A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions (the scale factor) of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in full size. Scale models are built or collected for many reasons.
Professional modelmakers often create models for many professions:
- Engineers who require scale models to test the likely performance of a particular design at an early stage of development without incurring the full expense of a full-sized prototype.
- Architects who require architectural models to evaluate and sell the look of a new construction before it is built.
- Filmmakers who require scale models of objects or sets that cannot be built in full size.
- Salesmen who require scale models to promote new products such as heavy equipment and automobiles and other vehicles.
Hobbyists or amateur modelmakers make die-cast models, injection molded, model railroads, remote control vehicles, wargaming and fantasy collectibles, model ships and ships in bottles for their own enjoyment.
Scale models can also be objects of art, either being created by artists or being rediscovered and transformed into art by artists.
Read more about Scale Model: Types of Scale Models, Scales, Cultural References
Famous quotes containing the words scale and/or model:
“‘Tis very certain that each man carries in his eye the exact indication of his rank in the immense scale of men, and we are always learning to read it. A complete man should need no auxiliaries to his personal presence.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The Battle of Waterloo is a work of art with tension and drama with its unceasing change from hope to fear and back again, change which suddenly dissolves into a moment of extreme catastrophe, a model tragedy because the fate of Europe was determined within this individual fate.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)