I have always consider skillful model building a form of art. It is one of the most realistic forms of dimensional art. It is the same way I feel about carving. It is why I started this blog. I like any kind of art but when it has depth or dimension, I really get interested.

I’ve liked model trains since I was very young. To me train layouts are not really a play thing, they are dimensional art. The creation of a world in miniature with color and form and realism and depth. It also moves on command! It is art that just happens to be centered on the activity of real railroads. The plain fact is, real railroads operate in some of the most interesting and beautiful scenic areas of the world. I think industrial and urban railroads are scenic too. The model railroad is capturing that art. For some just a rail car or an engine may be art. SO much fun creating things in miniature.

Mentioning plane facts, model airplanes are also part of my fantasy of dimensional art. There is that word again, model. Some are built to scale some are not, but they are still a form of model building art. Models are not oil paint on canvas art, but still every part of them is an object of art. Ha! Models are objects. Case closed.

I have a new project building a scale model boat called the Dauntless. No details for here until I get it finished, but construction will be displayed in a new blog I started called RoboBoatBlog.net. This model boat is also dimensional art in the form of a model that will operate outdoors on real water. I would say if it were displayed in a glass case at the Smithsonian, no one would argue it wasn’t art. The fact I want to operate the Dauntless on a pond in my back yard doesn’t disqualify the artistic recognition it should receive.

AT least in my eye (the beholder) model building is an art!