Scale model

A scale model is most generally a physical representation of an object, which maintains accurate relationships between all important aspects of the model, although absolute values of the original properties need not be preserved. This enables it to demonstrate some behavior or property of the original object without examining the original object itself. The most familiar scale models represent the physical appearance of an object in miniature, but there are many other kinds.

Scale models are used in many fields including engineering, architecture, film making, military command, salesmanship and hobby model building. While each field may use a scale model for a different purpose, all scale models are based on the same principles and must meet the same general requirements to be functional. The detail requirements vary depending on the needs of the modeler.

To be a true scale model, all relevant aspects must be accurately modeled, such as material properties, so the model's interaction with the outside world is reliably related to the original object's interaction with the real world.

Woodland Scenics

Woodland Scenics, along with its PineCar and Scene-A-Rama divisions, manufactures model scenery, gravity-driven pinewood racecars and educational arts and crafts.

The company was founded in 1975 by David Osment, the owner/operator of the architectural firm, Osment Models, Inc., based in Shawnee Mission Kansas. Osment Models built commissioned architectural and engineering models for national and international corporations. Some of his work included office buildings, airports, sports stadiums, resorts, and a portion of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Woodland Scenics sells wholesale to distributors who sell to retail hobby outlets or stores with hobby departments. Their product distribution network covers Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South America. Woodland Scenics is considered the prime innovator-inventor of realistic model railroad scenery and the industry leader responsible for setting the current industry standards.

History

Adam Savage (American)

Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American industrial design and special effects designer/fabricator, actor, educator, and television personality, known as co-host (with Jamie Hyneman) of the Discovery Channel television series MythBusters and Unchained Reaction. His model work has appeared in major films, including Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and The Matrix Reloaded. He is a prominent member of the skeptic community. He lives in San Francisco with his twin sons and wife, Julia.

Early life

Born in New York City, Savage was raised in Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County, New York. He graduated from Sleepy Hollow High School in 1985. His Grandfather, Cushman Haagensen, was a surgeon who pioneered in breast-cancer surgery. His father, Whitney Lee Savage (1928–1998), was a painter, filmmaker and animator known for his work on Sesame Street, and has a permanent exhibit in the Avampato Discovery Museum. His mother is a psychotherapist. His sister Kate Savage is also an artist. As a teenager in Sleepy Hollow, he routinely visited the local bike shop to have flat tires fixed. The shop showed him how to do the repairs himself. From this experience, Savage said, "I realized you could take a bike apart and put it back together and it wasn't that hard...I've been building and putting bicycles together since then."

Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons licenses free of charge to the public. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators. An easy-to-understand one-page explanation of rights, with associated visual symbols, explains the specifics of each Creative Commons license. Creative Commons licenses do not replace copyright, but are based upon it. They replace individual negotiations for specific rights between copyright owner (licensor) and licensee, which are necessary under an "all rights reserved" copyright management, with a "some rights reserved" management employing standardized licenses for re-use cases where no commercial compensation is sought by the copyright owner. The result is an agile, low-overhead and low-cost copyright-management regime, profiting both copyright owners and licensees. Wikipedia uses one of these licenses.

Rail transport modelling

Railway modelling (UK, Australia and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale.

The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, tracks, signalling and landscapes including: countryside, roads, buildings, vehicles, model figures, lights, and features such as rivers, hills, and canyons.

The earliest model railways were the 'carpet railways' in the 1840s. Electric trains appeared around the start of the 20th century, but these were crude likenesses. Model trains today are more realistic. Today modelers create model railroad layouts, often recreating real locations and periods throughout history.

General description

Involvement ranges from possession of a train set to spending hours and large sums of money on a large and exacting model of a railroad and the scenery through which it passes, called a "layout". Hobbyists, called "railway modellers" or "model railroaders", may maintain models large enough to ride (see Live steam, Ridable miniature railway and Backyard railroad).