It鈥檚 well beyond tinkering. These guys (and a few gals) are serious about their craft. It鈥檚 a hobby, but it involves some serious stuff, mostly because they really care about what they do and how they do it. They鈥檙e authentic.
When it comes to building engineered models, the exhibitors at the Estevan Model Engineering Show, held in the Wylie-Mitchell Air Cadet Hall, are the cream of the crop from Western Canada and a goodly portion of the mid-western United States.
鈥淪o often I鈥檒l look a retired guy in the eyes, and it鈥檚 just dead in there. He鈥檚 dead in the eyes. You have to be engaged. No sense in 小蓝视频 retired if you鈥檙e not going to get involved in something,鈥� said Clarence Elias of Edmonton, a retired cartographer (map maker) who built a guitar made entirely of steel plating, simply because he wanted to see if he could.
His guitar building is recorded on YouTube and it involved a聽lot of luck, he noted with a chuckle.
鈥淚 was looking for hits and misses and I didn鈥檛 have any misses,鈥� he added with a laugh. 鈥淚 also didn鈥檛 have a load of expectations. The neck of the guitar is the office and this one feels great. Wooden guitars change with humidity, this one doesn鈥檛. I tune this one once a year. It didn鈥檛 sound right at first, like a Dobro (resonator guitar) on steroids. Then I painted it and killed the sound, but I picked that up again. Took me about six weeks.鈥�
Besides the guitar that gained a lot of attention from exhibit visitors at the Wylie-Mitchell Air Cadet Hall, Elias had a scaled-down replica of a 1979 Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He rode the original full-scale unit and therefore decided to replicate it as a model.
He wanted to build a realistic carburetor, so to do that, he first had to build a model lathe on which to craft it.
鈥淚 had a friend, Earl Christianson, who used to challenge me every day by asking me what I had learned that day. His philosophy was if you haven鈥檛 learned something new in the day, you were wasting it. So when I retired from my job, I got interested in working with steel and model building,鈥� he said.
Richard James of Valemount, B.C., agrees with Elias鈥檚 and Christianson鈥檚 philosophy. That鈥檚 why he is building a model of a 1910 Fairbanks-Morse Tractor, only the fourth one ever crafted from drawings he purchased from the maker of the first two. He鈥檚 not quite finished yet, after 1,600 hours of dedicated detailing.
鈥淚 bugged the guy who had the original drawings for years. I knew one other guy had done this too. He wanted to sell one to me, but I wanted to build it. Eventually he agreed to sell the drawings to me. I鈥檝e had this one painted with a No. 4 on it, since it鈥檚 only the fourth model of this particular tractor,鈥� said James, who often attends a model show near Portland and was making his first visit to the Estevan show and was loving the experience even though the travel distance and time was a challenge.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not difficult, it鈥檚 just having the patience. No need to panic. I built all the parts, I got the pistons from solid cast iron, other parts I made from an old sucker rod out of the oil patch, my bolts came from an old Case combine pickup unit found in a farm shed. That鈥檚 the fun of this game,鈥� he said with a smile. 鈥淎nd driving 1,300 miles to be here is worth it, they make it fun.鈥�
The 鈥渢hey鈥� James was referring to are Kelly and Gale Tytlandsvik, who co-ordinate and host the annual show which includes a first-night (Friday) gathering in their home for about 40 guests. This year鈥檚 entry list of 40 exhibitors was down a bit from last year, but Kelly said that wasn鈥檛 worrisome. On the positive side is the fact that after 27 years, more and more Estevan people are becoming aware of the show, it鈥檚 interesting displays and very modest admission fee.
鈥淭he attendance this year is up quite a bit from last year,鈥� said Kelly. 鈥淭he exhibitor numbers are down 10 from last year. I had two of the oldtimers pass away recently, but we have two newcomers this year, so it just goes on. We do miss the guys who passed away because they do become friends and they were regular exhibitors.鈥�
This year鈥檚 event attracted models and builders from all four Western provinces as well as North and 小蓝视频 Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Iowa.
鈥淭he weather was good for travel but I think the late harvest kept a few away this year,鈥� said Kelly noting there was a Saturday night banquet for the exhibitors and then the usual noon-hour knock down of exhibits planned for Sunday, allowing those from further away to get a good start on their trek back home.
鈥淚 built my first model when I was 15,鈥� said Greg Brown of Winnipeg who was displaying his driving dynamo that lit up some tiny lightbulbs. His interest was sparked when he picked up a stray copy of Popular Mechanics in a friend鈥檚 garage as a teenager.
鈥淭hen I built a steam locomotive and a guy who had worked on the railway as a locomotive engineer helped me build it, but only after he taught me how to build my first stationery engine and boiler. I鈥檝e been at it ever since.鈥�
And this is a familiar story for most of the exhibitors. Some got hooked early, others got in later, following retirement from a variety of professions. Since then they鈥檝e stayed hooked, fascinated by detail and seeing their shiny creations rise from the dust and scrap metal.聽
