Learn how to make custom billboards for your layout with Dave Ackmann at the WMRC's February meeting

 

At our next meeting Dave Ackmann of the NMRA Gateway Division will show how he has created billboards for his Baden, Vogt & DeSmet layout. Learn how to secure artwork from the Internet, how to turn images into decals, standardize billboard sizes, building support structures for billboards both from styrene and using 3D printing, and the utility of gauge blocks and assembly fixtures. 

The fun starts at 7:30 PM on Friday, February 7th in the Tank Room at the Charleswood Legion, 6003 Roblin Boulevard. Please note that the date of the meeting has been moved up from its usually scheduled time of the second week of the month. The canteen will be open, and we will have out usual model and photo displays and our 50/50 draw.

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.