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.
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