Death Valley Days and the 20-Mule Team Borax Train

[JohnRatzenberger]

I have posted a introductory history of all this in the Historical Reference thread rather than take up too much space here. Please see the Personal Note.

Anyway, on to modeling ...

The Kit

I got this from either eBay or a show vendor; actually I have two, so it could be one of each.

In those days, one could send in box tops and a dollar or so and get a model kit. My very first model was a stage coach gotten that way, it wasn't this one -- I didn't acquire a 20-mule team kit until later in life.

Here's the mailing box. I rubbed out the name and street address but left city and state visible because it helps date the kit. I do not know if they continued using Stanley Andrews, the "Old Ranger", after he left the show, but there is no ZIP code in the mailing address which puts it pre-1963.



Inside were several bags of parts, I have already gone through and resorted the mules, people, and gear into separate bags to match the build sequence -- and left all the wagon parts for later. Sorry about the pictures, you'll see the parts later as we go along.





And the instructions, which are falling apart and I must make a copy of. Here are those for the wagons …



… and for the teams, which have quite a bit of "rigging" to do. Note drawing "A" at the bottom shows the completed model to be some 45" long.



But that is not our goal. If you go back to the description in the Hist.Ref post, these trains were over 180 feet long -- have you ever considered how to make a sharp turn, say on a mountain road ? 180' is about 3 times as long as a tractor-trailer combo and you know they have to swing wide to make a turn without entangling the trailer wheels.

Well the instructions provide this ….



…. And that's my goal. I think figuring out how to adapt the team assembly/rigging instructions to make this happen will be interesting.

[jssel]

Well that answered my question. Same boxing I have.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Well that answered my question. Same boxing I have.

Check carefully, your return mailing address might be different. My other one was sent from Clinton, Iowa, where my Mom's sister and her family lived.

There is, or maybe was, a re-pop boxing around - it's shown in one of the web links I posted.

[fredk]

I was just reading about these Borax Trains recently in 'True West' magazine

[splash]

I look forward to seeing you work you magic on this one, what scale is it HO/OO ?

Regards Splash

[Purplethistle]

Fascinating subject choice John, in the true spirit of a TV GB you're embodying the BBC's motto, 'Inform, Educate, Entertain'

[JohnRatzenberger]

I look forward to seeing you work you magic on this one, what scale is it HO/OO ?

Regards Splash

It doesn't say, but I believe it to be 1/67. The re-pop mentioned below says 1/67.

Jeff wondered who made them, and I do not know for sure. The instructions have West Model Kits capitalized and an order form to buy others, but no real statement and searches have found nothing yet. There is a company, Mule Team Kits, making them now, or was 8 years ago. Their website is http://www.muleteamkits.com/;

I do see a note on the website that these are ABS, so I'm going to have to test glues.

CORRECTION: another part of the website says styrene !? In fact the more I look at the website I wonder if it got past the initial setup ??

[JohnRatzenberger]

Fascinating subject choice John, in the true spirit of a TV GB you're embodying the BBC's motto, 'Inform, Educate, Entertain'

Oh, I don't know, remember back then Newton Minnow, Chair of the FCC, in 1961 gave his famous "vast wasteland" speech and he wasn't referring to the Mojave Desert. From Wikipedia:

Minow became one of the most well known and respected — if sometimes controversial — political figures of the early 1960s because of his criticism of commercial television. In a speech given to the National Association of Broadcasters convention on May 9, 1961, he was extremely critical of television broadcasters for not doing more, in Minow's view, to serve the public interest. His phrase, "vast wasteland", is remembered years after the speech after he said,

“ When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there for a day without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

I suspect it is still true today.

[jssel]

I just read that Adams Model Company produced these kits also. So my boxing is the same, John just no post mark on the box.

But here are a couple interesting clues.






Working on a mystery. Goin' wherever it leads.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Yes, I was aware of the 20MT Products link, it's in my instructions, etc -- but I didn't think they were also the manufacturers thereof.

Adams ? I always associated them with Revell and Miniature Masterpieces, which I thought were in a different scale, and would not have associated them with the 20MT kit, but looking further, I found this link: http://www.internetmodeler.com/2006/nov ... corner.php;
and at the very bottom, a likely answer:

In the late 1950’s the United States Borax Corporation was sponsoring a very popular TV program called Death Valley Days. They approached Revell and the result was a close cousin of the Miniatures Masterpiece series. Revell designed the product, sculpted the masters and Adams made the molds and handled production. This 20 mule team kit was never released under any of the Revell, Adams, UPC or Life Like brands; it was only offered as a promotional item from U.S. Borax. Oddly enough, some of the other wagon kits were offered for a short time by U. S. Borax. To my knowledge it was never released in anything but a plastic bag with a shipping box, but it is to the same high standard of detail and is a very impressive 45 inches long when assembled.

So there you go, and thank you very much Jeff for that clue !! This is so cool !

I have the M.M Stage Coach - maybe if I had looked in the box I might have seen a family resemblance

[TimJ]

I'm looking forward to seeing this one John. It was interesting reading how they got the team around corners too, I hadn't thought about that before.

[JohnRatzenberger]

I started the GB with cleaning of parts .... and found it will be a bigger task than I thought or wished.
On the wagons, the sides have ejectors on the outside, in the wood grain. I'm doing what I can with them.
The wheels, all 12 of them, each with all their spokes, will takes quite a bit of mold seam removal.
This is probably true of all the body parts.
Test fits indicate pins and holes will need some work to get them to mate.
Mules look better to start with.

Is OK, start of a journey ....

[59North]

The wheels, all 12 of them, each with all their spokes, will takes quite a bit of mold seam removal.
This is probably true of all the body parts..

The thought caused my body to shudder.

[Purplethistle]

Ouch! but if anyone can bring a mule train home, you're the man.

[Kitaholic]

This is going to be epic, really looking forward to seeing this. Had to go looking and found a modern train taking a corner, very impressive.