20 Mule Team - Borax wagons 1/48

[Ted]

My Dad passed away recently and my brother and I have been sorting through his collection of toys and memorabilia. In one box I found this kit that I vaguely remember seeing when I was little. My Dad build models when he was young and got me started in the hobby at age 8. I'll enjoy fixing the broken pieces and completing this kit as a diorama.

 

The kit seems to have been a promotional item for the company's cleaning borax, showing how the mined borax was transported through Death Valley for a few years until train tracks were run into the desert.

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Sorry to hear of your dad’s passing Ted.
 

That model is really unique -20 mules! - and will look amazing when built and set in its natural surroundings. 

Am looking forward to seeing this one done.

[thorfinn]

Likewise sorry to hear of your dad's passing.

 

4 hours ago, Ted said:

The kit seems to have been a promotional item for the company's cleaning borax, showing how the mined borax was transported through Death Valley for a few years until train tracks were run into the desert.

You are correct. Not sure whether you've ever heard of "Death Valley Days"...it was a radio show from 1930 to the mid-'40s, then a television show from the early '50s through to 1970, depicting both historical and fictional episodes of life in the Old West.

(The TV show was notable for being the last acting gig of a later US president...he left the show to run for Governor of California.)

The radio and TV shows were sponsored for virtually their entire span by the Pacific Coast Borax Company (later U.S. Borax), who mined the mineral (starting I think in the 1890s) in the Death Valley region. The mule-team wagons hauled the mined product through a long stretch of desert to reach the nearest railhead.

 

Due no doubt to the popularity of the TV show, kids my age (b. 1956) grew up knowing the term "20-Mule-Team Borax"...and we could all whistle the oh-so-familiar theme tune.

 

All a long-winded way of saying I'm jealous! It's a neat kit (had one as a little shaver), and I hope you greatly enjoy it.

 

Cheers

[Jochen Barett]

A sad start, maybe Dave Engel's work on the 1:1 model will inspire to build it (or to leave it in the box as it is and do a scratch built version). The entire playlist (and all his other videos) are well worth watching.

 

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Jochen Barett

[Ted]

Thanks for all that info, I watched the hub video and will check out the rest of the series. I'll look for Death Valley Days too.

[s.e.charles]

i remember my older cousin had this kit. at one point, i think it was available for "boxtops" as a premium for buying Borax soap.