A Surveying Lesson

So I've been clearing other projects off my workbench and I've been going to night school. This semester I am taking a surveying class, and I was amazed to find out how much surveying I already knew.
In Boy Scouts we teach how to measure height and distance through observations. That's part of surveying.In my living history job, we used to teach high school kids how to measure an acre with a six foot wide a-frame device. More surveying.
But the cool thing is the way we used to lay out the lot every day on the circus. This was a job I had the honor to perform for several seasons, and one I really enjoyed. I would first look over the grounds. I would try to ascertain the most likely direction for the public to be coming from. I would then decide where to put the midway, the big top, the back yard, etc. to best fit the situation.Then I would pace off the midway, placing layout pins at important points. Our layout pins were made from spring steel rods that were formerly car trunk torsion springs.
We would cut a point on one end, and bend the other end into a loop handle with the help of a welding torch or an old hand cranked forge. We would also tie a bit of colorful cloth to the loop handle for increased visibility.

After pacing off the midway, I would lay out the big top. This involved stretching out a piece of brass safety chain as long as the tent along the planned center line of the tent location. The chain had bits of colored wire tied through the links that marked the locations of the center poles.

More layout pins on the center pole marks, pick up the chain, and start guiding the trucks on to the lot.

Well, it turns out that all that pacing off, sticking pins in the ground, and stretching out chain was surveying. Surveyors historically used a special 66 foot long chain called a Gunter's chain and chaining pins for measuring land. Nowadays they mostly use electronics.

So anyway, that's what I've been busy with lately. I now have room on my work bench and I have started cleaning trucks. I promise to post some progress shots soon.

What's in a Name?

Many Circuses, many Model Circuses, not a few family businesses, and even a video game series use the naming convention of "Bros" or Brothers. There were actually five Ringling brothers, once upon a time, but most of the time there are no actual brothers.

It's just a time honored tradition, and a good one, too.

So what about Boas Bros? Well, as it turns out, Charles W. "Doc" Boas was blessed with a younger brother. Con F. Boas was not actively involved in the day-to-day operation of Circus Kirk or Boas Bros, and was geographically separate from Dad during the time he was building the model Boas Bros show. I am sure he was supportive of Dad's circus adventures. If he contributed any financial support I don't know, and don't intend to ask.

In the photo below, taken on Circus Kirk during our bail-ring years, Con is the one with the drink, "Charlo" (aka Doc) is the one with the cigarette. Looks like a pair of big-time operators to me.


Next time, we will see how the cleaning of the model is going.

A Tale of Two Paint Charts

Once upon a time, on the 1:1 scale, full-size, model circus known as Circus Kirk, all the original trucks were base painted red. Later on, when we added semis, they were all base painted white. This was probably because the semi cabs, which were leased, were white.

Every seat plank or stringer, every quarter pole, side pole, or center pole, and practically every thing made of wood or metal was painted in either of two shades of blue, in red, or in white. A little bit of gilt here and there, and no black that I can recall. I personally spent many hours in winter quarters with a paint brush in my hands. I remember those colors well.

Yellow was used sparingly, as a decoration or a highlight only. Yellow is considered an unlucky color to paint circus equipment. Our stake driver (the machine, not the truck) started life as an agricultural post driver. It was trailer mounted. It was yellow.

Dad had it modified by a welder into a circus type stake-driver, but at first, it just didn't work right. He told someone to paint it red, and it started working fine. We towed it at first, then eventually had it mounted to the back of a truck, looking much like the model I presented in an earlier post to this blog.


Back to the paint. Not only do I remember the colors, I remember the cans the paint came in, with the distinctive "Cover the Earth' logo. Circus Kirk was painted with Sherwin-Williams Kem-Tone Bulletin Colors. Bulletin colors are used for painting signs and billboards. I would imagine he would have used a similar sign painting enamel when he built his model circus a decade earlier.

I toddled down to my local Sherwin-Williams store, and spoke with the charming and helpful clerk who had previously helped me with some paint for my remodel. She put forth a mighty search, only to find out that the Kem-Tone Bulletin Colors had been discontinued some years previous. She did give me some suggestions for similar products. One of the two websites listed local resellers. I was able to locate several near my domicile in Austin.

I swung by my local art store, one of the dealers so listed, to check out the paint. They did indeed have it in stock, but no paint color charts, not even in "the back". I returned home and called all the other nearby retailers. Not one of them had the color charts, some of them didn't even actually carry the paint.

I returned to the computer. I emailed the company using the technical questions link on their website. I requested that they snail-mail me some hard copy color charts. In due course I got a reply that I really should get them from my local dealer, but they would forward my request to Chicago.


About a month later I had not heard anything, so i emailed them back, told them they were not too good at customer service, that their local dealers were not cooperating with them, and that they needed to get with the online age of expectations. I almost immediately got several email replies, and the color charts came in the mail a few days later.

In the meantime, I had emailed the other company I had located online. They sent me color charts by return post.


The upshot is that I will be able to match paint colors, in the same type of paint Dad originally used. Which company I end up using will depend on availability, package size, and convenience.

Next time, more about the Boas Brothers.

The Big Top

The Big Top is a one ring tent with two 54 scale foot rounds, and one 45 scale foot middle, making the whole thing about six feet wide and around nine feet long.

It uses 2 center poles, 14 quarter poles, and 40 side poles. The centers are 28 inches tall, or 42 scale feet. It is erected by the push-pole method.

The canvas is a it stained where it was exposed while being stored on the spool truck in the barn. The side pole grommets are beautifully stiched to the tie-off ropes, and the center pole rings feature a larger ring stiched to the canvas and connected by miniature chains to a smaller ring for the poles to stab through. In contrast, the quarter poles are just stabbed through the cloth with no reinforcement. I would like to upgrade that.

There is not, at this point any sidewall, another possible upgrade. There is minor repair needed to the centerpole rings. I will let the pictures do any further talking.





Now we start prepping for repair . . .

Number 9 - the Spool Truck

One of the most iconic of the special purpose vehicles used by circuses, no other industry used anything quite like the spool truck. It is used to roll up the entire big top for efficient loading and unloading. Having worked the system where the sections are unlaced from each other, folded into bundles and hoisted onto a truck by main muscle power (a real treat when the canvas is wet and triple heavy), I have great admiration for this unit.


This particular version is unusual in that the entire big top fits on one spool. Most spool trucks mounted two spools, with the top unlaced at one place and rolled up in two parts. The spool is operated by means of a power-take-off with a chain drive.


This model is missing a cross bar from the top corners of the side walls, you can see the nail where it was attached. It is also missing the chain that runs between the two gear wheels on the side. Other than that, a little cleaning and some detail painting on the left side will fix it right up.

For the upcoming post, we will unspool that big top and put it up.

Number 8 - the Generator Truck

The purpose of the generator truck is to supply power to the show. This isa fine example of Dad's interest in the logistics of the circus. The generator is a far cry from the showier parade wagons, yet is critical to the daily operations of a truck show like this one.

The generator truck is assigned to tow the Gilly Wagon. The truck features a rear fold-out platform and roof, which design carried over to the real life Circus Kirk generator semi truck. The generator is a simple metal shell which I suspect is uncompleted, however notice the excellent detail on the roof exhaust penetration.


The truck needs a general cleaning, the platform is detached, and the right rear cornerpost is damaged. The cab is only detail painted on the right side. I also hope to install a more complete looking generator engine.

The last vehicle in the inventory is number 9, the spool truck. Coming soon, coming sure!

Number 7 - the Cage Wagon Trailer

As previously mentioned, the cage wagon is towed behind the Calliope truck as a mobile ad for the show, kind of a mini-parade.

The wagon has a wall across the center dividing it into forward and rear cages. Each cage is accessed by a small working door in the front and rear exterior walls of the wagon. There is a slot below the cage bars for sliding food into the cages to the waiting animals. For the exhibitor's convenience, the roof lifts off.

The animals consist of two full-maned lions and a sleek black panther. They are made of a material called "composition", sort of a sawdust and glue casting material that was popular before the modern age of plastics. I recall that Dad also had a chest full of toy soldiers, which included both metal figures and composition ones.

The astute reader will have noticed that the wheels on both this trailer and the Gilly trailer are mis-matched. The rear wheels on both of these trailers are from an older series of Tonka truck, while the front wheels on the cage wagon are from a Buddy "L" truck, a Tonka competitor. This is a fine reflection of what really happens on the full-size shows, as parts are mixed and matched to suit the needs of the equipment being built.


The cage wagon is coming apart at the corners, has some broken and missing parts on the roof piece, has a couple of the cage bars that need to be soldered back on, needs cleaning, and is only detail painted on the back and right sides. In addition, the composition animals are aged and cracked.

Truck number 8, up next, carries the power plant, watch for it.