When Andre Dalcourt moved to the qathet region several years ago, it wasn’t his first time in the community.
He worked for Honeywell, a global leader in creating solutions for various industries. That company handled the installation of two paper machines at the local pulp and paper mill, just one of the locations throughout the world where he conducted his trade.
He worked in fabricating for 42 years and that continues into his retirement.
“I did programming before programming was even a thing,” said Dalcourt. “I was always interested in computers and started programming in 1975 to 1976.”
Powerful computers that once took up an entire room are now contained in something that fits on a person’s wrist.
After Dalcourt moved to BC from Welland, Ontario, in 1979, he went to night school for three years to earn his mechanical engineering certificate. He subsequently used those acquired skills to trade his labour doing estimates for his employer for a Commodore computer.
He used formulas to develop various shapes for commercial purposes. A company in North Vancouver wanted to build a 12-foot diameter parabolic satellite dish, which Dalcourt did using the shape of a flower. It turned out that only one was ever built as a company in California produced one that made the Canadian company’s idea outdated.
While he once worked on paper machines and ships’ bridge consoles, to name just two large projects, and then Fisher Stoves, he now works on everything in miniature.
When he was a single dad at home raising two daughters, Dalcourt was searching for something to do as a hobby and became interested in radio-controlled (RC) vehicles. He was a member of groups in North Vancouver and Port Coquitlam and became involved in racing the RC vehicles that he built and still has some of those early examples.
He has built racing cars, including Formula 1 and NASCAR vehicles, for interior races on carpet and outdoor on asphalt. Dalcourt also built his first Crawler RC vehicle from scratch as no pre-build kits existed at the time. He has since built four or five.
“All I’ve ever done is put things together from scratch,” he explained. “The training I have had my whole life helped me in my manufacturing work and allowed me to build RCs from scratch. I learned a lot in my work so I can do what I love to do. I can build anything out of anything.”
Looking back to 1974, Dalcourt says his whole life sent him in a direction that is now concentrated at his in-home workshop.
Moving to qathet meant transporting six pallets of all his RC vehicles, tools and machines and setting them up in a two-car garage after building shelving units to hold everything. The workshop renovations took Dalcourt a year before he was able to use the space.
“I think back to 24 years ago when I was living in an apartment working on a bench in the corner of the living room and racing RC vehicles on the weekend.”
His workshop equipment includes a 3-D printer and computer numerical control router, which is designed to carve out complex shapes from soft materials such as wood, plastic, foam and thin sheets of metal.
When he and his wife Cindy moved to this community, he constructed a racing track in the back of their property.
One of Cindy’s favourite creations that Andre made from scratch is a miniature travel trailer complete with a hitch, propane tank, ladder and storage unit. He took raw materials and turned them into something three-dimensional. A chain for the trailer is one of only two things he did not create himself.
He said he has all kinds of history in his hobby that follows him everywhere.
“This keeps me happy, keeps my mind busy and gives me purpose in my retirement,” he added with a grin. “I’d like to be doing it for the next 42 years.”
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