Although long abandoned, the Maude Monroe (also mistakenly labeled the Hukill Mine in the past) still stands outside of Idaho Springs, Colorado, a short drive west of Denver.  Master Creations introduced their HO kit in the 1970s, but the mine's popularity really took off when Harry Brunk published an article in the Narrow Gauge And Shortline Gazette in 1985, describing his beautiful scratchbuilt model.  Our kit would have been based almost entirely on Harry's article until a set of extremely well detailed plans for the mine (and support structures) was made available by Don Griffin of Idaho Springs.  Don's 8 sheets of highly accurate plans contain a wealth of information, more than I could possibly include in the kit.  However, even after compromising on some of the smaller details, the resulting model is truly of museum quality and one you will be very proud to display.


You should note from the start that the mine is located well above the loading track, which is replicated by the kit (2½-inches for the S-scale kit).  The kit includes the tiered retaining walls and detailed chutes.  If you feel like a challenge, the bottom sections of the chutes are hinged and operate.  To capture the detail of the slide gates, our friend John Socha-Leialoha machined the dies and injection molded the rack & pinion operators just for this kit.  They are truly the work of a master craftsman.

The structure walls on the prototype were covered with tarpaper held in place with battens (the pre-cut tarpaper and battens in the kit are peel-and-stick).  Of course, the kit includes this feature, plus, the underlying walls are scribed to depict the individual boards should you choose to distress the tarpaper.  The prototype's roof was also tarpaper (included in the kit), but for visual impact I decided to use corrugated metal -- also included.


The kit contains many jigs to ease assembly, but building the headframe may still prove challenging.   All the parts are pre-cut by the laser and fit precisely, but the instructions must be closely followed.  Speaking of which, the spiral-bound instruction manual is 43-pages long with large (readable!) type, and contains 72 photos of the construction process.  It also includes recommendations for tools, adhesives, a few assembly tricks, and finishing your model.






The ore bin and side stairway measure 4¼-inches wide (11-cm), overall, and the depth is approximately 18-inches (46-cm) when the Hoist House is located on the same flat plane as the ore bin.  However, the Head Frame brace can be mounted at a steeper angle or even supported off a hillside behind the mine, reducing the required depth.  By locating the Hoist House further up the hillside allows you to install the mine in 14-inches (36-cm) of depth of less.  (Depth dimensions are measured from the center of the track to the rear of the Hoist House.)  The top of the Head Frame measures approximately 11-inches above the loading track.

We currently offer two sets of support structures for the mine.  Set 1 includes the Change House and the Carpenters' Shop.  Set 2 consists of the Office, Compressor Building, Water Tank, and Outhouse.