Hello, All:
After reading the Editors Page and the Scale talk columns in my just arrived July /August issue. I had to chime in here. Tim and Aaron, I hope you don't mind. As many of you know I do quite a few different things as well as having just retired from Commission Work. To answer the question above took some thought, so I wouldn't get to long winded here. This is a subject dear to my heart.
When I worked on actual Boats and Aircraft, oftimes I had to build a miniature of my idea to sell to the Board. How can that not be considered Scale Modeling? Yes, the media was often Fiberglass and Resin Castings and /or Actual Metal miniature parts, painstakingly milled, turned on a lathe or cast in flowing metal into molds to cool and finish later. How is that not modeling? Many models are solid Resin or Wood or something else. In the old Days it was called Tool and Die Making Too!
In resin you have to make the master for the mold. That is a model for duplication. In wood I have carved many early style Ski and "Gentlemen's Boats" (The italics are NOT mine) Solid wood with carved out cockpits into which I installed the parts necessary to make the interior accurate. I even went so far as to create a Wood(Solid) Hull into which I carved the well deck and after main cabin wall into which I also carved an engine room populated by two Plastic 413 Marinized Chrysler engines, working deck hatches, opening windows etc. I had Venetian blinds on the Cabin windows because that space was not hollowed out!
This was in response to being unable to find , much less afford Aurora's "Wheeler Cruiser" at any price. Is that not modeling? I believe it is. Builders models are Modeling Prototypes in full scale or miniature and is looked upon as modeling by many. Putting a kit together of Plastic, Resin Or wood is modeling. Whether it is the Enterprise Space Ship or a Gundam. 3-d Modeling is the same thing using a machine that spits out threads or does an electronically excited layering. a model too. Modeling on a computer is a form of it. Made from prodigeous research and computer time. A bunch of lines drawn on a computer is the way models are made for industry now. This is translated to Computer languages 1s and 0s to another control that instructs the machine being "taught" how to make that part. Oh, by the way Guys and Ladies, that's how molds are machined for models today.
So let's not parse words or feelings here. Making(notice I did not say Building) a model is the same today as it was in the days of the Pharoahs of Eygpt. A miniature had to be built to show in 3 dimensions to the Pharoah that the design was do-able! The same thing is done from paper too! Printed out, mostly in full color and made for us to cut out, Bend, Fold, and Glue into a 3-dimensionally represented miniature of a ship, plane, and car(Not to many of those yet)
If that ain't modeling, I don't know what is!. I have slaved over sheets of Lexan and tablesaws to make a one third size model of a machine that was radio operated to convince a jury how the machine outlined in the Lawsuit was operated. It was still a model by any standard. Let's Build What We Love !! in any Scale and any Media and enjoy the Fellowship and Camaraderie that comes from it and with it. Or go read a book and quite picking on us Modelers. Thank You -- Tanker-Builder P.S. I also Scratch-Build in Plastic-You got it, Tankers!!