How architectural models are made (Videos)

[Brian Austin]

A relatively small shop...

 

A much larger operation..

 

[peteski]

Thanks Brian - that was fascinating!

Amazing thing is that when you have all the tools, and all the model makers, no kits are needed. It is all scratch built.

[NYLIBUD]

That is so cool.It’s amazing how realistic these architectural models are.I would love to work in a factory like that,no stress.Just nice little trees,lol .Thanks for posting this.

[peteski]

On 9/24/2023 at 6:27 PM, NYLIBUD said:

I would love to work in a factory like that,no stress.Just nice little trees,lol

LOL Ron, nothing could be further from the truth.  Those happy model builders have deadlines to meet and if something goes wrong, there is hell to pay.  Any hobby modeler who became becomes a professional model builder, will tell you that a large part of the fun gets replaced by stress.

Edited September 27, 2023 by peteski

[Russell C]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

...Those happy model builders have deadlines to meet and if something goes wrong.......

'Fraid so, although my encounter with such modelers was more than two decades back. But I don't doubt for a minute that the deadlines still apply today. I applied for a job at a couple of places like that in the mid '90s thinking it would be right up my alley. One guy told me straight out he needed either a guy who could slice out window walls from thick cardboard with an Xacto blade as fast and accurate as he could, or he was going to have to invest in a laser cutter to bash those out. Man, my fingers hurt after the test run he gave me, but the thing that prompted me not to pursue working with him was his attitude - all work and no joy. At least the second place had a manager who expressed some joy in doing what he did, but the deadlines he spoke of were the deal killer for me. Some guys thrive on that, but I sure don't.

[Lunajammer]

My dad was an architect with a firm and when I was a kid I LOVED going into the model room where there were stacks of scale buildings under plexi covers, some of which were torn apart and scavenged for other builds. Precision cut matte board pieces all over the place and the smell of stale cigarette smoke. We could sit at drafting tables and play with pens and markers but we weren't allowed to touch a single thing in the model room.

[NYLIBUD]

19 hours ago, peteski said:

LOL Ron, nothing could be further from the truth.  Those happy model builders have deadlines to meet and if something goes wrong, there is hell to pay.  Any hobby modeler who became becomes a professional model builder, will tell you that a large part of the fun gets replaced by stress.

No,I know,i’m sure they do deal with a lot of stress.I mean I’m aware that these huge architectural masterpiece things have to moved around to different places,fully intact,and must be ready to show to a client,with no damage to the model,for lack of a better word.Still,I think it must be so rewarding for all these people who build these incredibly detailed projects,to see it completed.And thank God or the 3D printer.I think about the model builders who came before the invention of the 3D printer.Yea,not an easy job,I’m sure.Hey but Hans loved models too when he was a boy.”Such detail”.??

[ChrisBcritter]

How architectural models are unmade:

[NYLIBUD]

Hey,well mom always said,don’t play ball in the house.?

Edited September 28, 2023 by NYLIBUD

[Brian Austin]

 In my art school days I took an architecture class.  I thought it was going to be fun making models.  My first ones were built using styrene and such.  I got strange looks from my classmates wondering what this exotic material was.  As it turned out, the professor wanted us to work in foamcore and cardboard.  I kinda lost interest in architecture as a career at the end of that course.  I learned I was more into old architecture than designing new buildings.  As an aside, the professor had a habit of noting scales as fractions of an inch, but in an odd way:  1:48 was "Quarter Scale", 1:96 was "Eighth Scale".  Made me wonder what he would call 1:8 scale.

In one of my other courses, a movie model maker dropped by.  Sadly I don't recall  his name.  What I remember is his puncturing my awe of his career choice.  There was a lot of drudgery involved on a daily basis.  Drilling lots of tiny holes and such.  From what I've heard, special effects artists work from show to show, and so you have to get your work where you can.  You might not get far if you're not driven to pursue those jobs continually.

I was told by a friend that there was also a lot of routine drudgery in architectural model building as well.

As far as the factory in the video goes, I have a feeling it's not too far off other factory work.  Keep cranking out widgets.  The manager did seem rather enthusiastic about his company though.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Brian Austin

[peteski]

15 hours ago, Brian Austin said:

As an aside, the professor had a habit of noting scales as fractions of an inch, but in an odd way:  1:48 was "Quarter Scale", 1:96 was "Eighth Scale".  Made me wonder what he would call 1:8 scale.

That is an old way to refer to scales. I see it used in the RC model airplane circles and sometimes in model railroading.  You probably know that it refers to what fraction of a a 1:1 scale inch represents one foot in 1:1.   It is a bit  weird.  As you implied, it would not work well for 1:8 scale as in that scale 1.5 1:1 inches represents 1:1 foot.