I'm making a model of Geneva, NY. For those of you unfamiliar with the small cities of up-state New York, Geneva is situated perfectly between Rochester and Syracuse. It has 14,000 people, is on the third deepest lake in the country, and is home to my school... Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
The model is being made for several very different reasons: it might count as an independent study for my architecture major or it might be part of an honors project; I really like the Tim Burton movies from the early 90s where the opening sequences always "flew" around a scale model of the set; and who doesn't like a good challenge?
Speaking of challenges, the model is 64"x72" (1.63m x 1.83m) which is roughly the size of a Queen-sized mattress), and covers about 1 square mile (about 2.6 square kilometers). This makes the scale 1": 80' or 1:960. Why that scale? Materials tend to come in multiples of 1/8" thicknesses, which is multiples of 10'. I thought that that scale would be easy to work with. Apparently, nobody else agrees. I've looked for materials designed for this scale, and nobody seems to work this small unless they're modeling battleships. This means for much of this project, I'm going to have to improvise a lot. Consider this scale for a second. 1:960 means that a 4 story building would be half an inch tall, or the thickness of your finger.
Did I mention that I have next to no experience? I made a model of an Escher drawing once in high school, but it was pretty sloppy (see above). It was put together with hot glue, and the roof is made from cardboard cut out with safety scissors because both of them were convenient. The Geneva Model is going to be on display in City Hall (which I'll discuss in my next blog). I need to make it right.
I must be crazy. Scratch that, I know I'm crazy.
The model is being made for several very different reasons: it might count as an independent study for my architecture major or it might be part of an honors project; I really like the Tim Burton movies from the early 90s where the opening sequences always "flew" around a scale model of the set; and who doesn't like a good challenge?
Speaking of challenges, the model is 64"x72" (1.63m x 1.83m) which is roughly the size of a Queen-sized mattress), and covers about 1 square mile (about 2.6 square kilometers). This makes the scale 1": 80' or 1:960. Why that scale? Materials tend to come in multiples of 1/8" thicknesses, which is multiples of 10'. I thought that that scale would be easy to work with. Apparently, nobody else agrees. I've looked for materials designed for this scale, and nobody seems to work this small unless they're modeling battleships. This means for much of this project, I'm going to have to improvise a lot. Consider this scale for a second. 1:960 means that a 4 story building would be half an inch tall, or the thickness of your finger.
Did I mention that I have next to no experience? I made a model of an Escher drawing once in high school, but it was pretty sloppy (see above). It was put together with hot glue, and the roof is made from cardboard cut out with safety scissors because both of them were convenient. The Geneva Model is going to be on display in City Hall (which I'll discuss in my next blog). I need to make it right.
I must be crazy. Scratch that, I know I'm crazy.
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