Bryan MacNeil wins two awards at WMRC annual model contest

                       Bryan MacNeil won two awards for this CAD model of a fertilizer plant.

Bryan MacNeil, one of our newest members, won two major awards for the same model at the WMRC’s annual model contest, held in April at the club’s spring open house. The awards were presented at the WMRC's AGM and banquet, which was held in May. 

His diorama of a BDO fertilizer won first place in the special event category, which was to build a scene on a picture frame.  He used computer aided design (CAD) to draw the plans, then scratch built it from styrene. Some of the elements were drawn in CAD and 3D resin printed. 

Bryan also won the Tyro award for the same model. This award is given to a member who has never won an award from the club before and has shown extraordinary modelling skills. Congratulations, Bryan! Keep up the good work and keep modelling! 

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.