Hi Matt. I have been working on a article for Gazette for the past three years on a small 2-stamp gold mill that could be modeled in F sacale as most of the larger mills are just too big. The first picture you show is probably a ball mill, these and prospector stamp mills were small. Ball mills are smaller, but so are the prospector stamp mills, these were 1 to 5 stamp, we have very few pictures because these were too small for a photographer to mess with and if the vain ran out they were salvaged for other places or if the vain grew in value they were remodeled to a larger mill. I also have access through a musuem in the gold belt up here in Northern Idaho to their pictures of some of these small mills, and have visited some mill sites. At this time I cannot share with you the article but can help you with info on places to find books and a few of my photos, if you would email me, it is too much information to share here. my email is [email protected]
Dick
Richard … No, but I’m going to have to look into it!
Dick … thanks! Will do …
It occurs to me that there’s a local outfit that was supposed to be a gold mill of some kind; I will have to see if I can check that out in person.
If I’m not going to model the inside of the mill (I’m not…) I think it might be fun to set up something so you get a hint of the waterwheel turning, (shadows on the fogged windows?) and the rumble of all the stamps pounding away… something to make it different, anyway.
This is a lot of fun even beyond the actual model.
Matthew (OV)
Matthew: here is something else to consider when doing scaleing from photos , besides what Kevin already stated. Depending on the year or time peroid the structure was constructed, you can figure out dimensions based on the trim board around windows and doors and at the corners of structure. Prior to the 1950’s Wodd products were dimensionally measured. i.e a 1x4 was actually physically 1" thick by 4" wide , not like today where a 1 x 4 is 3 1/2" by 3/4" thick. Taking that in to cosideration when you look at a photo of an older structure you can be pretty much assured that the corner trim boards are 1 x 4’s and would be really 4" wide. The trim on windows can either be 1 x 4’s or 1 x 3’s depending on the style of the windows.
Also when doing a Clapboard sided structure, typically the facing spacing of the boards were 6" and Board and batton structure either had a 10" or 12" wide boards with a 1 x 2 or 1 x 3 covering the gap between them. Using these factors and that the typical door width would be 30" or 36" for a single door and a height of 6 1/2 to 7 feet, you can come to some pretty close measurements by measuring photos espicall if taken face on to the building.
Dan S.