1:22.5 SCALE LOGGING AND MINING HOIST EQUIPMENT
Manufacturer: Ozark Miniatures, P.O. Box 22, Linn Creek, MO 65052 Price: (Clockwise from upper right) OL-812-18 Tree Shoe $4.00 each; OL-812-33 Logging Tongs $4.50 for two; OL-812-27 Slackline Carriage (the item in the center of the photo) $5.15 each; OL-812-16 Sixteen Inch Logging Block $3.65 for two; OL-812-21 Fall Block $4.00 each.
FROM THE 1880s until at least the 1950s logging operations throughout the United States and Canada used block and tackle systems, such as the models Ozark produces, to lift and drag heavy timber. Some mining operations used similar hardware as part of cable car or hoist systems for moving ore from mine shafts to facilities closer to railroad spurs.
Ozark's components come as easy-to-assemble white metal kits. Figure 1 shows the parts making up the slackline carriage assembly: nine white metal castings and two pieces of brass rod. A finished kit is at the top of the photo. Our samples were almost completely free of flash; it took under a minute to clean up the pieces with a file. You will have to drill through the dimples on the U-shaped parts using a 1/16-inch bit. Assembly consists simply of inserting the brass rod, snipping off the excess with a wire cutters, and carefully filing the ends flush. The instructions consist only of a line drawing of the completed item. Ozark offers no suggestion for securing the brass wire to keep it from sliding out of the holes but a tiny drop of cyanoacrylate (superglue) on the outside pieces should do the job.
All pieces pivot fairly freely, so these components will build into a working model. They scale out to appropriate sizes for 1:22.5 and 1:24 scenes. They would be oversize for the smaller scales.
This hardware spent its life in the elements, and it became pretty rusty. For an indoor display you might want to paint the components a medium shade of flat brown, dust them with burnt umber or brighter rust-colored pastel chalk, and then overspray lightly with a flat finish such as Testor's Dullcote. Of course, if you leave everything outside the elements will erode the flat finish and wash away the chalk, so just spraying them a rusty brown color should be satisfactory.
These are excellent castings and kits.--RR
