Working Miniatures On Display
For some people, anything smaller than full size is a toy -- but not for members of AMES, the Atlantic Model Engineering Society.
They are hosting a special exhibition, Working Miniatures, this Saturday and Sunday, May 5-6, at the Museum of Natural History on Summer Street in Halifax.
People of all ages will enjoy this remarkable collection of authentically scaled working models. There will be steam, electric and diesel-powered rail locomotives; traction engines and gas engines; other mechanical devices and a very fine clock.
“The models represent, on a small scale, the types of machines that once served the fishing, farming, mineral, logging and lumber industries of the 19th and early 20th centuries," said show co-ordinator Jim Wright.
"It wasn''t so long ago that engines powered by coal and wood were changing and opening up the world, much like computers are doing today,” he said. “The exception is that there was no laptop equivalent of the engines in those days, for many locomotives weighed as much as 100 tons," Mr. Wright added.
The models are scale replicas of existing machines, which weigh from a few ounces up to 800 pounds or more, and costing anything from a few dollars to thousands. It is detailing to the finest degree.
Members scale down each mechanism with great precision, often at less than ½ inch to the foot. They use precision measuring tools, lathes, drill presses and, if the tool isn''t available, they make that, too. Exact measurements are critical if everything is to work smoothly.
The show will take place on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. If the weather is good, a miniature traction engine will take children on a ride around the parking lot.
The society was founded in 1985, and each year members from all over the Maritimes come to Halifax to show off their latest creations. The society also maintains and operates a model live steam railway each summer at Windsor, N.S., where visitors can enjoy a picnic and a pleasant ride on a working, steam-powered train.