A Log Cabin Home Salesman Sample Model Kalispell MT Lincoln Logs Doll House T
This listing is for a salesman’s sample of a log cabin or home. I suspect this was used in the later 1930’s but I have no way to date it exactly at this time. This is a model of full size buildings built by the Superior Buildings Co. Of Kalispell Montana many years ago. To date, I have not been able to find any information about this builder so please help me out here if you possibly can. I found an old suit case at a local Bozeman Montana antique shop about 15 years ago. It was full of hundreds of wood parts that I was not at all familiar with. I had a hunch those parts were for some kind of building model so I bought that group of parts. I spent several hours that afternoon putting together this building and a similar 6 sided wooden grainery model. And is shown with this home model in the last photo of this listing for reference only. The grainery model is “NOT” part of this listing. This outside of the walls of this model measure 17″ wide by 21″ long. The rafters extend 2 beyond each of the long side walls. The overall height of this gem is 17-1/2 to the top of the rafters. The door opening is 2-3/4″ wide by 7-3/8″ tall. The window opening is 2-3/4″ (same width as door) wide by 3-3/4″ tall. The partial logs appear to be 1-1/8 tall on the outside of the walls of this structure. The rafters measure 1/2″ wide by 1-1/8″ tall. Now we must attempt to figure out approximately what scale this fine model may actually be. I will assume full-size door rough openings are 6′-8″ or 80″ tall. If we divide 80″ by 7-3/8″ (model door opening height) one gets about 10.9 or so. That would suggest that this model is 1/10.9 or a bit over 1/11 scale. That would mean that this model would be only slightly larger than the typical size of the doll houses for the very popular 1/12 scales dolls and furnishings. The 1/12 scale dolls and furnishings would not look too out of place with this model. Please study the last photo of this listing to see the details in the construction of the corners. You will see corner pieces measuring 1-1/2″ square with 1/8″ thick by 1/4 wide tangs that rest in grooves on the ends of the logs to clamp to the pair of adjoining walls together. Please also notice the 1-3/8 wide piece with 45 degree edges that are clamped to the inner square corner piece using machine flat head machine screws and wing nuts on the inside. According to the drawings that accompanied these parts, the full size buildings used a very similar method of holding the walls together at the corners. Trim boards covered the outer clamping timber that is exposed on this model. There is no evidence that this model ever had those exterior clamping timbers covered up. By not covering those outer clamping timbers, this model may be disassembled in a few minutes and reassembled again in front of a new prospective customer. This model appears to be complete in every detail with nearly all of the original parts being present. The only exception to this would be 4 of the fillers marked “bev filler” on the right side of the model. They sit on top of the walls and fill the spaces between the rafters. Most people would never notice this very minor problem. If these replacement fillers were given a light coat of varnish to match the other pieces, they would fit right in with the rest of the original parts. All of the parts are all finished with a light coat of varnish except for the 4 replacement “bev filler” pieces mentioned above. Many of the parts have black ink stampings on them explaining what they are or where they go in the building. This is a very rare opportunity to acquire a very interesting construction model or salesman’s sample model. If you like or collect samples like this, you might to well to give some very serious consideration to owning this very special sample or model. This salesman’s sample or log home model is a very interesting piece of Montana as well as log home history. I want to make sure it goes to a very good home. Thanks a lot, Bob Woodburn 4 zero 6 and 7 nine 9 and 1 eight 4 seven Bozeman Montana USA.