South Africans are building mechanical wonders and creating innovative ways to develop mechanisms that allow scale models to run like the big ones in real life.
Johannesburg, South Africa (06 August 2024) – Luke Ronne, one of the many South Africans who have a keen interest in model engineering, shared insights into this close-knit and innovative community. Luke shares his thoughts in the hopes of showing the next generation that there are fun hobbies out there and that building mechanical wonders is possible for anyone who puts their mind to it.
“To take up a hobby like this all you need is a keen interest in engineering and the ability to read and practically implement what is read. Everything else follows from this with ease.” – Luke Ronne.
There are several groups in South Africa, including the Rand Society of Model Engineers (RSME) and the Centurion Society of Model Engineers (CMSE). Luke says the group are seldom heard and generally shy, but they do amazing things that inspire young engineers who dream of building their own machines someday.
“These gentlemen build amazing working scale models of machinery/ loco’s etc. Typically long forgotten by the annals of time. What makes these models unique is all the components are made from scratch with some builders casting their own components and some even having to develop their own alloys to account for strength issues when scaling large-scale prototypes.
A completed model can take thousands of dedicated hours to complete, but when completed, it can be used to show aspiring young engineers what is possible, and more often than not, that is the end story of one of these long builds.”
The community is close-knit not only in South Africa but globally, too. South African builders have been featured in international publications dedicated to scale models, sharing their takes on how to build scale models.
The groups mentioned also host fun open days where people can visit, ride the locomotives, and speak to the builders in person. It is the perfect day out for young engineers with hopeful dreams.
“There’s very little more inspiring for a youngster than seeing a working prototype and hearing from the builder that he made everything and anybody can follow suit with the only requirement being an interest in engineering.
What makes this hobby more compelling is a large amount of scrap is used up when doing the castings etc.”
Luke shares his build of a Fire Queen Engine, which he built from scratch below. He shares many of his builds online and encourages young minds keen to learn, to visit the various societies, to read and to ask questions. There are many out there eager to share their work and offer guidance and support.
“The builders are incredibly passionate about engineering, it’s actually very refreshing having a chat to one of them. Both clubs have newsletters and Facebook pages with most of the information in these.”
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