Doug Ritter models Bridgewater, Nova Scotia CN station

At our January meeting Doug Ritter brought in a scratch built model of the CN station in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia to our monthly model display. Using just photos over 40 years old as a reference, he modelled the exterior and the interior with painstaking precision.

He cut the walls and roof out of Styrene using a Cricut machine. Doors and windows were Tichy 3D printed. Stone cladding is from Chooch Express. Interior details were 3D printed. 

Patrick Letorneau showcases 3D scructures, and member's model railroad items will be for sale at WMRC's January meeting

At our January meeting Patrick Letourneau will make a presentation on his novel digital process to create centimeter-accurate replicas of prairie structures using 3D scanning and ultra-large-format resin 3D printing. See how he takes3-D scans of actual structures and makes a 3-D printed copy of them. 

Do you have any model railroad equipment that you want to sell? WMRC is starting a members "Railway Interchange" to be held before and after the business portion of our General Meetings.  We will allow two members per meeting to participate by displaying Railroad related items they wish to sell on tables set aside for this purpose.  

If you are interested in participating in this program, please email us at wmrc.trainclub@gmail.com.  Tables will be assigned on a first come first served basis for our January and future meetings.   Any additional inquiries can be added to a wait list for a future meeting. If you are interested in buying any of these items for sale, then arrive early with cash in hand! 

The fun starts at on January 12 at 7:30PM at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. We'll be holding our usual model and photo displays, a 50/50 draw and the canteen will be open. Guests are always warmly welcomed!  Feel free to arrive early to chat and help set up the room. The room should be open by 6:30 pm.

 

This month Dave Ackmann of St. Louis, Missouri will make a presentation about automating CAD generators in 3D printing for Model Railroading. Dave will show us that CAD is not the only way to design structures.

3-D printing can be a real game changer for modelling, but CAD is difficult to learn. There are better ways, and Dave Ackmann created six of them, called “Generators”.

   When Dave wanted to create shake shingle roofing, he realized that such an “organic” shape was just a bunch of rectangles with random variations in size and placement. Dave has a background in computer science, and he wrote a program that runs under Microsoft Windows to collect the specifications for the roof he wanted. His program then created a CAD file that met the requirements, and when the file was post-processed in OpenSCAD, a 3D model was created.

The fun begins on Friday, November 18 at 7:00 PM at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Blvd. The canteen will be open, and we will have our usual model and photo displays and a 50/50 draw.

There are no longer any COVID related restrictions at the Legion. The meeting will also be broadcast on Zoom. Guests are always warmly welcomed, but If you are not a member and wish to view the presentation on Zoom please email just at wmrc.trainclub@gmail.com and we will send you a link.
 

3d printing and a living room layout featured at Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's March virtual meeting

 At our next Zoom meeting Tyler Fedoroshyn will conduct a presentation on modelling with the aid of a 3D printer. Learn how 3D printing can be used to create realistic parts that aren’t available commercially. Tyler took the leap into 3D printing and has made a number of unique items for his model railroad. He will give an overview of his printer and the software he uses and show a number of items he has printed. 

Then Christopher Robinson will display his unique model railroad that replicates the Algoma Central's operations in Hawk Junction, Ontario. He'll describe the design and operation of the layout. Christopher has built a portable model railroad that captures the essence of the ACR, is fun to operate and occupies a place of prominence in his living room. 

We will be holding our members monthly photo display. An entry will be chosen by random, and will receive a $20 gift certificate. 

The Zoom meeting starts at 7:30PM on Friday, March12. If you are not a member and wish to attend this meeting, please contact us at wmrc.trainclub@gmail.com. Guests (even virtual ones) are always warmly welcomed!

Tyler made all of these parts using a 3D printer. See how he did it at our March meeting!

Learn how to use 3D printing software at the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's next event

We have 2 great clinics for the February meeting! First Larry Leavens will talk about track. To the novice some of the terminology can be confusing. What does DCC friendly really mean? He will discuss some of the common and uncommon topics that is associated with model train track, set a few things straight and show us a few tricks along the way.

   Then John Bate will present part one of a clinic about 3D printing. John will show how to create and print a 3D model using the free SketchUp program. He will do a demonstration of the software and talk about some of the fundamental rules and principles while creating a simple 3D model of a small yard office building. The completed file will be sent to a 3D printing site. All the steps of the process from beginning to end will be shown. The finished building will be brought to a future meeting so that the result can be seen.

The fun starts on Friday, February 14 at 7:30PM at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. The canteen will be open, and we'll have our monthly model and photo display, as well as our 50/50 draw. Not a member? Not a problem! Guests are always warmly welcomed.

Learn all about Arduinos and 3D printing at Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's March meet

The WMRC two great clinics lined up for our March 2019 meeting. For our first clinic, Tyler Fedoroshyn will demonstrate building mainline signalling from scratch using an Arduino. Tyler is building a home layout and he'll explain what his signals can do, how they detect trains, what it takes to install them and he'll provide a high level rundown of the computer code used to program the Arduino.

Tyler will also provide a quick glimpse into three other unique Arduino projects he's done,  such as an automatic defect detector, a belt pack throttle, and his latest simulator project.

For our second clinic, Kent Hurley will conduct a demonstration about 3D printing using a 3D home printer.  This clinic was also presented at the 2018 NMRA National Convention. Learn what 3D printing can do for you and see how easy it can be to get started.

The meeting starts at 7:30PM on Friday, March 8, in the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. Wheelchair accessible. The canteen will be open, and we'll have a 50/50 draw and our monthly model display. Not a member? Not a problem! Guests are always warmly welcomed!