence of the President of Mauritius - the blue and white building you can see at the back of the picture.  I guess they are by now out in the garden on display and some new project is sitting on Robert's workbench.

Most of the buildings at CG, and all the new buildings, are constructed from resin and fibreglass using a variety of techniques.  As Mark told me "we are always pushing the envelope - exploring new ways of what it is possible to achieve with resin".  There is more about this on CG's own website.

One example of this, which unfortunately I was not able to capture on film, is the surface texture on the Korean models created by putting sandpaper within the mould before the resin pieces were cast. 

Even though Canberra is in the more temperate southern part of Australia temperatures can range from -6 C to 40 C and many of the buildings sit out in full sun.  The choice of resin rather than timber or other materials and the integration of colour within the moulding rather than using a painted finish is a practical necessity for an all year outdoor exhibit.

So long after my visit I only have a few abbreviated notes and the rest of this article is reconstructed from those.  It is possible I may have misinterpreted some of them.  If I have I apologise to CG.

One of the pleasant features of the international collaboration is that official visitors from countries come out for commissioning of 'their' buildings. The President of Mauritius came for lunch at CG and 100 came from Jordan. Though the Jordan model of the site at Petra was commissioned by a private citizen from Canberra.

They try to work from plans where possible and countries sponsoring buildings will asisst with this but some scaling is needed from photos.

I guess this is Robert Pavlekovic

My jotted down notes from the workshop include the following phrases: All handmade, no laser cutting or fancy software, Dremel key tool, 'no bought in components, "they're more like works of art for us than models", Balsa prototypes for windows, rubber cast - very flexible long lasting, casting resin.  However larger columns, such as those in the Petra model, are turned rather than moulded.

Holloke village, Hungary

Duxford Mill

Stonehenge, Mark's first model.

Clearly part of the English collection though I dont know the location

Oast houses;a rare subject in miniature. The tils are individually applied; possible at 1/12scale. Normally their smaller scale buildings have roofing applied in panels.

The rows in Chester, an ambitious subject.

The English display is all made in 1/12th scale. However in the International section the scale is chosen to suit the building and the garden. It may be 1/100 , 1/50 , 1/18 or 1/25.

I believe this is the Trakai castle from Lithuania - at 1/50.
Not really the sort of subject to try in 1/12

The Treasury at Petra

The        at   Petra in Jordan.   Sponsored by a private individual living in Canberra this model attracted a great deal of attention within Jordan.   Over    people made the    mile journey to CG at Canberra for the commissioning ceremony in  .  Larger Image

I'm not sure which model this lovely detail comes from

sandpaper in mould to give rough effect Korean pagoda

How much is too much - hours spent , time viewer devotes

St Andrews Church Ukraine c 2500 hours

manager@cockingtongreen.com.au

One subject we discussed was the question of "scale or effect?". A topic I devote a whole article to. Their position was that they would where they felt it was necessary over accentuate to give effect. The thickness of some elements may need to be increased so that tile effect or mortar lines are visible. They apply a "4 or 5 foot" test. What they are trying to achieve is a model that looks 'right' from that typical viewing distance for visitors.

Sometimes plans of major buildings are wrong

 

English village mid to late 70s

Father Doug inspired by visit to England     mother was english

no longer much modelling trying to retire

 

Queen Anne is version 2 - retaining original roof

 

 

Duxford   original model wrong    Doug knocked on door for measurements

 

some models provided by countries eg Indonesai

Australia next project  separate zone    constant scale probably 1/18

3 australia buildings at present in international area

 

Slovakia 3000 hours

el coat thinking in reverse paining back of coat

 

Hungary " one we really like"   Fake wood  Gel coat balsa in mould

 

Slovenia  real modelling   lots of different techniques   variations in colur

individaul roofing to keep slovenia happy  (??)

Filler and adghesive the same - resin plus various fillers

 

Sister as sculptor - statues on buildings

 

 

 

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