May 19-20, 2006
To read an article on the museum in the North County Times, CLICK HERE.
There is now a physical facility housing some of the items shown here in the on-line version. It is located within the Sherline factory facility at 3235 Executive Ridge, Vista, California. On May 19th, 2006 we had a gathering of five of the ten former winners of the Metalworking Craftsman of the Year award, magazine editors, local craftsmen and donors to officially open the new musuem. The following day, Saturday May 20th, 2006 was the first day open to the public. Below are some photos from that event.
| (Click on any photo to view a larger image) | |
 |
Five former winners of the Metalworking Craftsman of the Year award were able to attend, representing 3 countries. Left to right are Bill Huxhold--Canada, Barry Jordan--England, Roger Ronnie--S. Dakota, Bill Smith--Tennessee and Jerry Kieffer--Wisconsin. It was a privilege to be able to put these excellent craftsmen together in a convivial atmosphere and pick up on the conversation between them. A lot of expert knowledge and ability is concentrated into this one photo. |
 |
The first order of business on Friday was a tour of the
Sherline factory hosted by owner Joe Martin.
(Photo 2 by Mike Rehmus) |
 |
One of the highlights of the day was the unveiling, winding and display of our latest major exhibit, Bill Smith's gold medal winning Strutt Epicyclic Train Clock. On the left Bill winds the 8-day main spring that drives its unique planetary geartrain. On the right, people gather for an explanation by Bill as to how it works. In front of Bill are Jim Clark, The Home Shop Machinist magazine editor Neil Knopf and Model Engine Builder magazine editor Mike Rehmus. Watch for articles about the event in those magazines in an upcoming issue. |
 |
Foundation Director Craig Libuse steadies Young Park's P-51 model while Jerry Kieffer carefully repairs some minor sheet metal damage that occurred during shipping. We were fortunate to have such skilled hands available for a repair like this. Other than builder Young Park himself, there are few we would have trusted with a repair like this, and we were lucky to have several on hand. |
|
One of the day's highlights was the unveiling of a practical joke on Jerry Kieffer by engraver Roger Ronnie. In retaliation for a joke Jerry pulled on him at the NAMES show, Roger had a surprise for Jerry. Jerry had asked Roger to engrave a tiny Harley Davidson logo and the words "Made in USA" on the small air cleaner cover he made for the 1/8 scale Harley engine he is building. Roger did so, but first presented him with an exact duplicate of the air cleaner cover that he had made and engraved...but instead of "Made in USA" it said in very tiny letters, "Made in China." Jerry can be seen at the moment he examined the first cover with his magnifying glass and saw the substitution. Then Roger gave him the real one. Once Jerry has shown it to a few of his friends, this air cleaner cover will be donated to the museum for display. It is a good example of not only Roger's engraving skill, but the extent to which these guys will go to pull a joke on one another. |
 |
Guests included local ship modeling expert Phil Mattson (left) and Rudy Kouhoupt's niece Susan Alvaro. Phil can be seen with some of the expertly crafted ships in a bottle he brought with him for the day. Susan is the one responsible for kicking off this event with the donation of her Uncle Rudy Kouhoupt's lifetime engine collection. Some photos of Rudy she contributed can be seen in the background, and she is looking through copies of the Village Press publications summarizing his articles over the years. |
 |
A photo shows a portion of the upstairs museum
display area. Downstairs is the shop and vintage machine tool display. (Photo by Mike Rehmus) |
 |
(Left) Barry Jordan and friend Jane traveled the farthest,
coming all the way from England for the event.
(Right) Sherline employee Pam Weiss (Right) describes the details of her Bob Shores designed "Little Angel" engine to Roger Ronnie, Phil Mattson and Bill Huxhold. Pam also has a beautiful 1/2 scale .22 caliber Gattling gun on display in the museum. |
 |
In the afternoon on Friday, Joe talked to the attendees about his goals with the foundation and where we can take it from here. |
 |
On Saturday, the museum was open from 10 AM until 4 PM to the general public for the first time officially. There were people waiting at the door at 10 AM and a steady stream all day long thanks to a nice article in the local newspaper the week before. We were actually surprised and very pleased at the turnout and positive response from the public. |
In April, 2010, a new building was purchased in Carlsbad, CA. It now houses the foundation offices, shop and museum, having opened to the public on February 7th, 2011. A Grand Opening notice will be published once we get better established, signage in place, shop up and running, etc. The new facility is now open M-Sat, 9-5 (Closed Holidays). Volunteers to act as docents and former machinists who would like to work in our machine shop building model engines please contact us. To get directions and a map CLICK HERE.
New address: 3190 Lionshead Avenue, Carlsbad, CA 92010
RETURN TO MUSEUM HOME PAGE
Copyright 2011, The Joe Martin Foundation for Exceptional Craftsmanship. All
rights reserved.
No part of this web site, including the text, photos or illustrations, may be
reproduced or transmitted in any other form or by any means (electronic,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) for commercial use without the prior
written permission of The Joe Martin Foundation. Reproduction or reuse for
educational and non-commercial use is permitted.
