| THE JOURNAL - Current Editorial |
Scale
It seems that the demographic composition of the ship modeling community indicates an aging population. Thinking on this apparently irreversible fact, and the concomitant deterioration in physical acuity that most of us seem also to accept as inevitable, brought to mind the importance of scale in modeling. Whether preparing to draft a set of drawings or to build a model, almost the first question one must answer after selecting the subject is what scale to use. This may seem obvious, but it is intriguing to explore the factors that govern our available choices and drive our decisions.
It is astonishing to reflect that one of the most compelling arguments for selecting one particular scale over another is the force of tradition. We are heirs to an extensive long-lived western tradition of both naval architecture and scale model making, and that tradition’s weight seems to make 1:48 scale our first choice. Since the middle of the seventeenth century, in both England and most of Europe, naval architects, by an overwhelming majority, have selected this scale as the basis for their drafts. The switch to the metric system in most of Europe from around 1800 led to a slight alteration in the preferred European scale; 1:50 in place of 1:48. as a result, one or other of these scales has dominated model construction ever since, especially for “official” work and for modelmaking that seeks to emulate such production.
There has always been a significant problem with creating models using this scale if their builders planned to keep them in private homes or other less extensive spaces. Avocational modelmaking, therefore, has often used scales that are multiples of either 1:48 or 1:50, so that detailed models of larger vessels would fit within the space available to an individual for their display. The alternative is to eschew creation of replicas of major vessels in favor of producing models of smaller craft using a larger scale, so that the compass of the finished model still did not exceed the bounds imposed by limited space.
The availability of smaller scales also opens up opportunities for modelmakers to exhibit their skills by seeking to reproduce the level of detail seen in models at 1:48 or 1:50 scale in miniature, without distorting the final work. While earlier miniature models are extant, twentieth-century modelers have been especially successful in exploiting this field, possibly because the growth in urbanization has still further reduced their living spaces and, therefore, the possible size of models their homes could accommodate.
Recent years, however, have witnessed a surge in the popularity of modeling using larger scales, larger even than the traditional 1:48/1:50 scale. Two possible explanations exist for this. One may be an urge to incorporate the highest level of fine detail, a goal that modeling in larger scales may make more attainable. The other may be a consequence of the aging demographic of ship modelers; the physical coordination of older builders may preclude their production of finer work in smaller scales.
I do not pretend to know all the reasons why modelers choose to use one scale rather than another for their work. I suspect that there may be many more factors in play than I have suggested, and I think it may be a topic worthy of your comments.
Paul E. Fontenoy
Editor
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