Number 3 - the Stake Driver/Water Truck

Another dual-purpose truck (just like most show folks have at least two jobs on the show), the #3 Stake Driver/Water Truck spends the first part of the day driving stakes with the machine mounted on the back, then goes on to deliver water to the cookhouse, the animals, and wherever else needed. This truck also carries the wooden stakes and the sidepoles for the big top.

The stakedriver machine handle has come loose, the motor has gone missing and the rollers have gotten deteriorated.

The truck its self has damage to the finish and will need a general clean-up.

The water tank seems to be in pretty good shape.

Next up, the Ticket Office Truck. See you then!

Number 2 - the Band Stand/Calliope Truck

The Band Stand/Calliope Truck has a dual purpose. Firstly, it is designed as a parade wagon. With the extensions in the up position it could be driven through town, calliope playing to attract the locals to the show. To further sweeten the deal, it would be pulling the cage wagon, aka #7.

Once on the lot, the truck would be backed partly into the Big Top. Then the extensions would be folded down to form the bandstand for the show.

The included calliope appears to be modeled on the Tangley Calliaphone.

The condition of this unit includes: the rear extensions are missing, the truck is only painted on one side, and again, there is a fair amount of grime.

The calliope has some corrosion on the brass pipes.

In my next post, you will meet #3, the Stake Driver/Water Truck.

Number 1 - the Pole Truck

The Pole Truck carries the center and the quarter poles for the big top (the side poles ride on the stakedriver truck).

It is a semi-truck with a custom rack on the trailer. While packed away in storage part of the rack has become disassembled, (parts laying next to truck in picture) and part of the rack is missing. Additionally, the cab was never painted. As with all the trucks, there is a considerable amount of grime present. Dad appears to have used packing lumber for much of his wooden apparatus, so part of the challenge will be obtaining matching wood reduced to the correct sizes.

This picture shows a wooden stake, a side pole, a quarter pole, an eighteen inch ruler, and a center pole. For the uninitiated, center poles go in the center of the tent, side poles go at the edges of the tent, and quarter poles go about halfway between.

Next post, we will meet the bandstand/calliope truck.

Just the facts

Boas Bros Circus is an approximately 1:18 scale model, aka 2/3" = 1 foot. This is because BBC is a truck based show, and Dad used Tonka Trucks to build it.

Dad's vision for BBC was all about the logistics. Other model circuses highlight the performance aspects and the parade wagons, that sort of thing. Dad was much more interested in how the thing functioned. There were no performers, no audience, no roustabouts, no seat butchers, no barkers. The only concession to mammalian life forms were two lions and a panther. The model is all about the trucks.

The rolling stock inventory is as follows:
#1 Pole Truck
#2 Band Stand/Calliope Truck
#3 Stake Driver/Water Truck
#4 Ticket Office Truck
#5 Seat Truck
#6 Utility Trailer/Gilly Wagon
#7 Cage Wagon Trailer
#8 Generator Truck
#9 Spool Truck

There is a Big Top, and some extra poles that, to my recollection, went to a marquee tent that seems to have blown the show.

In the next posts, we will take a look at each of these items of inventory. Please visit again.

An introduction to the subject.

My father, Charles W. "Doc" Boas, (d. 2002) was best known for being the college professor who ran away with the circus, and for creating and running Circus Kirk (1969-1978). The year before opening Circus Kirk, we took a two week dry run with a show under the name of Boas Bros. Previously, back when I was in elementary school, he tried out a show that played the drive-in movie theater between features that was called Toby Bros. All this was preceded by his walking away from a promising career as a young college professor to be a clown/electrician on a mud show.

But, before any of that, there was another circus in his life. Between the time he completed his PhD and the time he got his first actual circus job, roughly 1955 to 1960, he was a Circus Model Builder. His model circus was called Boas Bros Circus, and it has come down to me.

I have recently uncrated the equipment of Boas Bros (Miniature) Circus and now intend to clean, repair, and restore it.

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle this process. I do have other demands on my life, so postings may be sporadic, however, whenever I make any progress, I will post. My next several posts will be an introduction to the existing equipment, complete with photos.

Thanks for stopping by.