Aha , Got your attention didn't I ?
Well , I could start by saying , " Someone who builds lotsa models and wins lotsa awards ." NOT necessarily True . Masters are those who have put their life into something they love and then felt able to teach others where to start and how to proceed .
A Master Modeler . ? That's someone who has chosen one of the hardest proffessions or paying Hobbies in the world . Why did I say Hobby ? Did you know that many folks feel that what we do as adults is play with expensive toys . They don't see any future there .But they will lay odds on a football game and don't even play the game . They do , Those hardcases , lose more money in one game than I have made in a year sometimes .
But they profess to really know the game .
I have NEVER professed to really have known modeling . Why ? well there's aspects of it I have never actually done ! Now , how's that for a surprise .? Yup , it's true . I have however worked both in a Movie Studio and in a firm that does proffessional Civic models and Golf Courses Et Al . What did I do in the latter? I did all the work they normally turned away because of no knowledge of the criteria necessary to achieve in a courtroom Model .
What did I do in the Former Studio setting .T.V. Commercial set pieces and For movies as part of a team , with knowledge that just doesn't walk in any door . That being A Masters Degree in Ship Building with the Emphasis on Design and construction Thereof. Seems I chose to pick a line of study while I was learning it Pretty Much moved away from North America and mainly the States . I would NOT move the family to Italy ,South Korea or Japan to pursue This line of work either . .
So I did other constructive things and also enriched my learning with an associates Degree in the construction of Bridges and Manufacturing Facilities . I think they call it " Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Useful Buildings ."
I actually knew of a civil Engineering company that had No Employees that had ever done a model of anything they'd designed or were responsible for getting built . They only drew what the client wanted . I set up an office in the same building . What kind of office ? Well , A Model Building Studio .
In the first month I had signed contracts with four of the firms in the same building to build their Presentation Miniatures . I would've called them models . They said that didn't sound proffessional to their clients .
I then got som Pro - Bono ( Free ) work from the State .A model of a Arkansas River Riverboat Called the " River of Commerce " For the Legislative Library Museum .
Then The Convention Center ( They hadn't broken Ground Yet .) In Little Rock , had a Cocktail Lounge called the Edgewater Lounge . It was decorated with many one of a kind SteamBoat Paintings .Rich Woods and Trimming in the SteamBoat style . They Commissioned Me to build a model for them . A Steam Boat ( Stern-Wheel vessel With No hull below the waterline ( That part , they thought would be Museum Boring ")I built the Edgewater princess on a tight timeline .The day the lounge had their Grand Opening she was on display , But forty hours from Finished .I got mobbed trying to remove her for completion . really ! Then She was displayed in a beautifully wrought Case of 1/4" lexan , With breathing holes Drilled thereof and placed on twisted clear lexan Square Rod , . She looked like she was floating in the air . The bottom of the case was a furniture like base of fine woods polished to a fine sheen . She resided there for Eight years . Where she is now I do not know .
Many models and firms later ( Law , Real estate Developers and Commercial Building Contracting Firms ), I went back to my first love ,Ships !
Many for the companies I worked with . The Last for Clean Bay/Clean Seas in the San Francisco area . Plus one for a personal Gift for then Clean Seas CEO and owner .
Am I now a Master ? I don't know .I build for Museums of many types and private individuals when I want to and I do get work on venerable Steam and Sail ,Model ships to Restore and have done two significant small privately owned models of historic , Sail ,the Schooner ( Topsail )( The Elise ) and the Slave Ship " Amistad " .
I do "H.O." and " N " scale ships ( Scratch ) for me . I do regular plastic kits 1/400 , 1/350 and 1/32 and 1/72 and any box scale , for me and then the models of buildings for my Museum of which I am a board member as well . Oh , and for two years I led a class of novice modelers at the Martinez , Ca , V.A. facility Occupational Therapy Dept . I graduated 85% of the guys and ladies . From crafting ( Model Building Classes ). Am I a Master ? I dunno , The V.A. national Crafts Contest Granted to me a Gold Medal for a odel Ship , Silver for a Plane then a Bronze for a Car , Am I A Master ? You tell me . My students talked my dept.supervisor to enter them without me knowing Because they wanted me to get some kind of acknowledgment for helping them . Again , Am I a Master ? Who Knows ? Tanker - Builder