The smell of oil and the sounds of technology filled the air at the Wylie Mitchell Building. The 28th Annual Estevan Model Engineering show was in full swing on Saturday and Sunday, bringing in a full compliment of tinkerers, millwrights, mechanics, enthusiasts and everything in between.
Pistons pumped, wheels spun, and engines whirred and buzzed, at the show. A menagerie of miniature machines were showcased over the two days of the show, putting the inventiveness and talent of all the exhibitors involved on display. About 36 exhibitors showcased projects like miniature steam and gas engines, and machine tools for a crowd of over 200 curious guests.
Exhibitors were from far and wide, across the West, with people travelling from other parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, North and South Dakota and Montana, among other places, to participate and show what they could create on a small scale. There were an assortment of machines inspired by the industrial history of the West, with plenty of small grain elevator engines and pump jacks imitating the movements of their much larger inspirations, throughout the day.
“It’s the oldest model engineering show in North America. It started in the mall with 12 people, but now we see as many as 56 showing up some years,” said Kelly Tytlandsvik, the host of the show. “There are machinists here, people who worked at the mint, miners, farmers, welders, mechanics, doctors, topographers, border inspectors — there’s a big mixture of everyone here.”
Tytlandsvik noted that many of the exhibitors didn’t even have careers in anything remotely related to model engineering. They picked it up as a hobby, and they eventually brought the products of their labour to shows.
Jerry Pontius had a gauntlet of engines spinning, and he even constructed a miniature tree feller, complete with a log that was to scale, as part of his exhibit.
“I started in 1996 with a 10-inch Logan lathe and a Bridgeport mill. I had all the drill presses and welder’s stuff like that. I started when I retired, when I made a diorama of the Yates 1 Complex for the Homestake Mining Company,” said Pontius. “I had so much fun doing that, I just started building all sorts of models. With as much time as I have after retiring, I also write a few magazine articles about it.”
Pontius noted that most of the models that he builds are historical scale models of stream engines. This was a feature that was very common with machinery on display. Many of the machines were faithful to their source inspirations, running on oil and gas and moving the same way — albeit on a smaller scale — as the machines they were created in the image of.
Exhibitor Curtis Lambert said if there were any malfunctions at the show, it would be the best place to encounter them, because of the number of experts all in one place, and the open collaborative spirit of those who get into model engineering.
“If someone could bottle all the knowledge in this room,” said Lambert, with a chuckle, implying the bottle would fill very quickly on account of all the talent in the room, that weekend. “We all take different routes and used different methods, but we end up at a successful completion of each project.”
