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Real Logging!

the Twin Mills at Deer Creek

HO/HOn3 Limited Run Craftsmen Kit 105s

I am so very pleased to share the Twin Mills at Deer Creek with you! After years of design and months of intense construction it is finally done. What a wonderful journey it has been. Based upon the Pino Grande mill site of the California-Michigan Lumber Company, she represents a mill in her prime, suitable for as wide range of time periods and geographic locations. The Twin Mills is the most detailed sawmill complex ever created, true museum quality. (We do not throw that term around lightly, in fact we have never used it before!) All the details you have come to expect from our kits, prototypically accurate for real operations. Big Logs, big Shays, deep woods action with donkeys, loaders, spar trees, real logging!

visit the photo album
and take a 360 degree tour of the mill complex!
Also be sure to click on the map areas below for additional pictures.

This is the most detailed sawmill ever offered in HO scale (or for that matter any scale). A few of the main features include a complete set of sawmill machinery with a host of additional interior details. The log pond is home to many supporting elements including a log pond boat and boat shed, and the dynamite shack. A large boiler house with tons of surrounding junk and clutter is also be included. This is a double entry mill, (one side for floating logs, the other for sinkers) open on several sides for full viewing of the interior. It is large enough to support a real logging railroad. The layout is very flexible and the various components can be rearanged to fit a wide range of spaces.

Supply is very limited
$685.00 each plus shipping

Below is an overhead view of the entire diorama. As laid out it is 36” x 36”.

To view the many components of the sawmill complex
click on the different areas below in the map

1. The “old” mill is covered in plain, faded, white siding. It handles the logs that have sunk to the bottom of the pond.
2. The “new” mill is a classic open truss style. This provides plenty of room for the detailed machinery. The saw filers quarters is located on the second floor.
3. The log haul carries the logs into the mill.
4. The front dock is home to general clutter and the log carriage and track. The sunken logs are brought to the surface by the log pond boat then transferred to the carriage. Here they can be stored on the dry rollway or carried directly into the original mill.
5. The dry rollway is constructed of very heavy timbers. Logs are stored here until needed by the original mill.
6. The narrow dock winds it way around the log pond support structures.
7. The dynamite shack is used to store explosives. The windows are all boarded up and most mill employees avoid the area altogether! Surrounded by water, it is the safest location to keep such things.
8. The small boathouse is home to the log pond boat. The boathouse is fully detailed inside and out. The log pond boat is a pontoon style affair with a hand crank winch centered on its small deck.
9. The pond holds the seasons haul of logs, ready and waiting to be cut.
10. The A frame unloader and platform is home to the large unloading timbers, donkey engine, oil and water tanks, as well as a fully detailed tool shed. A small enclosure protects the donkey and her crew.
11.  The massive log brow dampens the force of the falling logs as they splash into the pond.
12.  The log pond dam.
13.  Cut lumber is graded and sorted on the transfer table. A series of moveable cars sort the cut lumber as it is readied for transport to a finish mill.
14.  The rough drying shed is used to store fresh cut lumber.
15.  The sawdust shed is a temporary holding place for the mills waste.
16.  The sawdust is carried over a spindly conveyor only to be dumped over the cement fire wall.
17.  The slab is conveyored up to the slab bin where it is stored until needed to fuel the boilers.
18.  The boiler house is home to a large boiler and mill engine.