Plantation House circa 1750, West Indies

[Philip]

Houses like this one were, and maybe still are, ubiquitous over all the islands of the West Indies. Of primarily wooden construction, early settlers made their peaked roofs from thatch or wood chippings. Over time corrugated iron took over from these materials and became a must have for house owners. Living rooms were at the front and were given some privacy by the fenced porch outside. At the back were the kitchen area and workrooms, incuding the coffee drying floors if they were present. Numerous louvred windows took care of the trade winds in that part of the world.

I've been making and collecting paper models since God was a boy but this kit is the only one I've ever come across to have been developed and published in the Caribbean. Surely there must be others? Anyhow, the publishers were Carouge Ltd., Castries, St. Lucia, date unknown. Scale also is unknown; the base measures 19 x16cm approx. The kit is mostly die-cut but you have to remove most of the railing spaces yourself. It was an easy build, to be sure, but I was surprised just how well it did go together. A great hunk of thick card was supplied as base material, as well as a miniscule sachet of artificial grass. Well, as far as that goes I've done my best with what I was given.

There may be a photo too many, but it is such an unusual (to me) model that I thought it deserved good documentation somewhere other than my living room.

[Wyvern]

Fascinating structure, and a great build.

Wyvern

[Sakrison]

Very nice!

[Tim Crowe]

Looks great

Reminds me of the TV show 'Death in Paradise'

Tim

[spgifford]

Thanks for posting the photos, this is a very nice build of an interesting subject.

[sander1942]

Nicely done!

[Vermin_King]

You always find the interesting models. Nice

[Madbrit]

Nice build of an interesting subject. The roof reminds me of the corrugated roofs that seem to be all over the Australian outback communities.

Derek

[Tapcho]

Fine obviously rare example from your exceptional collection that constantly takes us around the world. I just wonder how you find these kits? Do you travel a lot?

Tappi

[SCEtoAUX]

Nice looking building. I bet the rain beating down on the metal roof made either a soothing sound or got to be irritating.