Scratch Building
Modern manufacturing techniques mean mass produced models achieve a high degree of precision and realism. In the past this was not the case and scratch building was very common. Simple models are made using cardboard engineering techniques. More sophisticated models can be made using a combination of etched sheets of brass and low temperature castings. Parts that need machining, such as wheels and couplings are purchased. Etched kits are still popular, still accompanied by low temperature castings. These kits produce models that are not covered by the major manufacturers or in scales that are not in mass production. Laser machining techniques have extended this ability to thicker materials for scale steam and other locomotive types. Scratch builders may also make silicone rubber molds of the parts they create, and cast them in various plastic resins (see Resin casting), or plasters. This may be done to save duplication of effort, or to sell to others. Resin "craftsman kits" are also available for a wide range of prototypes.
Read more about this topic: Rail Transport Modelling
Famous quotes containing the words scratch and/or building:
“Man has lost the basic skill of the ape, the ability to scratch its back. Which gave it extraordinary independence, and the liberty to associate for reasons other than the need for mutual back-scratching.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“The Times are the masquerade of the eternities; trivial to the dull, tokens of noble and majestic agents to the wise; the receptacle in which the Past leaves its history; the quarry out of which the genius of today is building up the Future.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)