I have built a couple of passenger car kits from Mount Blue Models, and will almost certainly do more. While perusing his web site, I spotted this mine kit, which would be a great fit back in the corner of the layout. It doesn't particularly resemble anything I know of in the Lockwood/Frazier Mining District, but it's an interesting building and gives the impression of being a large structure without actually taking up too much real estate.
The kit is something like $135 -- not terrible as O scale buildings go, but I've already busted my budget the last couple of months, and the mine was a low priority, so I just bookmarked it for future reference.
Then yesterday, this one popped up on the On30 Marketplace group on Facebook, for just $40. Even with shipping, which is high because of the size of the package, it's less than half what I would have paid for the kit.
I'll miss out on the fun of building the kit from the ground up, but I can see some possible modifications and customization to put my own stamp on it. It'll probably get here in a week or so.
8/1/25: The mine arrived today. It needs some work, but I expected that.
- Roofing: The ore dump that runs over the track has corrugated roofing that looks pretty good, but the main building is roofed in simulated tarpaper, which I don't care for. I have enough corrugated roofing left from another project to cover the main building, at least. If I run short, I'll leave tarpaper on the boiler house, since it's pretty well hidden anyway. While I'm at it, I'll add fascias and rafter tails.
- Waste chute: In the top picture, you can see that there is supposed to be a chute for dumping waste material (tailings) extending out from the front of the ore dump. I can easily fabricate one, or if there's space, I might enlarge the opening and have some On18 track on a trestle to carry the tailings a short distance away from the main building.
- Rooftop details: Since I'm re-roofing anyway, I'll redo the rooftop details. The water tank, in particular, is in rough shape and needs new banding, and the tank roof is warped and needs to be fixed. Also, the ladders all the way up to the peak on both sides don't make a lot of sense to me. I'll probably just have ladders going to the water tank.
- Name: I believe the name is a decal that came with the kit. I'll see if I can get it off with Solvaset and steel wool, without doing too much damage to the finish. Then I'll give it a different name, more evocative of the Frazier Mining District, or name it for one of my Lockwood Valley/Frazier Park friends.
- Track: I think I can move the mine track forward an inch or so without much trouble, which will give me a little more room for the mine.
- Base and surrounding scenery: I cut some beadboard to make a temporary base, but I really need to build a whole mountain in this corner. I'll probably build the mine itself on a freestanding base, on the workbench, then drop it in place. I need some sort of retaining wall in front, either stone or cribbing, and lots of other details.
8/3/25: I've been doing some repairs to the mine itself and working on a base.
As I hoped, the lettering came off easily. Now I need to find some large decal letters in an appropriate font to reletter it. I'm holding off on that for now, since the final color of the building will determine whether I go with black or white lettering.
I removed the ladders, the rooftop tank, and the trestles that support the ore dump. I rebuilt the ladders and trestles, removed the wonky banding from the tank, and reglued the tank top.
I spent a bunch of time carving a retaining wall, and still have work to do on that. I'm thinking I'll set the main building right on the edge of the retaining wall, with a wood catwalk and stairs in front. I ordered a stair kit from Pacific Northwest Miniatures.
I also ordered some more corrugated roofing from Wild West Models. I got twice as much as a need for this project, so hopefully I will be happy with the product when it gets here.
Finally, I did some work on the other Calvin Witt shed (I used the first on in the San Emigdio Canyon mini). I used some bits and pieces to add a lean-to on the back. I gave it a base coat of stain, and later I'll dry brush it with gray and perhaps another color TBD. I think I'll use corrugated roofing on this one. I'm thinking the shed will end up as part of the mine complex, maybe down the hill a bit.
8/5/25: I carved the left end retaining wall, built a loading dock, and worked on a few other details. I envision a catwalk along the front, with a stairway down to track level.
I also put a first coat of paint on the retaining wall.
The loading dock isn't sitting level in the picture -- neither is the ore dump -- but you get the idea.
I was going to set the building flush with the retaining wall on the left, but I'm now thinking I need a way to move stuff from the loading dock to the building, so I've shifted the building four feet or so to the right to make room for a Tichy or Wiseman jib crane on the corner. I'll probably add a door on that end of the building.
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| The loading dock and catwalk are built from strip wood, with coffee stir sticks for the decking. The stairs are from PNW Miniatures and are much nicer than I could make from scratch. It's all stained with an India ink and alcohol wash. I still need to add a safety railing on the upper level. |
- Frazier
Mine (aka Frazier Borax Mine)
- Russell
Mine
- Columbus
Mine (plus the nearby Eureka claim that’s part of the Columbus property).
- Bitter
Creek area claims: Bitter Creek claim, Bitter Crick Placer claim, Merrill
claim, Comet claim, Climax claim, Gridiron Placer Mining claim, Bueno
claim
- Middle
Fork (Center Creek) area claims: Jumbo claim, Gib claim, Center Creek
claim, Baldwin claim, Mammoth claim; also the Ives tunnel/property in the
same belt
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