Willamette Steam Donkey in HO

By Kevin M. Kuzman/photo by the author

For those of us modelers that were fortunate to attend the 2008 Narrow Gauge Convention in Portland, Oregon, I was able to take in some of the surrounding sights it had to offer, such as Camp 18 Restaurant & Logging Museum near Elsie, Oregon. Though modeling in the Rio Grande Southern in HOn3, I was very intrigued with their logging equipment, especially the large Willamette Steam Donkey Skidders. The technology, the size, and simplicity for a machine over a hundred years old got me thinking, let's build one in HO just for kicks. Upon looking at various Internet sites, I soon discovered no one made a kit for such a model, so this where the heart of this story begins.

A steam donkey is a steam-powered winch widely used in logging operations, named because of their relatively small size and use for menial tasks. Usually mounted onto skids so that they could be transported from one site to the next, the steam donkey allowed loggers to drag large logs from the forest towards a "landing" where the logs were gathered for transport to the mill. The development of practical internal combustion tractors led to the end of the steam-powered stationary winches.

I gathered as many photos, information, and scale drawings as I could. I knew that most of the parts and pieces would have to be built from scratch, and a good friend and HOn30 modeler Dennis Vaccaro suggested I make masters of each part needed and cast them in resin. So with the help from Dennis, we made RTV molds, about 25 in all, and I had a quick introduction to resin casting. With a little help, and some helpful hints, we were casting parts in no time.

The hardest part of the project was to cast the entire skidder frame in one piece. It was first built from 1” square pine that was meticulously carved and sanded, with details added with a hobby knife and distressed with a small razor saw. With a little trial and error, we were able to achieve a beautiful final piece when cast in resin. All our molds were made from blue Micro-Mark RTV silicone. The frame was a two-part mold.

Other parts needed for our project was a boiler made from a wooden dowel, then wrapped in a brass wrapper, a brass tube for the exhaust stack and rivet details added to both, and a fuel tank made the same way as our boiler. A head block made from carved basswood, the boiler frame was made from plastic I beams, and the drums were modified parts from my scrapbox. Last was making the roof. Originally we tried to make it all from resin but decided to make the rooftop in resin and the supports from basswood.

The final step was to assemble paint and weather the donkey. All the cast wooden parts were first lightly sprayed with gray primer, and then lightly scuffed with 000 fine steel wool. Next I applied by brush a very thin coat of diluted acrylic earth. This step made the white resin look just like the basswood masters. The next step was to apply a wash of India ink and alcohol. When dry, I then applied Bragdon Chalks and a little more India ink to finish all the wood parts. Finally I sprayed the frame and all the painted wooden parts with flat clear to seal it. With a little filing and sanding, I was able to assemble all the parts into a very nice replica of the Willamette Steam Donkey that I marveled at Camp 18. I did not intend to model one specific donkey but to take the best parts from all the equipment assembled there. Remember, no two donkeys were alike.

Upon encouragement from my fellow modelers, I decided to produce 10 limited edition models that are completely built and painted. You can find more info at Light Iron Digest's web site under "Silver City Models." Recently Keith Wiseman of Wiseman Model Services approached me because he wanted to produce a kit of the donkey in the near future, quite an honor! It just goes to show you that manufacturers are always looking at our models when we bring them to shows and conventions, so don’t be afraid to show your best work. This was truly a fun and learning experience that I will put to future use in producing other resin parts and pieces for my own Rio Grande railroad and maybe a HO logging line.

— I would also like to thank Gary Kohler and Craig T. Stratton for their ideas, criticism, and input on this new endeavor.