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Model was a Turkish rock band based in İzmir, Turkey.
== History ==
The band was founded with name "A due Carmen" in 2005 by Okan Işık, Aşkın Çolak and Can Temiz. Fatma Turgut and Serkan Gürüzümcü joined in 2007. The band members found each other on the internet. The group's name was changed to Model in 2008. Their first album, Perili Sirk was released in 2009.
In 2011, Model released its second album, called Diğer Masallar, which was produced by Demir Demirkan. Three songs, "Buzdan Şato", "Değmesin Ellerimiz", "Bir Melek Vardı", became very popular.
In 2012, Aşkın Çolak left the band and was replaced by Kerem Sedef on drums.
Their third album, Levlâ'nın Hikayesi, was put on the market by the label of GNL Entertainment in the last week of the November 2013. The album focuses on separation and the five stages of grief.
The band disbanded in 2016 due to differences between the members.
== Awards ==
2010 Digital Age Awards - Most Innovative Music / Sound Design winner song composed for Efes Pilsen.
The band also won the Billboard Special Jury Award in Roxy Music Days under the name "A due Carmen"
== Discography ==
Perili Sirk (2009)
Diğer Masallar (2011)
Levlâ'nın Hikayesi (2013)
Mey (2016)
== References == | Wikipedia/Model_(band) |
Otto Moritz Walter Model (IPA: [ˈmoːdəl]; 24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. His relative success as commander of the Ninth Army in the battles of 1941–1942 determined his future career path.
Model first came to Hitler's attention before World War II, but their relationship did not become especially close until 1942. His tenacious style of fighting and loyalty to the Nazi regime won him plaudits from Hitler, who considered him one of his best field commanders and repeatedly sent him to salvage apparently desperate situations on the Eastern Front as commander of Army Group North, Army Group North Ukraine and
Army Group Centre.
In August 1944 Model was sent to the Western Front as commander of OB West and Army Group B. His relationship with Hitler broke down by the end of the war after the German defeat at the Battle of the Bulge. In the aftermath of the defeat of Army Group B and its encirclement in the Ruhr Pocket, Model took his own life on 21 April 1945.
== Early life and career ==
Otto Moritz Walter Model was born in Genthin, Saxony, the son of Otto Paul Moritz Model, a music teacher at a local girls' school, and his wife Marie Pauline Wilhelmine née Demmer. He had a brother, Otto, who was seven years older. He belonged to a middle-class, non-military family. Model's decision to burn all his personal papers at the end of World War II means relatively little is known about his early years. He attended school at the Bürgerschule (citizen school) in Genthin. The family moved to Erfurt in 1900, and then to Naumburg, where he graduated with his abitur from the Domgymnasium Naumburg, a humanities-oriented secondary school, on Easter 1909.
Through the influence of his uncle Martin Model, a reserve officer in the 52nd Infantry Regiment von Alvensleben, he joined that regiment as an officer cadet (Fahnenjunker) on 27 February 1909. He was promoted to Fähnrich on 19 November 1909, and was admitted to the army officer cadet school (Kriegsschule) in Neisse (now Nysa, Poland), where he was an unexceptional student, and was commissioned a Leutnant (2nd lieutenant) in the 52nd Infantry Regiment on 22 August 1910. He made few friends among his fellow officers and soon became known for his ambition, drive, and blunt outspokenness. These were characteristics that marked his entire career. He became the adjutant of his regiment's 1st Battalion in October 1913.
== World War I ==
The 52nd Infantry Regiment was mobilized on the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, and formed part of the 5th Division, which fought on the Western Front. It saw action in the Battle of Mons in August and the First Battle of the Marne in September before occupying a static position in the Soissons sector. Model was promoted to Oberleutnant on 25 February 1915. In May 1915, he was severely wounded near Arras when a bullet hit his shoulder blade, and he spent a month in hospital. He distinguished himself in the fighting around Butte-de-Tahure in September, for which he was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class on 19 October. On 3 November he was wounded by artillery fragments in his right shoulder and spent another six weeks in hospital. He was wounded again on 26 April 1916 in the Battle of Verdun, this time by shell fragments in the right thigh.
Model's deeds brought him to the attention of his divisional commander who, despite misgivings about his "uncomfortable subordinate", recommended Model for German General Staff training. He completed the abbreviated eight-month staff officers' course and returned to the 5th Division as adjutant of the 10th Infantry Brigade. This was followed by postings as a company commander in both the 52nd Infantry Regiment and the 8th Life Grenadiers. In June 1917, Lieutenant Colonel Georg Wetzell, who had been the chief of staff of III Corps, of which the 5th Division was a part, in 1914 and 1915, selected Model for duty on the Oberste Heeresleitung (Army General Staff). Model became an ordnance officer. In late 1917 he was part of a group of junior staff officers who accompanied Colonel Hans von Seeckt to Constantinople to assess the Ottoman Empire's ability to continue prosecuting the war and the possibility of employing German troops in the Middle East.
Model was promoted to Hauptmann (captain) in March 1918, and soon after was assigned to the staff of the Guard Ersatz Division as division supply officer (IIb). As such, he fought in the German spring offensive of that year. The Guard Ersatz Division fought in Operation Michael against the British in March, and in the Second Battle of the Marne against the French in July. On 30 August he became the supply officer of the 36th Reserve Division. The division participated in the Battle of the Lys and the Escaut in October and November.
== Inter-war years ==
Under the terms of the armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended the fighting, the German Army had thirty days to depart France and Belgium. The 36th Reserve Division crossed the border into Germany at Aachen on 20 November, but making its way back to its home station at Danzig was no simple feat in the chaotic conditions that prevailed in immediate post-war Germany. 36th Reserve Division commander Major General Franz von Rantau gave Model the credit for the division reaching Danzig more or less intact.
Model considered leaving the army, but was dissuaded by his uncle Martin. In November 1919, von Seeckt selected Model as one of the 4,000 officers in the 100,000-man post-war Reichswehr permitted by the Treaty of Versailles. After the 36th Reserve Division was demobilised, he became the adjutant of the Danzig-based XVII Corps from January to June 1919. He then joined the staff of the 7th Brigade in Westphalia. In early 1920, he became a company commander in the 14th Infantry Regiment at Konstanz, which was sent to the Ruhr in March 1920 to help crush the Ruhr uprising. Following von Seeckt's example, Model kept aloof from politics in the chaotic period that marked the birth of the Weimar Republic, but the experience of the early 1920s left him with an abhorrence of communism.
While billeted in the Ruhr, Model became acquainted with Herta Huyssen, and they were married in Frankfurt on 11 May 1921. They had three children: a daughter, Hella, who was born in 1923; a son, Hansgeorg, who was born in 1927, and a second daughter, Christa, who was born in 1929. On 1 October 1921, Model was posted to the 18th Infantry Regiment in Munich, where he commanded the regimental machine gun company. After a few months he returned to staff duty with the artillery staff of the 6th Division. He was influenced by the thinking of its commander, General der Infanterie Fritz von Loßberg, who rejected the concept of an elastic defence in favour of a more rigid defence in depth.
In October 1925, following the standard alternation of staff duty with troop duty, Model assumed command of the 9th Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment. This was part of the 3rd Division, which was heavily involved in testing the technical innovations of that era. He returned to staff duty in September 1928, as an officer in the training section at 3rd Division headquarters. He lectured in tactics and war studies for the basic General Staff training course, with presentations on the First Battle of the Marne and the Battle of Tannenberg, and authored a 1929 study of August Neidhardt von Gneisenau. His students included Adolf Heusinger, Alfred Jodl, Siegfried Rasp, Hans Speidel and August Winter, who later became generals. Model was promoted to major in October 1929.
In 1930 he was transferred to the Training Branch of the Truppenamt, where he served under Colonels Wilhelm von List, Walter von Brauchitsch, and Walther Wever. He became close friends with Friedrich Paulus, a fellow officer on the staff. In August 1931, he accompanied Brauchitsch, Wilhelm Keitel and Ernst-August Köstring on a visit to Germany's secret training areas in the Soviet Union. Model spent a fortnight with the Red Army's 9th Rifle Division at Rostov, and this formed the basis of a paper he wrote on the Red Army's weapons technology. He was promoted to oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) in November 1932.
Model returned to troop duty in November 1933, as commander of a battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, part of the 1st Division, which was stationed at Allenstein in East Prussia. As the Army began to expand again in 1934, each of the battalions became a regiment, and in October 1934, Model became the commander of the new 2nd Infantry Regiment, with the rank of oberst (colonel).
In October 1935, Model was appointed to head the 8th Department (Technical) of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), the revived Army general staff. In this role he was responsible for the development of new weapons, particularly artillery. He was one of the officers who advocated for the creation of armoured divisions and corps. He was promoted to generalmajor (major general) on 1 March 1938. He led a test firing of the 21 cm Mörser 18 on mock Czech fortifications, which did not impress Adolf Hitler. Like many army officers at the time, Model was a supporter of the Nazi Party, and his time in Berlin brought him into contact with senior members of the government, but after General der Artillerie Franz Halder became chief of staff of the OKH in September 1938, there was a purge of pro-Nazi officers from OKH, and Model was reassigned, becoming the chief of staff of the IV Corps in Dresden.
== World War II ==
=== Invasion of Poland ===
Preparations for the invasion of Poland started in May 1939. The IV Corps became part of the Tenth Army, under the command of Generaloberst Walter von Reichenau, which in turn formed part of Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group South. World War II began in Europe when IV Corps crossed the border into Poland on 1 September. For the IV Corps, the campaign lasted only eleven days, but there was some hard fighting. On 28 September, the IV Corps was designated the controlling headquarters of the Lublin area. The Lublin Ghetto became one of the first of its kind.
=== Battle of France ===
On 20 October, Model was appointed the chief of staff of the Sixteenth Army on the recommendation of Brauchitsch, who was now the Commander-in-Chief of the Army. The Sixteenth Army's commander was General der Infanterie Ernst Busch. He was an ardent supporter of the Nazi Party, to which he owed his advancement to an army command ahead of several more senior officers, despite his undistinguished record of service in Poland. Brauchitsch hoped that Busch and Model would form a good working relationship, since their politics were similar and social backgrounds were humble. At the same time, he hoped that Model would provide expertise on fast-moving operations for Busch, whose tactical ideas were considered reactionary.
Under the plan for the attack on France, the Sixteenth Army formed part of Rundstedt's army group, now renamed Army Group A. The Sixteenth Army was given the minor role of protecting the left flank, with seven divisions recently mobilised from reservists that were largely equipped with Czech weapons. During the winter, the alternative Manstein Plan (Case Yellow) was adopted, which shifted the main attack to Army Group A. In war games held in February, Model played the commander of the Sixteenth Army while Busch played the French commander, General Maurice Gamelin. Using stolid operational movements, Busch was able to halt the German advance.
Model, who was promoted to generalleutnant on 1 April 1940, had to cope with the Sixteenth Army's composition being completely changed in March and April. The Sixteenth Army's mission was still to cover the flank, but its frontage became much wider, and the imperative for a rapid advance meant that Model spent much of his time overseeing logistical arrangements. When the Germans attacked on 11 May, Gamelin pursued the Dyle Plan rather than the cautious operations that Busch had favoured, and the infantry of Army Group A advanced much faster than expected, leading to an important German victory.
The Sixteenth Army assumed a defensive posture on 25 May. During the next two weeks it prepared for Case Red, the next phase of operations against France, which commenced on 9 June. The Sixteenth Army was transferred to Generaloberst Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb's Army Group C. The Sixteenth Army's advance was initially slow, but a breakthrough was achieved on 11 June, and on 22 June the Sixteenth Army linked up with the First Army, encircling 600,000 French troops. In the wake of the victory in France, Busch and his three corps commanders were all promoted, but Model was not. He was engaged in planning for the Operation Sea Lion, the German invasion of Britain, in which the Sixteenth Army was slated to play a major role.
=== Invasion of the Soviet Union ===
Model earned his first senior command posting in November, when he was assigned to lead the 3rd Panzer Division. While a division command was the normal progression for a chief of staff of an army, command of a panzer division was especially prestigious, and Model had no experience leading armoured units. The assignment was engineered by Brauchitsch, who had 3rd Panzer Division's commander, Generalleutnant Horst Stumpff transferred to the 20th Panzer Division. For a time it was thought likely that the 3rd Panzer Division would be sent to North Africa, and some of its subunits were, but in May 1941 it was assigned to General der Kavallerie Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg's XXIV Panzer Corps, which was part of the 2nd Panzer Group, commanded by Generaloberst Heinz Guderian for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Model ignored formalities of organization and command, which endeared him to his men and exasperated his staff, who often had to clean up the mess he left behind. He instituted a combined arms training program where his men were thrown together in various ad-hoc groupings regardless of their parent unit: tankers trained with infantry, engineers with reconnaissance units, and so on. He thus anticipated by some months the regular German use of Kampfgruppen in World War II. While this became routine later on, it was not a universal practice in the Wehrmacht in late 1940 and early 1941.
The campaign opened on 22 June 1941, with Guderian urging his divisions forward at breakneck speed. This suited Model, and by 4 July, his advance elements leading the panzer group's charge had reached the Dnieper. Crossing it in strength was another matter, however, as the Red Army was prepared to defend the river line. For this operation, Model, now reinforced with additional troops, reorganised his command into three groups: an infantry-heavy force that would cross the river and establish a bridgehead, a mobile armored group that would pass through the bridgehead and continue the advance, and a fire support group containing nearly all his artillery. The plan worked so successfully that the river crossing cost scarcely any casualties. There followed two weeks of hard fighting to defend the panzer group's flank, during which he was assigned the 1st Cavalry Division in addition to 3rd Panzer as Gruppe Model, who then attacked to break up Soviet forces massing near Roslavl.
After the battle of Smolensk, Hitler ordered a change of direction. Guderian's panzer group turned south into Ukraine. Its objective was to trap the Soviet forces defending Kiev, an unsupported advance of 275 kilometres (171 mi). Once again 3rd Panzer formed the spearhead. From 24 August to 14 September, Model conducted a lightning thrust into the rear of the Soviet Southwestern Front. The manoeuvre reached its conclusion when 3rd Panzer made contact with the 16th Panzer Division from Army Group South at Lokhvitsa. While it took several more days to eliminate all resistance, the trap around Kiev had been closed; 665,000 Soviet soldiers were taken prisoner.
=== Before Moscow ===
On 26 October 1941, Model was placed in command of XLI Panzer Corps vice Georg-Hans Reinhardt, who stepped up to command of the 3rd Panzer Group, of which the XLI Panzer Corps was a part. He was promoted to General der Panzertruppe, backdated to 1 October. The XLI Panzer Corps was embroiled in Operation Typhoon, the assault on Moscow. The attack had begun on 2 October 1941, and Model arrived at his new command on 14 November, in the midst of the battle. The corps was located at Kalinin, 160 kilometres (99 mi) north west of Moscow. It was worn out, at the end of a long and tenuous supply line, and the cold weather was starting to hamper the Germans. Nevertheless, morale remained high, and the final push towards Moscow began shortly after his arrival.
Model was a whirlwind of energy, touring the front and exhorting his troops to greater efforts: he also ran roughshod over the niceties of protocol and chains of command, and, in general, left his staff trailing in his wake. By 5 December, XLI Panzer Corps' 6th Panzer Division had reached Iohnca, just 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Kremlin. There, the advance stopped, as the winter took hold. Temperatures dropped to -40 degrees C (-40 degrees F), weapons and vehicles froze solid, and the Germans were forced to call a halt to offensive operations.
Just as the Germans had made the halt decision, the Soviet Kalinin, Western and Southwestern Fronts launched a massive counteroffensive, aimed at driving Army Group Centre back from Moscow. The attacks were especially strong against Third Panzer Group, which had made some of the closest penetrations to the city. In three weeks of confused, savage fighting, Reinhardt extricated his troops from potential encirclement and fell back to the Lama River line. Placed in charge of covering the retreat, Model's harsh, almost brutal, style of leadership now paid dividends as panic threatened to infect the German columns. On several occasions, he restored order at a congested crossroads with a drawn pistol, but the retreat never became a rout.
During this period, Model noticed that the Soviet attacks tended to be most successful when the Germans employed a strongpoint defense instead of a continuous line. Moreover, Soviet logistics were still inadequate to support a fast-moving battle; thus, even if a gap was made, it did not automatically mean a crisis. Therefore, he ordered his men to spread themselves out, which exploited his corps' advantage in artillery over the Soviets, while he created small mechanised kampfgruppen or alarmeinheiten (alarm units) to deal with any breakthrough. His tactics were successful, if costly. By the end of 1941, the 6th Panzer Division mustered 1,000 men, including all frontline, support and staff personnel. He continued to advocate similar tactics throughout the remainder of his career.
=== Rzhev ===
Model's success in holding his front had not gone unnoticed, and in January 1942 he was placed in charge of the Ninth Army occupying the Rzhev salient, leapfrogging at least fifteen more senior commanders in Army Group Centre alone. Just prior to his departure for the front, the new army commander had held lengthy consultations with both Hitler and Halder. They impressed upon Model that great firmness would be necessary to save the army from destruction, and his vehement tone in reply so impressed Hitler that upon the General's departure he remarked: "Did you see that eye? I trust that man to do it, but I wouldn't want to serve under him".
When Model took over, his sector was in a shambles: the Kalinin Front had broken through the line and was threatening the Moscow–Smolensk railway, the main supply route for Army Group Centre. Despite the danger, he realized the precarious position the attackers themselves were in and immediately counterattacked, cutting off the Soviet 39th Army. To hold the line Model threw every available man to the front, drafting construction units and the like to replenish the enormous German losses. In the ferocious battles that followed, he repelled multiple Soviet attempts to relieve their trapped soldiers, the last being in February. On 31 January 1942, Model was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross and promoted to generaloberst.
Having restored Ninth Army's front, Model set about holding it. His defensive doctrine, which combined conventional thinking with his own tactical innovations, was based on the following principles:
Up-to-date intelligence, based on frontline sources and reconnaissance instead of relying on reports from rear-area analysts.
A continuous front line, no matter how thinly held.
Tactical reserves to halt any imminent breakthrough.
Centralized artillery command and control. Since the end of World War I, German divisions had had their artillery spread out amongst their component regiments, which made it difficult to bring the maximum weight of fire to bear on any one point. Model reorganized his artillery into special battalions under the direct control of the divisional and corps commanders.
Multiple static lines of defense, to delay the enemy's advance. Hitler had in fact forbidden the construction of multiple lines, saying that soldiers would be tempted to abandon their current line in favor of falling back to the next; Model ignored this order.
The expediency of preparing rearward defence lines, although these went against the express wishes of Hitler, meant that Model's influence was felt even when he was absent from the battlefield. At the end of July 1942 the front erupted as a new Soviet offensive tore through the German defence at Rzhev. Model was on convalescent leave, having been hit by a chance rifle shot while flying over the front. Model returned to Ninth Army on the 10 August and immediately made his presence felt. He ordered the creation of scratch battle groups made up of soldiers returning from leave and threw them into the fighting.
By the close of September, the Soviet offensive was temporarily spent, but Georgy Zhukov, unhappy with the results of the summer and still aware of opportunities around the Rzhev salient, tried again with even more force in November. Code named Operation Mars, Soviet forces struck at the Ninth Army from four directions. Model's defensive abilities were once again put to the test, and his forces were once again able to contain and then cut off and destroy Soviet spearheads, even though the German losses were again extensive. Model emerged from a year of fighting around Rzhev with an enhanced reputation as a "Lion of defence". Liddell Hart wrote that he had "the amazing capability to collect a reserve from an almost empty battlefield".
Ninth Army eventually evacuated the salient in Operation Büffel in March 1943, as part of a general shortening of the line. Large-scale anti-partisan sweeps were carried out in the weeks before the operation in which an estimated 3,000 Russians were killed, the great majority of whom were unarmed, as shown by the inventory of the seized weapons: 277 rifles, 41 pistols, 61 machine guns, 17 mortars, 9 antitank rifles and 16 small artillery pieces. The withdrawal was precisely planned and took two weeks, with minimal casualties or disruption in a move of an Army group numbering approximately 300,000 men, 100 tanks and 400 artillery pieces. In its wake, Model personally ordered the deportation of all male civilians, wells poisoned, and at least two dozen villages razed in a scorched earth policy to hinder the Red Army's follow up in the area. British war correspondent Alexander Werth visited the area soon after the liberation and saw for himself the results of Model's orders. The report listed Model at the top of the list of the war criminals responsible for the "deliberate extermination policy" and noted that most of the killings of civilians were carried out by regular Wehrmacht units, not just the Gestapo or the Sicherheitsdienst.
=== Kursk and Orel ===
On 5 July 1943, Model led the northern assault on Kursk during Operation Citadel, a plan which had caused great controversy within the German high command. Generalfeldmarschalls Günther von Kluge and Erich von Manstein, commanding Army Groups Centre and South respectively, had originally urged that the salient be attacked in May, before the Soviets could prepare their defences. Others, including Inspector General of Armoured Troops Generaloberst Heinz Guderian, felt that attacking was unnecessary, since it would occasion heavy tank losses and thus upset plans for increasing German armoured strength.
Model was skeptical of the plan's chances, pointing out that Konstantin Rokossovsky's Central Front was strongly dug in and outnumbered him two to one in men, tanks and artillery. Rather than conclude that the offensive be called off, however, he said it should be postponed until he could receive further reinforcements, in particular the new Panther tanks and Ferdinand tank destroyers. Manstein took his recommendation at face value, while Guderian said that he was categorically against attacking. It has similarly been suggested that Model, in fact, hoped to scuttle the operation by causing it to be delayed until the Soviet forces launched their own attack.
Model's assault was a failure, as Ninth Army quickly became enmeshed in the elaborate Soviet fortifications. The Red Army's strength in the salient was, in fact, growing much faster than that of the attacking force. Nor did his tactical plan of attack meet with great success. Having less armour and more artillery than Manstein in the south, and fearing that the deep Soviet defences would stall an armour-heavy attack, he decided to use his infantry to breach Rokossovsky's line before unleashing his armour. It did not work. The Germans took heavy losses to advance less than 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) in seven days, and were unable to break through to open ground. Model threw his armour into the fray, but with little effect, beyond incurring more casualties. As mitigating factors, the Red Army had concentrated more of their strength facing Model in the north; and Rokossovsky had correctly anticipated where the attack would come, defending that sector heavily. Model's use of infantry assaults also meant his losses in armour were lower than those of Manstein.
Model had anticipated the possibility of a Soviet attack into the Orel Salient, and had (without OKH's knowledge) constructed extensive defensive works to meet such an attack. Following the stalling of his advance, the Soviet counter-offensive, Operation Kutuzov, duly opened on 12 July. It involved not just Rokossovsky's Central Front, but also the Bryansk and Western Fronts, a greater concentration of forces than Model had assaulted in Operation Citadel. For the battle, Kluge placed him in command of Second Panzer Army in addition to Ninth Army—a larger total force than he had commanded in Citadel.
The Soviet preponderance of strength was such that Stavka expected it to take only 48 hours to reach Orel, splitting the German forces into three parts; instead, the battle ended three weeks later with Model's orderly withdrawal from the salient. An idea of the scale of the fighting compared to Citadel can be gained from the combined casualty lists for Second Panzer and Ninth Armies: from 1 to 10 July, the Germans took 21,000 casualties, and from 11 to 31 July, 62,000. Despite these losses he had inflicted similarly heavy casualties on the three Red Army Fronts, shortened the line, and avoided annihilation.
As in the Rzhev withdrawal, Model ordered his troops to carry out a scorched earth policy, destroying the infrastructure and harvest, and deporting 250,000 civilians in inhuman conditions. After the loss of Orel, Model withdrew to the Dnieper as the Red Army went on the offensive from Smolensk in the north to Rostov in the south. He was relieved of command of the Ninth Army at the end of September, and took the opportunity to go on three months' leave in Dresden with his family.
=== Estonia ===
Model's relief is believed not to have been a sign that he had lost Hitler's confidence, but rather that he had gained it, Hitler wanting him available should another emergency break out which needed his attention. Thus, on 31 January 1944, he was urgently sent to command Army Group North, which, two weeks earlier, had seen the siege of Leningrad broken by the Volkhov, Leningrad and 2nd Baltic Fronts.
The situation was dire: the Eighteenth Army had been shattered into three parts, and the front had virtually dissolved. The army group's previous commander, Generalfeldmarschall Georg von Küchler, had pleaded for permission to withdraw to the Panther Line in Estonia, which was still only half-completed at that stage. Model cracked down on such talk, instituting a new policy he called Shield and Sword (Schild und Schwert).
Under this doctrine, ground would only temporarily be ceded, to gather reserves for an immediate counter-attack that would drive the Red Army back and relieve pressure on other areas of the front. These statements of aggressive intent won over Hitler and OKH, who had no substantial reserves to send him, but were still unwilling to lose territory. Historians have since debated their significance, some claiming that Shield and Sword was Hitler's invention, while others say they were a calculated ploy by Model to disguise his true intent—to pull back to the Panther Line.
Regardless, the "temporary" loss of ground usually became permanent, as Model conducted a fighting withdrawal to the Panther Line. He delegated responsibility for the Narva front to General der Infanterie Johannes Friessner commanding Army Detachment Narva, while he concentrated on extricating Eighteenth Army from its predicament. Without OKH's notice or approval, he constructed a series of interim defensive lines to cover its retreat, slowing down and inflicting heavy losses on the pursuing Soviet forces in the process.
By 1 March, the withdrawal was complete. His forces were mostly intact, but the fighting had been fierce: his Shield and Sword counter-attacks alone had cost him some 10,000–12,000 men. These counter-attacks usually failed to recover ground, but they kept the Red Army off-balance and won Model time to pull his units back. They also allowed him to say to Hitler that he was pursuing an aggressive approach, even as the front moved steadily to the west. Model was promoted to 'generalfeldmarschall on 30 March 1944, backdated to 1 March.
=== Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Poland ===
On 30 March 1944, Model was placed in command of Army Group North Ukraine in Galicia, which was withdrawing under heavy pressure from Zhukov's 1st Ukrainian Front, vice Manstein, who had fallen out of favour with Hitler. Despite Manstein's previous victories, Hitler wanted someone whom he anticipated would be unyielding in defence.
On 28 June, Model was sent to rescue Army Group Centre, which had been torn apart by Operation Bagration, the Soviet offensive in Belorussia. The Ninth and Fourth Armies were trapped, and the Red Army was about to liberate Minsk. Despite the catastrophic situation, Model believed he could still hold Minsk, but this would require Fourth Army to break out of its pocket, and reinforcements to counter-attack the Soviet advance. The reinforcements, in turn, could only be obtained by pulling back, thus shortening the line and freeing up troops. The general consensus is that the German position was doomed, regardless of what Model could have done, but Hitler refused to sanction either Fourth Army's escape or a general withdrawal, until it was too late.
Minsk was liberated by the Soviet 1st and 3rd Belorussian Fronts on 3 July, but Model still hoped to re-establish the front to the west of the city, with the aid of divisions from Army Groups North and North Ukraine. However, German strength was unequal to the task, and he had been driven out of Vilnius and Baranovichi by 8 July. At the same time, the 1st Ukrainian Front (now commanded by Ivan Konev) and the 1st Belorussian Front's left wing (which had been uncommitted thus far) opened up a fresh offensive against Army Group North Ukraine. In this battle, the First Panzer Army managed to hold the line east of Lvov using Model's defensive tactics, but was forced to retreat when the Fourth Panzer Army, weakened by the steady flow of units to Army Group Centre, was unable to stem the Soviet penetrations of its front.
Model encircled and destroyed the Soviet 3rd Tank Corps in a large-scale tank battle near Radzymin and stopped the Red Army's advance just short of Warsaw by 3 August, setting up a continuous front along the Vistula.
=== Normandy ===
On 17 August 1944, Model received Diamonds from Hitler to go with his Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, in recognition of his shoring up of the Eastern Front. Simultaneously, he was transferred to the west, replacing Kluge as commander-in-chief of Army Group B and OB West. The front in Normandy had collapsed after nearly two months of intense fighting, the U.S. Third Army was driving for the Seine, and an Army group was in danger of being annihilated in the Falaise pocket.
Model's first order was that Falaise be defended, which did not impress his staff. However, he quickly changed his mind, convincing Hitler to authorise the immediate escape of the German Seventh Army and Panzer Group Eberbach—something that Kluge, with his limited political clout, had not been able to do. He was thus able to rescue a high proportion of the units involved, albeit at the cost of nearly all their armor and heavy materiel. When Hitler demanded that Paris be held, Model replied that he could do so, but only if given an extra 200,000 men and several panzer divisions—an act that has been described as naïveté by some, and canny bargaining by others. The reinforcements were not forthcoming, and the city's liberation took place on 25 August.
After the fighting in Normandy, Model established his headquarters at Oosterbeek, near Arnhem in the Netherlands, where he set about the massive task of rebuilding Army Group B. On 17 August 1944, he was appointed to the temporary command of OB West, upon Kluge's recall to Berlin to answer charges that he had been involved with the failed 20 July Plot. (Kluge committed suicide en route.) Model retained command of OB West for eighteen days before Hitler appointed Rundstedt as the permanent replacement for Kluge, allowing Model to return to command of Army Group B.
=== Retreat to Germany ===
On 17 September, his lunch was interrupted when the British 1st Airborne Division dropped into the town launching Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt to capture the bridges on the lower Rhine, Maas and Waal. Model initially thought they were trying to capture him and his staff, but the seemingly vast scale of the assault soon convinced him otherwise. When he perceived what the Allies' real objective was, he ordered the II SS Panzer Corps into action. The corps, containing the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions refitting after Normandy, had been overlooked by Allied intelligence. While still seriously understrength, it was composed of veterans and was a deadly threat to lightly equipped paratroopers. 9th SS Panzer took on the British at Arnhem, while the 10th moved south to defend the bridge at Nijmegen.
Model believed that the situation represented not just a threat, but also an opportunity to counter-attack and possibly clear the Allies out of the Southern Netherlands. Towards this end, he forbade SS-Obergruppenführer Willi Bittrich and SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel, commanding II SS Panzer Corps and 10th SS Panzer respectively, from destroying the Nijmegen bridge. With the exception of this tactical error, Model is considered to have fought an outstanding battle and handed the Allies a sharp defeat. The bridge at Arnhem was held and the 1st Airborne Division destroyed, dashing the Allies' hopes for a foothold over the Rhine before the end of the year.
Despite the failed German counter offensive to evict the allies from the Island in early October, Arnhem restored much of Model's self-confidence, which had been shaken by the experience of Normandy. From September to December, he fought another Allied thrust to a standstill, this time by Lieutenant General Omar Bradley's U.S. Twelfth Army Group in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest and the Battle of Aachen. While he interfered less in the day-to-day movements of his units than at Arnhem, he still kept himself fully informed on the situation, slowing the Allies' progress, inflicting heavy casualties and taking full advantage of the fortifications of the Westwall, known to the Allies as the Siegfried Line.
The Hürtgen Forest cost the U.S. First Army at least 33,000 killed and incapacitated, including both combat and non-combat losses: German casualties were at least 28,000. Aachen eventually fell on 22 October, again at high cost to the U.S. Ninth Army. The Ninth Army's push to the Roer fared no better, and did not manage to cross the river or wrest control of its dams from the Germans. Hürtgen was so costly that it has been called an Allied "defeat of the first magnitude".
=== Battle of the Bulge ===
Following the Wehrmacht's recent defensive victories in the West, Hitler decided to launch a last-ditch offensive aiming to catch the western Allied forces by surprise, with the objective of retaking Antwerp. The intent was to strike the seam between the British and Americans, leading to political and military disharmony between the Allies, isolate the 21st Army Group, and thereby allow their encirclement and destruction before the American leadership (particularly the political leadership) could react; this would stop the immediate enemy ground threat to the Ruhr.
Model, along with all the other commanders involved, believed this goal was unachievable given the resources available to the Wehrmacht on the Western Front at this late point in the war. His first reaction to the plan was caustic in the extreme: "This plan hasn't got a damned leg to stand on." At the same time, both he and Rundstedt felt that the purely defensive posture as had been adopted since retirement from Normandy could only delay Germany's defeat, not prevent it. Thus, he prepared Operation Herbstnebel, a less ambitious attack that did not aim to cross the Meuse, but would still, if successful, have inflicted a severe setback on the Western Allied Army groups now bearing down on the Franco-German border. A similar plan had been developed by Rundstedt at OB West, and the two field marshals combined their idea to present a joint "small solution" to Hitler. Hitler, however, rejected this compromise, and the "big solution" of aiming for Antwerp was ordered.
For this operation Model had at his disposal Sixth Panzer Army, Fifth Panzer Army and Seventh Army. These armies, with over 2,000 panzers and 2,000 airplanes represented the last strategic reserve of the crumbling Third Reich. Despite his misgivings, Model threw himself into the task with his usual energy, cracking down on any defeatism he might find. When a staff officer complained about shortages, Model snapped: "If you need anything, take it from the Americans".
When Generalmajor Ludwig Heilmann warned Model that his command, the 5th Parachute Division, was only a Class IV outfit, Model, who by now must have had a surfeit of complaints on lack of equipment and insufficient training, merely replied that success would be won by the paratroopers' "usual audacity." He remained acutely aware of both the operation's significance, and its most likely outcome. When Oberst Friedrich August von der Heydte, ordered to lead a parachute drop as part of the operation, said that the jump had no more than a 10 percent chance of success, he replied: "Well, then it is necessary to make the attempt, since the entire offensive has no more than a 10 percent chance of success. It must be done, since this offensive is the last remaining chance to conclude the war favourably."
The operation was launched on 16 December 1944 and enjoyed initial success, but it quickly suffered from a lack of air cover and the inexperience in some of its infantry component, and critically short fuel supply. The Sixth Panzer Army met heavy Allied resistance, and while the Fifth Panzer Army managed to make a deep thrust into the Allied line, Model was unable to exploit the breakthrough there. He had failed to capture a vital road junction at Bastogne, and this, in combination with poor weather and difficult terrain, caused the German columns to back up into huge traffic jams on the roads behind the front. Starved of fuel and ammunition, the attack had broken down by 25 December, and was abandoned on 8 January 1945.
=== Defeat at the Ruhr ===
The failure of Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (the Wehrmacht's name for the Ardennes-Alsace offensive) marked the end of Model's special relationship with Hitler, who on 21 January 1945 issued an order that all the divisions of Army Group B would thenceforth be personally responsible to him to limit Model's operational freedom of decision. Any suggestion of its withdrawal back to the river Rhine to obtain a better fighting position—given the Third Reich's weakening strength against the Allied torrent of men and material—was forbidden, and it was ordered to conduct its actions from now on upon the strategic basis of not yielding an inch of ground and an abandonment of tactical maneuver. By mid-March Model and Army Group B had been forced back into attritional warfare with the Americans across the Rhine river into Germany itself after the stunning failure to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge during the Battle of Remagen.
On 1 April Army Group B found itself completely surrounded in the Ruhr by the U.S. First and Ninth Armies. Hitler's response was to declare the Ruhr a fortress, from which he commanded that there was to be no surrender or attempt to break out, in an order similar to that which he had issued at Stalingrad. He further ordered that its physical economic infrastructure—the heart of Germany's industrial power—be destroyed by Army Group B to prevent it falling into Allied hands. Model ignored these instructions.
On 15 April, after the Allies had split the pocket into two, Major-General Matthew Ridgway commanding the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps called upon Model to surrender rather than throw the lives of the soldiers under his command away in an impossible tactical situation for Army Group B. Model's reply was that he still considered himself bound by his oath to Adolf Hitler and his sense of honor as a German field marshal, and in consequence a formal surrender was out of the question. Instead of surrendering, Model ordered Army Group B's dissolution. The oldest and youngest soldiers were discharged from military service and the remaining men were granted leave by order, to either surrender or attempt to break out at their own discretion. The Fifth Panzer Army had already laid down its arms before this order was given and Model's command communications in the pocket were disintegrating. On 20 April, Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry in Berlin publicly denounced Army Group B as traitors to the Reich, marking the final act between Model and the Nazi regime he had served.
== Suicide ==
Model's decision to dissolve his command ended the war for his men, but he had little desire to witness the aftermath of defeat. He said to his staff before dissolving his command: "Has everything been done to justify our actions in the light of history? What can there be left for a commander in defeat? In antiquity they took poison". His decision to commit suicide was sealed when he learned that the Soviets had indicted him for war crimes, specifically the deaths of 577,000 people in concentration camps in Latvia and the deportation of 175,000 others as slave labor. He shot himself in the head in a forest on 21 April 1945. The site of his death, between Duisburg and the village of Lintorf, is today part of the city of Ratingen.
Model was buried in the place where he shot himself. In 1955, his son, Hansgeorg Model, future brigadier general in the Bundeswehr, had Model's remains recovered from its field grave with the help from his former adjutant, Colonel Theodor Pilling, who buried him, and organized a reburial in the Soldatenfriedhof Vossenack, a German military cemetery in the Hürtgen Forest.
== Generalship ==
=== Limitations ===
Unlike Erwin Rommel, another field marshal who preferred to lead from the front, Walter Model was almost universally disliked by those who had to work with him. For example, when he was made commander of the XLI Panzer Corps in 1941, the entire corps staff asked to be transferred. He made a habit of being abusive and foul-mouthed, micromanaging his subordinates, changing plans without consultation, and bypassing the chain of command when it suited him. He was oblivious to the niceties of etiquette, often reprimanding or castigating his officers in public. When he departed Army Group North in March 1944 after being sent to Ukraine, the army group's chief of staff remarked, "the 'Swine' is gone". It was a reference to Model's nickname among his staffers, that he had earned during his time at XLI Panzer Corps, namely 'Frontline Pig' (Frontschwein).
He was considered a thorough and competent leader but known to "demand too much, and that too quickly", accepting no excuses for failure from either his own men or those who outranked him. His troops were said to have "suffered under his too-frequent absences and erratic, inconsistent demands", for he frequently lost sight of what was or was not practically possible. Yet his dislike of bureaucracy and his crude speech often made him well liked by many under his command. Model's Büffel movement, the retreat on the Hagen line during the Red Army's Oryol offensive and the improvisation during the restoration of the front at Army Group Center and in the west must count as examples of extraordinary retreat operations.
His command style had worked when he was leading a division or corps, but once promoted to command of an army, it created a loss of efficiency. The statement that he was no strategist can find merit as it was observed that he showed little inclination to contemplate those stretches of the front he did not command and therefore disregarded the strategic field as a whole.
=== Strengths ===
Model is regarded as being an excellent defensive commander of the Third Reich, and having an "outstanding talent for improvisation". At 3rd Panzer Division he was a pioneer in the use of Kampfgruppen, which would soon become standard practice for the Germans. He had a formidable memory and eye for detail, which allowed him to dominate his staff officers, especially those in charge of specialist areas such as artillery, transport and communications.
Before the war he was put in charge of analyzing technical advances at home and abroad and his enthusiasm for innovation earned him the nickname Armee Modernissimus ("the army modernization fanatic"). Model fought nearly all his battles in the northern and central parts of the Eastern Front; he was never tested on the steppes of southern Russia, where the open terrain would have made mobile warfare a more attractive proposition. Nevertheless, his defensive record indicated the value of his approach. At Rzhev, Oryol, in Galicia and in Estonia he stymied opponents who expected to overwhelm him.
He had the reputation of a ruthless commander, willing to inflict and take casualties to stabilize his front. The splitting up of units was continually practiced by Model and took place on the regimental and divisional level. The objective was always to give necessary reinforcements to the centers of gravity when no reserves were available. From an operational viewpoint this allowed Model to achieve defensive successes, which would not have been possible otherwise.
According to Newton, the sending of theatre or operational reserves into the line where the fighting was toughest was meant to preserve the units Model saw as organically tied to his own command. For example, he was given the elite Großdeutschland Division in September 1942, when his Ninth Army was under heavy attack during Operation Mars. Though he was told that the division was not to be broken up, Model nonetheless split it into battalions and companies, which he used to plug any gaps that appeared. Großdeutschland took nearly 10,000 casualties out of a strength of 18,000 men, and at one point was reportedly close to mutiny; but from Model's viewpoint these losses were acceptable because they meant that Ninth Army's own troops did not have to suffer them. According to Newton, Model reasoned that the elite units would be eventually withdrawn and reformed, an option which may not have been available to his regular army divisions. That said, he did not simply treat these reserve units as disposable. In early 1942, the Der Führer Regiment of the 2nd SS Division Das Reich was reduced to a handful of men in three weeks of bitter fighting—but in that time it also received reinforcements including 88 mm guns, artillery pieces, and StuG III assault guns, and Model himself visited the sector daily, calculating the minimum support that would be needed to hold off the Soviet attacks. Model was aware of the negative effects of the splitting up of units. For example, on 7 October 1944 he forbade the splitting up of regiments into autonomous battalions to be used outside the division.
Allied to this were his boundless determination and vigor and stubborn refusal to countenance defeat. He held himself to the same high standard as he held those around him, saying: "He who leads troops has no right to think about himself". His visits to the front may not have helped operational efficiency, but they energized his men, who consistently held him in much higher regard than did his officers. As commanding general of Ninth Army he was once recorded as personally leading a battalion attack against a Soviet position, pistol in hand. In combat he spared neither himself nor his subordinates. His peers respected his ability and iron will, even though they may have detested his personality. Guderian thought him the best choice to command Army Group Centre during the crisis of Operation Bagration; the Ninth Army's War Diary recorded, after he arrived at army group headquarters in Minsk: "The news of Field Marshal Model's arrival is noted with satisfaction and confidence."
Model was the master of the type of defense which can be called 'defense limited in time'; in which one defends as long as possible but then retreats to avoid breakthrough and destruction. He was always at the critical points and took away battlegroups or even single battalions from less threatened sectors. With these units holes were plugged at other locations or short counterattacks were executed and so opportunities were created for bigger solutions. Thus, a closed front was guaranteed while the mixing and tearing apart of units was viewed as the smaller evil. This exceptional skill at defensive tactics earned Model the nickname of Hitler's "Feuerwehrmann" ("fireman"), due to his repeated successful rescue of the Third Reich from dire military situations as the war began to turn against Germany.
== Assessment ==
=== Relationship with Hitler ===
Before the war, Model had been content to leave politics to the politicians, preferring instead to concentrate on military affairs. Despite this, he became one of the Wehrmacht's field marshals most closely identified with Hitler. Postwar opinions on him have varied. Some historians have called him "blindly loyal", a "convinced Nazi" or a "zealous disciple" of Hitler; others see in Model a coldly calculating opportunist who used the Führer to his advantage, whether or not he was committed to him or the ideals of Nazism; some regard him as "apolitical to a fault", loyal to Hitler but never sycophantic. The contradictions between his Lutheran upbringing and his later association with the Nazis have similarly been the subject of comment.
As one of the few German generals of middle class upbringing, Model's background appealed to Hitler, who distrusted the old Prussian aristocratic order that still dominated the Wehrmacht's officer corps. His defensive tactics were a much better fit to Hitler's instincts never to give ground, than talk of "elastic defense"—even if Model stood fast out of sheer necessity, and not due to fanaticism. His stubbornness, energy and ruthlessness were more qualities that Hitler found admirable, and Model's blunt and direct manner of speaking also made an impression.
In a much-noted incident, Model had to deal with an attempt by Hitler to interfere with his arrangements. A telephone call from Army Group Center's chief of staff on 19 January 1942 informed him that Hitler, having become nervous about the direct Soviet threat against Vyazma, had decided that XLVII Panzer Corps, 2nd SS Division Das Reich and 5th Panzer Division were not to be employed in the imminent counterattack but reserved for other use in the rearguard. Immediately, Model drove back from Rzhev to Vyazma in a raging blizzard and boarded a plane for East Prussia. Bypassing the figure of Kluge, his immediate superior, he sought a personal confrontation with Hitler. At first he attempted to lay out his reasons in the best, dispassionate General Staff manner, only to find the Führer unmoved by logic. Suddenly, glaring at Hitler through his monocle, Model brusquely demanded to know: "Mein Führer, who commands Ninth Army, you or I?".
Hitler, shocked at the defiance of his newest army commander, tried to find another solution favorable for both, but Model still was not satisfied. "Good, Model", the exasperated Hitler finally responded. "You do it as you please, but it will be your head at risk".
According to the Hitler's Table Talk recorded that night, the Führer commented: "I distrust officers who have exaggeratedly theoretical minds. I'd like to know what becomes of their theories at the moment of action". But when an officer "is worthy of command", he told Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, "he must be given the prerogatives corresponding to his functions".
Shortly after Model's departure to Rzhev area, Hitler also stated that: "Generals must be tough, pitiless men, as crabbed as mastiffs—gross-grained men, such as I have in the Party". Importantly, however, Model never challenged Hitler on political issues: a point that has been identified as the secret to their successful relationship.
Helped by his defensive successes, he thus gained Hitler's full trust and confidence; the Führer called him "my best field marshal" and (after Operation Bagration) "the savior of the Eastern Front". In turn, this granted Model a degree of flexibility available to no other German general. He frequently disputed, ignored or bypassed orders that he felt unsupportable: at Rzhev and Oryol he had constructed defensive fortifications in defiance of a ban, and his use of Shield and Sword tactics while at Army Group North proved to be simply a cover for a staged withdrawal. His relationships with his superiors were marked by dissembling, where what he wrote in his reports could bear little resemblance to what was actually happening.
=== Model and Nazism ===
Many of Model's fellow officers considered him a Nazi. He frequently harangued his troops to have faith in the Führer and uphold the virtues of National Socialism. He accepted the offer of SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein to appoint a Waffen-SS officer as his adjutant at Army Group North in 1944, after the Heerespersonalamt had refused him an adjutant, and filled the Nationalsozialistischer Führungsoffizier post at Army Group B that had been vacant before his arrival. His habit of parroting the Führer's orders caused him to be viewed as a sycophant, even if he often undermined or ignored those orders in practice.
Following the 20 July Plot, Model was the first senior commander to reaffirm his loyalty to Hitler, yet he also refused to give up General Hans Speidel, his chief of staff at Army Group B who was implicated in the plot, to the Gestapo. Model was well aware of Speidel's political leanings, as were his predecessors at Army Group B, Erwin Rommel and Günther von Kluge. Like them, he shielded Speidel for as long as possible, while ignoring such treasonous talk as might take place.
While on the Eastern Front, Model showed no objection to the treatment of civilians by the SS in the areas under his command and oversaw several anti-partisan operations, mostly while commanding the 9th Army. These operations, conducted by Wehrmacht troops as well as SS, were bloody, although not unusual by German Eastern Front standards. In conjunction with the ruthless scorched earth policies he followed during his retreats, they would lead to the Soviet Union declaring him a war criminal.
Despite this, while commanding Army Group Centre, he refused to dispatch troops to put down the Warsaw uprising (a task that was carried out by the SS), viewing it as a rear-area matter. He stated that the revolt arose from the mistreatment of the Polish population by the Nazis and the army should have nothing to do with it. On the other hand, he showed no hesitation in clearing the Warsaw suburbs of Praga and Saska Kępa, through which vital supply lines ran.
Model's biographer, the military historian Steven Newton, argues that the best explanation for Model's behavior is that he was not necessarily a Nazi but an authoritarian militarist who saw in Hitler the strong leader that Germany needed. According to Newton, Model saw himself as the professional, apolitical soldier; he possessed a strong sense of German nationalism, with the accompanying tenets of racial prejudice against Slavs and Jews. This characterized many in the German officer corps, but in Model's case it was accompanied by a cynical willingness to placate the Nazi regime to expedite his own goals.
The historian Gerhard Weinberg states that Model had benefited from the hastening of the evolution that occurred in the relationship of Hitler to the military following the defeat at Stalingrad. Hitler had always resented his dependence on a professional higher officer corps whom he hoped to replace at the earliest opportunity with men more ideologically attuned to National Socialism. After Stalingrad, Hitler relieved his generals with greater frequency, while pushing up into the higher ranks those "whose dedication to extreme National Social views made them more congenial to his way of thinking". Weinberg includes Model, alongside Ferdinand Schörner and Heinz Guderian, in this group.
The historian Ben H. Shepherd opines that Model was "not the most fanatical Nazi". The reasons Hitler favored him lay with Model's middle-class background and his ruthlessly utilitarian warfare style. Like Newton, Forczyk suspects that postwar testimonies of Model's negative aspects are exaggerated, considering that Model was not very charismatic (although he actually got along well with most of his staff) and already dead; many staff officers wanted to promote commanders who allowed them a more agreeable life-style, instead of dragging them through snow and mud like Model (in one case, when discussing Manstein's replacement by Model, Friedrich von Mellenthin made resentful remarks about Model's personality and abilities, although he had never served on Model's staff). According to Forczyk, Model only cared about politics if this would give him more troops.
== Summary of career ==
=== Dates of rank ===
Leutnant – 22 August 1910
Oberleutnant – 25 February 1915
Hauptmann – March 1918
Major – October 1929
Oberstleutnant – 1932
Oberst – 1 October 1934
Generalmajor – 1 March 1938
Generalleutnant – 1 April 1940
General der Panzertruppe – 26 October 1941
Generaloberst – 28 February 1942
Generalfeldmarschall – 30 March 1944
Source:
=== Service history ===
1909: Officer cadet training
1910: 52nd Infantry Regiment von Alvensleben
1917: Staff assignments
1925: Commanding officer, 9th Company, 8th Infantry Regiment
1928: Staff officer, 3rd Division, Berlin
1930: Staff officer, Section 4 (Training), Truppenamt, Berlin
1932: Chief of Staff, Reich Kuratorium for Youth Fitness
1933: Battalion commander, 2nd Infantry Regiment
1935: Head of Section 8, General Staff, Berlin
1938: Chief of Staff, IV Corps
1939: Chief of Staff, Sixteenth Army
1940: Commander, 3rd Panzer Division
1941: Commander, XLI Panzer Corps
1942: Commander, Ninth Army
January–March 1944: Commander, Army Group North
March–June 1944: Commander, Army Group North Ukraine
June–August 1944: Commander, Army Group Centre
August–September 1944: Commander-in-Chief, OB West
August 1944 – April 1945: Commander, Army Group B
Source:
=== Awards and decorations ===
Iron Cross of 1914
2nd Class: 20 September 1914
1st Class: 19 October 1915
Military Merit Order, 4th class with Swords (Bavaria, 29 March 1915)
Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords (26 February 1917)
Military Merit Cross, 2nd class (Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 22 November 1917)
Military Merit Cross, 3rd class with War Decoration (Austria-Hungary, 22 November 1917)
Ottoman War Medal (Turkish: Harp Madalyası), better known as the "Gallipoli Star" or the "Iron Crescent" (22 November 1917)
Wound Badge (1918) in black (27 August 1918)
Spanish Cross (31 May 1939)
Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
2nd Class: 22 September 1939
1st Class: 2 October 1939
Panzer Badge in Silver (29 August 1941)
Wound Badge (1939) in Gold (25 May 1942)
Eastern Front Medal (15 July 1942)
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds
Knight's Cross on 9 July 1941 as Generalleutnant and commander of the 3. Panzer-Division
74th Oak Leaves on 17 February 1942 as General der Panzertruppe and commanding general of the XXXXI. Panzerkorps
28th Swords on 2 April 1943 as Generaloberst and commander-in-chief of 9. Armee
17th Diamonds on 17 August 1944 as Generalfeldmarschall and commander-in-chief of Heeresgruppe Mitte
== Notes ==
== References == | Wikipedia/Walter_Model |
Against Therapy: Emotional Tyranny and the Myth of Psychological Healing is a 1988 book by author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, in which the author argues against the practice of psychotherapy. The work was criticized by reviewers.
== Summary ==
Masson argues that psychotherapy is a form of socially sanctioned abuse.
Masson argues that therapists ask patients to do more than is reasonably possible, they "distort another person's reality" to try to change people in ways that conform to the therapist's concepts and prejudices. Therapists are, in Masson's opinion, inevitably corrupted by power and "abuse of one form or another is built into the very fabric of psychotherapy". He gives an example of a therapist who used his "insensitivity, historical bewilderment, and general incomprehension" as "weapons with which he punish [a] woman for not viewing the universe the way he did".: 83
He argues that therapists impose an internal understanding of people's problems, refusing to help a patient reach an external understanding of the world citing the example of psychiatry's failure to acknowledge the existence of sexual abuse of children.: 86
Masson explores Carl Jung's relationship with the Nazi party: 289 and argues that the interpretation of dreams by therapists used by Jung could impose an interpretation of their wishes on an individual: 317 giving the example of a female patient whose dreams Jung interpreted as a secret desire to marry.
Of Rogerian psychotherapy, Masson argues that the theory is inconsistent because the therapeutic relationship prevents real connection and therefore the empathy that it claims is necessary for effective therapy, because the therapist is not in any way invested in the relationship. He points out that in his later work with committed patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, the patients were compelled to engage in therapy, which is at odds with the principles of client-centered voluntary exploration in therapy.
He concludes by arguing that therapy has a lack of interest in social injustice,: 551 that the training process can act as a form of social indoctrination: 567 arguing that psychiatry is fundamentally unreformable.: 580
== Reception ==
Time wrote, "Although the author's slash-and-burn style of argument can be entertaining, readers should keep their hands on their wallets. Assertions tend to be sold as established facts." The New York Times argued that "Masson has failed to put a stake through the heart of therapy—in fact, he's greatly missed the mark." Psychiatric Times called Against Therapy "a 'battle cry' for the abolition of psychotherapy".
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
Against Therapy World Library Catalog | Wikipedia/Against_Therapy |
The Soteria model is a milieu-therapeutic approach developed to treat acute schizophrenia, usually implemented in Soteria houses.
Based on a recovery model, the common elements of the Soteria approach include the use of primarily nonmedical staff, who do not prescribe or administer antipsychotic medication to patients, and the preservation of residents' personal power, social networks, and communal responsibilities.
Soteria houses provide a community space for people experiencing mental distress or crisis and have no restraint facilities. Loren Mosher, founder of the first Soteria house, believed that people with schizophrenia did, in fact, recover from the illness without the use of neuroleptics in a supportive home-like environment.
Soteria houses are often seen as gentler alternatives to the psychiatric hospital system, which is perceived as authoritarian, hostile, or violent, and overly reliant on the use of psychiatric (particularly antipsychotic) drugs.
Some psychiatrists contest the Soteria model's validity due to a perception that it diverges from the widely accepted biopsychosocial model, as well as research quality concerns.
== Theoretical model ==
Traditional psychiatric wards function according to the medical model,: 113 in which physicians have considerable authority, and in which they rely heavily upon medications to treat or cure what those physicians view as patients' mental illnesses. Critics of this model have pointed out that its reliance on labeling inevitably produces consequences, namely stigmatization and objectification.: 113
Soteria emerged as a response to former psychiatric patients who said that they needed "love and food and understanding, not drugs", by providing an alternative centered on development, learning, and growth,: 113 and by comparing its results to those of the traditional model.
== History ==
The original Soteria Research Project was founded by psychiatrist Loren Mosher in San Jose, California, in 1971. A replication facility ("Emanon") opened in 1974 in another suburban San Francisco Bay Area city. Mosher was influenced by the philosophy of moral treatment, previous experimental therapeutic communities (such as the Fairweather Lodges), the work of Harry Stack Sullivan, and Freudian psychoanalysis. The name Soteria comes from the Greek Σωτηρία for "salvation" or "deliverance" (see Soter).
Mosher's first Soteria house specifically selected unmarried patients between the ages of 18 and 30 who had recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-2 criteria. Staff members at the house were encouraged to treat residents as peers and to share household chores. The program was designed to create a quiet, calming environment that respected and tolerated individual differences and autonomy. There was also an ethos of shared responsibility in running the house and in playing a part in the mutually-supportive community, where the distinction between experts and non-experts was downplayed (similar to therapeutic communities). Though the model calls for no use of psychiatric medication, in practice, they were not completely rejected and were used in some circumstances. The Soteria staff, compared to staff in other psychiatric services, were found to possess significantly more intuition, introversion, flexibility, and tolerance of altered states of consciousness.
However, the Soteria Research Project was also the subject of much controversy. One of the main critiques was that the project was withholding evidence-based treatment as it was based on invalid anti-medication and anti-disease models, which went against the widely accepted biopsychosocial model of disease. Some also questioned the reported efficacy of the treatment, noting that Mosher's definition of patient recovery was staying off of drugs, with no assessment of their symptoms.
The US Soteria Project closed as a clinical program in 1983 due to lack of financial support, although it became the subject of research evaluation with competing claims and analysis. Second-generation US successors to the original Soteria house called Crossing Place are still active, although more focused on medication management.
Writing in 1999, Mosher described the core of Soteria as "the 24 hour a day application of interpersonal phenomenologic interventions by a nonprofessional staff, usually without neuroleptic drug treatment, in the context of a small, homelike, quiet, supportive, protective, and tolerant social environment." More recent adaptions sometimes employed professional staff. The Soteria approach has traditionally been applied to the treatment of those given a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
== Current implementations ==
Soteria-based houses are currently run in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, the United States.
A first European near-replication of the original Soteria house was implemented in Bern, Switzerland, on May 1, 1984. However, the Bern approach differs from Mosher's original project in that it does not adopt the same anti-medical stance, using a consensual low-dose anti-psychotic treatment and including psychiatric staff.
The following criteria were required for patients to be admitted:
Aged 17–35;
A recent onset of schizophreniform or schizophrenic psychosis defined by using DSM-III-R criteria, not more than one year before admission;
At least two of the following six symptoms within the previous four weeks: severely deviant social behaviors, schizophrenic disorders of affect, catatonia, thought disorders, hallucinations, delusions.
Research at Soteria Berne found that the majority of acute schizophrenia patients could be treated as successfully by this paradigm as by standard hospital proceedings, but with significantly lower doses of anti-psychotics and at similar daily costs. Some advantages of the Soteria model may be found at the subjective-emotional, familial, and social level.
In the context of increasing interest in the Soteria model in the United Kingdom, several European countries, North America, and Australasia, a review of controlled trials was conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of the approach in the treatment of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. The results indicated that the Soteria paradigm yields similar – and in certain cases better – results than standard treatment. However, as noted by the authors, the review was based on a limited number of studies of questionable quality, and more research is needed in order to form a better consensus.
== See also ==
Deinstitutionalization
Therapeutic community
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Bentall R. (2009). Doctoring the mind: is our current treatment of mental illness really any good?. NYU Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8147-9148-6.
Johnson S.; Gilburt H.; Lloyd-Evans B.; Slade M. (2007). "Acute in-patient psychiatry: residential alternatives to hospital admission". The Psychiatrist. 31 (7): 262–264. doi:10.1192/pb.bp.106.011197.
Website on Soteria started by Loren Mosher.
Soteria Foundation A Hungarian Soteria organization that provides multiple services to people with mental health problems and their families and communities.
UK Soteria Network planning Soteria houses in the UK.
"Loren Mosher M.D. talks about Soteria Project and non-drug treatments for schizophrenia (video)". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2010-08-14. | Wikipedia/Soteria_(psychiatric_treatment) |
Hearing Voices Networks, closely related to the Hearing Voices Movement, are peer-focused national organizations for people who hear voices (commonly referred to as auditory hallucinations) and supporting family members, activists and mental health practitioners. Members may or may not have a psychiatric diagnosis. Networks promote an alternative approach, where voices are not necessarily seen as signs of mental illness and regard hearing voices as a meaningful and understandable, although unusual, human variation. Voices are not seen as the problem, rather it is the relationship the person has with their voices that is regarded as the main issue.
== Development ==
The first hearing voices network was founded in the Netherlands in 1987 by the Dutch psychiatrist Marius Romme, the science journalist, Sandra Escher, and voice hearer, Patsy Hage. This was followed by the founding of the UK network in 1988 based in Manchester, England. Subsequently networks have been established in 29 countries over the world, including Australia, Canada, the UK, and the United States. The first 15 years of the global networks' development is outlined by Adam James in his book Raising Our Voices (2001).
The National and Regional Networks are affiliated with the international umbrella organization known as INTERVOICE (The International Network for Training Education and Research into Hearing Voices) and often referred to as the Hearing Voices Movement. Within these international networks, the combined experience of voice-hearers and professionals have overseen the development of ways of working with people who hear voices, drawing on the value of peer support and helping people live peacefully and positively with their experiences.
== Purpose ==
The principal roles of Hearing Voices Networks are as follows:
To support and develop local Hearing Voices Support Groups
Raise awareness of the hearing voices approach
To campaign for human rights and social justice for people who hear voices
To provide information, advice and support to people who hear voices, their family, friends
To provide training and education for mental health services and practitioners
== Practices and philosophy ==
These networks are designed to support voice hearers specifically through local hearing voices support groups, where people who hear voices are afforded the opportunity in a non-medical setting to share their experiences, coping mechanisms, and explanatory frameworks. These groups are run in different ways and some are exclusive to individuals who hear voices, while others are supported by mental health workers. Groups are based in a range of settings, from community centers, libraries, churches, child and adolescent mental health services, prisons, and inpatient units.
Groups are designed to function as peer support groups meant foster socialization and belonging, not therapy and treatment. Members are encouraged to talk about their experiences, to learn what the voices mean to them, and how to gain control over their experiences. Should members desire to, groups can help members explore the relationship between their life history and their experience of hearing voices.
Studies show that members found attending hearing voices groups a largely positive experience, being able to share their experiences and explore and experiment with different coping strategies. Members also said that attending improved their self esteem, helped them make friends, and allowed them to feel more prepared for the future.
Studies have found that after attending hearing voices groups, members' hospital bed use decreased and there was a trend for less formal admissions. People's relationships with the voices were mostly improved and heard the voices less frequently. The voices were perceived as less powerful and having less control over them, and participants reported feeling better able to cope the voices and less alone. Importantly, evaluations showed that members improved in what they had identified as their own goals for the group.
National networks have developed considerably over the years and host websites, publish newsletters, guides to the voice hearing experience, and workbooks where individuals can record and explore their own experiences with voice hearing.
Romme has provided an intellectual basis for these groups in the book Accepting Voices, where he advocates a view that the hearing of voices is not necessarily an indication of mental illness and that patients should be encouraged to explore their voices and negotiate with them.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Books
Barker, Paul K. (2011) [1995]. The voice inside. Manchester, England: Hearing Voices Network. OCLC 181679777.
Blackman, Lisa (2001). Hearing voices, embodiment and experience. London New York: Free Association Books. ISBN 9781853435331.
Coleman, Ron; Smith, Mike (1997). Working with voices: victim to victor. Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside: Handsell. ISBN 9781903199015.
Dillon, Jacqui; Longden, Eleanor (2011), "Hearing voices groups: creating safe spaces to share taboo experiences", in Romme, Marius A.J.; Escher, Sandra D. (eds.), Psychosis as a personal crisis: an experience based approach, Hove, East Sussex New York, New York: Routledge for The International Society for the Psychological Treatments of the Schizophrenias and other pychoses (ISPS), pp. 129–139, ISBN 9780415673303.
Downs, Julie, ed. (2001). Starting and supporting voices groups: a guide to setting up and running support groups for people who hear voices, see visions or experience tactile or other sensations. Manchester, England: Hearing Voices Network.
Downs, Julie, ed. (2001). Coping with voices and visions: a guide to helping people who experience hearing voices, seeing visions, tactile or other sensations. Manchester England: Hearing Voices Network.
James, Adam (2001). Raising our voices: an account of the hearing voices movement. Handsell Publishing. ISBN 9781903199138.
Jaynes, Julian (1976). The origin of consciousness and the breakdown of the bicameral mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780395207291.
Leudar, Ivan; Thomas, Philip (2000). Voices of reason, voices of insanity: studies of verbal hallucinations. London New York: Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415147866.
Longden, Eleanor (2013). Learning from the voices in my head. Cambridge: TED Books.
McCarthy-Jones, Simon (2012). Hearing voices: the histories, causes, and meanings of auditory verbal hallucinations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139017534.
Romme, Marius A.J. (1996). Understanding voices: coping with auditory hallucinations and confusing realities. Runcorn, Cheshire: Handsell Publications. ISBN 9789072551092.
Romme, Marius A.J.; Escher, Sandra D. (1992). Accepting voices. London: Mind Publications. ISBN 9781874690139.
Romme, Marius A.J.; Escher, Sandra D. (2000). Making sense of voices: the mental health professional's guide to working with voice-hearers. London: Mind Publications. ISBN 9781874690863.
Romme, Marius A.J.; Escher, Sandra D.; Dillon, Jacqui; Corstens, Dirk; Morris, Mervyn (2009). Living with voices: 50 stories of recovery. Herefordshire: PCCS Books in association with Birmingham City University. ISBN 9781906254223.
Watkins, John (2008) [1998]. Hearing voices: a common human experience. Melbourne, Victoria: Michelle Anderson Publishing. ISBN 9780855723903.
Articles, chapters and pamphlets
Christine, A. (1990). "Heard but not seen". Independent on Sunday. Independent Print Ltd.
Barker, Paul K. (October 1990). "I hear voices and I'm glad to!". Critical Public Health. 1 (4): 21–27. doi:10.1080/09581599008406791.
Barker, Paul K. (1995). "Accepting the inner voices". Nursing Times. 91 (31). Emap Publishing Ltd.: 59–61. PMID 7638080. Archived from the original on 2 November 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
Barker, Paul K. (1996). Can you hear me, a research and practice summary. Stavanger: Psykiatrisk Opplysningsfond. OCLC 472812459.
Barret, Terry R.; Etheridge, Jane B. (September–October 1992). "Verbal hallucinations in normals, I: people who hear 'voices'". Applied Cognitive Psychology. 6 (5): 379–387. doi:10.1002/acp.2350060503.
Bentall, Richard P. (January 1990). "The illusion of reality: a review and integration of psychological research into psychotic hallucinations". Psychological Bulletin. 107 (1): 82–95. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.107.1.82. PMID 2404293.
Bentall, Richard P.; Jackson, Howard F.; Pilgrim, David (November 1988). "Abandoning the concept of "schizophrenia": some implications of validity arguments for psychological research into psychotic phenomena". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 27 (4): 303–324. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1988.tb00795.x. PMID 3063319.
Bentall, Richard P.; Claridge, Gordon S.; Slade, Peter D. (1989). "The multidimensional nature of schizotypal traits: a factor analytic study with normal subjects". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 28 (4): 363–375. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1989.tb00840.x. PMID 2605389.
Bentall, Richard P.; Haddock, Gillian; Slade, Peter D. (Winter 1994). "Cognitive behaviour therapy for persistent auditory hallucinations: from theory to therapy". Behavioral Psychotherapy. 25 (1): 51–56. doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(05)80145-5.
Bentall, Richard P.; Kaney, Sue; Dewey, Michael E. (February 1991). "Paranoia and social reasoning: an attribution theory analysis". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 30 (1): 13–23. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1991.tb00915.x. PMID 2021784.
Bentall, Richard P.; Slade, Peter D (1985). "Reliability of a scale for measuring disposition towards hallucinations: a brief report". Personality and Individual Differences. 6 (4): 527–529. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(85)90151-5.
Bentall, Richard P.; Haddock, Gillian; Slade, Peter D. (Winter 1994). "Cognitive behaviour therapy for persistent auditory hallucinations". Behaviour Therapy. 25 (1): 51–66. doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(05)80145-5.
Chadwick, Paul; Birchwood, Max J. (February 1994). "Challenging the omnipotence of voices: a cognitive approach to auditory hallucinations". British Journal of Psychiatry. 164 (2): 190–201. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.413.7816. doi:10.1192/bjp.164.2.190. PMID 8173822. S2CID 6659161. [Challenging the omnipotence of voices: a cognitive approach to auditory hallucinations Pdf.]
Cullberg, Johan (September 1991). "Recovered versus non-recovered schizophrenic patients among those who have had intensive psychotherapy". Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 84 (3): 242–245. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1991.tb03137.x. PMID 1950624. S2CID 37533906.
Eaton, William W.; Romanoski, Alan; Anthony, James C.; Nestadt, Gerald James (1991). "Screening for psychosis in the general population with a self-report interview". Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 179 (11): 689–693. doi:10.1097/00005053-199111000-00007. PMID 1940893. S2CID 10352259.
Ensink, Bernardine J. (1993). Confusing realities: a study of child sexual abuse and psychiatric symptoms. Amsterdam: VU University Press. ISBN 9789053830857.
Also Ensink, Bernardine J. (1992), "Trauma: a study of child abuse and hallucinations", in Romme, Marius A.J.; Escher, Sandra D. (eds.), Accepting voices, London: Mind Publications, ISBN 9781874690139.
Falloon, Ian R.H.; Talbot, Ralph E. (May 1981). "Persistent auditory hallucinations: coping mechanisms and implications for management". Psychological Medicine. 11 (2): 329–339. doi:10.1017/S0033291700052144. PMID 7267874. S2CID 43810158.
Freedland, Jonathan (22 April 1995). "Hearing is believing". The Guardian.
Grierson, Mike (1991). A report on the Manchester hearing voices conference November 1990. Manchester, England: Hearing Voices Network.
Haddock, Gillian; Bentall, Richard P.; Slade, Peter D. (1996), "Psychological treatments for auditory hallucinations, focussing or distraction?", in Haddock, Gillian; Slade, Peter D. (eds.), Cognitive-behavioural interventions with psychotic disorders, London: Routledge, pp. 45–71, ISBN 9780415102902.
Haddock, Gillian; Bentall, Richard P.; Slade, Peter D. (1993). "Psychological treatment of chronic auditory hallucinations: two case studies". Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 21 (4): 335–346. doi:10.1017/S1352465800011668. S2CID 146155388.
Heery, Myrtle W. (1989). "Inner voice experiences: an exploratory study of thirty cases". Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 21 (1). Association for Transpersonal Psychology: 73–82. Pdf.
Holmes, Doug (1998). Hearing voices: Hillary, Angels, and O.J. to the voice-producing brain. Rileyville, Virginia: Shenandoah Psychology Press. ISBN 9780966397376.
Haddock G Slade P. Empowering people who hear voices in cognitive behavioral interventions with psychotic disorders, Routledge, London (1996)
Leudar, Ivan; Thomas, Philip (1995). The Verbal Hallucinations Pragmatics Schedule: Guidelines for establishing pragmatic aspects of voice-voice hearer talk. Manchester, UK: Department of Psychology, University of Manchester.
Leudar, Ivan; Thomas, Philip; Johnston, Margaret (October 1992). "Self repair for in dialogues of schizophrenics: effects of hallucinations and negative symptoms". Brain and Language. 43 (3): 487–511. doi:10.1016/0093-934X(92)90114-T. PMID 1446215. S2CID 11607583.
Leudar, Ivan; Thomas, Philip (2000). Voices of reason, voices of insanity: studies of verbal hallucinations. London New York: Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415147866.
Leudar, Ivan; Thomas, Philip; Johnston, Margaret (August 1994). "Self monitoring in speech production: effects of verbal hallucinations and negative symptoms". Psychological Medicine. 24 (3): 749–761. doi:10.1017/S0033291700027902. PMID 7991757. S2CID 8519359.
Leudar, Ivan; Thomas, Philip; McNally, D.; Glinsky, A. (July 1997). "What can voices do with words? Pragmatics of verbal hallucinations". Psychological Medicine. 27 (4): 885–898. doi:10.1017/S0033291797005138 (inactive 22 April 2025). PMID 9234466. S2CID 21386734.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of April 2025 (link)
Lineham, Tim (26 March 1993). "Hearing is believing". New Statesman and Society. 245: 18–19. ISSN 0954-2361. OCLC 224602448.
Loekhort, Russell A. (September 1975). "Mary's dog is an ear mother: listening to the voices of psychosis". Psychological Perspectives: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought. 6 (2): 144–160. doi:10.1080/00332927508409446.
Miller, Laura J.; O'Connor, Eileen; DiPasquale, Tony (April 1993). "Patients' attitudes toward hallucinations". American Journal of Psychiatry. 150 (4): 584–588. doi:10.1176/ajp.150.4.584. PMID 8465874. Pdf.
Posey, Thomas B.; Losch, Mary E. (October 1983). "Auditory hallucinations of hearing voices in 375 normal subjects". Imagination, Cognition and Personality. 3 (2): 99–113. doi:10.2190/74V5-HNXN-JEY5-DG7W. S2CID 146310857.
Rector, Neil A.; Seeman, Mary V. (September 1992). "Auditory hallucinations in women and men". Schizophrenia Research. 7 (3): 233–236. doi:10.1016/0920-9964(92)90017-Y. PMID 1390402. S2CID 23720928.
Romme, Marius A.J.; Escher, Sandra D. (1996), "Empowering people who hear voices", in Haddock, Gillian; Slade, Peter D. (eds.), Cognitive-behavioural interventions with psychotic disorders, London: Routledge, pp. 137–150, ISBN 9780415102902. Available online.
Sarbin, Theodore R. (Summer–Autumn 1990). "Towards the obsolescence of the schizophrenia hypothesis". The Journal of Mind and Behavior. 11 (3–4). University of Maine: 259–283. Pdf.
Sidgwick, Henry A.; Johnson, Alice; Myers, Frederic W. H.; Podmore, Frank; Sidgwick, Eleanor Mildred (1894). Report on the Census of Hallucinations. UK.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Preview.
Described in: James, William (1986), "The Census of Hallucinations (1889-1897)", in James, William (ed.), Essays in psychical research, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, pp. 56–78, ISBN 9780674267084.
See also: "Report on the Census of Hallucinations Society for Psychical Research: Chapter XII Death-coincidences". History of Psychiatry. 5 (19): 403–415. September 1994. doi:10.1177/0957154X9400501909. S2CID 220338425.
and: James, William (January 1895). "Review of Report on the Census of Hallucinations". Psychological Review. 2 (1): 69–75. doi:10.1037/h0068910.
Siegel, Ronald K. (1992). Fire in the brain: clinical tales of hallucination. New York, New York: Dutton Books. ISBN 9780525934080.
Slade, Peter D. (1994), "Models of hallucination: from theory to practice", in David, Anthony S.; Cutting, John C. (eds.), The neuropsychology of schizophrenia, Brain, Behaviour and Cognition Series, Hove, UK Hillsdale, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., pp. 245–254, ISBN 9780863773037.
Slade, Peter D.; Bentall, Richard P. (1988). Sensory deception: towards a scientific analysis of hallucinations. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801837609.
Stephens, G. Lynn; Graham, George (2000). When self-consciousness breaks: alien voices and inserted thoughts. Philosophical Pychopathology Series. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262194372.
Tarrier, Nicholas; Harwood, Susan; Yusupoff, Lawrence; Beckett, Richard; Baker, Amanda (October 1990). "Coping Strategy Enhancement (CSE): a method of treating residual schizophrenic symptoms". Behavioural Psychotherapy. 18 (4): 283–293. doi:10.1017/S0141347300010387. S2CID 143803652.
Tien, Allen Y. (November 1991). "Distributions of hallucinations in the population". Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 26 (6): 287–292. doi:10.1007/BF00789221. PMID 1792560. S2CID 28848635.
Tiihonen, Jari; Hari, Riitta; Naukkarinen, Hannu; Rimón, Ranan; Jousmäki, Veikko; Kajola, Matti (February 1992). "Modified activity of the human auditory cortex during auditory hallucinations". American Journal of Psychiatry. 149 (2): 255–257. doi:10.1176/ajp.149.2.255. PMID 1734750.
Yusopoff, Lawrence; Tarrier, Nicholas (1996), "Coping strategy enhancement for persistent hallucinations and delusions", in Haddock, Gillian; Slade, P.D. (eds.), Cognitive, behavioural interventions with psychotic disorders, London: Routledge, pp. 86–103, ISBN 9780415102902. Read online.
== External links ==
INTERVOICE
World Map of Hearing Voices Groups
Hearing Voices Network England | Wikipedia/Hearing_Voices_Network |
The World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP) is an international organisation representing, and led by what it terms "survivors of psychiatry". As of 2003, over 70 national organizations were members of WNUSP, based in 30 countries. The network seeks to protect and develop the human rights, disability rights, dignity and self-determination of those labeled 'mentally ill'.
== Activities ==
WNUSP has special consultative status with the United Nations. It contributed to the development of the UN's Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. WNUSP has produced a manual to help people use it entitled "Implementation Manual for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities", edited by Myra Kovary.
WNUSP joined with other organizations to create the International Disability Caucus, which jointly represented organizations of people with disabilities and allies during the CRPD negotiations. WNUSP was part of the steering committee of the IDC, which maintained a principle of respecting the leadership of diverse constituencies on issues affecting them, and also maintained that the convention should be of equal value to all persons with disabilities irrespective of the type of disability or geographical location. Tina Minkowitz, WNUSP's representative on the IDC steering committee, coordinated the IDC's work on key articles of the CRPD, including those on legal capacity, liberty, torture and ill-treatment and integrity of the person. Since the adoption and entry into force of the CRPD, WNUSP has worked with other organizations in the International Disability Alliance and its CRPD Forum to guide the interpretation and application of the CRPD on these issues.
In 2007 at a Conference held in Dresden on "Coercive Treatment in Psychiatry: A Comprehensive Review", the president and other leaders of the World Psychiatric Association met, following a formal request from the World Health Organization, with several representatives from the user/survivor movement, including Judi Chamberlin (Co-chair of WNUSP), Mary Nettle and Peter Lehmann (Ex-chairs of the European Network of [Ex-] Users and Survivors of Psychiatry), Dorothea Buck (Honorary Chair of the German Federal Organisation of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, and David Oaks (Director of MindFreedom International).
Salam Gómez and Jolijn Santegoeds are the current Co-Chairpersons of WNUSP.
Current International Representative and former co-chair of WNUSP is Tina Minkowitz, an international advocate and lawyer. She represented WNUSP in the Working Group convened by the UN to produce a draft text of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and contributed to a UN seminar on torture and persons with disabilities that resulted in an important report on the issue by Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak in 2008.
== History ==
Since the 1970s, the psychiatric survivors movement has grown from a few scattered self-help groups to a worldwide network engaged in protecting civil rights and facilitation of efforts to provide housing, employment, public education, research, socialisation and advocacy programmes. The term 'psychiatric survivor' is used by individuals who identify themselves as having experienced human rights violations in the mental health system. WNUSP was established to further promote this movement and to respond on an international level to the oppression survivors continue to experience.
After initially meeting, in 1991, as the World Federation of Psychiatric Users at the biennial World Federation for Mental Health conference in Mexico, the network's name was changed to WNUSP in 1997. In 2000, the WNUSP Secretariat was established in Odense, Denmark. In 2001, the network held its First General Assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, with 34 groups from twelve countries represented, and adopted its governing statutes.
In 2004, the network held its Second General Assembly in Vejle, Denmark with 150 participants from 50 countries attending.
In 2007 WNUSP received ECOSOC special consultative status at the United Nations.
In 2009, WNUSP held its third General Assembly in Kampala, Uganda. It adopted the Kampala Declaration stating its positions on the CRPD, which was later expanded into a longer version adopted by consensus of the board and the participants in the Kampala GA.
== ENUSP ==
The European Network of (Ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry is the most important European NGO of (ex-) users and survivors. Forty-two representatives from 16 European countries met at a conference to found it in the Netherlands in October 1991. Every 2 years, delegates from the ENUSP members in more than 40 European countries meet at a conference where the policies for the coming period are set out. All delegates are (ex-)users and survivors of psychiatry. ENUSP is officially involved in consultations on mental health plans and policies of the European Union, World Health Organization and other important bodies. Initial funding came from the Dutch government and from the European Commission but has since proved more difficult to secure. ENUSP is involved in commenting and debating declarations, position papers, policy guidelines of the EU, UN, WHO and other important bodies.
== See also ==
Anti-psychiatry
Icarus Project
Involuntary commitment
MindFreedom International
Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth
EUFAMI
Judi Chamberlin
Peter Lehmann
== References ==
== External links ==
WNUSP - World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP main web site)
ENUSP - European Network of (ex-)Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP main web site)
ENUSP.org - 'ENUSP Press Release' (July 20, 2004)
Inclusion-International.org - International Disability Alliance
Moosa-Salie.oism.info - 'Launching Conference of the Pan African Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (PANUSP)', Moosa Salie
CHRUSP - Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
UN.org - 'Contribution by World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry', United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities (January, 2004) | Wikipedia/World_Network_of_Users_and_Survivors_of_Psychiatry |
The Andersen healthcare utilization model is a conceptual model aimed at demonstrating the factors that lead to the use of health services. According to the model, the usage of health services (including inpatient care, physician visits, dental care etc.) is determined by three dynamics: predisposing factors, enabling factors, and need. Predisposing factors can be characteristics such as race, age, and health beliefs. For instance, an individual who believes health services are an effective treatment for an ailment is more likely to seek care. Examples of enabling factors could be family support, access to health insurance, one's community, etc. Need represents both perceived and actual need for health care services. The original model was developed by Ronald M. Andersen, a health services professor at UCLA, in 1968. The original model was expanded through numerous iterations, and its most recent form models past the use of services to end at health outcomes and includes feedback loops.
== Access and mutability ==
A major motivation for the development of the model was to offer measures of access. Andersen discusses four concepts within access that can be viewed through the conceptual framework. Potential access is the presence of enabling resources, allowing the individual to seek care if needed. Realized access is the actual use of care, shown as the outcome of interest in the earlier models. The Andersen framework also makes a distinction between equitable and inequitable access. Equitable access is driven by demographic characteristics and need, whereas inequitable access is a result of social structure, health beliefs, and enabling resources.
Andersen also introduces the concept of mutability of his factors. The idea here being that if a concept has a high degree of mutability (can be easily changed) perhaps policy would be justified in using its resources to do rather than a factor with low mutability. Characteristics that fall under demographics are quite difficult to change, however, enabling resources is assigned a high degree of mutability as the individual, community, or national policy can take steps to alter the level of enabling resources for an individual. For example, if the government decides to expand the Medicaid program, an individual may experience an increase in enabling resources, which in turn may beget an increase in health services usage. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment (HIE) changed a highly mutable factor, out-of-pocket costs, which greatly changed individual rates of health services usage.
== Earlier models ==
The initial behavior model was an attempt to study of why a family uses health services. However, due to the heterogeneity of family members, the model focused on the individual rather than the family as the unit of analysis. Andersen also states that the model functions both to predict and explain use of health services.
A second model was developed in the 1970s in conjunction with Aday and colleagues at the University of Chicago. This iteration includes systematic concepts of health care such as current policy, resources, and organization. The second generation model also extends the outcome of interest beyond utilization to consumer satisfaction.
The next generation of the model builds upon this idea by including health status (both perceived and evaluated) as outcomes alongside consumer satisfaction. Furthermore, this model includes personal health practices as an antecedent to outcomes, acknowledging that it not solely use of health services that drive health and satisfaction. This model emphasizes a more public health approach of prevention, as advocated by Evans and Stoddart wherein personal health practices (i.e., smoking, diet, exercise) are included as a driving force towards health outcomes.
== Current model ==
The 6th iteration of Andersen's conceptual framework focuses on the individual as the unit of analysis and goes beyond health care utilization, adopting health outcomes as the endpoint of interest. This model is further differentiated from its predecessors by using a feedback loop to illustrate that health outcomes may affect aspects such as health beliefs, and need. It added genetic susceptibility as a predisposing determinant and quality of life as an outcome. By using the framework's relationships, we can determine the directionality of the effect following a change in an individual's characteristics or environment. For example, if one experiences an increase in need as a result of an infection, the Andersen model predicts this will lead to an increased use of services (all else equal). One potential change for a future iteration of this model is to add genetic information under predisposing characteristics. As genetic information becomes more readily available, it seems likely this could impact health services usage, as well as health outcomes, beyond what is already accounted for in the current model.
== Criticisms and rebuttals ==
The model has been criticized for not paying enough attention to culture and social interaction, but Andersen argues this social structure is included in the predisposing characteristics component. Another criticism was the overemphasis of need and at the expense of health beliefs and social structure. However, Andersen argues need itself is a social construct. This is why need is split into perceived and evaluated. Where evaluated need represents a more measurable/objective need, perceived need is partly determined by health beliefs, such as whether people think their condition is serious enough to seek health services. Another limitation of the model is its emphasis on health care utilization or adopting health outcomes as a dichotomous factor, present or not present. Other help-seeking models also consider the type of help source, including informal sources. More recent work has taken help-seeking behaviors further, and more real-world, by including online and other non-face-to-face sources.
== References == | Wikipedia/Andersen_healthcare_utilization_model |
The recovery model, recovery approach or psychological recovery is an approach to mental disorder or substance dependence that emphasizes and supports a person's potential for recovery. Recovery is generally seen in this model as a personal journey rather than a set outcome, and one that may involve developing hope, a secure base and sense of self, supportive relationships, empowerment, social inclusion, coping skills, and meaning. Recovery sees symptoms as a continuum of the norm rather than an aberration and rejects sane-insane dichotomy.
William Anthony, Director of the Boston Centre for Psychiatric Rehabilitation developed a cornerstone definition of mental health recovery in 1993. "Recovery is a deeply personal, unique process of changing one's attitudes, values, feelings, goals, skills and/or roles. It is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful, and contributing life even with limitations caused by the illness. Recovery involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one's life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness."
The concept of recovery in mental health emerged as deinstitutionalization led to more individuals living in the community. It gained momentum as a social movement in response to a perceived failure by services or wider society to adequately support social inclusion, coupled with studies demonstrating that many people do recover. A recovery-oriented approach has since been explicitly embraced as the guiding principle of mental health and substance dependency policies in numerous countries and states. Practical measures are being implemented in many cases to align services with a recovery model, although various obstacles, concerns, and criticisms have been raised by both service providers and recipients of services. Several standardized measures have been developed to assess different aspects of recovery, although there is some divergence between professionalized models and those originating in the psychiatric survivors movement.
According to a study, a combined social and physical environment intervention has the potential to enhance the need for recovery. However, the study's focus on a general healthy and well-functioning population posed challenges in achieving significant impact. The researchers suggested implementing the intervention among a population with higher baseline values on the need for recovery and providing opportunities for physical activity, such as organizing lunchtime walking or yoga classes at work. Additionally, they recommended strategically integrating a social media platform with incentives for regular use, linking it to other platforms like Facebook, and considering more drastic physical interventions, such as restructuring an entire department floor, to enhance the intervention's effectiveness. The study concluded that relatively simple environment modifications, such as placing signs to promote stair use, did not lead to changes in the need for recovery.
== History ==
In general medicine and psychiatry, recovery has long been used to refer to the end of a particular experience or episode of illness. The broader concept of "recovery" as a general philosophy and model was first popularized in regard to recovery from substance abuse/drug addiction, for example within twelve-step programs or the California Sober method.
Mental health recovery emerged in Geel, Belgium in the 13th century. Saint Dymphna—the patron saint of mental illness—was martyred there by her father in the 7th century. The Church of Saint Dymphna (built in 1349) became a pilgrimage destination for those seeking help with their psychiatric conditions. By the late 1400s, so many pilgrims were coming to Geel that the townspeople began hosting them as guests in their homes. This tradition of community recovery continues to this day.
More widespread application of recovery models to psychiatric disorders is comparatively recent. The concept of recovery can be traced back as far as 1840, when John Thomas Perceval, son of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, wrote of his personal recovery from the psychosis that he experienced from 1830 until 1832, a recovery that he obtained despite the "treatment" he received from the "lunatic" doctors who attended him. But by consensus the main impetus for the development came from within the consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement, a grassroots self-help and advocacy initiative, particularly within the United States during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The professional literature, starting with the psychiatric rehabilitation movement in particular, began to incorporate the concept from the early 1990s in the United States, followed by New Zealand and more recently across nearly all countries within the "First World". Similar approaches developed around the same time, without necessarily using the term recovery, in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK.
Developments were fueled by a number of long-term outcome studies of people with "major mental illnesses" in populations from virtually every continent, including landmark cross-national studies by the World Health Organization from the 1970s and 1990s, showing unexpectedly high rates of complete or partial recovery, with exact statistics varying by region and the criteria used. The cumulative impact of personal stories or testimony of recovery has also been a powerful force behind the development of recovery approaches and policies. A key issue became how service consumers could maintain the ownership and authenticity of recovery concepts while also supporting them in professional policy and practice.
Increasingly, recovery became both a subject of mental health services research and a term emblematic of many of the goals of the Consumer/Survivor/Ex-Patient Movement. The concept of recovery was often defined and applied differently by consumers/survivors and professionals. Specific policy and clinical strategies were developed to implement recovery principles although key questions remained.
== Elements of recovery ==
It has been emphasized that each individual's journey to recovery is a deeply personal process, as well as being related to an individual's community and society. A number of features or signs of recovery have been proposed as often core elements and comprehensively they have been categorized under the concept of CHIME. CHIME is a mnemonic of connectedness, hope & optimism, identity, meaning & purpose and empowerment.
=== Connectedness and supportive relationships ===
A common aspect of recovery is said to be the presence of others who believe in the person's potential to recover and who stand by them. According to Relational Cultural Theory as developed by Jean Baker Miller, recovery requires mutuality and empathy in relationships. The theory states this requires relationships that embody respect, authenticity, and emotional availability. Supportive relationships can also be made safer through predictability and avoiding shaming and violence. While mental health professionals can offer a particular limited kind of relationship and help foster hope, relationships with friends, family and the community are said to often be of wider and longer-term importance. Case managers can play the role of connecting recovering persons to services that the recovering person may have limited access to, such as food stamps and medical care. Others who have experienced similar difficulties and are on a journey of recovery can also play a role in establishing community and combating a recovering person's feelings of isolation. An example of a recovery approach that fosters a sense of community to combat feelings of isolation is the safe house or transitional housing model of rehabilitation. This approach supports victims of trauma through a community-centered, transitional housing method that provides social services, healthcare, and psychological support to navigate through and past experiences. Safe houses aim to support survivors on account of their individual needs and can effectively rehabilitate those recovering from issues such as sexual violence and drug addiction without criminalization. Additionally, safe houses provide a comfortable space where survivors can be listened to and uplifted through compassion. In practice, this can be accomplished through one on one interviews with other recovering persons, engaging in communal story circles, or peer-led support groups. Those who share the same values and outlooks more generally (not just in the area of mental health) may also be particularly important. It is said that one-way relationships based on being helped can actually be devaluing and potentially re-traumatizing, and that reciprocal relationships and mutual support networks can be of more value to self-esteem and recovery.
=== Hope ===
Finding and nurturing hope has been described as a key to recovery. It is said to include not just optimism but a sustainable belief in oneself and a willingness to persevere through uncertainty and setbacks. Hope may start at a certain turning point, or emerge gradually as a small and fragile feeling, and may fluctuate with despair. It is said to involve trusting, and risking disappointment, failure and further hurt.
=== Identity ===
Recovery of a durable sense of self (if it had been lost or taken away) has been proposed as an important element. A research review suggested that people sometimes achieve this by "positive withdrawal"—regulating social involvement and negotiating public space in order to only move towards others in a way that feels safe yet meaningful; and nurturing personal psychological space that allows room for developing understanding and a broad sense of self, interests, spirituality, etc. It was suggested that the process is usually greatly facilitated by experiences of interpersonal acceptance, mutuality, and a sense of social belonging; and is often challenging in the face of the typical barrage of overt and covert negative messages that come from the broader social context. Being able to move on can mean having to cope with feelings of loss, which may include despair and anger. When an individual is ready for change, a process of grieving is initiated. It may require accepting past suffering and lost opportunities or lost time.
=== Formation of healthy coping strategies and meaningful internal schema ===
The development of personal coping strategies (including self-management or self-help) is said to be an important element. This can involve making use of medication or psychotherapy if the patient is fully informed and listened to, including about adverse effects and about which methods fit with the consumer's life and their journey of recovery. Developing coping and problem solving skills to manage individual traits and problem issues (which may or may not be seen as symptoms of mental disorder) may require a person becoming their own expert, in order to identify key stress points and possible crisis points, and to understand and develop personal ways of responding and coping. Developing a sense of meaning and overall purpose is said to be important for sustaining the recovery process. This may involve recovering or developing a social or work role. It may also involve renewing, finding or developing a guiding philosophy, religion, politics or culture. From a postmodern perspective, this can be seen as developing a narrative.
=== Empowerment and building a secure base ===
Building a positive culture of healing is essential in the recovery approach. Since recovering is a long process, a strong supportive network can be helpful. Appropriate housing, a sufficient income, freedom from violence, and adequate access to health care have also been proposed as important tools to empowering someone and increasing their self-sufficiency. Empowerment and self-determination are said to be important to recovery for reducing the social and psychological effects of stress and trauma. Women's Empowerment Theory suggests that recovery from mental illness, substance abuse, and trauma requires helping survivors understand their rights so they can increase their capacity to make autonomous choices. This can mean develop the confidence for independent assertive decision making and help-seeking which translates into proper medication and active self care practices. Achieving social inclusion and overcoming challenging social stigma and prejudice about mental distress/disorder/difference is also an important part of empowerment. Advocates of Women's Empowerment Theory argue it is important to recognize that a recovering person's view of self is perpetuated by stereotypes and combating those narratives. Empowerment according to this logic requires reframing a survivor's view of self and the world. In practice, empowerment and building a secure base require mutually supportive relationships between survivors and service providers, identifying a survivor's existing strengths, and an awareness of the survivor's trauma and cultural context.
== Concepts of recovery ==
=== Varied definitions ===
What constitutes 'recovery', or a recovery model, is a matter of ongoing debate both in theory and in practice. In general, professionalized clinical models tend to focus on improvement in particular symptoms and functions, and on the role of treatments, while consumer/survivor models tend to put more emphasis on peer support, empowerment and real-world personal experience. "Recovery from", the medical approach, is defined by a dwindling of symptoms, whereas "recovery in", the peer approach, may still involve symptoms, but the person feels they are gaining more control over their life. Similarly, recovery may be viewed in terms of a social model of disability rather than a medical model of disability, and there may be differences in the acceptance of diagnostic "labels" and treatments.
A review of research suggested that writers on recovery are rarely explicit about which of the various concepts they are employing. The reviewers classified the approaches they found in to broadly "rehabilitation" perspectives, which they defined as being focused on life and meaning within the context of enduring disability, and "clinical" perspectives which focused on observable remission of symptoms and restoration of functioning. From a psychiatric rehabilitation perspective, a number of additional qualities of the recovery process have been suggested, including that it: can occur without professional intervention, but requires people who believe in and stand by the person in recovery; does not depend on believing certain theories about the cause of conditions; can be said to occur even if symptoms later re-occur, but does change the frequency and duration of symptoms; requires recovery from the consequences of a psychiatric condition as well as the condition itself; is not linear but does tend to take place as a series of small steps; does not mean the person was never really psychiatrically disabled; focuses on wellness not illness, and on consumer choice.
A consensus statement on mental health recovery from US agencies, that involved some consumer input, defined recovery as a journey of healing and transformation enabling a person with a mental health problem to live a meaningful life in a community of his or her choice while striving to achieve his or her full potential. Ten fundamental components were elucidated, all assuming that the person continues to be a "consumer" or to have a "mental disability". Conferences have been held on the importance of the "elusive" concept from the perspectives of consumers and psychiatrists.
One approach to recovery known as the Tidal Model focuses on the continuous process of change inherent in all people, conveying the meaning of experiences through water metaphors. Crisis is seen as involving opportunity; creativity is valued; and different domains are explored such as sense of security, personal narrative and relationships. Initially developed by mental health nurses along with service users, Tidal is a particular model that has been specifically researched. Based on a discrete set of values (the Ten Commitments), it emphasizes the importance of each person's own voice, resourcefulness and wisdom. Since 1999, projects based on the Tidal Model have been established in several countries.
For many, recovery has a political as well as personal implication—where to recover is to: find meaning; challenge prejudice (including diagnostic "labels" in some cases); perhaps to be a "bad" non-compliant patient and refuse to accept the indoctrination of the system; to reclaim a chosen life and place within society; and to validate the self. Recovery can thus be viewed as one manifestation of empowerment. Such an empowerment model may emphasize that conditions are not necessarily permanent; that other people have recovered who can be role models and share experiences; and that "symptoms" can be understood as expressions of distress related to emotions and other people. One such model from the US National Empowerment Center proposes a number of principles of how people recover and seeks to identify the characteristics of people in recovery.
In general, recovery may be seen as more of a philosophy or attitude than a specific model, requiring fundamentally that "we regain personal power and a valued place in our communities. Sometimes we need services to support us to get there".
=== Recovery from substance dependence ===
Particular kinds of recovery models have been adopted in drug rehabilitation services. While interventions in this area have tended to focus on harm reduction, particularly through substitute prescribing (or alternatively requiring total abstinence) recovery approaches have emphasized the need to simultaneously address the whole of people's lives, and to encourage aspirations while promoting equal access and opportunities within society. Some examples of harm reduction services include overdose reversal medications (such as Narcan), substance testing kits, supplies for sterile injections, HIV, HBV, and HCV at-home testing equipment– and trauma-informed care in the form of group therapy, community building/events, case management, and rental assistance services. The purpose of this model is to rehabilitate those experiencing addiction in a holistic way rather than through law enforcement and criminal justice-based intervention which can fail to address victims’ circumstances on a need-by-need basis. From the perspective of services the work may include helping people with "developing the skills to prevent relapse into further illegal drug taking, rebuilding broken relationships or forging new ones, actively engaging in meaningful activities and taking steps to build a home and provide for themselves and their families. Milestones could be as simple as gaining weight, re-establishing relationships with friends, or building self-esteem. What is key is that recovery is sustained.". Key to the philosophy of the recovery movement is the aim for an equal relationship between "Experts by Profession" and "Experts by Experience".
=== Trauma-Informed Recovery ===
Trauma-Informed care is a philosophy for recovery that combines the conditions and needs of people recovering from mental illness and/or substance abuse into one framework. This framework combines all of the elements of the Recovery Approach and adds an awareness of trauma. Advocates of trauma-informed care argue the principles and strategies should be applied to individuals experiencing mental illness, substance dependence, and trauma as these three often occur simultaneously or as result of each other. The paradigms surrounding trauma-informed care began to shift in 1998 and 1999. In 1998, the Center for Mental Health Services, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention collaborated to fund 14 sites to develop integrated services in order to address the interrelated effects of violence, mental health, and substance abuse. In 1999, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors passed a resolution recognizing the impact of violence and trauma and developed a toolkit of resources for the implementation of trauma services in state mental health agencies. Trauma-informed care has been supported in academia as well. Scholars claim that neglecting the role of trauma in a person's story can interfere with recovery in the form of misdiagnosis, inaccurate treatment, or retraumatization. Some principles of trauma-informed care include validating survivor experiences and resiliency, aiming to increase a survivor's control over her/his/their recovery, creating atmospheres for recovery that embody consistency and confidentiality, minimizing the possibilities of triggering past trauma, and integrating survivors/recovering persons in service evaluation. In practice, trauma-informed care has shown to be most effective when every participant in a service providing context to be committed to following these principles. In addition, these principles can apply to all steps of the recovery process within a service providing context, including outreach and engagement, screening, advocacy, crisis intervention, and resource coordination. The overall goal in trauma-informed care is facilitating healing and empowerment using strengths-based empowerment practices and a comprehensive array of services that integrate co-occurring disorders and the multitude of needs a recovering person might have, such as drug treatment, housing, relationship building, and parenting support.
These approaches are in contrast to traditional care systems. Advocates of trauma-informed care critique traditional service delivery systems, such as standard hospitals, for failing to understand the role of trauma in a patient's life. Traditional service delivery systems are also critiqued for isolating the conditions of a recovering person and not addressing conditions such as substance abuse and mental illness simultaneously as part of one source. Specific practices in traditional service delivery systems, such as unnecessary procedures, undressing for examinations, involuntary hospitalizations, crowded emergency rooms, and limited time for providers to meet with patients, have all been critiqued as insensitive to persons recovering from trauma and consequential mental illness or substance abuse. Limited resources and time in the United States healthcare system can make the implementation of trauma-informed care difficult.
There are other challenges to trauma-informed care besides limits in the United States healthcare system that can make trauma-informed care ineffective for treating persons recovering from mental illness or substance dependence. Advocates of trauma-informed care argue implementation requires a strong commitment from leadership in an agency to train staff members to be trauma-aware, but this training can be costly and time-consuming. "Trauma-informed care" and "trauma" also have contested definitions and can be hard to measure in a real world service setting. Another barrier to trauma-informed care is the necessity of screening for histories of trauma. While agencies need to screen for histories of trauma in order to give the best care, there can be feelings of shame and fear of being invalidated that can prevent a recovering person from disclosing their personal experiences.
=== Concerns ===
Some concerns have been raised about a recovery approach in theory and in practice. These include suggestions that it: is an old concept; only happens to very few people; represents an irresponsible fad; happens only as a result of active treatment; implies a cure; can only be implemented with new resources; adds to the burden of already stretched providers; is neither reimbursable nor evidence based; devalues the role of professional intervention; and increases providers' exposure to risk and liability.
Other criticisms focused on practical implementation by service providers include that: the recovery model can be manipulated by officials to serve various political and financial interests including withdrawing services and pushing people out before they're ready; that it is becoming a new orthodoxy or bandwagon that neglects the empowerment aspects and structural problems of societies and primarily represents a middle class experience; that it hides the continued dominance of a medical model; and that it potentially increases social exclusion and marginalizes those who don't fit into a recovery narrative.
There have been specific tensions between recovery models and "evidence-based practice" models in the transformation of US mental health services based on the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. The commission's emphasis on recovery has been interpreted by some critics as saying that everyone can fully recover through sheer will power and therefore as giving false hope and implicitly blaming those who may be unable to recover. However, the critics have themselves been charged with undermining consumer rights and failing to recognize that the model is intended to support a person in their personal journey rather than expecting a given outcome, and that it relates to social and political support and empowerment as well as the individual.
Various stages of resistance to recovery approaches have been identified amongst staff in traditional services, starting with "Our people are much sicker than yours. They won't be able to recover" and ending in "Our doctors will never agree to this". However, ways to harness the energy of this perceived resistance and use it to move forward have been proposed. In addition, staff training materials have been developed by various organisations, for example by the National Empowerment Center.
Some positives and negatives of recovery models were highlighted in a study of a community mental health service for people diagnosed with schizophrenia. It was concluded that while the approach may be a useful corrective to the usual style of case management - at least when genuinely chosen and shaped by each unique individual on the ground - serious social, institutional and personal difficulties made it essential that there be sufficient ongoing effective support with stress management and coping in daily life. Cultural biases and uncertainties were also noted in the 'North American' model of recovery in practice, reflecting views about the sorts of contributions and lifestyles that should be considered valuable or acceptable.
=== Assessment ===
A number of standardized questionnaires and assessments have been developed to try to assess aspects of an individual's recovery journey. These include the Milestones of Recovery (MOR) Scale, Recovery Enhancing Environment (REE) measure, Recovery Measurement Tool (RMT), Recovery Oriented System Indicators (ROSI) Measure, Stages of Recovery Instrument (STORI), and numerous related instruments.
The data-collection systems and terminology used by services and funders are said to be typically incompatible with recovery frameworks, so methods of adapting them have been developed. It has also been argued that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (and to some extent any system of categorical classification of mental disorders) uses definitions and terminology that are inconsistent with a recovery model, leading to suggestions that the next version, the DSM-V, requires: greater sensitivity to cultural issues and gender; to recognize the need for others to change as well as just those singled out for a diagnosis of disorder; and to adopt a dimensional approach to assessment that better captures individuality and does not erroneously imply excess psychopathology or chronicity.
== National policies and implementation ==
=== United States and Canada ===
The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has proposed to transform the mental health system in the US by shifting the paradigm of care from traditional medical psychiatric treatment toward the concept of recovery, and the American Psychiatric Association has endorsed a recovery model from a psychiatric services perspective.
The US Department of Health and Human Services reports developing national and state initiatives to empower consumers and support recovery, with specific committees planning to launch nationwide pro-recovery, anti-stigma education campaigns; develop and synthesize recovery policies; train consumers in carrying out evaluations of mental health systems; and help further the development of peer-run services. Mental Health service directors and planners are providing guidance to help state services implement recovery approaches.
Some US states, such as California (see the California Mental Health Services Act), Wisconsin and Ohio, already report redesigning their mental health systems to stress recovery model values like hope, healing, empowerment, social connectedness, human rights, and recovery-oriented services.
At least some parts of the Canadian Mental Health Association, such as the Ontario region, have adopted recovery as a guiding principle for reforming and developing the mental health system.
=== New Zealand and Australia ===
Since 1998, all mental health services in New Zealand have been required by government policy to use a recovery approach and mental health professionals are expected to demonstrate competence in the recovery model. Australia's National Mental Health Plan 2003-2008 states that services should adopt a recovery orientation although there is variation between Australian states and territories in the level of knowledge, commitment and implementation.
=== UK and Ireland ===
In 2005, the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) endorsed a recovery model as a possible guiding principle of mental health service provision and public education. The National Health Service is implementing a recovery approach in at least some regions, and has developed a new professional role of Support Time and Recovery Worker. Centre for Mental Health issued a 2008 policy paper proposing that the recovery approach is an idea "whose time has come" and, in partnership with the NHS Confederation Mental Health Network, and support and funding from the Department of Health, manages the Implementing Recovery through Organisational Change (ImROC) nationwide project that aims to put recovery at the heart of mental health services in the UK. The Scottish Executive has included the promotion and support of recovery as one of its four key mental health aims and funded a Scottish Recovery Network to facilitate this. A 2006 review of nursing in Scotland recommended a recovery approach as the model for mental health nursing care and intervention. The Mental Health Commission of Ireland reports that its guiding documents place the service user at the core and emphasize an individual's personal journey towards recovery.
== See also ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Karasaki et al.,(2013). The Place of Volition in Addiction: Differing Approaches and their Implications for Policy and Service Provision.
== External links ==
The Strengths Model: A Recovery-Oriented Approach to Mental Health Services, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, 2014.
NASW Practice Snapshot: The Mental Health Recovery Model
Recovery as a Journey of the Heart (PDF)
A Critical Exploration of Social Inequities in the Mental Health Recovery Literature
National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives | Wikipedia/Recovery_model |
The Critical Psychiatry Network (CPN) is a psychiatric organization based in the United Kingdom. It was created by a group of British psychiatrists who met in Bradford, England in January 1999 in response to proposals by the British government to amend the Mental Health Act 1983. They expressed concern about the implications of the proposed changes for human rights and the civil liberties of people with mental health illness. Most people associated with the group are practicing consultant psychiatrists in the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS), among them Dr Joanna Moncrieff. A number of non-consultant grade and trainee psychiatrists are also involved in the network.
Participants in the Critical Psychiatry Network share concerns about psychiatric practice where and when it is heavily dependent upon diagnostic classification and the use of psychopharmacology. These concerns reflect their recognition of poor construct validity amongst psychiatric diagnoses and scepticism about the efficacy of anti-depressants, mood stabilisers and anti-psychotic agents. According to them, these concerns have ramifications in the area of the use of psychiatric diagnosis to justify civil detention and the role of scientific knowledge in psychiatry, and an interest in promoting the study of interpersonal phenomena such as relationship, meaning and narrative in pursuit of better understanding and improved treatment.
CPN has similarities and contrasts with earlier criticisms of conventional psychiatric practice, for example those associated with David Cooper, R. D. Laing and Thomas Szasz. Features of CPN are pragmatism and full acknowledgment of the suffering commonly associated with mental health difficulties. As a result, it functions primarily as a forum within which practitioners can share experiences of practice, and provide support and encouragement in developing improvements in mainstream NHS practice where most participants are employed.
CPN maintains close links with service user or survivor led organisations such as the Hearing Voices Network, Intervoice and the Soteria Network, and with like-minded psychiatrists in other countries. It maintains its own website. The network is open to any sympathetic psychiatrist, and members meet in person, in the UK, twice a year. It is primarily intended for psychiatrists and psychiatric trainees and full participation is not available to other groups.
== Coercion and social control ==
The other involved the introduction of community treatment orders (CTOs) to make it possible to treat people against their wishes in the community. CPN submitted evidence to the Scoping Group set up by the government under Professor Genevra Richardson. This set out ethical and practical objections to CTOs, and ethical and human rights objections to the idea of reviewable detention. It was also critical of the concept of personality disorder as a diagnosis in psychiatry. In addition, CPN's evidence called for the use of advance statements, crisis cards and a statutory right to independent advocacy as ways of helping to sustain autonomy at times of crisis. CPN also responded to government consultation on the proposed amendment, and the white paper.
The concern about these proposals caused a number of organizations to come together under the umbrella of the Mental Health Alliance to campaign in support of the protection of patients' and carers' rights, and to minimise coercion. CPN joined the Alliance's campaign, but resigned in 2005 when it became clear that the Alliance would accept those aspects of the House of Commons Scrutiny Committee's report that would result in the introduction of CTOs. Psychiatrists not identified with CPN shared the Network's concern about the more coercive aspects of the government's proposals, so CPN carried out a questionnaire survey of over two and a half thousand (2,500) consultant psychiatrists working in England seeking their views of the proposed changes. The responses (a response rate of 46%) indicated widespread concern in the profession about reviewable detention and CTOs.
The CPN was paid attention by Thomas Szasz who wrote: "Members of the CPN, like their American counterparts, criticize the proliferation of psychiatric diagnoses and 'excessive' use of psychotropic drugs, but embrace psychiatric coercions."
=== The role of scientific knowledge in psychiatry ===
There is a strong view by CPN that contemporary psychiatry relies too much on the medical model, and attaches too much importance to a narrow biomedical view of diagnosis. This can, in part, be understood as the response of an earlier generation of psychiatrists to the challenge of what has been called 'anti-psychiatry'. Psychiatrists such as David Cooper, R. D. Laing and Thomas Szasz (although the latter two rejected the term) were identified as part of a movement against psychiatry in the 1960s and 1970s. Stung by these attacks, as well as accusations that in any case psychiatrists could not even agree who was and who was not mentally ill, academic psychiatrists responded by stressing the biological and scientific basis of psychiatry through strenuous efforts to improve the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis based in a return to the traditions of one of the founding fathers of the profession, Emil Kraepelin.
The use of standardized diagnostic criteria and checklists may have improved the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, but the problem of its validity remains. The investment of huge sums of money in Britain, America and Europe over the last half-century has failed to reveal a single, replicable difference between a person with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and someone who does not have the diagnosis. The case for the biological basis of common psychiatric disorders such as depression has also been greatly over-stated. This has a number of consequences:
First, the aggrandisement of biological research creates a false impression both inside and outside the profession of the credibility of the evidence used to justify drug treatments for disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. Reading clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of depression, for example, such as that produced for the UK National Health Service by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), one might be fooled into believing that the evidence for the efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is established beyond question. In reality this is not the case, as re-examinations of drug trial data in meta-analyses, especially where unpublished data are included (publication bias means that researchers and drug companies do not publish negative findings for obvious commercial reasons), have revealed that most of the benefits seen in active treatment groups are also seen in the placebo groups.
As far as schizophrenia is concerned, neuroleptic drugs may have some short-term effects, but it is not the case that these drugs possess specific 'anti-psychotic' properties, and it is impossible to assess whether or not they confer advantages in long-term management of psychoses because of the severe disturbances that occur when people on long-term active treatment are withdrawn to placebos. These disturbances are traditionally interpreted as a 'relapse' of schizophrenia when in fact there are several possible interpretations for the phenomenon.
Another consequence of the domination of psychiatry by biological science is that the importance of contexts in understanding distress and madness is played down. This has a number of consequences. First, it obscures the true nature of what in fact are extremely complex problems. For example, if we consider depression to be a biological disorder remediable through the use of antidepressant tablets, then we may be excused from having to delve into the tragic circumstances that so often lie at the heart the experience. This is so in adults and children.
=== Meaning and experience in psychiatry ===
There is a common theme, here, with the work of David Ingleby whose chapter in Critical Psychiatry: The Politics of Mental Health sets out a detailed critique of positivism (the view that epistemology, or knowledge about the world is best served by empiricism and the scientific method rather than metaphysics). A common theme running through Laingian antipsychiatry, Ingleby's critical psychiatry, contemporary critical psychiatry and postpsychiatry is the view that social, political and cultural realities play a vital role in helping us to understand the suffering and experience of madness. Like Laing, Ingleby stressed the importance of hermeneutics and interpretation in inquiries about the meaning of experience in psychiatry, and (like Laing) he drew on psychoanalysis as an interpretative aid, but his work was also heavily influenced by the critical theory of the Frankfurt School.
The most forceful critic of this view was R. D. Laing, who famously attacked the approach enshrined by Jaspers' and Kraepelin's work in chapter two of The Divided Self, proposing instead an existential-phenomenological basis for understanding psychosis. Laing always insisted that schizophrenia is more understandable than is commonly supposed. Mainstream psychiatry has never accepted Laing's ideas, but many in CPN regard The Divided Self as central to twentieth century psychiatry. Laing's influence continued in America through the work of the late Loren Mosher, who worked at the Tavistock Clinic in the mid-1960s, when he also spent time in Kingsley Hall witnessing Laing's work. Shortly after his return to the US, Loren Mosher was appointed Director of Schizophrenia Research at the National Institute of Mental Health, and also the founding editor of the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin.
One of his most notable contributions to this area was setting up and evaluating the first Soteria House, an environment modeled on Kingsley Hall in which people experiencing acute psychoses could be helped with minimal drug use and a form of interpersonal phenomenology influenced by Heidegger. He also conducted evaluation studies of the effectiveness of Soteria. A recent systematic review of the Soteria model found that it achieved as good, and in some areas, better, clinical outcomes with much lower levels of medication (Soteria House was not anti-medication) than conventional approaches to drug treatment.
== Efficacy ==
One comparison study showed 34% of patients of a 'medical model' team were still being treated after two years, compared with only 9% of patients of a team using a 'non-diagnostic' approach (less medication, little diagnosis, individual treatment plans tailored to the person's unique needs). However the study comments that cases may have left the system in the 'non-diagnostic' approach, not because treatment had worked, but because (1) multi-agency involvement meant long-term work may have been continued by a different agency, (2) the starting question of 'Do we think our service can make a positive difference to this young person's life?' rather than 'What is wrong with this young person?' may have led to treatment not being continued, and (3) the attitude of viewing a case as problematic when no improvement has occurred after five sessions may have led to treatment not being continued (rather than the case 'drifting' on in the system).
== Critical Psychiatry and Postpsychiatry ==
Peter Campbell first used the term 'postpsychiatry' in the anthology Speaking Our Minds, which imagines what would happen in a world after psychiatry. Independently, Patrick Bracken and Philip Thomas coined the word later and used it as the title of a series of articles written for Openmind. This was followed by a key paper in the British Medical Journal and a book of the same name. This culminated with the publication by Bradley Lewis, a psychiatrist based in New York, of Moving Beyond Prozac, DSM, and the New Psychiatry: The Birth of Postpsychiatry.
According to Bracken, progress in the field of mental health is presented in terms of 'breakthrough drugs', 'wonders of neuroscience', 'the Decade of the Brain' and 'molecular genetics'. These developments suited the interests of a relatively small number of academic psychiatrists, many of whom have interests in the pharmaceutical industry, although so far the promised insights into psychosis and madness were yet to be realized. Some psychiatrists have turned to another form of technology, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, although this does draw attention to the person's relationship with their experiences (such as voices or unusual beliefs), and focuses on helping them to find different ways of coping, it however, it is based on a particular set of assumptions about the nature of the self, the nature of thought, and how reality is constructed. The pros and cons of this have been explored in some detail in a recent publication.
Framing mental health problems as 'technical' in nature involves prioritising technology and expertise over values, relationships and meanings, the very things that emerge as important for service users, both in their narratives, and in service user-led research. For many service users these issues are of primary importance. Recent meta-analyses into the effectiveness of antidepressants and cognitive therapy in depression confirm that non-specific, non-technical factors (such as the quality of the therapeutic relationship as seen by the patient, and the placebo effect in medication) are more important than the specific factors.
Postpsychiatry tries to move beyond the view that we can only help people through technologies and expertise. Instead, it
prioritises values, meanings and relationships and sees progress in terms of engaging creatively with the service user movement, and communities. This is especially important given the considerable evidence that in Britain, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities are particularly poorly served by mental health services. For this reason an important practical aspect of postpsychiatry is the use of community development in order to engage with these communities. The community development project Sharing Voices Bradford is an excellent example of such an approach.
There are many commonalities between critical psychiatry and postpsychiatry, but it is probably fair to say that whereas postpsychiatry would broadly endorse most aspects of the work of critical psychiatry, the obverse does not necessarily hold. In identifying the modernist privileging of technical responses to madness and distress as a primary problem, postpsychiatry has looked to postmodernist thought for insights. Its conceptual critique of traditional psychiatry draws on ideas from philosophers such as Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault and Wittgenstein.
== Anti-psychiatry and Critical Psychiatry ==
The word anti-psychiatry is associated with the South African psychiatrist David Cooper, who used it to refer to the ending of the 'game' the psychiatrist plays with his or her victim (patient). It has been widely used to refer to the writings and activities of a small group of psychiatrists, most notably R.D. Laing, Aaron Esterson, Cooper, and Thomas Szasz (although he rejects the use of the label in relation to his own work, as did Laing and Esterson), and sociologists (Thomas Scheff). Szasz discards even more what he calls the quackery of 'antipsychiatry' than the quackery of psychiatry.
Anti-psychiatry can best be understood against the counter-cultural context in which it arose. The decade of the 1960s was a potent mix of student rebellion, anti-establishment sentiment and anti-war (Vietnam) demonstrations. It saw the rise to prominence of feminism and the American civil rights movement and the Northern Ireland civil rights movement. Across the world, formerly colonised peoples were throwing off the shackles of colonialism. Some of these themes emerged in the Dialectics of Liberation, a conference organized by Laing and others in the Round House in London in 1968.
== Critical Psychiatry Network - Activities ==
CPN is involved in four main areas of work, writing and the publication of academic and other papers, organizing and participating in conferences, activism and support. A glance at the members' publication page on the CPN website reveals in excess of a hundred papers, books and other articles published by people associated with the network over the last twelve years or so. These cover a wide range of topics, from child psychiatry, psychotherapy, the role of diagnosis in psychiatry, critical psychiatry, philosophy and postpsychiatry, to globalization and psychiatry. CPN has also organized a number of conferences in the past, and continues to do so in collaboration with other groups and bodies. It has run workshops for psychiatrists and offers peer supervision face to face and via videolink. It also supports service user and survivor activists who campaign against the role of the pharmaceutical industry in psychiatry, and the campaign for the abolition of the schizophrenia label. The CPN has published a statement in support.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Bracken, Patrick; Thomas, Philip (2005). Postpsychiatry: Mental health in a postmodern world. International perspectives in philosophy and psychiatry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-852609-4. OCLC 61262300.
Cohen, Carl I.; Timimi, Sammi, eds. (2008). Liberatory Psychiatry: Philosophy, Politics and Mental Health. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68981-6. OCLC 174449800.
Double, D.B., ed. (2006). Critical Psychiatry: The limits of madness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-00128-2. OCLC 64230499.
Ingleby, David, ed. (1980). Critical Psychiatry: The politics of mental health (1st American ed.). New York: Pantheon. ISBN 978-0-394-42622-8. OCLC 6377369.
Read, Jim (2009). Psychiatric Drugs: Key issues and service user perspective. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-54940-1. OCLC 321014953.
Whitwell, David (2005). Recovery Beyond Psychiatry. London: Free Association Books. ISBN 978-1-85343-923-0. OCLC 62927775.
== External links ==
The Critical Psychiatry Network | Wikipedia/Critical_Psychiatry_Network |
In mathematical logic, Lindenbaum's lemma, named after Adolf Lindenbaum, states that any consistent theory of predicate logic can be extended to a complete consistent theory. The lemma is a special case of the ultrafilter lemma for Boolean algebras, applied to the Lindenbaum algebra of a theory.
== Uses ==
It is used in the proof of Gödel's completeness theorem, among other places.
== Extensions ==
The effective version of the lemma's statement, "every consistent computably enumerable theory can be extended to a complete consistent computably enumerable theory," fails (provided Peano arithmetic is consistent) by Gödel's incompleteness theorem.
== History ==
The lemma was not published by Adolf Lindenbaum; it is originally attributed to him by Alfred Tarski.
== Notes ==
== References ==
Crossley, J.N.; Ash, C.J.; Brickhill, C.J.; Stillwell, J.C.; Williams, N.H. (1972). What is mathematical logic?. London-Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-19-888087-1. Zbl 0251.02001. | Wikipedia/Lindenbaum's_lemma |
In universal algebra and in model theory, a structure consists of a set along with a collection of finitary operations and relations that are defined on it.
Universal algebra studies structures that generalize the algebraic structures such as groups, rings, fields and vector spaces. The term universal algebra is used for structures of first-order theories with no relation symbols. Model theory has a different scope that encompasses more arbitrary first-order theories, including foundational structures such as models of set theory.
From the model-theoretic point of view, structures are the objects used to define the semantics of first-order logic, cf. also Tarski's theory of truth or Tarskian semantics.
For a given theory in model theory, a structure is called a model if it satisfies the defining axioms of that theory, although it is sometimes disambiguated as a semantic model when one discusses the notion in the more general setting of mathematical models. Logicians sometimes refer to structures as "interpretations", whereas the term "interpretation" generally has a different (although related) meaning in model theory; see interpretation (model theory).
In database theory, structures with no functions are studied as models for relational databases, in the form of relational models.
== History ==
In the context of mathematical logic, the term "model" was first applied in 1940 by the philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine, in a reference to mathematician Richard Dedekind (1831–1916), a pioneer in the development of set theory. Since the 19th century, one main method for proving the consistency of a set of axioms has been to provide a model for it.
== Definition ==
Formally, a structure can be defined as a triple
A
=
(
A
,
σ
,
I
)
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}=(A,\sigma ,I)}
consisting of a domain
A
,
{\displaystyle A,}
a signature
σ
,
{\displaystyle \sigma ,}
and an interpretation function
I
{\displaystyle I}
that indicates how the signature is to be interpreted on the domain. To indicate that a structure has a particular signature
σ
{\displaystyle \sigma }
one can refer to it as a
σ
{\displaystyle \sigma }
-structure.
=== Domain ===
The domain of a structure is an arbitrary set; it is also called the underlying set of the structure, its carrier (especially in universal algebra), its universe (especially in model theory, cf. universe), or its domain of discourse. In classical first-order logic, the definition of a structure prohibits the empty domain.
Sometimes the notation
dom
(
A
)
{\displaystyle \operatorname {dom} ({\mathcal {A}})}
or
|
A
|
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {A}}|}
is used for the domain of
A
,
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}},}
but often no notational distinction is made between a structure and its domain (that is, the same symbol
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
refers both to the structure and its domain.)
=== Signature ===
The signature
σ
=
(
S
,
ar
)
{\displaystyle \sigma =(S,\operatorname {ar} )}
of a structure consists of:
a set
S
{\displaystyle S}
of function symbols and relation symbols, along with
a function
ar
:
S
→
N
0
{\displaystyle \operatorname {ar} :\ S\to \mathbb {N} _{0}}
that ascribes to each symbol
s
{\displaystyle s}
a natural number
n
=
ar
(
s
)
.
{\displaystyle n=\operatorname {ar} (s).}
The natural number
n
=
ar
(
s
)
{\displaystyle n=\operatorname {ar} (s)}
of a symbol
s
{\displaystyle s}
is called the arity of
s
{\displaystyle s}
because it is the arity of the interpretation of
s
.
{\displaystyle s.}
Since the signatures that arise in algebra often contain only function symbols, a signature with no relation symbols is called an algebraic signature. A structure with such a signature is also called an algebra; this should not be confused with the notion of an algebra over a field.
=== Interpretation function ===
The interpretation function
I
{\displaystyle I}
of
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
assigns functions and relations to the symbols of the signature. To each function symbol
f
{\displaystyle f}
of arity
n
{\displaystyle n}
is assigned an
n
{\displaystyle n}
-ary function
f
A
=
I
(
f
)
{\displaystyle f^{\mathcal {A}}=I(f)}
on the domain. Each relation symbol
R
{\displaystyle R}
of arity
n
{\displaystyle n}
is assigned an
n
{\displaystyle n}
-ary relation
R
A
=
I
(
R
)
⊆
A
a
r
(
R
)
{\displaystyle R^{\mathcal {A}}=I(R)\subseteq A^{\operatorname {ar(R)} }}
on the domain. A nullary (
=
0
{\displaystyle =\,0}
-ary) function symbol
c
{\displaystyle c}
is called a constant symbol, because its interpretation
I
(
c
)
{\displaystyle I(c)}
can be identified with a constant element of the domain.
When a structure (and hence an interpretation function) is given by context, no notational distinction is made between a symbol
s
{\displaystyle s}
and its interpretation
I
(
s
)
.
{\displaystyle I(s).}
For example, if
f
{\displaystyle f}
is a binary function symbol of
A
,
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}},}
one simply writes
f
:
A
2
→
A
{\displaystyle f:{\mathcal {A}}^{2}\to {\mathcal {A}}}
rather than
f
A
:
|
A
|
2
→
|
A
|
.
{\displaystyle f^{\mathcal {A}}:|{\mathcal {A}}|^{2}\to |{\mathcal {A}}|.}
=== Examples ===
The standard signature
σ
f
{\displaystyle \sigma _{f}}
for fields consists of two binary function symbols
+
{\displaystyle \mathbf {+} }
and
×
{\displaystyle \mathbf {\times } }
where additional symbols can be derived, such as a unary function symbol
−
{\displaystyle \mathbf {-} }
(uniquely determined by
+
{\displaystyle \mathbf {+} }
) and the two constant symbols
0
{\displaystyle \mathbf {0} }
and
1
{\displaystyle \mathbf {1} }
(uniquely determined by
+
{\displaystyle \mathbf {+} }
and
×
{\displaystyle \mathbf {\times } }
respectively).
Thus a structure (algebra) for this signature consists of a set of elements
A
{\displaystyle A}
together with two binary functions, that can be enhanced with a unary function, and two distinguished elements; but there is no requirement that it satisfy any of the field axioms. The rational numbers
Q
,
{\displaystyle \mathbb {Q} ,}
the real numbers
R
{\displaystyle \mathbb {R} }
and the complex numbers
C
,
{\displaystyle \mathbb {C} ,}
like any other field, can be regarded as
σ
{\displaystyle \sigma }
-structures in an obvious way:
Q
=
(
Q
,
σ
f
,
I
Q
)
R
=
(
R
,
σ
f
,
I
R
)
C
=
(
C
,
σ
f
,
I
C
)
{\displaystyle {\begin{alignedat}{3}{\mathcal {Q}}&=(\mathbb {Q} ,\sigma _{f},I_{\mathcal {Q}})\\{\mathcal {R}}&=(\mathbb {R} ,\sigma _{f},I_{\mathcal {R}})\\{\mathcal {C}}&=(\mathbb {C} ,\sigma _{f},I_{\mathcal {C}})\\\end{alignedat}}}
In all three cases we have the standard signature given by
σ
f
=
(
S
f
,
ar
f
)
{\displaystyle \sigma _{f}=(S_{f},\operatorname {ar} _{f})}
with
S
f
=
{
+
,
×
,
−
,
0
,
1
}
{\displaystyle S_{f}=\{+,\times ,-,0,1\}}
and
ar
f
(
+
)
=
2
,
ar
f
(
×
)
=
2
,
ar
f
(
−
)
=
1
,
ar
f
(
0
)
=
0
,
ar
f
(
1
)
=
0.
{\displaystyle {\begin{alignedat}{3}\operatorname {ar} _{f}&(+)&&=2,\\\operatorname {ar} _{f}&(\times )&&=2,\\\operatorname {ar} _{f}&(-)&&=1,\\\operatorname {ar} _{f}&(0)&&=0,\\\operatorname {ar} _{f}&(1)&&=0.\\\end{alignedat}}}
The interpretation function
I
Q
{\displaystyle I_{\mathcal {Q}}}
is:
I
Q
(
+
)
:
Q
×
Q
→
Q
{\displaystyle I_{\mathcal {Q}}(+):\mathbb {Q} \times \mathbb {Q} \to \mathbb {Q} }
is addition of rational numbers,
I
Q
(
×
)
:
Q
×
Q
→
Q
{\displaystyle I_{\mathcal {Q}}(\times ):\mathbb {Q} \times \mathbb {Q} \to \mathbb {Q} }
is multiplication of rational numbers,
I
Q
(
−
)
:
Q
→
Q
{\displaystyle I_{\mathcal {Q}}(-):\mathbb {Q} \to \mathbb {Q} }
is the function that takes each rational number
x
{\displaystyle x}
to
−
x
,
{\displaystyle -x,}
and
I
Q
(
0
)
∈
Q
{\displaystyle I_{\mathcal {Q}}(0)\in \mathbb {Q} }
is the number
0
,
{\displaystyle 0,}
and
I
Q
(
1
)
∈
Q
{\displaystyle I_{\mathcal {Q}}(1)\in \mathbb {Q} }
is the number
1
;
{\displaystyle 1;}
and
I
R
{\displaystyle I_{\mathcal {R}}}
and
I
C
{\displaystyle I_{\mathcal {C}}}
are similarly defined.
But the ring
Z
{\displaystyle \mathbb {Z} }
of integers, which is not a field, is also a
σ
f
{\displaystyle \sigma _{f}}
-structure in the same way. In fact, there is no requirement that any of the field axioms hold in a
σ
f
{\displaystyle \sigma _{f}}
-structure.
A signature for ordered fields needs an additional binary relation such as
<
{\displaystyle \,<\,}
or
≤
,
{\displaystyle \,\leq ,\,}
and therefore structures for such a signature are not algebras, even though they are of course algebraic structures in the usual, loose sense of the word.
The ordinary signature for set theory includes a single binary relation
∈
.
{\displaystyle \in .}
A structure for this signature consists of a set of elements and an interpretation of the
∈
{\displaystyle \in }
relation as a binary relation on these elements.
== Induced substructures and closed subsets ==
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
is called an (induced) substructure of
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
if
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
and
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
have the same signature
σ
(
A
)
=
σ
(
B
)
;
{\displaystyle \sigma ({\mathcal {A}})=\sigma ({\mathcal {B}});}
the domain of
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
is contained in the domain of
B
:
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}:}
|
A
|
⊆
|
B
|
;
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {A}}|\subseteq |{\mathcal {B}}|;}
and
the interpretations of all function and relation symbols agree on
|
A
|
.
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {A}}|.}
The usual notation for this relation is
A
⊆
B
.
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}\subseteq {\mathcal {B}}.}
A subset
B
⊆
|
A
|
{\displaystyle B\subseteq |{\mathcal {A}}|}
of the domain of a structure
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
is called closed if it is closed under the functions of
A
,
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}},}
that is, if the following condition is satisfied: for every natural number
n
,
{\displaystyle n,}
every
n
{\displaystyle n}
-ary function symbol
f
{\displaystyle f}
(in the signature of
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
) and all elements
b
1
,
b
2
,
…
,
b
n
∈
B
,
{\displaystyle b_{1},b_{2},\dots ,b_{n}\in B,}
the result of applying
f
{\displaystyle f}
to the
n
{\displaystyle n}
-tuple
b
1
b
2
…
b
n
{\displaystyle b_{1}b_{2}\dots b_{n}}
is again an element of
B
:
{\displaystyle B:}
f
(
b
1
,
b
2
,
…
,
b
n
)
∈
B
.
{\displaystyle f(b_{1},b_{2},\dots ,b_{n})\in B.}
For every subset
B
⊆
|
A
|
{\displaystyle B\subseteq |{\mathcal {A}}|}
there is a smallest closed subset of
|
A
|
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {A}}|}
that contains
B
.
{\displaystyle B.}
It is called the closed subset generated by
B
,
{\displaystyle B,}
or the hull of
B
,
{\displaystyle B,}
and denoted by
⟨
B
⟩
{\displaystyle \langle B\rangle }
or
⟨
B
⟩
A
{\displaystyle \langle B\rangle _{\mathcal {A}}}
. The operator
⟨
⟩
{\displaystyle \langle \rangle }
is a finitary closure operator on the set of subsets of
|
A
|
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {A}}|}
.
If
A
=
(
A
,
σ
,
I
)
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}=(A,\sigma ,I)}
and
B
⊆
A
{\displaystyle B\subseteq A}
is a closed subset, then
(
B
,
σ
,
I
′
)
{\displaystyle (B,\sigma ,I')}
is an induced substructure of
A
,
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}},}
where
I
′
{\displaystyle I'}
assigns to every symbol of σ the restriction to
B
{\displaystyle B}
of its interpretation in
A
.
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}.}
Conversely, the domain of an induced substructure is a closed subset.
The closed subsets (or induced substructures) of a structure form a lattice. The meet of two subsets is their intersection. The join of two subsets is the closed subset generated by their union. Universal algebra studies the lattice of substructures of a structure in detail.
=== Examples ===
Let
σ
=
{
+
,
×
,
−
,
0
,
1
}
{\displaystyle \sigma =\{+,\times ,-,0,1\}}
be again the standard signature for fields. When regarded as
σ
{\displaystyle \sigma }
-structures in the natural way, the rational numbers form a substructure of the real numbers, and the real numbers form a substructure of the complex numbers. The rational numbers are the smallest substructure of the real (or complex) numbers that also satisfies the field axioms.
The set of integers gives an even smaller substructure of the real numbers which is not a field. Indeed, the integers are the substructure of the real numbers generated by the empty set, using this signature. The notion in abstract algebra that corresponds to a substructure of a field, in this signature, is that of a subring, rather than that of a subfield.
The most obvious way to define a graph is a structure with a signature
σ
{\displaystyle \sigma }
consisting of a single binary relation symbol
E
.
{\displaystyle E.}
The vertices of the graph form the domain of the structure, and for two vertices
a
{\displaystyle a}
and
b
,
{\displaystyle b,}
(
a
,
b
)
∈
E
{\displaystyle (a,b)\!\in {\text{E}}}
means that
a
{\displaystyle a}
and
b
{\displaystyle b}
are connected by an edge. In this encoding, the notion of induced substructure is more restrictive than the notion of subgraph. For example, let
G
{\displaystyle G}
be a graph consisting of two vertices connected by an edge, and let
H
{\displaystyle H}
be the graph consisting of the same vertices but no edges.
H
{\displaystyle H}
is a subgraph of
G
,
{\displaystyle G,}
but not an induced substructure. The notion in graph theory that corresponds to induced substructures is that of induced subgraphs.
== Homomorphisms and embeddings ==
=== Homomorphisms ===
Given two structures
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
and
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
of the same signature σ, a (σ-)homomorphism from
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
to
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
is a map
h
:
|
A
|
→
|
B
|
{\displaystyle h:|{\mathcal {A}}|\rightarrow |{\mathcal {B}}|}
that preserves the functions and relations. More precisely:
For every n-ary function symbol f of σ and any elements
a
1
,
a
2
,
…
,
a
n
∈
|
A
|
{\displaystyle a_{1},a_{2},\dots ,a_{n}\in |{\mathcal {A}}|}
, the following equation holds:
h
(
f
(
a
1
,
a
2
,
…
,
a
n
)
)
=
f
(
h
(
a
1
)
,
h
(
a
2
)
,
…
,
h
(
a
n
)
)
{\displaystyle h(f(a_{1},a_{2},\dots ,a_{n}))=f(h(a_{1}),h(a_{2}),\dots ,h(a_{n}))}
.
For every n-ary relation symbol R of σ and any elements
a
1
,
a
2
,
…
,
a
n
∈
|
A
|
{\displaystyle a_{1},a_{2},\dots ,a_{n}\in |{\mathcal {A}}|}
, the following implication holds:
(
a
1
,
a
2
,
…
,
a
n
)
∈
R
A
⟹
(
h
(
a
1
)
,
h
(
a
2
)
,
…
,
h
(
a
n
)
)
∈
R
B
{\displaystyle (a_{1},a_{2},\dots ,a_{n})\in R^{\mathcal {A}}\implies (h(a_{1}),h(a_{2}),\dots ,h(a_{n}))\in R^{\mathcal {B}}}
where
R
A
{\displaystyle R^{\mathcal {A}}}
,
R
B
{\displaystyle R^{\mathcal {B}}}
is the interpretation of the relation symbol
R
{\displaystyle R}
of the object theory in the structure
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
,
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
respectively.
A homomorphism h from
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
to
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
is typically denoted as
h
:
A
→
B
{\displaystyle h:{\mathcal {A}}\rightarrow {\mathcal {B}}}
, although technically the function h is between the domains
|
A
|
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {A}}|}
,
|
B
|
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {B}}|}
of the two structures
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
,
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
.
For every signature σ there is a concrete category σ-Hom which has σ-structures as objects and σ-homomorphisms as morphisms.
A homomorphism
h
:
A
→
B
{\displaystyle h:{\mathcal {A}}\rightarrow {\mathcal {B}}}
is sometimes called strong if:
For every n-ary relation symbol R of the object theory and any elements
b
1
,
b
2
,
…
,
b
n
∈
|
B
|
{\displaystyle b_{1},b_{2},\dots ,b_{n}\in |{\mathcal {B}}|}
such that
(
b
1
,
b
2
,
…
,
b
n
)
∈
R
B
{\displaystyle (b_{1},b_{2},\dots ,b_{n})\in R^{\mathcal {B}}}
, there are
a
1
,
a
2
,
…
,
a
n
∈
|
A
|
{\displaystyle a_{1},a_{2},\dots ,a_{n}\in |{\mathcal {A}}|}
such that
(
a
1
,
a
2
,
…
,
a
n
)
∈
R
A
{\displaystyle (a_{1},a_{2},\dots ,a_{n})\in R^{\mathcal {A}}}
and
b
1
=
h
(
a
1
)
,
b
2
=
h
(
a
2
)
,
…
,
b
n
=
h
(
a
n
)
.
{\displaystyle b_{1}=h(a_{1}),\,b_{2}=h(a_{2}),\,\dots ,\,b_{n}=h(a_{n}).}
The strong homomorphisms give rise to a subcategory of the category σ-Hom that was defined above.
=== Embeddings ===
A (σ-)homomorphism
h
:
A
→
B
{\displaystyle h:{\mathcal {A}}\rightarrow {\mathcal {B}}}
is called a (σ-)embedding if it is one-to-one and
for every n-ary relation symbol R of σ and any elements
a
1
,
a
2
,
…
,
a
n
{\displaystyle a_{1},a_{2},\dots ,a_{n}}
, the following equivalence holds:
(
a
1
,
a
2
,
…
,
a
n
)
∈
R
A
⟺
(
h
(
a
1
)
,
h
(
a
2
)
,
…
,
h
(
a
n
)
)
∈
R
B
{\displaystyle (a_{1},a_{2},\dots ,a_{n})\in R^{\mathcal {A}}\iff (h(a_{1}),h(a_{2}),\dots ,h(a_{n}))\in R^{\mathcal {B}}}
(where as before
R
A
{\displaystyle R^{\mathcal {A}}}
,
R
B
{\displaystyle R^{\mathcal {B}}}
refers to the interpretation of the relation symbol R of the object theory σ in the structure
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
,
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
respectively).
Thus an embedding is the same thing as a strong homomorphism which is one-to-one.
The category σ-Emb of σ-structures and σ-embeddings is a concrete subcategory of σ-Hom.
Induced substructures correspond to subobjects in σ-Emb. If σ has only function symbols, σ-Emb is the subcategory of monomorphisms of σ-Hom. In this case induced substructures also correspond to subobjects in σ-Hom.
=== Example ===
As seen above, in the standard encoding of graphs as structures the induced substructures are precisely the induced subgraphs. However, a homomorphism between graphs is the same thing as a homomorphism between the two structures coding the graph. In the example of the previous section, even though the subgraph H of G is not induced, the identity map id: H → G is a homomorphism. This map is in fact a monomorphism in the category σ-Hom, and therefore H is a subobject of G which is not an induced substructure.
=== Homomorphism problem ===
The following problem is known as the homomorphism problem:
Given two finite structures
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}}
and
B
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {B}}}
of a finite relational signature, find a homomorphism
h
:
A
→
B
{\displaystyle h:{\mathcal {A}}\rightarrow {\mathcal {B}}}
or show that no such homomorphism exists.
Every constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) has a translation into the homomorphism problem. Therefore, the complexity of CSP can be studied using the methods of finite model theory.
Another application is in database theory, where a relational model of a database is essentially the same thing as a relational structure. It turns out that a conjunctive query on a database can be described by another structure in the same signature as the database model. A homomorphism from the relational model to the structure representing the query is the same thing as a solution to the query. This shows that the conjunctive query problem is also equivalent to the homomorphism problem.
== Structures and first-order logic ==
Structures are sometimes referred to as "first-order structures". This is misleading, as nothing in their definition ties them to any specific logic, and in fact they are suitable as semantic objects both for very restricted fragments of first-order logic such as that used in universal algebra, and for second-order logic. In connection with first-order logic and model theory, structures are often called models, even when the question "models of what?" has no obvious answer.
=== Satisfaction relation ===
Each first-order structure
M
=
(
M
,
σ
,
I
)
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}=(M,\sigma ,I)}
has a satisfaction relation
M
⊨
ϕ
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}\vDash \phi }
defined for all formulas
ϕ
{\displaystyle \,\phi }
in the language consisting of the language of
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
together with a constant symbol for each element of
M
,
{\displaystyle M,}
which is interpreted as that element.
This relation is defined inductively using Tarski's T-schema.
A structure
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
is said to be a model of a theory
T
{\displaystyle T}
if the language of
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
is the same as the language of
T
{\displaystyle T}
and every sentence in
T
{\displaystyle T}
is satisfied by
M
.
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}.}
Thus, for example, a "ring" is a structure for the language of rings that satisfies each of the ring axioms, and a model of ZFC set theory is a structure in the language of set theory that satisfies each of the ZFC axioms.
=== Definable relations ===
An
n
{\displaystyle n}
-ary relation
R
{\displaystyle R}
on the universe (i.e. domain)
M
{\displaystyle M}
of the structure
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
is said to be definable (or explicitly definable cf. Beth definability, or
∅
{\displaystyle \emptyset }
-definable, or definable with parameters from
∅
{\displaystyle \emptyset }
cf. below) if there is a formula
φ
(
x
1
,
…
,
x
n
)
{\displaystyle \varphi (x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n})}
such that
R
=
{
(
a
1
,
…
,
a
n
)
∈
M
n
:
M
⊨
φ
(
a
1
,
…
,
a
n
)
}
.
{\displaystyle R=\{(a_{1},\ldots ,a_{n})\in M^{n}:{\mathcal {M}}\vDash \varphi (a_{1},\ldots ,a_{n})\}.}
In other words,
R
{\displaystyle R}
is definable if and only if there is a formula
φ
{\displaystyle \varphi }
such that
(
a
1
,
…
,
a
n
)
∈
R
⇔
M
⊨
φ
(
a
1
,
…
,
a
n
)
{\displaystyle (a_{1},\ldots ,a_{n})\in R\Leftrightarrow {\mathcal {M}}\vDash \varphi (a_{1},\ldots ,a_{n})}
is correct.
An important special case is the definability of specific elements. An element
m
{\displaystyle m}
of
M
{\displaystyle M}
is definable in
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
if and only if there is a formula
φ
(
x
)
{\displaystyle \varphi (x)}
such that
M
⊨
∀
x
(
x
=
m
↔
φ
(
x
)
)
.
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}\vDash \forall x(x=m\leftrightarrow \varphi (x)).}
==== Definability with parameters ====
A relation
R
{\displaystyle R}
is said to be definable with parameters (or
|
M
|
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {M}}|}
-definable) if there is a formula
φ
{\displaystyle \varphi }
with parameters from
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
such that
R
{\displaystyle R}
is definable using
φ
.
{\displaystyle \varphi .}
Every element of a structure is definable using the element itself as a parameter.
Some authors use definable to mean definable without parameters, while other authors mean definable with parameters. Broadly speaking, the convention that definable means definable without parameters is more common amongst set theorists, while the opposite convention is more common amongst model theorists.
==== Implicit definability ====
Recall from above that an
n
{\displaystyle n}
-ary relation
R
{\displaystyle R}
on the universe
M
{\displaystyle M}
of
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
is explicitly definable if there is a formula
φ
(
x
1
,
…
,
x
n
)
{\displaystyle \varphi (x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n})}
such that
R
=
{
(
a
1
,
…
,
a
n
)
∈
M
n
:
M
⊨
φ
(
a
1
,
…
,
a
n
)
}
.
{\displaystyle R=\{(a_{1},\ldots ,a_{n})\in M^{n}:{\mathcal {M}}\vDash \varphi (a_{1},\ldots ,a_{n})\}.}
Here the formula
φ
{\displaystyle \varphi }
used to define a relation
R
{\displaystyle R}
must be over the signature of
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
and so
φ
{\displaystyle \varphi }
may not mention
R
{\displaystyle R}
itself, since
R
{\displaystyle R}
is not in the signature of
M
.
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}.}
If there is a formula
φ
{\displaystyle \varphi }
in the extended language containing the language of
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
and a new symbol
R
,
{\displaystyle R,}
and the relation
R
{\displaystyle R}
is the only relation on
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
such that
M
⊨
φ
,
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}\vDash \varphi ,}
then
R
{\displaystyle R}
is said to be implicitly definable over
M
.
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}.}
By Beth's theorem, every implicitly definable relation is explicitly definable.
== Many-sorted structures ==
Structures as defined above are sometimes called one-sorted structures to distinguish them from the more general many-sorted structures. A many-sorted structure can have an arbitrary number of domains. The sorts are part of the signature, and they play the role of names for the different domains. Many-sorted signatures also prescribe which sorts the functions and relations of a many-sorted structure are defined on. Therefore, the arities of function symbols or relation symbols must be more complicated objects such as tuples of sorts rather than natural numbers.
Vector spaces, for example, can be regarded as two-sorted structures in the following way. The two-sorted signature of vector spaces consists of two sorts V (for vectors) and S (for scalars) and the following function symbols:
If V is a vector space over a field F, the corresponding two-sorted structure
V
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {V}}}
consists of the vector domain
|
V
|
V
=
V
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {V}}|_{V}=V}
, the scalar domain
|
V
|
S
=
F
{\displaystyle |{\mathcal {V}}|_{S}=F}
, and the obvious functions, such as the vector zero
0
V
V
=
0
∈
|
V
|
V
{\displaystyle 0_{V}^{\mathcal {V}}=0\in |{\mathcal {V}}|_{V}}
, the scalar zero
0
S
V
=
0
∈
|
V
|
S
{\displaystyle 0_{S}^{\mathcal {V}}=0\in |{\mathcal {V}}|_{S}}
, or scalar multiplication
×
V
:
|
V
|
S
×
|
V
|
V
→
|
V
|
V
{\displaystyle \times ^{\mathcal {V}}:|{\mathcal {V}}|_{S}\times |{\mathcal {V}}|_{V}\rightarrow |{\mathcal {V}}|_{V}}
.
Many-sorted structures are often used as a convenient tool even when they could be avoided with a little effort. But they are rarely defined in a rigorous way, because it is straightforward and tedious (hence unrewarding) to carry out the generalization explicitly.
In most mathematical endeavours, not much attention is paid to the sorts. A many-sorted logic however naturally leads to a type theory. As Bart Jacobs puts it: "A logic is always a logic over a type theory." This emphasis in turn leads to categorical logic because a logic over a type theory categorically corresponds to one ("total") category, capturing the logic, being fibred over another ("base") category, capturing the type theory.
== Other generalizations ==
=== Partial algebras ===
Both universal algebra and model theory study classes of (structures or) algebras that are defined by a signature and a set of axioms. In the case of model theory these axioms have the form of first-order sentences. The formalism of universal algebra is much more restrictive; essentially it only allows first-order sentences that have the form of universally quantified equations between terms, e.g.
∀
{\displaystyle \forall }
x
∀
{\displaystyle \forall }
y (x + y = y + x). One consequence is that the choice of a signature is more significant in universal algebra than it is in model theory. For example, the class of groups, in the signature consisting of the binary function symbol × and the constant symbol 1, is an elementary class, but it is not a variety. Universal algebra solves this problem by adding a unary function symbol −1.
In the case of fields this strategy works only for addition. For multiplication it fails because 0 does not have a multiplicative inverse. An ad hoc attempt to deal with this would be to define 0−1 = 0. (This attempt fails, essentially because with this definition 0 × 0−1 = 1 is not true.) Therefore, one is naturally led to allow partial functions, i.e., functions that are defined only on a subset of their domain. However, there are several obvious ways to generalize notions such as substructure, homomorphism and identity.
=== Structures for typed languages ===
In type theory, there are many sorts of variables, each of which has a type. Types are inductively defined; given two types δ and σ there is also a type σ → δ that represents functions from objects of type σ to objects of type δ. A structure for a typed language (in the ordinary first-order semantics) must include a separate set of objects of each type, and for a function type the structure must have complete information about the function represented by each object of that type.
=== Higher-order languages ===
There is more than one possible semantics for higher-order logic, as discussed in the article on second-order logic. When using full higher-order semantics, a structure need only have a universe for objects of type 0, and the T-schema is extended so that a quantifier over a higher-order type is satisfied by the model if and only if it is disquotationally true. When using first-order semantics, an additional sort is added for each higher-order type, as in the case of a many sorted first order language.
=== Structures that are proper classes ===
In the study of set theory and category theory, it is sometimes useful to consider structures in which the domain of discourse is a proper class instead of a set. These structures are sometimes called class models to distinguish them from the "set models" discussed above. When the domain is a proper class, each function and relation symbol may also be represented by a proper class.
In Bertrand Russell's Principia Mathematica, structures were also allowed to have a proper class as their domain.
== See also ==
Mathematical structure – Additional mathematical object
== Notes ==
== References ==
Burris, Stanley N.; Sankappanavar, H. P. (1981), A Course in Universal Algebra, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag
Chang, Chen Chung; Keisler, H. Jerome (1989) [1973], Model Theory, Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-7204-0692-4
Diestel, Reinhard (2005) [1997], Graph Theory, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 173 (3rd ed.), Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-540-26183-4
Ebbinghaus, Heinz-Dieter; Flum, Jörg; Thomas, Wolfgang (1994), Mathematical Logic (2nd ed.), New York: Springer, ISBN 978-0-387-94258-2
Hinman, P. (2005), Fundamentals of Mathematical Logic, A K Peters, ISBN 978-1-56881-262-5
Hodges, Wilfrid (1993), Model theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-30442-9
Hodges, Wilfrid (1997), A shorter model theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-58713-6
Marker, David (2002), Model Theory: An Introduction, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-98760-6
Poizat, Bruno (2000), A Course in Model Theory: An Introduction to Contemporary Mathematical Logic, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-98655-5
Rautenberg, Wolfgang (2010), A Concise Introduction to Mathematical Logic (3rd ed.), New York: Springer Science+Business Media, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-1221-3, ISBN 978-1-4419-1220-6
Rothmaler, Philipp (2000), Introduction to Model Theory, London: CRC Press, ISBN 978-90-5699-313-9
== External links ==
Semantics section in Classical Logic (an entry of Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) | Wikipedia/Model_(model_theory) |
In universal algebra and in model theory, a reduct of an algebraic structure is obtained by omitting some of the operations and relations of that structure. The opposite of "reduct" is "expansion".
== Definition ==
Let A be an algebraic structure (in the sense of universal algebra) or a structure in the sense of model theory, organized as a set X together with an indexed family of operations and relations φi on that set, with index set I. Then the reduct of A defined by a subset J of I is the structure consisting of the set X and J-indexed family of operations and relations whose j-th operation or relation for j ∈ J is the j-th operation or relation of A. That is, this reduct is the structure A with the omission of those operations and relations φi for which i is not in J.
A structure A is an expansion of B just when B is a reduct of A. That is, reduct and expansion are mutual converses.
== Examples ==
The monoid (Z, +, 0) of integers under addition is a reduct of the group (Z, +, −, 0) of integers under addition and negation, obtained by omitting negation. By contrast, the monoid (N, +, 0) of natural numbers under addition is not the reduct of any group.
Conversely the group (Z, +, −, 0) is the expansion of the monoid (Z, +, 0), expanding it with the operation of negation.
== References ==
Burris, Stanley N.; H. P. Sankappanavar (1981). A Course in Universal Algebra. Springer. ISBN 3-540-90578-2.
Hodges, Wilfrid (1993). Model theory. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-30442-3. | Wikipedia/Expansion_(model_theory) |
In mathematical logic, a theory (also called a formal theory) is a set of sentences in a formal language. In most scenarios a deductive system is first understood from context, giving rise to a formal system that combines the language with deduction rules. An element
ϕ
∈
T
{\displaystyle \phi \in T}
of a deductively closed theory
T
{\displaystyle T}
is then called a theorem of the theory. In many deductive systems there is usually a subset
Σ
⊆
T
{\displaystyle \Sigma \subseteq T}
that is called "the set of axioms" of the theory
T
{\displaystyle T}
, in which case the deductive system is also called an "axiomatic system". By definition, every axiom is automatically a theorem. A first-order theory is a set of first-order sentences (theorems) recursively obtained by the inference rules of the system applied to the set of axioms.
== General theories (as expressed in formal language) ==
When defining theories for foundational purposes, additional care must be taken, as normal set-theoretic language may not be appropriate.
The construction of a theory begins by specifying a definite non-empty conceptual class
E
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {E}}}
, the elements of which are called statements. These initial statements are often called the primitive elements or elementary statements of the theory—to distinguish them from other statements that may be derived from them.
A theory
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
is a conceptual class consisting of certain of these elementary statements. The elementary statements that belong to
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
are called the elementary theorems of
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
and are said to be true. In this way, a theory can be seen as a way of designating a subset of
E
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {E}}}
that only contain statements that are true.
This general way of designating a theory stipulates that the truth of any of its elementary statements is not known without reference to
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
. Thus the same elementary statement may be true with respect to one theory but false with respect to another. This is reminiscent of the case in ordinary language where statements such as "He is an honest person" cannot be judged true or false without interpreting who "he" is, and, for that matter, what an "honest person" is under this theory.
=== Subtheories and extensions ===
A theory
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {S}}}
is a subtheory of a theory
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
if
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {S}}}
is a subset of
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
. If
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
is a subset of
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {S}}}
then
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {S}}}
is called an extension or a supertheory of
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
=== Deductive theories ===
A theory is said to be a deductive theory if
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
is an inductive class, which is to say that its content is based on some formal deductive system and that some of its elementary statements are taken as axioms. In a deductive theory, any sentence that is a logical consequence of one or more of the axioms is also a sentence of that theory. More formally, if
⊢
{\displaystyle \vdash }
is a Tarski-style consequence relation, then
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
is closed under
⊢
{\displaystyle \vdash }
(and so each of its theorems is a logical consequence of its axioms) if and only if, for all sentences
ϕ
{\displaystyle \phi }
in the language of the theory
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
, if
T
⊢
ϕ
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}\vdash \phi }
, then
ϕ
∈
T
{\displaystyle \phi \in {\mathcal {T}}}
; or, equivalently, if
T
′
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}'}
is a finite subset of
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
(possibly the set of axioms of
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
in the case of finitely axiomatizable theories) and
T
′
⊢
ϕ
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}'\vdash \phi }
, then
ϕ
∈
T
′
{\displaystyle \phi \in {\mathcal {T}}'}
, and therefore
ϕ
∈
T
{\displaystyle \phi \in {\mathcal {T}}}
.
=== Consistency and completeness ===
A syntactically consistent theory is a theory from which not every sentence in the underlying language can be proven (with respect to some deductive system, which is usually clear from context). In a deductive system (such as first-order logic) that satisfies the principle of explosion, this is equivalent to requiring that there is no sentence φ such that both φ and its negation can be proven from the theory.
A satisfiable theory is a theory that has a model. This means there is a structure M that satisfies every sentence in the theory. Any satisfiable theory is syntactically consistent, because the structure satisfying the theory will satisfy exactly one of φ and the negation of φ, for each sentence φ.
A consistent theory is sometimes defined to be a syntactically consistent theory, and sometimes defined to be a satisfiable theory. For first-order logic, the most important case, it follows from the completeness theorem that the two meanings coincide. In other logics, such as second-order logic, there are syntactically consistent theories that are not satisfiable, such as ω-inconsistent theories.
A complete consistent theory (or just a complete theory) is a consistent theory
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
such that for every sentence φ in its language, either φ is provable from
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
or
T
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {T}}}
∪
{\displaystyle \cup }
{φ} is inconsistent. For theories closed under logical consequence, this means that for every sentence φ, either φ or its negation is contained in the theory. An incomplete theory is a consistent theory that is not complete.
(see also ω-consistent theory for a stronger notion of consistency.)
=== Interpretation of a theory ===
An interpretation of a theory is the relationship between a theory and some subject matter when there is a many-to-one correspondence between certain elementary statements of the theory, and certain statements related to the subject matter. If every elementary statement in the theory has a correspondent it is called a full interpretation, otherwise it is called a partial interpretation.
=== Theories associated with a structure ===
Each structure has several associated theories. The complete theory of a structure A is the set of all first-order sentences over the signature of A that are satisfied by A. It is denoted by Th(A). More generally, the theory of K, a class of σ-structures, is the set of all first-order σ-sentences that are satisfied by all structures in K, and is denoted by Th(K). Clearly Th(A) = Th({A}). These notions can also be defined with respect to other logics.
For each σ-structure A, there are several associated theories in a larger signature σ' that extends σ by adding one new constant symbol for each element of the domain of A. (If the new constant symbols are identified with the elements of A that they represent, σ' can be taken to be σ
∪
{\displaystyle \cup }
A.) The cardinality of σ' is thus the larger of the cardinality of σ and the cardinality of A.
The diagram of A consists of all atomic or negated atomic σ'-sentences that are satisfied by A and is denoted by diagA. The positive diagram of A is the set of all atomic σ'-sentences that A satisfies. It is denoted by diag+A. The elementary diagram of A is the set eldiagA of all first-order σ'-sentences that are satisfied by A or, equivalently, the complete (first-order) theory of the natural expansion of A to the signature σ'.
== First-order theories ==
A first-order theory
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
is a set of sentences in a first-order formal language
Q
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {Q}}}
.
=== Derivation in a first-order theory ===
There are many formal derivation ("proof") systems for first-order logic. These include Hilbert-style deductive systems, natural deduction, the sequent calculus, the tableaux method and resolution.
=== Syntactic consequence in a first-order theory ===
A formula A is a syntactic consequence of a first-order theory
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
if there is a derivation of A using only formulas in
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
as non-logical axioms. Such a formula A is also called a theorem of
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
. The notation "
Q
S
⊢
A
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}\vdash A}
" indicates A is a theorem of
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
.
=== Interpretation of a first-order theory ===
An interpretation of a first-order theory provides a semantics for the formulas of the theory. An interpretation is said to satisfy a formula if the formula is true according to the interpretation. A model of a first-order theory
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
is an interpretation in which every formula of
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
is satisfied.
=== First-order theories with identity ===
A first-order theory
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
is a first-order theory with identity if
Q
S
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {QS}}}
includes the identity relation symbol "=" and the reflexivity and substitution axiom schemes for this symbol.
=== Topics related to first-order theories ===
Compactness theorem
Consistent set
Deduction theorem
Lindenbaum's lemma
Löwenheim–Skolem theorem
== Examples ==
One way to specify a theory is to define a set of axioms in a particular language. The theory can be taken to include just those axioms, or their logical or provable consequences, as desired. Theories obtained this way include ZFC and Peano arithmetic.
A second way to specify a theory is to begin with a structure, and let the theory be the set of sentences that are satisfied by the structure. This is a method for producing complete theories through the semantic route, with examples including the set of true sentences under the structure (N, +, ×, 0, 1, =), where N is the set of natural numbers, and the set of true sentences under the structure (R, +, ×, 0, 1, =), where R is the set of real numbers. The first of these, called the theory of true arithmetic, cannot be written as the set of logical consequences of any enumerable set of axioms.
The theory of (R, +, ×, 0, 1, =) was shown by Tarski to be decidable; it is the theory of real closed fields (see Decidability of first-order theories of the real numbers for more).
== See also ==
Axiomatic system
Interpretability
List of first-order theories
Mathematical theory
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Hodges, Wilfrid (1997). A shorter model theory. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58713-1. | Wikipedia/Logical_theory |
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first mass-affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relatively low price was partly the result of Ford's efficient fabrication, including assembly line production instead of individual handcrafting. The savings from mass production allowed the price to decline from $780 in 1910 (equivalent to $26,322 in 2024) to $290 in 1924 ($5,321 in 2024 dollars). It was mainly designed by three engineers, Joseph A. Galamb (the main engineer), Eugene Farkas, and Childe Harold Wills. The Model T was colloquially known as the "Tin Lizzie".
The Ford Model T was named the most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroën DS, and Volkswagen Beetle. Ford's Model T was successful not only because it provided inexpensive transportation on a massive scale, but also because the car signified innovation for the rising middle class and became a powerful symbol of the United States' age of modernization. With over 15 million sold, it was the most sold car in history before being surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle in 1972.
== Introduction ==
Early automobiles, which were produced from the 1880s, were mostly scarce, expensive, and often unreliable. Being the first reliable, easily maintained, mass-market motorized transportation turned the Model T into a great success: Within a few days after release, 15,000 orders were placed.
The first production Model T was built on August 12, 1908, and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan. On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth Model T Ford roll off the assembly line at his factory in Highland Park, Michigan.
Henry Ford conceived a series of cars between the founding of the company in 1903 and the introduction of the Model T. Ford named his first car the Model A and proceeded through the alphabet up through the Model T. Twenty models in all, not all of which went into production. The production model immediately before the Model T was the Model S, an upgraded version of the company's largest success to that point, the Model N. The follow-up to the Model T was another Ford Model A, rather than the "Model U". The company publicity said this was because the new car was such a departure from the old that Ford wanted to start all over again with the letter A.
The Model T was Ford's first automobile mass-produced on moving assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class. Henry Ford said of the vehicle:
I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.
Although credit for the development of the assembly line belongs to Ransom E. Olds, with the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, having begun in 1901, the tremendous advances in the efficiency of the system over the life of the Model T can be credited almost entirely to Ford and his engineers.
== Characteristics and design ==
The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills, and Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb (main engineer) and Eugene Farkas. Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and Peter E. Martin were also part of the team, as were Galamb's fellow Hungarian immigrants Gyula Hartenberger and Károly Balogh. Henry Ford supervised the designers himself. Production of the Model T began in the third quarter of 1908. Collectors today sometimes classify Model Ts by build years and refer to these as "model years", thus labeling the first Model Ts as 1909 models. This is a retroactive classification scheme; the concept of model years as understood today did not exist at the time. Even though design revisions occurred during the car's two decades of production, the company gave no particular name to any of the revised designs; all of them were called simply "Model T".
=== Engine ===
The Model T has a front-mounted 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) inline four-cylinder engine, producing 20 hp (15 kW), for a top speed of 42 mph (68 km/h). According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had fuel economy of 13–21 mpg‑US (16–25 mpg‑imp; 18–11 L/100 km). The engine was designed to run on gasoline, although it was able to run on kerosene or ethanol, although the decreasing cost of gasoline and the later introduction of Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel for most users. The engines of the first 2,447 units were cooled with water pumps; the engines of unit 2,448 and onward, with a few exceptions prior to around unit 2,500, were cooled by thermosiphon action.
The ignition system used in the Model T was an unusual one, with a low-voltage magneto incorporated in the flywheel, supplying alternating current to trembler coils to drive the spark plugs. This was closer to that used for stationary gas engines than the expensive high-voltage ignition magnetos that were used on some other cars. This ignition also made the Model T more flexible as to the quality or type of fuel it used. The system did not need a starting battery, since proper hand-cranking would generate enough current for starting. Electric lighting powered by the magneto was adopted in 1915, replacing acetylene gas flame lamp and oil lamps, but electric starting was not offered until 1919.
The Model T engine was produced for replacement needs as well as stationary and marine applications until 1941, well after production of the Model T ended.
The Fordson Model F tractor engine, that was designed about a decade later, was very similar to, but larger than, the Model T engine.
=== Transmission and drive train ===
The Model T is a rear-wheel drive vehicle. Its transmission is a planetary gear type known (at the time) as "three speed". In today's terms it is considered a two-speed, because one of the three speeds is reverse.
The Model T's transmission is controlled with three floor-mounted pedals, a revolutionary feature for its time, and a lever mounted to the road side of the driver's seat. The throttle is controlled with a lever on the steering wheel. The left-hand pedal is used to engage the transmission. With the floor lever in either the mid position or fully forward and the pedal pressed and held forward, the car enters low gear. When held in an intermediate position, the car is in neutral. If the left pedal is released, the Model T enters high gear, but only when the lever is fully forward – in any other position, the pedal only moves up as far as the central neutral position. This allows the car to be held in neutral while the driver cranks the engine by hand. The car can thus cruise without the driver having to press any of the pedals.
In the first 800 units, reverse is engaged with a lever; all units after that use the central pedal, which is used to engage reverse gear when the car is in neutral. The right-hand pedal operates the transmission brake – there are no brakes on the wheels. The floor lever also controls the parking brake, which is activated by pulling the lever all the way back. This doubles as an emergency brake.
Although it was uncommon, the drive bands could fall out of adjustment, allowing the car to creep, particularly when cold, adding another hazard to attempting to start the car: a person cranking the engine could be forced backward while still holding the crank as the car crept forward, although it was nominally in neutral. As the car utilizes a wet clutch, this condition could also occur in cold weather, when the thickened oil prevents the clutch discs from slipping freely. Power reaches the differential through a single universal joint attached to a torque tube which drives the rear axle; some models (typically trucks, but available for cars, as well) could be equipped with an optional two-speed rear Ruckstell axle, shifted by a floor-mounted lever which provides an underdrive gear for easier hill climbing.
==== Chassis / frame ====
The heavy-duty Model TT truck chassis came with a special worm gear rear differential with lower gearing than the normal car and truck, giving more pulling power but a lower top speed (the frame is also stronger; the cab and engine are the same). A Model TT is easily identifiable by the cylindrical housing for the worm-drive over the axle differential. All gears are vanadium steel running in an oil bath.
==== Transmission bands and linings ====
Two main types of band lining material were used:
Cotton – Cotton woven linings were the original type fitted and specified by Ford. Generally, the cotton lining is "kinder" to the drum surface, with damage to the drum caused only by the retaining rivets scoring the drum surface. Although this in itself did not pose a problem, a dragging band resulting from improper adjustment caused overheating of the transmission and engine, diminished power, and – in the case of cotton linings – rapid destruction of the band lining.
Wood – Wooden linings were originally offered as a "longer life" accessory part during the life of the Model T. They were a single piece of steam-bent wood and metal wire, fitted to the normal Model T transmission band. These bands give a very different feel to the pedals, with much more of a "bite" feel. The sensation is of a definite "grip" of the drum and seemed to noticeably increase the feel, in particular of the brake drum.
==== Aftermarket transmissions and drives ====
During the Model T's production run, particularly after 1916, more than 30 manufacturers offered auxiliary transmissions or drives to substitute for, or enhance, the Model T's drivetrain gears. Some offered overdrive for greater speed and efficiency, while others offered underdrives for more torque (often incorrectly described as "power") to enable hauling or pulling greater loads. Among the most noted were the Ruckstell two-speed rear axle, and transmissions by Muncie, Warford, and Jumbo.
Aftermarket transmissions generally fit one of four categories:
Replacement transmission – usually a sliding gear/selective transmission, intended as a direct replacement for Ford's planetary-gear transmission.
Front-mounted auxiliary transmission – designed to fit between the engine and Ford's transmission, to add additional gear ratios.
Rear-mounted auxiliary transmission – mounted at the rear axle housing, and attached between it and the driveshaft, to add additional gear ratios.
Multi-speed axle – designed to fit inside the differential's housing, to add additional gear ratios.
Murray Fahnestock, a Ford expert in the era of the Model T, particularly advised the use of auxiliary transmissions for the enclosed Model T's, such as the Ford Sedan and Coupelet, for three reasons: their greater weight put more strain on the drivetrain and engine, which auxiliary transmissions could smooth out; their bodies acted as sounding boards, echoing engine noise and vibration at higher engine speeds, which could be lessened with intermediate gears; and owners of the enclosed cars spent more to buy them, and thus likely had more money to enhance them.
He also noted that auxiliary transmissions were valuable for Ford Ton-Trucks in commercial use, allowing for driving speeds to vary with their widely variable loads – particularly when returning empty – possibly saving as much as 50% of returning drive time.
=== Suspension and wheels ===
Model T suspension employed a transversely mounted semi-elliptical spring for each of the front and rear beam axles, which allowed a great deal of wheel movement to cope with the dirt roads of the time.
The front axle was drop forged as a single piece of vanadium steel. Ford twisted many axles through eight full rotations (2880 degrees) and sent them to dealers to be put on display to demonstrate its superiority.
The Model T did not have a modern service brake. The right foot pedal applied a band around a drum in the transmission, thus stopping the rear wheels from turning. The previously mentioned parking brake lever operated band brakes acting on the inside of the rear brake drums, which were an integral part of the rear wheel hubs. Optional brakes that acted on the outside of the brake drums were available from aftermarket suppliers.
Wheels were wooden artillery wheels, with steel welded-spoke wheels available in 1926 and 1927.
Tires were pneumatic clincher type, 30 in (762 mm) in diameter, 3.5 in (89 mm) wide in the rear, 3 in (76 mm) in the front. Clinchers needed much higher pressure than today's tires, typically 60 psi (410 kPa), to prevent them from leaving the rim at speed. Flat tires were a common problem.
Balloon tires became available in 1925. They were 21 in × 4.5 in (530 mm × 110 mm) all around. Balloon tires were closer in design to today's tires, with steel wires reinforcing the tire bead, making lower pressure possible – typically 35 psi (240 kPa) – giving a softer ride. The steering gear ratio was changed from 4:1 to 5:1 with the introduction of balloon tires. The old nomenclature for tire size changed from measuring the outer diameter to measuring the rim diameter so 21 in (530 mm) (rim diameter) × 4.5 in (110 mm) (tire width) wheels has about the same outer diameter as 30 in (760 mm) clincher tires. All tires in this time period used an inner tube to hold the pressurized air; tubeless tires were not generally in use until much later.
Wheelbase is 100 in (254 cm) and standard track width was 56 in (142 cm) – 60 in (152 cm) track could be obtained on special order, "for Southern roads," identical to the pre-Civil War track gauge for many railroads in the former Confederacy. The standard 56-inch track being very near the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (143.5 cm) inch standard railroad track gauge, meant that Model Ts could be and frequently were, fitted with flanged wheels and used as motorized railway vehicles or "speeders". The availability of a 60 in (152 cm) version meant the same could be done on the few remaining Southern 5 ft (152 cm) railways – these being the only nonstandard lines remaining, except for a few narrow-gauge lines of various sizes. Although a Model T could be adapted to run on track as narrow as 2 ft (61 cm) gauge (Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington RR, Maine has one), this was a more complex alteration.
=== Colors ===
By 1918, half of all the cars in the U.S. were Model Ts. In his autobiography, Ford reported that in 1909 he told his management team, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."
However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1913, the Model T was not available in black, but rather only in gray, green, blue, and red. Green was available for the touring cars, town cars, coupes, and Landaulets. Gray was available for the town cars only and red only for the touring cars. By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. Only in 1914 was the "any color so long as it is black" policy finally implemented.
It is often stated Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1925 due to the low cost, durability, and faster drying time of black paint in that era. There is no evidence that black dried any faster than any other dark varnishes used at the time for painting, but carbon black pigment was indeed one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) available, and dark color of gilsonite, a form of bitumen making cheap metal paints of the time durable, limited the (final) color options to dark shades of maroon, blue, green or black. At that period Ford used two similar types of the so-called Japan black paint, one as a basic coat applied directly to the metal and another as a final finish.
Paint choices in the American automotive industry, as well as in others (including locomotives, furniture, bicycles, and the rapidly expanding field of electrical appliances), were shaped by the development of the chemical industry. These included the disruption of dye sources during World War I and the advent, by the mid-1920s, of new nitrocellulose lacquers that were faster-drying and more scratch-resistant and obviated the need for multiple coats.: 261–301 Understanding the choice of paints for the Model T era and the years immediately following requires an understanding of the contemporaneous chemical industry.
During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 types of black paint were used on various parts of the car. These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times, depending on the part, paint, and method of drying.
=== Body ===
Although Ford classified the Model T with a single letter designation throughout its entire life and made no distinction by model years, enough significant changes to the body were made over the production life that the car may be classified into several style generations. The most immediately visible and identifiable changes were in the hood and cowl areas, although many other modifications were made to the vehicle.
1909–1914 – Characterized by a nearly straight, five-sided hood, with a flat top containing a center hinge and two side sloping sections containing the folding hinges. The firewall is flat from the windshield down with no distinct cowl. For these years, acetylene gas flame headlights were used because the flame is resistant to wind and rain. Thick concave mirrors combined with magnifying lenses projected the acetylene flame light. The fuel tank is placed under the front seat.
1915–1916 – The hood design is nearly the same five-sided design with the only obvious change being the addition of louvers to the vertical sides. A significant change to the cowl area occurred with the windshield relocated significantly behind the firewall and joined with a compound-contoured cowl panel. In these years electric headlights replaced carbide headlights.
1917–1923 – The hood design was changed to a tapered design with a curved top. The folding hinges were now located at the joint between the flat sides and the curved top. This is sometimes referred to as the "low hood" to distinguish it from the later hoods. The back edge of the hood now met the front edge of the cowl panel so that no part of the flat firewall was visible outside of the hood. This design was used the longest and during the highest production years, accounting for about half of the total number of Model Ts built.
1923–1925 – This change was made during the 1923 calendar year, so models built earlier in the year have the older design, while later vehicles have the newer design. The taper of the hood was increased and the rear section at the firewall is about an inch taller and several inches wider than the previous design. While this is a relatively minor change, the parts between the third and fourth generations are not interchangeable.
1926–1927 – This design change made the greatest difference in the appearance of the car. The hood was again enlarged, with the cowl panel no longer a compound curve and blended much more with the line of the hood. The distance between the firewall and the windshield was also increased significantly. This style is sometimes referred to as the "high hood".
The styling on the last "generation" was a preview for the following Model A, but the two models are visually quite different, as the body on the A is much wider and has curved doors as opposed to the flat doors on the T.
=== Diverse applications ===
When the Model T was designed and introduced, the infrastructure of the world was quite different from today's. Pavement was a rarity except for sidewalks and a few big-city streets. (The meaning of the term "pavement" as opposed to "sidewalk" comes from that era, when streets and roads were generally dirt and sidewalks were a paved way to walk along them.) Agriculture was the occupation of many people. Power tools were scarce outside factories, as were power sources for them; electrification, like pavement, was found usually only in larger towns. Rural electrification and motorized mechanization were embryonic in some regions and nonexistent in most. Henry Ford oversaw the requirements and design of the Model T based on contemporary realities. Consequently, the Model T was (intentionally) almost as much a tractor and portable engine as it was an automobile. It has always been well regarded for its all-terrain abilities and ruggedness. It could travel a rocky, muddy farm lane, cross a shallow stream, climb a steep hill, and be parked on the other side to have one of its wheels removed and a pulley fastened to the hub for a flat belt to drive a bucksaw, thresher, silo blower, conveyor for filling corn cribs or haylofts, baler, water pump, electrical generator, and many other applications. One unique application of the Model T was shown in the October 1922 issue of Fordson Farmer magazine. It showed a minister who had transformed his Model T into a mobile church, complete with small organ.
During this era, entire automobiles (including thousands of Model Ts) were hacked apart by their owners and reconfigured into custom machinery permanently dedicated to a purpose, such as homemade tractors and ice saws. Dozens of aftermarket companies sold prefab kits to facilitate the T's conversion from car to tractor. The Model T had been around for a decade before the Fordson tractor became available (1917–18), and many Ts were converted for field use. (For example, Harry Ferguson, later famous for his hitches and tractors, worked on Eros Model T tractor conversions before he worked with Fordsons and others.) During the next decade, Model T tractor conversion kits were harder to sell, as the Fordson and then the Farmall (1924), as well as other light and affordable tractors, served the farm market. But during the Depression (1930s), Model T tractor conversion kits had a resurgence, because by then used Model Ts and junkyard parts for them were plentiful and cheap.
Like many popular car engines of the era, the Model T engine was also used on home-built aircraft (such as the Pietenpol Sky Scout) and motorboats.
During World War I, the Model T was heavily used by the Allies in different roles and configurations, such as staff cars, light cargo trucks, light vans, light patrol cars, liaison vehicles and even as rail tractors. The ambulance version proved to be well-suited for use in the combat areas. The ambulances could carry three stretcher patients or four seated patients, and two others could sit with the driver. Besides those made in the United States, ambulance bodies were also made by Carrosserie Kellner of Boulogne, near Paris. The Romanian Army also made use of converted Model T ambulances. These ambulances, named "Regina Maria" ambulances, were capable of carrying four stretcher patients. Conversion work was done by the Leonida Workshops of Bucharest. An armored-car variant (called the "FT-B") was developed in Poland in 1920 due to the high demand during the Polish-Soviet war in 1920.
Many Model Ts were converted into vehicles that could travel across heavy snows with kits on the rear wheels (sometimes with an extra pair of rear-mounted wheels and two sets of continuous track to mount on the now-tandemed rear wheels, essentially making it a half-track) and skis replacing the front wheels. They were popular for rural mail delivery for a time. The common name for these conversions of cars and small trucks was "snowflyers". These vehicles were extremely popular in the northern reaches of Canada, where factories were set up to produce them.
A number of companies built Model T–based railcars. In The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux mentions a rail journey in India on such a railcar. The New Zealand Railways Department's RM class included a few.
The American LaFrance company modified more than 900 Model Ts for use in firefighting, adding tanks, hoses, tools and a bell. Model T fire engines were in service in North America, Europe, and Australia. A 1919 Model T equipped to fight chemical fires has been restored and is on display at the North Charleston Fire Museum in South Carolina.
== Production ==
=== Mass production ===
The knowledge and skills needed by a factory worker were reduced to 84 areas. When introduced, the T used the building methods typical at the time, assembly by hand, and production was small. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant could not keep up with demand for the Model T, and only 11 cars were built there during the first full month of production. More and more machines were used to reduce the complexity within the 84 defined areas. In 1910, after assembling nearly 12,000 Model Ts, Henry Ford moved the company to the new Highland Park complex. During this time the Model T production system (including the supply chain) transitioned into an iconic example of assembly-line production. In subsequent decades it would also come to be viewed as the classic example of the rigid, first-generation version of assembly line production, as opposed to flexible mass production of higher quality products.
As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, reducing production time from 12+1⁄2 hours before to 93 minutes by 1914, while using less manpower. In 1914, Ford produced more cars than all other automakers combined. The Model T was a great commercial success, and by the time Ford made its 10 millionth car, half of all cars in the world were Fords. It was so successful Ford did not purchase any advertising between 1917 and 1923; instead, the Model T became so famous, people considered it a norm. More than 15 million Model Ts were manufactured in all, reaching a rate of 9,000 to 10,000 cars a day in 1925, or 2 million annually, more than any other model of its day, at a price of just $260 ($4,662 today). Total Model T production was finally surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle on February 17, 1972, while the Ford F-Series (itself directly descended from the Model T roadster pickup) has surpassed the Model T as Ford's all-time best-selling model.
Henry Ford's ideological approach to Model T design was one of getting it right and then keeping it the same; he believed the Model T was all the car a person would, or could, ever need. As other companies offered comfort and styling advantages, at competitive prices, the Model T lost market share and became barely profitable. Design changes were not as few as the public perceived, but the idea of an unchanging model was kept intact. Eventually, on May 26, 1927, Ford Motor Company ceased US production and began the changeovers required to produce the Model A. Some of the other Model T factories in the world continued for a short while, with the final Model T produced at the Cork, Ireland plant in December 1927.
Model T engines continued to be produced until August 4, 1941. Almost 170,000 were built after car production stopped, as replacement engines were required to service the many existing vehicles. Racers and enthusiasts, forerunners of modern hot rodders, used the Model Ts' blocks to build popular and cheap racing engines, including Cragar, Navarro, and, famously, the Frontenacs ("Fronty Fords") of the Chevrolet brothers, among many others.
The Model T employed some advanced technology, for example, its use of vanadium steel alloy. Its durability was phenomenal, and some Model Ts and their parts are in running order over a century later. Although Henry Ford resisted some kinds of change, he always championed the advancement of materials engineering, and often mechanical engineering and industrial engineering.
In 2002, Ford built a final batch of six Model Ts as part of their 2003 centenary celebrations. These cars were assembled from remaining new components and other parts produced from the original drawings. The last of the six was used for publicity purposes in the UK.
Although Ford no longer manufactures parts for the Model T, many parts are still manufactured through private companies as replicas to service the thousands of Model Ts still in operation today.
On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford and his son Edsel drove the 15-millionth Model T out of the factory. This marked the famous automobile's official last day of production at the main factory.
=== Price and production ===
The moving assembly line system, which started on October 7, 1913, allowed Ford to reduce the price of his cars. As he continued to fine-tune the system, Ford was able to keep reducing costs significantly. As volume increased, he was able to also lower the prices due to some of the fixed costs being spread over a larger number of vehicles as large supply chain investments increased assets per vehicle. Other factors reduced the price such as material costs and design changes. As Ford had market dominance in North America during the 1910s, other competitors reduced their prices to stay competitive, while offering features that were not available on the Model T such as a wide choice of colors, body styles and interior appearance and choices, and competitors also benefited from the reduced costs of raw materials and infrastructure benefits to supply chain and ancillary manufacturing businesses.
In 1909, the cost of the Runabout started at $825 (equivalent to $28,870 in 2024). By 1925 it had been lowered to $260 (equivalent to $4,660 in 2024).
The figures below are US production numbers compiled by R. E. Houston, Ford Production Department, August 3, 1927. The figures between 1909 and 1920 are for Ford's fiscal year. From 1909 to 1913, the fiscal year was from October 1 to September 30 the following calendar year with the year number being the year in which it ended. For the 1914 fiscal year, the year was October 1, 1913, through July 31, 1914. Starting in August 1914, and through the end of the Model T era, the fiscal year was August 1 through July 31. Beginning with January 1920, the figures are for the calendar year.
The above tally includes a total of 14,689,525 vehicles. Ford said the last Model T was the 15 millionth vehicle produced.
=== Recycling ===
Henry Ford used wood scraps from the production of Model Ts to make charcoal briquettes. Originally named Ford Charcoal, the name was changed to Kingsford Charcoal after the Iron Mountain Ford Plant closed in 1951 and the Kingsford Chemical Company was formed and continued the wood distillation process. E. G. Kingsford, Ford's cousin by marriage, brokered the selection of the new sawmill and wood distillation plant site. Lumber for production of the Model T came from the same location, built in 1920 called the Iron Mountain Ford which incorporated a sawmill where lumber from Ford purchased land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was cut and dried. Scrap wood was distilled at the Iron Mountain plant for its wood chemicals, including methanol (wood alcohol), with the end by-product being lump charcoal. This lump charcoal was modified and pressed into briquettes and mass-marketed by Ford.
=== First global car ===
The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by multiple countries simultaneously, since they were being produced in Walkerville, Canada, and in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester, England, starting in 1911. After World War I ended in 1918, they were assembled in Germany, Argentina, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and Japan. Furthermore, exports from the American factories reached 303,000 in 1925. The heavy losses of horses during the World War made the Model T attractive as a new power source for European farmers. They used the Model T to pull plows, tow wagons, and power farm machinery. It enabled them to transport their products to markets more efficiently.
The Aeroford was an English automobile manufactured in Bayswater, London, from 1920 to 1925. It was a Model T with a distinct hood and grille to make it appear to be a totally different design, what later was called badge engineering. The Aeroford sold from £288 in 1920, dropping to £168–214 by 1925. It was available as a two-seater, four-seater, or coupé.
== Advertising and marketing ==
Ford created a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories and advertisements about the new product. Promotion began well in advance for the introduction of the Model T, with advertisements appearing in newspapers in January 1908. Ford's network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every city in North America. A large part of the success of Ford's Model T stems from the innovative strategy which introduced a large network of sales hubs making it easy to purchase the car. As independent dealers, the franchisees grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked on the vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Sales skyrocketed – several years posted around 100 percent gains on the previous year.
== "Jitney" taxi ==
In the early years of the 20th century, many Ford Model T owners in the US and Canada used their vehicles to provide a regulated or unregulated share taxi or illegal taxi operation. As a result, the Model T was often colloquially known at that time as a "jitney" when used as a cab or taxi.
== 24 Hours of Le Mans ==
Parisian Ford dealer Charles Montier and his brother-in-law Albert Ouriou entered a heavily modified version of the Model T (the "Montier Special") in the first three 24 Hours of Le Mans. They finished 14th in the inaugural 1923 race.
== Car clubs ==
Today, four main clubs exist to support the preservation and restoration of these cars: the Model T Ford Club International, the Model T Ford Club of America and the combined clubs of Australia. With many chapters of clubs around the world, the Model T Ford Club of Victoria has a membership with a considerable number of uniquely Australian cars. (Australia produced its own car bodies, and therefore many differences occurred between the Australian bodied tourers and the US/Canadian cars.) In the UK, the Model T Ford Register of Great Britain celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. Many steel Model T parts are still manufactured today, and even fiberglass replicas of their distinctive bodies are produced, which are popular for T-bucket style hot rods (as immortalized in the Jan and Dean surf music song "Bucket T", which was later recorded by The Who). In 1949, more than twenty years after the end of production, 200,000 Model Ts were registered in the United States. In 2008, it was estimated that about 50,000 to 60,000 Ford Model Ts remain roadworthy.
== Gallery ==
Model T chronology
== See also ==
Lakeside Foundry
New Zealand RM class (Model T Ford) – a 1925 experimental railcar based on a Model T powertrain
Piper J-3 Cub, the 1930s/40s American light aircraft that developed a similar degree of ubiquity in general aviation circles to the Model T
== Notes and references ==
== Bibliography ==
Clymer, Floyd (1955). Henry's wonderful Model T, 1908–1927. New York, NY, U.S.: McGraw-Hill. LCCN 55010405.
Clymer, Floyd (1950). Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925. New York, NY, U.S.: McGraw-Hill. LCCN 50010680.
Dutton, William S. (1942). Du Pont: One Hundred and Forty Years. Charles Scribner's Sons. LCCN 42011897.
Ford, Henry; Crowther, Samuel (1922), My Life and Work, Garden City, New York, USA: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc. Various republications, including ISBN 9781406500189. Original is public domain in U.S. Also available at Google Books.
Georgano, G. N. (1985). Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886–1930. London, UK: Grange-Universal.
Hounshell, David A. (1984), From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States, Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-2975-8, LCCN 83016269, OCLC 1104810110
Kimes, Beverly Rae; Clark, Henry Austin Jr. (1989). Standard Catalog of America Cars: 1805–1942 (2nd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 9780873411110.
Lacey, Robert (1986). Ford: The Men and the Machine. Boston, MA, U.S.: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-51166-7.
Leffingwell, Randy (2002) [1998]. Ford Tractors. Borders. ISBN 0-681-87878-9.
Lewis, David (1976). The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company. Detroit, MI, U.S.: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-1553-8.
Manly, Harold P. (1919). The Ford Motor Car and Truck; Fordson Tractor: Their Construction, Care and Operation. Chicago, IL, US: Frederick J. Drake & Co.
McCalley, Bruce W. (1994). Model T Ford: The Car That Changed the World. Iola, WI, U.S.: Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-293-1.
Nevins, Allan (1954). Ford: The Times, the Man, the Company. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 385–590. LCCN 54-6305.
Nevins, Allan; Hill, Frank Ernest (1957). Ford: Expansion and Challenge 1915-1933. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. LCCN 57-9695.
Pripps, Robert N.; Morland, Andrew (photographer) (1993). Farmall Tractors: History of International McCormick-Deering Farmall Tractors. Farm Tractor Color History Series. Osceola, WI, U.S.: MBI. ISBN 978-0-87938-763-1.
Ross, Irwin (November 1974). "Ford's Fabulous Flivver". Gas Engine Magazine. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
Sedgwick, Michael (1972) [1962]. Early Cars. Octopus Books. ISBN 0-7064-0058-5.
Ward, Ian, ed. (1974). The World of Automobiles. Vol. 13. London, UK: Orbis.
Wik, Reynold M. (1972). Henry Ford and grass-roots America. Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-97200-5.
== External links ==
FordModelT.net – Resource for Model T Owners and Enthusiasts
Model T Ford Club of America (USA)
Model T Ford Club International
Ford Model T at the Internet Movie Cars Database
First and second web pages of Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's vintage vehicle collection, featuring five Model T-based vehicles | Wikipedia/T_Model |
The FWD Model B was an American built four-wheel drive truck produced by the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company that saw widespread service with American and British forces during the First World War.
== Design ==
The FWD Model B was a cab over engine truck with full-time four wheel drive powered by a 389 cubic inch straight-four Wisconsin T-head engine that produced 36 bhp (27 kW) at 1,800 rpm. The chassis was constructed with a double ladder frame, with a short inner frame carrying the engine and driveline mounted within an outer frame that mounted the suspension and carried the cab and body. The drive was transmitted to each axle via a Cotta three-speed constant-mesh gearbox through a single speed silent chain transfer case with a lockable center differential. Braking was provided through all four wheels by an external contracting band operating on a flywheel on the back of the transmission. The transfer case was equipped with two differential locks to allow the vehicle to be driven in either front or rear drive mode in the event of a driveshaft failure.
Power was distributed by shafts to front and rear live axles. Steering was accomplished using FWD's patented double-Y constant velocity joints. The front wheels were mounted with significant camber to bring the tire contact patches as close as possible under the steering knuckle pivot point to reduce steering effort, resulting in a distinctive "pigeon toe" appearance. Another identifying feature was the two radius rods running from each differential to brackets on the frame near the transfer case to help keep the axles aligned. The Model B was originally provided with solid tyres on spoked or disk wheels. Many were converted to pneumatic tyres in the 1930s. Most were equipped with either a steel ammunition body or a wooden supply body, though some were fitted with a variety of specialty bodies including air compressor, artillery repair, artillery supply, baggage repair, spare parts, mobile office, power saw, balloon winch, water tanker, several types of machine shops and a searchlight.
== History ==
The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company of Clintonville, Wisconsin launched the Model B in 1912, initial production was very slow with only 18 produced in 1913. The US was the first nation to show interest in the military potential of the vehicle, with the US Army testing one of the earliest production vehicles.
The British Army became the first military customer on March 23, 1915, ordering 50 trucks to be delivered in only 40 days. An American export agency was set up with a reception base in Liverpool and a repair depot in Islington to check and service incoming vehicles before handing them over to the Ministry of Munitions. A total of 2,925 Model Bs were purchased by the British Army, 1,599 of these were used in France on the Western Front, predominantly for heavy haulage of artillery, ammunition, and pontoon bridge supplies.
The US Army first ordered the Model B in 1916, ordering 147 vehicles for the Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico under the command of General John Pershing. Upon entry into the First World War in 1917, the US placed orders for 30,000 Model Bs as the "Truck, Three to Five Ton, M1917". 12,498 were delivered by the time of the Armistice, of which 9,420 went to France with the American Expeditionary Forces. Demand for the Model B was too great for the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company to meet, so the Peerless Motor Company, Kissel Motor Car Company, Premier Motor Corporation and Mitchell Motor Car Company were also engaged to build Model Bs. One Model B was assembled by Premier in Indianapolis using parts from all four manufacturers to demonstrate that all parts were truly interchangeable.
After the war the US government sold or distributed the majority of their Model Bs to local governments and municipalities. Three were included in the 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy. According to 1st Lt. E. R. Jackson, the official Ordnance Department Observer: "The three (3) Four Wheel Drive Trucks were, in general, the most satisfactory in the Convoy and of all of the various makes represented, the F.W.D.'s alone were able to pull through all of the bad, muddy, and sandy stretches of road in Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada absolutely unaided." (emphasis in the original.) He also noted that the Model B's were more reliable than the other vehicles and completed the entire trip on their original tires but they showed "a decided tendency to run into the bad spots" of uneven roads. British machines were returned to the UK from where some were shipped throughout British Empire.
Surplus Model Bs proved popular in the postwar Good Roads Movement as their all wheel drive made them ideal municipal and civilian construction vehicles, and FWD survived the postwar recession on the strength of Model B sales and parts. Popular sales tactics included demonstrating the benefits of all wheel drive by driving them up stairs. FWD also selected six woman demonstration drivers from their plant workforce to demonstrate the Model B's easy steering, the first of whom, Luella Bates, delivered a Model B from Clintonville to the 1919 New York Auto Show before barnstorming all around the U.S. on three transcontinental trips. Some Model B trucks were still being used as construction vehicles and snow ploughs as late as the 1940s.
== Gallery ==
== References ==
=== Footnotes ===
=== Bibliography ===
Australian War Memorial. "FWD Model B Four Wheel Drive Truck". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
Crismon, Fred (1983). U.S. Military Wheeled Vehicles. Sarasota: Crestline Publishing Co., Inc. ISBN 0-912612-21-5.
Jackson, E. R. (31 October 1919). "Report of the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy". U.S. War Department. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Ordnance Department Tank, Truck and Trailer Division.
Karolevitz, Robert (1966). This was Trucking: A Pictorial History of the first quarter century of the trucking industry. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87564-524-0.
Kempf, Peter. "FWD Model B 3-ton Lorry". Landships II. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
Mroz, Albert (2010). American cars, trucks and motorcycles of World War I: Illustrated histories of 225 manufacturers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company Ltd. ISBN 9780786457250.
Ware, Pat (2012). A complete directory of military vehicles. Wigston, Leicestershire: Anness Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781780190211.
== External links == | Wikipedia/FWD_Model_B |
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first mass-affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relatively low price was partly the result of Ford's efficient fabrication, including assembly line production instead of individual handcrafting. The savings from mass production allowed the price to decline from $780 in 1910 (equivalent to $26,322 in 2024) to $290 in 1924 ($5,321 in 2024 dollars). It was mainly designed by three engineers, Joseph A. Galamb (the main engineer), Eugene Farkas, and Childe Harold Wills. The Model T was colloquially known as the "Tin Lizzie".
The Ford Model T was named the most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroën DS, and Volkswagen Beetle. Ford's Model T was successful not only because it provided inexpensive transportation on a massive scale, but also because the car signified innovation for the rising middle class and became a powerful symbol of the United States' age of modernization. With over 15 million sold, it was the most sold car in history before being surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle in 1972.
== Introduction ==
Early automobiles, which were produced from the 1880s, were mostly scarce, expensive, and often unreliable. Being the first reliable, easily maintained, mass-market motorized transportation turned the Model T into a great success: Within a few days after release, 15,000 orders were placed.
The first production Model T was built on August 12, 1908, and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan. On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth Model T Ford roll off the assembly line at his factory in Highland Park, Michigan.
Henry Ford conceived a series of cars between the founding of the company in 1903 and the introduction of the Model T. Ford named his first car the Model A and proceeded through the alphabet up through the Model T. Twenty models in all, not all of which went into production. The production model immediately before the Model T was the Model S, an upgraded version of the company's largest success to that point, the Model N. The follow-up to the Model T was another Ford Model A, rather than the "Model U". The company publicity said this was because the new car was such a departure from the old that Ford wanted to start all over again with the letter A.
The Model T was Ford's first automobile mass-produced on moving assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class. Henry Ford said of the vehicle:
I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.
Although credit for the development of the assembly line belongs to Ransom E. Olds, with the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, having begun in 1901, the tremendous advances in the efficiency of the system over the life of the Model T can be credited almost entirely to Ford and his engineers.
== Characteristics and design ==
The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills, and Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb (main engineer) and Eugene Farkas. Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and Peter E. Martin were also part of the team, as were Galamb's fellow Hungarian immigrants Gyula Hartenberger and Károly Balogh. Henry Ford supervised the designers himself. Production of the Model T began in the third quarter of 1908. Collectors today sometimes classify Model Ts by build years and refer to these as "model years", thus labeling the first Model Ts as 1909 models. This is a retroactive classification scheme; the concept of model years as understood today did not exist at the time. Even though design revisions occurred during the car's two decades of production, the company gave no particular name to any of the revised designs; all of them were called simply "Model T".
=== Engine ===
The Model T has a front-mounted 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) inline four-cylinder engine, producing 20 hp (15 kW), for a top speed of 42 mph (68 km/h). According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had fuel economy of 13–21 mpg‑US (16–25 mpg‑imp; 18–11 L/100 km). The engine was designed to run on gasoline, although it was able to run on kerosene or ethanol, although the decreasing cost of gasoline and the later introduction of Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel for most users. The engines of the first 2,447 units were cooled with water pumps; the engines of unit 2,448 and onward, with a few exceptions prior to around unit 2,500, were cooled by thermosiphon action.
The ignition system used in the Model T was an unusual one, with a low-voltage magneto incorporated in the flywheel, supplying alternating current to trembler coils to drive the spark plugs. This was closer to that used for stationary gas engines than the expensive high-voltage ignition magnetos that were used on some other cars. This ignition also made the Model T more flexible as to the quality or type of fuel it used. The system did not need a starting battery, since proper hand-cranking would generate enough current for starting. Electric lighting powered by the magneto was adopted in 1915, replacing acetylene gas flame lamp and oil lamps, but electric starting was not offered until 1919.
The Model T engine was produced for replacement needs as well as stationary and marine applications until 1941, well after production of the Model T ended.
The Fordson Model F tractor engine, that was designed about a decade later, was very similar to, but larger than, the Model T engine.
=== Transmission and drive train ===
The Model T is a rear-wheel drive vehicle. Its transmission is a planetary gear type known (at the time) as "three speed". In today's terms it is considered a two-speed, because one of the three speeds is reverse.
The Model T's transmission is controlled with three floor-mounted pedals, a revolutionary feature for its time, and a lever mounted to the road side of the driver's seat. The throttle is controlled with a lever on the steering wheel. The left-hand pedal is used to engage the transmission. With the floor lever in either the mid position or fully forward and the pedal pressed and held forward, the car enters low gear. When held in an intermediate position, the car is in neutral. If the left pedal is released, the Model T enters high gear, but only when the lever is fully forward – in any other position, the pedal only moves up as far as the central neutral position. This allows the car to be held in neutral while the driver cranks the engine by hand. The car can thus cruise without the driver having to press any of the pedals.
In the first 800 units, reverse is engaged with a lever; all units after that use the central pedal, which is used to engage reverse gear when the car is in neutral. The right-hand pedal operates the transmission brake – there are no brakes on the wheels. The floor lever also controls the parking brake, which is activated by pulling the lever all the way back. This doubles as an emergency brake.
Although it was uncommon, the drive bands could fall out of adjustment, allowing the car to creep, particularly when cold, adding another hazard to attempting to start the car: a person cranking the engine could be forced backward while still holding the crank as the car crept forward, although it was nominally in neutral. As the car utilizes a wet clutch, this condition could also occur in cold weather, when the thickened oil prevents the clutch discs from slipping freely. Power reaches the differential through a single universal joint attached to a torque tube which drives the rear axle; some models (typically trucks, but available for cars, as well) could be equipped with an optional two-speed rear Ruckstell axle, shifted by a floor-mounted lever which provides an underdrive gear for easier hill climbing.
==== Chassis / frame ====
The heavy-duty Model TT truck chassis came with a special worm gear rear differential with lower gearing than the normal car and truck, giving more pulling power but a lower top speed (the frame is also stronger; the cab and engine are the same). A Model TT is easily identifiable by the cylindrical housing for the worm-drive over the axle differential. All gears are vanadium steel running in an oil bath.
==== Transmission bands and linings ====
Two main types of band lining material were used:
Cotton – Cotton woven linings were the original type fitted and specified by Ford. Generally, the cotton lining is "kinder" to the drum surface, with damage to the drum caused only by the retaining rivets scoring the drum surface. Although this in itself did not pose a problem, a dragging band resulting from improper adjustment caused overheating of the transmission and engine, diminished power, and – in the case of cotton linings – rapid destruction of the band lining.
Wood – Wooden linings were originally offered as a "longer life" accessory part during the life of the Model T. They were a single piece of steam-bent wood and metal wire, fitted to the normal Model T transmission band. These bands give a very different feel to the pedals, with much more of a "bite" feel. The sensation is of a definite "grip" of the drum and seemed to noticeably increase the feel, in particular of the brake drum.
==== Aftermarket transmissions and drives ====
During the Model T's production run, particularly after 1916, more than 30 manufacturers offered auxiliary transmissions or drives to substitute for, or enhance, the Model T's drivetrain gears. Some offered overdrive for greater speed and efficiency, while others offered underdrives for more torque (often incorrectly described as "power") to enable hauling or pulling greater loads. Among the most noted were the Ruckstell two-speed rear axle, and transmissions by Muncie, Warford, and Jumbo.
Aftermarket transmissions generally fit one of four categories:
Replacement transmission – usually a sliding gear/selective transmission, intended as a direct replacement for Ford's planetary-gear transmission.
Front-mounted auxiliary transmission – designed to fit between the engine and Ford's transmission, to add additional gear ratios.
Rear-mounted auxiliary transmission – mounted at the rear axle housing, and attached between it and the driveshaft, to add additional gear ratios.
Multi-speed axle – designed to fit inside the differential's housing, to add additional gear ratios.
Murray Fahnestock, a Ford expert in the era of the Model T, particularly advised the use of auxiliary transmissions for the enclosed Model T's, such as the Ford Sedan and Coupelet, for three reasons: their greater weight put more strain on the drivetrain and engine, which auxiliary transmissions could smooth out; their bodies acted as sounding boards, echoing engine noise and vibration at higher engine speeds, which could be lessened with intermediate gears; and owners of the enclosed cars spent more to buy them, and thus likely had more money to enhance them.
He also noted that auxiliary transmissions were valuable for Ford Ton-Trucks in commercial use, allowing for driving speeds to vary with their widely variable loads – particularly when returning empty – possibly saving as much as 50% of returning drive time.
=== Suspension and wheels ===
Model T suspension employed a transversely mounted semi-elliptical spring for each of the front and rear beam axles, which allowed a great deal of wheel movement to cope with the dirt roads of the time.
The front axle was drop forged as a single piece of vanadium steel. Ford twisted many axles through eight full rotations (2880 degrees) and sent them to dealers to be put on display to demonstrate its superiority.
The Model T did not have a modern service brake. The right foot pedal applied a band around a drum in the transmission, thus stopping the rear wheels from turning. The previously mentioned parking brake lever operated band brakes acting on the inside of the rear brake drums, which were an integral part of the rear wheel hubs. Optional brakes that acted on the outside of the brake drums were available from aftermarket suppliers.
Wheels were wooden artillery wheels, with steel welded-spoke wheels available in 1926 and 1927.
Tires were pneumatic clincher type, 30 in (762 mm) in diameter, 3.5 in (89 mm) wide in the rear, 3 in (76 mm) in the front. Clinchers needed much higher pressure than today's tires, typically 60 psi (410 kPa), to prevent them from leaving the rim at speed. Flat tires were a common problem.
Balloon tires became available in 1925. They were 21 in × 4.5 in (530 mm × 110 mm) all around. Balloon tires were closer in design to today's tires, with steel wires reinforcing the tire bead, making lower pressure possible – typically 35 psi (240 kPa) – giving a softer ride. The steering gear ratio was changed from 4:1 to 5:1 with the introduction of balloon tires. The old nomenclature for tire size changed from measuring the outer diameter to measuring the rim diameter so 21 in (530 mm) (rim diameter) × 4.5 in (110 mm) (tire width) wheels has about the same outer diameter as 30 in (760 mm) clincher tires. All tires in this time period used an inner tube to hold the pressurized air; tubeless tires were not generally in use until much later.
Wheelbase is 100 in (254 cm) and standard track width was 56 in (142 cm) – 60 in (152 cm) track could be obtained on special order, "for Southern roads," identical to the pre-Civil War track gauge for many railroads in the former Confederacy. The standard 56-inch track being very near the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (143.5 cm) inch standard railroad track gauge, meant that Model Ts could be and frequently were, fitted with flanged wheels and used as motorized railway vehicles or "speeders". The availability of a 60 in (152 cm) version meant the same could be done on the few remaining Southern 5 ft (152 cm) railways – these being the only nonstandard lines remaining, except for a few narrow-gauge lines of various sizes. Although a Model T could be adapted to run on track as narrow as 2 ft (61 cm) gauge (Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington RR, Maine has one), this was a more complex alteration.
=== Colors ===
By 1918, half of all the cars in the U.S. were Model Ts. In his autobiography, Ford reported that in 1909 he told his management team, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."
However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1913, the Model T was not available in black, but rather only in gray, green, blue, and red. Green was available for the touring cars, town cars, coupes, and Landaulets. Gray was available for the town cars only and red only for the touring cars. By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. Only in 1914 was the "any color so long as it is black" policy finally implemented.
It is often stated Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1925 due to the low cost, durability, and faster drying time of black paint in that era. There is no evidence that black dried any faster than any other dark varnishes used at the time for painting, but carbon black pigment was indeed one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) available, and dark color of gilsonite, a form of bitumen making cheap metal paints of the time durable, limited the (final) color options to dark shades of maroon, blue, green or black. At that period Ford used two similar types of the so-called Japan black paint, one as a basic coat applied directly to the metal and another as a final finish.
Paint choices in the American automotive industry, as well as in others (including locomotives, furniture, bicycles, and the rapidly expanding field of electrical appliances), were shaped by the development of the chemical industry. These included the disruption of dye sources during World War I and the advent, by the mid-1920s, of new nitrocellulose lacquers that were faster-drying and more scratch-resistant and obviated the need for multiple coats.: 261–301 Understanding the choice of paints for the Model T era and the years immediately following requires an understanding of the contemporaneous chemical industry.
During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 types of black paint were used on various parts of the car. These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times, depending on the part, paint, and method of drying.
=== Body ===
Although Ford classified the Model T with a single letter designation throughout its entire life and made no distinction by model years, enough significant changes to the body were made over the production life that the car may be classified into several style generations. The most immediately visible and identifiable changes were in the hood and cowl areas, although many other modifications were made to the vehicle.
1909–1914 – Characterized by a nearly straight, five-sided hood, with a flat top containing a center hinge and two side sloping sections containing the folding hinges. The firewall is flat from the windshield down with no distinct cowl. For these years, acetylene gas flame headlights were used because the flame is resistant to wind and rain. Thick concave mirrors combined with magnifying lenses projected the acetylene flame light. The fuel tank is placed under the front seat.
1915–1916 – The hood design is nearly the same five-sided design with the only obvious change being the addition of louvers to the vertical sides. A significant change to the cowl area occurred with the windshield relocated significantly behind the firewall and joined with a compound-contoured cowl panel. In these years electric headlights replaced carbide headlights.
1917–1923 – The hood design was changed to a tapered design with a curved top. The folding hinges were now located at the joint between the flat sides and the curved top. This is sometimes referred to as the "low hood" to distinguish it from the later hoods. The back edge of the hood now met the front edge of the cowl panel so that no part of the flat firewall was visible outside of the hood. This design was used the longest and during the highest production years, accounting for about half of the total number of Model Ts built.
1923–1925 – This change was made during the 1923 calendar year, so models built earlier in the year have the older design, while later vehicles have the newer design. The taper of the hood was increased and the rear section at the firewall is about an inch taller and several inches wider than the previous design. While this is a relatively minor change, the parts between the third and fourth generations are not interchangeable.
1926–1927 – This design change made the greatest difference in the appearance of the car. The hood was again enlarged, with the cowl panel no longer a compound curve and blended much more with the line of the hood. The distance between the firewall and the windshield was also increased significantly. This style is sometimes referred to as the "high hood".
The styling on the last "generation" was a preview for the following Model A, but the two models are visually quite different, as the body on the A is much wider and has curved doors as opposed to the flat doors on the T.
=== Diverse applications ===
When the Model T was designed and introduced, the infrastructure of the world was quite different from today's. Pavement was a rarity except for sidewalks and a few big-city streets. (The meaning of the term "pavement" as opposed to "sidewalk" comes from that era, when streets and roads were generally dirt and sidewalks were a paved way to walk along them.) Agriculture was the occupation of many people. Power tools were scarce outside factories, as were power sources for them; electrification, like pavement, was found usually only in larger towns. Rural electrification and motorized mechanization were embryonic in some regions and nonexistent in most. Henry Ford oversaw the requirements and design of the Model T based on contemporary realities. Consequently, the Model T was (intentionally) almost as much a tractor and portable engine as it was an automobile. It has always been well regarded for its all-terrain abilities and ruggedness. It could travel a rocky, muddy farm lane, cross a shallow stream, climb a steep hill, and be parked on the other side to have one of its wheels removed and a pulley fastened to the hub for a flat belt to drive a bucksaw, thresher, silo blower, conveyor for filling corn cribs or haylofts, baler, water pump, electrical generator, and many other applications. One unique application of the Model T was shown in the October 1922 issue of Fordson Farmer magazine. It showed a minister who had transformed his Model T into a mobile church, complete with small organ.
During this era, entire automobiles (including thousands of Model Ts) were hacked apart by their owners and reconfigured into custom machinery permanently dedicated to a purpose, such as homemade tractors and ice saws. Dozens of aftermarket companies sold prefab kits to facilitate the T's conversion from car to tractor. The Model T had been around for a decade before the Fordson tractor became available (1917–18), and many Ts were converted for field use. (For example, Harry Ferguson, later famous for his hitches and tractors, worked on Eros Model T tractor conversions before he worked with Fordsons and others.) During the next decade, Model T tractor conversion kits were harder to sell, as the Fordson and then the Farmall (1924), as well as other light and affordable tractors, served the farm market. But during the Depression (1930s), Model T tractor conversion kits had a resurgence, because by then used Model Ts and junkyard parts for them were plentiful and cheap.
Like many popular car engines of the era, the Model T engine was also used on home-built aircraft (such as the Pietenpol Sky Scout) and motorboats.
During World War I, the Model T was heavily used by the Allies in different roles and configurations, such as staff cars, light cargo trucks, light vans, light patrol cars, liaison vehicles and even as rail tractors. The ambulance version proved to be well-suited for use in the combat areas. The ambulances could carry three stretcher patients or four seated patients, and two others could sit with the driver. Besides those made in the United States, ambulance bodies were also made by Carrosserie Kellner of Boulogne, near Paris. The Romanian Army also made use of converted Model T ambulances. These ambulances, named "Regina Maria" ambulances, were capable of carrying four stretcher patients. Conversion work was done by the Leonida Workshops of Bucharest. An armored-car variant (called the "FT-B") was developed in Poland in 1920 due to the high demand during the Polish-Soviet war in 1920.
Many Model Ts were converted into vehicles that could travel across heavy snows with kits on the rear wheels (sometimes with an extra pair of rear-mounted wheels and two sets of continuous track to mount on the now-tandemed rear wheels, essentially making it a half-track) and skis replacing the front wheels. They were popular for rural mail delivery for a time. The common name for these conversions of cars and small trucks was "snowflyers". These vehicles were extremely popular in the northern reaches of Canada, where factories were set up to produce them.
A number of companies built Model T–based railcars. In The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux mentions a rail journey in India on such a railcar. The New Zealand Railways Department's RM class included a few.
The American LaFrance company modified more than 900 Model Ts for use in firefighting, adding tanks, hoses, tools and a bell. Model T fire engines were in service in North America, Europe, and Australia. A 1919 Model T equipped to fight chemical fires has been restored and is on display at the North Charleston Fire Museum in South Carolina.
== Production ==
=== Mass production ===
The knowledge and skills needed by a factory worker were reduced to 84 areas. When introduced, the T used the building methods typical at the time, assembly by hand, and production was small. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant could not keep up with demand for the Model T, and only 11 cars were built there during the first full month of production. More and more machines were used to reduce the complexity within the 84 defined areas. In 1910, after assembling nearly 12,000 Model Ts, Henry Ford moved the company to the new Highland Park complex. During this time the Model T production system (including the supply chain) transitioned into an iconic example of assembly-line production. In subsequent decades it would also come to be viewed as the classic example of the rigid, first-generation version of assembly line production, as opposed to flexible mass production of higher quality products.
As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, reducing production time from 12+1⁄2 hours before to 93 minutes by 1914, while using less manpower. In 1914, Ford produced more cars than all other automakers combined. The Model T was a great commercial success, and by the time Ford made its 10 millionth car, half of all cars in the world were Fords. It was so successful Ford did not purchase any advertising between 1917 and 1923; instead, the Model T became so famous, people considered it a norm. More than 15 million Model Ts were manufactured in all, reaching a rate of 9,000 to 10,000 cars a day in 1925, or 2 million annually, more than any other model of its day, at a price of just $260 ($4,662 today). Total Model T production was finally surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle on February 17, 1972, while the Ford F-Series (itself directly descended from the Model T roadster pickup) has surpassed the Model T as Ford's all-time best-selling model.
Henry Ford's ideological approach to Model T design was one of getting it right and then keeping it the same; he believed the Model T was all the car a person would, or could, ever need. As other companies offered comfort and styling advantages, at competitive prices, the Model T lost market share and became barely profitable. Design changes were not as few as the public perceived, but the idea of an unchanging model was kept intact. Eventually, on May 26, 1927, Ford Motor Company ceased US production and began the changeovers required to produce the Model A. Some of the other Model T factories in the world continued for a short while, with the final Model T produced at the Cork, Ireland plant in December 1927.
Model T engines continued to be produced until August 4, 1941. Almost 170,000 were built after car production stopped, as replacement engines were required to service the many existing vehicles. Racers and enthusiasts, forerunners of modern hot rodders, used the Model Ts' blocks to build popular and cheap racing engines, including Cragar, Navarro, and, famously, the Frontenacs ("Fronty Fords") of the Chevrolet brothers, among many others.
The Model T employed some advanced technology, for example, its use of vanadium steel alloy. Its durability was phenomenal, and some Model Ts and their parts are in running order over a century later. Although Henry Ford resisted some kinds of change, he always championed the advancement of materials engineering, and often mechanical engineering and industrial engineering.
In 2002, Ford built a final batch of six Model Ts as part of their 2003 centenary celebrations. These cars were assembled from remaining new components and other parts produced from the original drawings. The last of the six was used for publicity purposes in the UK.
Although Ford no longer manufactures parts for the Model T, many parts are still manufactured through private companies as replicas to service the thousands of Model Ts still in operation today.
On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford and his son Edsel drove the 15-millionth Model T out of the factory. This marked the famous automobile's official last day of production at the main factory.
=== Price and production ===
The moving assembly line system, which started on October 7, 1913, allowed Ford to reduce the price of his cars. As he continued to fine-tune the system, Ford was able to keep reducing costs significantly. As volume increased, he was able to also lower the prices due to some of the fixed costs being spread over a larger number of vehicles as large supply chain investments increased assets per vehicle. Other factors reduced the price such as material costs and design changes. As Ford had market dominance in North America during the 1910s, other competitors reduced their prices to stay competitive, while offering features that were not available on the Model T such as a wide choice of colors, body styles and interior appearance and choices, and competitors also benefited from the reduced costs of raw materials and infrastructure benefits to supply chain and ancillary manufacturing businesses.
In 1909, the cost of the Runabout started at $825 (equivalent to $28,870 in 2024). By 1925 it had been lowered to $260 (equivalent to $4,660 in 2024).
The figures below are US production numbers compiled by R. E. Houston, Ford Production Department, August 3, 1927. The figures between 1909 and 1920 are for Ford's fiscal year. From 1909 to 1913, the fiscal year was from October 1 to September 30 the following calendar year with the year number being the year in which it ended. For the 1914 fiscal year, the year was October 1, 1913, through July 31, 1914. Starting in August 1914, and through the end of the Model T era, the fiscal year was August 1 through July 31. Beginning with January 1920, the figures are for the calendar year.
The above tally includes a total of 14,689,525 vehicles. Ford said the last Model T was the 15 millionth vehicle produced.
=== Recycling ===
Henry Ford used wood scraps from the production of Model Ts to make charcoal briquettes. Originally named Ford Charcoal, the name was changed to Kingsford Charcoal after the Iron Mountain Ford Plant closed in 1951 and the Kingsford Chemical Company was formed and continued the wood distillation process. E. G. Kingsford, Ford's cousin by marriage, brokered the selection of the new sawmill and wood distillation plant site. Lumber for production of the Model T came from the same location, built in 1920 called the Iron Mountain Ford which incorporated a sawmill where lumber from Ford purchased land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was cut and dried. Scrap wood was distilled at the Iron Mountain plant for its wood chemicals, including methanol (wood alcohol), with the end by-product being lump charcoal. This lump charcoal was modified and pressed into briquettes and mass-marketed by Ford.
=== First global car ===
The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by multiple countries simultaneously, since they were being produced in Walkerville, Canada, and in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester, England, starting in 1911. After World War I ended in 1918, they were assembled in Germany, Argentina, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and Japan. Furthermore, exports from the American factories reached 303,000 in 1925. The heavy losses of horses during the World War made the Model T attractive as a new power source for European farmers. They used the Model T to pull plows, tow wagons, and power farm machinery. It enabled them to transport their products to markets more efficiently.
The Aeroford was an English automobile manufactured in Bayswater, London, from 1920 to 1925. It was a Model T with a distinct hood and grille to make it appear to be a totally different design, what later was called badge engineering. The Aeroford sold from £288 in 1920, dropping to £168–214 by 1925. It was available as a two-seater, four-seater, or coupé.
== Advertising and marketing ==
Ford created a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories and advertisements about the new product. Promotion began well in advance for the introduction of the Model T, with advertisements appearing in newspapers in January 1908. Ford's network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every city in North America. A large part of the success of Ford's Model T stems from the innovative strategy which introduced a large network of sales hubs making it easy to purchase the car. As independent dealers, the franchisees grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked on the vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Sales skyrocketed – several years posted around 100 percent gains on the previous year.
== "Jitney" taxi ==
In the early years of the 20th century, many Ford Model T owners in the US and Canada used their vehicles to provide a regulated or unregulated share taxi or illegal taxi operation. As a result, the Model T was often colloquially known at that time as a "jitney" when used as a cab or taxi.
== 24 Hours of Le Mans ==
Parisian Ford dealer Charles Montier and his brother-in-law Albert Ouriou entered a heavily modified version of the Model T (the "Montier Special") in the first three 24 Hours of Le Mans. They finished 14th in the inaugural 1923 race.
== Car clubs ==
Today, four main clubs exist to support the preservation and restoration of these cars: the Model T Ford Club International, the Model T Ford Club of America and the combined clubs of Australia. With many chapters of clubs around the world, the Model T Ford Club of Victoria has a membership with a considerable number of uniquely Australian cars. (Australia produced its own car bodies, and therefore many differences occurred between the Australian bodied tourers and the US/Canadian cars.) In the UK, the Model T Ford Register of Great Britain celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. Many steel Model T parts are still manufactured today, and even fiberglass replicas of their distinctive bodies are produced, which are popular for T-bucket style hot rods (as immortalized in the Jan and Dean surf music song "Bucket T", which was later recorded by The Who). In 1949, more than twenty years after the end of production, 200,000 Model Ts were registered in the United States. In 2008, it was estimated that about 50,000 to 60,000 Ford Model Ts remain roadworthy.
== Gallery ==
Model T chronology
== See also ==
Lakeside Foundry
New Zealand RM class (Model T Ford) – a 1925 experimental railcar based on a Model T powertrain
Piper J-3 Cub, the 1930s/40s American light aircraft that developed a similar degree of ubiquity in general aviation circles to the Model T
== Notes and references ==
== Bibliography ==
Clymer, Floyd (1955). Henry's wonderful Model T, 1908–1927. New York, NY, U.S.: McGraw-Hill. LCCN 55010405.
Clymer, Floyd (1950). Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925. New York, NY, U.S.: McGraw-Hill. LCCN 50010680.
Dutton, William S. (1942). Du Pont: One Hundred and Forty Years. Charles Scribner's Sons. LCCN 42011897.
Ford, Henry; Crowther, Samuel (1922), My Life and Work, Garden City, New York, USA: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc. Various republications, including ISBN 9781406500189. Original is public domain in U.S. Also available at Google Books.
Georgano, G. N. (1985). Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886–1930. London, UK: Grange-Universal.
Hounshell, David A. (1984), From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States, Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-2975-8, LCCN 83016269, OCLC 1104810110
Kimes, Beverly Rae; Clark, Henry Austin Jr. (1989). Standard Catalog of America Cars: 1805–1942 (2nd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 9780873411110.
Lacey, Robert (1986). Ford: The Men and the Machine. Boston, MA, U.S.: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-51166-7.
Leffingwell, Randy (2002) [1998]. Ford Tractors. Borders. ISBN 0-681-87878-9.
Lewis, David (1976). The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company. Detroit, MI, U.S.: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-1553-8.
Manly, Harold P. (1919). The Ford Motor Car and Truck; Fordson Tractor: Their Construction, Care and Operation. Chicago, IL, US: Frederick J. Drake & Co.
McCalley, Bruce W. (1994). Model T Ford: The Car That Changed the World. Iola, WI, U.S.: Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-293-1.
Nevins, Allan (1954). Ford: The Times, the Man, the Company. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 385–590. LCCN 54-6305.
Nevins, Allan; Hill, Frank Ernest (1957). Ford: Expansion and Challenge 1915-1933. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. LCCN 57-9695.
Pripps, Robert N.; Morland, Andrew (photographer) (1993). Farmall Tractors: History of International McCormick-Deering Farmall Tractors. Farm Tractor Color History Series. Osceola, WI, U.S.: MBI. ISBN 978-0-87938-763-1.
Ross, Irwin (November 1974). "Ford's Fabulous Flivver". Gas Engine Magazine. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
Sedgwick, Michael (1972) [1962]. Early Cars. Octopus Books. ISBN 0-7064-0058-5.
Ward, Ian, ed. (1974). The World of Automobiles. Vol. 13. London, UK: Orbis.
Wik, Reynold M. (1972). Henry Ford and grass-roots America. Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-97200-5.
== External links ==
FordModelT.net – Resource for Model T Owners and Enthusiasts
Model T Ford Club of America (USA)
Model T Ford Club International
Ford Model T at the Internet Movie Cars Database
First and second web pages of Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's vintage vehicle collection, featuring five Model T-based vehicles | Wikipedia/Model_T |
Ford Model AA is a truck from Ford. As the Model T and TT became obsolete and needed to be replaced, Henry Ford began initial designs on the Model A and Model AA in 1926. Basic chassis layout was done rapidly and mechanical development was moved forward quickly. Body design and style was developed and then outsourced to various body manufacturers, including Briggs and Murray. The designs of the Model A shared parts and materials with the Model AA Ford, notably the body, engine and interior. The AA usually received plainer interiors than their car counterparts. The Model AA followed similar design changes to the Model A during the AA's four years in production, often delayed anywhere from three to nine months. The mechanical changes and upgrades were done during production of the vehicles. Body changes that occurred between 1929 and 1930 were also integrated into AA production, but leftover parts were used longer in the heavy commercial trucks.
== Mechanical details ==
The Model AA Ford is powered by the same 201-cubic-inch (3.3 L) I4 engine that the Model A Ford used. The engine produced a maximum of 40 horsepower at 2,200 rpm. The engine featured an up-draft carburetor, six-volt generator, 2 and 4-blade fan, mechanical water pump, mechanical oil pump, electric starter and four-row radiator. All of these features were identical to the Model A Ford except the radiator. The engine could also be crank started if necessary by a hand crank that is inserted through a hole in the radiator shell. The Model AA was based on a chassis that was similar in design to the Model A Ford, except it was substantially larger and heavier to accommodate the work this truck was designed for.
The Model AA Ford has a four-speed manual gearbox. The additional gear in the transmission is a "granny" or "creeper" first gear with a higher reduction ratio than the first gear on a Model A Ford to provide more torque to move a loaded truck. The second through fourth gears on the Model AA transmission were similar ratios to the first through third gears on the Model A transmission. The Model AA transmission also featured a lock-out on the shift knob for reverse that required a lever to be activated with the thumb so reverse could be engaged. This was done to prevent accidental engagement of reverse while the truck was in motion. Early trucks had a worm gear rear-end that limited the top speed of the truck. That rear-end was replaced by a ring and pinion differential to improve the speed of the truck. The later differential came with high speed and low speed options. Later models were fitted with braces on the outer casing of the rear-end to provide additional support to the rear-end housing.
The suspension of the AA Truck was similar to the Model A Ford in the front end. A leaf spring is centered in the front ‘A’ frame over the front axle. Shock absorbers were available for the front end. The rear suspension differed from the Model A Ford. The AA had leaf springs mounted to the chassis and shackled to the rear axle. The rear suspension did not have shocks.
The controls in the Model AA are entirely mechanical, except the windshield wipers in later models. The brakes are mechanical and the truck has four oversized drum brakes to stop the vehicle. The mechanical system is a pull lever system that applies the force from the pedal to a pivot that pulls the brake rods that expand the brakes in the drums. The brake light is activated when the brake pedal is pushed. The brakes are proportioned more toward the rear drums. The parking brake is a chrome lever on the floor with a release button on the top. The windshield wipers started as hand operated and later models were powered by vacuum diverted from the intake manifold. The horn button is mounted in the middle of the steering wheel assembly. Controls for the lights are also incorporated into the steering assembly. The switch was a three-stop switch for parking lights, headlights and high-beams. The tail-light lens colors on the AA underwent several changes during the production run. Two levers are mounted on the steering column to adjust the engine. The left lever controls the manual advance and retard of the timing. Adjusting the timing of the engine changes the time that a spark will occur in the combustion chamber and those changes affect the performance of the engine. The right lever is a manual control for the throttle. The throttle can be adjusted to ease the shifting of the transmission and the idling speed of the engine. Underneath the dash on the right side is the choke rod. The choke can adjust the flow of fuel from the carburetor into the engine. Turning the knob on the choke rod clockwise closes the fuel flow, leaning out the engine; turning the knob counterclockwise opens the fuel flow to the engine.
The gauge cluster includes three basic gauges. The cluster is in a diamond formation, with the start key and pop-out locking switch is on the left point. The top of the cluster holds the gas gauge, which directly connects into the gas tank, behind the dashboard. The right point holds the amp gauge, which shows the charge rate of the generator. The bottom of the dash holds the speedometer and odometer. Additional gauges can be mounted below the cluster if desired.
During the production of the Model AA, the wheels were also changed. Spoked wheels similar in appearance to Model A wheels but much heavier were used during 1928. Twenty inch 6 slot disc wheels were produced by Budd for Ford during 1929. In 1930, a new style 20 inch 5 slot disc wheel was adopted. These wheels were used for 1930 and part of 1931. The final wheels were a further modification of the 1930 wheel, with a raised center to reinforce the wheels and allow spacing of dual wheels in the rear so the tires would not rub against each other. The dual wheels were used for a variety of body styles, including dump trucks, tow trucks, tankers, fire trucks, and flatbed stake trucks. Wheel nuts changed with each new style of wheel to meet the changes made in the designs of the wheel. Special wheels were produced for ambulances, buses, and funeral coaches (hearses).
== Variants ==
The Model AA was available with a number of options. Two wheelbases were available, 131.5 inches (3,340 mm) and 157 inches (4,000 mm). Various body styles were available on different chassis.
The Model AA Ford was available in a variety of body styles from the Ford Corporation. Specialty bodies include: Funeral Coach, Ambulance, Express Pickup, Dump Truck, and a chassis-cab (no bed). The cab-only model was sold to customers who wanted a custom body to be built by an after-market company. Corporations could have custom paint and other modifications made by Ford for fleets of vehicles.
To eliminate the complexity and cost of its variety of postal trucks, and accommodate the needs of parcel post service. the U.S. Postal Service purchased a fleet of Model A vehicles from Ford that had custom-built postal truck bodies manufactured and assembled by outside builders, notably the Mifflinburg Body Company. These half-ton trucks remained in use, in some cases, until the 1950s.
== Overseas production ==
Ford licensed the manufacture of the Model A and AA to a variety of nations, notably the Soviet Union. More than 985,000 AAs were built by GAZ in the USSR from 1932 to 1950. The GAZ version had a cargo capacity of 1,500 kg (3,300 lb). A model with stronger 50 hp (37 kW) engine and wartime simplifications is often named GAZ-MM, after the engine.
In October 1931 a Model AA was the first vehicle produced at Ford of Britain's own new Dagenham plant in England.
The Model AA was also built in several nations in mainland Europe under license from the Ford Corporation. At least three Danish armored vehicles (FP-1, FP-2, and FP-3) were based on the chassis.
== Present day ==
Today, enthusiasm for the Model AA continues. Preservation and restoration of these vehicles remains popular. In the United States, there are two national clubs. One club supports the Model A/Model AA hobby and one club is dedicated specifically to the Model AA. The Model A Restorers Club and the Model A Ford Club of America, along with the Ford Model AA Truck Club work to support members with technical advice and support along with displaying members vehicles as they are being restored.
In some countries, like Uruguay and Cuba, Model AA trucks are still in use, more than 80 years after their introduction.
== References ==
== External links ==
forum.aa-fords.com
Ford AA Monument on Russian highway
Melnikova-Raich, Sonia (2010). "The Soviet Problem with Two 'Unknowns': How an American Architect and a Soviet Negotiator Jump-Started the Industrialization of Russia, Part I: Albert Kahn". IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. 36 (2): 57–80. ISSN 0160-1040. JSTOR 41933723. (abstract) | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_AA |
The Ford Model 48 was an update on Ford's V8-powered Model 40A, the company's main product. Introduced in 1935, the Model 48 was given a cosmetic refresh annually, begetting the 1937 Ford before being thoroughly redesigned for 1941. The 1935 Ford's combination of price, practicality, and looks vaulted the company ahead of rival Chevrolet for the sales crown that year, with 820,000 sold.
== Technical description ==
The Ford Model 48 has a front-mounted engine, and rear-wheel drive. It features a traditional body-on-frame design, and was offered with ten different body styles, made by various different coachbuilders.
Ford used a simple, and cheap U-profile ladder frame made from pressed steel. In front, the Model 48 has a stub-type beam axle with a single transverse leaf spring, and a single, triangular-shaped combined longitudinal and transverse control arm. The rear axle is a live beam axle that also has a single, transverse leaf spring, combined with a triangular-shaped combined longitudinal and transverse control arm. The wheelbase is 112 in (2,845 mm). On all four wheels, the Ford Model 48 has mechanically operated 12.0 in (305 mm) drum brakes, and 6.00 by 16 inch tyres. The steering system is a conventional worm-and-sector steering system. The rolling chassis has conventional grease nipples, and a total mass of 2,010 lb (910 kg).
The engine is Ford's 3.062-by-3.75-inch (77.8 by 95.3 mm), 221 in3 (3,620 cm3; 3.62 L) 90° flathead V8 Otto (spark ignition) engine. It is liquid-cooled, and consists of five main cast pieces made of a light metal alloy: the engine block with cast-in cylinders, the intake plenum, two flatheads, and a fairly expensive oilpan. Both the crankshaft and the camshaft have three bearings each; every two conrods share a single bearing. The main oil line is a steel tube installed above the centrally located, plastic gear-driven camshaft. The camshaft bearings have annular grooves which allow the oil to pass down to the crankshaft below. The ignition distributor is driven by the camshaft and has a centrifugal force actuated, automatic ignition retard/advance system. Ford chose to install two water pumps in the engine that are driven by a belt. The same belt also powers the generator and the generator-mounted cooling fan. For mixture formation, the engine has a single Solex 30 LFFK two-barrel downdraft carburetor that is fed by an intake plenum mounted, mechanically driven fuel pump. Kremser (1942) writes that the engine has a compression of ε=6.15, and a rated power of 85 hp (63 kW) at 3800/min (with the max power being 90 hp (67 kW)), whereas according to Oswald (1979) the compression is ε=6.3, and the rated power 90 PS (89 hp; 66 kW) at 3800/min. Oswald also gives a torque figure (21 kp⋅m (152 lb⋅ft; 206 N⋅m) at 2250/min), which Kremser omits.
From the engine, the torque is sent through a dry single-disk clutch to a three-speed sliding-mesh transmission that is, due to its design, not synchronized. The car's final drive is 4.11; a 3.78 final drive was available as a factory option, which allows a top speed of 135 km/h (84 mph).
== Years ==
=== 1935 ===
The 1935 Ford was a thorough refresh on the popular V8-powered Ford. The four-cylinder Model A engine was no longer offered, leaving just the 221 cu in (3.62 L) V8 to power every Ford car and truck. The transverse leaf spring suspension remained, but the front spring was relocated ahead of the axle to allow more interior volume. The body was lowered and new "Center-Poise" seating improved comfort.
Visually, the 1935 Ford was much more modern with the grille pushed forward and made more prominent by de-emphasized and more-integrated fenders, reflecting modern Art Deco influences. A major advance was a true integrated trunk on "trunkback" sedans, though the traditional "flatback" was also offered. Outdated body styles like the Victoria were also deleted for the year. The wooden panels were manufactured at the Ford Iron Mountain Plant in the Michigan Upper Peninsula from Ford owned lumber.
Two trim lines were offered, standard and DeLuxe, across a number of body styles including a base roadster, five-window coupe, three-window coupe, Tudor and Fordor sedans in flatback or trunkback versions, a convertible sedan, a woody station wagon, and new Model 51 truck. Rumble seats were optional on coupe model. An oil pressure gauge (costing $4) and two windshield wipers were optional. If one got the optional radio, it replaced the ash tray.
=== 1936 ===
Chevrolet regained the sales lead at the end of 1936, but the Ford still sold well. A new club cabriolet model was introduced with a fully framed windshield and weatherproof top, and the convertible sedan gained the popular integrated trunkback design.
The look was updated with an inverted pentagonal grille with all-vertical bars beneath a prominent hood and three horizontal chrome side strips (on DeLuxe models). The V8 DeLuxe was called Model 68. A concealed horn, long a prominent part of the Ford's design, also brought the car into modern times. The new trucks continued with the old grille. Other major changes for 1936 were the use of pressed steel "artillery" solid wheels instead of wire wheels.
Six models were made with stainless steel bodies in a collaboration between Ford and the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation to promote use of the metal.
=== 1937 ===
In 1938, Ford brought out new styling for its cars. Initially, only a V8 was offered, producing either 60 hp (45 kW) or 85 hp (63 kW) like 1935 Fords.
== Sources ==
David L. Lewis (2005). 100 Years of Ford. Publications International. pp. 81–89. ISBN 0-7853-7988-6.
"Generations: Ford Model T to Crown Victoria". Edmunds.com. Retrieved August 21, 2006.
Oswald, Werner [in German] (1979), Deutsche Autos 1920-1945 – Alle deutschen Personenwagen der damaligen Zeit (in German) (3rd ed.), Stuttgart: Motorbuch-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-87943-519-7
Kremser, Hans (1942), Hans List (ed.), Der Aufbau schnellaufender Verbrennungskraftmaschinen für Kraftfahrzeuge und Triebwagen, Die Verbrennungskraftmaschine (in German), vol. 11, Wien: Springer, pp. 214–216, ISBN 978-3-7091-9755-4 {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
== References ==
== External links ==
Carsized Website for comparing car dimensions featuring early Ford vehicles incl. Model 48 | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_48 |
The model year (sometimes abbreviated as MY) is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured.
== Automobiles ==
=== United States and Canada ===
Automobiles in the United States and Canada are identified and regulated by model year, whereas other markets use production date (month/year) to identify specific vehicles, and model codes in place of the "year" (model year) in the North American make-model-year identifier.
In technical documents generated within the auto industry and its regulating agencies such as the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and United States Environmental Protection Agency and Transport Canada and Environment Canada, the letters MY often precede the year (as in MY2019 or MY93). Even without this prefix, however, in the North American context it is usually the model year rather than the vehicle's calendar year of production that is being referred to.
The new model year typically begins in August to September of the preceding calendar year, though can be as early as February, such being the case for the fourth generation 2022 Acura MDX, which started production in January 2021. This was partly due to the advertising of a new model being coordinated with the launch of the new television season in late September, because of the heavy dependence between television to offer products from automakers to advertise, and the car companies to launch their new models at a high-profile time of year. Imported cars use the model year convention in the U.S. and Canada, even when this system is not used for the same cars when sold in other countries.
The concept of yearly styling updates (a practice adopted from the fashion industry) was introduced to General Motors' range of cars by Alfred P. Sloan in the 1920s. This was an early form of planned obsolescence in the car industry, where yearly styling changes meant consumers could easily discern a car's newness, or lack of it. Other major changes to the model range usually coincided with the launch of the new model year., for example the 1928 model year of the Ford Model A began production in October 1927 and the 1955 model year of the Ford Thunderbird began production in September 1954.
Model year followed with calendar year until the mid 1930s until then president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order to release vehicle model years in the fall of the preceding year in order to standardize employment in the automotive industry. The practice of beginning production of next year's model before the end of the year has become a long-standing tradition in America.
For purposes such as VINs and emissions control, regulations allow cars of a given model year to be sold starting on January 2 of the previous calendar year. For example, a 2019 model year vehicle can legally go on sale starting January 2, 2018. This has resulted in a few cars in the following model year being introduced in advertisements during the NFL Super Bowl in February. A notable example of an early model year launch would be the Ford Mustang, introduced as an early 1965 model (informally referred to as "19641⁄2") in April 1964
at the World's Fair, several months before the usual start of the 1965 model year in August 1964.
For recreational vehicles, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission allows a manufacturer to assign a vehicle a model year that is up to two years later than its date of manufacture.
=== Other countries ===
In other countries, it is more common to identify specific vehicles by their year and month of production, and cars of a particular type by their generation, using terms such as "Mark III" or by the manufacturer's code for that kind of car (such as "BL" being the code for a Mazda 3 built between November 2008 and June 2013).
In Europe, the lesser use of model years as a descriptor is partly because since the 1980s many vehicles are introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the Frankfurt Motor Show in September or the Paris Motor Show in September. New models have increasingly been launched in June or July.
As with the rest of Europe, the motor industry in the United Kingdom did not regularly make use of model years in the way common in the US, since cars were not as regularly updated or altered. Some exceptions existed; for instance in the 1950s and 1960s the Rootes Group deliberately copied American practice and performed annual small alterations to its key models such as the Hillman Minx and the Humber Super Snipe. However these were still not identified by model years but by Series numbers, sometimes with alphabetical designations (such as the Minx Series IIIA, IIIB and IIIC) to distinguish what were mostly cosmetic updates rather than mechanical or structural improvements. As in America, the British motor industry did generally announce new models (or updates to existing ones) in September. However this was the norm long before it became practice in the US and did not originate with the television season. Instead it began because the long-established practice in the manufacturing industries of the English Midlands, especially Coventry and Birmingham where the British car industry developed out of the established bicycle and machine tool trades, was to close factories and give workers a two-week holiday in August or September. This was used as a chance to renew tooling in the factory and was an ideal time to introduce new products which would begin production when the workers returned and the factory restarted. Thus the working year in the car industry ran from September to September. New or improved models would be announced in the summer and would be displayed at the British Motor Show which was held in October. Here they would be seen by the wider industry and buying public for the first time, just as the cars produced in the previous weeks began reaching the dealerships ready for sale. Therefore, car models intended for sale during, say, 1960, would be announced and displayed in the third quarter of 1959, with sales beginning before the end of the year, and any improvements intended for 1961 would be announced in September 1960 and displayed at the 1960 Motor Show in October.
This convention was not absolute; for instance the original Vauxhall Victor was officially announced in February 1957 with sales beginning later the same month, and subsequent additions and updates to the Victor range were all introduced in February - notably Vauxhall's factory was outside the traditional centre of the industry, being in Luton, and so did not follow the common working calendar. Being owned by General Motors, Vauxhall also generally made minor changes to its cars year by year, even referring to 'model years' in some of its literature, but these did not have the same official weight or significant to buyers as they did in America. During the 1960s British car makers began giving journalists access to upcoming models earlier in the year to get announcements out ahead of their rivals and clear of the busy September period. This developed into increasingly lavish and sophisticated media and marketing events happening earlier and earlier in the year. Changes to working practices, the in-roads made to the British market by car makers from other countries and the decline in market share by British firms finally led to the tradition of new models being introduced in September being abandoned, although the British Motor Show continued to be held in October.
=== VIN encoding ===
The standardized format of the vehicle identification number (VIN) used in the United States and Canada includes the model year of the vehicle as the 10th digit. The actual date that the vehicle was produced is not part of the VIN, but it is required to be shown on the vehicle safety certification label.
== Other products ==
In addition to automobiles, some other products that often have model years include:
== See also ==
Car model
Vehicle emission standard
== References == | Wikipedia/Model_year |
The Ford Model TT is a truck made by Ford. It was based on the Ford Model T, but with a longer wheelbase, and a heavier frame and rear axle, giving it a rating of 1 short ton (0.91 t).
== Production ==
When the first three units were produced in 1917, the Model TT was sold as a chassis with the buyer supplying a body. The price was $600. Starting in 1924, the truck was available with a factory-produced body. By 1926 the price had dropped to $325. In 1925, a hand-operated windshield wiper was added.
=== Military production ===
In his World Encyclopedia of Military Vehicles, author Pat Ware writes that: "During World War I, the Model T was ... standardized in the "light" class. The first truck, using a long-wheelbase chassis designated Model TT, was launched in 1917. Although Ford ... was a pacifist, he was ... happy to supply the US Army with more than 12,000 of these vehicles,..." and: "There was no civilian production of the Model Ts between 1917 and 1918."
Further on, Ware writes: "The Model T was widely used by the US and British armies during World War I as a staff car, ambulance, van and cargo truck, even as an artillery tractor, for which application the truck was fitted with twinned rear tyres." Many remained in service into the 1930s.
Below are the numbers of Model T trucks produced each year, not including Canadian production.
== Drivetrain ==
The rear axle of the TT has a worm drive and crown wheel, unlike the Model T's crown wheel and pinion. The worm is located at the end of the drive shaft and above the crown wheel. The wheelbase of the Model TT is 125 inches (3,175 mm), compared to 100 inches (2,540 mm) for the Model T. It was often equipped with an accessory gearbox, such as the Ruckstell or Jumbo gearboxes, which allow the truck to have intermediate gears between low and high, useful for hill climbing.
The Model TT was very durable for the time, but slow when compared to other trucks. With standard gearing, a speed of not more than 15 mph (24 km/h) was recommended, and with special gearing, a speed of not more than 22 mph (35 km/h) was recommended. Standard worm gear ratio is 7.25:1, and special gearing gives a ratio of 5.17:1. Because of this, accessory catalogs offered items to help give the Model TT more power.
It was replaced by the Ford Model AA truck in 1928.
== Gallery ==
== See also ==
Ford Model T Depot Hack
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Gunnell, John A. (2003). Standard Catalog of American Light-Duty Trucks. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-238-9.
== External links ==
Ford Model TT brochure from 1923 | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_TT |
The Ford Model T used a 177 cu in (2.9 L) sidevalve, reverse-flow cylinder head inline 4-cylinder engine. It was primarily a gasoline engine. It produced 20 hp (14.9 kW) for a top speed of 45 mph (72 km/h). It was built in-unit with the Model T's novel transmission (a planetary design), sharing the same lubricating oil.
The T engine was known for its simplicity, reliability, and economy. The engine remained in production for many years, and millions of units were produced. The engine design's lifespan exceeded that of the Model T vehicle itself, with industrial, marine, and military applications extending its production run. The T engine is on the Ward's 10 Best Engines of the 20th Century list.
== Fuel choices and fuel economy ==
The Model T engine was built as a gasoline engine. While not engineered specifically for multifuel ability, its simple, robust design allowed a modified engine to successfully run on a variety of combustible fuels including benzene, ethanol, or kerosene. According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had fuel economy on the order of 13–21 mpg‑US (16–25 mpg‑imp; 18–11 L/100 km).
== Carburetor and fuel system ==
The Ford Model T engine had one carburetor, a side-draft, single-venturi unit. Its choke and throttle valves were controlled manually; the latter was with a hand lever rather than a foot pedal. The carburetor had no accelerator pump. Various vendors supplied Ford with carburetors for the T engine, including Holley, Zenith, and Kingston.
During most of the T's production run, its 10 US gal (38 L; 8 imp gal) fuel tank was mounted to the frame beneath the front seat. Because Ford relied on gravity to feed fuel to the carburetor rather than a fuel pump, a Model T could not climb a steep hill when the fuel level was low. The solution was to climb steep hills in reverse. In 1926, the fuel tank was moved forward and upward, under the cowl, behind the dashboard on most models, which improved the gravity feed. An aftermarket fuel pump was a common modification made to the Ford's original spartan engine design. Even by the standards of the day, the engine was in many ways a half-manufacture when it came to thermal efficiency and other running characteristics which could lengthen the unit's life span and improve the car as a whole. The Model T components were made to wide tolerances to accommodate manufacturing techniques of the day to produce reliable devices, and in making these components, the Ford Motor Company engineers used, from a modern perspective, extremely high levels of over tolerance to assure endurance of the end product.
Since it was up to the end-user to finish what Ford's assembly line left unfinished, the Ford Model T gave birth to the modern aftermarket performance engineering market. Later, with the introduction of the Model A Ford's flathead V8 in the early 30's, and their ease of availability in the post-war 1940's and early 1950's at a price that was within the reach of teenagers, mating one to a salvageable example of a Model T or a Model A lacking this eight cylinder engine gave birth to Hot Rod culture in the early 40's.
== Internal design ==
The T engine was an inline-four, with all four cylinders cast into one engine block. Such a monobloc design was an uncommon practice when T production started in 1908. It lent itself to mass production, showing the Ford company's prescient focus on design for manufacturability. The head, however, was detachable, which not only aided Ford in manufacturing but also made valve jobs (cleaning, grinding, or replacement of the poppet valves) easier. The block and head were both of cast iron.
The engine's bore was 3+3⁄4 inches (95.25 mm) and its stroke was 4 inches (101.6 mm) even, for a total displacement of 177 cu in (2.9 L). The compression ratio was 3.98 for most engines; early engines were slightly greater. This value is low by modern standards but was typical for the era, making the engine forgiving of poor-quality, low-octane fuel and minimizing cranking effort at starting.
The valvetrain was a side valve (flathead) design.
The crankshaft had three main bearings.
== Cooling system ==
The T engine's cooling system reflected the T's simplicity design theme. The first few hundred Model Ts had a water pump, but it was eliminated early in production. Instead, Ford opted for a cheaper and more reliable thermosyphon system. Thermosyphon was a common engine-cooling method of the era. Hot water, being less dense, would rise to the top of the engine and up into the top of the radiator, descending to the bottom as it cooled, and back into the engine. (This was the direction of water flow in most cars which did have water pumps, until the introduction of crossflow radiator designs.) The thermosiphon system was susceptible to overheating if worked heavily, but served well for most Model T usage.
Many types of water pumps were available as aftermarket accessories.
== Ignition system ==
The Model T engine's ignition system used a flywheel-mounted magneto to produce the current necessary to produce a spark to initiate combustion. This current was distributed by the timer (analogous to a distributor in a modern vehicle) to one of the four trembler coils, one for each cylinder. The coil stepped up the voltage and discharged it to the spark plug in the cylinder. Ignition timing was adjusted manually by using the spark advance lever mounted on the steering column, which rotated the timer, advancing or retarding the ignition timing. A certain amount of skill and experience was required to find the optimal spark timing for any speed and load.
The magneto was the first Model T component to be assembled on an assembly line, and the method was copied to many other Model T production segments. The ignition system of the Fordson tractor was similar to that of the Model T.
== Electrical System ==
In the early years of Model T production, all engines were started with a hand crank. A battery could be used to supply ignition current for starting, since it could be difficult to hand-crank a very cold engine fast enough for the magneto to produce sufficient current. However, although all Model T's had a "BAT" (battery) position on the coil box switch and a corresponding terminal on the box, Ford did not supply or even encourage the use of a battery before 1919, when it introduced a battery-driven electric starter. Even this was not standard equipment for all models until sometime in 1926, the last year of production.
Most cars sold after 1919 were equipped with this starter, which was engaged by a small round foot-operated button switch on the floor. These cars included a battery and a generator for recharging it. In keeping with the goal of reliability and simplicity, the trembler coil and magneto ignition system was retained even on cars with the starter system.
When electric headlights were introduced in 1915, the magneto was upgraded to supply enough power for the lights and horn. If a Model T had an electric starter equipped, the upgraded electrical system would also be used to supply power to these items.
== Operation ==
Operating the T engine was not difficult after some experience, although the learning curve was longer than today's. The various manual control tasks (such as manual choke and spark advance) and the method of use (such as hand throttle) were typical for automobiles of the era, although they might seem more like farm tractor operation to most automobile drivers of today.
Before starting a Model T with the hand crank, the spark had to be manually retarded or the engine might "kick back". The crank handle was cupped in the palm, with the thumb tucked under the handle (not clasped over top of it), so that if the engine did kick back, the rapid reverse motion of the crank would throw the hand away from the handle, rather than violently twisting the wrist or breaking the thumb. Most Model T Fords had the choke operated by a wire emerging from the bottom of the radiator where it could be operated with the left hand. This was used to prime the engine while cranking the engine slowly; then the engine was started with a rapid pull of the crank handle. In good tune, an already-primed T engine only has to be cranked half a turn for it to successfully start.
The T's planetary transmission is famous for its differences from what later became the norm for car transmission operation. The 3 foot pedals are not used in the way later cars use their pedals. Operation is not difficult but requires "unlearning" habits used with later vehicles.
== Design changes over the years ==
The following major changes were made (listed by year):
1909: First model year. Water pump was discontinued; subsequent Model T engines used thermosyphoning to circulate the coolant.
1911: Valve covers were added.
1917: Higher head with larger water jacket.
1919: Engine starter introduced as an option.
1920: Lighter-weight rods and pistons.
1922: The cylinder casting was changed so a single valve cover could be used.
1926: An extra boss was added at the rear for two additional bolts stiffening the transmission.
1927: The carburetor throttle rod was re-routed over the engine.
== Production run ==
The T engine was produced continuously from September 27, 1908, through August 4, 1941, exactly 12,000 days. This makes it one of the longest engines in series production, especially considering that the specifications remained mostly unchanged for this entire duration. Its production run for the U.S. consumer market for passenger cars and pickups was shorter, being the 19 years' production run of the Model T itself for that market (1908 to 1927). But the engine continued to be produced and sold to various consumer, industrial, military, and marine markets throughout the world until 1941.
== Ford Model A engine ==
The engine used in the Model A was a water-cooled L-head inline four with a displacement of 201 cu in (3.3 L). This engine provided 40 hp (30 kW; 41 PS), but made substantially more torque, at 128 lb⋅ft (174 N⋅m) of torque. The bore and stroke were also enlarged from the original Model T's engine; measuring 3.9 in (99 mm) x 4.3 in (110 mm). There are no interchangeable parts between the Model T and Model A engines.
== See also ==
List of Ford engines
Pietenpol Sky Scout, a 1929-designed homebuilt aircraft using a Model T engine
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Pagé, Victor Wilfred (1916), The Model T Ford car, its construction, operation and repair, New York, New York, USA: Norman W. Henley, LCCN 18002807. Subtitle "A complete practical treatise explaining the operating principles of all parts of the Ford automobile, with complete instructions for driving and maintenance."{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
== Further reading ==
"Model T Ford Engine". Archived from the original on June 19, 2006. Retrieved July 17, 2006.
"Model T Ford Engine Blocks". Archived from the original on April 25, 2006. Retrieved July 17, 2006.
"General Model T engine specifications". Retrieved July 17, 2006. | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_T_engine |
The Ford Model Y is an automobile that was produced by Ford Britain, Ford SAF and Ford Germany from 1932 to 1937. It was the first Ford automobile specifically designed for markets outside the United States, replacing the Model A in Europe.
== Production locations ==
It was in production in England, where it is sometimes remembered as the "Ford Eight", reflecting its fiscal horsepower rating, from 1932 until September 1937,
The car was also produced in France (where it was known as the Ford 6 CV, despite actually falling within the 5CV French car tax band) from 1932 to 1934, and in Germany as the Ford Köln from 1933 to 1936.
Smaller numbers were assembled in Australia (where a coupé version was also produced), Ireland (branded as the Baby Ford), Japan, Latvia (branded as the Ford Junior) and in Spain nicknamed as the Ford Forito. Plans to build it in the U.S. were scrubbed when a cost accounting showed that it would only be slightly cheaper to build than the Ford Model B.
== The car ==
The car was powered by a 933 cc (56.9 cu in) 8 (RAC)hp Ford sidevalve engine. The little Ford was available in two- and four-door versions, sold as the 'Tudor' (a pun on 'two-door') and the 'Fordor' (Ford/four-door) respectively. Originally each body was also available in standard or better-equipped 'DeLuxe' trim levels, but with the introduction of the 10hp Model C in late 1934, also available in DeLuxe form, these better-equipped versions of the Model Y were dropped from sale. The Model Y was now built to a single specification that was essentially the same as the previous standard guise but with a small number of features carried over from the old DeLuxe and the model was named the Popular for marketing purposes. This standardisation allowed production of the Model Y to be increased while the production cost per car was decreased. Over the next 12 months improvements in the production process at Dagenham, further alterations to the specification and some minor components and the increasing sales of the Model C (which brought economies of scale for the parts shared with the Model Y/Popular) allowed the sale price of the car to be dropped further. In June 1935 Ford was able to announce that the Popular Tudor model would be sold for just £100, a price it would hold until July 1937. This was the first time a four-seater closed-bodied saloon car had sold in Britain for that price (the first British car to sell for £100, the 1931 Morris Minor SV, was a two-seater with a collapsible fabric roof and a wood-framed body).
The suspension was traditional Ford transverse leaf springs front and rear and the engine drove the rear wheels through a three-speed gearbox which, right from the start, featured synchromesh between the top two ratios. The maximum speed was just under 60 mph (95 km/h) and fuel consumption was 32 miles per imperial gallon (8.8 L/100 km; 27 mpg‑US).
Even by the standards of the time, the UK-built Ford 8, like its major competitor the Austin 7, was found noteworthy for its "almost unbelievable lack of brakes."
The Model Y also inspired copying by Morris Motors, with the Eight, and by Singer Motors, with the Bantam.
== Evolution ==
For the first 14 months the original model with a short radiator grille was produced, this is known as the "short rad". After this in October 1933 the "long rad" model, with its longer radiator grille and front bumper with the characteristic dip was produced. By gradually improving production efficiency and by simplifying the body design the cost of a "Popular" Model Y was reduced to £100, making it the cheapest true 4-seater saloon ever, although most customers were persuaded to pay extra for a less austere version. Both 4-door (Fordor) and 2-door (Tudor) saloons were produced and these could be had either with a fixed roof, or the slightly more expensive sliding "sun" roof.
== Additional body version ==
Also offered was an attractive 5 cwt van, which proved very popular with small businesses.
Ford did not produce an open-top car because it was thought that the chassis was too flexible, but several specialist coach builders produced a range of Model Y tourers.
== Commercial ==
=== Market reaction in Britain ===
Although of American design, the Model Y took the British market by storm, and when it was first introduced it made a major dent in the sales figures of Austin, Morris, Singer, and Hillman. It went on to take more than 50 per cent of the 8(RAC)HP sales.
=== Volumes ===
Some 175,000 Model Ys were produced worldwide (including 153,117 in Great Britain and 11,121 in Germany) and the 'Y' and 'C' Register contains approximately 1,250 survivors.
== Ford Model C ==
In Britain the larger and faster 10(RAC)hp Model C never sold in such great numbers as the Model Y although there was a very attractive factory-produced tourer. In 1935 the styling was enhanced with some small modifications and the model was designated the CX.
In Germany the position was reversed. The locally produced Ford Model C was branded as the Ford Eifel, and remained in production for four years after the manufacturer had given up on the locally produced Type Y, the Ford Köln. The Köln was outcompeted by the Opel 1.0/1.2 litre, and only 11,121 Kölns were produced, while a more respectable 62,495 Eifels were manufactured between 1935 and 1940. There was never an 8hp Vauxhall equivalent to the Opel offering.
== See also ==
Eugene Turenne Gregorie
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Sam Roberts (2001). Ford Model Y. Veloce Publishing PLC. p. 224. ISBN 1-901295-88-5.
== External links ==
http://www.fordyandcmodelregister.co.uk/ | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_Y |
The Ford Model K is an upscale automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company. Introduced in 1906, the “K” replaced the earlier Model B. It was built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. The Model K was aimed at the top end of the market and featured an inline-6 (the only Ford six until 1941) giving 40 hp (30 kW). In typical Ford fashion, the Model K was the lowest priced six cylinder car, with among the best horsepower to weight ratio in its class. The wheelbase for 1906 was 114 in (2,896 mm). For 1907 and 08, the Model was significantly improved with a longer wheelbase (120 inch), 20% more h.p., and stronger frame. It was also offered in both touring and runabout bodies.
Contrary to popular folklore, the Model K was a good seller for Ford Motor Company. In 1906, the first year it was offered, the Model K produced over 85 percent of Ford Motor Company's new car profit (1906 Ford Motor Company internal audit records).
In 1907, the second sales year of the Model K, almost 500 examples were sold, making it the best-selling six-cylinder model in the world.
As period journals reported, Ford Motor Company went in another direction, moving to one chassis, a mid-priced car, the Model T, leaving the multi-line business model used by most auto makers of the period. However, sales and profits from the Model K helped Ford Motor Company become the largest automaker in number of sales in 1907, and along with the Model N, was the only Ford model sold through three model years (1906–1908) prior to the advent of the Model T.
== References ==
David L. Lewis (2005). 100 Years of Ford. Publications International. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-7853-7988-6.
"Early Ford models 1903–1908". Retrieved August 20, 2006. | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_K |
The Ford Model C is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company. Introduced in late 1904, the Model C was Ford's lower priced 1905 model. The first sales were in October 1904, with most sold during the 1905 calendar year. Horace Dodge made major changes to the design of the engine, rear axle and other parts of the car. The Model C used the same 10 hp motor the 1904 Model A was equipped with. Model C had a longer wheelbase than the earlier Model A. Built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, it was the entry-level car in the Ford model lineup, slotting below the upscale Model B. Production ended in 1905 with approximately 1,000 cars produced (Canada production included). About 160-170 Model C were assembled in Canada at Ford's new Ford Canada location in Walkerville. Due to the Dodge Brothers owning a ten percent share of the company, as well as supplying many parts and assemblies, the Model C took to the road with Dodge-built engines and other key assemblies.
The Model C engine was an opposed twin, 10 hp car, with a claimed top speed of 30 mph (48 km/h). The Model C two-seater, sometimes marketed as a "doctor's car," sold for $850 ($29,747 in 2024 dollars ), compared to the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout at US$650, Western's Gale Model A at US$500, and the Success at a low US$250. It offered a four-seater option for an additional $100. The top also cost extra: rubber $30, leather $50.
Although the Model C had a protruding front "hood," like a modern car, instead of the flat-front Model A, this was largely ornamental — the engine remained under the seat (the gas tank was under the hood).
The Model C was the first vehicle to be built at Ford Motor Company of Canada.
== References ==
== Sources ==
Grist, Peter (2017). Dodge Dynamite! 50 Years of Dodge Muscle Cars. Dorchester, UK: Veloce Publishing. ISBN 978-1-787110-93-9.
== Further reading ==
Lewis, David L. (2005). 100 Years of Ford. Publications International. p. 18. ISBN 0-7853-7988-6.
Hyde, Charles K (2003). Riding The Rollercoaster A History Of The Chrysler Corporation. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3091-6.
"Early Ford models 1903–1908". Retrieved August 20, 2006. | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_C |
In finance, the T-model is a formula that states the returns earned by holders of a company's stock in terms of accounting variables obtainable from its financial statements. The T-model connects fundamentals with investment return, allowing an analyst to make projections of financial performance and turn those projections into a required return that can be used in investment selection.
== Formula ==
Mathematically the T-model is as follows:
T
=
g
+
R
O
E
−
g
P
B
+
Δ
P
B
P
B
(
1
+
g
)
{\displaystyle {\mathit {T}}={\mathit {g}}+{\frac {{\mathit {R}}OE-{\mathit {g}}}{{\mathit {P}}B}}+{\frac {\Delta PB}{PB}}{\mathit {(}}1+g)}
where
T
{\displaystyle T}
= total return from the stock over a period (appreciation + "distribution yield" — see below);
g
{\displaystyle g}
= the growth rate of the company's book value during the period;
P
B
{\displaystyle PB}
= the ratio of price / book value at the beginning of the period.
R
O
E
{\displaystyle ROE}
= the company's return on equity, i.e. earnings during the period / book value;
== Derivation ==
The return a shareholder receives from owning a stock is:
(
2
)
T
=
D
P
+
Δ
P
P
{\displaystyle (2){\mathit {T}}={\frac {\mathit {D}}{\mathit {P}}}+{\frac {\Delta P}{P}}}
Where
P
{\displaystyle {\mathit {P}}}
= beginning stock price,
Δ
P
{\displaystyle \Delta P}
= price appreciation or decline, and
D
{\displaystyle {\mathit {D}}}
= distributions, i.e. dividends plus or minus the cash effect of company share issuance/buybacks. Consider a company whose sales and profits are growing at rate g. The company funds its growth by investing in plant and equipment and working capital so that its asset base also grows at g, and debt/equity ratio is held constant, so that net worth grows at g. Then the amount of earnings retained for reinvestment will have to be gBV. After paying dividends, there may be an excess:
X
C
F
=
E
−
D
i
v
−
g
B
V
{\displaystyle {\mathit {X}}CF={\mathit {E}}-{\mathit {D}}iv-{\mathit {g}}BV\,}
where XCF = excess cash flow, E = earnings, Div = dividends, and BV = book value. The company may have money left over after paying dividends and financing growth, or it may have a shortfall. In other words, XCF may be positive (company has money with which it can repurchase shares) or negative (company must issue shares).
Assume that the company buys or sells shares in accordance with its XCF, and that a shareholder sells or buys enough shares to maintain her proportionate holding of the company's stock. Then the portion of total return due to distributions can be written as
D
i
v
P
+
X
C
F
P
{\displaystyle {\frac {{\mathit {D}}iv}{\mathit {P}}}+{\frac {{\mathit {X}}CF}{\mathit {P}}}}
. Since
R
O
E
=
E
B
V
{\displaystyle {\mathit {R}}OE={\frac {\mathit {E}}{{\mathit {B}}V}}}
and
P
B
=
P
B
V
{\displaystyle {\mathit {P}}B={\frac {\mathit {P}}{{\mathit {B}}V}}}
this simplifies to:
(
3
)
D
P
=
R
O
E
−
g
P
B
{\displaystyle (3){\frac {\mathit {D}}{\mathit {P}}}={\frac {{\mathit {R}}OE-{\mathit {g}}}{{\mathit {P}}B}}}
Now we need a way to write the other portion of return, that due to price change, in terms of PB. For notational clarity, temporarily replace PB with A and BV with B. Then P
≡
{\displaystyle \equiv }
AB.
We can write changes in P as:
P
+
Δ
P
=
(
A
+
Δ
A
)
(
B
+
Δ
B
)
=
A
B
+
B
Δ
A
+
A
Δ
B
+
Δ
A
Δ
B
{\displaystyle {\mathit {P}}+\Delta {\mathit {P}}=({\mathit {A}}+\Delta {\mathit {A}})({\mathit {B}}+\Delta {\mathit {B}})\,={\mathit {A}}B+{\mathit {B}}\Delta {\mathit {A}}+{\mathit {A}}\Delta {\mathit {B}}+\Delta {\mathit {A}}\Delta {\mathit {B}}\,}
Subtracting P
≡
{\displaystyle \equiv }
AB from both sides and then dividing by P
≡
{\displaystyle \equiv }
AB, we get:
Δ
P
P
=
Δ
B
B
+
Δ
A
A
(
1
+
Δ
B
B
)
{\displaystyle {\frac {\Delta P}{P}}={\frac {\Delta {\mathit {B}}}{\mathit {B}}}+{\frac {\Delta {\mathit {A}}}{\mathit {A}}}\left({\mathit {1}}+{\frac {\Delta {\mathit {B}}}{\mathit {B}}}\right)}
A is PB; moreover, we recognize that
Δ
B
B
=
g
{\displaystyle {\frac {\Delta {\mathit {B}}}{\mathit {B}}}={\mathit {g}}}
, so it turns out that:
(
4
)
Δ
P
P
=
g
+
Δ
P
B
P
B
(
1
+
g
)
{\displaystyle (4){\frac {\Delta P}{P}}={\mathit {g}}+{\frac {\Delta PB}{PB}}{\mathit {(}}1+g)}
Substituting (3) and (4) into (2) gives (1), the T-Model.
== Cash-flow variation ==
In 2003, Estep published a version of the T-model that does not rely on estimates of return on equity, but rather is driven by cash items: cash flow from the income statement, and asset and liability accounts from the balance sheet. The cash-flow T-model is:
T
=
C
F
P
+
Φ
g
+
Δ
P
B
P
B
(
1
+
g
)
{\displaystyle {\mathit {T}}={\frac {{\mathit {C}}F}{\mathit {P}}}+{\boldsymbol {\Phi }}g+{\frac {\Delta PB}{PB}}{\mathit {(}}1+g)}
where
C
F
=
c
a
s
h
f
l
o
w
{\displaystyle {\mathit {C}}F=cashflow\,}
(net income + depreciation + all other non-cash charges),
{\displaystyle {\mbox{(net income + depreciation + all other non-cash charges),}}\,}
and
Φ
=
M
k
t
C
a
p
−
g
r
o
s
s
a
s
s
e
t
s
+
t
o
t
a
l
l
i
a
b
i
l
i
t
i
e
s
M
k
t
C
a
p
{\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {\Phi }}={\frac {{\mathit {M}}ktCap-grossassets+totalliabilities}{{\mathit {M}}ktCap}}}
He provided a proof that this model is mathematically identical to the original T-model, and gives identical results under certain simplifying assumptions about the accounting used. In practice, when used as a practical forecasting tool it may be preferable to the standard T-model, because the specific accounting items used as input values are generally more robust (that is, less susceptible to variation due to differences in accounting methods), hence possibly easier to estimate.
== Relationship to other models ==
Some familiar valuation formulas and techniques can be understood as simplified cases of the T-model. For example, consider the case of a stock selling exactly at book value (PB = 1) at the beginning and end of the holding period. The third term of the T-Model becomes zero, and the remaining terms simplify to:
T
=
g
+
R
O
E
−
g
1
=
R
O
E
{\displaystyle {\mathit {T}}={\mathit {g}}+{\frac {{\mathit {R}}OE-{\mathit {g}}}{1}}=ROE}
Since
R
O
E
=
E
B
V
{\displaystyle {\mathit {R}}OE={\frac {\mathit {E}}{{\mathit {B}}V}}}
and we are assuming in this case that
B
V
=
P
{\displaystyle {\mathit {B}}V={\mathit {P}}\,}
,
T
=
E
P
{\displaystyle {\mathit {T}}={\frac {\mathit {E}}{\mathit {P}}}}
, the familiar earnings yield. In other words, earnings yield would be a correct estimate of expected return for a stock that always sells at its book value; in that case, the expected return would also equal the company's ROE.
Consider the case of a company that pays the portion of earnings not required to finance growth, or put another way, growth equals the reinvestment rate 1 – D/E. Then if PB doesn't change:
T
=
g
+
R
O
E
−
R
O
E
(
1
−
D
/
E
)
P
B
{\displaystyle {\mathit {T}}={\mathit {g}}+{\frac {{\mathit {R}}OE-{\mathit {R}}OE(1-D/E)}{{\mathit {P}}B}}}
Substituting E/BV for ROE, this turns into:
T
=
g
+
D
P
{\displaystyle {\mathit {T}}={\mathit {g}}+{\frac {D}{\mathit {P}}}}
This is the standard Gordon "yield plus growth" model. It will be a correct estimate of T if PB does not change and the company grows at its reinvestment rate.
If PB is constant, the familiar price–earnings ratio can be written as:
P
E
=
R
O
E
−
g
R
O
E
(
T
−
g
)
{\displaystyle {\frac {\mathit {P}}{\mathit {E}}}={\frac {{\mathit {R}}OE-{\mathit {g}}}{{\mathit {R}}OE({\mathit {T}}-{\mathit {g}})}}}
From this relationship we recognize immediately that P–E cannot be related to growth by a simple rule of thumb such as the so-called "PEG ratio"
P
/
E
g
{\displaystyle {\frac {{\mathit {P}}/E}{g}}}
; it also depends on ROE and the required return, T.
The T-model is also closely related to the P/B-ROE model of Wilcox
== Use ==
When ex post values for growth, price/book, etc. are plugged in, the T-Model gives a close approximation of actually realized stock returns.
Unlike some proposed valuation formulas, it has the advantage of being correct in a mathematical sense (see derivation); however, this by no means guarantees that it will be a successful stock-picking tool.
Still, it has advantages over commonly used fundamental valuation techniques such as price–earnings or the simplified dividend discount model: it is mathematically complete, and each connection between company fundamentals and stock performance is explicit so that the user can see where simplifying assumptions have been made.
Some of the practical difficulties involved with financial forecasts stem from the many vicissitudes possible in the calculation of earnings, the numerator in the ROE term. With an eye toward making forecasting more robust, in 2003 Estep published a version of the T-Model driven by cash items: cash flow, gross assets, and total liabilities.
Note that all "fundamental valuation methods" differ from economic models such as the capital asset pricing model and its various descendants; fundamental models attempt to forecast return from a company's expected future financial performance, whereas CAPM-type models regard expected return as the sum of a risk-free rate plus a premium for exposure to return variability.
== See also ==
Residual income valuation
Clean surplus accounting
== Notes ==
== Further reading ==
Asikoglu, Yaman and Metin R. Ercan, "Inflation Flow-Through and Stock Prices," Journal of Portfolio Management, Spring 1992
Erzegovesi, Luca, "Come impostare la previsione dei rendimenti azionari: il T-model," Economia & Management 1988, v. 2, p. 93–104
Estep, Tony, "Cash Flows, Asset Values, and Investment Returns: Brief Summary", Banc of America Capital Management, March 2003
Wilcox, Jarrod and Philips, Thomas K., "The P/B-ROE Model Revisited" (March 10, 2004)
Yamaguchi, Katsunari "Supply-side Estimate of Expected Equity Return on Industrial Japan", Security Analysts Journal, September 2005 | Wikipedia/T-model |
The Ford Model C Ten is a car that was built by Ford UK between 1934 and 1937. The Ten moniker signifies its 10 British fiscal horsepower. The car was also assembled in Spain (Barcelona) between 1934 and 1936. The German version produced in the same period was named the Ford Eifel.
The car used an enlarged version of the side valve engine fitted to the Ford Model Y; it was increased to a capacity of 1172 cc by increasing the bore from 56.6 mm to 63.5 mm but keeping the stroke at 92.5 mm. A standard engine would produce 30 bhp (22 kW) at 4000 rpm. This engine became a favourite for many engine tuners post-WWII and gave a start to several sports car makers including Lotus Cars, and remained in production until 1962. Suspension was by the Ford system of transverse leaf springs with rigid axles front and rear, a system little changed since the Model T. A three speed gearbox was fitted.
A four-seat tourer, now much sought after, joined the saloons in mid 1935 and a de-luxe version, the CX, with chromium-plated trim was available from late 1935 to early 1937.
The car could reach 70 mph (110 km/h) and return 35 miles (56 km) to an (Imperial) gallon.
The Model C Ten's engine was also used in the limited-trial Ausfod automobile, manufactured in Manchester from 1947 to 1948.
== The Model C in Australia ==
The Model C was released in Australia in 1935 and was offered in roadster, coupe, saloon, van and roadster utility bodystyles.
== References ==
== External links ==
http://www.fordyandcmodelregister.co.uk/ | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_C_Ten |
The NZR RM class Model T Ford railcar was a type of rail motor that operated on New Zealand's national rail network. Only two were built, classified as RM 4 and RM 5, and they were experimental railcars designed in an attempt to offer improved passenger services on quiet country branch lines that served regions with small populations.
== Technical details ==
The engine and transmission used for Ford Model T cars served as the basis of these railcars, which came to resemble a red box on wheels. The passenger compartment was a mere eleven ft (3.35 m) long and seven ft (2.13 m) wide and seated eleven plus the driver. At the front of the railcar, a small front hood extended out from the boxy compartment and housed the engine, and from the bonnet hung large pannier bags for luggage. The railcar weighed two and a half long tons (2.80 short tons; 2.54 t), ran on four wheels, and could reach speeds of up to 30 mph (48 km/h), a speed that was relatively fast for country branch lines of the time. It was designed so that one person could operate it rather than three that were required for a conventional carriage train.
== Operation ==
=== Greytown Branch ===
After being built in 1925–26 at the Hutt Workshops in Petone, the railcars were sent to the Greytown Branch in the Wairarapa for trials. The Greytown Branch was a short line that provided a link between the town of Greytown and the Wairarapa Line, which bypassed the town by some four kilometres. Services ran from Greytown to connect with services on the Wairarapa Line at the junction in Woodside, but they were woefully underpatronised; often, the steam locomotive working the service would pull just a guard's van and a single passenger carriage carrying a handful of passengers. The costs to operate such a service meant that the line made a significant financial loss, but it was hoped that the small Model T Ford railcars would slash operating costs while providing a satisfactory service for the travellers who did use the line. Unfortunately, they did not prove as successful or as popular as hoped, so, after their trial period, steam-hauled carriage trains were reinstated for all services and the railcars were sent to work in Southland.
=== Southland branches ===
In Southland, the Model T Ford railcars were assigned to the Waikaia and the Wyndham (Glenham) branches and began operating in late May 1926. These two lines were similar in some ways to the Greytown Branch; although they did not have multiple shuttle services to connect with mainline trains, they served small towns with insufficient demand for locomotive-hauled carriage passenger trains. Previously, the two lines had been served by mixed trains that carried both passengers and freight, and as they had to load and unload freight along the way, trip times were slow and thus unpopular. It was hoped the Model T Ford railcars would rejuvenate traffic and provide some measure of profitability, especially on the section of the Wyndham Branch from Wyndham to Glenham, which was so underutilised that it was facing closure.
The Model T Ford railcars worked on the two branch lines for the latter half of the 1920s, but not to any notable degree of success. This was in part due to their wheel arrangement; bogies give a more comfortable ride than the two separate axles used by these particular railcars. The railcars were also prone to overheating as the luggage bags hung from the bonnet blocked the motor's ventilation, and this led some members of the public to nickname the railcars "tea pots" or "coffee pots". Other nicknames were "glasshouses" and "pie carts". On the Waikaia Branch, the Model T Ford railcars were unpopular with the local residents and were neither successful themselves nor able to generate enough traffic to warrant replacement with a more popular carriage service. On the Wyndham Branch, they failed to achieve the desired success as well, and were unable to keep the section from Wyndham to Glenham open. The line to Glenham was closed on 14 July 1930, and the railcars were removed from service the next year. Their retirement meant that the numbers RM 4 and RM 5 were free to be re-used later – in 1936 they were allocated to the first two Wairarapa railcars, the second truly successful railcar type in New Zealand (after the Midland class).
== Preservation ==
A replica was built by the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway and is a popular attraction. Its popularity is enhanced by the fact that while Model T Ford railcars and railbuses of various types were built around the world, it is one of only two replicas in the world. During summer and other holiday seasons, it runs services from Pleasant Point station multiple times daily. The railcar was given the number RM 4 by the Railway and was built between 1981 and 1999 by volunteers.
Recently, the body of Model R Ford railcar, RM 5 (not to be confused with Wairarapa railcar, RM 5) was discovered on a property in Southland. In 2018 it was gifted to the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway and was moved there soon after. There are currently no plans associated with RM 5. The final resting place for RM 4 is unknown.
== References ==
=== Bibliography ===
== External links ==
Pahiatua Railcar Society: Early New Zealand Railcars - the Model T Fords are featured under the heading "RM 4 and 5"
Pleasant Point Museum and Railway, including an article about their Model T Ford railcar replica
Another photo of the preserved Model T Ford railcar, from an article about the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway | Wikipedia/NZR_RM_class_(Model_T_Ford) |
The Ford Model A (also colloquially called the A-Model Ford or the A, and A-bone among hot rodders and customizers) is the Ford Motor Company's second market success, replacing the venerable Model T which had been produced for 18 years. It was first produced on October 20, 1927, but not introduced until December 2. This new Model A (a previous model had used the name in 1903–04) was designated a 1928 model and was available in four standard colors.
By February 4, 1929, one million Model A's had been sold, and by July 24, two million. The range of body styles ran from the Tudor at US$500 (in grey, green, or black) ($9,156 in 2024 dollars) to the town car with a dual cowl at US$1,200 ($21,974 in 2024 dollars ). In March 1930, Model A sales hit three million, and there were nine body styles available.
Model A production ended in March 1932, after 4,858,644 had been made in all body styles. Its successor was the Model B, which featured an updated inline four-cylinder engine, as well as the Model 18, which introduced Ford's new flathead (sidevalve) V8 engine.
== Features ==
Prices for the Model A ranged from US$385 for a roadster to US$1,400 for the town car. The engine was a water-cooled L-head inline four with a displacement of 201 cu in (3.3 L). This engine provided 40 hp (30 kW; 41 PS). Top speed was around 65 mph (105 km/h). The Model A had a 103.5 in (2,630 mm) wheelbase with a final drive ratio of 3.77:1. The transmission was a conventional unsynchronized three-speed sliding-gear manual with a single speed reverse. The Model A had four-wheel mechanical drum brakes.
The Model A came in a wide variety of styles including coupes (standard and deluxe), business coupe, sports coupe, roadster coupes (standard and deluxe), convertible cabriolet, convertible sedan, phaetons (standard and deluxe), Tudor sedans (standard and deluxe), town car, Fordors (five-window standard, three-window deluxe), Victoria, town sedan, station wagon, taxicab, truck, and commercial. The very rare special coupe started production around March 1928 and ended in mid-1929.
The Model A was the first Ford to use the standard set of driver controls with conventional clutch and brake pedals, throttle, and gearshift. Previous Fords used controls that had become uncommon to drivers of other makes. The Model A's fuel was situated in the cowl, between the engine compartment's fire wall and the dash panel. It had a visual fuel gauge, and the fuel flowed to the carburetor by gravity. A rear-view mirror was optional. In cooler climates, owners could purchase an aftermarket cast iron unit to place over the exhaust manifold to provide heat to the cab. A small door provided adjustment of the amount of hot air entering the cab. The Model A was the first car to have safety glass in the windshield.
The Soviet company GAZ, which started as a joint venture between Ford and the Soviet Union, made a licensed version from 1932–1936.
In Europe, where in some countries cars were taxed according to engine size, Ford in the UK manufactured the Model A with a smaller displacement engine of 2,043 cc (124.7 cu in), providing a claimed output of 28 hp (21 kW; 28 PS). However, this equated to a British fiscal horsepower of 14.9 hp (11.1 kW; 15.1 PS) (compared to the 24 hp (18 kW; 24 PS) of the larger engine) and attracted a punitive annual car tax levy of £1 per fiscal hp in the UK. It, therefore, was expensive to own and too heavy and uneconomical to achieve volume sales, so it was unable to compete in the newly developing mass market while also too crude to compete as a luxury product. European manufactured Model As failed to achieve the sales success in Europe that would greet their smaller successor in Britain and Germany.
== Development history ==
From the mid-1910s through the early 1920s, Ford dominated the automotive market with its Model T. However, during the mid-1920s, this dominance eroded as competitors, especially the various General Motors divisions, caught up with Ford's mass production system and began to better Ford in some areas, especially by offering more powerful engines, new convenience features, or cosmetic customization.
Edsel Ford and Ford's sales force recognized the threat and advised Henry to respond to it. Initially, he resisted, but the T's sagging market share finally forced him to admit a replacement was needed. When he finally agreed to begin development of this new model, he focused on the mechanical aspects and on what today is called design for manufacturability (DFM), which he had always strongly embraced and for which the Model T production system was famous. Although ultimately successful, the development of the Model A included many problems that had to be resolved. For example, the die stamping of parts from sheet steel, which the Ford company had led to new heights of development with the Model T production system, was something Henry had always been ambivalent about; it had brought success, but he felt that it was not the best choice for durability. He was determined that the Model A would rely more on drop forgings than the Model T, but his ideas to improve the DFM of forging did not prove practical. Eventually, Ford's engineers persuaded him to relent, lest the Model A's production cost force up its retail price too much.
It was during the period from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s that the limits of the first generation of mass production, epitomized by the Model T production system's rigidity, became apparent. The era of "flexible mass production" had begun.
== Legacy ==
The Model A was well-represented in the media of the era since it was one of the most common cars. Model kits remain available from hobby shops as stock cars or hot rods. High-quality die-cast Model A's are represented in 1/24 scale by the Danbury Mint 1931 roadster and the Franklin Mint 1930 Tudor sedan.
Several models have obtained particular fame. The Mean Green Machine, a green and black 1931 Tudor sedan, has been a staple of University of North Texas football games and special events since 1974, maintained by the spirit organization Talons since the 1980s. The Ramblin' Wreck, a 1930 sports coupe, is the official mascot of the student body at the Georgia Institute of Technology and appears at sporting events and student body functions. Ala Kart, a customized 1929 roadster pickup built by George Barris, won two straight "America's Most Beautiful Roadster" awards at the Oakland Roadster Show before making numerous film and television appearances. Between October 1992 and December 1994, Hector Quevedo, along with his son Hugo, drove a 1928 Model A 22,000 mi (35,406 km) from his home in Punta Arenas, Chile to Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. The car required minimal service, including a flat tire and transmission work in Nicaragua, and is now housed in the Henry Ford Museum. A 1930 Model A, used by the gangster John Dillinger to escape federal agents in 1934, was sold at auction in 2010 for $165,000.
== Jenny Railcars ==
The West Side Lumber Company of California converted several Model As into railcars which could carry 12 people. A few still see regular service on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, also in California, alongside Shays Nos. 10 and 15.
== Gallery ==
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Hounshell, David A. (1984), From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States, Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-2975-8, LCCN 83016269, OCLC 1104810110
Sloan, Alfred P. (1964), McDonald, John (ed.), My Years with General Motors, Garden City, NY, US: Doubleday, LCCN 64011306, OCLC 802024. Republished in 1990 with a new introduction by Peter Drucker (ISBN 978-0385042352).
Sorensen, Charles E. (1956), My Forty Years with Ford, New York: W. W. Norton, LCCN 56010854, OCLC 912748. Various republications, including ISBN 9780814332795.
Gauld, Graham. "The Ford Motor Company", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobile, Volume 6, pp. 681–700. London: Phoebus, 1974.
== Further reading ==
Henry, Leslie R. (2013). How to Restore the Model A Ford. Vermont: Echo Point Books & Media, LLC. ISBN 978-1626549418.
== External links ==
Model A Ford Reference Sheet, Owners Manual, and Help
Model A Ford Club of America - [1]
Model A Restorers Club - [2]
Ford Model AA Truck Club - [3]
A-Ford Club Nederland - [4]
Follow Henry As We Tour The Long Beach Assembly Plant circa 1930
Ford Model A Assembly Plant in Edgewater NJ
Fordbarn, An active forum for discussion about the Model A Ford
365 Days of A, One man's quest to drive a Ford Model A for an entire year.
1930 Model A sales brochure | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_A_(1927–1931) |
The original Ford Model A is the first car produced by the Ford Motor Company, beginning production in 1903. Ernest Pfennig, a Chicago dentist, became the first owner of a Model A on July 23, 1903; 1,750 cars were made in 1903 and 1904 at the Ford Mack Avenue Plant, a modest rented wood-frame building on Detroit's East Side, and Ford's first facility. The Model A was replaced by the Ford Model C during 1904 with some sales overlap.
The car came as a two-seater runabout for $800 (equivalent to $28,000 in 2024) or the $900 four-seater tonneau model with an option to add a top. The horizontal-mounted flat-2, situated amidships of the car, produced 8 hp (6 kW). A planetary transmission was fitted with two forward speeds and reverse, a Ford signature later seen on the Ford Model T. The car weighed 1,240 lb (562 kg) and could reach a top speed of 28 mph (45 km/h). It had a 72-inch (1.8 m) wheelbase and sold for a base price of US$750. Options included a rear tonneau with two seats and a rear door for $100, a rubber roof for $30 or a leather roof for $50. Band brakes were used on the rear wheels. However, it was $150 more than its most direct competitor, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, so did not sell as well.
The company had spent almost its entire $28,000 initial investment funds ($979,896 in 2024 dollars ) with only $223.65 left in its bank account when the first Model A was sold. The success of this car model generated a profit for the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford's first successful business.
Although Ford advertised the Model A as the "most reliable machine in the world", it suffered from many problems common to vehicles of the era, including overheating and slipping transmission bands. The Model A was sold only in red by the factory, though some were later repainted in other colors.
== Ford Model AC ==
1904 Model A cars were equipped with the larger, 10 horsepower (7.5 kW) engine of the Model C and were sold as the Model AC. The Model AC can be visually distinguished from the Model A by its larger six-by-three-bar radiator.
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Kimes, Beverly Rae; Clark, Jr., Henry Austin (1989). Standard Catalog of America Cars: 1805–1942 (2nd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-111-0. | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_A_(1903–04) |
The Ford Model N is an automobile produced by Ford Motor Company; it was introduced in 1906 as a successor to the Models A and C as the company's inexpensive, entry-level line. It was built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant.
The Model N diverged from its predecessors in that it was a front-engine car with a four-cylinder engine. The 15 hp straight-four drove the rear wheels via a long shaft. This was also the first American car to use vanadium steel. The car had a wheelbase of 84 in (2,100 mm).
A successful model, 7000 cars were made before production ended in 1908. At US$500, the car was viewed as highly affordable at the time; by contrast, the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout went for $650, Western's Gale Model A was $500, the Brush Runabout $485, the Black $375, and the Success for $250. Maroon was the only factory color for the Model N.
== Model R ==
The Model R was a higher trim level of the Model N with a larger body, wheels covered by full fenders, running boards, and oil lamps. Model R was $650, $150 above the $500 base Model N. The Model R was a 1907 model year offering, and 2500 were sold. Color was primarily dark green, with leather seats, brass fixtures, and a fuel tank holding 8 US gal (6.7 imp gal; 30 L). Other differences from the Model N included 30-inch tires, a rounded trunk, and a McCord mechanical oiler, rather than the Model N-style exhaust pressure oiler.
== Model S ==
Two Model S styles were produced, a runabout and a roadster. The S runabout first appeared late in the 1907 model year, and was similar to the Model R, selling for $50 less than the R, at $700. Both models were sold for a short time before the R was discontinued for model/fiscal year 1908. The S roadster, like the R, had fenders attached to running boards, and a mechanical oiler. Differences from the R included Model N-style 28-inch tires and the pointed trunk.
The Model S Roadster was based on the same chassis as models N, R, and S runabout before it. Making its appearance during Ford fiscal/model year 1908, the S Roadster had an enclosed cowl, full fenders and fender aprons, and a third "rumble" seat. Like R and S runabouts, the SR used a McCord pressure oiler. Like Model R, the S Roadster was equipped with 30-inch tires. The S Roadster and Model K Roadster were the last models produced during the summer of 1908 as Ford retooled and prepared for the advent of the Model T. The S Roadster sold for $750. Extras such as a convertible top, gas lamps, and umbrella holders were available. 3,750 S Roadsters were sold between 1908 and 1909.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
David L. Lewis (2005). 100 Years of Ford. Publications International. ISBN 0-7853-7988-6.
"Early Ford models 1903–1908". Retrieved August 20, 2006. | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_S |
The Ford Model N is an automobile produced by Ford Motor Company; it was introduced in 1906 as a successor to the Models A and C as the company's inexpensive, entry-level line. It was built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant.
The Model N diverged from its predecessors in that it was a front-engine car with a four-cylinder engine. The 15 hp straight-four drove the rear wheels via a long shaft. This was also the first American car to use vanadium steel. The car had a wheelbase of 84 in (2,100 mm).
A successful model, 7000 cars were made before production ended in 1908. At US$500, the car was viewed as highly affordable at the time; by contrast, the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout went for $650, Western's Gale Model A was $500, the Brush Runabout $485, the Black $375, and the Success for $250. Maroon was the only factory color for the Model N.
== Model R ==
The Model R was a higher trim level of the Model N with a larger body, wheels covered by full fenders, running boards, and oil lamps. Model R was $650, $150 above the $500 base Model N. The Model R was a 1907 model year offering, and 2500 were sold. Color was primarily dark green, with leather seats, brass fixtures, and a fuel tank holding 8 US gal (6.7 imp gal; 30 L). Other differences from the Model N included 30-inch tires, a rounded trunk, and a McCord mechanical oiler, rather than the Model N-style exhaust pressure oiler.
== Model S ==
Two Model S styles were produced, a runabout and a roadster. The S runabout first appeared late in the 1907 model year, and was similar to the Model R, selling for $50 less than the R, at $700. Both models were sold for a short time before the R was discontinued for model/fiscal year 1908. The S roadster, like the R, had fenders attached to running boards, and a mechanical oiler. Differences from the R included Model N-style 28-inch tires and the pointed trunk.
The Model S Roadster was based on the same chassis as models N, R, and S runabout before it. Making its appearance during Ford fiscal/model year 1908, the S Roadster had an enclosed cowl, full fenders and fender aprons, and a third "rumble" seat. Like R and S runabouts, the SR used a McCord pressure oiler. Like Model R, the S Roadster was equipped with 30-inch tires. The S Roadster and Model K Roadster were the last models produced during the summer of 1908 as Ford retooled and prepared for the advent of the Model T. The S Roadster sold for $750. Extras such as a convertible top, gas lamps, and umbrella holders were available. 3,750 S Roadsters were sold between 1908 and 1909.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
David L. Lewis (2005). 100 Years of Ford. Publications International. ISBN 0-7853-7988-6.
"Early Ford models 1903–1908". Retrieved August 20, 2006. | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_N |
The Ford Model B is an upscale touring car (with polished wood and brass trim) that was introduced in 1904 by Ford, built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. It was Ford's first car to use the front-engine layout, with a large 24 hp 4-cylinder engine positioned at the front behind a conventional radiator. The smaller Model A-derived Model C positioned its flat 2-cylinder motor under the seat.
Priced at $2,000 (equivalent to $71,000 today), the Model B was a high-end car. Produced for three years, sales were predictably slower than the Model C at one-third of the price. The Model B was replaced by the derivative Model K in 1906.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
David L. Lewis (2005). 100 Years of Ford. Publications International. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-7853-7988-6.
"Early Ford". Archived from the original on June 16, 2002. Retrieved August 20, 2006.
== See also ==
Ford Model B (1932) | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_B_(1904) |
The Ford Model A (also colloquially called the A-Model Ford or the A, and A-bone among hot rodders and customizers) is the Ford Motor Company's second market success, replacing the venerable Model T which had been produced for 18 years. It was first produced on October 20, 1927, but not introduced until December 2. This new Model A (a previous model had used the name in 1903–04) was designated a 1928 model and was available in four standard colors.
By February 4, 1929, one million Model A's had been sold, and by July 24, two million. The range of body styles ran from the Tudor at US$500 (in grey, green, or black) ($9,156 in 2024 dollars) to the town car with a dual cowl at US$1,200 ($21,974 in 2024 dollars ). In March 1930, Model A sales hit three million, and there were nine body styles available.
Model A production ended in March 1932, after 4,858,644 had been made in all body styles. Its successor was the Model B, which featured an updated inline four-cylinder engine, as well as the Model 18, which introduced Ford's new flathead (sidevalve) V8 engine.
== Features ==
Prices for the Model A ranged from US$385 for a roadster to US$1,400 for the town car. The engine was a water-cooled L-head inline four with a displacement of 201 cu in (3.3 L). This engine provided 40 hp (30 kW; 41 PS). Top speed was around 65 mph (105 km/h). The Model A had a 103.5 in (2,630 mm) wheelbase with a final drive ratio of 3.77:1. The transmission was a conventional unsynchronized three-speed sliding-gear manual with a single speed reverse. The Model A had four-wheel mechanical drum brakes.
The Model A came in a wide variety of styles including coupes (standard and deluxe), business coupe, sports coupe, roadster coupes (standard and deluxe), convertible cabriolet, convertible sedan, phaetons (standard and deluxe), Tudor sedans (standard and deluxe), town car, Fordors (five-window standard, three-window deluxe), Victoria, town sedan, station wagon, taxicab, truck, and commercial. The very rare special coupe started production around March 1928 and ended in mid-1929.
The Model A was the first Ford to use the standard set of driver controls with conventional clutch and brake pedals, throttle, and gearshift. Previous Fords used controls that had become uncommon to drivers of other makes. The Model A's fuel was situated in the cowl, between the engine compartment's fire wall and the dash panel. It had a visual fuel gauge, and the fuel flowed to the carburetor by gravity. A rear-view mirror was optional. In cooler climates, owners could purchase an aftermarket cast iron unit to place over the exhaust manifold to provide heat to the cab. A small door provided adjustment of the amount of hot air entering the cab. The Model A was the first car to have safety glass in the windshield.
The Soviet company GAZ, which started as a joint venture between Ford and the Soviet Union, made a licensed version from 1932–1936.
In Europe, where in some countries cars were taxed according to engine size, Ford in the UK manufactured the Model A with a smaller displacement engine of 2,043 cc (124.7 cu in), providing a claimed output of 28 hp (21 kW; 28 PS). However, this equated to a British fiscal horsepower of 14.9 hp (11.1 kW; 15.1 PS) (compared to the 24 hp (18 kW; 24 PS) of the larger engine) and attracted a punitive annual car tax levy of £1 per fiscal hp in the UK. It, therefore, was expensive to own and too heavy and uneconomical to achieve volume sales, so it was unable to compete in the newly developing mass market while also too crude to compete as a luxury product. European manufactured Model As failed to achieve the sales success in Europe that would greet their smaller successor in Britain and Germany.
== Development history ==
From the mid-1910s through the early 1920s, Ford dominated the automotive market with its Model T. However, during the mid-1920s, this dominance eroded as competitors, especially the various General Motors divisions, caught up with Ford's mass production system and began to better Ford in some areas, especially by offering more powerful engines, new convenience features, or cosmetic customization.
Edsel Ford and Ford's sales force recognized the threat and advised Henry to respond to it. Initially, he resisted, but the T's sagging market share finally forced him to admit a replacement was needed. When he finally agreed to begin development of this new model, he focused on the mechanical aspects and on what today is called design for manufacturability (DFM), which he had always strongly embraced and for which the Model T production system was famous. Although ultimately successful, the development of the Model A included many problems that had to be resolved. For example, the die stamping of parts from sheet steel, which the Ford company had led to new heights of development with the Model T production system, was something Henry had always been ambivalent about; it had brought success, but he felt that it was not the best choice for durability. He was determined that the Model A would rely more on drop forgings than the Model T, but his ideas to improve the DFM of forging did not prove practical. Eventually, Ford's engineers persuaded him to relent, lest the Model A's production cost force up its retail price too much.
It was during the period from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s that the limits of the first generation of mass production, epitomized by the Model T production system's rigidity, became apparent. The era of "flexible mass production" had begun.
== Legacy ==
The Model A was well-represented in the media of the era since it was one of the most common cars. Model kits remain available from hobby shops as stock cars or hot rods. High-quality die-cast Model A's are represented in 1/24 scale by the Danbury Mint 1931 roadster and the Franklin Mint 1930 Tudor sedan.
Several models have obtained particular fame. The Mean Green Machine, a green and black 1931 Tudor sedan, has been a staple of University of North Texas football games and special events since 1974, maintained by the spirit organization Talons since the 1980s. The Ramblin' Wreck, a 1930 sports coupe, is the official mascot of the student body at the Georgia Institute of Technology and appears at sporting events and student body functions. Ala Kart, a customized 1929 roadster pickup built by George Barris, won two straight "America's Most Beautiful Roadster" awards at the Oakland Roadster Show before making numerous film and television appearances. Between October 1992 and December 1994, Hector Quevedo, along with his son Hugo, drove a 1928 Model A 22,000 mi (35,406 km) from his home in Punta Arenas, Chile to Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. The car required minimal service, including a flat tire and transmission work in Nicaragua, and is now housed in the Henry Ford Museum. A 1930 Model A, used by the gangster John Dillinger to escape federal agents in 1934, was sold at auction in 2010 for $165,000.
== Jenny Railcars ==
The West Side Lumber Company of California converted several Model As into railcars which could carry 12 people. A few still see regular service on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, also in California, alongside Shays Nos. 10 and 15.
== Gallery ==
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Hounshell, David A. (1984), From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States, Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-2975-8, LCCN 83016269, OCLC 1104810110
Sloan, Alfred P. (1964), McDonald, John (ed.), My Years with General Motors, Garden City, NY, US: Doubleday, LCCN 64011306, OCLC 802024. Republished in 1990 with a new introduction by Peter Drucker (ISBN 978-0385042352).
Sorensen, Charles E. (1956), My Forty Years with Ford, New York: W. W. Norton, LCCN 56010854, OCLC 912748. Various republications, including ISBN 9780814332795.
Gauld, Graham. "The Ford Motor Company", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobile, Volume 6, pp. 681–700. London: Phoebus, 1974.
== Further reading ==
Henry, Leslie R. (2013). How to Restore the Model A Ford. Vermont: Echo Point Books & Media, LLC. ISBN 978-1626549418.
== External links ==
Model A Ford Reference Sheet, Owners Manual, and Help
Model A Ford Club of America - [1]
Model A Restorers Club - [2]
Ford Model AA Truck Club - [3]
A-Ford Club Nederland - [4]
Follow Henry As We Tour The Long Beach Assembly Plant circa 1930
Ford Model A Assembly Plant in Edgewater NJ
Fordbarn, An active forum for discussion about the Model A Ford
365 Days of A, One man's quest to drive a Ford Model A for an entire year.
1930 Model A sales brochure | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_A_(1927–31) |
The Ford Model F is an automobile produced by Ford. It was a development of the Model A and Model C, but was larger, more modern, and more luxurious. Production started in 1905 and ended in 1906 after about 1,000 were made. It was built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. It was a four-seater phaeton with running boards and a side-entrance tonneau standard. It was priced from US$1,000 (equivalent to $34,996 in 2024) to US$1,200 (equivalent to $41,996 in 2024).
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Clymer, Floyd (1950). Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925. New York: Bonanza Books.
Lewis, David L. (2005). 100 Years of Ford. Publications International. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-7853-7988-6.
"Early Ford - models from the years 1903 - 1908". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
== External links ==
Media related to Ford Model F at Wikimedia Commons | Wikipedia/Ford_Model_F |
The Triumph Model H (also known as the 'Type H' and 'the Trusty') is a British motorcycle made by Triumph Engineering Co Ltd in Coventry, England.
A total of 57,000 Triumph Model H motorcycles were made from 1915 until production ended in 1923.
== Development ==
At the start of the First World War in 1914 the British Government needed effective communications with front line troops and replaced messengers on horses with despatch riders on motorcycles. A number of models were tested for suitability and the Triumph Model H was selected. With the rear wheel driven by a belt, the Model H was fitted with a 499 cc air-cooled four-stroke single-cylinder engine. It was also the first Triumph not to be fitted with pedals, so was a true motorcycle.
Engine differences from the previous Model A included a single cam wheel with two cams replacing separate cam wheels for the inlet and exhaust valve, and new design of cylinder casting. Valve head diameter was enlarged and the valves were spaced further apart. The Model H was fitted with a Sturmey-Archer three-speed countershaft gearbox operated by a hand gear change lever.
More than 30,000 Triumph Model H motorcycles had been produced by the end of the war in 1918. The Triumph Engineering Co Ltd had been using the advertising slogan Trusty Triumph since 1910 and the Model H became known as 'The Trusty' as it proved reliable in wartime conditions, despite a weakness in the front fork spring. This was prone to break on rough ground, so despatch riders would strap a leather belt around it as a precaution. After the war, the motorcycle didn't have enough speed for racing, which was one of the principal markets for motorcycles at the time, so Triumph moved on to a motorcycle designed by Harry Ricardo, known as the Model R Roadster. When the Model H was discontinued in 1923 a total of 57,000 had been produced.
== See also ==
Norton 16H
Triumph Engineering Co Ltd
List of Triumph motorcycles
List of motorcycles of the 1910s
List of motorcycles of the 1920s
== References ==
== External links ==
Triumph Model H restoration
Triumph Model H running (video) | Wikipedia/Triumph_Model_H |
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth. The plastic matrix may be a thermoset polymer matrix—most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinyl ester resin—or a thermoplastic.
Cheaper and more flexible than carbon fiber, it is stronger than many metals by weight, non-magnetic, non-conductive, transparent to electromagnetic radiation, can be molded into complex shapes, and is chemically inert under many circumstances. Applications include aircraft, boats, automobiles, bath tubs and enclosures, swimming pools, hot tubs, septic tanks, water tanks, roofing, pipes, cladding, orthopedic casts, surfboards, and external door skins.
Other common names for fiberglass are glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), glass-fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) or GFK (from German: Glasfaserverstärkter Kunststoff). Because glass fiber itself is sometimes referred to as "fiberglass", the composite is also called fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP). This article uses "fiberglass" to refer to the complete fiber-reinforced composite material, rather than only to the glass fiber within it.
== History ==
Glass fibers have been produced for centuries, but the earliest patent was awarded to the Prussian inventor Hermann Hammesfahr (1845–1914) in the U.S. in 1880.
Mass production of glass strands was accidentally discovered in 1932 when Games Slayter, a researcher at Owens-Illinois, directed a jet of compressed air at a stream of molten glass and produced fibers. A patent for this method of producing glass wool was first applied for in 1933. Owens joined with the Corning company in 1935 and the method was adapted by Owens Corning to produce its patented "Fiberglas" (spelled with one "s") in 1936. Originally, Fiberglas was a glass wool with fibers entrapping a great deal of gas, making it useful as an insulator, especially at high temperatures.
A suitable resin for combining the fiberglass with a plastic to produce a composite material was developed in 1936 by DuPont. The first ancestor of modern polyester resins is Cyanamid's resin of 1942. Peroxide curing systems were used by then. With the combination of fiberglass and resin the gas content of the material was replaced by plastic. This reduced the insulation properties to values typical of the plastic, but now for the first time, the composite showed great strength and promise as a structural and building material. Many glass fiber composites continued to be called "fiberglass" (as a generic name) and the name was also used for the low-density glass wool product containing gas instead of plastic.
Ray Greene of Owens Corning is credited with producing the first composite boat in 1937 but did not proceed further at the time because of the brittle nature of the plastic used. In 1939 the Soviet Union was reported to have constructed a passenger boat of plastic materials, and the United States a fuselage and wings of an aircraft. The first car to have a fiberglass body was a 1946 prototype of the Stout Scarab, but the model did not enter production.
== Fiber ==
Unlike glass fibers used for insulation, for the final structure to be strong, the fiber's surfaces must be almost entirely free of defects, as this permits the fibers to reach gigapascal tensile strengths. If a bulk piece of glass were defect-free, it would be as strong as glass fibers; however, it is generally impractical to produce and maintain bulk material in a defect-free state outside of laboratory conditions.
=== Production ===
The process of manufacturing fiberglass is called pultrusion. The manufacturing process for glass fibers suitable for reinforcement uses large furnaces to gradually melt the silica sand, limestone, kaolin clay, fluorspar, colemanite, dolomite and other minerals until a liquid forms. It is then extruded through bushings (spinneret), which are bundles of very small orifices (typically 5–25 micrometres in diameter for E-Glass, 9 micrometres for S-Glass).
These filaments are then sized (coated) with a chemical solution. The individual filaments are now bundled in large numbers to provide a roving. The diameter of the filaments, and the number of filaments in the roving, determine its weight, typically expressed in one of two measurement systems:
yield, or yards per pound (the number of yards of fiber in one pound of material; thus a smaller number means a heavier roving). Examples of standard yields are 225yield, 450yield, 675yield.
tex, or grams per km (how many grams 1 km of roving weighs, inverted from yield; thus a smaller number means a lighter roving). Examples of standard tex are 750tex, 1100tex, 2200tex.
These rovings are then either used directly in a composite application such as pultrusion, filament winding (pipe), gun roving (where an automated gun chops the glass into short lengths and drops it into a jet of resin, projected onto the surface of a mold), or in an intermediary step, to manufacture fabrics such as chopped strand mat (CSM) (made of randomly oriented small cut lengths of fiber all bonded together), woven fabrics, knit fabrics or unidirectional fabrics.
==== Chopped strand mat ====
Chopped strand mat (CSM) is a form of reinforcement used in fiberglass. It consists of glass fibers laid randomly across each other and held together by a binder. It is typically processed using the hand lay-up technique, where sheets of material are placed on a mold and brushed with resin. Because the binder dissolves in resin, the material easily conforms to different shapes when wetted out. After the resin cures, the hardened product can be taken from the mold and finished. Using chopped strand mat gives the fiberglass isotropic in-plane material properties.
=== Sizing ===
A coating or primer is applied to the roving to help protect the glass filaments for processing and manipulation and to ensure proper bonding to the resin matrix, thus allowing for the transfer of shear loads from the glass fibers to the thermoset plastic. Without this bonding, the fibers can 'slip' in the matrix causing localized failure.
== Properties ==
An individual structural glass fiber is both stiff and strong in tension and compression—that is, along its axis. Although it might be assumed that the fiber is weak in compression, it is actually only the long aspect ratio of the fiber which makes it seem so; i.e., because a typical fiber is long and narrow, it buckles easily. On the other hand, the glass fiber is weak in shear—that is, across its axis. Therefore, if a collection of fibers can be arranged permanently in a preferred direction within a material, and if they can be prevented from buckling in compression, the material will be preferentially strong in that direction.
Furthermore, by laying multiple layers of fiber on top of one another, with each layer oriented in various preferred directions, the material's overall stiffness and strength can be efficiently controlled. In fiberglass, it is the plastic matrix which permanently constrains the structural glass fibers to directions chosen by the designer. With chopped strand mat, this directionality is essentially an entire two-dimensional plane; with woven fabrics or unidirectional layers, directionality of stiffness and strength can be more precisely controlled within the plane.
A fiberglass component is typically of a thin "shell" construction, sometimes filled on the inside with structural foam, as in the case of surfboards. The component may be of nearly arbitrary shape, limited only by the complexity and tolerances of the mold used for manufacturing the shell.
The mechanical functionality of materials is heavily reliant on the combined performances of both the resin (AKA matrix) and fibers. For example, in severe temperature conditions (over 180 °C), the resin component of the composite may lose its functionality, partially due to bond deterioration of resin and fiber. However, GFRPs can still show significant residual strength after experiencing high temperatures (200 °C).
One notable feature of fiberglass is that the resins used are subject to contraction during the curing process. For polyester this contraction is often 5–6%; for epoxy, about 2%. Because the fibers do not contract, this differential can create changes in the shape of the part during curing. Distortions can appear hours, days, or weeks after the resin has set. While this distortion can be minimized by symmetric use of the fibers in the design, a certain amount of internal stress is created; and if it becomes too great, cracks form.
=== Types ===
The most common types of glass fiber used in fiberglass is E-glass, which is alumino-borosilicate glass with less than 1% w/w alkali oxides, mainly used for glass-reinforced plastics. Other types of glass used are A-glass (Alkali-lime glass with little or no boron oxide), E-CR-glass (Electrical/Chemical Resistance; alumino-lime silicate with less than 1% w/w alkali oxides, with high acid resistance), C-glass (alkali-lime glass with high boron oxide content, used for glass staple fibers and insulation), D-glass (borosilicate glass, named for its low Dielectric constant), R-glass (alumino silicate glass without MgO and CaO with high mechanical requirements as Reinforcement), and S-glass (alumino silicate glass without CaO but with high MgO content with high tensile strength).
Pure silica (silicon dioxide), when cooled as fused quartz into a glass with no true melting point, can be used as a glass fiber for fiberglass but has the drawback that it must be worked at very high temperatures. In order to lower the necessary work temperature, other materials are introduced as "fluxing agents" (i.e., components to lower the melting point). Ordinary A-glass ("A" for "alkali-lime") or soda lime glass, crushed and ready to be remelted, as so-called cullet glass, was the first type of glass used for fiberglass. E-glass ("E" because of initial Electrical application), is alkali-free and was the first glass formulation used for continuous filament formation. It now makes up most of the fiberglass production in the world, and also is the single largest consumer of boron minerals globally. It is susceptible to chloride ion attack and is a poor choice for marine applications. S-glass ("S" for "stiff") is used when tensile strength (high modulus) is important and is thus an important building and aircraft epoxy composite (it is called R-glass, "R" for "reinforcement" in Europe). C-glass ("C" for "chemical resistance") and T-glass ("T" is for "thermal insulator"—a North American variant of C-glass) are resistant to chemical attack; both are often found in insulation-grades of blown fiberglass.
=== Table of some common fiberglass types ===
== Applications ==
Fiberglass is versatile because it is lightweight, strong, weather-resistant, and can have a variety of surface textures.
During World War II, fiberglass was developed as a replacement for the molded plywood used in aircraft radomes (fiberglass being transparent to microwaves). Its first main civilian application was for the building of boats and sports car bodies, where it gained acceptance in the 1950s. Its use has broadened to the automotive and sport equipment sectors. In the production of some products, such as aircraft, carbon fiber is now used instead of fiberglass, which is stronger by volume and weight.
Advanced manufacturing techniques such as pre-pregs and fiber rovings extend fiberglass's applications and the tensile strength possible with fiber-reinforced plastics.
Fiberglass is also used in the telecommunications industry for shrouding antennas, due to its RF permeability and low signal attenuation properties. It may also be used to conceal other equipment where no signal permeability is required, such as equipment cabinets and steel support structures, due to the ease with which it can be molded and painted to blend with existing structures and surfaces. Other uses include sheet-form electrical insulators and structural components commonly found in power-industry products. Because of fiberglass's lightweight and durability, it is often used in protective equipment such as helmets. Many sports use fiberglass protective gear, such as goaltenders' and catchers' masks.
=== Storage tanks ===
Storage tanks can be made of fiberglass with capacities up to about 300 tonnes. Smaller tanks can be made with chopped strand mat cast over a thermoplastic inner tank which acts as a preform during construction. Much more reliable tanks are made using woven mat or filament wound fiber, with the fiber orientation at right angles to the hoop stress imposed in the sidewall by the contents. Such tanks tend to be used for chemical storage because the plastic liner (often polypropylene) is resistant to a wide range of corrosive chemicals. Fiberglass is also used for septic tanks.
=== House building ===
Glass-reinforced plastics are also used to produce house building components such as roofing laminate, door surrounds, over-door canopies, window canopies and dormers, chimneys, coping systems, and heads with keystones and sills. The material's reduced weight and easier handling, compared to wood or metal, allows faster installation. Mass-produced fiberglass brick-effect panels can be used in the construction of composite housing, and can include insulation to reduce heat loss.
=== Oil and gas artificial lift systems ===
In rod pumping applications, fiberglass rods are often used for their high tensile strength to weight ratio. Fiberglass rods provide an advantage over steel rods because they stretch more elastically (lower Young's modulus) than steel for a given weight, meaning more oil can be lifted from the hydrocarbon reservoir to the surface with each stroke, all while reducing the load on the pumping unit.
Fiberglass rods must be kept in tension, however, as they frequently part if placed in even a small amount of compression. The buoyancy of the rods within a fluid amplifies this tendency.
=== Piping ===
GRP and GRE pipe can be used in a variety of above- and below-ground systems, including those for desalination, water treatment, water distribution networks, chemical process plants, water used for firefighting, hot and cold drinking water, wastewater/sewage, municipal waste and liquified petroleum gas.
=== Boating ===
Fiberglass composite boats have been made since the early 1940s, and many sailing vessels made after 1950 were built using the fiberglass lay-up process. As of 2022, boats continue to be made with fiberglass, though more advanced techniques such as vacuum bag moulding are used in the construction process.
=== Armour ===
Though most bullet-resistant armours are made using different textiles, fiberglass composites have been shown to be effective as ballistic armor.
== Construction methods ==
=== Filament winding ===
Filament winding is a fabrication technique mainly used for manufacturing open (cylinders) or closed-end structures (pressure vessels or tanks). The process involves winding filaments under tension over a male mandrel. The mandrel rotates while a wind eye on a carriage moves horizontally, laying down fibers in the desired pattern. The most common filaments are carbon or glass fiber and are coated with synthetic resin as they are wound. Once the mandrel is completely covered to the desired thickness, the resin is cured; often the mandrel is placed in an oven to achieve this, though sometimes radiant heaters are used with the mandrel still turning in the machine. Once the resin has cured, the mandrel is removed, leaving the hollow final product. For some products such as gas bottles, the 'mandrel' is a permanent part of the finished product forming a liner to prevent gas leakage or as a barrier to protect the composite from the fluid to be stored.
Filament winding is well suited to automation, and there are many applications, such as pipe and small pressure vessels that are wound and cured without any human intervention. The controlled variables for winding are fiber type, resin content, wind angle, tow or bandwidth and thickness of the fiber bundle. The angle at which the fiber has an effect on the properties of the final product. A high angle "hoop" will provide circumferential or "burst" strength, while lower angle patterns (polar or helical) will provide greater longitudinal tensile strength.
Products currently being produced using this technique range from pipes, golf clubs, Reverse Osmosis Membrane Housings, oars, bicycle forks, bicycle rims, power and transmission poles, pressure vessels to missile casings, aircraft fuselages and lamp posts and yacht masts.
=== Fiberglass hand lay-up operation ===
A release agent, usually in either wax or liquid form, is applied to the chosen mold to allow the finished product to be cleanly removed from the mold. Resin—typically a 2-part thermoset polyester, vinyl, or epoxy—is mixed with its hardener and applied to the surface. Sheets of fiberglass matting are laid into the mold, then more resin mixture is added using a brush or roller. The material must conform to the mold, and air must not be trapped between the fiberglass and the mold. Additional resin is applied and possibly additional sheets of fiberglass. Hand pressure, vacuum or rollers are used to be sure the resin saturates and fully wets all layers, and that any air pockets are removed. The work must be done quickly before the resin starts to cure unless high-temperature resins are used which will not cure until the part is warmed in an oven. In some cases, the work is covered with plastic sheets and vacuum is drawn on the work to remove air bubbles and press the fiberglass to the shape of the mold.
=== Fiberglass spray lay-up operation ===
The fiberglass spray lay-up process is similar to the hand lay-up process but differs in the application of the fiber and resin to the mold. Spray-up is an open-molding composites fabrication process where resin and reinforcements are sprayed onto a mold. The resin and glass may be applied separately or simultaneously "chopped" in a combined stream from a chopper gun. Workers roll out the spray-up to compact the laminate. Wood, foam or other core material may then be added, and a secondary spray-up layer imbeds the core between the laminates. The part is then cured, cooled, and removed from the reusable mold.
=== Pultrusion operation ===
Pultrusion is a manufacturing method used to make strong, lightweight composite materials. In pultrusion, material is pulled through forming machinery using either a hand-over-hand method or a continuous-roller method (as opposed to extrusion, where the material is pushed through dies).
In fiberglass pultrusion, fibers (the glass material) are pulled from spools through a device that coats them with a resin. They are then typically heat-treated and cut to length. Fiberglass produced this way can be made in a variety of shapes and cross-sections, such as W or S cross-sections.
== Health hazards ==
=== Exposure ===
People can be exposed to fiberglass in the workplace during its fabrication, installation or removal, by breathing it in, by skin contact, or by eye contact.
Furthermore, in the manufacturing process of fiberglass, styrene vapors are released while the resins are cured. These are also irritating to mucous membranes and respiratory tract.
The general population can get exposed to fibreglass from insulation and building materials or from fibers in the air near manufacturing facilities or when they are near building fires or implosions.: 8 The American Lung Association advises that fiberglass insulation should never be left exposed in an occupied area. Since work practices are not always followed, and fiberglass is often left exposed in basements that later become occupied, people can get exposed. No readily usable biological or clinical indices of exposure exist.: 8
=== Symptoms and signs, health effects ===
Fiberglass will irritate the eyes, skin, and the respiratory system. Hence, symptoms can include itchy eyes, skin, nose, sore throat, hoarseness, dyspnea (breathing difficulty) and cough. Peak alveolar deposition was observed in rodents and humans for fibers with diameters of 1 to 2 μm.: 13
In animal experiments, adverse lung effects such as lung inflammation and lung fibrosis have occurred,: 14 and increased incidences of mesothelioma, pleural sarcoma, and lung carcinoma had been found with intrapleural or intratracheal instillations in rats.: 12
As of 2001, in humans only the more biopersistent materials like ceramic fibres, which are used industrially as insulation in high-temperature environments such as blast furnaces, and certain special-purpose glass wools not used as insulating materials remain classified as possible carcinogens (IARC Group 2B). The more commonly used glass fibre wools including insulation glass wool, rock wool and slag wool are considered not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans (IARC Group 3).
In October 2001, all fiberglass wools commonly used for thermal and acoustical insulation were reclassified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as "not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans" (IARC group 3). "Epidemiologic studies published during the 15 years since the previous IARC monographs review of these fibers in 1988 provide no evidence of increased risks of lung cancer or mesothelioma (cancer of the lining of the body cavities) from occupational exposures during the manufacture of these materials, and inadequate evidence overall of any cancer risk."
In June 2011, the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) removed from its Report on Carcinogens all biosoluble glass wool used in home and building insulation and for non-insulation products. However, NTP still considers fibrous glass dust to be "reasonably anticipated [as] a human carcinogen (Certain Glass Wool Fibers (Inhalable))". Similarly, California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) published a November, 2011 modification to its Proposition 65 listing to include only "Glass wool fibers (inhalable and biopersistent)." Therefore a cancer warning label for biosoluble fiber glass home and building insulation is no longer required under federal or California law. As of 2012, the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association stated that fiberglass is safe to manufacture, install and use when recommended work practices are followed to reduce temporary mechanical irritation.
As of 2012, the European Union and Germany have classified synthetic glass fibers as possibly or probably carcinogenic, but fibers can be exempt from this classification if they pass specific tests. A 2012 health hazard review for the European Commission stated that inhalation of fiberglass at concentrations of 3, 16 and 30 mg/m3 "did not induce fibrosis nor tumours except transient lung inflammation that disappeared after a post-exposure recovery period."
Historic reviews of the epidemiology studies had been conducted by Harvard's Medical and Public Health Schools in 1995, the National Academy of Sciences in 2000, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ("ATSDR") in 2004, and the National Toxicology Program in 2011. which reached the same conclusion as IARC that there is no evidence of increased risk from occupational exposure to glass wool fibers.
=== Pathophysiology ===
Genetic and toxic effects are exerted through production of reactive oxygen species, which can damage DNA, and cause chromosomal aberrations, nuclear abnormalities, mutations, gene amplification in proto-oncogenes, and cell transformation in mammalian cells. There is also indirect, inflammation-driven genotoxicity through reactive oxygen species by inflammatory cells. The longer and thinner as well as the more durable (biopersistent) fibers were, the more potent they were in damage.: 14
=== Regulation, exposure limits ===
In the US, fine mineral fiber emissions have been regulated by the EPA, but respirable fibers (“particulates not otherwise regulated”) are regulated by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); OSHA has set the legal limit (permissible exposure limit) for fiberglass exposure in the workplace as 15 mg/m3 total and 5 mg/m3 in respiratory exposure over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 3 fibers/cm3 (less than 3.5 micrometers in diameter and greater than 10 micrometers in length) as a time-weighted average over an 8-hour workday, and a 5 mg/m3 total limit.
As of 2001, the Hazardous Substances Ordinance in Germany dictates a maximum occupational exposure limit of 86 mg/m3. In certain concentrations, a potentially explosive mixture may occur. Further manufacture of GRP components (grinding, cutting, sawing) creates fine dust and chips containing glass filaments, as well as tacky dust, in quantities high enough to affect health and the functionality of machines and equipment. The installation of effective extraction and filtration equipment is required to ensure safety and efficiency.
== See also ==
Bulk moulding compound
Fiberglass sheet laminating
G-10 (material)
Glass fiber reinforced concrete
Hobas
Ignace Dubus-Bonnel
Sheet moulding compound
Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers reinforcement with carbon fibers.
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Glass-reinforced plastic at Wikimedia Commons | Wikipedia/Glass-reinforced_plastic |
A child model is a child who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art, such as photography, painting and sculpture.
== Practice ==
Artists have used children as models for countless works over the centuries. Child modeling has become a distinct activity because of the explosion of commercial media over the past several decades. Many young actresses and actors, notably, Naomi Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Katherine Heigl, Jessica Alba, Ashley Benson, Lindsay Lohan, Naya Rivera, Zendaya, Bella Thorne, Raven-Symoné, Miranda Cosgrove, Hayley Kiyoko, Liv Tyler, Brooke Shields, Taylor Momsen, Peyton List, Gigi Hadid, Yara Shahidi, Maddie Ziegler, Skai Jackson, Anastasia Bezrukova, Isabella Cramp and Frankie Muniz began as child models. The book, Lisanne: A Young Model, described the life of Lisanne Falk, a colleague of Brooke Shields at the Ford modeling agency in the late 1970s. Falk, like Shields, was a relatively successful child model who posed for magazine covers, notably Seventeen, for editorial fashion layouts, and for advertising in magazines and mail-order catalogs. Both models appeared in the 1977 Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs. Falk, like Shields, moved from modeling to movies as she became older. More recently Australian child model Morgan Featherstone has achieved worldwide success but has also attracted criticism due to her looking older than her age.
The visible success of child models who became media celebrities has led numerous children (and their parents) to pursue modeling as a part-time career. In practice, most modeling jobs go to children who have already worked as models and have developed a working relationship with a modeling agency. For prospective models, the challenge is to land the first job. This usually happens through referrals by people already involved in modeling. It is also possible to land jobs by contacting modeling agencies directly. Occasionally, a child may be "discovered" in a public place or through other grassroots means.
Competing in local and national beauty pageants
Working with local retailers for small-scale modeling
Entering mall fashion shows
Entering photo competitions.
== Salary ==
The amount that a child can earn is based upon the type of work they are contracted to carry out.
In the United States, a photo shoot for a magazine article will generally pay around $70 per hour. Advertisement work, on the other hand, can pay out between $1,000 and $1,200 for a day's work. The child's agency will take a commission from the earnings, which will be around 20%.
== See also ==
Child beauty pageant
Junior idol
== References == | Wikipedia/Child_model |
A fetish model is a model who models fetish clothing or accessories that augment their body in a fetish-like manner or in fetishistic situations. Fetish models do not necessarily work exclusively in that form of modeling.
Fetish models often wear fetish fashion, an extreme and provocative style of clothing designed to elicit a strong emotional reaction or sexual desire on the part of the observer. Such clothing ranges from exotic stylized bathing suits to body armor and sci-fi fantasy suits.
Bondage models appear in various forms of bondage. Other fetish modeling may involve body modification, appearing in fetish photography or exotic glamour photography, or wearing sexual fantasy costumes that fulfil a uniform fetish (e.g. French maid, nurse, etc.). As well as modelling for photography, fetish models also make public appearances at events such as BDSM fairs and parties.
Some pornographic actors and glamour models also work as fetish models.
== Types of fetish models ==
Fetish modelling covers a wide range of fetishes, including those involving bondage and shibari, latex and PVC, corsets, tattoos, body piercings, shoe fetishism, food fetishism and nyotaimori. Fetishes may also involve body parts, such as breast fetishism, navel fetishism and foot fetishism.
Fetish models are usually considered to work in a different category from Gothic fashion models or alternative models, whose work is generally far more niche-specific. Fetish modelling is usually considered to be a part of the sex industry due to the popular perception that it has a solely adult audience. However, in recent times, many aspects of the fetish fashion market have been incorporated and accepted into mainstream fashion, with fashion creators using exotic materials such as latex or sheer fabric instead of cotton or wool for their creations. Some fetish models only involve themselves in the aesthetic aspects of the work rather than involving themselves directly with sex and sexuality.
== Popular culture ==
There have been several notable performers and producers of both the bondage and fetish area who have attained mainstream notability. The most recognized is the 1950s bondage model and pin-up girl, Bettie Page, who posed for photographer Irving Klaw for mail-order photographs and was subsequently featured in Playboy. She was the first famous bondage model.
In the 1960s, the popular British TV program The Avengers included several fetish costume elements worn by its female lead performers. This began with Honor Blackman and included Diana Rigg's leather catsuits and leotards, as well as Tara King's use of thigh-length boots and leather evening gloves.
The neo-burlesque performer Dita Von Teese started her career as a fetish model and stripper. Other notable fetish models include the Russian-American performer Mosh and the Canadian photographic model Bianca Beauchamp.
== Markets ==
There are specialized fetish magazines that feature and promote fetish models, including Skin Two, Secret, Italian A Magazine (not to be confused with the now defunct A(sian) Magazine), and Marquis.
Fetish models may run personal adult pay websites and are featured on fetish adult pay sites.
There are also fetish fashion designers. Most of these designers employ fetish models for their clothing line. Fetish fashion shows are hosted several times a year, including Vex, The Baroness, Skintwo, and House of Harlot.
== Awards ==
The SIGNY awards were awarded each year between 2000 and 2005 (except 2002) to the bondage models voted as the best of that year. The SIGNY award winners have been:
2000: Eve Ellis, runners-up Ashley Renee, Andrea Neal
2001: Ashley Renee, runners-up Andrea Neal, Eve Ellis
2003: Jasmine Sinclair, runners-up Amber Michaels, Ashley Renee.
2004: Jenni Lee, runners-up Jewell Marceau, Emily Marilyn (Molly Matthews)
2005: Jewell Marceau, runners-up Ashley Renee, Christina Carter
== See also ==
Bondage rigger
Fetish art
Japanese bondage
Nyotaimori – serving sushi on the body of a naked woman
Total enclosure fetishism
Uniform fetishism
== References == | Wikipedia/Fetish_model |
Glamour photography is a genre of photography in which the subjects are portrayed in attractive poses ranging from fully clothed to nude, and often erotic. Photographers use a combination of cosmetics, lighting and airbrushing techniques to produce an appealing image of the subject. The focus lies in the beauty of the subject's body or portrait; as such, beauty standards are often a key determinant of glamour model trends. A popular subset of this type of photography is "pin-up", for women, and "beefcake", for men.
Since glamour photography can include nudity, in such cases the distinction from softcore pornography is largely a matter of taste, although depictions of sexual contact are not considered within this genre and are considered pornographic. Glamour photography is generally a composed image of a subject in a still position. The subjects of glamour photography for professional use are often professional models, and the photographs are normally intended for commercial use, including mass-produced calendars, pinups and men's magazines such as Maxim; but amateur subjects are also sometimes used, and sometimes the photographs are intended for private and personal use only.
== History ==
Until the latter half of the 20th century glamour photography was usually referred to as erotic photography. Early erotic photography was often associated with "French postcards", small postcard sized images, that were sold by street vendors in France. In the early 1900s the pinup became popular and depicted scantily dressed women, often in a playful pose, seemingly surprised or startled by the viewer. The subject would usually have an expression of delight which seemed to invite the viewer to come and play. During World War II, pin-up pictures of scantily clad movie stars were extremely popular among American servicemen. Betty Grable was one of the most famous pin-up models of all time; her pinup in a bathing suit was extremely popular with World War II soldiers.
In December 1953, Marilyn Monroe was featured in the first issue of Playboy magazine. Bettie Page was the Playboy Playmate of the Month in January 1955. Playboy was the first magazine featuring nude erotic photography to receive mainstream attention. Penthouse was the second such magazine to achieve this.
Glamour models popular in the early 1990s included Hope Talmons and Dita Von Teese and the modern era is represented in the U.S. by models like Heidi Van Horne and Bernie Dexter, while leading representatives of the genre in the UK have included Katie Price and Lucy Pinder.
== Magazines and movie stars ==
Standards and styles of glamour photography change over time, reflecting for example changes in social acceptance and taste. In the early 1920s, United States photographers like Ruth Harriet Louise and George Hurrell photographed celebrities to glamorize their stature by utilizing lighting techniques to develop dramatic effects.
Until the 1950s, glamour photography in advertising and in men's magazines was highly controversial or even illegal. In some countries, if not illegal, such magazines could not be on public display, and some had to be displayed in a plastic cover. Magazines featuring glamour photography were sometimes marketed as "art magazines" or "health magazines".
== Popular portraiture ==
Since the 1990s and especially in the 2010s, glamour photography has increased in popularity among the public. In more formal settings, glamour portrait studios have opened, offering professional hair and makeup artists and professional retouching to allow the general public to have the "model" experience. These sometimes include boudoir portraits but are more commonly used by professionals and high school seniors who want to look their best for their portraits.
As photography has become widely adopted through the use of smartphones, glamour photography has become a popular type of content featured on social media, particularly on Instagram. Instagram models and influencers posting glamour photography-type content have attracted heavy scrutiny from the general public, and are blamed for contributing to rising rates of depression and anxiety in the West.
== Gallery ==
== See also ==
Erotic photography
Erotic photography model
Fashion photography
Gravure model
List of glamour models
== Further reading ==
Simpson, Mark (23 March 2015). "How men became the new glamour models". The Daily Telegraph. London.
== References == | Wikipedia/Glamour_modeling |
A promotional model is a model hired to drive consumer demand for a product, service, brand, or concept by directly interacting with potential customers. Most promotional models are conventionally attractive in physical appearance. They serve to make a product or service more appealing, and can provide information to journalists and consumers at trade shows and convention events. Promotional models are used in motorsports, other sports (such as dart competitions) or at trade shows, or they can act as "spokesmodels" to promote a specific brand or product in advertisements.
== Practice ==
While each model may not be directly employed by the company they represent, they can be trained to answer questions and provide customer feedback regarding products, services, and brand appeal. The responsibilities of the promotional model depend on the particular marketing campaign being carried out, and may include: increasing product awareness, providing product information, creating an association in the consumer's mind between the product or brand and a particular idea, and handing items to consumers, such as a sample of the product itself, a small gift, or printed information. Marketing campaigns that make use of promotional models may take place in retail stores or shopping malls, at trade shows, special promotional events, clubs, or even at outdoor public spaces. Promotional models may also be used as TV host/anchor for interviewing celebrities such as at film awards, sports events, etc. They are often planned at high traffic locations to reach as many consumers as possible, or at venues at which a particular type of target consumer is expected to be present.
=== Motorsports model ===
The motorsports scene often uses promo models as part of a pit crew in certain kinds of motor racing. The first usage of promotional models in motor races was during the late 1960s. It was then that the term race queen was coined. Prior to that, women in motor races were mostly wives and girlfriends of drivers and staff, with the exception of some who were drivers. In 1983, the sun tan lotion company Hawaiian Tropic sponsored the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The company brought its models over from the United States wearing bikinis bearing the company's name to appear on the racetrack before the race began. That practice was imported over to Japan for the Suzuka 8 Hours motorcycle race in the mid-1980s.
The models, referred as grid girls or pit/paddock girls in Europe, are very common in many series worldwide. In the United States, they are referred to as umbrella girls. Because of the manner of dress of these models, insurance companies regard the models as a safety hazard because of stringent dress codes imposed in the garage and pit areas by many sanctioning bodies; in New Jersey, the stringent dress codes effectively ban the models. In DTM and some other events, organizers have started to recruit male models as in startlines, mostly on female drivers' cars. The Korean term for a race queen is a racing model (레이싱모델). Racing models appear in motor shows and racing events.
In Japan, there is a phenomenon of race queens (レースクイーン) being often regarded as "idols". The average age for these girls is late teens to early twenties and demand for them wanes with age. It is not unusual for some of them to have a background in or a sideline career as a gravure idol. Race queens who operate in prestigious events and with a large fanbase can also be found at auto shows purely to draw crowds where they are nearly as important an attraction as the cars or electronics products that they are promoting. There is a magazine dedicated to them called Gals Paradise.
During the race queen bubble of the late 1980s to late 1990s, a top race queen in Japan could earn 500,000 yen over two days or at least 200,000 yen. In 1993, that salary was 100,000 yen. After the boom era, the market price of race queens fell to 20,000 to 30,000 yen over two days.
=== Spokesmodel ===
"Spokesmodel" is a term used for a model who is employed to be associated with a specific brand or product in advertisements. A spokesmodel may be a celebrity used only in advertisements (in contrast to a "brand ambassador", who is also expected to represent the company at various events), but often the term refers to a model who is not a celebrity in their own right. A classic example of such spokesmodels are the models engaged to be the Marlboro Man between 1954 and 1999, and the Clarion Girl since 1975. Contrary to what the term suggests, a spokesmodel is normally not expected to verbally promote the brand. In Japan, they are known as campaign girls (キャンペーンガール) or image girls (イメージガール) and are hired by government agencies.
=== Trade show model ===
A trade show model (also known as a convention model, trade show hostess, booth companion, or booth professional; a term that has been used only in Japan is companion lady but today more often used is event companion (イベントコンパニオン)) is an assistant that works with a company's sales representatives at a trade show exhibit, working on the floor space or a booth, and representing a company to attendees. Such models are used to draw in attendees and can provide them with basic information about product or services, and may be used to distribute marketing materials or gather customer information for future promotions. Attire and expected interactions vary depend on the nature of the show and on the image the company would like to portray, and they sometimes wear wardrobe that is particular to the company, product, or service represented.
Trade show models are typically not regular employees of the company, but are hired as they make a company's booth more visibly distinguishable from other booths with which it competes for attendee attention. If needed, they can explain or disseminate information on the company and its product and service, and can assist a company in handling a large number of attendees which the company might otherwise not have enough employees to accommodate, therefore increasing the number of sales or leads resulting from participation in the show. The models can be skilled at drawing attendees into the booth, engaging them in conversation, and at spurring interest in the product, service, or company.
== Controversies ==
=== Trade shows ===
The slang term booth babe, coined in 1986, or booth bunny, coined in 1989, is widely used to refer to any female trade show model. The models are typically asked to pose for photographs with convention goers, but inappropriate attendee conduct sometimes occurs, such as in case of Electronic Arts' 2009 "Sin to Win" campaign to promote Dante's Inferno. Since the late 1990s and increasingly so, the practice of employing them has been, controversially, strongly criticized by some journalists and segments of video game industry and consumer electronics communities. Critics of "booth babes" declared it a sexist problem, describing the practice as "outdated", sexually objectifying and demeaning, as well as insulting to and alienating other women, in particular those in the information technology industry. In turn, some others argue that the models and companies are being unfairly targeted, accusing the critics of finger-pointing sensationalism, displaying "extreme" political correctness, being prudish and pro-censorship, and spreading a Puritan-like moral panic.
The moniker "booth babe" is also controversial itself as it is considered offensive and degrading by some, including trade show models themselves. The term nevertheless continues to be often used by journalists and by the people opposed to the presence of the models they define as "booth babes".
Changing social and business standards have resulted in a decrease in the use of promotional models in trade shows, especially in the United States. The largest video gaming business convention, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), attempted to ban "conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative" in 2006 following Agetec's 2005 "Anti Booth Babe" protest, but reversed on this stance in 2009, after complaints regarding this and other policy changes. GameSpot's Greg Kasavin commented that, with this attempt, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) was "trying to put a definition to what constitutes scantily clad and what's borderline offensive" as it was "under a lot of pressure these days to clean up the image of games and to at least demonstrate that the video game industry is responsible in regulating itself" in the aftermath of Hot Coffee mod controversy.
China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) introduced and strictly enforced a dress code in 2012, saying they did not want "to send the wrong message" to their adolescent primary audience, and San Diego Comic-Con banned the SuicideGirls erotic models from having a booth in 2010. Video game convention Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) adopted a dress codes for both male and female models in what they call a "no booth babes" policy guideline, where "booth babes are defined as staff of ANY gender used by exhibitors to promote their products at PAX by using overtly sexual or suggestive methods. Partial nudity, the aggressive display of cleavage and the navel, and shorts/skirts higher than 4” above the knee are not allowed." Eurogamer Expo disallowed them completely in 2012, saying they wanted to make a more "friendly" show and all visitors "to feel comfortable," with a formal guideline saying "Booth babes are Not OK."
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), including its president and CEO Gary J. Shapiro and senior vice-president Karen Chupka, initially defended the use of female models who were deemed not dressed enough by critics but discouraged the practice in 2014 after a Change.org petition started by a Forbes technology journalist Connie Guglielmo demanded a ban on them and reached 250 signatures. The campaigners' proposal to "ban booth babes" was rejected as the CEA refused to "create and impose arbitrary or unenforceable rules, or worse, inch our event towards a Talibanesque ban on exposure of skin," but the new Consumer Electronics Show (CES) exhibitor guidelines stated, "recent news articles show that ‘booth babes’ can reflect poorly on your exhibit, so we ask that you give this thoughtful consideration, to avoid alienating or offending various audience segments."
In 2015, tube tops were among the items banned for booth staff at the RSA Conference, a major trade show/conference association, as part of dress codes that also informed booth staff not to wear minidresses or skintight bodysuits. The previous practice of having barely-clothed booth staffers was seen as creating a culture in which women were seen as "eye-candy or as decorative objects or hypersexualized figures".
=== Sports ===
After a round of talks with broadcasters, the Professional Darts Corporation announced on 27 January 2018 that it would discontinue the use of walk-on girls in darts tournaments. The decision has encountered a backlash from some fans, players and models.
On 31 January 2018, Formula One management announced that it would end the practice of grid girls who accompany the racers to the track, a tradition that "has been a staple of Formula 1 Grands Prix for decades", stating that "[they] feel this custom does not resonate with [their] brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms." The move has drawn criticism from former grid girls, including British model Kelly Brook. Former F1 executive Bernie Ecclestone and Red Bull Racing leader Christian Horner also expressed disapproval. In February 2018, Formula 1 announced it intended to replace grid girls with a new program called grid kids that season. The children used would be competitors in karting or junior categories, chosen by national motorsport authorities.
In a similar move, the traditional podium girls of cycling's Tour de France were removed and replaced with one male and one female host starting with the 2020 Tour de France.
== See also ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Promotional models at Wikimedia Commons | Wikipedia/Promotional_model |
A supermodel is a highly paid fashion model who has a worldwide reputation and background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became popular in the 1990s.
Supermodels usually work for prominent fashion designers and clothing brands. They may have multimillion-dollar contracts, endorsements, and campaigns. Supermodels have branded themselves as household names and worldwide recognition is associated with their modeling careers. They have been on the covers of leading fashion magazines. Claudia Schiffer stated in 2007 that, "In order to become a supermodel one must be on all the covers all over the world at the same time so that people can recognise the girls."
== History ==
=== Origins ===
An early use of the term supermodel appeared in 1891, in an interview with artist Henry Stacy Marks for The Strand Magazine, in which Marks told journalist Harry How, "A good many models are addicted to drink, and, after sitting a while, will suddenly go to sleep. Then I have had what I call the 'super' model. You know the sort of man; he goes in for theatrical effect ..." On 6 October 1942, a writer named Judith Cass had used the term super model for her article in the Chicago Tribune, which headlined "Super Models Are Signed for Fashion Show". Later in 1943, an agent named Clyde Matthew Dessner used the term in a "how-to" book about modeling, entitled So You Want to Be a Model!, in which Dessner wrote, "She will be a super-model, but the girl in her will be like the girl in you—quite ordinary, but ambitious and eager for personal development." According to Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross, the term supermodel was first used by Dessner in the 1940s. In 1949, Cosmopolitan magazine referred to Anita Colby, the highest paid model at the time, as a "super model": "She's been super model, super movie saleswoman, and top brass at Selznick and Paramount." On 18 October 1959, Vancouver's Chinatown News described Susan Chew as a "super model".
The term supermodel had also been used several times in the media in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, the encyclopedic guide American Jurisprudence Trials used the term "super model" ("...at issue was patient's belief that her husband was having an affair with a super model"). On 21 March 1967, The New York Times referred to Twiggy as a supermodel; the February 1968 article of Glamour listed all 19 "supermodels"; The Chicago Daily Defender wrote "New York Designer Turns Super Model" in January 1970; The Washington Post and the Mansfield News Journal used the term in 1971; and in 1974, both the Chicago Tribune and The Advocate used the term "supermodel" in their articles. American Vogue used the term "super-model" to describe Jean Shrimpton in the 15 October 1965 edition, and "supermodel" on the cover page to describe Margaux Hemingway in the 1 September 1975 edition. Hemingway was again described as a "supermodel" in the 25 July 1977 edition of Time. Jet also described Beverly Johnson as a "supermodel" in the 22 December 1977 edition.
Model Janice Dickinson has incorrectly stated that she coined the term supermodel in 1979, as a compound of Superman and model. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dickinson stated that her agent, Monique Pilar of Elite Model Management, asked her, "Janice, who do you think you are, Superman?" She replied, "No ... I'm a supermodel, honey, and you will refer to me as a supermodel and you will start a supermodel division." Dickinson also claims to have been the first supermodel.
Lisa Fonssagrives is widely considered to have been the world's first supermodel, with a career that began in the 1930s. She was in most of the major fashion magazines and general interest magazines from the 1930s to the 1950s, including Town & Country, Life, Vogue, the original Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, and Time. Evelyn Nesbit (with a career launched around 1900) and Dorian Leigh (her career launched in 1944) have also been called the world's first supermodel, as well as Jean Shrimpton (early 1960s), and Gia Carangi (late 1970s).
Dutch-born model Wilhelmina Cooper holds the record for most covers on American Vogue, appearing 27 or 28 times throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Cooper would go on to found Wilhelmina Models modeling and talent agency in 1967.
=== 1960s–1970s ===
In February 1968, an article in Glamour described 19 models as "supermodels": Cheryl Tiegs, Veruschka, Lisa Palmer, Peggy Moffitt, Sue Murray, Twiggy, Sunny Harnett, Marisa Berenson, Gretchen Harris, Heide Wiedeck, Irish Bianchi, Hiroko Matsumoto, Anne de Zogheb, Kathy Carpenter, Jean Shrimpton, Jean Patchett, Benedetta Barzini, Claudia Duxbury and Agneta Frieberg.
In the 1970s is when many consider the origination of the supermodel, some models becoming more prominent as their names became more recognizable to the general public by commercial endorsements, magazine covers,posters, securing large sums of money for cosmetic contracts, TV appearances and movie roles. Sports Illustrated editor Jule Campbell abandoned then-current modeling trends for its fledgling Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue by photographing "bigger and healthier" California models, and captioning the photographs with their names, turning many of them into household names and establishing the swimsuit issue as a cornerstone of supermodel status.
In 1973, Lauren Hutton became the first model to receive a contract from a cosmetics company, when Revlon hired her to sell their Ultima line. She has also appeared on the cover of Vogue 26 times. Naomi Sims is considered to be the first black supermodel. Donyale Luna, Beverly Johnson and Iman have also been referred to as the first black supermodel.
In 1975, Margaux Hemingway landed a then-unprecedented million-dollar contract as the face of Fabergé's Babe perfume and the same year, appeared on the cover of Time magazine, labelled as one of the "New Beauties", giving further name recognition to fashion models.
Christie Brinkley has the distinction of having the longest running cosmetics contract of any model in history when she represented CoverGirl for twenty five years.
Anna Bayle, a Filipino-born model who rose to prominence in the 1970s, has been cited as one of the first Southeast Asian supermodels.
Donyale Luna was the first black model to appear in British Vogue, in March 1966. Naomi Sims, who is sometimes regarded as the first black supermodel, became the first African American to feature on the cover of Ladies' Home Journal, in 1968. The first African American model to be on the cover of American Vogue was Beverly Johnson in 1974. Pat Cleveland, another prominent African-American model, has also been described as one of the first black supermodels, in particular by former editor-at-large for American Vogue André Leon Talley, in an article for the June 1980 issue of Ebony magazine, and again in his 2003 memoir.
=== 1980s ===
In October 1981, Life cited Shelley Hack, Lauren Hutton, and Iman for Revlon, Margaux Hemingway for Fabergé, Karen Graham for Estée Lauder, Cristina Ferrare for Max Factor, and Cheryl Tiegs for CoverGirl by proclaiming them the "million dollar faces" of the beauty industry. These supermodels negotiated previously unheard of lucrative and exclusive deals with the giant cosmetics companies, were instantly recognizable, and their names became well known to the general public.
In the early 1980s, Inès de La Fressange was the first model to sign an exclusive modeling contract with an haute couture fashion house, Chanel. During the early 1980s, fashion designers began advertising on television and billboards. Catwalk regulars like Gia Carangi, Tiegs, Christie Brinkley, Kim Alexis, Paulina Porizkova, Yasmin Le Bon, Kathy Ireland, Brooke Shields, and Elle Macpherson began to endorse products with their names, as well as their faces, through the marketing of brands, such as Diet Pepsi and Ford trucks. In 1980, 14-year-old Shields was the youngest fashion model ever to appear on the cover of Vogue. Later that same year, Shields appeared in controversial print and TV ads for Calvin Klein jeans. The TV ad included her saying the famous tagline, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." Brooke Shields' ads would help catapult Klein's career to super-designer status.
As the models began to embrace old-style glamour, they were starting to replace film stars as symbols of luxury and wealth. In this regard, supermodels were viewed not so much as individuals but as images.
=== 1990s ===
By the 1990s, the supermodel became increasingly prominent in the media. The title became tantamount to superstar, to signify a supermodel's fame having risen simply from "personality". Supermodels did talk shows, were cited in gossip columns, partied at the trendiest nightspots, landed movie roles, inspired franchises, dated or married film stars, and earned themselves millions. Fame empowered them to take charge of their careers, to market themselves, and to command higher fees.
The new era began in 1990, with the era-defining British Vogue cover of Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Tatjana Patitz, photographed by Peter Lindbergh, which created such an impression on the fashion world that they came to embody the term "supermodel". Each model had gradually attained fame since the mid-1980s and was now among the industry's top stars. Selected by Lindbergh for the January cover of Vogue, the cover inspired singer George Michael to cast the same five models in the music video for his song, "Freedom! '90", directed by David Fincher. The other photograph that captured this new generation of fashion models is the black and white nude of Crawford, Patitz, Campbell and Stephanie Seymour taken by Herb Ritts that originally ran in the May 1989 issue of Rolling Stone, until a variation of this image which included Turlington was released in the 1990s, only after a contract exclusively binding her to Calvin Klein expired - thereby publicly revealing the now iconic image "Stephanie, Cindy, Christy, Tatjana, Naomi, Hollywood 1989." Lindbergh's and Ritts' group images helped each model attain worldwide fame by sharing covers of all the international editions of Vogue, walking the catwalks for the world's top designers, and becoming known by their first names alone.
Today, Campbell, Crawford, Evangelista, Patitz and Turlington are regarded as the "Original Supermodels", but the term has been used to describe the pioneering supermodels before them that paved the way and started the path to prominence, both publicly and professionally, such as Lauren Hutton, Beverly Johnson, Cheryl Tiegs, Christie Brinkley, Pat Cleveland and others.
In 1991, Turlington signed a contract with Maybelline that paid her $800,000 for twelve days' work each year. Four years later, Claudia Schiffer reportedly earned $12 million for her various modeling assignments. Authorities, ranging from Karl Lagerfeld to Time, had declared the supermodels more glamorous than movie stars.
Campbell, Evangelista and Turlington became known as The Trinity, a term first used by photographer Steven Meisel and noted by journalist Michael Gross. Evangelista was known as the "Chameleon", for her ability to transform her look and reinvent herself. Turlington was known as the "insurance model", saying "clients know that if they hire me, nothing will go wrong". Campbell was the first black model to appear on the front covers of Time, French Vogue, British Vogue, and the September issue of American Vogue, traditionally the biggest and most important issue of the year.
Campbell, Crawford, Evangelista, Turlington and Patitz were the original group to be regarded as "The Big Five" supermodels of the 1990s. The term "The Big Five" was later used to describe Campbell, Crawford, Evangelista, Turlington and Claudia Schiffer, and with the addition of Kate Moss, they became known as "the Big Six". It was Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Kate Moss who appeared together in the highest budgeted advertising campaign of all time, starring the original supermodels ($4.5 million USD in 1992, adjusted for inflation in 2021, $8.5 million USD)) and resulted in a now iconic television commercial for the Vauxhall Corsa automobile.
In the 2006 book In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine (Rizzoli), the editors cite the "original supermodels" and Schiffer when quoting Vogue Magazine Editor-In-Chief, Anna Wintour, who said, "Those girls were so fabulous for fashion and totally reflected that time ... [They] were like movie stars." The editors name famous models from previous decades, but explain that, "None of them attained the fame and worldwide renown bestowed on Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, Stephanie Seymour, Claudia Schiffer, Yasmeen Ghauri, and Karen Mulder, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These models burst out beyond the pages of the magazines. Many became the faces of cosmetics brands and perfumes, had their own television programs and physical-fitness videos, and their own lines of lingerie ... Their lives, activities, influences, and images were the subjects of all types of sociological and historical analysis." Tyra Banks had begun her career as a model, booking a record-breaking 25 shows in 1991, during her breakout year. She achieved Supermodel status, and rivaled Naomi Campbell as the top Black model in the world.
In the mid-1990s, the initial era of the supermodel ended and a new era for the supermodel began driven by heroin chic. By the late 1990s, actresses, pop singers, and other entertainment celebrities began gradually replacing models on fashion magazine covers and ad campaigns. The pendulum of limelight left many models in anonymity. A popular "conspiracy theory" explaining the supermodel's disappearance is that designers and fashion editors grew weary of the "I won't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day" attitude and made sure no small group of models would ever again have the power of the Big Six.
Charles Gandee, associate editor at Vogue, has said that high prices and poor attitudes contributed less to the decline of the supermodel. As clothes became less flashy, designers turned to models who were less glamorous, so they wouldn't overpower the clothing. Whereas many supermodels of the previous era were American-born, their accents making for an easier transition to stardom, the majority of models began coming from non-English speaking countries and cultures, making the crossover to mainstream spokesperson and cover star difficult. However, the term continued to be applied to notable models such as Kristen McMenamy, Stella Tennant, Laetitia Casta, Eva Herzigová, Carla Bruni, Tatiana Sorokko, Yasmin Le Bon, Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow, Nadja Auermann, Helena Christensen, Patricia Velásquez, Adriana Karembeu, Valeria Mazza and later, Milla Jovovich.
=== 2000s and present day ===
Emerging in the late 1990s, Gisele Bündchen became the first in a wave of Brazilian models to gain popularity in the industry and with the public. With numerous covers of Vogue under her belt, including an issue that dubbed her the "Return of the Sexy Model", Bündchen was credited with ending the "heroin chic" era of models. Following in her footsteps by signing contracts with Victoria's Secret, fellow Brazilians Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio rose to prominence; however, they were unable to cross over into the world of TV, movies and talk shows as easily as their predecessors, due to their foreign accents. Not to mention other big stars of 00s era such as Carmen Kass, Karolína Kurková, Isabeli Fontana, Natalia Vodianova and Natasha Poly, which also dominated the runways and ad campaigns along with Bündchen et al.
Several seasons later, they were followed by Eastern Europeans, barely into their teens, pale, and "bordering on anorexic. They were too young to become movie stars or date celebrities; too skeletal to bag Victoria's Secret contracts; and a lack of English didn't bode well for a broad media career". The opportunities for superstardom were waning in the modeling world, and models like Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks took to television with reality shows like Project Runway and Germany's Next Topmodel, and America's Next Top Model, respectively, to not only remain relevant but establish themselves as media moguls.
Contrary to the fashion industry's celebrity trend of the previous decade, lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret continues to groom and launch young talents into supermodel status, awarding their high-profile "Angels" multi-year, multimillion-dollar contracts.
American Vogue dubbed ten models (Doutzen Kroes, Agyness Deyn, Hilary Rhoda, Raquel Zimmermann, Coco Rocha, Lily Donaldson, Chanel Iman, Sasha Pivovarova, Caroline Trentini and Jessica Stam) as the new crop of supermodels in their May 2007 cover story, while the likes of Christie Brinkley, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista returned to reclaim prominent contracts from celebrities and younger models.
The rise of social media and so-called "nepotism babies" has seen a shift in the world of modelling from the late 2010s onwards. This means that many of today's 'supermodels' arguably took a rise to fame and were given the opportunities as they have due to their rich and famous families. Examples of these models are Kendall Jenner, Cara Delevingne, Bella Hadid, Gigi Hadid and Kaia Gerber. Despite the controversy surrounding these models and arguments that they only got their fame due to their families, they have proven to be some of the most successful models of today. In 2021, Kendall Jenner was named as the highest-paid supermodel, earning $40 million. The Hadid sisters weren't far behind, with Bella and Gigi earning $19 million and $20 million respectively.
== Male supermodels ==
In addition to the models stated previously, a top-grossing part of the industry that tends to be overlooked is the male side of modeling. Even though women are predominantly known in the modeling industry, men also appear in advertisements for clothing, cologne, sports wear and other such accessories.
Modeling is one of the only industries that sees a gender gap leaning towards women. Women earn up to 75% more than men in the modeling industry. The highest paid models in the world in 2022, the American female model Kendall Jenner earned $40 million while the American male model Sean O’Pry earned $1.5 million, only 3% of what Jenner is making. Historically, the menswear sector has gotten less financial support than the womenswear industry. In addition to that, there is only 1 male designer for every 20 female designers. Overall, the demand for female models is much greater than that for male models. Some also attribute the pay difference to the lengthier career of male models compared to female models due to the fashion industry’s dismissive attitude towards older women.
Study has shown that there has been an annual 17.4% increase in men’s clothing online from 2010-2015. The men’s apparel segment amounts to US$568.9 billion in 2023 and the market is expected to grow annually by 2.9%. Compared to 2014, the men’s apparel market in 2023 has grown by 28%. According to Euromonitor, demand for men’s clothing has even been growing 0.2% faster than that of women’s. In recent years, there have also been separate men’s fashion weeks in Paris, Milan, New York, and London. Studies have shown that this can be attributed to more men being found to begin to care more about fashion and beauty and the social media savvy male models / celebrities, like Lucky Blue Smith, Jason Morgan, and David Gandy.
=== Diversity and inclusion in the male modeling industry ===
Sterling St. Jacques is considered the first black male supermodel. St. Jacques was featured in Vogue and photographed by Horst P. Horst in the 1970s. His modeling career took off after he was discovered by Hubert de Givenchy to dance down the runway at a fashion show in 1976. In 1976, St. Jacques told Sepia magazine: "I think it’s a mistake that many black male models have felt the need to put forward a macho image like that because the fashion market is too limited to have much success using it. I've shown that black men can be macho-looking while at the same time have grace and smoothness. I'm proud to make black people see they can be doing this kind of work."
In 1994, Polo’s sports ad shot by Bruce Weber featured Tyson Beckford, a black masculine male model. Beckford later admitted during an interview in 2014 that, "There's a huge lack of strong African American images in fashion." Beckford also noted that, "I am happy that Ralph Lauren have used guys who look similar like me after."
In the summer of 2011, the Vancouver model Godfrey Gao also became Louis Vuitton, the luxury brand’s first Asian model.
In 2016, IMG Models launched its Brawn division which aimed to elevate the careers of plus-size male models. The first model hired under the new division is Zach Miko. Three years in, IMG has 7 models under the Brawn division.
In October 2022, Steven Green, the Kansas City born fashion photographer, starred in Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty’s men underwear campaign as a plus-size model. Green reflected that, "he was not confident being his size and shirtless on the internet, but the positive feedback he got was inspiring to him."
=== Male model requirements ===
Usually, the mass majority (not all) of agencies that sign on fashion/runway male models favor a height range consisting of 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) to 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m). The more strict agencies set a minimum height of 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m).
=== 1990s ===
In 1993, Italian model Fabio Lanzoni was the highest paid male model worldwide, receiving several million dollars a year doing advertisements for high-end brands like Versace.
Milind Soman quickly became a supermodel in India and was one of the most popular supermodels of the world in the 90s, successfully transitioning to films and television later in life.
Tyson Beckford is known for posing in a number of ads for Ralph Lauren's Polo sport cologne line. Since 1990, he has been the face of Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger, won Model of the year on VH1 Fashion award, and he has also appeared in Calvin Klein's campaign.
Tim Boyce was the first openly gay high fashion male supermodel of the 1990s and is credited for increasing the profile of gay celebrities, appearing on the cover of Out magazine as well as campaigns for Giorgio Armani and Gianfranco Ferre.
=== 2000s ===
In 2000s, Bruno Santos, a Brazilian model, became notorious for being the only male model selected to carry out two campaigns simultaneously for two competing fashion houses: Versace and Giorgio Armani. This earned him the nickname "Gisele Bündchen in pants".
Former professional soccer player David Beckham is noted as the Underwear Model of the Century. He has modeled for worldwide ads for H&M, Adidas, Calvin Klein, Burger King, Sainsbury's, and Breitling. British model David Gandy was described as achieving "icon status" by ABC News when they featured him on Nightline, stating, "As the face of Dolce & Gabbana and Lucky Jeans, Gandy is arguably one of the most successful male models ever, but he's a bit modest about that "supermodel" title."
=== 2010s ===
Vogue.com ranked the "Top 10 Male Models of All Time" in September 2014; the list included Tyson Beckford, David Gandy, Brad Kroenig, Sean O'Pry, Jon Kortajarena, Marcus Schenkenberg, Mathias Lauridsen, Mark Vanderloo, Noah Mills, and Evandro Soldati. In 2013, Forbes named O'Pry the highest-paid male model.
== Supermodels now ==
Various magazines and websites, including various international versions of: Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Vogue, have attributed the 'supermodel' title to a selection of models.
The male models, include: David Gandy, Jon Kortajarena, Mathias Lauridsen, Alton Mason, and Simon Nessman.
The female models, include: Vittoria Ceretti, Imaan Hammam, Cong He, Felice Noordhoff, Blanca Padilla, Anja Rubik, Mika Schneider, Luz Pavon, FeiFei Sun, Mona Tougaard, and Rianne Van Rompaey.
=== Plus-size ===
Since 2000, there has been an emergence of models known as female "plus-size" top models, including Robyn Lawley, Crystal Renn, Ashley Graham, Candice Huffine, Tara Lynn, Whitney Thompson, Katya Zharkova, Denise Bidot, Sophie Dahl, Jennie Runk and Natalie Laughlin. These models have been in Catwalks, magazines, and Billboards for brands known worldwide like Vogue, Glamour, Levi's, Forever 21, Cover Girl cosmetics, Saks Fifth Avenue, GQ Magazine, and Chanel. Graham had widespread amount of news coverage worldwide after Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue had her as one of the three covers of the 2016 edition.
=== In-between size ===
Camille Kostek, an "in-between size" or "middle model", landed a solo cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2019 despite not being on the extreme end of the spectrum as runway size (0–2) or plus-size (10 up). Recalling her difficulty breaking out she has stated, "I was told that it was too bad that I wasn't a size 10. That plus-size is a big market right now and it's too bad I wasn't measuring bigger. My size (4/6) is considered an "in-between size," meaning I'm not a straight model nor plus model, I'm right in the middle." Regardless, she has walked the runways of New York Fashion Week and Miami Beach Swim Week.
== Perception ==
Perception of the supermodel as an industry has been frequent inside and outside the fashion press, from complaints that women desiring this status become unhealthily thin to charges of racism of dominant racial groups of the home countries in the first decade of the twenty-first century, where the "supermodel" generally has to conform to the native majority's standard of beauty, for example Northern European standards in United States or Indian standards in India.
According to fashion writer Guy Trebay of The New York Times, in 2007, the "android" look was popular, a vacant stare and thin body serving, according to some fashion industry conventions, to set off the couture. This had not always been the case. In the 1970s in North America, black, heavier and "ethnic" models dominated the runways but social changes in the 1980s to the early 2000s persuaded the power players in the fashion industry to shun suggestions of "otherness".
However, since the latter part of the first decade of the twenty-first century, an increasing level of racial diversity has been noted among supermodels in the American fashion scene, catering to the growing East Asian markets, including Japanese model Tao Okamoto and Chinese models Fei Fei Sun and Liu Wen. Due to the rising importance of social media and social movements such as third wave body positivity, the range of diversity within the industry expanded to diversity in sizes, genders and social media visibility.
== See also ==
Evelyn Nesbit, a widely photographed fashion model c. 1900
Physical attractiveness
Self-image
Sex symbol
Superstar
Zoolander, 2001 film by Ben Stiller about a supermodel
== References == | Wikipedia/Supermodel |
Sports Illustrated (SI) is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. It is also known for its annual swimsuit issue, which has been published since 1964, and has spawned other complementary media works and products.
Owned until 2018 by Time Inc., it was sold to Authentic Brands Group (ABG) following the sale of Time Inc. to Meredith Corporation. The Arena Group (formerly theMaven, Inc.) was subsequently awarded a 10-year license to operate the Sports Illustrated–branded editorial operations, while ABG licenses the brand for other non-editorial ventures and products. In January 2024, The Arena Group missed a quarterly licensing payment, leading ABG to terminate the company's license. Arena, in turn, laid off the publication's editorial staff.
In March 2024, ABG licensed the publishing rights to Minute Media in a 10-year deal, jointly announcing that the print and digital editions would be revived by rehiring some of the editorial staff.
In May 2024, Sports Illustrated failed to deliver a print copy of the publication for the month to its subscribers for the first time in the magazine's 70-year history, according to the New York Post’s Josh Kosman (May 17, 2024).
== History ==
=== Establishment ===
There were two previous magazines named Sports Illustrated before the current magazine was launched on August 9, 1954. In 1936, Stuart Scheftel created Sports Illustrated with a target market of sportsmen. He published the magazine monthly from 1936 to 1942. The magazine focused on golf, tennis, and skiing with articles on the major sports. He then sold the name to Dell Publications, which released Sports Illustrated in 1949 and this version lasted six issues before closing. Dell's version focused on major sports (baseball, basketball, boxing) and competed on magazine racks against Sports and other monthly sports magazines. During the 1940s, these magazines were monthly, which prevented them from cover current events. There was no large-base, general, weekly sports magazine with a national following on actual active events. It was then that Time patriarch Henry Luce began considering whether his company should attempt to fill that gap. At the time, many believed sports was beneath the attention of serious journalism and did not think sports news could fill a weekly magazine, especially during the winter. A number of advisers to Luce, including Life magazine's Ernest Havemann, tried to kill the idea, but Luce, who was not a sports fan, decided the time was right.
Luce and editors of the planned magazine met in 1954 at Pine Lakes Country Club, the oldest golf course in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The course's pro shop has a plaque mentioning the meetings, and the plaque also states that the first issue was given to the course. It is on display there. Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association executive director Tracy Conner credits the magazine with making Myrtle Beach a golf destination.
Many at Time-Life scoffed at Luce's idea; in his Pulitzer Prize–winning biography, Luce and His Empire, W. A. Swanberg wrote that the company's intellectuals dubbed the proposed magazine "Muscle", "Jockstrap", and "Sweat Socks". Launched on August 9, 1954, it was not profitable (and would not be for 12 years) and not particularly well-run at first, but Luce's timing was good. The popularity of spectator sports in the United States was about to explode, and that popularity came to be driven largely by three things: economic prosperity, television, and Sports Illustrated.
The early issues of the magazine seemed caught between two opposing views of its audience. Much of the subject matter was directed at upper-class activities such as yachting, polo and safaris, but upscale would-be advertisers were unconvinced that sports fans were a significant part of their market.
=== Color printing ===
In 1965, offset printing began. This allowed the color pages of the magazine to be printed overnight, not only producing crisper and brighter images, but also finally enabling the editors to merge the best color with the latest news. By 1967, the magazine was printing 200 pages of "fast color" a year; in 1983, SI became the first American full-color newsweekly. An intense rivalry developed between photographers, particularly Walter Iooss and Neil Leifer, to get a decisive cover shot that would be on newsstands and in mailboxes only a few days later.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, during Gilbert Rogin's term as Managing Editor, the feature stories of Frank Deford became the magazine's anchor. "Bonus pieces" on Pete Rozelle, Woody Hayes, Bear Bryant, Howard Cosell and others became some of the most quoted sources about these figures, and Deford established a reputation as one of the best writers of the time.
=== Expansion of sports coverage ===
After more than a decade of steady losses, the magazine's fortunes finally turned around in the 1960s when Andre Laguerre became its managing editor. A European correspondent for Time, Inc., who later became chief of the Time-Life news bureaux in Paris and London (for a time he ran both simultaneously), Laguerre attracted Henry Luce's attention in 1956 with his singular coverage of the Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, which became the core of SI's coverage of those games. In May 1956, Luce brought Laguerre to New York to become the assistant managing editor of the magazine. He was named managing editor in 1960, and he more than doubled the circulation by instituting a system of departmental editors, redesigning the internal format, and inaugurating the unprecedented use in a news magazine of full-color photographic coverage of the week's sports events. He was also one of the first to sense the rise of national interest in professional football.
Laguerre also instituted the innovative concept of one long story at the end of every issue, which he called the "bonus piece". These well-written, in-depth articles helped to distinguish Sports Illustrated from other sports publications, and helped launch the careers of such legendary writers as Frank Deford, who in March 2010 wrote of Laguerre, "He smoked cigars and drank Scotch and made the sun move across the heavens ... His genius as an editor was that he made you want to please him, but he wanted you to do that by writing in your own distinct way." Laguerre is also credited with the conception and creation of the annual Swimsuit Issue.
In 1984, Mark Mulvoy became the youngest managing editor in the magazine's history. He sought for Sports Illustrated "to be the conscience of sports" through investigative journalism. He established the Golf Plus insert for the older golfing audience, established Sports Illustrated Kids for a younger audience, and doubled the swimsuit issue to 40 pages. The swimsuit issue became an annual special edition, and profits for Sports Illustrated more than quadrupled.
In 1986, co-owned property HBO/Cannon Video had inked a pact to produce video versions of the magazine for $20 on the sell-through market, running just 30–45 minutes on the tape.
In 1990, Time Inc. merged with Warner Communications to form the media conglomerate Time Warner. Sports Illustrated acquired FanNation.com in 2007 to compete in the Web 2.0 market; the site aggregated sports news and allowed user-generated content. In 2014, Time Inc. was spun off from Time Warner.
=== Sale to Authentic Brands Group, Maven ===
In 2018, the magazine was sold to Meredith Corporation by means of its acquisition of parent company Time Inc. Meredith, however, planned to sell Sports Illustrated due to not aligning with its lifestyle properties. Authentic Brands Group announced its intent to acquire Sports Illustrated for $110 million the next year, stating that it would leverage its brand and other assets for new opportunities that "stay close to the DNA and the heritage of the brand." Upon the announcement, Meredith would enter into a licensing agreement to continue as publisher of the Sports Illustrated editorial operations for at least the next two years. In June 2019, the rights to publish the Sports Illustrated editorial operations were licensed to the digital media company theMaven, Inc. under a 10-year contract, with Ross Levinsohn as CEO. The company had backed a bid by Junior Bridgeman to acquire SI. In preparation for the closure of the sale to ABG and Maven, The Wall Street Journal reported that there would be Sports Illustrated employee layoffs, which was confirmed after the acquisition had closed.
In October 2019, editor-in-chief Chris Stone stepped down. Later that month, Sports Illustrated announced its hiring of veteran college sports writer Pat Forde. In January 2020, it announced an editorial partnership with The Hockey News, focusing on syndication of NHL-related coverage. In 2021, it announced a similar partnership with Morning Read for golf coverage, with its website being merged into that of Sports Illustrated. It also partnered with iHeartMedia to distribute and co-produce podcasts.
In September 2021, Maven, now known as The Arena Group, acquired the New Jersey–based sports news website The Spun, which would integrate into Sports Illustrated. In 2022, ABG announced several non-editorial ventures involving the Sports Illustrated brand, including an apparel line for JCPenney "inspired by iconic moments in sports" (it was not the brand's first foray into clothing, as it launched a branded swimsuit line in conjunction with its Swimsuit Issue in 2018), and resort hotels in Orlando and Punta Cana. In September 2023, it delved deeper into the resort world through a new partnership with Travel + Leisure.
On November 27, 2023, Futurism published an article alleging that Sports Illustrated was publishing AI-generated articles credited to authors who were also AI-generated; the latter practice apparently extended to their profile photos, which the website alleged were sourced from online marketplaces selling such photos. After Futurism reached out to The Arena Group, the magazine purportedly removed some of the implicated writers and republished their articles under other AI-generated authors with notes disclaiming its staff's involvement. In response to the report, a spokesperson for Sports Illustrated claimed that the affected articles were product reviews written without the involvement of AI by AdVon Commerce, a third-party company who they claimed used pseudonyms to "protect author privacy" and had already severed ties with; meanwhile, writers and editors at the magazine sharply criticized the alleged practices.
On January 5, 2024, The Arena Group missed a $3.75 million quarterly licensing payment to Authentic Brands Group. Two weeks later, on January 19, Authentic Brands Group terminated its licensing agreement. As a result, The Arena Group fought back by announcing that it would lay off the entire Sports Illustrated staff. In March 2024, Authentic Brands Group licensed the publishing rights to Minute Media in a 10-year deal, jointly announcing that the print and digital editions would be revived by rehiring some of the editorial staff. Minute converted the Fan Nation–branded team sites to "On SI".
== Regular segments ==
Who's Hot, Who's Not: A feature on who's on a roll and who's going to fold.
Inside The NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, College Football, College Basketball, NASCAR, Golf, Boxing, Horse Racing, Soccer, And Tennis (sports vary from issue to issue): A section where writers from each sport address the latest news and rumors in their respective fields.
Faces In The Crowd: A section which honors talented amateur athletes and their accomplishments.
The Point After: A back-page column featuring a rotation of SI writers as well as other contributors. Content varies from stories to opinion, focusing on both the world of sports and the role sports play in society.
== Awards ==
=== American Sportswear Designer Award (ASDA Awards) ===
In 1956, Sports Illustrated began presenting annual awards to fashion or clothing designers who had excelled in the field of sportswear/activewear. The first ASDAs of 1956, presented to Claire McCardell with a separate Designer of the Year award to Rudi Gernreich, were chosen following a vote of 200 American top retailers. The following year, the voting pool had increased to 400 fashion industry experts, including Dorothy Shaver and Stanley Marcus, when Sydney Wragge and Bill Atkinson received the awards. The Italian designer Emilio Pucci was the first non-American to receive the award in 1961. The awards were presented up until at least 1963, when Marc Bohan received the prize. Other winners include Jeanne S. Campbell, Bonnie Cashin, and Rose Marie Reid who formed the first all-women winning group in 1958.
=== Performer of the Year ===
Maya Moore of the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx was the inaugural winner of the award in 2017.
=== Sportsperson of the Year ===
Since 1954, Sports Illustrated has annually presented the Sportsperson of the Year award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Roger Bannister won the first-ever Sportsman of the Year award thanks to his record-breaking time of 3:59.4 for a mile, the first-ever time a mile had been run under four minutes. Both men and women have won the award, originally called "Sportsman of the Year" and renamed "Sportswoman of the Year" or "Sportswomen of the Year" when applicable; it is currently known as "Sportsperson of the Year."
The 2017 winners of the award are Houston Texans defensive end J. J. Watt and Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve. Both athletes were recognized for their efforts in helping rebuild the city of Houston following Hurricane Harvey in addition to Altuve being a part of the Astros team that won the franchise's first World Series in 2017.
The 2018 winners are the Golden State Warriors as a team for winning their third NBA Title in four years.
The 2021 winner is Tom Brady for his Super Bowl 55 win.
The 2023 winner is Deion Sanders for his coaching of the football team at the University of Colorado Boulder.
=== Sportsman of the Century ===
In 1999, Sports Illustrated named Muhammad Ali the Sportsman of the Century at the Sports Illustrated's 20th Century Sports Awards in New York City's Madison Square Garden.
=== Sports Illustrated's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award ===
In 2015, the magazine renamed its Sportsman Legacy Award to the Sports Illustrated's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. The annual award was originally created in 2008 and honors former "sports figures who embody the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership and philanthropy as vehicles for changing the world." Ali first appeared on the magazine's cover in 1963 and went on to be featured on numerous covers during his storied career. His widow, Lonnie Ali, is consulted when choosing a recipient. In 2017, football quarterback Colin Kaepernick was honored with the Award, which was presented by Beyoncé. In 2018, WWE professional wrestler John Cena was honored with the award.
=== All-decade awards and honors ===
Top 20 Female Athletes of the Decade (2009)
Top 20 Male Athletes of the Decade (2009)
All-Decade Team (2009) (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, college basketball, college football)
Top 10 Coaches/Managers of the Decade (2009)
Top 10 GMs/Executives of the Decade (2009)
Top Team of the Decade (2009) (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, college basketball, college football)
Top 25 Franchises of the Decade (2009)
Major League Baseball honors
National Basketball Association honors
National Football League honors
National Hockey League honors
College basketball honors
College football honors
=== Top sports colleges ===
For a 2002 list of the top 200 Division I sports colleges in the U.S., see footnote.
=== Wrestling ===
==== Male/Men's Wrestler of the Year ====
==== Women's Wrestler of the Year ====
==== Wrestler of the Year ====
== Cover history ==
The following list contains the athletes with most covers.
The magazine's cover is the basis of a sports myth known as the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx.
=== Most covers by athlete, 1954–2016 ===
=== Most covers by team, 1954 – May 2008 ===
=== Most covers by sport, 1954–2009 ===
=== Celebrities on the cover, 1954–2010 ===
=== Fathers and sons who have been featured on the cover ===
=== Presidents who have been featured on the cover ===
=== Tribute covers (In Memoriam) ===
== Writers ==
== Photographers ==
On 28 March 1990 the magazine credited the contributors of its covers up to that date. and the 10 November 2003 issue of the magazine lists 379 contributing photographers and agencies including the following:
== Spinoffs ==
Sports Illustrated has helped launched a number of related publishing ventures, including:
Sports Illustrated Kids magazine (circulation 950,000)
Launched in January 1989
Won the "Distinguished Achievement for Excellence in Educational Publishing" award 11 times
Won the "Parents' Choice Magazine Award" 7 times
Sports Illustrated Almanac annuals
Introduced in 1991
Yearly compilation of sports news and statistics in book form
SI.com sports news web site
Sports Illustrated Australia
Launched in 1992 and lasted 6 issues **
Sports Illustrated Canada
Was created and published in Canada with US content from 1993 to 1995. Most of the issues appear to have the same cover except they say 'Canadian Edition'. These issues are numbered differently in the listing. A group of the Canadian issues have unique Canadian athletes (hockey mostly) and all the Canadian issues may have some different article content. The advertising may also be Canada-centric.
Sports Illustrated Presents
Launched in 1989
This is their tribute and special edition issues that are sold both nationally or regionally as stand alone products. **Originally started with Super Bowl Tributes the product became a mainstay in 1993 with Alabama as the NCAA National Football Champions. Today multiple issues are released including regional releases of the NCAA, NBA, NFL, MLB champions along with special events or special people. Advertising deals are also done with Sports Illustrated Presents (Kelloggs).
CNNSI.com a 24-hour sports news web site
Launched on July 17, 1997
Online version of the magazine
The domain name was sold in May 2015
Sports Illustrated Women magazine (highest circulation 400,000)
Launched in March 2000
Ceased publication in December 2002 because of a weak advertising climate
Sports Illustrated on Campus magazine
Launched on September 4, 2003
Dedicated to college athletics and the sports interests of college students.
Distributed free on 72 college campuses through a network of college newspapers.
Circulation of one million readers between the ages of 18 and 24.
Ceased publication in December 2005 because of a weak advertising climate
Sports Illustrated Online Casino
Launched on February 7, 2023, in Michigan
Operated in co-operation with 888 Holdings
Also includes Sports Illustrated Sportsbook which launched in September 2021
Esports Illustrated
Launched in March 2023 in partnership with Gaud-Hammer Gaming Group.
== See also ==
Sports Illustrated Kids
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover models
University of South Carolina steroid scandal
== References ==
=== Citations ===
Academy, U. S. Sports. “The Effects of Competitive Orientation on Performance in Competition.” The Sport Journal, 21 Feb. 2020, https://thesportjournal.org/article/the-effects-of-competitive-orientation-on-performance-in-competition/.
Oliver, Joseph Thomas. “The Positive Influence of Sports Magazines.” Medium, 3 May 2014, https://medium.com/@oli_joseph5/the-positive-influence-of-sports-magazines-19ed0f8ac9e7.
=== Sources ===
== Further reading ==
McEntegart, Pete; Wertheim, L. Jon; Menez, Gene; Bechtel, Mark (December 16, 2002). "SI's "The Top 100 Sports Books of All Time"". CNN/Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
== External links ==
Official website
SI Vault (complete archive of Sports Illustrated issues including Swimsuit)
Archived Sports Illustrated Magazines (1954–2016) on the Internet Archive | Wikipedia/Sports_Illustrated |
A promotional model is a model hired to drive consumer demand for a product, service, brand, or concept by directly interacting with potential customers. Most promotional models are conventionally attractive in physical appearance. They serve to make a product or service more appealing, and can provide information to journalists and consumers at trade shows and convention events. Promotional models are used in motorsports, other sports (such as dart competitions) or at trade shows, or they can act as "spokesmodels" to promote a specific brand or product in advertisements.
== Practice ==
While each model may not be directly employed by the company they represent, they can be trained to answer questions and provide customer feedback regarding products, services, and brand appeal. The responsibilities of the promotional model depend on the particular marketing campaign being carried out, and may include: increasing product awareness, providing product information, creating an association in the consumer's mind between the product or brand and a particular idea, and handing items to consumers, such as a sample of the product itself, a small gift, or printed information. Marketing campaigns that make use of promotional models may take place in retail stores or shopping malls, at trade shows, special promotional events, clubs, or even at outdoor public spaces. Promotional models may also be used as TV host/anchor for interviewing celebrities such as at film awards, sports events, etc. They are often planned at high traffic locations to reach as many consumers as possible, or at venues at which a particular type of target consumer is expected to be present.
=== Motorsports model ===
The motorsports scene often uses promo models as part of a pit crew in certain kinds of motor racing. The first usage of promotional models in motor races was during the late 1960s. It was then that the term race queen was coined. Prior to that, women in motor races were mostly wives and girlfriends of drivers and staff, with the exception of some who were drivers. In 1983, the sun tan lotion company Hawaiian Tropic sponsored the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The company brought its models over from the United States wearing bikinis bearing the company's name to appear on the racetrack before the race began. That practice was imported over to Japan for the Suzuka 8 Hours motorcycle race in the mid-1980s.
The models, referred as grid girls or pit/paddock girls in Europe, are very common in many series worldwide. In the United States, they are referred to as umbrella girls. Because of the manner of dress of these models, insurance companies regard the models as a safety hazard because of stringent dress codes imposed in the garage and pit areas by many sanctioning bodies; in New Jersey, the stringent dress codes effectively ban the models. In DTM and some other events, organizers have started to recruit male models as in startlines, mostly on female drivers' cars. The Korean term for a race queen is a racing model (레이싱모델). Racing models appear in motor shows and racing events.
In Japan, there is a phenomenon of race queens (レースクイーン) being often regarded as "idols". The average age for these girls is late teens to early twenties and demand for them wanes with age. It is not unusual for some of them to have a background in or a sideline career as a gravure idol. Race queens who operate in prestigious events and with a large fanbase can also be found at auto shows purely to draw crowds where they are nearly as important an attraction as the cars or electronics products that they are promoting. There is a magazine dedicated to them called Gals Paradise.
During the race queen bubble of the late 1980s to late 1990s, a top race queen in Japan could earn 500,000 yen over two days or at least 200,000 yen. In 1993, that salary was 100,000 yen. After the boom era, the market price of race queens fell to 20,000 to 30,000 yen over two days.
=== Spokesmodel ===
"Spokesmodel" is a term used for a model who is employed to be associated with a specific brand or product in advertisements. A spokesmodel may be a celebrity used only in advertisements (in contrast to a "brand ambassador", who is also expected to represent the company at various events), but often the term refers to a model who is not a celebrity in their own right. A classic example of such spokesmodels are the models engaged to be the Marlboro Man between 1954 and 1999, and the Clarion Girl since 1975. Contrary to what the term suggests, a spokesmodel is normally not expected to verbally promote the brand. In Japan, they are known as campaign girls (キャンペーンガール) or image girls (イメージガール) and are hired by government agencies.
=== Trade show model ===
A trade show model (also known as a convention model, trade show hostess, booth companion, or booth professional; a term that has been used only in Japan is companion lady but today more often used is event companion (イベントコンパニオン)) is an assistant that works with a company's sales representatives at a trade show exhibit, working on the floor space or a booth, and representing a company to attendees. Such models are used to draw in attendees and can provide them with basic information about product or services, and may be used to distribute marketing materials or gather customer information for future promotions. Attire and expected interactions vary depend on the nature of the show and on the image the company would like to portray, and they sometimes wear wardrobe that is particular to the company, product, or service represented.
Trade show models are typically not regular employees of the company, but are hired as they make a company's booth more visibly distinguishable from other booths with which it competes for attendee attention. If needed, they can explain or disseminate information on the company and its product and service, and can assist a company in handling a large number of attendees which the company might otherwise not have enough employees to accommodate, therefore increasing the number of sales or leads resulting from participation in the show. The models can be skilled at drawing attendees into the booth, engaging them in conversation, and at spurring interest in the product, service, or company.
== Controversies ==
=== Trade shows ===
The slang term booth babe, coined in 1986, or booth bunny, coined in 1989, is widely used to refer to any female trade show model. The models are typically asked to pose for photographs with convention goers, but inappropriate attendee conduct sometimes occurs, such as in case of Electronic Arts' 2009 "Sin to Win" campaign to promote Dante's Inferno. Since the late 1990s and increasingly so, the practice of employing them has been, controversially, strongly criticized by some journalists and segments of video game industry and consumer electronics communities. Critics of "booth babes" declared it a sexist problem, describing the practice as "outdated", sexually objectifying and demeaning, as well as insulting to and alienating other women, in particular those in the information technology industry. In turn, some others argue that the models and companies are being unfairly targeted, accusing the critics of finger-pointing sensationalism, displaying "extreme" political correctness, being prudish and pro-censorship, and spreading a Puritan-like moral panic.
The moniker "booth babe" is also controversial itself as it is considered offensive and degrading by some, including trade show models themselves. The term nevertheless continues to be often used by journalists and by the people opposed to the presence of the models they define as "booth babes".
Changing social and business standards have resulted in a decrease in the use of promotional models in trade shows, especially in the United States. The largest video gaming business convention, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), attempted to ban "conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative" in 2006 following Agetec's 2005 "Anti Booth Babe" protest, but reversed on this stance in 2009, after complaints regarding this and other policy changes. GameSpot's Greg Kasavin commented that, with this attempt, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) was "trying to put a definition to what constitutes scantily clad and what's borderline offensive" as it was "under a lot of pressure these days to clean up the image of games and to at least demonstrate that the video game industry is responsible in regulating itself" in the aftermath of Hot Coffee mod controversy.
China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) introduced and strictly enforced a dress code in 2012, saying they did not want "to send the wrong message" to their adolescent primary audience, and San Diego Comic-Con banned the SuicideGirls erotic models from having a booth in 2010. Video game convention Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) adopted a dress codes for both male and female models in what they call a "no booth babes" policy guideline, where "booth babes are defined as staff of ANY gender used by exhibitors to promote their products at PAX by using overtly sexual or suggestive methods. Partial nudity, the aggressive display of cleavage and the navel, and shorts/skirts higher than 4” above the knee are not allowed." Eurogamer Expo disallowed them completely in 2012, saying they wanted to make a more "friendly" show and all visitors "to feel comfortable," with a formal guideline saying "Booth babes are Not OK."
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), including its president and CEO Gary J. Shapiro and senior vice-president Karen Chupka, initially defended the use of female models who were deemed not dressed enough by critics but discouraged the practice in 2014 after a Change.org petition started by a Forbes technology journalist Connie Guglielmo demanded a ban on them and reached 250 signatures. The campaigners' proposal to "ban booth babes" was rejected as the CEA refused to "create and impose arbitrary or unenforceable rules, or worse, inch our event towards a Talibanesque ban on exposure of skin," but the new Consumer Electronics Show (CES) exhibitor guidelines stated, "recent news articles show that ‘booth babes’ can reflect poorly on your exhibit, so we ask that you give this thoughtful consideration, to avoid alienating or offending various audience segments."
In 2015, tube tops were among the items banned for booth staff at the RSA Conference, a major trade show/conference association, as part of dress codes that also informed booth staff not to wear minidresses or skintight bodysuits. The previous practice of having barely-clothed booth staffers was seen as creating a culture in which women were seen as "eye-candy or as decorative objects or hypersexualized figures".
=== Sports ===
After a round of talks with broadcasters, the Professional Darts Corporation announced on 27 January 2018 that it would discontinue the use of walk-on girls in darts tournaments. The decision has encountered a backlash from some fans, players and models.
On 31 January 2018, Formula One management announced that it would end the practice of grid girls who accompany the racers to the track, a tradition that "has been a staple of Formula 1 Grands Prix for decades", stating that "[they] feel this custom does not resonate with [their] brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms." The move has drawn criticism from former grid girls, including British model Kelly Brook. Former F1 executive Bernie Ecclestone and Red Bull Racing leader Christian Horner also expressed disapproval. In February 2018, Formula 1 announced it intended to replace grid girls with a new program called grid kids that season. The children used would be competitors in karting or junior categories, chosen by national motorsport authorities.
In a similar move, the traditional podium girls of cycling's Tour de France were removed and replaced with one male and one female host starting with the 2020 Tour de France.
== See also ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Promotional models at Wikimedia Commons | Wikipedia/Promotional_modeling |
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by American magazine Sports Illustrated and features female fashion models, celebrities and athletes wearing swimwear in various locales around the world. The highly coveted cover photograph has been considered as the arbiter of supermodel succession. The issue carries advertising that, in 2005, amounted to US$35 million in value. First published in 1964, it is credited with making the bikini, invented in 1946, a legitimate piece of apparel.
Since 1964, the issue had been published every February, but starting in 2019, the issue was made available in May.
== History ==
The swimsuit issue was invented by Sports Illustrated editor Andre Laguerre to fill the winter months, a typically slow point in the sporting calendar. He asked fashion reporter Jule Campbell to go on a shoot to fill space, including the cover, with a beautiful model. The first issue, released in 1964, entailed a cover featuring Babette March and a five-page layout. Campbell soon became a powerful figure in modeling and molded the issue into a media phenomenon by featuring "bigger and healthier" California women and printing the names of the models with their photos, beginning a new supermodel era. In the 1950s, a few women appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but the 1964 issue is considered to be the beginning of the current format known as the Swimsuit Issue. The issue that got the most letters was the 1978 edition.
When Mark Mulvoy became managing editor of Sports Illustrated, he doubled the size of the swimsuit issue from 20 to 40 pages, becoming a special annual issue The swimsuit issue sold five million copies annually during his time as managing editor, and profits for Sports Illustrated more than quadrupled.
In 1997, Tyra Banks was the first black woman on the cover. Since 1997, the swimsuit issue has been a stand-alone edition, separate from the regular weekly magazine. Its best selling issue was the 25th Anniversary Issue with Kathy Ireland on the cover in 1989.
Through the years, many models, such as Cheryl Tiegs, Christie Brinkley, Paulina Porizkova, Elle Macpherson, Rachel Hunter, Rebecca Romijn, Petra Nemcova, Valeria Mazza, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Marisa Miller, Brooks Nader, and Irina Shayk have been featured on the cover. Other models within its pages, but not on its cover, include Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Ella Halikas, Niki Taylor, Angie Everhart, and Naomi Campbell. The eight models featured on the cover of the 2006 issue were featured in a coffee-table book called Sports Illustrated: Exposure. Photographed by Raphael Mazzucco and produced by Diane Smith, the unprecedented "reunion shoot" featured 139 pages of previously-unpublished images. In 2006, the issue expanded publishing to handheld devices. In 2007, the swimsuit issue first became available in China.
The 2008–2013 covergirls were announced on Late Show with David Letterman. The 2014 and 2017 covergirls were announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The 2015 cover model was announced on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. MJ Day became the issue's top editor in 2014.
The 2019 covers were exclusively announced on Good Morning America with Tyra Banks and Camille Kostek both appearing on the show on May 8, 2019. The 2019 issue leaned towards diversity and inclusivity with models representing different body types. It also tackled ageism, body image and the Me Too movement.
The 2020 issue was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was released on July 13, 2020. Valentina Sampaio became the swimsuit issue’s first openly transgender model in 2020. The first openly transgender covergirl for the magazine was Leyna Bloom in 2021.
In May 2022, Yumi Nu became the first plus-size model of Asian descent to be featured on the cover of the magazine. Also in May, Maye Musk became the oldest model to feature on the Swimsuit cover, appearing at 74 years old.
== Non-models in the magazine ==
Female athletes have appeared in swimsuit shoots. Steffi Graf appeared in 1997. In the 2003 issue, tennis player Serena Williams and figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva were featured inside the magazine. In 2016, UFC fighter Ronda Rousey became the first female athlete to appear on the cover. However, Anna Kournikova appeared in an inset on the 2004 cover, and had a photo spread within its pages.
In 2005, Olympic gold medalists Amanda Beard and Jennie Finch, along with Lauren Jackson and Venus Williams, were featured. Maria Sharapova appeared in an inset on the 2006 cover and had a spread inside. In spring 2006, Sports Illustrated chose music as the theme for the 2007 issue. Swimsuit editor Diane Smith wanted Grammy-winner Beyoncé Knowles to pose. In 2006, Beyoncé launched a swimsuit line under her House of Deréon clothing label. Beyoncé Knowles became the first singer, and first non-model non-athlete, to appear on the cover in 2007.
In 2008, NFL cheerleaders appeared for the first time. Teams include the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, Washington Commanders and Houston Texans.
Race car driver Danica Patrick appeared in 2008 and 2009. In 2008, she was featured in a four-page spread set in Singer Island, Florida.
For the 2010 issue, four female Winter Olympians appeared in swimsuits: Clair Bidez, Lacy Schnoor, Hannah Teter, and Lindsey Vonn. They were joined by tennis player Ana Ivanovic. Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke appeared in the 2013 issue after having gained notoriety for her warm-up dance routine, which went viral on YouTube.
In 2012, Alex Morgan first appeared in a body paint swimsuit. In 2014, she made her second appearance this time in an actual swimsuit. In 2019, she appeared for her third appearance alongside her USWNT teammates, Megan Rapinoe, Crystal Dunn and Abby Dahlkemper all joined her in two-piece swimsuits.
Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki appeared in the 2015 issue. She is an active player, formerly world number one, and was photographed at Captiva Island in the Gulf of Mexico by Walter Iooss, Jr. Top ranked Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard appeared for the first time in the 2017 issue. She is an active player who has achieved a top five rank in tennis in 2014.
In 2021, Naomi Osaka became the first black athlete to appear not only inside but also on the cover of the SI swimsuit Issue.
In 2023, Martha Stewart, at the age of 81, became the oldest model on the cover of the SI swimsuit Issue. Also in 2023, Kim Petras became the second openly transgender woman to appear on the cover.
Olivia Dunne, the NCAA gymnast, appeared in the ‘23 edition. Also, Olympic medallists Simone Biles and Aly Raisman in ‘17 and ‘18.
The 2024 60th Anniversary publication included reappearances by athletes Paige Spiranac, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Olivia Dunne, and Brenna Huckaby. Olympian rugby player Ilona Maher, collegiate diver Alexa Massari, collegiate softball player Jas Williams, and collegiate basketball player Jillian Hayes all made their debut in the issue as well.
== Reception ==
Bryan Curtis of Slate argued that the magazine is an acceptable exhibition of female sexuality not out of place on a coffee table. However, the swimsuit edition has proven controversial both with moralists who subscribe for sports news content as well as with those who feel that the focus on fashion and swimsuit modeling is inappropriate for a sports magazine. Feminists have expressed that "the Swimsuit Issue promotes the harmful and dehumanizing concept that women are a product for male consumption".
In 1997, sports sociologist Laurel R. Davis published The Swimsuit Issue and Sport: Hegemonic Masculinity in Sports Illustrated, examining the societal implications of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Davis analyzed editions of the magazine from its inception in 1964 through the 1990s and conducted interviews with producers and readers. Her research suggested that the swimsuit issues reinforced traditional gender roles and perpetuated a "climate of hegemonic masculinity." Davis also argued that the magazine marginalized people of color, non-heterosexual individuals, and residents of lower-income countries. Additionally, Davis critiqued the magazine’s portrayal of models, suggesting it emphasized notions of femininity over athleticism by depicting them as dependent, emotionally vulnerable, and disconnected from the sporting context.
Despite the success of the swimsuit edition, hundreds have cancelled their subscriptions due to it. The 1978 edition, remembered for its fishnet bathing suit made famous by Cheryl Tiegs, resulted in 340 cancellations. Sports Illustrated makes the controversy a form of entertainment with the issue two weeks after the swimsuit edition packed with complainants such as shocked parents and troubled librarians. As of 2005, the number of cancellations has reportedly declined. Nonetheless, to avoid controversy, Sports Illustrated has, since 2007, offered its subscribers the option of skipping the swimsuit edition for a one issue credit to extend their subscription.
== Locations ==
The swimsuit issue was once predominantly shot in one country per year. As the issue has grown in size, the number of locations has also risen.
== In other media ==
Beginning in the late 1980s, Sports Illustrated allowed television specials to be aired which were later released as video versions of its Swimsuit Issue. The first releases were available on VHS or Laser Disc (LD), and later releases have been available on DVD.
In 1989, The Making of the Sports Illustrated 25th Anniversary Swimsuit Issue was a television documentary by HBO which later became available on VHS by Maysles Films.
In 1992, a behind-the-scenes made-for-HBO special documentary was released on VHS as the Sports Illustrated Behind the Scenes: Official Swimsuit Video.
In 1993, Sports Illustrated: The 1993 Swimsuit Video was released by HBO films.
The Sports Illustrated 1994 Swimsuit Issue Video was released on video by Dakota North Entertainment. Since then, the annual video version of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has been called the Swimsuit Video.
In 1995, Sports Illustrated began distributing television specials based on the issue, titled Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special. The hour-long specials have aired on Spike TV and TNT and Minisodes of several specials from 2002 to 2004 are available on Crackle.
In 2004, the Sports Illustrated 40th Anniversary Swimsuit Special: American Beauty featured videos of the swimsuit beauties at various US locations, some of which are not usually thought of as beaches: e.g., the host Melissa Keller and Marisa Miller at the grain elevator in Bouton, Iowa, and on a farm near Perry, Iowa. The more recent videos have included some "uncensored" scenes.
For January 2005, NBC produced the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search, a reality TV show documenting twelve previously unknown fashion models as they competed against one another over five weeks for the grand prize: a pictorial in the 2005 edition of the Swimsuit Issue and a modeling contract with NEXT Model Management worth one million US dollars. Alicia Hall won the competition.
Prior to the release of the 2011 issue, DirecTV aired a preview special on the 101 Network, revealing the models in that year's edition. The show was hosted by Dan Patrick and Mallory Snyder.
In 2017, the issue hosted its first ever open casting call where aspirants were asked to submit a 60-second video on Instagram. The three-part series Sports Illustrated Swim Search which documented the first ever open casting call with Camille Kostek as a winner (becoming a cover model in 2019) was made available on SI TV and Amazon Prime Video. The following year, the model search held an in-person open casting call in Miami, and has been held annually since.
In 2019, the magazine held a two-day exhibition in Miami which gave "fans the chance to experience the world of SI Swim like never before through an array of one-of-a-kind installations, photo experiences," panels and talks among others.
== See also ==
List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover models
List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue models
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Criticism
Davis, Laurel R. (1997). The Swimsuit Issue and Sport: Hegemonic Masculinity in Sports Illustrated. SUNY Series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791433911. OCLC 35620261.
Photography
Campbell, Jule, ed. (1995). The Best of the Swimsuit Supermodels. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 9781883013226. Published in both hardcover and softcover editions.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (1997). Around the World with the Swimsuit Supermodels. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. LCCN 99191547. OCLC 41211842.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (1999). The Best of the Swimsuit Supermodels 1964–1999. New York: Time, Inc. Collector's edition magazine.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (2002). Sports Illustrated Presents Ultimate Swimsuit 1964–2002. New York: Time, Inc.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (2011). Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Portfolio: Fantasy Islands. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 9781603202091. OCLC 755072628.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (2014). Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Portfolio: Idyllic Shores. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 9781618931214. OCLC 870199673.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (2010). Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Portfolio: Paradise Found. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 9781603201537. OCLC 751578018.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (2009). Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Portfolio: The Explorers Edition. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 9781603200899. OCLC 658199994.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (2013). Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: 50 Years of Beautiful. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 978-1618930811. OCLC 827082812.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (2008). Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: The Complete Portfolio. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 9781603200417. OCLC 502263177.
Editors of Sports Illustrated (2006). Sports Illustrated: Exposure. Photography by Raphael Mazzucco. New York: Time Home Entertainment. ISBN 9781933405858. LCCN 2006900231. OCLC 75397462.
Gair, Joanne (2007). Sports Illustrated: In the Paint: The Complete Body-Painting Collection from the SI Swimsuit Issue: The Art of Joanne Gair. Photography by James Porto. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 9781933821207. OCLC 212375500.
Hoffman, Steven (executive director) (2001). Sports Illustrated Knockouts: Five Decades of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Photography. Foreword by Frank Deford. New York: Sports Illustrated. ISBN 9781929049479.
Iooss, Walter (2010). Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: Heaven. Introduction by Jimmy Buffett. New York: Sports Illustrated Books. ISBN 9781603201162. LCCN 2009940848. OCLC 464590580.
== External links ==
Official website
SI.com – Swimsuit Collection via the Wayback Machine
"Bingham: A History of SI's Swimsuit Issue", Cape Cod Times, via the Wayback Machine
(Video) CNBC Originals: Business Model inside the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Reported by Darren Rovell. Season 2: Ep. 7. 43:23. | Wikipedia/Sports_Illustrated_Swimsuit_Issue |
Supermodel of the World (Ford Supermodel of the Year, formerly Face of the 80s) was an international modeling contest established by Eileen Ford in 1980. The contest showcases young fashion model entrants from over 50 countries to discover new talent for the fashion industry. The winner of the international final event received a $250,000 modeling contract with Ford Models. The second and third runners-up received contracts of $150,000 and $100,000, respectively.
== Titleholders ==
== Notable participants ==
Notable participants who did not win the contest include Adriana Lima, Chanel Iman, Kendra Spears, Marie-Christine Gessinger, Nadege Herrera, Charo Ronquillo, Liliane Ferrarezi, Bianca Chiminello, Bipasha Basu, Caron Bernstein, Zana Krasniqi, Paloma Lago, Malin Akerman, Elsa Benítez, Keity Mendieta, Nicole Trunfio, Shiraz Tal, Michelle Behennah, Melanie Marquez, and Ly Jonaitis.
== Hosts ==
1982 – Lee Majors
1987 - Dick Clark, Jerry Hall
1990 – Christie Brinkley
1992 – Walt Willey, Ashley Richardson
1993 – Walt Willey, Rachel Hunter
1996 – Richard Steinmetz
2004 – Billy Bush
== See also ==
Ford Models
Elite Model Look
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
Official MySpace and Application
pageantopolis.com | Wikipedia/Ford_Models_Supermodel_of_the_World |
A plus-size model is an individual size 12 and above who is engaged primarily in modeling plus-size clothing. Plus-size clothing worn by plus-size models is typically catering for and marketed to either big, tall or overweight men and women. Plus-size models also engage in work that is not strictly related to selling clothing, e.g., stock photography and advertising photography for cosmetics, household and pharmaceutical products and sunglasses, footwear and watches. Therefore, plus-size models do not exclusively wear garments marketed as plus-size clothing. This is especially true when participating in fashion editorials for mainstream fashion magazines.
Synonymous and interchangeable with plus-size model is "full-figured model", "extended-sizes model", "over-weight model", "fat model" and "outsize model". Previously, the term "large size model" was also frequently used.
== Plus-size industry ==
Fashion designers are starting to look more closely at the earning potential from plus-size clothing, and have used plus-size models for their advertising campaigns and catwalks. Jean-Paul Gaultier and John Galliano both used plus-size models in their Spring 2006 showings in Paris. Gaultier also used plus-size models Marquita Pring and Crystal Renn in his Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear show. Italian plus-size fashion house Elena Mirò now regularly stages biannual prêt-à-porter shows during Milan Fashion Week. Mark Fast and William Tempest each used plus-size models during their own London Fashion Week showings for Spring 2009, and again as part of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk event held on 19 September 2009 in association with the British Fashion Council. Mark Fast also used plus-size models in Fall 2010, Fall 2011, and Spring 2012. Mr. Debonair of Beautiful You Fashion Tour uses plus-size models in shows around the world, including during the Beautiful You fashion show during New York Fashion Week 2022 which included Ms. Plus Intercontinental 2021 title holder Wendy Roach. Plus-size models became increasingly represented in high fashion after 2020 but saw a decline in early 2023 when ultrathin models made a comeback.
=== Origins in North America ===
Lane Bryant began trading in the early 1900s as a producer of clothing for "Expectant Mothers and Newborn"'. By the early 1920s, Lane Bryant started selling clothing under the category 'For the Stout Women', which ranged between a 38–56 inch bustline. The earliest catalogs used illustrations to sell their products, but by the mid-1950s photographs were integrated into the catalogs as the evolution of printing technology made this option available. After a hiatus through the 1960–1980 period, Lane Bryant again began using plus-size models.
=== Specialty model agency divisions ===
Plus size models were first represented by model agencies in the 1970s. Prior to this, models freelanced directly with retailers, designers and magazines. Former plus-size model Mary Duffy owned Big Beauties Little Women, the first agency specializing in plus-size and petite models in 1977. Pat Swift, a plus-size model at the time, founded Plus Models in 1978. Ford Models began representing plus size models in 1978, and added two models to their board, including top model Ann Harper, due to demand from clients. By the late 1980s, Plus Models was the largest and most successful plus-size specialty agency, representing over 65 models and grossing over 2 million dollars in revenue. By 1984, Big Beauties Little Women was successful enough to run national model searches advertised in the press. 18-year old Angelia Taylor was the first winner of the inaugural Big Beauty Model Search in 1984. The prize included the cover of It's Me magazine, a nationally published magazine for plus-size women. Not long after, Plus Models began holding national model searches. By the mid-1980s, top plus size models could earn as much as 150,000 to 200,000 dollars a year. Ford Models bought Big Beauties Little Women in 1988, later renaming the division Special Sizes and then Ford 12+.
Wilhelmina NYC agent Susan Georget started the Wilhelmina 10/20 division in New York in 1994, recently re-branded W Curve. Gary Dakin headed New York's Karin Models' Curves division, only to leave after a short time to develop Ford Models' Ford 12+(rebranded Ford+) model division in their New York office in 1998. In Constantine Valhouli's 2001 plus-size model documentary Curve, Dakin states, "We're celebrating our 25th anniversary of the Ford 12+ division. It was the first and longest-existing plus division in the industry."(sic) Together, these agents created agency divisions that have continued to recruit the highest caliber of models in the industry and are credited with expanding opportunities for plus-size models beyond working solely for plus-size clothing retailers.
Former plus-size model Becca Thorpe founded the plus-size division at Muse Model Management, a boutique fashion agency in 2011. Muse also recruits high caliber models and had advanced opportunities for plus-size models beyond advertising for plus-size retailers.
Ford Models closed its plus-size division in June 2013 to focus on its editorial divisions. Gary Dakin and Jaclyn Sarka founded Jag Models in July 2013, which currently represents about 30 models sizes 8-18. The agency does not brand its models as plus-size.
There are a large number of reputable agencies throughout the U.S. and Canada, and internationally in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey and the UK.
=== Specialty media and other ventures in North America ===
In 1979 Big Beautiful Woman magazine (more commonly known via the acronym BBW) began publication and was one of the first publications in the US catering specifically to plus-size clothing consumers. It ceased publication in 1995, but the "BBW" brand was sold onwards. Although it continued in print via several editor-and-publisher combinations it continued to falter, finally ceasing print publication after 23 years with the April/May 2003 issue. BBW is now an online community surrounding archived material from the magazine.
In Spring 1981, Lane Bryant began publishing It's Me magazine. Along with Big Beautiful Woman, It's Me was one of the few print magazines for plus-size women. In 1982, the magazine was sold to Happy Hands Publishing Company.
In addition to magazines, books dedicated to plus size (aka "full figured") fashion and lifestyles began to be released from major publishers in the 1980s. Some of these include: Making It Big (1980), The Big Beauty Book (1982), The Lane Bryant Fashion Math Make-Over (1987) and Sizing Up (1989).
Spiegel catalog launched their For You from Spiegel plus-size collection in 1989 with Linda Arroz as their official consultant and spokesmodel. The three-year For You campaign included opening brick-and-mortar retail locations in upscale shopping centers. Previously, Spiegel had only been a mail-order merchant. As part of the full-scale plus-size outreach, Spiegel produced fashion videos that featured advice from image consultant Arroz, with commentary from some of the plus-size models who appeared in the video and catalog. Arroz became the fashion editor of BBW magazine after her stint with Spiegel. By the mid-1990s, all For You from Spiegel retail locations had closed.
In 1995, Lane Bryant began a transformation of the brand which included large-scale fashion showings and celebrity endorsement. Queen Latifah, Mia Tyler, Camryn Manheim, Anna Nicole Smith and Chris Noth have appeared in advertising and/or events on behalf of the brand. Lane Bryant held a large-scale lingerie fashion show to launch the "Cacique Intimates" lingerie collection on 1 February 2000. The 2003 final large-scale catwalk show featured Roseanne Barr as Matron of Ceremonies in a cabaret setting complete with Moulin Rouge-style singers and dancers.
Lane Bryant was acquired by Charming Shoppes for $335 million in August 2001. In 2003 a cost-reduction plan was announced to improve the company's pre-tax position by $45 million. Shortly afterwards, the annual Lane Bryant fashion show ceased production.
With strong cooperation from Wilhelmina 10/20, Curves and Ford 12+ agencies, MODE magazine, was launched in the spring of 1997. No other fashion magazine specifically targeted the plus-size consumer with a Vogue-like fashion philosophy. MODE's editorial practice of providing models' names, sometimes attached to quotes on self-esteem to make them more approachable, greatly aided the popularity of the models and gave them a form of celebrity. The magazine also received industry acclaim, being named the best new magazine launch by Ad Week and Advertising Age in 1997. MODE ran model search competitions in conjunction with the Wilhelmina modeling agency, drawing entries from thousands of hopefuls from the US and Canada.
Occurring shortly before the time of MODE's closure was the failure of several designers' ventures into the plus-size market. Versace (GV Versatile Couture), Valentino (Carisma), and others ceased producing the clothing which MODE relied upon, leaving an unfortunate deficit in the fashion department wardrobes and advertising revenue coffers of MODE magazine and its successors. Its circulation was approximately 600,000 at the time of its demise in late 2001.
Grace Magazine was launched on 14 May 2002 by MODE magazine's last executive editor, Ceslie Armstrong, and many of the ex-MODE staff as an independent quarterly publication and website under a similar concept. Even though the initial 400,000 print run sold out quickly and advertising revenue appeared high, the independent status and limited funding prohibited the ability to grow to fill the newsstand and subscription orders. Critics, however, believed that Grace featured far less stylish fashion content than its predecessor and unwisely pursued an editorial emphasis on weight-related health issues. Grace Magazine ceased operation due to lack of funding in November 2003, after publishing 10 issues.
Charming Shoppes' custom advertorial magazine, Figure, was launched in 2002 and was revamped during 2006. Although it featured only Charming Shoppes' own products and related lifestyle articles, it remained the only fashion and lifestyle print magazine specifically targeted for plus-size consumers until its announced closure after the publication of the March/April 2009 issue.
U.S. television program America's Next Top Model has featured contestants acknowledging the plus-size industry's relevance to fashion since the show's launch in 2003. After elimination from the competition several of the contestants have signed contracts with the Wilhelmina agency, although only Kortnie Coles, Diane Hernandez, Toccara Jones, Whitney Thompson, Yvonne Powless, Khrystyana Kazakova, Liz Woodbury, and Alexandra Underwood have successfully translated their TV celebrity into ongoing modeling careers.
Several homegrown calendar projects featuring models over a U.S. size 12 were launched in 2007, including the well-publicized Luscious and Fenomenal Calendar products from North America. To date, no calendar has been successful enough to continue beyond its initial launch year.
Plus Model Magazine, an online publication was launched in 2006 by Madeline Figueroa-Jones, a former plus-size model. The magazine features beauty and fashion editorials, beauty and fashion tips, modeling advice and interviews with plus-size celebrities as well as people working in all facets of the plus-size clothing industry. Plus Model Magazine launched an online podcast in 2008 hosted by model, actress and host Chenese Lewis, which has interviews with plus-size celebrities and people working in all facets of the plus-size clothing industry. The magazine gained attention in many media outlets worldwide by publishing an editorial commenting on body image and the fashion industry. The editorial featured plus-size model Katya Zharkova photographed nude alongside a straight-size model.
Canadian magazine LOU LOU has included specifically produced bi-annual plus-size fashion inserts featuring editorials and product pages since 2008. Echoing the advertorial relationship of Figure to Lane Bryant, LouLou's supplement features products from Reitmans group of plus-size apparel companies (Addition-Elle, MXM, Pennington's) on its pages.
Vogue U.S. has faltered on the continued use of recognisable plus-size models for the annual "Shape Issue" (April) issue; however British vocalist Adele appeared on the March 2012 cover as the first overtly larger-sized cover subject since sportsman LeBron James in April 2008. U.S. Glamour has declared it will feature more plus-size models as editorial policy after the appearance of a small photograph of model Lizzie Miller caused a groundswell of positive comment.
Elle Quebec featured plus-size models three times on its cover: in May 1997, May 2013 and June 2014.
High fashion print publication V magazine featured seven agency-represented plus-size models in "The Size Issue" #63, photographed by prominent fashion photographers.
North American body care company, Dove, launched a "Real Beauty Campaign" where they included un-retouched photos of plus-size models, and models of all sizes, to emphasize the acceptance of all body shapes.
=== Origins in Europe ===
European magazines, including European editions of Elle and Vogue have featured plus size models on covers and in editorials.
In France, the media ma grande taille is dedicated to plus size industry and body positivity.
Evans, a U.K.-based retailer, was founded in 1930. Evans specializes in plus-sized clothing, lingerie, shoes and swimwear.
Max Mara started Marina Rinaldi, one of the first high-end clothing lines, for plus-size women in 1980. Marina Rinaldi started advertising in 1981. The line's campaigns were photographed by top photographers such as Richard Avedon, Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort, Greg Kadel, Peter Lindbergh, and Craig McDean, used top models and celebrities(including Carré Otis, Candice Huffine, Crystal Renn, and Kate Dillon Levin), and were featured in magazines and on billboards. The ads were also the first to use the term plus size rather than outsize in Europe.
=== Specialty model agency divisions ===
Cheryl Hughes founded Hughes models, the UK's first plus-size agency in 1985. Allison Bramwell Bewley, a former straight size and plus-size model founded Excel Models in 1995. The agency has represented notable models including Pollyanna McIntosh and Sara Morrison. Sarah Watkinson founded 12 + models in 2000. Former plus-size model Anna Shillinglaw founded the plus size division of Milk Management in 2011. These agents have been credited with improving visibility of plus-size models in Europe and developing some of the top plus-size models for international markets. In recent years, the most prestigious fashion agencies in the UK have launched plus size divisions. In 2011, Excel Models merged with Models 1, one of Europe's most prestigious fashion agencies. Storm Models started a plus size division, Curve in 2012.
=== Specialty media and other ventures in Europe ===
Several plus-size retailers in Europe have produced magazines. Marina Rinaldi started MR, a fashion magazine showing Marina Rinaldi fashions on plus-size models in 1992. The magazine is still in publication today. Evans, one of the UK's largest plus-size specialist retailers, launched Encore, an in-store fashion and lifestyle magazine published by Condé Nast in 1996.
Yes!, a print fashion magazine for plus size women founded and edited by Janice Bhend, launched in 1993. At the time, Yes! was the only print magazine especially for plus size women in Europe. The magazine stopped publishing in 1998 due to a lack of funding.
Fashion editor Rivkie Baum launched SLiNK, a fashion and lifestyle magazine for full-figured women in 2011. SLiNK is one of the few magazines focused on plus size women to photograph models with a Vogue-like aesthetic. The magazine began publishing in print for its fifth issue in March 2012. The magazine was also the first to feature a plus size model in a 3D editorial. SLiNK was also one of the few magazines to feature plus-size and smaller sized models on a magazine cover.
European versions of Vogue and Elle have featured plus size models in many editorials, often photographed by top photographers. In 1997, British Vogue published an editorial with Sara Morrison photographed by Nick Knight. Vogue Italia featured plus size models on the cover of three issues. Sophie Dahl appeared on two covers in 2000(February and April). In June 2011, Candice Huffine, Robyn Lawley, and Tara Lynn appeared on the magazine's cover. The main editorial of the issue featured those three models plus Marquita Pring. Robyn Lawley also appeared in another editorial in that issue. Elle France has featured Tara Lynn on two covers in April 2010 and April 2012, and Robyn Lawley on their April 2011 cover. The April 2010 issue also included a 20-page spread with Lynn. Elle Italia has featured Crystal Renn on its April 2008 cover. Elle Belgium featured Deborah Dauchot on its May 2012 cover. In November 2013, Tara Lynn appeared on the cover of Elle Spain. In December 2013, Iris Monroe Baker appeared on the cover of Elle Netherlands.
Other magazines that have featured plus size models on their covers include Amica, Avantgarde, Biba, D Reppublicca della Donna, i-D, and S Moda. In addition, magazines such as Bon, Diva e Donna, Gioia, Glamour UK, Glass, Grazia, Numéro, Paradis, Ponystep, and Yo Dona have featured plus size models in editorials.
Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model has featured several contestants, including Louise Watts, who was Season 3's runner up and competed in America's Next Top Model Cycle 18.
In 2016, Scandinavia's Next Top Model was rebooted as Top Model Curves, and all contestants featured were plus-size models from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Swede Ronja Manfredsson was declared the winner during the finale episode in Lisbon.
=== Origins in Asia and the Pacific ===
The plus size industry in Asia is not as developed as in North America or Europe, but a number of Asian plus size models have been featured in press. Australia has a developed industry with multiple designers and retailers using plus size models in advertising. In recent years, plus size agencies in Australia have launched the careers of several international plus size models, such as Robyn Lawley.
=== Specialty agencies and divisions ===
Former plus-size model Darrianne Donnelly founded the first plus size agency in Australia, BigGals Models, which was renamed to BGM Models in 1996. BGM Models closed in 2015 due to Donnelly's retirement, with the majority of models moving to the new Curves division at the established full service agency Vivien's Models. Chelsea Bonner, a former BGM model, left the agency to start Bella Models in 2000 in direct competition. Bonner is often credited with the discovery of Robyn Lawley as a model, although Lawley had already been modelling at a smaller size before joining Bella.
=== Specialty media and other ventures in Asia and Pacific Region ===
In April 1997, Emme appeared on a cover of New Woman, the first appearance of a plus-size model on an Australian magazine cover. In May 2000, Australian Cosmopolitan began using plus-size models in fashion feature spreads. Natalie Wakeling appeared in the first May 2000 editorial. Australian Cosmopolitan now features plus size models in every issue of the magazine. Other magazines that regularly feature plus-size models include Australian Women's Weekly and Dolly. Robyn Lawley was GQ Australia's Girl of the Week in its November 2013 issue.
Madison magazine photographed Robyn Lawley for their May 2012 cover. In March 2014, Robyn Lawley appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan Australia.
Crystal Renn appeared in A Call for Camp in Vogue Japan's June 2011 issue. Felicity Hayward was featured in the editorial I'm Better in Black in Vogue Japan September 2012. Australian Vogue featured Robyn Lawley in Belle Curve for their August 2011 issue, and again in their June 2013 issue.
Australia's Next Top Model featured cycle winner Tahnee Atkinson in Cycle 5.
Elena Miro produced a prêt-à-porter runway show in China featuring Asian models in 2006.
== Criticism ==
The plus-size modelling industry has received general criticism on the premise that acceptance of plus-size models sets a poor health example of weight management.
Consumer-based criticism regarding the lower sizes of plus-size models was for a long time commonplace and wide-spread. While the reputed 'average' dress size of an American woman is size 14, the majority of models represented as plus-size were between a US size 6-12; therefore, the models did not reflect the average consumer size. However, over the past ten years, larger plus-size models have appeared, particularly on social media, and Tess Holliday (US size 22, UK size 26) was featured on the September 2018 cover of Cosmopolitan.
Like other models, plus-size models use food tricks to temporarily alter their size long enough to meet client demands, such as eating salty food to go up in size or eating cotton balls dipped in juice to shrink for a shoot. Agents have suggested plastic surgery to some models.
German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and other fashion designers have deferred on the use of plus-size models through a lack of interest in the consumers associated with the term plus-size. Lagerfeld in particular has been vocal on the matter of his preferred clientele: "What I designed was fashion for slender and slim people" and received criticism for demanding that mass retailer H&M not produce their collaboration designs to size 16.
In the past, the industry was criticized for lacking racial diversity. For example, critics have noted that there are few Asian plus-size models. Others have noted that there are few black plus-size models with darker skin tones.
In February 2015, Australian model Stefania Ferrario and television presenter Ajay Rochester began a campaign to end the use of the term "plus-size" to describe models who are above a US dress size 4 by the modelling industry. Ferrario posted a picture with the caption "I am a model FULL STOP" with the hashtag "#droptheplus" which gained coverage in the media and was heavily discussed, with mixed, but mostly positive reactions, on social media and within the fashion industry.
== See also ==
Plus-size clothing
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Plus-size models at Wikimedia Commons | Wikipedia/Plus-size_model |
Alternative modeling is a branch of the modeling industry that features models who do not conform to mainstream ideals of beauty. Alternative models are often niche-specific, with a personal style that represents subcultures like goth, steampunk, and fetishism. An alternative model may, for example, be tattooed, pierced, or have other body modifications, have distinctively subcultural hair such as being shaved, dyed a distinctively unnatural color, or styled into a mohawk or dreadlocks. Alternative modeling can be clothed or unclothed.
Alternative modeling was given substantial mainstream media coverage in the 2000s and 2010s, partly through the creation and popularization of community-based alternative modeling paysites, like GodsGirls and SuicideGirls. Alternative modeling community sites usually promote their models for their personalities as well as for their looks and portfolios.
== Markets ==
Alternative models are often employed to promote niche products, either in shops or online, particular subcultural clothing shops and websites.
== Notable models ==
Yasmin Benoit
Anita De Bauch
Billi Gordon
Kato
Mosh
Ulorin Vex
Dita Von Teese
== See also ==
Alternative culture
Alternative fashion
Model (profession)
Fetish model
== References ==
== External links == | Wikipedia/Alternative_model |
A promotional model is a model hired to drive consumer demand for a product, service, brand, or concept by directly interacting with potential customers. Most promotional models are conventionally attractive in physical appearance. They serve to make a product or service more appealing, and can provide information to journalists and consumers at trade shows and convention events. Promotional models are used in motorsports, other sports (such as dart competitions) or at trade shows, or they can act as "spokesmodels" to promote a specific brand or product in advertisements.
== Practice ==
While each model may not be directly employed by the company they represent, they can be trained to answer questions and provide customer feedback regarding products, services, and brand appeal. The responsibilities of the promotional model depend on the particular marketing campaign being carried out, and may include: increasing product awareness, providing product information, creating an association in the consumer's mind between the product or brand and a particular idea, and handing items to consumers, such as a sample of the product itself, a small gift, or printed information. Marketing campaigns that make use of promotional models may take place in retail stores or shopping malls, at trade shows, special promotional events, clubs, or even at outdoor public spaces. Promotional models may also be used as TV host/anchor for interviewing celebrities such as at film awards, sports events, etc. They are often planned at high traffic locations to reach as many consumers as possible, or at venues at which a particular type of target consumer is expected to be present.
=== Motorsports model ===
The motorsports scene often uses promo models as part of a pit crew in certain kinds of motor racing. The first usage of promotional models in motor races was during the late 1960s. It was then that the term race queen was coined. Prior to that, women in motor races were mostly wives and girlfriends of drivers and staff, with the exception of some who were drivers. In 1983, the sun tan lotion company Hawaiian Tropic sponsored the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The company brought its models over from the United States wearing bikinis bearing the company's name to appear on the racetrack before the race began. That practice was imported over to Japan for the Suzuka 8 Hours motorcycle race in the mid-1980s.
The models, referred as grid girls or pit/paddock girls in Europe, are very common in many series worldwide. In the United States, they are referred to as umbrella girls. Because of the manner of dress of these models, insurance companies regard the models as a safety hazard because of stringent dress codes imposed in the garage and pit areas by many sanctioning bodies; in New Jersey, the stringent dress codes effectively ban the models. In DTM and some other events, organizers have started to recruit male models as in startlines, mostly on female drivers' cars. The Korean term for a race queen is a racing model (레이싱모델). Racing models appear in motor shows and racing events.
In Japan, there is a phenomenon of race queens (レースクイーン) being often regarded as "idols". The average age for these girls is late teens to early twenties and demand for them wanes with age. It is not unusual for some of them to have a background in or a sideline career as a gravure idol. Race queens who operate in prestigious events and with a large fanbase can also be found at auto shows purely to draw crowds where they are nearly as important an attraction as the cars or electronics products that they are promoting. There is a magazine dedicated to them called Gals Paradise.
During the race queen bubble of the late 1980s to late 1990s, a top race queen in Japan could earn 500,000 yen over two days or at least 200,000 yen. In 1993, that salary was 100,000 yen. After the boom era, the market price of race queens fell to 20,000 to 30,000 yen over two days.
=== Spokesmodel ===
"Spokesmodel" is a term used for a model who is employed to be associated with a specific brand or product in advertisements. A spokesmodel may be a celebrity used only in advertisements (in contrast to a "brand ambassador", who is also expected to represent the company at various events), but often the term refers to a model who is not a celebrity in their own right. A classic example of such spokesmodels are the models engaged to be the Marlboro Man between 1954 and 1999, and the Clarion Girl since 1975. Contrary to what the term suggests, a spokesmodel is normally not expected to verbally promote the brand. In Japan, they are known as campaign girls (キャンペーンガール) or image girls (イメージガール) and are hired by government agencies.
=== Trade show model ===
A trade show model (also known as a convention model, trade show hostess, booth companion, or booth professional; a term that has been used only in Japan is companion lady but today more often used is event companion (イベントコンパニオン)) is an assistant that works with a company's sales representatives at a trade show exhibit, working on the floor space or a booth, and representing a company to attendees. Such models are used to draw in attendees and can provide them with basic information about product or services, and may be used to distribute marketing materials or gather customer information for future promotions. Attire and expected interactions vary depend on the nature of the show and on the image the company would like to portray, and they sometimes wear wardrobe that is particular to the company, product, or service represented.
Trade show models are typically not regular employees of the company, but are hired as they make a company's booth more visibly distinguishable from other booths with which it competes for attendee attention. If needed, they can explain or disseminate information on the company and its product and service, and can assist a company in handling a large number of attendees which the company might otherwise not have enough employees to accommodate, therefore increasing the number of sales or leads resulting from participation in the show. The models can be skilled at drawing attendees into the booth, engaging them in conversation, and at spurring interest in the product, service, or company.
== Controversies ==
=== Trade shows ===
The slang term booth babe, coined in 1986, or booth bunny, coined in 1989, is widely used to refer to any female trade show model. The models are typically asked to pose for photographs with convention goers, but inappropriate attendee conduct sometimes occurs, such as in case of Electronic Arts' 2009 "Sin to Win" campaign to promote Dante's Inferno. Since the late 1990s and increasingly so, the practice of employing them has been, controversially, strongly criticized by some journalists and segments of video game industry and consumer electronics communities. Critics of "booth babes" declared it a sexist problem, describing the practice as "outdated", sexually objectifying and demeaning, as well as insulting to and alienating other women, in particular those in the information technology industry. In turn, some others argue that the models and companies are being unfairly targeted, accusing the critics of finger-pointing sensationalism, displaying "extreme" political correctness, being prudish and pro-censorship, and spreading a Puritan-like moral panic.
The moniker "booth babe" is also controversial itself as it is considered offensive and degrading by some, including trade show models themselves. The term nevertheless continues to be often used by journalists and by the people opposed to the presence of the models they define as "booth babes".
Changing social and business standards have resulted in a decrease in the use of promotional models in trade shows, especially in the United States. The largest video gaming business convention, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), attempted to ban "conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative" in 2006 following Agetec's 2005 "Anti Booth Babe" protest, but reversed on this stance in 2009, after complaints regarding this and other policy changes. GameSpot's Greg Kasavin commented that, with this attempt, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) was "trying to put a definition to what constitutes scantily clad and what's borderline offensive" as it was "under a lot of pressure these days to clean up the image of games and to at least demonstrate that the video game industry is responsible in regulating itself" in the aftermath of Hot Coffee mod controversy.
China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) introduced and strictly enforced a dress code in 2012, saying they did not want "to send the wrong message" to their adolescent primary audience, and San Diego Comic-Con banned the SuicideGirls erotic models from having a booth in 2010. Video game convention Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) adopted a dress codes for both male and female models in what they call a "no booth babes" policy guideline, where "booth babes are defined as staff of ANY gender used by exhibitors to promote their products at PAX by using overtly sexual or suggestive methods. Partial nudity, the aggressive display of cleavage and the navel, and shorts/skirts higher than 4” above the knee are not allowed." Eurogamer Expo disallowed them completely in 2012, saying they wanted to make a more "friendly" show and all visitors "to feel comfortable," with a formal guideline saying "Booth babes are Not OK."
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), including its president and CEO Gary J. Shapiro and senior vice-president Karen Chupka, initially defended the use of female models who were deemed not dressed enough by critics but discouraged the practice in 2014 after a Change.org petition started by a Forbes technology journalist Connie Guglielmo demanded a ban on them and reached 250 signatures. The campaigners' proposal to "ban booth babes" was rejected as the CEA refused to "create and impose arbitrary or unenforceable rules, or worse, inch our event towards a Talibanesque ban on exposure of skin," but the new Consumer Electronics Show (CES) exhibitor guidelines stated, "recent news articles show that ‘booth babes’ can reflect poorly on your exhibit, so we ask that you give this thoughtful consideration, to avoid alienating or offending various audience segments."
In 2015, tube tops were among the items banned for booth staff at the RSA Conference, a major trade show/conference association, as part of dress codes that also informed booth staff not to wear minidresses or skintight bodysuits. The previous practice of having barely-clothed booth staffers was seen as creating a culture in which women were seen as "eye-candy or as decorative objects or hypersexualized figures".
=== Sports ===
After a round of talks with broadcasters, the Professional Darts Corporation announced on 27 January 2018 that it would discontinue the use of walk-on girls in darts tournaments. The decision has encountered a backlash from some fans, players and models.
On 31 January 2018, Formula One management announced that it would end the practice of grid girls who accompany the racers to the track, a tradition that "has been a staple of Formula 1 Grands Prix for decades", stating that "[they] feel this custom does not resonate with [their] brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms." The move has drawn criticism from former grid girls, including British model Kelly Brook. Former F1 executive Bernie Ecclestone and Red Bull Racing leader Christian Horner also expressed disapproval. In February 2018, Formula 1 announced it intended to replace grid girls with a new program called grid kids that season. The children used would be competitors in karting or junior categories, chosen by national motorsport authorities.
In a similar move, the traditional podium girls of cycling's Tour de France were removed and replaced with one male and one female host starting with the 2020 Tour de France.
== See also ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Promotional models at Wikimedia Commons | Wikipedia/Spokesmodel |
Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid (Somali: Iimaan Maxamed Cabdulmajiid; born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid, 25 July 1955), known mononymously as Iman, is a Somali-American model and actress. A muse of the designers Gianni Versace, Thierry Mugler, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Yves Saint Laurent, she is also noted for her philanthropic work. She was married to musician David Bowie from 1992 until his death in 2016.
== Early life ==
Iman was born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid (Somali: Zara Maxamed Cabdulmajiid) in Mogadishu and raised as a Muslim. She was later renamed Iman, meaning "faith" in Arabic at her grandfather's urging, who believed she would "prosper" with a masculine name. Iman is the daughter of Mariam and Mohamed Abdulmajid. Her father, a diplomat, was the Somali ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and her mother was a gynecologist. She has four siblings: two brothers and two sisters, and was the first girl in her family in six generations of sons.
Iman lived with her grandparents during her formative years. At age four she was sent to boarding school in Egypt, where she spent most of her childhood and adolescence. Following political unrest in Somalia, Iman's father moved the family back to the country. At his behest, she and her mother and siblings subsequently traveled to Kenya and were later joined by her father and younger sister. She briefly studied political science at the University of Nairobi in 1975.
== Career ==
=== Modeling ===
While she was at university, Iman was discovered by American photographer Peter Beard, and moved to the United States to begin a modeling career. Her first modeling assignment was for Vogue a year later in 1976. She soon appeared on the cover of some of the world's most prestigious magazines, establishing herself as a supermodel.
With her long neck, slender figure, fine features, and copper-toned skin, Iman was an instant success in the fashion world, though she herself insists that her looks are merely typically Somali. She became a muse to many prominent designers, including Halston, Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein, Issey Miyake and Donna Karan. She was a favourite of Yves Saint-Laurent, who once described her as his "dream woman". Iman has worked with photographers including Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Annie Leibovitz.
Iman credits the nurturing she received from various designers with having given her the confidence to succeed in an era when individuality was valued and model-muses were often an integral part of the creative process. She is represented by TESS Management in London.
=== Business ===
After almost two decades of modeling, Iman started her own cosmetics firm in 1994, focusing on difficult-to-find shades for women. Based on her years of experience mixing her own formulations for make-up artists to use on her, she was closely involved with the final product and also acted as the commercial face of the company. Iman Cosmetics was a $25-million-a-year business by 2010. In early 2012, Iman signed fellow Somali designers Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim, founders of the Mataano fashion company, as brand ambassadors for her cosmetics line. In late 2021, Iman released her signature fragrance, "Love Memoir". The color of the amber bottle is a nod to the sunsets she and her husband enjoyed. The shape of the bottle is a mimic of two stones, which references to a spiritual ritual where you place flat stones to guide people who come after you. The tradition is also connected to healing from grief. Iman has done this ritual around her and David's property.
Iman appeared in two episodes of Miami Vice, playing Dakotah in Back in the World (1985) and Lois Blyth in Love at First Sight (1988). She also had a guest role as Mrs. Montgomery on The Cosby Show (1985). In 1988, she appeared as Marie Babineaux in an episode of In the Heat of the Night. In the mid-2000s, Iman spent two years as the host of Bravo TV's fashion-themed show, Project Runway Canada. In November 2010, along with her friend and colleague, designer Isaac Mizrahi, Iman also began hosting the second season of The Fashion Show. Bravo started the series to replace its former hit Project Runway that has now moved to the Lifetime network.
Iman first featured in the 1979 British film The Human Factor, and had a bit part in the 1985 Oscar-winning film Out of Africa starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. She then portrayed Nina Beka in the 1987 thriller No Way Out with Kevin Costner, and Hedy in the Michael Caine comedy Surrender the same year. During her first year in Hollywood, in 1991, she worked on several film productions. Among them were the Tim Hunter-directed Lies of the Twins and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, where she played a shapeshifting alien. In 1991, she appeared in The Linguini Incident opposite her then-fiancé David Bowie. She had a smaller part in the 1991 comedy House Party 2 and in the 1994 comedy/romance film Exit to Eden.
=== Video games ===
Iman made a cameo appearance alongside her husband David Bowie in the 1999 Windows 9x and Dreamcast 3D adventure game Omikron: The Nomad Soul, developed by the video game company Quantic Dream. In the game, she appears as one of the numerous Omikronian citizens the player can "reincarnate" into.
=== Philanthropy ===
In addition to running her global beauty company, Iman is also actively involved in a number of charitable endeavors. Since September 2019, Iman has held the role of CARE's first-ever Global Advocate, where she works alongside CARE to support its mission to create a world where poverty has been overcome and all people live with dignity and security. She is also currently a spokesperson for the Keep a Child Alive program, and works closely with the Children's Defense Fund. She also serves as an Ambassador for Save the Children, and has been active in raising awareness of their relief services in the greater East Africa region. Additionally, Iman works with the Enough Project to end the global trade in conflict minerals. She played a key part in the public campaign against blood diamonds through her termination of her contract with the diamonds conglomerate De Beers over a conflict of ethics.
== Awards ==
Over the course of her long modeling and philanthropic career, Iman has received many awards. On 7 June 2010, she received a Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), a special prize reserved for "an individual whose signature style has had a profound influence on fashion". Iman selected her friend, actress and former model Isabella Rossellini, to present the award. Wearing a gown designed by Giambattista Valli with four giant diamond bracelets on each arm, Iman thanked her parents "for giving me a neck longer than any other girl on any go-see anywhere in the world".
== Personal life ==
Iman is a Muslim. She has credited her faith with helping her through dark times. She is fluent in five languages: Somali, Arabic, Italian, French, and English. She also obtained American citizenship when she was in her twenties.
Iman was first married at age 18 to Hassan, a young Somali entrepreneur and Hilton hotel executive. The marriage ended a few years later when she moved to the United States to pursue a modeling career. In 1977, Iman dated the American actor Warren Beatty. Later that year, she became engaged to the American basketball player Spencer Haywood, and they married soon after. Their daughter, Zulekha Haywood (from whom she has a granddaughter), was born in 1978; in February 1987, the couple divorced.
In 1990, Iman met the English musician David Bowie on a surprise blind date set up by a friend in Los Angeles. The friend was hairdresser Teddy Antolin, who invited Iman to a party. When she arrived at the restaurant, there were only four attendees: Antolin, Antolin's boyfriend, Iman, and Bowie. At the end of the evening, Bowie offered to drive her home, and she said: "No, I'm going to drive my car." He invited her to tea the next day and Iman learned he did not drink tea. They went to a nearby coffee shop. Bowie named his 1991 instrumental piece "Abdulmajid" after her, which was later converted into a symphony by Philip Glass.
On 24 April 1992, Iman married Bowie in a private ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland. The wedding was solemnized in Florence, Italy on 6 June. Their daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones, was born 15 August 2000 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Iman is also stepmother to Bowie's son from a previous marriage, Duncan Jones. Both children bear Bowie's legal surname. Iman and her family resided primarily in Manhattan and London. When Bowie died on 10 January 2016, she wrote in tribute to him that "the struggle is real, but so is God".
== Bibliography ==
I Am Iman (2001)
The Beauty of Color (2005)
== Filmography ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Iman – official site
Iman at IMDb
Iman at the TCM Movie Database
Iman Abdulmajid at Fashion Model Directory
Iman at NYmag.com
Iman Cosmetics
Portraits of Iman at the National Portrait Gallery, London | Wikipedia/Iman_(model) |
Elite Model Management (MM) is a modeling agency that originated in Paris in 1972.
In 2004, the agencies in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, and Toronto separated and formed Elite Model Management North America. Elite MM is a subsidiary of Elite World S.A., whose main shareholder Silvio Scaglia controls his stake through Elite World Group (EWG), a management company where Elite MM is one of brands along with The Society Management, Women Management, Supreme Management, Elite Model Look, and Women 360. Although Elite Model Management North America and Elite World Group share the same logo, they have separate ownership and are not part of a business network.
== History ==
=== 20th century ===
Elite Model Management was founded in Paris in 1972 by John Casablancas (1942–2013) and Alain Kittler. Casablancas was inspired by his then-wife Jeanette Christiansen, former model and Miss Universe from Denmark, to open a model agency. Casablancas founded the model agency with his savings.
Elite Model opened with several high-profile models including Ingmari Lamy; Ann Schaufuss, Clive Arrowsmith's girlfriend; Barry Lategna's wife, Lynn Kohlman; Paula Brenken; and Paris Plannings Emanuelle Dano.
At the time, boutique agencies in Paris and Milan fell out of favor with models due to payment issues. Models often found Parisian and Milanese model agencies holding their pay to coerce them into returning without work visas and work. British and American based chains gave models the financial security they needed. In 1977, Casablancas opened up Elite Models in New York. During the 1980s, New York endured the model wars. Despite agencies like Wilhelmina Models taking part in these wars, the primary battle was between Elite Models and Ford Models. Models such as Esmé Marshall left Elite for Ford Models. Casablancas alleged that Eileen Ford was out to get him and Ford responded with a $32.5 million suit. Until 1977, Ford was affiliated with Elite until Elite opened up offices in New York and began stealing Ford's models. Due to the death of Wilhelmina Cooper, models were in a panic bouncing from agency to agency. Even the highest paid black model at the time Beverly Johnson left Elite for Ford, only to return to Elite a week later.
Models such as Christie Brinkley and Anna Andersen sued Elite after they exited. In 1981, Elite Models formed a partnership with Models 1, which lasted until 1989. By 1983, Elite established the Elite Model Look, which was called The Look of the Year, Competition to rival its competitors Ford's Supermodel of the World Contest. The following year, the company expanded its offices in the U.S. with the formation of Elite Models Chicago, Elite Models Atlanta, Elite Models Los Angeles, Elite Models San Francisco, and Elite Models Miami. By 1986, Elite Models had twenty offices worldwide. In 1988, Elite opened offices in Milan.
Nicholas Farrae later purchased the agency in 1990. Elite World S.A. is the parent company of Elite Model Management (MM). The expansion of Elite Models furthered as Elite Models formed partnerships with already established agencies. In 1990, Elite Models formed a partnership with Model Management Heidi Gross in Hamburg. In 1992, Munich Models was formed and formed a partnership with Elite MM.
In 1994, Elite MM sought to break into the Asian market and awarded its Greater China rights to Michel Lu. In partnership with him they established Elite Models Hong Kong and China. In 1996, Lu went on to expand Elite MM to Singapore that served as a regional office for South East Asia. Similar to their debut in Paris, Elite swept up top local and regional talents such as Charmaine Harn, Junita Simon, Sonia Couling, and Nadya Hatagalung.
In 1999, a film was broadcast by the BBC showing the President of Elite MM, Gerald Marie, offering an undercover reporter sex for money. It was later proven that some images had been manipulated and the BBC admitted that its portrayal was unfair and had to make a substantial payout to the model agency. In the wake of this controversy, Casablancas left and formed the John Casablancas Modeling and Career Center in New York.
Elite World SA was incorporated on Dec. 14, 1999 as an umbrella company and for licensing.
=== 21st century ===
In 2002, Elite MM, along with several other New York City model agencies, was sued for hundreds of millions of dollars in a class action that accused them of fixing fees for the past 30 years. The following year, Elite opened offices in Asia. At the same time, an employee was awarded $5.2 million in a suit concerning passive smoking in the US office of Elite.
As a result of the bad publicity, the over expansion of Elite, and the loss of talents, Elite World SA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004. Elite Models New York City was put up for auction and bought by Florida businessman Eddie Trump for $4.4 million, who asked Casablancas to come back and advise him. Elite Models NY together with Los Angeles, Miami, and Toronto became Elite MM North America separate from Elite World SA. In August 2005, Elite World SA reestablished Elite MM in Singapore using it as the satellite office for their new South East Asia operation. Elite Models branches in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Philippines were also added in August 2005. In October 2005, the Elite Model Look contest was added in Singapore.
By 2006, Casablancas' appointment was short-lived and Elite World SA went public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 2009, the president of Elite World SA (the parent company of Elite MM), Bertrand Hennet, was arrested on drug charges. At the same time, acquired Elite Models Copenhagen, which was founded in 1966 under the name Copenhagen Models by legendary scout Trice Tomsen and formally a licensee of Elite Models (now Elite Models Management Copenhagen ApS controlled together with its licenses by Elite Licensing Company SA owned by Elite World SA). After Tomsen decided to distance herself from the day to day work, she was replaced by Munir Bouylud, as the new director there. Also in 2009, Elite Models London opened nearly 20 years after its first attempt to have offices in London. It was also in 2009 that Elite Models Chicago and Atlanta severed ties with Elite World SA and were renamed Factor Women.
In February 2011, Elite World SA shareholders elected a new Board of Directors. The new board election follows the acquisition of a controlling stake in Elite World SA by Pacific Global Management, SARL ("PGM") (now Freedom Holding, Inc.).
In 2012, Elite Models Amsterdam acquired Model Masters in Amsterdam. Model Masters is best known for representing models who win Holland's Next Top Model. With that acquisition, Elite fired Ananda Marchildon for being "too fat". The company lost a breach of contract lawsuit by Ananda Marchildon and had to pay her around €65,000 damages.
In 2013, Elite World SA opened a New York division under the name The Society Management (The Society, The Society Model Management, Inc.).
Elite World Group, LLC ("EWG") was created in order to hold PGM's stake in Elite World SA and EWG's branch was incorporated in New York on Jan. 28, 2019. In 2019, Julia Haart was announced chief executive officer and chief creative officer of EWG which oversees Elite MM.
In 2022, Paolo Barbieri was announced group chief executive officer of Elite World Group which oversees Elite MM, The Society Management and Women Management.
== Sexual assault allegations ==
Allegations of an "ingrained culture" of sexual assault and rape by Elite's male employees, especially its boss Gérald Marie, have dogged the agency for decades. In 1999, a BBC investigation filmed Marie saying he hoped to seduce the contestants at the annual Elite Model Look show, as well as assaulting an undercover journalist and offering her money for sex. He was temporarily suspended from Elite and in an interview at the time, said: "I'm destroyed ... I'm finished". But Elite countered with a libel action which was quietly settled with an apology from the BBC, who also agreed not to rebroadcast their documentary.
Marie was married to Linda Evangelista between 1987 and 1993, at the time of many of the alleged offences; Marie is alleged to have raped several aspiring models in their flat while Evangelista was away on assignment, including a 15-year-old girl. Supermodel and actress Carré Otis claimed in her 2011 memoir, Beauty, Disrupted, that she was raped "countless" times in the flat by Marie starting around 1986, when she was 17. Otis and others have also claimed that rape by ancillary employees, such as hairdressers and photographers, was commonplace. In October 2020, Evangelista said: "During my relationship with Gérald Marie, I knew nothing of these sexual allegations against him, so I was unable to help these women. Hearing them now, and based on my own experiences, I believe that they are telling the truth. It breaks my heart because these are wounds that may never heal, and I admire their courage and strength for speaking up today."
Elite's activities are also alleged to have been regularly used as a "front" for "pimping out" young models to wealthy men unconnected to the modelling industry. Adnan Khashoggi, the Saudi billionaire arms dealer is said to have admitted to at least one such introduction, to a model who became one of his "harem wives". She said that in the early 1980s he routinely browsed photographic portfolios of young women, with his assistant "asking whom he would like to meet, and discussing meet-up fees of between $35,000 and $50,000."
In the wake of the MeToo movement, the allegations have increased; as of November 2020, at least 15 women have now spoken out against Marie and are cooperating in an investigation launched by French prosecutors. Marie has denied all the allegations via his lawyers and said he intends to fight any charges laid against him. Despite this, more publications are claiming his alleged sexual misconduct was an open secret for years in the fashion industry.
Gérald Marie’s contract with Elite MM ended in December 2010 and the company was sold in 2011 to its current owners Elite World Group, for whom Marie has never worked.
== See also ==
List of modeling agencies
== References == | Wikipedia/Elite_Models |
Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford.
== History ==
=== 20th century ===
Eileen and Jerry began the business in their Manhattan home in 1946. In the late 20th century, the company emerged as one of the preeminent New York City-based modeling agencies.
In the 1970s, like many of the original modeling agencies, Ford began facing competition from other leading agencies, including Women Management, IMG Models, and others.
In 1980, the company established Ford Models Supermodel of the World, which attracted more than 60,000 hopefuls annually from around the world. Today, the contest lives on in the form of the annual V/VMan Ford Model Search run in conjunction with the two Visionaire publications.
Ford's competition increased even further in the 1980s when John Casablancas opened Elite Model Management, leading to greatly intensified competition among the largest agencies.
The agency has represented a diverse list of models and celebrities.
In 1995, the Fords' daughter, Katie Ford, was appointed as the chief executive officer of the agency, which she led for 12 years.
=== 21st century ===
In the early 21st century, the company diversified through Ford Artists to represent talent in the hair, makeup and wardrobe industries. It has also promoted itself through its social media platform, which includes Ford Models Blog, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Ford Models has also lent its name to an imprint of Random House books, which created a series of teen novels that served to try and glamorize working with the agency.
In December 2000, Magnum Sports and Entertainment signed a letter of intent to acquire Ford Models, but the transaction fell through.
In 2007, John Caplan was appointed Ford Models' chief executive officer.
In December 2007, the Fords sold a stake of their to private equity firm Stone Tower Equity Partners.
In 2009, the firm was renamed Altpoint Capital Partners in 2009. Altpoint is operated by managing partner Gerald Banks, also known as Guerman Aliev, and owned and funded by Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin through his holding company Interros.
In January 2011, Altpoint increased its stake in Ford Models to 93%. Also in 2011, the company diversified into the art gallery business under the leadership of chairman Guerman Aliev.
In 2019, Ford Models sued a former executive, claiming she invented a story about her husband having a terminal illness in order to have the company agree to render null the non-compete clause of her employment contract. Ford Models charged that among other things the executive was liable to forfeiture of her compensation back to the company, inasmuch as she had been a "faithless servant."
In September 2019, the executive filed a countersuit against Ford Models, claiming that the chairman Gerald Banks (Guerman Aliev) had been spending company funds inappropriately for years that had left the agency $8 million in debt by July 2019. She also claimed that she had quit when she realized Banks and Ford Models owner Vladimir Potanin had close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In May 2020, Ford Models Brasil purchased Ford Models from Altpoint amidst uncertainty related to covid-accelerated industry digitalization and the lack of a CEO at Ford Models for a number of months.
== Ford Artists ==
In addition to modeling, the agency diversified into other fields of representation related to the fashion industry through Ford Artists, including hair stylists, makeup artists, manicurists, stylists, set designers, prop stylists, art directors, and photographers. Ford Artists maintains locations in Chicago and Los Angeles.
== Headquarters and locations ==
In addition to its global headquarters on 26th Street in Manhattan, Ford Models has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Paris, and Barcelona.
== Models ==
As of January 2022, Ford Models represents the following models:
== See also ==
List of modeling agencies
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
Ford Models – New York in Fashion Model Directory | Wikipedia/Ford_Models |
Wilhelmina International Inc. (NASDAQ: WHLM), formerly Wilhelmina Models, is a modeling and talent agency headquartered in New York City, New York. The company also has offices in Los Angeles, Miami and London. Founded in 1967 by Wilhelmina Cooper, it provides representation and management to models, entertainers, artists, musicians, and athletes. In 2009, the company became the first and only publicly traded modeling and talent agency after its acquisition by New Century Equity Holdings Corp.
== History ==
Wilhelmina International Inc. was founded in 1967 by Dutch-American model Wilhelmina Cooper and husband Victor Bruce Cooper, as well as minority partners Bill Weinberg and Fran Rothchild. As of 1997, the company is one of the oldest and largest full-service model management companies in the world.
After Wilhelmina Cooper died in 1980 at age 40, the agency was transferred to her business partners, and was then bought in 1989 for around 4 million dollars by Horst-Dieter Esch, a German businessman with interests in the construction industry. Esch held discussions with Elite Model Management and Ford Models with a view to creating a large conglomerate agency that would be taken public, but this did not happen. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 1996.
In 1998, Wilhelmina partnered with Atlantic Records and created an Artist Division that matched music artists with international brands. In January 2015, the firm opened an office in London and 2016 in Chicago. Also in 2016, Wilhelmina launched Aperture, a talent and commercial agency that represents models and actors for film, commercials, television and theatre with offices in New York City and Los Angeles.
In February 2009, New Century Equity Holdings Corp, a publicly traded company, acquired Wilhelmina Models. Esch sold his stake in the agency for 22 million dollars. New Century subsequently changed its name to Wilhelmina International, Inc. trading under the ticker symbol 'WHLM'. The company licenses its brand to third-party agencies in countries around the world, including the United States and Dubai.
As of 2010, Wilhelmina represents and manages 2,100 models, celebrities, artists, athletes and content creators worldwide, including Nicki Minaj, Niall Horan, Normani, Iggy Azalea, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Machine Gun Kelly, 5 Seconds of Summer, Alexandra Waterbury, James B. Whiteside, Nadia Ferreira, Leona Lewis, Shawn Mendes, Dustin Lance Black, Francisco Lachowski, Barbie Ferreira, Robyn Lawley, Sora Choi, Aija Bārzdiņa, Rola Ghorab, Anne de Paula, Billie Eilish, and others.
After trading OTC, Wilhelmina entered the NASDAQ Capital Market in September 2014.
In 2016, Wilhelmina spent $2.7 million on a stock buyback, funded by a 4.5-year term loan from Amegy Bank. The company modified the loan terms and bought another $1 million of stock (150,000 shares) in 2018. At the end of 2019, the balance on the loans was $2 million. From 2012 until the end of 2019, the company repurchased over 1.3 million shares.
At the end of 2019, the company had 114 employees, with 70 of those in New York City and two at the corporate headquarters in Dallas. The Dallas office is shared with Newcastle Partners, the company's largest shareholder: Schwarz's Newcastle and Schwarz entities own 47% of the stock. Total revenue in 2019 was $75.4 million, down from $77.9 million in 2018. The company posted a loss of $4.8 million in 2019, compared to a $0.85 million profit in 2018.
On April 15, 2020, Wilhelmina received $2 million in federally backed small business loans from Amegy Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The company received scrutiny over this loan, which was aimed at small businesses.
== See also ==
List of modeling agencies
== References ==
== External links ==
Wilhelmina Models
Wilhelmina Models New York in the Fashion Model Directory | Wikipedia/Wilhelmina_Models |
A fit model (sometimes fitting model) is a person who is used by a fashion designer or clothing manufacturer to check the fit, drape and visual appearance of a design on a 'real' human being, effectively acting as a live mannequin. A person is selected to work as a fitting model primarily on criteria matching the desired measurement specifications of the designer or manufacturer. These specifications generally consist of height, bust-waist-hip circumference, arm and leg length, shoulder width, and a myriad other measurements as indicated by the garment type. This is the case whether the garments are for women or men of any size; the grading of construction patterns is often tested on a variety of fitting models to be sure that increases in size are translated accurately and evenly across the range.
Beyond merely wearing the garment for inspection, a fit model can become an integral role in the design process; commenting on garments and materials with regards to fit, movement and feel on flesh, and objective feedback on the 'fit' and design of the garment in the stead of the consumer. Ultimately, a fitting model aids in confirming that the sizing, design and cut of the garment to be produced meets the designer's specifications and intentions.
For female fit models there are five basic types of fit: junior, missy, contemporary, plus-size, and petite. The measurements and proportions vary based on size as well as age. Depending on the brand and demographic of their customer sometimes the brand has more than one fit, which may also vary according to region. Many major brands make clothes in juniors and missy sizes.
For example: a female (Australian) size 10 is:
Height: 170 cm (67 inch)
Waist: 72 cm (27 inch)
Hip: 98 cm (39 inch)
Bust: 89 cm (35 inch)
Female models in America are usually a size 4 and:
Height: 5'4 - 5'9
Waist: 26 inch
Hips 37 inch
Bust: 34 inch
== See also ==
Modeling
== References == | Wikipedia/Fit_model |
A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and/or the head agency.
The top agencies work with big-budget advertising agencies and fashion designers. They invest money into developing their talent so they can increase their status within the industry. These top agencies will help train models, get test shoots, layout portfolios, and put together comp cards (composition photo cards) and other printed materials models need.
The agencies find work for models by presenting them to designers, photographers, and ad agencies. The agencies are also responsible for booking the jobs, billing for the jobs, and eventually paying the models for their time. By handling the details, an agency allows a model to focus on modeling and not on the business end.
Because modeling is a competitive, fast moving business that extends beyond the traditional 9 AM to 5 PM business hours, an agency generally conducts business 24 hours a day, to handle emergencies such as cancellations or rush jobs. Most agencies have a service or an operator to handle emergency issues after hours.
== Industry information ==
=== Booking agents versus managers and mother agents ===
A popular and conventional way for models to build their contacts and get booked for gigs is through model management companies or agencies. An agency specializes in finding gigs for models that are signed with them, while managers are there to guide their models and help them start, develop, and establish successful careers, present models to booking agents, and arrange placements for their models. Mother agents/model managers play a key role in the modeling industry. They provide the constant supply of new faces to booking markets from scouting markets. Most models are from countries like Russia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, etc. while booking markets are New York, London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Shanghai, etc.
=== Contractual agreements ===
Most agencies sign their top talent to exclusive contracts in each market, which vary in length based on the model's industry status and experience. However, because a good agency finds their models work and negotiates top price for their talent, they earn a management commission (between 10% and 20%) from every job they book on a model's behalf. An agency usually bills a client an additional 20% service charge for booking the model, so a typical agency will make between 10 and 40% on each booking of which no more than 20% comes out of the model's pocket. This varies outside the US due to each country's law and taxes.
Other contracts offered by modeling agencies are the mother agency contract and a non-exclusive contract. A mother agency tries to sign talent with larger agencies in each international market, while non-exclusive agencies allow models to sign with other agencies (usually outside a certain city radius).
Contracts typically last from a year to three years. A mother agency agreement can range from five to ten years.
==== Poaching ====
Poaching is the act of signing a model or agent from another agency while they are still under contract, an act that can be seen as financially detrimental to the agency. Typically, the agency sues the other agency for breach of contract.
=== Mandatory height requirements ===
High fashion modeling agencies contract with a diverse group of models. Nearly without exception (unless a model is young enough to still be growing), agencies require women to be between 5'9 (minimum) and 6'1" and men to be between 5'11" and 6'3" and in fit or reasonable physical condition for all heights.
=== Auditions and open calls ===
Modelling agencies need new faces on a regular basis. The number of models in an agency depends on the demand brought in by its agents and changes throughout the year. To this end, modeling agencies advertise in local phone directories to remain visible.
Each new model-screening process is different from one agency to the next:
A casting call is where models show up by appointment to be considered for a specific job.
An open call is a time specified by an agency for any prospective models (or those interested in becoming models) to show up and be considered for future work.
A go-see is an appointment for a model to meet with a client for consideration for future work. Like an open call, it is not for a specific job, but unlike an open call, the model is being specifically requested or sent.
A dry call is where models mail unsolicited comp cards to an agency. While this may work with smaller agencies, larger agencies host open calls where men and women can come into the agency and get seen by agents who may or may not be interested.
== Scams ==
In this constantly changing industry where old agencies close or merge and new ones pop up in their place, scam artists have many opportunities to prey on new, unsuspecting models and aspiring models. A legitimate modeling agency should have knowledge of the marketplace and honestly evaluate models for their market. It will have contacts with photographers, graphic designers, and printers to prepare a model's marketing materials. Texas, Florida, and California have online resources listing licensed agencies.
In the United States, the Better Business Bureau registers complaints against agencies that conduct dishonest business practices and scams. Scam artists and untrustworthy agencies generally demand long-term contracts up front and use high-pressure tactics to persuade models into committing to high-commission percentages or signing over unnecessary rights.
An example of a modeling scam is when an agency claims to have work, but really what they are doing is trying to sell photoshoots and modeling courses to aspiring models. A legitimate agency should only make profit from agency commissions.
A scam was exposed in 2009, when a Louisville-based male modeling agency, called "Models-Today, LLC", owned by convicted felon Russell Claxon, was exposed as having never obtained any jobs for the models despite fees in the hundreds of dollars. Due to the unusually large number of consumer complaints filed against the business, including solicitation for gay male prostitution, this story was disseminated across the Better Business Bureau national networks and provides information on how to avoid such scams. Due to a lack of regulatory oversight in the United States, modelling agency scams can be easily carried out and sustained. Models-Today's owner began operating a similar company called Active Male Models, LLC in Kentucky.
== See also ==
Ad agency
Employment agency
List of modeling agencies
Mother agent
Talent agency
== References == | Wikipedia/Modeling_agency |
A hand model is a person who models (poses or displays) their hand or hands for the purposes of art, fashion, products or advertising. Hand models are used in advertising where advertisers want close ups of the product being handled. Most hands have blemishes such as scrapes, scars, spots, or discolorations which would stand out in a close up and detract from the product. Hand models tend to have flawless skin and hands. In female hand models agents often seek long, slender hands and fingers and long nail beds. They also value smooth, hairless, unblemished skin with minimal wrinkles and visible pores.
Requirements for male hand models vary, depending on whether the job calls for a burly, construction worker type hand or a more white-collar look. For print media hand models, a necessary trait is the ability to pose in a relaxed, graceful fashion. Professional hand models avoid what photographers call "the claw," the rigid grip that novices often use before the camera. Hand models are prevalent in TV commercials, although the hand may not always be visible. Many food commercials have hand models pouring gravy, dipping a French fry or cutting meat. Here perfect hands are not as important as the timing and patience required to "hit one's mark." Some hand models can make upwards of $1,200 a day. For TV work, premiere parts models are paid $1,000 per day and for print work can make $2,000 - $5,000 per day. Many parts models and hand models work part-time as freelancers, but some models like Karina Nelson and Adele Uddo are booked full-time.
== Hand art ==
Hand art is the application of make-up or paint to a hand to make it appear like an animal or other object. Some hand artists, like Guido Daniele, produce images that are trompe-l'œil representations of wild animals painted on people's hands. Hand artists work closely with hand models. Models can be booked through specialist acting and modeling agencies usually advertising under "body parts models" or "hands and feet models." Many hand models can be hired directly.
== References ==
== External links ==
Faces behind hand models | Wikipedia/Hand_model |
Wooden ship models or wooden model ships are scale representations of ships, constructed mainly of wood. This type of model has been built for over two thousand years.
== Basic types of wooden ship model construction ==
There are five basic types of construction used in building a wooden ship model hull:
Solid wood hull sawn and carved from a single block of wood.
Gluing together two thinner blocks of wood so that a block is formed with the seam vertical, so that the seam will show running down that surface of the block which is to be the deck. No advantage is gained by having the seam show along the sides of the hull.
Bread and Butter Cutting four or five thinner slabs of wood (the Bread) to be glued (the Butter) later into a laminated block. In this case, the slabs will be oriented so that they sit one on top of the other.
Plank on bulkhead, a technique in which a series of shaped bulkheads are placed along the keel to form a shaped stage which will be covered with planks to form the hull of the model.
Plank on frame In this technique, the model is built just as the full-size wooden ship is constructed. The keel is laid down in a manner which keeps it straight and true.. The sternpost and stem are erected, deadwood and strengthening pieces inserted, and a series of shaped frames are built and erected along the keel to form the internal framework of the model. The planks are then applied over the frame to form the external covering.
== Scale conversion factors ==
Instead of using plans made specifically for models, many model shipwrights use the actual blueprints for the original vessel.
One can take drawings for the original ship to a blueprint service and have them blown up, or reduced to bring them to the new scale.
For instance, if the drawings are in 1/4" scale and you intend to build in 3/16", tell the service to reduce them 25%.
You can use the conversion table below to determine the percentage of change. You can easily work directly from the original drawings however, by changing scale each time you make a measurement.
The equation for converting a measurement in one scale to that of another scale is D2 = D1 × F, where:
D1 = Dimension in the "from-scale"
D2 = Dimension in the "to-scale"
F = Conversion factor between scales
Example: A yardarm is 6 inches long in 3/16" scale. Find its length in 1/8" scale.
F = .67 (from table)
D2 = 6" × .67 = 4.02 = 4"
It is easier to make measurements in the metric system and then multiply them by the scale conversion factor.
Scales are expressed in fractional inches, but fractions themselves are harder to work with than metric measurements.
For example, a hatch measures 1" wide on the draft.
You are building in 3/16" scale.
Measuring the hatch in metric, you measure 25 mm. The conversion factor for 1/4" to 3/16", according to the conversion table is .75. So 25 mm × .75 = 18.75 mm, or about 19 mm. That is the hatch size in 3/16" scale.
Conversion is a fairly simple task once you start measuring in metric and converting according to the scale.
There is a simple conversion factor that allows you to determine the approximate size of a model by taking the actual measurements of the full-size ship and arriving at a scale factor.
It is a rough way of deciding whether you want to build a model that is about two feet long, three feet long, or four feet long.
Here is a ship model conversion example using a real ship, the Hancock.
This is a frigate appearing in Chappelle's History of American Sailing Ships.
In this example we want to estimate its size as a model.
We find that the length is given at 136 ft 7 in, which rounds off to 137 feet.
To convert feet (of the actual ship) to the number of inches long that the model will be, use the factors in the table on the right.
To find the principal dimensions (length, height, and width) of a (square-rigged) model in 1/8" scale, then:
Find scaled length by dividing 137 by 8 = 17.125"
Find 50% of 17.125 and add it to 17.125 (8.56 + 17.125 = 25.685, about 25.5)
Typically, the height of this model will be its length less 10%, or about 23.1/2"
Typically, the beam of this model will be its length divided by 4, or about 6½"
Although this technique allows you to judge the approximate length of a proposed model from its true footage, only square-riggers will fit the approximate height and beam by the above factors. To approximate these dimensions on other craft, scale the drawings from which you found the length and arrive at her mast heights and beam.
== See also ==
Half hull model ship
== References ==
== External links ==
Model Ship World - The largest model shipwrighting site on the internet
Model Boat Links
Model Ship Builder A website dedicated to preserving the art of model ship building.
The Ship Modeler's Association of California has an extensive web site.
The Maritime History Virtual Archives
The Nautical Research Guild - not for profit organization dedicated to ship modelling
http://www.victorysculpture.com - The HMS Victory sculpture carved from the ships original timbers. | Wikipedia/Wooden_ship_models |
Dragon Models Limited (Dragon or DML for short) is a Hong-Kong–based manufacturer of plastic model kits, diecast models and military action figures. Founded in 1987, the company's products are distributed globally and can be found in most major hobby distribution channels and retailers. The company is headquartered in the Tsuen Wan district of Hong Kong, and operates a sales and distribution office in Shanghai China. They are known for their attention to historical accuracy and detail, and have worked with many renowned military experts for their product designs. Since its founding, it has released more than 1,000 items.
== History ==
Dragon was established in 1987, as a sister company to model retailer and distributor Universal Models Limited (UML), to design and manufacture their own plastic model kit products. In their early years, Dragon primarily focused on model kits featuring military vehicles topics, with their first ever item being the Typhoon-class submarine. The item became a hit due to the subject being heavily featured in the film The Hunt for Red October.
In the 1990s Dragon diversified into multiple different product lines including ready-made collectibles and action figures. These new products include a series of die-cast collectibles including 1/72 scale military vehicles Dragon Armor, 1/400 scale airliners Dragon Wings, and 1/72 scale military aircraft Dragon Wings: Warbirds. In 1999, Dragon introduced its 1/6 scale New Generation Life Action figure series, which featured life-like head sculpts and ultra-detailed uniforms, weapons, and gear. The series was met with acclaim and helped revive the action figure industry with collectors who view it as the successor of the more traditional and toy-like G.I. Joe products. This series features both historical and modern military soldier topics, as well as movie-licensed and pop-culture subjects. This series currently encompasses more than 600 releases.
== Product Lines ==
=== Plastic Model Kits ===
The original and most well-known product category in Dragon's catalogue are their series of scale model kits featuring military vehicles (1/35, 1/72, 1/144, and 1/6 scales), aircraft (1/32, 1/48, and 1/72 scales), warships (1/350 and 1/700 scales), figures (1/35, 1/9, and 1/16 scales) and spacecraft. The series mainly focuses on World War II-era military subjects, although they also offer a range of modern military topics such as the M1 Abrams. Their model kits are known for their accuracy and meticulous detail, as well as their sophisticated engineering and manufacturing techniques to accurately portray such details. Each kit is thoroughly researched by physically measuring the real-life vehicle (when available) and consulted by military experts that specialize in that particular vehicle. Dragon is also the originator of the terms Initial, Early, Mid, and Late Productions when describing the variation of World War II tanks, a term that is now widely adopted in the industry.
Dragon kits are also renowned for their box art, and they frequently collaborate with esteemed military-subject artists such as Canadian artist Ron Volstad and Japanese artists Masami Onishi, Yoshiyuki Takani, Shigeo Koike, and Ueda Shin.
Inside a box of Dragon Models kit usually contains the plastic parts to assemble the vehicle, as well as additional metal parts, photo-etch, instructions, and decals. Their kits usually contain many parts, and occasionally feature 3-in-1 or 2-in-1 items where the modeller can build 2 or 3 variants of the vehicle from one kit. Throughout the years, Dragon has developed multiple engineering technologies and features with the goal of enhancing the modeler's experience.
==== Magic Tracks and EZ tracks ====
'Magic Tracks' are individual track links that come in a bag, ready to be assembled without the tedious work of removing them individually from sprues. Magic Tracks are designed to snap together through a tight friction fit, so that the track can be more easily assembled than traditional model kit tracks. These can be effortlessly assembled by placing each individual track link together and then glued once the desired effect is achieved. This feature is designed to reduce the time spent on assembling the tracks by modelers.
==== One-Piece DS Tracks ====
A few of Dragon's newer kits, such as its Sherman M4A2 kit, include one-piece tracks made from 'Dragon Styrene 100' (DS), a plastic developed by Dragon's own Research and Development team. A cross breed of polystyrene and vinyl, DS is an attempt to combine the advantages of the two materials. Delicate details can be reproduced with DS using under-cut molding, reducing the number of small parts. The Tiger I hollow guide horns, for example, can be replicated on DS using slide-mold technology. These tracks can also be joined with normal plastic cement.
Some recent DS tracks seem to have an issue of being too long or too loose. The tracks may also come stretched due to packaging limitation, but the issue can be resolved by soaking the tracks in hot water.
==== Photo-etched Parts ====
Dragon almost always includes a small amount of photo-etched brass in its kits. Originally Dragon relied heavily on photo-etched parts to model engine deck screens, but it has since expanded its use of photo-etching to include optional parts like chains and fenders. Photo etched brass parts are used in kits to make small or delicate parts that are harder to make in scale from plastic, such as miniature eyeglasses, medals, seat belts, machine gun mounts, intake screens, etc.
In addition to photo-etched parts straight from the kit, Dragon also manufactures a small amount of separate photo-etched detail sets. It also has distribution agreement with Chinese model accessories company Lion Roar to sell and market Lion Roar's detail sets, which are available for kits from Dragon and other model companies.
==== Decals ====
Like its competitors, Dragon also includes decals in its kits. While Dragon sometimes prints its own decal sheets, it usually uses decals printed by Cartograf, an Italian decal maker.
==== Metal Parts ====
Turned aluminum barrels, metal tow cables, brass antenna and brass ammunition shells are common parts included in Dragon kits as an alternative to styrene parts. Small metal parts may also be included to accurately replicate a tank's wheels and lamp wiring. Some kits have as many as 48 metal parts.
==== Slide Molding ====
Although it is not a new technique, the use of slide molds allows more accurate reproduction of details than traditional two-piece molds. This is done by using injection molds with moving parts (known as "slides") that are inserted into the mold to form parts and then removed so the part can be extracted from the mold. It helps increase the authenticity of the model and reduce the number of parts by molding details onto larger parts. Weld patterns between plates, gratings, one-piece hull and turret interior are common features included in Dragon kits. The usage of slide mold technology has caused Dragon to rely less on photo-etched parts (See Smart Kit, below).
==== Smart Kits ====
According to Dragon, 'Smart Kits' are designed to be easier to build, without sacrificing the level of detail. Extra engineering has been invested in these kits, so that the construction of the models is more straightforward. Extensive use of slide molding techniques means crisply detailed parts are reproduced without the need of photo etched parts. Hence the kits can be built out of the box by most modelers using standard construction techniques. A 'Smart Kit' generally costs less than ordinary Dragon kits, because of the inclusion of fewer metal parts. However, Dragon emphasizes that the model has not in any way become simpler—only the assembly is less tedious.
Dragon has so far released thirty one Smart Kits, the first being a Panther G.
=== Dragon Wings (1/400 scale) ===
In 1997, Dragon started the Dragon Wings line of 1/400 scale aircraft, aiming not only at collectors but also airline companies who need display models. These models were sold fully finished. Over 100 commercial and national airline models have been released since then. Dragon was the officially appointed supplier of aircraft models for Airbus and Boeing for their promotional and souvenir purposes. In terms of commercial aviation, Dragon Wings was most active in the Early-Mid 2000s.
The 1/400 line of Dragon Wings also included a diecast space collection series. This collection includes models of the Space Shuttle, the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo program from NASA and many other launch vehicle such has the Delta II rocket. Other models like the International Space Station and the Russian space station Mir. Dragon Wings went defunct in 2014, due to increasing competition.
=== Military Figures (1/6 scale) ===
In 1999, Dragon introduced its New Generation Life Action Figure series. The series features fully posable military and licensed 12-inch figures with cloth uniforms, weapons and equipment. The series currently stands at some 400-plus individual releases, with subjects varying from World War II, Modern Special Operations and Law Enforcement, to licensed character figures from movies, sports, electronic games and comics. The equipment ranged up to paratroopers with aircraft walls, functioning parachutes and many vehicles. During the early 2000s, Dragon Models produced hundreds of action figures, most of them being World War II German figures. However, after 2010, the number of figures that it produced began to sharply decline. Dragon Models stopped producing 1/6 scale action figures in November 2012.
Other action figure/model kit series:
Warrior Series (1/16) – Figures of tank crew and infantry
World's Elite Force Series (1/35)
'Nam' Series (1/35)
54mm Figures
=== Die-cast models (1/72 scale) ===
Dragon has released 'The Warbirds' line of mainly 1/72 scale die-cast fighter aircraft ranging from World War II classics to the modern day aircraft. In 2003 Dragon introduced another line of die-cast models – Dragon Armor – to complement with its Warbirds series of fighter aircraft. Dragon also markets a line of 1/144 models ('Panzer Korps') of German World War II and modern tanks.
== Facilities ==
Dragon has several large regional divisions. The most notable is in Shanghai, China, which produces its own exclusive lines of products. Recently, their China division relocated to Shenzhen. Its headquarters is located in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong.
Previously, the company maintained a subsidiary in Industry, Southern California for marketing and distributing products for Dragon and other affiliated model companies in the US. This operation has been discontinued.
== John Adam hoax ==
In 2005 a militant group calling themselves the "Mujahedeen Brigades" posted a photograph depicting an American soldier named "John Adam" with his hands tied behind his back with a rifle pointed at him. His purported captors claimed that they would execute Adam if the United States did not comply with their demands, which called for the release of several Iraqi prisoners. Media sources questioned the photo's legitimacy and a military specialist for CNN commented that the image had several inaccuracies, one of which was the figure's uniform jacket. Soon after a spokesperson for Dragon noted that the man in the photo appeared to be the action figure "Special Ops Cody" and that the gun pointed at his head was an accessory that came with the toy. The toy had been manufactured exclusively for sale at AAFES in the Middle East. Sales of the figure rose after news of the toy's name spread.
== See also ==
Model military vehicle
Plastic model
== References ==
== External links ==
New official page of DML and sisters companies.
Official page with links to DML's other divisions, with links to model reviews
Official page of Dragon Models USA servicing customers in the USA
Database of Dragon Wings model aircraft 1:400 Scale | Wikipedia/Dragon_Models_Limited |
Frog was a well-known British brand of flying model aircraft and scale model construction kits from the 1930s to the 1970s. The company's first model, an Interceptor Mk. 4, was launched in 1932, followed in 1936 by a range of 1:72 scale model aircraft kits made from cellulose acetate, which were the world's first.
Polystyrene models were introduced in 1955, which offered kits of aircraft, ships and cars in various scales. By the 1970s, Frog's catalogue included a large number of lesser-known aircraft types, manufactured only by the company, as well as a number of ship kits.
The last Frog-branded kits were produced in 1976, whereupon many of the Frog moulds were sold to the Soviet Union and marketed under the Novo name.
== History ==
Founded in 1931 by Charles Wilmot and Joe Mansour, International Model Aircraft Ltd. (IMA) originally used the Frog brand name (the F.R.O.G. name was registered as an acronym in 1932 and contrary to later urban myth, did not, at least initially, stand for "Flies Right Off the Ground", which was believed because the first Frog Penguin models were gliders made out of metal that, opposed to being thrown or launched, actually took off from the ground.) on the Interceptor Mk.4 semi-scale rubber-band powered flying model, launched the following year. Also in 1932, a marketing partnership with the toy company Lines Bros Ltd. was formed and other Frog brand flying models followed. In 1936, a range of 1:72 scale aircraft models in kit or pre-built form, moulded in cellulose acetate, was launched under the Frog Penguin name (alluding to the non-flying nature of these models). These were the world's first plastic model construction kits. An early release was the No.21P Empire Flying Boat, issued in 1938.
During the Second World War, the company produced flying models for target purposes and 1:72 scale aircraft recognition models. The Penguin range was dropped in 1949 but a new range of Frog polystyrene kits was introduced in 1955. A wide variety of aircraft, ship and car subjects in various scales were issued during the 1950s and 60s, 1:72 scale being standardised from 1963 onwards for aircraft models.
Production of scale and non-scale flying models continued into the early 1960s.
Frog's 1:72 line-up by the 1970s including a large number of lesser-known aircraft types that were not available from any other model manufacturer at the time, such as the Avro Shackleton, Martin Baltimore and Maryland, Vultee Vengeance, Curtiss Tomahawk, Blackburn Shark and Skua, Bristol 138 and Beaufort, Tupolev SB2, Lavochkin La 7, Supermarine Attacker and Scimitar, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Gloster Javelin, SAAB Viggen, Grumman OV-1 Mohawk, de Havilland Vampire, Hornet, and DH 110, Dewoitine D.520, Morane Saulnier MS 406, Macchi MC202 Folgore, Fokker D21, Airspeed Oxford, Miles Magister, Miles Master III, Hawker Sea Fury and Tempest, Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIV, Fairey Gannet, Barracuda, Firefly I, and Fairey Delta II, Westland Wyvern, General Aircraft Hotspur, Focke-Wulf Ta 152H, Messerschmitt Me 410, Arado Ar 234, Heinkel He 162, Dornier Do 17z, Dornier Do 335, Heinkel He 219, Gloster E.28/39, North American Mustang II, Vickers Vimy, Ryan NYP "Spirit of St Louis", de Havilland Gypsy Moth "Jason", Fokker Southern Cross, and the Westland Wallace.
Frog also produced a line of larger-sized aircraft as 1:96 scale models, subjects including the Bristol Britannia, Douglas DC-7, Vickers Valiant, Avro Vulcan, Handley Page Victor, de Havilland Comet, and the Vickers Viscount. A lone airship model was of the R100.
In addition to aircraft models, Frog also produced a number of ship kits, four examples being the MV Shell Welder coastal oil tanker, the THLV South Goodwin Lightship, HMS Tiger, and an RNLI lifeboat.
From 1968, Frog issued around 30 ex-Hasegawa kits, mostly 1:72 scale modern jet fighters, some 1:32 scale WWII-era fighters and 1:450 scale battleships.
In France, due to cultural disquiet over the word "frog", these kits were sold and marketed under the "Tri-ang" brand, whilst in North America, for similar reasons, the Frog name was thought unacceptable and the kits were repackaged as "Air Lines" – an allusion to Lines Brothers Ltd – the founders of IMA / Tri-ang.
=== Demise ===
In 1971, IMA's parent company, now Rovex Tri-ang, entered receivership and was acquired by Dunbee-Combex-Marx the following year. During the mid-1970s, some of the Frog kit moulds were transferred to various factories in the Soviet Union and the kits began to reappear under the Novo brand name. Moulds of Second World War Axis Powers subjects were acquired by Revell around 1977, the Axis types having been declined by Novo. The last Frog-branded kits were produced in 1976. In more recent years, some ex-Frog/Novo kits have been reissued by Revell and various East European manufacturers.
== Product Lines ==
Model subjects produced by Frog over the years include:
Aircraft
1:72, 1:96, and other scales, covering aircraft from World War I to Cold War era.
Famous Warships
Various scales, mostly World War II era.
== In popular culture ==
On 9 December 2008 on the BBC2 programme "Flog It", a child's walking aid toy, namely a teddy bear on Tri-ang wheels, was shown being auctioned at Calder Valley auction house for the sum of £85.00. On the left flank of the bear is sewn a label stating that it was manufactured by International Model Aircraft Ltd.
== References ==
=== Notes ===
=== Bibliography ===
Lines, Richard and Hellström, Leif. Frog Model Aircraft, 1932–1976. London: New Cavendish Books,1989. ISBN 0-904568-63-6.
Lune, Peter van. "FROG Penguin plastic scale model kits 1936 – 1950". Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2017, published by author ISBN 978-90-9030180-8
== External links ==
The Frog Penguin website
The Path to Jetex
Igor Krasnoselski's FROG aircraft models list
Novo kits website (in Russian) (defunct since 2018, working archive here)
A 1937 Flight advertisement for Frog flying scale models
A 1939 advertisement for Frog "Penguins" models
a Frog 1960 flying models catalogue | Wikipedia/Frog_(models) |
Wooden ship models or wooden model ships are scale representations of ships, constructed mainly of wood. This type of model has been built for over two thousand years.
== Basic types of wooden ship model construction ==
There are five basic types of construction used in building a wooden ship model hull:
Solid wood hull sawn and carved from a single block of wood.
Gluing together two thinner blocks of wood so that a block is formed with the seam vertical, so that the seam will show running down that surface of the block which is to be the deck. No advantage is gained by having the seam show along the sides of the hull.
Bread and Butter Cutting four or five thinner slabs of wood (the Bread) to be glued (the Butter) later into a laminated block. In this case, the slabs will be oriented so that they sit one on top of the other.
Plank on bulkhead, a technique in which a series of shaped bulkheads are placed along the keel to form a shaped stage which will be covered with planks to form the hull of the model.
Plank on frame In this technique, the model is built just as the full-size wooden ship is constructed. The keel is laid down in a manner which keeps it straight and true.. The sternpost and stem are erected, deadwood and strengthening pieces inserted, and a series of shaped frames are built and erected along the keel to form the internal framework of the model. The planks are then applied over the frame to form the external covering.
== Scale conversion factors ==
Instead of using plans made specifically for models, many model shipwrights use the actual blueprints for the original vessel.
One can take drawings for the original ship to a blueprint service and have them blown up, or reduced to bring them to the new scale.
For instance, if the drawings are in 1/4" scale and you intend to build in 3/16", tell the service to reduce them 25%.
You can use the conversion table below to determine the percentage of change. You can easily work directly from the original drawings however, by changing scale each time you make a measurement.
The equation for converting a measurement in one scale to that of another scale is D2 = D1 × F, where:
D1 = Dimension in the "from-scale"
D2 = Dimension in the "to-scale"
F = Conversion factor between scales
Example: A yardarm is 6 inches long in 3/16" scale. Find its length in 1/8" scale.
F = .67 (from table)
D2 = 6" × .67 = 4.02 = 4"
It is easier to make measurements in the metric system and then multiply them by the scale conversion factor.
Scales are expressed in fractional inches, but fractions themselves are harder to work with than metric measurements.
For example, a hatch measures 1" wide on the draft.
You are building in 3/16" scale.
Measuring the hatch in metric, you measure 25 mm. The conversion factor for 1/4" to 3/16", according to the conversion table is .75. So 25 mm × .75 = 18.75 mm, or about 19 mm. That is the hatch size in 3/16" scale.
Conversion is a fairly simple task once you start measuring in metric and converting according to the scale.
There is a simple conversion factor that allows you to determine the approximate size of a model by taking the actual measurements of the full-size ship and arriving at a scale factor.
It is a rough way of deciding whether you want to build a model that is about two feet long, three feet long, or four feet long.
Here is a ship model conversion example using a real ship, the Hancock.
This is a frigate appearing in Chappelle's History of American Sailing Ships.
In this example we want to estimate its size as a model.
We find that the length is given at 136 ft 7 in, which rounds off to 137 feet.
To convert feet (of the actual ship) to the number of inches long that the model will be, use the factors in the table on the right.
To find the principal dimensions (length, height, and width) of a (square-rigged) model in 1/8" scale, then:
Find scaled length by dividing 137 by 8 = 17.125"
Find 50% of 17.125 and add it to 17.125 (8.56 + 17.125 = 25.685, about 25.5)
Typically, the height of this model will be its length less 10%, or about 23.1/2"
Typically, the beam of this model will be its length divided by 4, or about 6½"
Although this technique allows you to judge the approximate length of a proposed model from its true footage, only square-riggers will fit the approximate height and beam by the above factors. To approximate these dimensions on other craft, scale the drawings from which you found the length and arrive at her mast heights and beam.
== See also ==
Half hull model ship
== References ==
== External links ==
Model Ship World - The largest model shipwrighting site on the internet
Model Boat Links
Model Ship Builder A website dedicated to preserving the art of model ship building.
The Ship Modeler's Association of California has an extensive web site.
The Maritime History Virtual Archives
The Nautical Research Guild - not for profit organization dedicated to ship modelling
http://www.victorysculpture.com - The HMS Victory sculpture carved from the ships original timbers. | Wikipedia/Wooden_Ship_Models |
Model warship combat is an international club activity, in which participants construct radio-controlled scale models of actual warships, most commonly those built by various nations prior to 1946, such as the USS Des Moines or the German battleship Bismarck. The models are armed with pneumatic cannons, and fight against one another on ponds and lakes. Model warship combat is sometimes considered to be a form of Naval Wargaming, but can also be considered a water-based version of Robot Combat, since much of the internal systems and concepts are the same as radio control electronics, and in some cases possess similar pneumatic systems.
The sport is predominantly divided into 'Big Gun' and 'Fast Gun' (or 'Small Gun') clubs. Both 'Big Gun' and 'Fast Gun' formats host annual national/international inter-club events. There is one major 'Fast Gun' club, the International Radio Control Warship Combat Club (IRCWCC). As of January 2015, the other major club, Model Warship Combat, Incorporated (MWCI) has been dissolved, and its members are being incorporated into IRCWCC. IRCWCC hosts a yearly week-long national event, called "Nats", where the fleets, divided up by historical alliances, (Allied and Axis), wage war against each other. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the week, wins that year's Nationals. 'Big Gun' clubs have the annual event known as North American Big Gun Open (NABGO). Since 2008 - the annual Big Gun Robotic Warship Combat open invitational at California Maker Faire.
The Australian Battle Group (AUSBG) has two annual National Battles, held in January and June.
== History ==
Radio controlled warship combat was invented by a small group of men living in Texas (USA) in the late 1970s. The founding members are Stan Watkins, D.W. Fluegel, and Jeff Poindexter. These men "toyed" with the idea of using radio controlled ships and equipping them with some kind of cannon so that they could then engage in combat, eventually developing the sport.
In 1977, Stan Watkins created the "Mark I" cannon using a variety of plumbing parts. In this early system, freon was used as a propelling agent, resulting in engagements with little if any damage. After some time and further improvements, the group was able to "sink" an opponent in combat by shooting steel balls through balsa wood hulls. Organized groups formed very quickly after this achievement, with the formation of the IRCWCC, Big Gun groups, and the NASWCA in 1982.
The Mark I cannon was made out of a set of valves, a hose, and a freon tank. Iron pipe fittings were affixed to the freon 22 tank, which provided the pressure that powered the gun. Small water valves were used to fill the tank, and to supply pressure to an O-ring spool valve. When the gun was not in the fire position, the O-ring separated the pressure source from the magazine hose; however, when the radio control unit was activated the servo moved the spool valve into position, allowing freon to flow from the pressurized tank to the magazine hose. As the magazine was pressurized, BBs flowed into the restrictor tube until the pressure built high enough to force the BBs through the restrictor and out of the barrel. The exit velocity of the BBs was high enough to punch holes in the model ship’s 1/32 inch balsa wood skin. However, this linear magazine and barrel assembly was too bulky to be fit to a small model ship’s gun turret. To improve scale appearance, a brass elbow fitting was added to reduce the above deck size of the gun. This enabled the magazine to exit the deck vertically, with the BBs running into the base leg of the elbow before entering the restrictor. This led to the development of the new Mk II breach/barrel assembly. The first Mk II was installed on Stan Watkins' model of the USS Arizona (l/144 scale). The BBs (about 100) were loaded into a clear hose which, when pressurised, would feed the BBs into a smaller clear plastic tubing behind the barrel brass tubing. The pressure would build until the force pushed the BBs through the restrictor tubing and out the barrel. The force of this design had adequate power to penetrate the 1/32 balsa hull skin. The design of the restrictor caused a number of BBs to “spurt” out each time the pressure was great enough, however to have sufficient pressure to get more than one spurt, the warship combatant had to rapidly close the spool valve after the start of the spurt. This was made possible as the freon feed hoses were very thin, and had low flow.
After several decades of technological advances, the hobby has improved dramatically in both reliability and playability. Many different groups having formed, fighting scale model warships ranging from the reasonably rare 1:48 scale to the most common 1:144 scale, with several different and regional variations on the rules used.
== Design conventions and model construction ==
Extensive design conventions exist to provide that the fighting effectiveness under various conditions remain proportional to the prototype vessels. These conventions also dictate safety features as well as mandating design features to allow for recovery of defeated vessels.
The model warships are fully functional, with small electric motors or servo-operated sails for propulsion, servo-operated steering systems, and armaments consisting of self-reloading pneumatic cannons.
The models cannot be purchased, unlike many scale models, and instead must be built from scratch. There are, however, several suppliers that sell many of the necessary parts for construction, such as Strike Models and Battlers Connection.
=== Mechanical systems ===
While many models use a combination of switches and/or relays physically actuated by servos to control the propulsion system, most newer models now use either Electronic Speed Control units or solid-state switching boards, such as those found in Robot combat, greatly reducing the complexity of the wiring of the propulsion system. Propulsion is provided by electric motors coupled to shafts passing through stuffing tubes driving semi-scale propellers. All active mechanical systems are required to be operated via electrical or pneumatic means. Any and all mechanisms relying upon chemical combustion which could contaminate the water with fuels, oils, or other chemicals are banned.
=== Weapons systems ===
The cannons use steel balls ranging from .177" to .25" in diameter as projectiles, typically propelled by CO2 or compressed air. As of 2009, a small number of smaller "Big Gun" ships are equipped with cannons powered by compression springs. In Big Gun combat, club rules usually include provisions for the arming of torpedoes, usually represented by a fixed cannon firing 0.25" diameter projectiles. Although individuals have attempted to construct self-propelled 0.25" diameter torpedoes, their use has yet to be formally documented or demonstrated. Additionally, vendors have demonstrated working prototypes of weapons control systems suitable for Big Gun combat that would enable multiple turrets on a single vessel to be coordinated as a single weapons battery, allowing multiple weapons to simultaneously target a single vessel. All Pyrotechnics are specifically banned from use to protect the safety of people and animals, in addition to preventing environmental damage.
=== Cannon types ===
Arizona Cannon/Single Barrel Gun System - easy to manufacture cannon named after one of the first model ships in which it was successfully implemented
Ball-bearing interrupter - one or two steel balls in-line with the gas supply line interrupts the feed of ammunition into the breech, ensuring that only one projectile is fired at a time
JC White Rotating Cannon - first widely successful multi-barrel rotating turret
JC White Torpedo cannon - similar to the rotating cannon without the rotating magazine on top
Indiana Cannon - a refinement of the JC White Rotating Cannon so named due to the US State in which it was first manufactured. Evolution of the JC White design into the Indiana Cannon marked the point at which the design encountered widespread adoption in the Big Gun format.
Jam elbow -
Negative pressure/Quick Exhaust Valve - Typically uses a Clippard Exhaust Valve in its construction and relies upon a discharge of pressure from a pneumatic control circuit to actuate the cannon.
O-ring breech -
Piston interrupter - a "piston" in-line with the gas supply line interrupts the feed of ammunition into the breech, ensuring that only one projectile is fired at a time
Sliding breech -
Spring-loaded breech -
Spring-fired/Spring-powered cannon - instead of directly utilizing exclusively compressed gas to impart kinetic energy to the projectile, a spring affixed to a piston to compress gas in a chamber or a spring directly acting on the projectile is used.
Spurt cannon - a spurt cannon is a type of fast gun cannon that lacks a mechanism to interrupt feeding of steel balls into the breech. Subsequently, it will continuously fire until either the supply of ammunition or compressed gas is depleted.
=== Cannon configuration ===
Depressing - due to concerns for safety and the goal of inflicting damage to an opposing ship at or below the waterline, cannon can be configured to incorporate negative elevation with an adjustable mechanism
Fixed - Fixed cannon cannot be trained, requiring the captain to maneuver the ship to bring them to bear on a target instead.
Rotating - To enable a ship to bring the maximum possible firepower to bear on a given target, cannon can be equipped with a mechanism to facilitate rotation if the corresponding cannon on the real ship were so equipped. Additionally, cannon rotation permit a ship to continue to fire upon a target while maneuvering, potentially increasing the number of successful hits within a given period of time. While uncommon in Fast Gun due to a combination of complexity and limited tactical benefit, cannon rotation is common in the Big Gun format.
=== Ammunition magazine configuration ===
Straight-magazine — Steel ball ammunition is housed in a relatively straight length of rigid or flexible tubing and can be gravity or force-fed into the cannon breech.
Coil-magazine - Ammunition is housed in tubing as with the straight-magazine configuration; however, the magazine tubing is tightly coiled, sometimes around the cannon riser and/or valve so as to reduce the longitudinal volume required for the cannon. Ammunition can be gravity or force-fed into the cannon breech.
Canister-magazine - In a canister-magazine configuration, ammunition is housed within a cylindrical chamber integrated into the cannon body. Ammunition is typically gravity-fed into the cannon breech.
=== Structure ===
While some early vessels were built in 1/150 scale, scales have become standardized with the most common construction scale of 1:144, although 1:96, 1:72 and 1:48 scale modeling groups also do exist. The majority of hulls are constructed from either fiberglass (with penetration windows cut into it), or scratch built with wood ribs. The exteriors of the ship's hulls are sheeted balsa wood, which allows the relatively low velocity cannon projectiles to penetrate them. The penetration is intended to let in water, with the model sinking if the onboard bilge pumps cannot compensate for the rate at which water enters the hull. Superstructures are often constructed with a combination of lightweight wood, plastic sheets, thermoset plastic resins, and corrosion-resistant metals. Smaller vessels such as light cruisers and destroyers often incorporate a less-durable but lighter superstructure in order to maximize the displacement available for weapons systems. After combat, the models typically escape real damage other than that to the balsa skin, and can typically be patched and turned around in 15–30 minutes.
== Combat formats ==
=== Campaign ===
Instead of a single battle, multiple battles or sorties are combined to form a campaign of combat events, sometimes with a preceding battle dictating the available of rearming opportunities afforded to a team in the following battle. A campaign can also consist of multiple objective-oriented battles, or team free-for-all battles.
=== Free-for-all ===
Typically held in sessions divided by vessel combat units or combat value, during a free-for-all each captain operates his or her vessel to sink or damage as many of the other vessels on the water as possible while minimizing the damage incurred. It is often played in a "last-man-standing" format where the winning vessel is identified simply as the last to sink or be disabled.
=== Objective ===
Objective format combat is typically executed in the form of a scenario, requiring each team to accomplish specific objectives to earn points and/or win the scenario. Such combat may involve sides of asymmetrical strength, such as when attempting to simulate a recreation of a historic battle.
=== Team free-for-all ===
One of the most common combat format across the different model warship clubs, team free-for-all involves the division of players present into two teams that are equal based upon a combat strength rubric (i.e. units in Fast Gun or a combination of displacement tonnage and cannon count in Big Gun), which then sortie against each other in accordance with the club's rules and scoring system.
== Club formats ==
=== Big Gun ===
Unlike Fast Gun clubs, Big Gun clubs operate based upon a loose confederation, with each club reserving the ability to establish and maintain its own rules, provided that they coincide with the spirit of Big Gun Model Warship Combat. With versions in 1/48, 1/72, 1/96, and 1/144 scale, Big Gun Model Warship combat clubs have provisions for cannon caliber and armor thickness to be scaling according to what existed on the prototype vessel. Big Gun Model Warships allow weapons to be installed in rotating turrets as if they were mounted on the historical vessel. Damage Control is accomplished via a centrifugal bilge pump capable pumping a regulated volume of water out of the hull. The volume allowed is based on the prototype vessel's displacement. Typically, the flow rate varies from 30 gallons per hour (GPH) for the smallest ships to 90GPH for the largest ships.
Big Gun clubs are largely descended from the now defunct "North American Warship Combat Association" (NASWCA) dating back to late 1981/early 1982.
=== Fast/Small Gun ===
Principally known as Fast Gun by its members due to few restrictions on rate of fire, this format is sometimes also identified as Small Gun because of its exclusive use of .177" (BB) caliber guns. About 80% of active clubs are of the fast gun variety, in which all ships are built in 1/144 scale and use .177" caliber guns, which in most cases are installed in fixed mounts but may rotate depending upon ship class. Additionally, all ships are fitted with a standardized 1/32" thick balsa wood 'Armor' to yield an easily penetrable hull. Damage control is accomplished through the use of centrifugal bilge pumps fitted with either a 1/8" or 1/16" diameter flow restrictor. Clubs that follow this format include the International Radio-Controlled Warship Combat Club (IRCWCC) and Model Warship Combat, Incorporated (MWCI).
A subset or adaptation of small gun is known as Treaty Combat. Treaty Combat, abbreviated simply as Treaty, incorporates uniform caliber weapons, armor, and combat units in a way similar to that defined in IRCWCC or MWCI rules; however, speeds and pump capacities are limited based upon the prototype vessel and displacement, respectively. Thus, Treaty Combat incorporates some of the reduced-cost aspects of the Fast Gun format with some of the scaled characteristics of Big Gun.
== Notes ==
== External links ==
RCWarships.org - Informational website dating back from 1995 and still going strong General, but primarily Big Gun related
R/C Warship Combat Community Forum Supporting All Formats of model warship combat.
IRCWCC Main Site Fast Gun
MWC official site Fast Gun
North Texas Battle Group site 1/144 Big Gun
Australian Battle Group site 1/144 Big Gun
Western Warship Combat Club site 1/144 Big Gun
Chesapeake Battle Group Group site 1/144 Big Gun
Battlestations! 1/96 Big Gun
Mid-Atlantic Battle Group site 1/144 Big Gun
Queen's Own Scale Model Warship Club 1/48, 1/72 Big Gun
Robotic Warship Combat at Maker Faire 1/144 Big Gun
Washington Cascade Column Seattle Area 1/144 Fast-Gun
https://web.archive.org/web/20110901234547/http://washingtontreatycombat.webs.com/index.htm
http://www.combatenaval.com.ar | Wikipedia/Model_warship_combat |
Popular Science (also known as PopSci) is an American popular science website, covering science and technology topics geared toward general readers. Popular Science has won over 58 awards, including the American Society of Magazine Editors awards for its journalistic excellence in 2003 (for General Excellence), 2004 (for Best Magazine Section), and 2019 (for Single-Topic Issue). Its print magazine, which ran from 1872 to 2020, was translated into over 30 languages and distributed to at least 45 countries. In 2021, Popular Science switched to an all-digital format and abandoned the magazine format in 2023.
== Early history ==
The Popular Science Monthly, as the publication was originally called, was founded in May 1872 by Edward L. Youmans to disseminate scientific knowledge to the educated layman. Youmans had previously worked as an editor for the weekly Appleton's Journal and persuaded them to publish his new journal. Early issues were mostly reprints of English periodicals. The journal became an outlet for writings and ideas of Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley, Louis Pasteur, Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, Thomas Edison, John Dewey and James McKeen Cattell. William Jay Youmans, Edward's brother, helped found Popular Science Monthly in 1872 and was an editor as well. He became editor-in-chief on Edward's death in 1887. The publisher, D. Appleton & Company, was forced to sell the journal for economic reasons in 1900.
James McKeen Cattell became the editor in 1900 and the publisher in 1901. Cattell had a background in academics and continued publishing articles for educated readers. By 1915, the readership was declining and publishing a science journal was a financial challenge. In a September 1915 editorial, Cattell related these difficulties to his readers and announced that the Popular Science Monthly name had been transferred to the Modern Publishing Company to start a new publication for general audiences. The existing academic journal would continue publishing under the name The Scientific Monthly, retaining existing subscribers. Scientific Monthly was published until 1958 when it was absorbed into Science.
After acquiring the Electrician and Mechanic magazine in 1914, the Modern Publishing Company had merged it with Modern Electrics to become Modern Electrics & Mechanics. Later that year, they merged the publication with Popular Electricity and World's Advance to form Popular Electricity and Modern Mechanics. After further name changes that caused confusion among librarians, the Modern Publishing Company had purchased the Popular Science Monthly name to provide a clear signifier of the publication's focus on popular science.
The October 1915 issue was titled Popular Science Monthly and World's Advance. The volume number (Vol. 87, No. 4) was that of Popular Science but the content was that of World's Advance. The new editor was Waldemar Kaempffert, a former editor of Scientific American.
The change in Popular Science Monthly was dramatic. The old version was a scholarly journal that had eight to ten articles in a 100-page issue. There would be ten to twenty photographs or illustrations. The new version had hundreds of short, easy to read articles with hundreds of illustrations. Editor Kaempffert was writing for "the home craftsman and hobbyist who wanted to know something about the world of science." The circulation doubled in the first year.
From the mid-1930s to the 1960s, the magazine featured fictional stories of Gus Wilson's Model Garage, centered on car problems.
An annual review of changes to the new model year cars ran in 1940 and 1941, but did not return after the war until 1954. It continued until the mid-1970s when the magazine reverted to publishing the new models over multiple issues as information became available.
From 1935 to 1949, the magazine sponsored a series of short films, produced by Jerry Fairbanks and released by Paramount Pictures.
From July 1952 to December 1989, Popular Science carried Roy Doty's Wordless Workshop as a regular feature.
From July 1969 to May 1989, the cover and table of contents carried the subtitle, "The What's New Magazine." The cover removed the subtitle the following month and the contents page removed it in February 1990. In 1983, the magazine introduced a new logo using the ITC Avant Garde font, which it used until late 1995. Within the next 11 years, its font changed four times (in 1995, 1997, 2001, and 2002, respectively). In 2009, the magazine used a new font for its logo, which was used until the January 2014 issue.
In 2014, the magazine underwent a major redesign; its February 2014 issue introduced a new logo, and a new format featuring greater use of graphics and imagery, aiming to broaden its content to appeal to wider attention to the environment, science, and technology among a mass audience. The revamp concluded in November 2014 with a redesign of the Popular Science website.
== Recent history ==
The Popular Science Publishing Company was acquired in 1967 by the Los Angeles–based Times Mirror Company. In 2000, Times Mirror merged with the Chicago-based Tribune Company, which then sold the Times Mirror magazines to Time Inc. (then a subsidiary of Time Warner) the following year. On January 25, 2007, Time Warner sold this magazine, along with 17 other special interest magazines, to Bonnier Magazine Group.
In January 2016, Popular Science switched to bi-monthly publication after 144 years of monthly publication.
In April 2016 it was announced that editor-in-chief Cliff Ransom would be leaving the magazine.
In August 2016, Joe Brown was named Popular Science's new editor-in-chief. In September 2018, it was announced that Popular Science would become a quarterly publication. During his tenure, Popular Science diversified its readership base, was nominated for several National Magazine Awards, winning for The Tiny Issue in 2019, and named to AdWeek's Hot List in 2019. Brown stepped down in February 2020.
In March 2020, executive editor Corinne Iozzio was named editor-in-chief. During her tenure, the brand moved from a print to a digital-only publication, produced extensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, celebrated its 150-year anniversary, and relaunched its "Brilliant 10" franchise. Iozzio and her team won a 2022 National Magazine Award for its "Heat" issue. The issue, an in-depth look at the stark realities and ingenuity of a warming world, was the second win in the Single-Topic Issue category but the first in its new digital-only format. In August 2022, after more than a decade at Popular Science and two-and-a-half years leading the brand, Iozzio announced that she would step down as editor-in-chief in October of that year.
On October 6, 2020, the Bonnier Group sold Popular Science and six other special interest magazines, including the well-known titles Popular Photography, Outdoor Life, and Field & Stream, to North Equity LLC. While North Equity is a venture equity firm that primarily invests in digital media brands, David Ritchie, CEO of the Bonnier Corp, said Bonnier believes, "North Equity is best-positioned to continue to invest in and grow these iconic legacy brands." In June 2021, North Equity introduced Recurrent Ventures as the new parent company to its digital media portfolio.
From April 27, 2021, the Popular Science publication was changed to a fully digital format and is no longer in physical print. Its digital subscription offering, PopSci+ is inclusive of exclusive digital content and the magazine.
In January 2023, Annie Colbert was named the new editor-in-chief. She joined the brand after spending more than 10 years at Mashable.
=== Radio ===
Popular Science Radio was a partnership between Popular Science and Entertainment Radio Network which ran through 2016.
=== Tablet ===
On March 27, 2011, Popular Science magazine sold the 10,000th subscription to its iPad edition, nearly six weeks after accepting Apple's terms for selling subs on its tablet.
=== Podcasts ===
In 2018, Popular Science launched two podcasts, Last Week in Tech and The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week, Last Week in Tech was later replaced by Techathlon.
Weirdest Thing proved to be the brand's breakout hit. After just one episode, Apple Podcasts included "Weirdest Thing" on their weekly "New & Noteworthy" list, and over the years it has hosted a number of live events.
=== Popular Science+ ===
In early 2010, Bonnier partnered with London-based design firm BERG to create Mag+, a magazine publishing platform for tablets. In April 2010, Popular Science+, the first title on the Mag+ platform, launched in the iTunes Store the same day the iPad launched. The app contains all the content in the print version as well as added content and digital-only extras. Bonnier has since launched several more titles on the Mag+ platform, including Popular Photography+ and Transworld Snowboarding+.
=== Australian Popular Science ===
On September 24, 2008, Australian publishing company Australian Media Properties (part of the WW Media Group) launched a local version of Popular Science. It is a monthly magazine, like its American counterpart, and uses content from the American version of the magazine as well as local material. Australian Media Properties also launched www.popsci.com.au at the same time, a localised version of the Popular Science website.
=== Popular Science Predictions Exchange ===
In July 2007, Popular Science launched the Popular Science Predictions EXchange (PPX). People were able to place virtual bets on what the next innovations in technology, the environment, and science would be. Bets have included whether Facebook would have an initial public offering by 2008, when a touchscreen iPod would be launched, and whether Dongtan, China's eco-city, would be inhabited by 2010. The PPX shut down in 2009.
=== Television: Future Of... ===
Popular Science's Future Of... show premiered on August 10, 2009, on the Science Channel. The show was concerned with the future of technology and science in a particular topic area that varies from week to week. As of December 2009, a new episode was premiering every Monday.
=== Books ===
Popular Science has published a number of books, including the bestselling Big Book of Hacks and Big Book of Maker Skills.
The brand has also published The Total Inventor's Manual and The Future Then, which was published in conjunction with the brand's 145th anniversary.
=== Other languages ===
In June 2014, Popular Science Italia was launched in Italy by Kekoa Publishing. Directed by Francesco Maria Avitto, the magazine is available in print and digital version.
In April 2017, Popular Science was launched in Arabic by United Arab Emirates-based publisher Haykal Media. The magazine is available in print bimonthly, and through a daily updated portal.
== Publishers ==
Sources: American Mass-Market Magazines The Wall Street Journal and New York Post.
== Gallery ==
== See also ==
Popular Mechanics
== References ==
== External links ==
Popular Science
Popular Science+ in iTunes
Popular Science Australia
Popular Science magazine: 1872–2008 Online, readable back issues. | Wikipedia/Popular_Science |
Wiking Modellbau is a German manufacturer of scale models in H0 scale and N scale originally made as accessories for model train sets. Founded in 1932 by Freidrich Karl Peltzer, now it is owned by German Siku Toys.
Founded in 1932, traditionally the company was based post-World War II in West Berlin. Later factories were also used in Buer (near Essen) and Kiel. Now owned by German Siku Toys, in Lüdenscheid, the company specializes in models of cars and trucks dating from the 1950s to the present day. Almost invariably models are produced in 1:87 "HO" scale.
== Pre War History ==
Wiking was founded in 1932 by Freidrich Karl Peltzer who had built ships from cigar boxes in his youth. Wiking's beginnings were in producing ship models in 1:1,250 scale. Before and during World War II these models, made of lead based zamac, were used by the German military for training and tactical planning. They were usually marked "Wiking Modell" on their bases. The ships were accompanied by Modell-Hafen (Model Harbors) which were wood representations of piers, buildings and oil facilities to assist in attack training. The military also used new plane models in 1:200 scale beginning in 1934-35, and the so-called Wehrmachtsmodelle (1937–38) of military vehicles and artillery, were issued in 1:200 scale. Beginning in 1938, the planes and some of the ships were made of plastic.
Based on the Wehrmachtsmodelle, Wiking also made some civilian vehicles whose production ceased at the beginning of World War II.
=== War years ===
During the war, Wiking mostly produced models for the military for training in the identification of planes and ships, an important need during war time. Reportedly, the company employed forced labor, for example; workers from the USSR.
== Wiking Post-war ==
After World War II, but before starting production of model cars, Wiking experimented with a variety of plastics such as for a Noah's ark model and for the molding of plastic combs and buttons. Some clay was also used in production. There was a small series of the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949) that consisted of five planes and two car models in 1:400 scale. At this time, Wiking opened several workshops, including those in Buer and Kiel.
In 1947, Wiking started to produce simple car models that usually consisted of a single part - with no windows or chassis. These were made of plastic in roughly 1:100 scale. Vehicle axles were made of wire with flat pinched ends, that when squeezed into the still warm plastic wheels, could not rotate - thus the axles rolled with the wheels. Later models included chassis bases. The scale was eventually changed to 1:90.
Wiking began to expand its line of vehicles during the 1950s, offering both trucks and cars. Some offerings were Henschel stake and cement trucks, Magirus trucks, the Borgward Arabella, and DKW two door sedan. Many of these were offered in packs of five trucks or ten cars.
In the early 1960s, Volkswagen's Wolfsburg plant commissioned vehicles in a larger 1:40 scale with unique company designed packaging. These are rather rare today - and often worth more than $100, though some of these larger scaled models have been reissued by the company. Particularly interesting was a Wiking Beetle promotional molded in a clear plastic body. It was labeled "Das Gläserne Auto" and available in a special red and blue display box with body, wheels, interior and seats displayed apart from each other. The presentation with clear plastic body hit a chord and the idea was copied by several other manufacturers - even in Britain where one manufacturer produced its own 'glass' car
Around the early 1960s, transparent windows were added to models. Interiors were added in the 1970s. For some models even the original paint from the car manufacturers is used. Today, the scale has been changed to the more uniform 1:87 (HO). Though this scale matches HO train scale, various scales have been produced and Wiking models today are collected in their own right. The company website refers to "the delightful yet robust toy cars [that] fit in a trouser pocket" indicating their play value independent of other toys.
Since 1969 Wiking has produced car models in 1:160 (N) scale - mostly for N-Scale model train sets. Between 1949/50 and 1974/75 Wiking again produced ship models. The company also tried to sell plane models again in the 1960s but this effort was cancelled. Some of these models were made for Ferrero, the Italian chocolate company, scaled down from 1:87 scale to fit inside Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs. Most of these vehicles, though nicely done like the VW bug convertible and the NSU Ro80, were made in Hong Kong. Some were apparently original models, not copies of previously existing Wiking cars.
Today old Wiking models are often collector items which can be very expensive. The most expensive Wiking model ever sold is a Mercedes tank truck from 1962 which was produced as an advertising article for the Thyssen company. In June 2006 one of these tank truck models (shown above) sold for €10,100 at an auction in Cologne.
== Contemporary Wiking ==
In 1953 the workshops in Buer were closed, followed by the Kiel workshops in 1982.
Peltzer died in 1981 at the age of 78 (February 5, 1903 - November 20, 1981). Some collectors consider this to be the end of a golden era, leaving behind an era of many less expensive and unique stylized models - while a new era began of the mass production of expensive models in fewer liveries.
In 1984, Wiking was sold to the Sieper Lüdenscheid, known for its Siku model cars. Today's Wiking models try be perfectly detailed miniatures in their own right in a similar manner to their competitors (e.g. Herpa and Brekina). This is perhaps slightly different from the earlier philosophy of producing a variety of vehicles more oriented toward HO scale railroad sets.
Another big change for the company came in September 2008, when it was announced the traditional home of the factory would be closed and all production would be transferred to the Siku / Sieper works in Lüdenscheid.
== References ==
"All about your favorite Wiking collectables". Wiking website.
Doty, Dennis (1996). "Aussie Turns Up, but Where is Mister Two?. Collectible Scale Automobile department". Collectible Automobile. 12 (6): 88–90.
McGeachy, Ian. (2012). "Blueyonder Shipmodels website".
"Wikingmania model description 2000-2013". original website in German.
Ralston, Andrew (2007). Plastic Toy Cars of the 1950s & 19960s. Dorchester UK: Veloce Publishing. ISBN 9781845841256.
van de Beck, Conny (2010). Wiking-Modellbau.
"87th Scale Info website".
=== Footnotes ===
== External links ==
Wiking's official website | Wikipedia/Wiking_Modellbau |
Model yachting is the pastime of building and racing model yachts. It has always been customary for ship-builders to make a miniature model of the vessel under construction, which is in every respect a copy of the original on a small scale, whether steamship or sailing ship. There are fine collections to be seen at both general interest museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and at many specialized maritime museums worldwide. Many of these models are of exquisite workmanship, every rope, pulley or portion of the engine being faithfully reproduced. In the case of sailing yachts, these models were often pitted against each other on small bodies of water, and hence arose the modern pastime. It was soon seen that elaborate fittings and complicated rigging were a detriment to rapid handling, and that, on account of the comparatively stronger winds in which models were sailed, they needed a greater draught. For these reasons modern model yachts, which usually have fin keels, are of about 15% or 20% deeper draught than full-sized vessels, while rigging and fittings have been reduced to absolute simplicity. This applies to models built for racing and not to elaborate copies of steamers and ships, made only for show or for " toy cruising."
== Model yacht clubs ==
Model yacht clubs have existed for many years in Great Britain, Ireland and the United States, most of them holding a number of regattas during each season. The rules do not generally require the owner or skipper of a model to build his own craft, but among model yachtsmen the designing and the construction of the boats constitute as important and interesting a part of the sport as the actual sailing.
== Sail–driven yachts ==
=== Construction and rigging ===
Traditional models are constructed of some light, seasoned wood, such as pine, preferably white pine, white cedar or mahogany free from knots. The hull may either be hollowed out of a solid block of wood, or cut from layers of planks in the so-called bread-and-butter style, or planked over a frame of keel and cross-sections. The first two methods are used in constructing dugout models. Hollowing out from the solid block entails a great deal of labor and has therefore fallen into disfavor. In the bread-and-butter style a number of planks, which have been shaped to the horizontal sections of the model and from which the middle has been sawn out, are glued together and then cut down to the exact lines of the design, templates being used to test the precision of the curves. In the planked, or built-up model, which is generally chosen by more expert builders, the planks are tacked to the frame, as in the construction of large vessels. Hulls may also be formed from modern plastics, which may be purchased from a manufacturer as thermomoldings or fiberglass layups or fabricated by the modeler, by first making a positive model from clay or plaster (or using an existing model's hull) and then creating a negative mold from fiberglass or plaster. Models may be exaggerated cutters, so far as their underbodies are concerned, or, more often, are fitted with fin-keels weighted, after the manner of full-sized yachts. They may have any rig, but schooner and sloop rigs are most common, the latter being the favorite for racing on account of its simplicity.
=== Mechanical sailing controls ===
For uncontrolled sailing craft some form of steering control is required, since with a fixed rudder position the model will turn into the wind.
Three kinds of steering-gear are used, the weighted swinging rudder, the main-sheet balance gear, and the steering vane, the object of each being to keep the model on a true course, either before or against the wind. Models are often sailed without dynamic control of the rudder, but although a perfectly built boat will sail readily against the wind without steering gear, it is almost impossible to keep it on its course before the wind without some contrivance to check for divergence. The setting of the steering gear and sheet positions must be adapted to the wind conditions and this is a subtle art to master. These controls are the traditional methods, for more than 100 years before the advent of radio control and they continue to be used worldwide.
==== Weighted rudder method ====
This is accomplished by the weighted rudder, which falls over when the vessel heels and tends to counteract the force of the breeze. There are two varieties of the weighted rudder, in the first of which the weight, usually lead, is fixed to the edge of the rudder, while in the second the weight, usually a ball of lead, is made to run on the tiller above the deck, so that it can be placed further forward or aft, according to the force needed to overcome the influence of the wind. The weighted rudder is almost universal in the British Isles. Weights are also incorporated into the other, following methods.
==== Main sheet balance method ====
The preferred method in the United States uses the main-sheet balance gear, in which the boom is connected with the tiller in such a manner that, when it swings out with a pressure of wind, the rudder is automatically pulled round sufficiently to keep the yacht in its course. This will usually involve some sort of return spring so that the mechanism is responsive to the wind. This apparatus is particularly efficient in sailing before the wind. More modern, computer-based RC transmitters often have mixing circuitry integral to their design, that can "mix" the sheet-balancing, operated with a sail control servo, internally in the transmitter's computerized encoder unit, with the rudder control.
==== Wind vane method ====
A more accurate method is to use a separate rudder vane; this is made from a plank of light wood such as balsa. The vane is operated in two principal positions, one for upwind sailing, the other for downwind. While some modelers object that the model craft will not be a plausible representation of its full-sized prototype, real long-distance cruising boats are frequently steered with dedicated windvanes of varying complexity (mechanical or electronic), occasionally with a line attached to a sheet, and never using weighted rudders.
=== Radio control ===
Radio control may be used in many locations. Typically two controls are provided for sailing yacht models, a general–purpose small servo for rudder control and a specialized sail winch to draw in the mainsheet and jib. Motorized craft control rudder and throttle, and perhaps other functions such as reversing, lighting, and mechanical novelties.
Other radio controlled watercraft hobbies include the operation and battle engagement of scale model warships (with gas-operated guns intended to sink opponents), and various high speed racing craft driven by powerful engines.
== Regattas ==
=== Model yacht basin regattas ===
These occur within a specialized pond or rectangular pool, in which a pole–person will walk down each side of the basin carrying a pole, prepared to push the yachts into an opposite tack before collision with the edge. The operators will usually work one side and a single turner, called a "Liverpool boy" will work the opposite side. In some locations the yachts are adjusted so that they will change tack at some point and so allowing the craft to be operated from one side of a wide pond.
=== Open water regattas ===
They take place upon sufficiently large bodies of water to allow a course at least a quarter of a mile in length, which is generally sailed twice or three times over to windward and backward. Triangular courses are also sailed. Racing rules correspond generally to those controlling regattas of large boats, and there is full scope to exhibit all the proofs of good seamanship. The yachts are followed in light skiffs, and may not be touched more than a certain number of times during a race, on penalty of a handicap. Racing measurements differ in the various clubs, but all are based upon length and sail-area. In Great Britain the regular Yacht Racing Association rule has been generally adopted, and handicaps deducted from it. In America models are divided into a single schooner with a maximum load water-line of 63 inches, and three classes of sloops, the first class including yachts with water-lines between 48 and 53 inches, the second class those between 42 and 48 inches and the third and smallest class those between 35 and 42 inches A yacht with a shorter water line than 35 inches must race in the third class. It was previously found that yachts of smaller dimensions possessed too little resistance to the wind. However, model development means that the tiny Footy class - 12 " long and a boat in your briefcase - is now recognised by the Model Yachting Association in Britain and the American Model Yachting Association in the United States as well as being sailed in such countries as New Zealand, Canada, Malta, Sweden, Belgium, Brazil and Denmark.
== Powered yachts and scale working craft ==
With the advent of radio control it has become much more practical to operate motorized craft. While some are powered by water-cooled internal combustion engines and can be very powerful and fast, the noise and fast operation is discouraged in many park settings as too disturbing to patrons, waterfowl and other wildlife. Electric power and low pressure steam engines are popular, with many amateur machinists building engines from casting kits. Specialized regattas for radio-controlled motorized craft are held that include rubber duck herding and the simulated rescue of ships in distress by a team of operators controlling a pair of tugboats.
== See also ==
Hobby
Ship model
Wooden Ship Models
Radio-controlled boat
Liquid Robotics
Two foot skiff also known as ‘Balmain Bugs’ were model racing skiffs, typically raced on Sydney Harbour between the 1890s and 1950s.
== References ==
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Model-Yachting". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 640–641.
== External links ==
East Coast 12 Meter Class - The EC12 Class is chartered by the American Model Yachting Association
http://www.onemetre.net/ - Technical and theoretical aspects of RC yacht racing
=== Organizations ===
American Model Yachting Association
British Model Yachting Association
Footy Class Association
IOMICA - The International Class Association for the International One Metre Class, affiliated to IRSA
IRSA - The International Radio Sailing Association, affiliated to World Sailing.
British Vintage Model Yacht Group - Specialising in older/restored model yachts
The US Vintage Model Yacht Group | Wikipedia/Model_yachting |
A model aircraft is a physical model of an existing or imagined aircraft, and is built typically for display, research, or amusement. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed static, display, or shelf models.
Aircraft manufacturers and researchers make wind tunnel models for testing aerodynamic properties, for basic research, or for the development of new designs. Sometimes only part of the aircraft is modelled.
Static models range from mass-produced toys in white metal or plastic to highly accurate and detailed models produced for museum display and requiring thousands of hours of work. Many are available in kits, typically made of injection-molded polystyrene or resin.
Flying models range from simple toy gliders made of sheets of paper, balsa, card stock or foam polystyrene to powered scale models built up from balsa, bamboo sticks, plastic, (including both molded or sheet polystyrene, and styrofoam), metal, synthetic resin, either alone or with carbon fiber or fiberglass, and skinned with either tissue paper, mylar and other materials. Some can be large, especially when used to research the flight properties of a proposed full scale aircraft.
== Aerodynamic research and mock-ups ==
Models are made for wind tunnel and free-flight research tests and may have components that can be swapped to compare various fittings and configurations, or have features such as controls that can be repositioned to reflect various in flight configurations. They are also often fitted with sensors for spot measurements and are usually mounted on a structure that ensures the correct alignment with the airflow, and which provides additional measurements. For wind tunnel research, it is sometimes necessary only to make part of the proposed aircraft.
Full-scale static engineering models are also constructed for production development, often made of different materials from the proposed design. Again, often only part of the aircraft is modelled.
== Static display models ==
Static model aircraft cannot fly, and are used for display, education and are used in wind tunnels to collect data for the design of full scale aircraft. They may be built using any suitable material, which often includes plastic, wood, metal, paper and fiberglass and may be built to a specific scale, so that the size of the original may be compared to that of other aircraft. Models may come finished, or may require painting or assembly, with glue, screws, or by clipping together, or both.
Many of the world's airlines allow their aircraft to be modelled for publicity. Airlines used to order large scale models of their aircraft to supply them to travel agencies as a promotional item. Desktop model airplanes may be given to airport, airline and government officials to promote an airline or celebrate a new route or an achievement.
=== Scale ===
Static model aircraft are primarily available commercially in a variety of scales from as large as 1:18 scale to as small as 1:1250 scale. Plastic model kits requiring assembly and painting are primarily available in 1:144, 1:72, 1:48, 1:32, and 1:24 scale. Die-cast metal models (pre-assembled and factory painted) are available in scales ranging from 1:48 to 1:600.
Scales are not random, but are generally based on divisions of either the Imperial system, or the Metric system.
For example, 1:48 scale is 1/4" to 1-foot (or 1" to 4 feet) and 1:72 is 1" to 6 feet, while in metric scales such as 1:100th, 1 centimeter equals 1 meter.
1:72 scale was introduced with Skybirds wood and metal model aircraft kits in 1932 and were followed closely by Frog, which used the same scale from 1936 with their "Frog Penguin" brand. 1:72 was popularized in the US during the Second World War by the US War Department after it requested models of commonly encountered single engine aircraft at that scale, and multi-engine aircraft in 1:144th scale. They hoped to improve aircraft recognition skills and these scales compromised between size and detail. After WWII, manufacturers continued with these scales, however kits are also added in other divisions of the imperial system. 1:50th and 1:100th are common in Japan and France, which both use Metric. Promotional models for airlines are produced in scales ranging from 1:200 to 1:1200.
Some manufacturers made 1:18th scale aircraft to go with cars of the same scale. Aircraft models, military vehicles, figures, cars, and trains all have different common scales but there is some crossover. There is a substantial amount of duplication of more famous subjects in different scales, which can be useful for forced perspective box dioramas.
Older models often did not conform to an established scale as they were sized to fit the box, and are referred to as being to "Box Scale".
=== Materials ===
The most common form of manufacture for kits is injection molded polystyrene plastic, formed in steel forms. Plastic pellets are heated into a liquid and forced into the mold under high pressure through trees that hold all the parts, and ensure plastic flows to every part of the mold. This allows a greater degree of automation than other manufacturing processes but molds require large production runs to cover the cost of making them. Today, this takes place mostly in Asia and Eastern Europe. Smaller runs are possible with copper molds, and some companies use resin or rubber molds, but while the cost is lower for the mold, the durability is also lower and labor costs can be much higher.
Resin kits are made in forms similar to those used for limited run plastic kits, but these molds are usually not as durable, which limits them to smaller production runs, and prices for the finished product are higher.
Vacuum forming is another common alternative but requires more skill, and details must be supplied by the modeller. There is a handful of photo etched metal kits that allow a high level of detail and they are unable to replicate compound curves.
Scale models can also be made from paper or card stock. Commercial models are mainly printed by publishers in Germany or Eastern Europe but can be distributed through the internet, some of which are offered this way for free.
From World War I through the 1950s, static model airplanes were also built from light weight bamboo or balsa wood and covered with tissue paper in the same manner as with flying models. This was a time-consuming process that mirrored the actual construction of airplanes through the beginning of World War II. Many model makers would create models from drawings of the actual aircraft.
Ready-made desk-top models include those produced in fiberglass for travel agents and aircraft manufacturers, as well as collectors models made from die-cast metal, mahogany, resin and plastic.
Carbon fibers and fiberglass have become increasingly common in model aircraft kits. In model helicopters, main frames and rotor blades are often made from carbon fiber, along with ribs and spars in fixed-wing aircraft wings.
== Flying models ==
Aeromodelling is the building and operation of flying model aircraft. Some flying models resemble scaled down versions of full scale aircraft, while others are built with no intention of looking like real aircraft. There are also models of birds, bats and pterosaurs (usually ornithopters). The reduced size affects the model's Reynolds number, which determines how the air reacts when flowing past the model, and compared to a full sized aircraft the size of control surfaces needed, the stability and the effectiveness of specific airfoil sections may differ considerably requiring changes to the design.
=== Control ===
Flying model aircraft are generally controlled through one of three methods
Free flight (F/F) model aircraft are uncontrolled other than by control surfaces that must be preset before flight, and must have a high degree of natural stability. Most free flying models are either unpowered gliders or rubber powered. These pre-date manned flight.
Control line (C/L) model aircraft use strings or wires to tether the model to a central pivot, either held by hand or to a pole. The aircraft then flies in circles around that point, secured by one cable, while a second provides pitch control through a connection to the elevator. Some use a third cable to control a throttle. There are many competition categories. Speed flying is divided into classes based on engine displacement. Class 'D' 60 size speed planes can easily reach speeds well in excess of 150 mph (240 km/h).
Radio-controlled aircraft have a controller who operates a transmitter that sends signals to a receiver in the model to actuate servos that adjust the model's flight controls similarly to a full sized aircraft. Traditionally, the radio signal directly controlled servos, however, modern examples often use flight control computers to stabilize the model or even to fly it autonomously. This is particularly the case with quadcopters. Rudimentary flight controllers were first introduced in model helicopters, with standalone electronic gyroscopes used stabilize the tail rotor control. Much like quadcopters, this has now extended to all flight controls.
=== Construction ===
Flying models construction may differ from that of static models as both weight and strength are major considerations.
Flying models borrow construction techniques from full-sized aircraft although the use of metal is limited. These might consist of forming a frame using thin planks of a light wood such as balsa to duplicate the formers, longerons, spars, and ribs of a vintage full-size aircraft, or, on larger (usually powered) models where weight is less of a factor, sheets of wood, expanded polystyrene, and wood veneers may be employed. It is then given a smooth sealed surface, usually with aircraft dope. For light models, tissue paper is used. For larger models (usually powered and radio controlled) heat-curing or heat shrink covering plastic films or heat-shrinkable synthetic fabrics are applied to the model. Microfilm covering is used for the lightest models and is made by spreading few drops of lacquer out over several square feet of water, and lifting a wire loop through it, which creates a thin plastic film.
Flying models can be assembled from kits, built from plans, or made completely from scratch. A kit contains the necessary raw material, typically die- or laser-cut wood parts, some molded parts, plans, assembly instructions and may have been flight tested. Plans are intended for the more experienced modeller, since the builder must make or find the materials themselves. Scratch builders may draw their own plans, and source all the materials themselves. Any method may be labor-intensive, depending on the model in question.
To increase the hobby's accessibility, some vendors offer Almost Ready to Fly (ARF) models that minimize the skills required, and reduce build time to under 4 hours, versus 10–40 or more for a traditional kit. Ready To Fly (RTF) radio control aircraft are also available, however model building remains integral to the hobby for many. For a more mass market approach, foamies, injection-molded from lightweight foam (sometimes reinforced) have made indoor flight more accessible and many require little more than attaching the wing and landing gear.
=== Gliders ===
Gliders do not have an attached powerplant. Larger outdoor model gliders are usually radio-controlled gliders and hand-winched against the wind by a line attached to a hook under the fuselage with a ring, so that the line drops when the model is overhead. Other methods include catapult-launching, using an elastic bungee cord. The newer "discus" style of wingtip hand-launching has largely supplanted the earlier "javelin" type of launch. Also using ground-based power winches, hand-towing, and towing aloft using a second powered aircraft.
Gliders sustain flight through exploitation of the wind in the environment. A hill or slope often produces updrafts of air that sustain the flight of a glider. This is called slope soaring, and radio controlled gliders can remain airborne for as long as the updraft remains. Another means of attaining height in a glider is exploitation of thermals, which are columns of warm rising air created by differences of temperature on the ground such as between an asphalt parking lot and a lake. Heated air rises, carrying the glider with it. As with a powered aircraft, lift is obtained by the action of the wings as the aircraft moves through the air, but in a glider, height is gained by flying through air that is rising faster than the aircraft is sinking.
Walkalong gliders are lightweight model airplanes flown in the ridge lift produced by the pilot following in close proximity. In other words, the glider is slope soaring in the updraft of the moving pilot (see also Controllable slope soaring).
=== Power sources ===
Powered models contain an onboard powerplant, a mechanism powering propulsion of the aircraft through the air. Electric motors and internal combustion engines are the most common propulsion systems, but other types include rocket, small turbine, pulsejet, compressed gas, and tension-loaded (twisted) rubber band devices.
==== Rubber ====
The oldest method of powering free flight models is Alphonse Pénaud's elastic motor (or extensible motor) of 1871, essentially a long rubber band that is twisted to add tension, prior to flight. It is the most widely used powerplant, found on everything from children's toys to competition models. The elastic offers simplicity and durability, but has a short running time, and the initial high torque of a fully wound motor drops sharply before plateauing to a steady output, until the final turns unwind and power drops off completely. Using it efficiently is one of the challenges of competitive free-flight rubber flying, and variable-pitch propellers, differential wing and tailplane incidence and rudder settings, controlled by timers, can help to manage the torque. There are also usually motor weight restrictions in contest classes. Even so, models have achieved flights of nearly 1 hour.
==== Compressed gases ====
Stored compressed gas, typically carbon dioxide (CO2), can power simple models in a manner similar to filling a balloon and then releasing it. Compressed CO2 may also be used to power an expansion engine to turn a propeller. These engines can incorporate speed controls and multiple cylinders, and are capable of powering lightweight scale radio-controlled aircraft. Gasparin and Modela are two recent makers of CO2 engines. CO2, like rubber, is known as "cold" power because it generates no heat.
Steam is even older than rubber power, and like rubber, contributed much to aviation history, but is now rarely used. In 1848, John Stringfellow flew a steam-powered model, in Chard, Somerset, England. Samuel Pierpont Langley built both steam- and internal-combustion-powered models that made long flights.
Baronet Sir George Cayley built, and flew, internal and external combustion gunpowder-fueled model aircraft engines in 1807, 1819, and 1850. These had no crank, working ornithopter-like flappers instead of a propeller. He speculated that the fuel might be too dangerous for manned aircraft.
==== Internal combustion ====
For larger and heavier models, the most popular powerplant is the glow plug engine. Glow engines are fueled by a mixture of slow burning methanol, nitromethane, and lubricant (castor oil or synthetic oil), which is sold pre-mixed as glow-fuel. Glow-engines require an external starting mechanism; the glow plug must be heated until it is hot enough to ignite fuel to start. Reciprocating cylinders apply torque to a rotating crankshaft, which is the engine's primary power-output. Some power is lost from converting linear motion to rotary and in lost heat and unburned fuel, so efficiency is low.
These are rated by engine displacement and range from 0.01 cu in (0.16 cc) to over 1.0 cu in (16 cc). The smallest engines can spin a 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) propeller to over 30,000 rpm, while the larger engines turn at 10–14,000 rpm.
The simplest glow-engines use the two-stroke cycle. These engines are inexpensive, and offer the highest power-to-weight ratio of all glow-engines, but are noisy and require substantial expansion chamber mufflers, which may be tuned. four-stroke cycle glow engines, whether using poppet valves or more rarely rotary valves are more fuel-efficient, but deliver less power than similar two-stroke engines. The power they deliver is more suited to turning larger diameter propellers for lighter weight, higher drag airframes such as with in biplanes. Four-stroke engines are now popular as they are quieter than two-stroke engines, and are available in horizontally opposed twins and radial engine configurations. Variations include engines with multiple-cylinders, spark-ignition gasoline operation, carbureted diesel operation and variable compression-ratio engines. Diesels are preferred for endurance and have higher torque, and for a given capacity, can "swing" a larger propeller than a glow engine. Home manufacture of model aircraft engines is a hobby in its own right.
==== Jets and rockets ====
Early "jet" style model aircraft used a multi-blade propeller ducted fan, inside ductwork, usually in the fuselage. The fans were generally powered by 2 stroke engines at high RPM. They generally had 0.40 to 0.90 cu in (6.6 to 14.7 cc) displacements, but some were as small as 0.049 cu in (0.80 cc). This fan-in-tube design has been adopted successfully for electric-powered jets while glow engine powered ducted-fan aircraft are now rare. Small jet turbine engines are now used in hobbyist models that resemble simplified versions of the turbojet engines found on commercial aircraft, but are not scaled-down as Reynolds numbers come into play. The first hobbyist-developed turbine was developed and flown in the 1980s but recently have commercial examples become readily available. Turbines require specialized design and precision-manufacturing, and some have been built from car engine turbocharger units. Owning or operating a turbine-powered aircraft is prohibitively expensive and many national clubs (as with the USA's Academy of Model Aeronautics) require members to be certified to safely use them.
V-1 flying bomb type Pulsejet engines have also been used as they offer more thrust in a smaller package than a traditional glow-engine, but are not widely used due to the extremely high noise levels they produce, and are illegal in some countries.
Rocket engines are sometimes used to boost gliders and sailplanes. The earliest purpose-built rocket motor dates back to the 1950s, with the introduction of the Jetex motor, which used solid fuel pellets, ignited by a wick fuse, in a reusable casing. Flyers can now also use single-use model rocket engines to provide a short, under 10 second burst of power. Government restrictions in some countries made rocket-propulsion rare but these were being eased in many places and their use was expanding, however a reclassification from "smoke producing devices" to "fireworks" has made them difficult to obtain again.
==== Electric power ====
Electric-powered models use an electric motor powered by a source of electricity - usually a battery. Electrical power began being used on models in the 1970s, but the cost delayed widespread use until the early 1990s, when more efficient battery technologies, and brushless motors became available, while the costs of motors, batteries and control systems dropped dramatically. Electric power now predominated with park-flyer and 3D-flyer models, both of which are small and light, where electric-power offers greater efficiency and reliability, less maintenance and mess, quieter flight and near-instantaneous throttle response compared to internal combustion engines.
The first electric models used brushed DC motors and nickel cadmium (NiCad) rechargeable cells that gave flight times of 5 to 10 minutes, while a comparable glow-engine provided double the flight-time. Later electric systems used more-efficient brushless DC motors and higher-capacity nickel metal hydride (NiMh) batteries, yielding considerably improved flight times. Cobalt and lithium polymer batteries (LiPoly or LiPo) permit electric flight-times to surpass those of glow-engines, while the more rugged and durable, cobalt-free lithium iron phosphate batteries are also becoming popular. Solar power has also become practical for R/C hobbyists, and in June 2005 a record flight of 48 hours and 16 minutes was set in California. It is now possible to power most models under 20 lb (9.1 kg) with electric power for a cost equivalent to or lower than traditional power sources.
Recent developments have resulted in the use of brushless three-phase motors in model aviation. Brushless motors are more powerful and offer greater torque and efficiency. The design of brushless motors also means less internal friction, as there is no requirement for brushes to be in contact with any rotating parts. This increase in efficiency results in longer flight times.
=== Propulsion types ===
Most powered model-aircraft, including electric, internal-combustion, and rubber-band powered models, generate thrust by spinning an airscrew. The propeller is the most commonly used device. Propellers generate thrust due to lift generated by the wing-like sections of the blades, which forces air backward.
==== Propellers ====
A large diameter and low-pitch propeller offers greater thrust and acceleration at low airspeed, while a small diameter and higher-pitch propeller sacrifices acceleration for higher maximum speeds. The builder can choose from a selection of propellers to match the model but a mismatched propeller can compromise performance, and if too heavy, cause undue wear on the powerplant. Model aircraft propellers are usually specified as diameter × pitch, in inches. For example, a 5 x 3 propeller has a diameter of 5 inches (130 mm), and a pitch of 3 inches (76 mm). The pitch is the distance that the propeller would advance if turned through one revolution in a solid medium. Two and three bladed propellers are the most common.
Three methods are used to transfer energy to the propeller:
Direct-drive systems have the propeller attached directly to the engine's crankshaft or driveshaft. This arrangement is preferred when the propeller and powerplant both operate near peak efficiency at similar rpms. Direct-drive is most common with fuel-powered engines. Rarely, some electric motors are designed with a sufficiently high torque and low enough speed and can utilize direct-drive as well. These motors are typically called outrunners.
Reduction drive uses gears to reduce shaft rpm, so the motor can spin much faster. The higher the gear ratio, the slower the prop rotates, which also increases torque by roughly the same ratio. This is common on larger models and on those with unusually large propellers. The reduction drive matches the powerplant and propeller to their respective optimum operating speeds. Geared propellers are rare on internal combustion engines, but are common on electric motors because most electric motors spin extremely fast, but lack torque.
A built-in 2:1 gear reduction ratio can be obtained by attaching the propeller to the camshaft rather than the crankshaft of a four stroke engine, which runs at half the speed of the crankshaft.
==== Ducted fans ====
Ducted fans are multi-blade propellers encased in a cylindrical duct or tube that may look like and fit in the same space as jet engine. They are available for both electric and liquid-fuelled engines, although they have become common with recent improvements in electric-flight technology. A model aircraft can now be fitted with four electric ducted fans for less than the cost of a single jet turbine, enabling affordable modelling of multi-engine airplanes. Compared to an unducted propeller, a ducted fan generates more thrust for the same area and speeds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h) have been recorded with electric-powered ducted fan airplanes, largely due to the higher RPMs possible with ducted fan propellers. Ducted fans are popular with scale models of jet aircraft, where they mimic the appearance of jet engines but they are also found on non-scale and sport models, and even lightweight 3D-flyers.
==== Other ====
With ornithopters the motion of the wing structure imitates the flapping-wings of living birds, producing both thrust and lift.
== Competitions and classes ==
World competitions are organized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in many classes, groups, and subclasses:
Class F – model aircraft
F1x – Free Flight
F2x – Control Line
F3x – Radio Control
F4x – Scale Aircraft (a reduced-size reproduction of a full-size aircraft)
F5x – Radio Control Electric Powered Motor Gliders
FAI – Drone Racing (F3U)
Class S – space model
Class U – unmanned aerial vehicle
=== Free flight (F1) ===
The Wakefield Gold Challenge Cup is an international modelling competition named for the donor, Lord Wakefield. The event was first held on 5 July 1911 at The Crystal Palace in England. There were contests in 1912, 1913 and 1914. No contests were held again until 1927, when the Society of Model Aeronautical Engineers (SMAE) approached Lord Wakefield for a new larger silver trophy for international competition. This trophy is the present Wakefield International Cup and was first awarded in 1928. The SMAE organized the international competitions until 1951 when the FAI took over, and has since been made the award for the rubber-power category at the FAI World Free Flight Championships.
The FAI free flight classes include:
F1A – Gliders
F1B – Model Aircraft with extensible (rubber band) motors – Wakefield Trophy
F1C – Power model aircraft (combustion powered 2.5 cc (0.15 cu in))
F1D – Indoor model aircraft
F1E – Gliders with automatic steering
F1N – Indoor hand-launch gliders
F1P – Power model aircraft (combustion powered 1.0cc)
F1Q – Electric power model aircraft
F1G – Model aircraft with extensible (rubber band) motors « Coupe d’hiver » (provisional)
F1H – Gliders (provisional)
F1J – Power model aircraft (provisional) (combustion powered 1.0 cc (0.061 cu in))
F1K – Model aircraft with CO2 motors (provisional)
F1L – Indoor zone EZB model aircraft (provisional)
F1M – Indoor model aircraft (provisional)
F1R – Indoor model aircraft “Micro 35” (provisional)
F1S – Small electric power model aircraft “E36”
=== Control line (F2) ===
Also referred to as U-Control in the US, it was pioneered by the late Jim Walker who often, for show, flew three models at a time. Normally the model is flown in a circle and controlled by a pilot in the center holding a handle connected to two thin steel wires. The wires connect through the inboard wing tip of the plane to a mechanism that translates the handle movement to the aircraft elevator, allowing maneuvers to be performed along the aircraft pitch axis. The pilot turns to follow the model going round, the convention being counterclockwise for upright level flight.
For the conventional control-line system, tension in the lines is required to provide control. Line tension is maintained largely by centrifugal force. To increase line tension, models may be built or adjusted in various ways. Rudder offset and thrust vectoring (tilting the engine toward the outside) yaw the model outward. The position where the lines exit the wing can compensate for the tendency of the aerodynamic drag of the lines to yaw the model inboard. Weight on the outside wing, an inside wing that is longer or has more lift than the outside wing (or even no outside wing at all) and the torque of a left rotating propeller (or flying clockwise) tend to roll the model toward the outside. Wing tip weights, propeller torque, and thrust vectoring are more effective when the model is going slowly, while rudder offset and other aerodynamic effects have more influence on a fast moving model.
Since its introduction, control line flying has developed into a competition sport. There are contest categories for control line models, including Speed, Aerobatics (AKA Stunt), Racing, Navy Carrier, Balloon Bust, Scale, and Combat. There are variations on the basic events, including divisions by engine size and type, skill categories, and age of model design.
The events originated largely in the United States, and were later adapted for use internationally. The rules for US Competition are available from the Academy of Model Aeronautics. The international rules are defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). World Championships are held semiannually throughout the world, most recently in 2008 in France, with a limited slate of events – special varieties of Racing (F2C or "Team Race"), combat (F2D), and speed (F2A), all limited to engines displacing 0.15 cu. in (2.5cc), and Stunt (F2b), which is essentially unlimited with regard to design and size.
CIAM (FAI Aeromodelling Commission) designated the following classes in the F2 Control Line category:
F2A
CL Speed
F2B
CL Aerobatics
F2C
CL Team racing
The international class of racing is referred to as F2C (F2 = Control-line, C=racing) or Team Race. A pilot and a mechanic compete as a team to fly small 370 g (13 oz) 65 cm (26 in) wingspan semi-scale racing models over a tarmac or concrete surface. Lines are 15.92 m (52.2 ft) long.
Three pilots, plus mechanic teams, compete simultaneously in the same circle, and the object is to finish the determined course as fast as possible. Tank size is limited to 7 cc (0.43 cu in), requiring 2 or 3 refueling pitstops during the race.
The mechanic stands at a pit area outside the marked flight circle. The engine is started and the model released on the start signal. For refueling, the pilot operates a fuel shutoff by a quick down elevator movement after the planned number of laps so that the model can approach the mechanic at optimum speed, of around 31 mph (50 km/h). The mechanic catches the model by the wing, fill the tank from a pressurized can by a hose and finger valve, then restart the engine by flicking the propeller with his finger. A pitstop generally takes less than three seconds.
The course is 6.2 mi (10 km), with 100 laps. Flying speeds are around 200 km/h (120 mph), which means that the pilots turn one lap in roughly 1.8 seconds. Line pull due to centrifugal force is 19 lbf (85 N). An overtaking model is steered over the heads of the competing pilots of slower models.
After two rounds of elimination heats, the 6, 9 or 12 fastest teams enter two semifinal rounds, and the three fastest teams in the semifinals go to the final, which is run over the double course. Single cylinder two-stroke Diesel compression ignition engines designed for this purpose of up to 2.5 cc (0.15 cu in) are used. At the world championship level it is common for competitors design and build their own engines. Output power approaches 0.8 hp (0.60 kW) at 25,000 rpm.
==== F2D – control line combat ====
CLASS F2D - Control Line Combat Model Aircraft - Two pilots compete, with four mechanics in the pit. The aircraft are light and stubby so as to maneuver quickly in the air. Each has a 8 ft 2 in (2.5 m) crepe paper streamer attached to the rear of the aircraft by a 3 m (9.8 ft) string. Each pilot attacks only the other aircraft's streamer, to attempt to cut it with their propeller or wing. Each cut scores 100 points. Each second the model is in the air scores a point and the match runs for 4 minutes from the starter's signal. At the almost 120 mph (200 km/h) speeds of the aircraft, mistakes often lead to crash damage so two aircraft are permitted for each match. The mechanics are prepared for crashes and quickly start the second aircraft and transfer the streamer to the reserve model before launching. The action is so fast that an observer may miss the cuts of the streamers. A second loss eliminates a competitor, and the last pilot still flying wins.
=== Radio-controlled flight (F3) ===
The FAI radio control classes include:
F3A
RC Aerobatic Aircraft
F3B
RC Multi-Task Gliders
F3C
RC Aerobatic Helicopters
F3D
RC Pylon Racing Aeroplanes – Pylon racing refers to a class of air racing for radio controlled model aircraft that fly through a course of pylons. The sport is similar to the full-scale Red Bull Air Race World Series.
F3F
RC Slope Soaring Gliders
F3J
RC Thermal Duration Gliders
F3K
RC Hand Launch Gliders
F3M
RC Large Aerobatic Aircraft
F3N
RC Freestyle Aerobatic Helicopters
F3P
RC Indoor Aerobatic Aircraft
F3H
RC Soaring Cross Country Gliders
F3Q
RC Aero-Tow Gliders
F3R
RC Pylon Racing Limited Technology Aeroplanes
F3S
RC Jet Aerobatic Aircraft
F3T
RC Semi-Scale Pylon Racing with Controlled Technology Aeroplanes
F3U
RC Multi-rotor FPV Racing – The FAI Drone Racing World Cup is in the F3U class (Radio Control Multi-rotor FPV Racing). This is a highly competitive drone racing activity, involving mental exertion and big cash prizes.
=== Scale aircraft (F4) ===
The FAI classes for scale model aircraft (a reduced-size reproduction of a full-size aircraft) include:
F4B
control line scale aeroplanes
F4C
radio control scale aeroplanes
F4H
radio control stand-off scale aeroplanes
=== Radio-controlled electric motor gliders (F5) ===
The FAI classes include:
F5B – Electric Motor Glider – Multi Task (held in alternate years only)
F5D – Electric Pylon Racing
F5J – Electric Motor Glider – Thermal Duration
== Model aerodynamics ==
The flight behavior of an aircraft depends on the scale to which it is built, the density of the air and the speed of flight.
At subsonic speeds the relationship between these is expressed by the Reynolds number. Where two models at different scales are flown with the same Reynolds number, the airflow is similar. Where the Reynolds numbers differ, as for example a small-scale model flying at lower speed than the full-size craft, the airflow characteristics can differ significantly. This can make an exact scale model unflyable, and the model has to be modified in some way. For example, at low Reynolds numbers, a flying scale model usually requires a larger-than-scale propeller.
Maneuverability depends on scale, with stability also becoming more important. Control torque is proportional to lever arm length while angular inertia is proportional to the square of the lever arm, so the smaller the scale the more quickly an aircraft or other vehicle turns in response to control inputs or outside forces.
One consequence of this is that models in general require additional longitudinal and directional stability, resisting sudden changes in pitch and yaw. While it may be possible for a pilot to respond quickly enough to control an unstable aircraft, a radio control scale model of the same aircraft would be flyable only with design adjustments such as increased tail surfaces and wing dihedral for stability, or with avionics providing artificial stability. Free flight models need to have both static and dynamic stability. Static stability is the resistance to sudden changes in pitch and yaw already described, and is typically provided by the horizontal and vertical tail surfaces respectively, and by a forward center of gravity. Dynamic stability is the ability to return to straight and level flight without any control input. The three dynamic instability modes are pitch (phugoid) oscillation, spiral and Dutch roll. An aircraft with too large a horizontal tail on a fuselage that is too short may have a phugoid instability with increasing climbs and dives. With free flight models, this usually results in a stall or loop at the end of the initial climb. Insufficient dihedral or sweep back generally leads to increasing spiral turn. Too much dihedral or sweepback generally causes Dutch roll. These all depend on the scale, as well as details of the shape and weight distribution. For example, the paper glider shown here is a contest winner when made of a small sheet of paper but goes from side to side in Dutch roll when scaled up even slightly.
== See also ==
== Footnotes ==
== References ==
RCadvisor′s Model Airplane Design Made Easy, by Carlos Reyes, RCadvisor.com, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2009. ISBN 9780982261323 OCLC 361461928
The Great International Paper Airplane Book, by Jerry Mander, George Dippel and Howard Gossage, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1967. ISBN 0671289918 OCLC 437094
Model Aircraft Aerodynamics, by Martin Simons, Swanley: Nexus Special Interests, 1999. 4th ed. ISBN 1854861905 OCLC 43634314
How to Design and Build Flying Model Airplanes, by Keith Laumer, Harper, New York, 1960. 2nd ed., 1970. OCLC 95315
The Middle Ages of the Internal-Combustion Engine, by Horst O. Hardenberg, SAE, 1999. ISBN 0768003911 OCLC 40632327
Model Airplane Design and Theory of Flight, by Charles Hampson Grant, Jay Publishing Corporation, New York, 1941. OCLC 1336984
Pulling Back the Clouds, by Mike Kelly, Limerick Writers' Centre Publishing, Ireland, 2020. ISBN 9781916065383 | Wikipedia/Model_airplane |
A ship model basin is a basin or tank used to carry out hydrodynamic tests with ship models, for the purpose of designing a new (full sized) ship, or refining the design of a ship to improve the ship's performance at sea. It can also refer to the organization (often a company) that owns and operates such a facility.
An engineering firm acts as a contractor to the relevant shipyards, and provides hydrodynamic model tests and numerical calculations to support the design and development of ships and offshore structures.
== History ==
The eminent English engineer William Froude published a series of influential papers on ship designs for maximising stability in the 1860s. The Institution of Naval Architects eventually commissioned him to identify the most efficient hull shape. He validated his theoretical models with extensive empirical testing, using scale models for the different hull dimensions. He established a formula (now known as the Froude number) by which the results of small-scale tests could be used to predict the behaviour of full-sized hulls. He built a sequence of 3, 6 and (shown in the picture) 12 foot scale models and used them in towing trials to establish resistance and scaling laws. His experiments were later vindicated in full-scale trials conducted by the Admiralty and as a result the first ship model basin was built, at public expense, at his home in Torquay. Here he was able to combine mathematical expertise with practical experimentation to such good effect that his methods are still followed today.
Inspired by Froude's successful work, shipbuilding company William Denny and Brothers completed the world's first commercial example of a ship model basin in 1883. The facility was used to test models of a variety of vessels and explored various propulsion methods, including propellers, paddles and vane wheels. Experiments were carried out on models of the Denny-Brown stabilisers and the Denny hovercraft to gauge their feasibility. Tank staff also carried out research and experiments for other companies: Belfast-based Harland & Wolff decided to fit a bulbous bow on the liner Canberra after successful model tests in the Denny Tank.
== Test facilities ==
The hydrodynamic test facilities present at a model basin site include at least a towing tank and a cavitation tunnel and workshops. Some ship model basins have further facilities such as a maneuvering and seakeeping basin and an ice tank.
=== Towing tank ===
A towing tank is a basin, several metres wide and hundreds of metres long, equipped with a towing carriage that runs on two rails on either side. The towing carriage can either tow the model or follow the self-propelled model, and is equipped with computers and devices to register or control, respectively, variables such as speed, propeller thrust and torque, rudder angle etc. The towing tank serves for resistance and propulsion tests with towed and self-propelled ship models to determine how much power the engine will have to provide to achieve the speed laid down in the contract between shipyard and ship owner. The towing tank also serves to determine the maneuvering behaviour in model scale. For this, the self-propelled model is exposed to a series of zig-zag maneuvers at different rudder angle amplitudes. Post-processing of the test data by means of system identification results in a numerical model to simulate any other maneuver like Dieudonné spiral test or turning circles. Additionally, a towing tank can be equipped with a PMM (planar motion mechanism) or a CPMC (computerized planar motion carriage) to measure the hydrodynamic forces and moments on ships or submerged objects under the influence of oblique inflow and enforced motions. The towing tank can also be equipped with a wave generator to carry out seakeeping tests, either by simulating natural (irregular) waves or by exposing the model to a wave packet that yields a set of statistics known as response amplitude operators (acronym RAO), that determine the ship's likely real-life sea-going behavior when operating in seas with varying wave amplitudes and frequencies (these parameters being known as sea states). Modern seakeeping test facilities can determine these RAO statistics, with the aid of appropriate computer hardware and software, in a single test.
=== Cavitation tunnel ===
A cavitation tunnel is used to investigate propellers. This is a vertical water circuit with large diameter pipes. At the top, it carries the measuring facilities. A parallel inflow is established. With or without a ship model, the propeller, attached to a dynamometer, is brought into the inflow, and its thrust and torque is measured at different ratios of propeller speed (number of revolutions) to inflow velocity. A stroboscope synchronized with the propeller speed serves to visualize cavitation as if the cavitation bubble would not move. By this, one can observe if the propeller would be damaged by cavitation. To ensure similarity to the full-scale propeller, the pressure is lowered, and the gas content of the water is controlled.
=== Workshops ===
Ship model basins manufacture their ship models from wood or paraffin with a computerized milling machine. Some of them also manufacture their model propellers. Equipping the ship models with all drives and gauges and manufacturing equipment for non-standard model tests are the main tasks of the workshops.
=== Maneuvering and seakeeping basin ===
This is a test facility that is wide enough to investigate arbitrary angles between waves and the ship model, and to perform maneuvers like turning circles, for which the towing tank is too narrow. However, some important maneuvers like the spiral test still require even more space and still have to be simulated numerically after system identification.
=== Ice tank ===
An ice tank is used to develop ice breaking vessels, this tank fulfills similar purposes as the towing tank does for open water vessels. Resistance and required engine power as well as maneuvering behaviour are determined depending on the ice thickness. Also ice forces on offshore structures can be determined. Ice layers are frozen with a special procedure to scale down the ice crystals to model scale.
== Software ==
Additionally, these companies or authorities have CFD software and experience to simulate the complicated flow around ships and their rudders and propellers numerically. Today's state of the art does not yet allow software to replace model tests in their entirety by CFD calculations. One reason, but not the only one, is that elementization is still expensive. Also the lines design of some of the ships is carried out by the specialists of the ship model basin, either from the beginning or by optimizing the initial design obtained from the shipyard. The same applies to the design of propellers.
== Examples ==
The ship model basins worldwide are organized in the ITTC (International Towing Tank Conference) to standardize their model test procedures.
Some of the most significant ship model basins are:
Denny Tank in Dumbarton, Scotland. The Denny tank was the first commercial ship model basin.
Current Meter Rating Trolly, CMC Division, CWPRS Pune, India
SINTEF Ocean, towing tank, ocean basin, cavitation tunnel in Trondheim, Norway
High speed towing tank - Wolfson Unit MTIA - specialists in high performance power and sail.
David Taylor Model Basin and the Davidson Laboratory at the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in the United States
High Speed Towing Tank facility at Naval Science and Technological Labs at Vizag India
The Institute for Ocean Technology in St. Johns, Canada
FORCE Technology in Lyngby, Denmark
SSPA, in Gothenburg, Sweden
Laboratory of Naval and Oceanic Engineering() of Institute for Technological Research of São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil.
Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) in Wageningen, the Netherlands
CNR-INSEAN in Rome, Italy
University of Naples Federico II in Naples, Italy
SVA Potsdam in Potsdam, Germany
HSVA in Hamburg, Germany
"Bassin d'essai des carènes" in Val de Reuil, France
CEHIPAR in Madrid, Spain
CTO S.A.] in Gdansk, Poland
FloWaveTT in Edinburgh, Scotland
Krylov state research centre Крыловский государственный научный центр in Saint-Petersburg, Russia
National Maritime Research Institute (NMRI) in Tokyo, Japan
China Ship Scientific Research Center(CSSRC) in Wuxi, China
Rosa Röhre in Berlin, Germany
== References ==
Ultramarine Inc. web page on vessel modeling
== External links ==
"Putting More Speed And Power In Our Navy" , June 1943, Popular Science large and well illustrated article on towing basins | Wikipedia/Model_basin |
A radio-controlled boat is a boat or ship model controlled remotely with radio control equipment.
== Type ==
=== Fun sport ===
Electric sport boats are the most common type of boat amongst casual hobbyists. Hobby-quality boat speed generally start at around 20 mph and go up from there, and can be just as fast or faster than their internal-combustion counterparts, with the latest in lithium polymer and brushless motor technology. Ready-to-run speedboats from AquaCraft, ProBoat and OffshoreElectrics can reach speeds over 40 mph out of the box and with modifications can reach well into the 50-60 mph range. These types of boats are referred to as "hobby grade" and can be found only at hobby shops and retailers. "Toy grade" boats which are obtained through mass consumer retailers, are generally much slower and their maximum speeds are usually less than 15 mph.
=== Scale ===
Scale boats are replicas of full-size boats. They are to scale of the full sized ones. They can be small enough to fit into your hand, or large, trailer-transported models weighing hundreds of pounds. More often than not they are a miniaturized version of a prototype, built using plans and/or photos, although there are variants that utilize freelance designs. An offshoot of this style of marine RC's is radio-controlled submarines.
=== Sailboats ===
Sailboats use the power of the wind acting on sails to propel the boat. Model sailboats are typically controlled via a multi-channel radio transmitter in the hands of the operator with a corresponding receiver in the boat. By changing the position of the two joysticks on the transmitter signals are sent over two separate channels on a single radio frequency (assigned to the individual boat/operator). On the boat, the radio receiver is connected to two battery-powered electric motors or servos. Signals from the radio transmitter are interpreted by the radio receiver and translated into instructions to change the position of the servos. One servo controls the position of both main and jib sails together (allowing the sails to be trimmed), the other the position of the rudder (allowing the boat to be steered).
=== Racing sailboats ===
The racing of radio-controlled yacht racing is governed by the same World Sailing Racing Rules of Sailing that are used for full-sized crewed sailing boats (with the inclusion of Appendix E, that introduces special rules to govern the radio-controlled sport). Vane controlled boats sail under their own rules.
There are four international classes of radio sailing boats recognized by the International Radio Sailing Association (IRSA) who are recognised by World Sailing:
International One Metre (IOM)
The IOM class rules specify a monohull of maximum length 1000 mm, with maximum draught 420 mm. There is a minimum weight of 4000 g, which makes homebuilding of competitive boats possible. The IOM has three one-design rigs. To keep costs down, hull materials are restricted to either wood or glassfiber, while masts and booms are restricted to either aluminium or wood. (International One Metre Class Association)
International Marblehead
A Marblehead has a maximum length of 1290 mm and a maximum draught of ca 700 mm, but no minimum displacement. Up to six rigs are allowed, the tallest being about 2200 mm.
International Ten Rater
International A Class (A), the largest of the international radio sailing classes.
Other classes of international significance include the CR-914, the RC Laser, the Micro Magic, and the RG-65..
=== Racing power boats ===
There are dozens of types and classes of race boats. They are mainly organised by engine type and hull type.
Race: Circuit and Straight line is established at National and International levels
Engine: Electric, Glow Plug, Flash Steam and Gas (petrol)
Hull: Mono, Hydro, Cat, Outrigger and Eco (self righting jelly mold shape)
Classes are further divided by battery type and count, Engine CC, Deep V Mono, Stepped Mono, sub surface and surface piercing prop's etc.
Power boats are typically Fast electric or internal combustion, (ignition engine or glow plug R/C engine based) and some are steam powered (conventional type, and also flash steam). (At one time some boats used engines working on the compression ignition principle. These were not diesels in the true sense of the word but the modelling fraternity frequently referred to them as such. A few enthusiasts still operate such engines.) The power is commonly used to rotate a submerged propeller, aircraft propeller or jet which in turn provide the thrust to move the craft. Typically power boats have two controls, rudder, outboard motor or stern drive and throttle control. Powered scale boats will often have additional remote-controlled functions to improve realism, e.g. sounding fog horns, rotating radar antennae etc. Some of the more sophisticated powered racing boats may also have additional remote-controlled functions. These may include remote mixture control allowing the driver to optimise the fuel/air mixture during a race. Another function occasionally implemented for racing boats using a surface piercing propeller is remote control of depth or angle of thrust. There are three main types of power boat. RTR(ready-to-run), ARTR(almost-ready-to-run), and kit versions are available. All thoroughbred racing boats are made from kits and the builders add their own gear and radio.
Radio-controlled racing boats are designed for maximum speed and maneuverability. Various styles of racing include circuits of different shapes laid out on the water with buoys. The most common courses are the 1/6-mile oval that consists of 330-foot straight sections followed by 70-foot-diameter turns. The International Model Power Boat Association (IMPBA), North American Model Boat Association (NAMBA) and Offshore Model Racing Association (OMRA) have specific rules and regulations to address the course, race rules, and formats.
In addition to oval racing there are straightaway (SAW) racing. This is a contest to see how fast you can make the boat go in a straight line. Timed events are held where the boats need to go through a starting light and an ending light. The speed is calculated by the timed difference from start to stop vs the length between the lights. Again IMPBA and NAMBA rules apply.
Some enthusiasts race in the sea, controlling their craft from a pursuing boat known as a "chase boat". These courses will usually be a few miles long and the competition is judged against the clock to find the fastest in class. Within the various styles of racing there will be a number of classes depending upon engine size and type. Ocean and river going boats tend to be powered by internal combustion engines. Sprint Type races and electric races are usually held on calmer lake waters.
Electric boats for racing are capable of reaching speeds of more than 50 mph and run times of around 10 minutes. Electric boats also hold the 100-yard sprint record against rival internal combustion powerplants since 2000.
Tethered racing and free-running craft were popular prior to the advent of cheap radio control. The speeds of tethered racing vehicles are higher than 160 mph for boats and 230 mph for cars, but these craft bear little resemblance to real-world vehicles, and could not obtain anywhere near those speeds if converted to radio control.
=== Combat ===
A competitive offshoot of the radio control model warships hobby that involves the firing of projectiles, usually propelled by gas, at opposing ships to sink or damage them. Models are usually simplified to facilitate repair. Ships are fitted with bilge pumps; bb, 3/16", 7/32" or 1/4" weapons that fire ball bearings. The ship's hull plating is balsa to keep the force required to penetrate down to safe levels, by Rules, they are designed to be sinkable and in fact they do on a regular basis.
=== Tugboats ===
Scale model tug boats are often built to include scale drive systems. They use standard propellers and rudder(s), Becker rudders, Kort nozzles, steerable kort nozzles, Z-drives or Voith-Schneider cycloidial drives. Clubs will often host maneuvering competitions where participants are tasked to run their boats in the most realistic manner possible. This can be judged with or without a "tow" or barge attached.
Model Tug boats were often used for filming on three shows. TUGS, Thomas & Friends and Theodore Tugboat in which they had moving eyes and as for TUGS moving heads.
== See also ==
Model warship combat
Model yachting
Radio-controlled model
Radio-controlled submarine
Ship model
== External links ==
International One Metre - International Class Association - A popular class of radio-controlled sailing boat
International Sailing Federation - Radio Sailing Division - Rules and regulations for the international radio sailing classes | Wikipedia/Radio-controlled_boat |
A conceptual graph (CG) is a formalism for knowledge representation. In the first published paper on CGs, John F. Sowa used them to represent the conceptual schemas used in database systems. The first book on CGs applied them to a wide range of topics in artificial intelligence, computer science, and cognitive science.
== Research branches ==
Since 1984, the model has been developed along three main directions: a graphical interface for first-order logic, a diagrammatic calculus of logics, and a graph-based knowledge representation and reasoning model.
=== Graphical interface for first-order logic ===
In this approach, a formula in first-order logic (predicate calculus) is represented by a labeled graph.
A linear notation, called the Conceptual Graph Interchange Format (CGIF), has been standardized in the ISO standard for common logic.
The diagram above is an example of the display form for a conceptual graph. Each box is called a concept node, and each oval is called a relation node. In CGIF, this CG would be represented by the following statement:
[Cat Elsie] [Sitting *x] [Mat *y] (agent ?x Elsie) (location ?x ?y)
In CGIF, brackets enclose the information inside the concept nodes, and parentheses enclose the information inside the relation nodes. The letters x and y, which are called coreference labels, show how the concept and relation nodes are connected. In CLIF, those letters are mapped to variables, as in the following statement:
(exists ((x Sitting) (y Mat)) (and (Cat Elsie) (agent x Elsie) (location x y)))
As this example shows, the asterisks on the coreference labels *x and *y in CGIF map to existentially quantified variables in CLIF, and the question marks on ?x and ?y map to bound variables in CLIF. A universal quantifier, represented @every*z in CGIF, would be represented forall (z) in CLIF.
Reasoning can be done by translating graphs into logical formulas, then applying a logical inference engine.
=== Diagrammatic calculus of logics ===
Another research branch continues the work on existential graphs of Charles Sanders Peirce, which were one of the origins of conceptual graphs as proposed by Sowa. In this approach, developed in particular by Dau (Dau 2003), conceptual graphs are conceptual diagrams rather than graphs in the sense of graph theory, and reasoning operations are performed by operations on these diagrams.
=== Graph-based knowledge representation and reasoning model ===
Key features of GBKR, the graph-based knowledge representation and reasoning model developed by Chein and Mugnier and the Montpellier group, can be summarized as follows:
All kinds of knowledge (ontology, rules, constraints and facts) are labeled graphs, which provide an intuitive and easily understandable means to represent knowledge.
Reasoning mechanisms are based on graph notions, basically the classical notion of graph homomorphism; this allows, in particular, to link basic reasoning problems to other fundamental problems in computer science (e.g., problems concerning conjunctive queries in relational databases, or constraint satisfaction problems).
The formalism is logically founded, i.e., it has a semantics in first-order logic and the inference mechanisms are sound and complete with respect to deduction in first-order logic.
From a computational viewpoint, the graph homomorphism notion was recognized in the 1990s as a central notion, and complexity results and efficient algorithms have been obtained in several domains.
COGITANT and COGUI are tools that implement the GBKR model. COGITANT is a library of C++ classes that implement most of the GBKR notions and reasoning mechanisms. COGUI is a graphical user interface dedicated to the construction of a GBKR knowledge base (it integrates COGITANT and, among numerous functionalities, it contains a translator from GBKR to RDF/S and conversely).
== See also ==
Alphabet of human thought
Chunking (psychology)
Resource Description Framework (RDF)
SPARQL (Graph Query Language)
Semantic network
== References ==
=== Bibliography ===
Chein, Michel; Mugnier, Marie-Laure (2009). Graph-based Knowledge Representation: Computational Foundations of Conceptual Graphs. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-84800-286-9. ISBN 978-1-84800-285-2.
Dau, F. (2003). The Logic System of Concept Graphs with Negation and Its Relationship to Predicate Logic. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 2892. Springer.
Sowa, John F. (July 1976). "Conceptual Graphs for a Data Base Interface" (PDF). IBM Journal of Research and Development. 20 (4): 336–357. doi:10.1147/rd.204.0336.
Sowa, John F. (1984). Conceptual Structures: Information Processing in Mind and Machine. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-14472-7.
Velardi, Paola; Pazienza, Maria Teresa; De' Giovanetti, Mario (March 1988). "Conceptual graphs for the analysis and generation of sentences". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 32 (2). IBM Corp. Riverton, NJ, USA: 251–267. doi:10.1147/rd.322.0251.
== External links ==
Conceptual Graphs Home Page
Annual international conferences (ICCS) at DBLP
Conceptual Graphs on John F. Sowa's Website | Wikipedia/Conceptual_graphs |
Workforce modeling is the process of aligning the demand for skilled labor with the availability and preferences of skilled workers (supply). It uses mathematical models to support tasks such as sensitivity analysis, scheduling, and workload forecasting.
This approach is commonly applied in industries with complex labor regulations, certified workers, and varying levels of demand, including healthcare, public safety, and retail. Workforce modeling solutions often include software tools that help determine staffing needs based on workload volume across different periods, such as times of day, days of the week, or seasonal cycles.
== Definition ==
The term can be differentiated from traditional staff scheduling. Staff scheduling is rooted in time management. Besides demand orientation, workforce modeling also incorporates the forecast of the workload and the required staff, the integration of workers into the scheduling process through interactivity, and analysis of the entire process.
== Complexity of the model ==
Many applications providing a workforce modeling solution use the linear programming approach to create the Workforce Model. Linear methods of achieving a schedule are generally based on assumptions that demand is based on a series of independent events, each with a consistent, predictable outcome. However, modeling the uncertainty and dependability of these events is a well-researched area. Modeling approaches such as system dynamics have also been employed in workforce modeling to address interdependencies and feedback loops within large organizations, such as NASA. Heuristics have also been applied to the problem, and metaheuristics have been identified as effective methods for generating complex scheduling solutions.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Sterman JD. Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling For a Complex World. Boston, Massachusetts: McGraw-Hill Publishers; 2000.
Taleb NN. The Black Swan. New York, New York: Random House; 2007.
West B, Griffin L. Biodynamics: Why the Wirewalker Doesn't Fall. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004. | Wikipedia/Workforce_modeling |
Ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP) is a solid rocket propellant. It differs from many traditional solid rocket propellants such as black powder or zinc-sulfur, not only in chemical composition and overall performance but also by being cast into shape, as opposed to powder pressing as with black powder. This provides manufacturing regularity and repeatability, which are necessary requirements for use in the aerospace industry.
== Uses ==
Ammonium perchlorate composite propellant is typically for aerospace rocket propulsion where simplicity and reliability are desired and specific impulses (depending on the composition and operating pressure) of 180–260 s (1.8–2.5 km/s) are adequate. Because of these performance attributes, APCP has been used in the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters, aircraft ejection seats, and specialty space exploration applications such as NASA's Mars Exploration Rover descent stage retrorockets. In addition, the high-power rocketry community regularly uses APCP in the form of commercially available propellant "reloads", as well as single-use motors. Experienced experimental and amateur rocketeers also often work with APCP, processing the APCP themselves.
== Composition ==
=== Overview ===
Ammonium perchlorate composite propellant is a composite propellant, meaning that it has both fuel and oxidizer combined into a homogeneous mixture, in this case with a rubbery binder as part of the fuel. The propellant is most often composed of ammonium perchlorate (AP), an elastomer binder such as hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) or polybutadiene acrylic acid acrylonitrile prepolymer (PBAN), powdered metal (typically aluminium), and various burn rate catalysts. In addition, curing additives induce elastomer binder cross-linking to solidify the propellant before use. The perchlorate serves as the oxidizer, while the binder and aluminium serve as the fuel. Burn rate catalysts determine how quickly the mixture burns. The resulting cured propellant is fairly elastic (rubbery), which also helps limit fracturing during accumulated damage (such as shipping, installing, cutting) and high acceleration applications such as rocketry. This includes the Space Shuttle missions, in which APCP was used for the two SRBs.
The composition of APCP can vary significantly depending on the application, intended burn characteristics, and constraints such as nozzle thermal limitations or specific impulse (Isp). Rough mass proportions (in high-performance configurations) tend to be about 70/15/15 AP/HTPB/Al, though fairly high performance "low-smoke" can have compositions of roughly 80/18/2 AP/HTPB/Al. While metal fuel is not required in APCP, most formulations include at least a few percent as a combustion stabilizer, propellant opacifier (to limit excessive infrared propellant preheating), and increase the temperature of the combustion gases (increasing Isp).
=== Common components ===
Oxidizers
Ammonium perchlorate as the primary oxidizer
Metal-oxide catalysts as thermite oxidizers
High energy fuels
Aluminium (high performance, most common)
Magnesium (medium performance)
Zinc (low performance)
Low energy fuels acting as binders
Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB)
Carboxyl-terminated polybutadiene (CTPB)
Polybutadiene acrylonitrile (PBAN)
=== Special considerations ===
Though increasing the ratio of metal-fuel to oxidizer up to the stoichiometric point increases the combustion temperature, the presence of an increasing molar fraction of metal oxides, particularly aluminium oxide (Al2O3) precipitating from the gaseous solution creates globules of solids or liquids that slow down the flow velocity as the mean molecular mass of the flow increases. In addition, the chemical composition of the gases changes, varying the effective heat capacity of the gas. Because of these phenomena, there exists an optimal non-stoichiometric composition for maximizing Isp of roughly 16% by mass, assuming the combustion reaction goes to completion inside the combustion chamber.
The combustion time of the aluminium particles in the hot combustion gas varies depending on aluminium particle size and shape. In small APCP motors with high aluminium content, the residence time of the combustion gases does not allow for full combustion of the aluminium, causing a substantial fraction of it to burn outside the combustion chamber and reducing performance. This effect is often mitigated by reducing aluminium particle size, inducing turbulence (extending characteristic path length and residence time), and/or reducing the aluminium content to increase net oxidizing potential, ensuring more complete aluminium combustion. Aluminium combustion inside the motor is the rate-limiting pathway since the liquid-aluminium droplets (even still liquid at temperatures 3,000 K (2,730 °C; 4,940 °F)) limit the reaction to a heterogeneous globule interface, making the surface area to volume ratio an important factor in determining the combustion residence time and required combustion chamber size/length.
=== Particle size ===
The propellant particle size distribution has a profound impact on APCP rocket motor performance. Smaller AP and Al particles lead to higher combustion efficiency but also lead to increased linear burn rate. The burn rate is heavily dependent on mean AP particle size as the AP absorbs heat to decompose into a gas before it can oxidize the fuel components. This process may be a rate-limiting step in the overall combustion rate of APCP. The phenomenon can be explained by considering the heat-flux-to-mass ratio: As the particle radius increases the volume (and, therefore, mass and heat capacity) increases as the cube of the radius. However, the surface area increases as the square of the radius, which is roughly proportional to the heat flux into the particle. Therefore, a particle's rate of temperature rise is maximized when the particle size is minimized.
Common APCP formulations call for 30–400 μm AP particles (often spherical), as well as 2–50 μm Al particles (often spherical). Because of the size discrepancy between the AP and Al, Al will often take an interstitial position in a pseudo-lattice of AP particles.
== Characteristics ==
=== Geometric ===
APCP deflagrates from the surface of exposed propellant in the combustion chamber. In this fashion, the geometry of the propellant inside the rocket motor plays an important role in the overall motor performance. As the surface of the propellant burns, the shape evolves (a subject of study in internal ballistics), most often changing the propellant surface area exposed to the combustion gases. The mass flux (kg/s) [and therefore pressure] of combustion gases generated is a function of the instantaneous surface area
A
s
{\displaystyle A_{\text{s}}}
(m2), propellant density
ρ
{\displaystyle \rho }
(kg/m3), and linear burn rate
b
r
{\displaystyle b_{r}}
(m/s):
m
˙
=
ρ
A
s
b
r
{\displaystyle {\dot {m}}=\rho A_{\text{s}}b_{r}}
Several geometric configurations are often used depending on the application and desired thrust curve:
Circular bore: if in BATES configuration, produces progressive-regressive thrust curve.
End burner: propellant burns from one axial end to another producing steady long burn, though has thermal difficulties, CG shift.
C-slot: propellant with large wedge cut out of the side (along axial direction), producing fairly long regressive thrust, though has thermal difficulties and asymmetric CG characteristics.
Moon burner: off-center circular bore produces progressive-regressive long burn though has slight asymmetric CG characteristics.
Finocyl: usually a 5 or 6 legged star-like shape that can produce very level thrust, with a bit quicker burn than circular bore due to increased surface area.
=== Burn rate ===
While the surface area can be easily tailored by careful geometric design of the propellant, the burn rate is dependent on several subtle factors:
Propellant chemical composition.
AP, Al, additive particle sizes.
Combustion pressure.
Heat transfer characteristics.
Erosive burning (high-velocity flow moving past the propellant).
Initial temperature of propellant.
In summary, however, most formulations have a burn rate between 1–3 mm/s at STP and 6–12 mm/s at 68 atm. The burn characteristics (such as linear burn rate) are often determined prior to rocket motor firing using a strand burner test. This test allows the APCP manufacturer to characterize the burn rate as a function of pressure. Empirically, APCP adheres fairly well to the following power-function model:
b
r
=
a
p
n
{\displaystyle b_{r}=ap^{n}}
It is worth noting that typically for APCP, n is 0.3–0.5 indicating that APCP is sub-critically pressure sensitive. That is, if surface area were maintained constant during a burn the combustion reaction would not run away to (theoretically) infinite as the pressure would reach an internal equilibrium. This isn't to say that APCP cannot cause an explosion, just that it will not detonate. Thus, any explosion would be caused by the pressure surpassing the burst pressure of the container (rocket motor).
== Model/high-power rocketry applications ==
Commercial APCP rocket engines usually come in the form of reloadable motor systems (RMS) and fully assembled single-use rocket motors. For RMS, the APCP "grains" (cylinders of propellant) are loaded into the reusable motor casing along with a sequence of insulator disks and o-rings and a (graphite or glass-filled phenolic resin) nozzle. The motor casing and closures are typically bought separately from the motor manufacturer and are often precision-machined from aluminium. The assembled RMS contains both reusable (typically metal) and disposable components.
The major APCP suppliers for hobby use are:
Aerotech Consumer Aerospace
Cesaroni Technology
Loki Research
Gorilla Rocket Motors
To achieve different visual effects and flight characteristics, hobby APCP suppliers offer a variety of different characteristic propellant types. These can range from fast-burning with little smoke and blue flame to classic white smoke and white flame. In addition, colored formulations are available to display reds, greens, blues, and even black smoke.
In the medium- and high-power rocket applications, APCP has largely replaced black powder as a rocket propellant. Compacted black powder slugs become prone to fracture in larger applications, which can result in catastrophic failure in rocket vehicles. APCP's elastic material properties make it less vulnerable to fracture from accidental shock or high-acceleration flights. Due to these attributes, widespread adoption of APCP and related propellant types in the hobby has significantly enhanced the safety of rocketry.
== Environmental and other concerns ==
The exhaust from APCP solid rocket motors contains mostly water, carbon dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and a metal oxide (typically aluminium oxide). The hydrogen chloride can easily dissolve in water and create corrosive hydrochloric acid. The environmental fate of hydrogen chloride is not well documented. The hydrochloric acid component of APCP exhaust leads to the condensation of atmospheric moisture in the plume and this enhances the visible signature of the contrail. This visible signature, among other reasons, led to research in cleaner burning propellants with no visible signatures. Minimum signature propellants contain primarily nitrogen-rich organic molecules (e.g., ammonium dinitramide) and depending on their oxidizer source can be hotter burning than APCP composite propellants.
== Regulation and legality ==
In the United States, APCP for hobby use is regulated indirectly by two non-government agencies: the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), and the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA). Both agencies set forth rules regarding the impulse classification of rocket motors and the level of certification required by rocketeers in order to purchase certain impulse (size) motors. The NAR and TRA require motor manufacturers to certify their motors for distribution to vendors and ultimately hobbyists. The vendor is charged with the responsibility (by the NAR and TRA) to check hobbyists for high-power rocket certification before a sale can be made. The amount of APCP that can be purchased (in the form of a rocket motor reload) correlates to the impulse classification, and therefore the quantity of APCP purchasable by a hobbyist (in any single reload kit) is regulated by the NAR and TRA.
The overarching legality concerning the implementation of APCP in rocket motors is outlined in NFPA 1125. Use of APCP outside hobby use is regulated by state and municipal fire codes. On March 16, 2009, it was ruled that APCP is not an explosive and that manufacture and use of APCP no longer requires a license or permit from the ATF.
== References ==
== Sources ==
"BATFE Lawsuit". Tripoli Rocketry Association. 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-08-06.
Nakka, Richard (2024-04-25). "Amateur Experimental Solid Propellants". Nakka Rocketry.
Nakka, Richard (2022-09-01). "Solid Propellant Burn Rate". Nakka Rocketry.
Orr, Graham. "Estimation and analysis of quasi-1D solid rocket motor" (PDF). Harvey Mudd College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03.
Sutton, George P.; Biblarz, Oscar (2001). Rocket Propulsion Elements. Wiley. ISBN 9780471326427. | Wikipedia/Ammonium_Perchlorate_Composite_Propellant |
Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography.
Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or "drones"), balloons, blimps and dirigibles, rockets, pigeons, kites, or using action cameras while skydiving or wingsuiting. Handheld cameras may be manually operated by the photographer, while mounted cameras are usually remotely operated or triggered automatically.
Aerial photography typically refers specifically to bird's-eye view images that focus on landscapes and surface objects, and should not be confused with air-to-air photography, where one or more aircraft are used as chase planes that "chase" and photograph other aircraft in flight. Elevated photography can also produce bird's-eye images closely resembling aerial photography (despite not actually being aerial shots) when telephotoing from a high vantage structures, suspended on cables (e.g. Skycam) or on top of very tall poles that are either handheld (e.g. monopods and selfie sticks), fixed firmly to ground (e.g. surveillance cameras and crane shots) or mounted above vehicles.
== History ==
=== Early ===
Aerial photography was first practiced by the French photographer and balloonist Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known as "Nadar", in 1858 over Paris, France. However, the photographs he produced no longer exist and therefore the earliest surviving aerial photograph is titled 'Boston, as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It.' Taken by James Wallace Black and Samuel Archer King on October 13, 1860, it depicts Boston from a height of 630m.
Kite aerial photography was pioneered by British meteorologist E.D. Archibald in 1882. He used an explosive charge on a timer to take photographs from the air. The same year, Cecil Shadbolt devised a method of taking photographs from the basket of a gas balloon, including shots looking vertically downwards. One of his images, taken from 2,000 feet (610 m) over Stamford Hill, is the earliest extant aerial photograph taken in the British Isles. A print of the same image, An Instantaneous Map Photograph taken from the Car of a Balloon, 2,000 feet high, was shown at the 1882 Photographic Society exhibition.
Frenchman Arthur Batut began using kites for photography in 1888, and wrote a book on his methods in 1890. Samuel Franklin Cody developed his advanced 'Man-lifter War Kite' and succeeded in interesting the British War Office with its capabilities.
In 1908, Albert Samama Chikly filmed the first ever aerial views using a balloon between Hammam-Lif and Grombalia.
The first use of a motion picture camera mounted to a heavier-than-air aircraft took place on April 24, 1909, over Rome in the 3:28 silent film short, Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine.
=== World War I ===
The use of aerial photography rapidly matured during the war, as reconnaissance aircraft were equipped with cameras to record enemy movements and defenses. At the start of the conflict, the usefulness of aerial photography was not fully appreciated, with reconnaissance being accomplished with map sketching from the air.
Germany adopted the first aerial camera, a Görz, in 1913. The French began the war with several squadrons of Blériot observation aircraft equipped with cameras for reconnaissance. The French Army developed procedures for getting prints into the hands of field commanders in record time.
Frederick Charles Victor Laws started aerial photography experiments in 1912 with No.1 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (later No. 1 Squadron RAF), taking photographs from the British dirigible Beta. He discovered that vertical photos taken with a 60% overlap could be used to create a stereoscopic effect when viewed in a stereoscope, thus creating a perception of depth that could aid in cartography and in intelligence derived from aerial images. The Royal Flying Corps recon pilots began to use cameras for recording their observations in 1914 and by the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in 1915, the entire system of German trenches was being photographed. In 1916 the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy made vertical camera axis aerial photos above Italy for map-making.
The first purpose-built and practical aerial camera was invented by Captain John Moore-Brabazon in 1915 with the help of the Thornton-Pickard company, greatly enhancing the efficiency of aerial photography. The camera was inserted into the floor of the aircraft and could be triggered by the pilot at intervals. Moore-Brabazon also pioneered the incorporation of stereoscopic techniques into aerial photography, allowing the height of objects on the landscape to be discerned by comparing photographs taken at different angles.
By the end of the war, aerial cameras had dramatically increased in size and focal power and were used increasingly frequently as they proved their pivotal military worth; by 1918 both sides were photographing the entire front twice a day and had taken over half a million photos since the beginning of the conflict. In January 1918, General Allenby used five Australian pilots from No. 1 Squadron AFC to photograph a 624 square miles (1,620 km2) area in Palestine as an aid to correcting and improving maps of the Turkish front. This was a pioneering use of aerial photography as an aid for cartography. Lieutenants Leonard Taplin, Allan Runciman Brown, H. L. Fraser, Edward Patrick Kenny, and L. W. Rogers photographed a block of land stretching from the Turkish front lines 32 miles (51 km) deep into their rear areas. Beginning 5 January, they flew with a fighter escort to ward off enemy fighters. Using Royal Aircraft Factory BE.12 and Martinsyde airplanes, they not only overcame enemy air attacks, but also had to contend with 65 mph (105 km/h) winds, antiaircraft fire, and malfunctioning equipment to complete their task.
=== Commercial ===
The first commercial aerial photography company in the UK was Aerofilms Ltd, founded by World War I veterans Francis Wills and Claude Graham White in 1919. The company soon expanded into a business with major contracts in Africa and Asia as well as in the UK. Operations began from the Stag Lane Aerodrome at Edgware, using the aircraft of the London Flying School. Subsequently, the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (later the De Havilland Aircraft Company), hired an Airco DH.9 along with pilot entrepreneur Alan Cobham.
From 1921, Aerofilms carried out vertical photography for survey and mapping purposes. During the 1930s, the company pioneered the science of photogrammetry (mapping from aerial photographs), with the Ordnance Survey amongst the company's clients. In 1920, the Australian Milton Kent started using a half-plate oblique aero camera purchased from Carl Zeiss AG in his aerial photographic business.
Another successful pioneer of the commercial use of aerial photography was the American Sherman Fairchild who started his own aircraft firm Fairchild Aircraft to develop and build specialized aircraft for high altitude aerial survey missions. One Fairchild aerial survey aircraft in 1935 carried unit that combined two synchronized cameras, and each camera having five six inch lenses with a ten-inch lens and took photos from 23,000 feet. Each photo covered two hundred and twenty-five square miles. One of its first government contracts was an aerial survey of New Mexico to study soil erosion. A year later, Fairchild introduced a better high altitude camera with nine-lens in one unit that could take a photo of 600 square miles with each exposure from 30,000 feet.
=== World War II ===
In 1939 Sidney Cotton and Flying Officer Maurice Longbottom of the RAF were among the first to suggest that airborne reconnaissance may be a task better suited to fast, small aircraft which would use their speed and high service ceiling to avoid detection and interception. Although this seems obvious now, with modern reconnaissance tasks performed by fast, high flying aircraft, at the time it was radical thinking.
They proposed the use of Spitfires with their armament and radios removed and replaced with extra fuel and cameras. This led to the development of the Spitfire PR variants. Spitfires proved to be extremely successful in their reconnaissance role and there were many variants built specifically for that purpose. They served initially with what later became No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU). In 1928, the RAF developed an electric heating system for the aerial camera. This allowed reconnaissance aircraft to take pictures from very high altitudes without the camera parts freezing. Based at RAF Medmenham, the collection and interpretation of such photographs became a considerable enterprise.
Cotton's aerial photographs were far ahead of their time. Together with other members of the 1 PRU, he pioneered the techniques of high-altitude, high-speed stereoscopic photography that were instrumental in revealing the locations of many crucial military and intelligence targets. According to R.V. Jones, photographs were used to establish the size and the characteristic launching mechanisms for both the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket. Cotton also worked on ideas such as a prototype specialist reconnaissance aircraft and further refinements of photographic equipment. At the peak, the British flew over 100 reconnaissance flights a day, yielding 50,000 images per day to interpret. Similar efforts were taken by other countries.
== Uses ==
Vertical aerial photography is used in cartography (particularly in photogrammetric surveys, which are often the basis for topographic maps), land-use planning, aerial archaeology. Oblique aerial photography is used for movie production, environmental studies, power line inspection, surveillance, construction progress, commercial advertising, conveyancing, and artistic projects. An example of how aerial photography is used in the field of archaeology is the mapping project done at the site Angkor Borei in Cambodia from 1995 to 1996. Using aerial photography, archaeologists were able to identify archaeological features, including 112 water features (reservoirs, artificially constructed pools and natural ponds) within the walled site of Angkor Borei. In the United States, aerial photographs are used in many Phase I Environmental Site Assessments for property analysis.
== Aircraft ==
In the United States, except when necessary for take-off and landing, full-sized manned aircraft are prohibited from flying at altitudes under 1000 feet over congested areas and not closer than 500 feet from any person, vessel, vehicle or structure over non-congested areas. Certain exceptions are allowed for helicopters, powered parachutes and weight-shift-control aircraft.
=== Radio-controlled ===
Advances in radio controlled models have made it possible for model aircraft to conduct low-altitude aerial photography. This had benefited real-estate advertising, where commercial and residential properties are the photographic subject. In 2014 the US Federal Aviation Administration banned the use of drones for photographs in real estate advertisements. The ban has been lifted and commercial aerial photography using drones of UAS is regulated under the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. Commercial pilots have to complete the requirements for a Part 107 license, while amateur and non-commercial use is restricted by the FAA.
Small scale model aircraft offer increased photographic access to these previously restricted areas. Miniature vehicles do not replace full-size aircraft, as full-size aircraft are capable of longer flight times, higher altitudes, and greater equipment payloads. They are, however, useful in any situation in which a full-scale aircraft would be dangerous to operate. Examples would include the inspection of transformers atop power transmission lines and slow, low-level flight over agricultural fields, both of which can be accomplished by a large-scale radio-controlled helicopter. Professional-grade, gyroscopically stabilized camera platforms are available for use under such a model; a large model helicopter with a 26cc gasoline engine can hoist a payload of approximately seven kilograms (15 pounds). One example is the radio controlled Nitrohawk helicopter developed by Robert Channon between 1988 and 1998. In addition to gyroscopically stabilized footage, the use of RC copters as reliable aerial photography tools increased with the integration of FPV (first-person-view) technology. Many radio-controlled aircraft, in particular drones, are now capable of utilizing Wi-Fi to stream live video from the aircraft's camera back to the pilot's or pilot in command's (PIC) ground station.
== Regulations ==
=== Australia ===
In Australia, Civil Aviation Safety Regulation Part 101 (CASR Part 101) allows for commercial use of unmanned and remotely piloted aircraft. Under these regulations, unmanned remotely piloted aircraft for commercial are referred to as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), whereas radio-controlled aircraft for recreational purposes are referred to as model aircraft. Under CASR Part 101, businesses/persons operating remotely piloted aircraft commercially are required to hold an operator certificate, just like manned aircraft operators. Pilots of remotely piloted aircraft operating commercially are also required to be licensed by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Whilst a small RPAS and model aircraft may actually be identical, unlike model aircraft, a RPAS may enter controlled airspace with approval, and operate close to an aerodrome.
Due to a number of illegal operators in Australia making false claims of being approved, CASA maintains and publishes a list of approved remote operator's certificate (ReOC) holders. However, CASA has modified the regulations and from September 29, 2016, drones under 2 kg (4.4 lb) may be operated for commercial purposes.
=== United States ===
2006 FAA regulations grounding all commercial RC model flights have been upgraded to require formal FAA certification before permission is granted to fly at any altitude in the US.
June 25, 2014, The FAA, in ruling 14 CFR Part 91 [Docket No. FAA–2014–0396] "Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft", banned the commercial use of unmanned aircraft over U.S. airspace. On September 26, 2014, the FAA began granting the right to use drones in aerial filmmaking. Operators are required to be licensed pilots and must keep the drone in view at all times. Drones cannot be used to film in areas where people might be put at risk.
The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 established, in Section 336, a special rule for model aircraft. In Section 336, Congress confirmed the FAA's long-standing position that model aircraft are aircraft. Under the terms of the Act, a model aircraft is defined as "an unmanned aircraft" that is "(1) capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere; (2) flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft; and (3) flown for hobby or recreational purposes."
Because anything capable of being viewed from a public space is considered outside the realm of privacy in the United States, aerial photography may legally document features and occurrences on private property.
The FAA can pursue enforcement action against persons operating model aircraft who endanger the safety of the national airspace system. Public Law 112–95, section 336(b).
June 21, 2016, the FAA released its summary of small unmanned aircraft rules (Part 107). The rules established guidelines for small UAS operators including operating only during the daytime, a 400 ft (120 m). ceiling and pilots must keep the UAS in visual range.
April 7, 2017, the FAA announced special security instructions under 14 CFR § 99.7. Effective April 14, 2017, all UAS flights within 400 feet of the lateral boundaries of U.S. military installations are prohibited unless a special permit is secured from the base and/or the FAA.
=== United Kingdom ===
Aerial photography in the UK has tight regulations as to where a drone is able to fly.
Aerial Photography on Light aircraft under 20 kg (44 lb). Basic Rules for non commercial flying Of a SUA (Small Unmanned Aircraft).
Article 241 Endangering safety of any person or property.
A person must not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property.
Article 94 small unmanned aircraft
A person must not cause or permit any article or animal (whether or not attached to a parachute) to be dropped from a small unmanned aircraft so as to endanger persons or property.
The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft may only fly the aircraft if reasonably satisfied that the flight can safely be made.
The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft must maintain direct, unaided visual contact with the aircraft sufficient to monitor its flight path in relation to other aircraft, persons, vehicles, vessels and structures for the purpose of avoiding collisions. (500 m (1,600 ft))
The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft which has a mass of more than 7 kg (15 lb) excluding its fuel but including any articles or equipment installed in or attached to the aircraft at the commencement of its flight, must not fly the aircraft:
In Class A, C, D or E airspace unless the permission of the appropriate air traffic control unit has been obtained;
Within an aerodrome traffic zone during the notified hours of watch of the air traffic control unit (if any) at that aerodrome unless the permission of any such air traffic control unit has been obtained;
At a height of more than 400 feet above the surface
The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft must not fly the aircraft for the purposes of commercial operations except in accordance with a permission granted by the CAA.
Article 95 small unmanned surveillance aircraft
You Must not fly your aircraft over or within 150 metres of any congested Area.
Over or within 150 m (490 ft) of an organised open-air assembly of more than 1,000 persons.
Within 50 m (160 ft) of any vessel, vehicle or structure which is not under the control of the person in charge of the aircraft.
Within 50 m of any person, during take-off or landing, a small unmanned surveillance aircraft must not be flown within 30 m (98 ft) of any person. This does not apply to the person in charge of the small unmanned surveillance aircraft or a person under the control of the person in charge of the aircraft.
Model aircraft with a mass of more than 20 kg are termed 'Large Model Aircraft' – within the UK, large model aircraft may only be flown in accordance with an exemption from the ANO, which must be issued by the CAA.
== Types ==
=== Oblique ===
Photographs taken at an angle are called oblique photographs. If they are taken from a low angle relative to the earth's surface, they are called low oblique and photographs taken from a high angle are called high or steep oblique.
=== Vertical (Nadir) ===
Vertical photographs are taken straight down. They are mainly used in photogrammetry and image interpretation. Pictures that will be used in photogrammetry are traditionally taken with special large format cameras with calibrated and documented geometric properties.
=== Combined ===
Aerial photographs are often combined. Depending on their purpose it can be done in several ways, of which a few are listed below.
Panoramas can be made by stitching several photographs taken in different angles from one spot (e.g. with a hand held camera) or from different spots at the same angle (e.g. from a plane).
Stereo photography techniques allow for the creation of 3D-images from several photographs of the same area taken from different spots.
In pictometry five rigidly mounted cameras provide one vertical and four low oblique pictures that can be used together.
In some digital cameras for aerial photogrammetry images from several imaging elements, sometimes with separate lenses, are geometrically corrected and combined to one image in the camera.
=== Orthophotomap ===
Vertical photographs are often used to create orthophotos, alternatively known as orthophotomaps, photographs which have been geometrically "corrected" so as to be usable as a map. In other words, an orthophoto is a simulation of a photograph taken from an infinite distance, looking straight down to nadir. Perspective must obviously be removed, but variations in terrain should also be corrected for. Multiple geometric transformations are applied to the image, depending on the perspective and terrain corrections required on a particular part of the image.
Orthophotos are commonly used in geographic information systems, such as are used by mapping agencies (e.g. Ordnance Survey) to create maps. Once the images have been aligned, or "registered", with known real-world coordinates, they can be widely deployed.
Large sets of orthophotos, typically derived from multiple sources and divided into "tiles" (each typically 256 x 256 pixels in size), are widely used in online map systems such as Google Maps. OpenStreetMap offers the use of similar orthophotos for deriving new map data. Google Earth overlays orthophotos or satellite imagery onto a digital elevation model to simulate 3D landscapes.
=== Leaf-off or leaf-on ===
Aerial photography may be labeled as either "leaf-off" or on "leaf-on" to indicate whether deciduous foliage is in the photograph. Leaf-off photographs show less foliage or no foliage at all, and are used to see the ground and things on the ground more closely. Leaf-on photographs are used to measure crop health and yield. For forestry purposes, some species of trees are easier to distinguish from other kinds of trees with leaf-off photography, while other species are easier to distinguish with leaf-on photography.
== Video ==
With advancements in video technology, aerial video is becoming more popular. Orthogonal video is shot from aircraft mapping pipelines, crop fields, and other points of interest. Using GPS, video may be embedded with meta data and later synced with a video mapping program.
This "Spatial Multimedia" is the timely union of digital media including still photography, motion video, stereo, panoramic imagery sets, immersive media constructs, audio, and other data with location and date-time information from the GPS and other location designs.
Aerial videos are emerging Spatial Multimedia which can be used for scene understanding and object tracking. The input video is captured by low flying aerial platforms and typically consists of strong parallax from non-ground-plane structures. The integration of digital video, global positioning systems (GPS) and automated image processing will improve the accuracy and cost-effectiveness of data collection and reduction. Several different aerial platforms are under investigation for the data collection.
In film production, it is common to use a unmanned aerial vehicle with a mounted cine camera. For example, the AERIGON cinema drone is used for low aerial shots in big blockbuster movies.
== See also ==
Concepts and methods
Equipment and technology
Individuals, organizations, and history
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Price, Alfred (2003). Targeting the Reich: Allied Photographic Reconnaissance over Europe, 1939–1945. [S.l.]: Military Book Club. N.B.: First published 2003 by Greenhill Books, London. ISBN 0-7394-3496-9
== External links ==
Aerial Photography: An Overview on YouTube, from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Wikipedia/Aerial_photograph |
Motors for model rockets and high-powered rockets (together, consumer rockets) are classified by total impulse into a set of letter-designated ranges, from 1⁄8A up to O.
The total impulse is the integral of the thrust over burn time.
P
T
=
∫
0
t
F
t
h
r
u
s
t
(
t
′
)
d
t
′
=
F
a
v
e
t
.
{\displaystyle P_{T}=\int \limits _{0}^{t}F_{thrust}(t^{\prime })dt^{\prime }=F_{ave}t.}
Where
t
{\displaystyle t}
is the burn time in seconds,
F
t
h
r
u
s
t
{\displaystyle F_{thrust}}
is the instantaneous thrust in newtons,
F
a
v
e
{\displaystyle F_{ave}}
is average thrust in newtons, and
P
T
{\displaystyle P_{T}}
is the total impulse in newton seconds.
Class A is from 1.26 newton-seconds (conversion factor 4.448 N per lb. force) to 2.5 N·s, and each class is then double the total impulse of the preceding class, with Class B being 2.51 to 5.00 N·s. The letter (M) would represent the total impulse of between 5,120.01 and 10,240.00 N·s of impulse. Motors E and below are considered low power rocket motors. Motors between F and G are considered mid-power, while motors H and above being high-powered rocket motors. Motors which would be classified beyond O are in the realm of amateur rocketry (in this context, the term amateur refers to the rocketeer's independence from an established commercial or government organization). Professional organizations use the nomenclature of average thrust and burning time.
== Rocket motor codes ==
The designation for a specific motor looks like C6-3. In this example, the letter (C) represents the total impulse range of the motor, the number (6) before the dash represents the average thrust in newtons, and the number (3) after the dash represents the delay in seconds from propelling charge burnout to the firing of the ejection charge (a gas generator composition, usually black powder, designed to deploy the recovery system). A C6-3 motor would have between 5.01 and 10 N·s of impulse, produce 6 N average thrust, and fire an ejection charge 3 seconds after burnout.
An attempt was made by motor manufacturers in 1982 to further clarify the motor code by writing the total impulse in newton-seconds before the code. This allowed the burn duration to be computed from the provided numbers. Additionally, the motor code was followed by a letter designation denoting the type of propellant. The propellant designations are manufacturer specific. This standard is still not fully adopted, with some manufacturers adopting parts or all of the additional nomenclature.
== Motor impulse by class ==
== Governmental regulation ==
In many countries, the sale, possession, and use of model rocket motors is subject to governmental rules and regulations. High-power rockets in the United States are only federally regulated in their flight guidelines by the FAA. These regulations are codified in FAA FAR Part 101. Rockets under 125g propellant and 1500g liftoff mass are exempt from most requirements. Beyond that a free "Waiver" is required from a FAA field office.
However, some of the consumer motor manufacturers and two U.S. national rocketry organizations have established a self-regulating industry and codified it in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) "model" code documents, which are adopted only in specific circumstances and jurisdictions, largely in conjunction with fire and building codes. This self-regulation of industry suggests a user to become certified for use before a manufacturer will sell him a motor. In the United States, the two recognized organizations that provide high-power certifications are Tripoli Rocketry Association and the National Association of Rocketry. Both these organizations have three levels of certification which involves building progressively more complex and higher powered rockets and taking a test of safety rules and regulations. With the national member association bodies using published safety codes. In Canada, the Canadian Association of Rocketry has a four-step certification process, but all three organizations accept the other's certifications if a flyer shows up at a high-power launch and wishes to fly under their sanction. Level 1 certification from NAR or TRA qualifies one to purchase and use an H or I motor, Level 2 certification J, K, and L motors, and Level 3 certification M, N, and O motors. Canada adds another step in between, and has a Level 4 which is the same as US Level 3.
In the late 1990s, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began requiring that individuals obtain a Low Explosives Users Permit (LEUP) to possess and use high-powered motors. On February 11, 2000, Tripoli Rocketry Association and the National Association of Rocketry filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia claiming that the BATF applied "onerous and prohibitive civil regulations" against sport rocketry hobbyists due to the Bureau's improper designation of ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP) as an explosive. APCP is used in most high-power rocket motors. The commentary by BATFE staff in response to objections to adding new enforcement against hobby rocket motors is quite instructive. In 2009, the court ruled in favor of the hobby organizations and ordered the BATF to remove APCP and other slow burning materials from its list of regulated explosives. That judgement established 1 meter per second burning rate ("ATFE’s own burn rate threshold for deflagration
is 1000 millimeters (or one meter) per second." Tripoli Rocketry Ass’n, 437 F.3d at 81–82) as the threshold for a material on the BATFE list of explosive materials.
== Vendors ==
The largest vendor of model rocket motors in the world is Estes Industries. The largest vendors of high-power rocket motors in the world are Cesaroni Technology Inc. and RCS Rocket Motor Components, Inc.
The very first model rocket motor certified was by Model Missiles Inc. (Orville Carslile). Circa 1958. The very first high-power rocket motor certified was by U.S. Rockets (Jerry Irvine). Circa 1985. The very first APCP propellant model rocket motor made was by Rocket Development Corporation (Irv Wait). Circa 1970.
The largest vendor of professional solid rockets in the world is Orbital ATK.
== See also ==
Jetex (Aerodynamic lift)
High-power rocketry
Model rocket
Solid-propellant rocket
== References ==
== External links ==
National Association of Rocketry (NAR) - Model Rocketry and High-Powered Rocketry Certifications
Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA) - High-power rocketry Certifications
Canadian Association of Rocketry (CARWeb) - Model Rocketry and High-Powered Rocketry Certifications in Canada
United Kingdom Rocketry Association - High-power rocketry Certifications | Wikipedia/Model_rocket_motor_classification |
Model Rocketry was an American hobbyist magazine published from October 1968 to February 1972. The Editor and Publisher was George J. Flynn and the Managing Editor was Gordon K. Mandell. Other members of the editorial and business staffs, some of whom held several positions at various times during the years the magazine was published, were Assistant Editors Robert B. Singer (November 1969 to November 1971) and Robert Parks (July 1970 to February 1972); Technical Editor Douglas J. Malewicki (November 1969 to February 1972); Business Managers George J. Caporaso (October 1968 to August 1969), Jerome Apt, III (Jay Apt) (September 1969 to December 1970), Thomas T. Milkie (January to November 1971), and Arthur H. (Trip) Barber (December 1971 to February 1972); Technical Correspondent George J. Caporaso (September 1969 to February 1972); Distribution Managers Thomas T. Milkie (October 1968 to October 1969), Kevin P. Brown (November 1969 to December 1970), and Steven Glines (January 1971 to February 1972); and Art Director Thomas T. Milkie (November and December 1969). The magazine was published by Model Rocketry, Inc., a closely held corporation owned by founding staff members George J. Flynn, Gordon K. Mandell, George J. Caporaso, and Thomas T. Milkie and members of their families. Its paid circulation reached 15,000 by 1970.
The launch of Sputnik in 1957 and the space race to the Moon made model rocketry a popular hobby. Model Rocketry magazine was started at the height of the Apollo program. Each issue had plans and instructions for constructing rockets typically powered by black powder rocket motors such as those made by Estes Industries. There were also technical articles on model rocket design that would include several pages of theory and equations. There was a series of articles starting in October 1969 on writing FORTRAN programs to calculate flight parameters. The magazine also covered model rocketry clubs' launch meets and contests.
From August 1969 to February 1972 Model Rocketry incorporated The Model Rocketeer, the official journal of the National Association of Rocketry.
The September 1969 issue of Model Rocketry shown at the right has a typical cover design and contents. The cover photo shows the launch of a model rocket approximately 2 feet (61 cm) tall with a small camera as the payload. The camera will take a photo after the rocket reaches its apogee and starts its descent with a parachute. This issue also has construction plans for an egg lofting rocket, a type of rocket used in competitions to see how high an egg could be launched and recovered without cracking. The topics on the cover include Apollo 11 and the issue includes a six-page article by the Managing Editor, Gordon Mandell, about the first human mission to land on the Moon.
== Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems ==
In July 1969, Publisher George Flynn attended the Southwestern Model Rocket Conference at Eastern New Mexico University. There he met Air Force Captain Forrest Mims, senior advisor to the Albuquerque Model Rocket Club. Mims told Flynn about a transistorized lamp flasher for tracking night launched rockets. He also described modulating Light Emitting Diodes to transmit data from the rocket to infrared detectors on the ground. Flynn invited Mims to write an article about his "Transistorized Tracking Light for Night Launched Model Rockets" and it was published in the September 1969 issue of Model Rocketry.
Mims was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque NM with a fellow officer, Ed Roberts. They decided to form a company to sell electronic kits for projects like the tracking light. Mims, Roberts and two other coworkers formed Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) in late 1969. The press release announcing the formation of MITS was published in the December 1969 issue of Model Rocketry. In January 1975 MITS introduced the Altair 8800 computer and the personal computer revolution was launched. Bill Gates and Paul Allen moved to Albuquerque in 1975 to write Altair BASIC and soon started Microsoft.
Several copies of Model Rocketry magazine and the prototype tracking light are on display at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in their "STARTUP: Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution" exhibit. Mr. Mims donated his MITS 816 calculator, Altair 8800 computer, early MITS documents and unsold model rocket telemetry kits to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
== References ==
== External links ==
Complete set of Model Rocketry magazines in PDF format.
MITS story, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
Details of the rocket tracking light. DigiBarn Computer Museum
Forrest Mims's Altair 8800 Microcomputer at the Smithsonian | Wikipedia/Model_Rocketry_(magazine) |
Popular Mechanics (often abbreviated as PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do it yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation of all types, space, tools and gadgets are commonly featured.
It was founded in 1902 by Henry Haven Windsor, who was the editor and—as owner of the Popular Mechanics Company—the publisher. For decades, the tagline of the monthly magazine was "Written so you can understand it." In 1958, PM was purchased by the Hearst Corporation, now Hearst Communications.
In 2013, the US edition changed from twelve to ten issues per year, and in 2014 the tagline was changed to "How your world works." The magazine added a podcast in recent years, including regular features Most Useful Podcast Ever and How Your World Works.
== History ==
Popular Mechanics was founded as a weekly in Chicago by Henry Haven Windsor, with the first issue dated January 11, 1902. His concept was that it would explain "the way the world works" in plain language, with photos and illustrations to aid comprehension. For decades, its tagline was: "Written so you can understand it."
In September 1902, the magazine, formerly a weekly, became a monthly. The Popular Mechanics Company was owned by the Windsor family and printed in Chicago until the Hearst Corporation purchased the magazine in 1958. In 1962, the editorial offices moved to New York City.
In 2020, Popular Mechanics relocated to Easton, Pennsylvania, along with the two additional brands in the Hearst Enthusiast Group (Bicycling and Runner's World). That location has also included Popular Mechanics' testing facility, called the Test Zone.
From the first issue, the magazine featured a large illustration of a technological subject, a look that evolved into the magazine's characteristic full-page, full-color illustration and a small 6.5-by-9.5-inch (170 mm × 240 mm) trim size beginning with the July 1911 issue. It maintained the small format until 1975 when it switched to a larger standard trim size.
In 1915, Popular Mechanics adopted full-color cover illustrations, and the look was widely imitated by later technology magazines.
After World War II ended, in 1945, a number of international editions were introduced, starting with a French edition, followed by Spanish in 1947, and then Swedish and Danish in 1949. As of 2002, the print magazine was being published in English, Chinese, and Spanish and distributed worldwide. South African and Russian editions were introduced that same year.
The March 1962 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine aided in the June 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt, in which three men (Frank Morris and John and Clarence Anglin) used the magazine as a reference to build life vests and a raft out of rubber raincoats and contact cement.
Notable people who have contributed articles have included Guglielmo Marconi, Thomas Edison, Jules Verne, Barney Oldfield, Knute Rockne, Winston Churchill, Charles Kettering, Tom Wolfe, and Buzz Aldrin, as well as US presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Comedian and car expert Jay Leno had a regular column, Jay Leno's Garage, that started in March 1999.
== Editors ==
*In general, dates are the inclusive issues for which an editor was responsible. For decades, the lead time to go from submission to print was three months, so some of the dates might not correspond exactly with employment dates. As the Popular Mechanics web site has become more dominant and the importance of print issues has declined, editorial changes have more immediate impact.
== Awards ==
=== National Magazine Awards ===
1986 National Magazine Award in the Leisure Interest category for the Popular Mechanics Woodworking Guide, November 1986.
2008 National Magazine Award in the Personal Service category for its "Know Your Footprint: Energy, Water and Waste" series, as well as nominations for General Excellence and Personal Service (a second nomination).
2011 National Magazine Award nomination for "General Excellence" in the "Finance, Technology and Lifestyle magazines" category.
2016 National Magazine Award Finalist in "Personal Service" category for "How to Buy a Car" and "Magazine Section" category for "How Your World Works."
2017 National Magazine Award nomination in the "Magazine Section" category for "Know-How" and in "Feature Writing" for "Climb Aboard, Ye Who Seek the Truth."
All together, the magazine has received 10 National Magazine Award nominations, including 2012 nominations in the Magazine of the Year category and the General Excellence category and a 2015 finalist in both categories.
=== Other awards ===
2011 Stater Bros Route 66 Cruisin’ Hall of Fame inductee in "Entertainment/Media" category.
2016 Ad Age "Magazine of the Year."
2017 Webby Awards Honoree for "How to Fix Flying" in the category of "Best Individual Editorial Experience (websites and mobile sites.)"
2019 Defence Media Awards Finalist in "Best Training, Simulation and Readiness" category for "The Air Force Is Changing How Special Ops Fighters Are Trained"
2021 American Nuclear Society "Darlene Schmidt Science News Award" to contributor Caroline Delbert for her "passion and interest in all things nuclear and radiation."
2022 Aerospace Media Awards finalist in the category "Best Propulsion" for "The Space Shuttle Engines Will Rise Again" by Joe Pappalardo.
== In popular culture ==
In 1999, the magazine was a puzzle on Wheel of Fortune. In April 2001, Popular Mechanics was the first magazine to go to space, traveling to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz TM-32 spacecraft. In December 2002, an issue featured the cover story and image of "The Real Face of Jesus" using data from forensic anthropologists and computer programmers.
In March 2005, Popular Mechanics released an issue dedicated to debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories, which has been used frequently for discrediting 9/11 "trutherism." In 2006, the magazine published a book based on that article entitled "Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts," with a foreword by then senator John McCain.
An October 2015 issue of Popular Mechanics, featuring director Ridley Scott, included an interactive cover that unlocked special content about Scott's film The Martian. In June 2016, the magazine ran a cover story with then-Vice President of the United States Joe Biden called "Things My Father Taught Me" for its fatherhood issue. Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook guest-edited the September/October 2022 of Popular Mechanics.
The magazine is mentioned in the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.
== Criticisms ==
In June 2020, following several high-profile takedowns of statues of controversial historical figures, Popular Mechanics faced criticism from primarily conservative commentators and news outlets for an article that provided detailed instructions on how to take down statues.
In early December 2020, Popular Mechanics published an article titled "Leaked Government Photo Shows 'Motionless, Cube-Shaped' UFO". In late December, later that month, paranormal claims investigator and fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), Kenny Biddle, investigated the claim in Skeptical Inquirer, reporting that he and investigator and CSI fellow Mick West identified the supposed UFO as a mylar Batman balloon.
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Israel, Paul B. (April 1994). "Enthusiasts and Innovators: 'Possible Dreams' and the 'Innovation Station' at the Henry Ford Museum". Technology and Culture. 35 (2): 396–401. doi:10.2307/3106308. JSTOR 3106308. S2CID 112116916.
Wright, John L. (July 1992). Possible Dreams: Enthusiasm for Technology in America. Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-933728-35-6.
Bryant, Margaret M. (1977). "New Words from Popular Mechanics". American Speech. 52 (1/2): 39–46. doi:10.2307/454718. JSTOR 454718.
A nearly complete archive of Popular Mechanics issues from 1905 through 2005 is available through Google Books.
Popular Mechanics' cover art is the subject of Tom Burns' 2015 Texas Tech PhD dissertation, titled Useful fictions: How Popular Mechanics builds technological literacy through magazine cover illustration.
Orf, Darren (2013). ""Written So You Can Understand It": The process and people behind creating an issue of Popular Mechanics". University of Missouri—Columbia. Darren Orr wrote an analysis of the state of Popular Mechanics in 2014 as partial fulfillment of requirements for a master's degree in journalism from University of Missouri-Columbia.
== External links ==
Official website
Overview on Google Books
Popular Mechanics South African edition
Works by Popular Mechanics at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Popular Mechanics at the Internet Archive
Works by or about Popular Mechanics at Google Books | Wikipedia/Popular_Mechanics |
Brooklin Models Ltd, since 1974, is the largest producer of handmade white metal 1:43 scale miniature models. Selections are normally vintage American cars and trucks. Brooklin Models is located in Bath, England, and all models are currently produced there. Unlike high-volume, mass-produced models, all of Brooklin's models are hand-built in small quantities, and most of its models are made using white metal.
== History ==
The first home of Brooklin Models was the Canadian town of Brooklin, Ontario, forty miles northeast of Toronto, near Oshawa. This town is the brand's namesake. From the beginning, Brooklin Models specialized in models of cars not generally produced by other manufacturers, including cars produced by smaller 'independent' marques (e.g., Studebaker and Hudson) and 'orphan' marques no longer producing vehicles (e.g., Edsel and DeSoto). The very first Brooklin was the 1933 Pierce Silver Arrow, followed by a Tucker Torpedo, and a Ford Model A. The earliest models were made in resin.
In 1979, John Hall, the founder of Brooklin Models, decided to move his wife Jenny and family back to England where he was born and raised. This is where Brooklin Models continues business to this day. The impact of the move made models previously made in Canada instantly more sought after and valuable. In 1998, after John Hall's retirement, Nigel Parker and Tim Fulford purchased the company.
The Brooklin factory in Bath now covers 5,000 square feet (460 m2) on two floors and employs 21 people.
== Making white metal models ==
Most diecast model vehicles are made of the zinc alloy called zamac (also called 'mazak') but many collectible models are made through a different process rendering white metal. Most diecast cars come from the automated injection of molten metal into machined dies, but white metal models are hand-built and produced in far fewer numbers. As the Brooklin website states, this process works better for producing hundreds of vehicles, not hundreds of thousands, or millions. The average run for a Brooklin Model in the 1990s was about 3,000 pieces, though there are special issues of 1,000 cars or less. A few, however, were produced in higher numbers. Between 7,000 and 10,000 of the 1953 Chevrolet panel sedan delivery, were produced. This model appeared in many different promotional liveries, like Gulf Oil, Sunoco, and Trans-Canada Airlines. Most Brooklin models are produced over a five-year period.
In making a white metal model, a brass master is carefully made by hand out of sheet brass by a skilled model maker which takes hundreds of hours. When the brass master is complete a rubber mold is made for the various parts that will be needed in making the finished model.
A special, very malleable alloy of white metal is used, that is based heavily on tin but contains some lead. Exacting measures are followed. The alloy is brought to a specific temperature, poured into the rubber molds at a specific speed, to set for a specific time. Models are cast one at a time.
After being cast, the parts are carefully removed from the molds. Flashing, the excess metal around the molded figure, is carefully removed and the parts are then prepared for either painting or chrome plating. The windows are vac-u-formed. Tires are made of a special rubber compound and all parts are readied for assembly. The models are assembled by hand and any additional painting such as tail lights or chrome features is done.
== Detail and offerings ==
Brooklin makes cars, trucks, boats, trailers and a few other special order vehicles and items. The main Brooklin line is almost always American makes. Since most parts are hand cast in white metal, without plastic parts, models are notable for their weight. According to the Brooklin website, John Hall, had been an engineering instructor at the University of Toronto, and left to make white metal models of cars. His first creations were fairly crude, without plastic windows, few details and with white rubber tires. Despite the simplicity, not many companies in the 1970s were producing early American auto models and David Sinclair, one of the earliest importers of scale models to the United States, reported that models were commonly sold to collectors in Germany and Japan.
As time passed, plastic windows were added and many details impressively reproduced, yet there has always been a simplicity of production that is notable. For example, chrome features on real cars are often body color on Brookin Models and some modelers use chrome foil to add realism. Brooklins, however, were always unique because of the models chosen. Though some were the same models seen elsewhere, often those chosen for production were makes or models which had never been reproduced in miniature, such as the 1939 Graham Sharknose, 1941 Hupmobile Skylark, the 1954 Dodge Royal 500, the 1953 Airstream Wanderer RV trailer, and the 1941 Chrysler Newport Phaeton concept that paced the Indianapolis 500. Unlike many models posed for photos, Brooklins often look more impressive in person.
As time has passed Brooklin models have become more sophisticated. When its 1937 Pontiac Deluxe Six model was introduced the sheen of the "Golden Brown Poly" paint of the original car was faithfully reproduced for the model. To enhance profits, Brooklin would also offer many variations on one car, like the 1952 Cadillac Coupe de Ville Series 62 which came in four variations.
In 1996 a promotion was announced where if a collector bought eight Brooklin Models, and completed a collector card, a special limited edition 1946 Lincoln Continental redesigned by Raymond Loewy, could be purchased for the same price as a standard issue.
In 2004, the company celebrated its 30th anniversary with several special edition vehicles. One of the celebration vehicles was the 1936 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow.
As of the end of 2006, over 120 different American cars, light trucks and trailers, in over 600 varieties, have been created by Brooklin Models, representing American cars and light trucks of the 1930s through 1960s.
== Ranges developed ==
Starting a trend in developing different lines, Brooklin added the Lansdowne range of British vehicles in 1993. These were seven distinct models designed by John Martin and John Hammick, including such vehicles as the Austin Healey Sprite (John and Jenny Hall's first car), the Vauxhall Cresta, and MG Magnette, thus cars of traditional British marques became important to Brooklin in addition to American cars. Ten more Lansdowne models were introduced by 1996. Sporting as well as saloon models appeared in the Lansdowne range, which was made to reminisce classic 1950s models made by Dinky Toys.
At the same time, the Robeddie line was introduced, consisting of twelve separate replicas of Swedish Volvos and Saabs, from a 1946–1950 Volvo PV60 sedan to a 1973 Volvo 144GL. According to the Brooklin website, as of 2010, this range has been discontinued.
About the turn of the century, several different lines were introduced which mainly represented a breaking of the extensive and complex numbers of vehicles into convenient groupings. These were Brooklin (the traditional American vehicles range), Lansdowne (British vehicles), Robeddie (Swedish vehicles), The Buick Collection (Buicks from 1934–1939), The Pontiac Collection (1937 models), US Model Mint (Pickups, trucks, and trailers from the United States), Community Service Vehicles (Fire, Ambulance, and hearses), International Police Vehicles, and Rod 43rd (selected vehicles customized as Hot Rods – a surprising departure from the regular Brooklin style). Some of the issues for the Community Service Vehicles have been particularly intricate and interesting offerings like the 1960 Miller-Meteor Cadillac "Guardian" ambulance complete with lights, gold trim and overhang style rear door.
== Custom variations ==
Over the course of Brooklin's history, many customizers have emerged who take commissions from Brooklin customers to paint and detail standard Brooklin models into specialized one-of-a-kind renditions. These "Code II" and "Code III" models are treasured by collectors and valued on the marketplace. Prominent Brooklin customizers include John Arnold, John White and John Roberts. Arnold, the son of well-known model builder Bruce Arnold in California, offers his models through eBay and White works exclusively with distributors of 1:43 scale handbuilts. Roberts (2003) is based in England and converts mostly models from Brooklin lines with factory approval. An example of Roberts' creativity are his alterations of the Brooklin 1967 Ford Thunderbird into limosines and hearses.
== Brooklin today ==
Where many revered white models makers like Western Models, Durham Classics and Elegance Models have come and gone, Brooklin, one of earliest in this collector's genre, not only perseveres, but thrives. At the turn of the century, Nigel Parker with the help of talented patternmaker Ian Pickering, has done a remarkable job taking old issues and modeling them into new releases. Examples are a 1939 LaSalle 2 door touring into a 2-door five window coupe, a 1938 Cadillac 60 Special Sedan into a phaeton, and a 1954 Chevrolet 2 door hardtop into a handyman station wagon. As of 2008, Brooklin continued to produce approximately one new model every month – with a total of one thousand models produced.
== References ==
Brooklin Models - 20th Anniversary all color Catalog. Autumn 1994.
Brooklin Models - Supplementary all color Catalog. 1996.
McCourt, Mark J.; Donnelly, Jim (2012). "Art & Automobilia section". Hemmings Classic Car. Vol. 9, no. 3.
Moyer, Wayne (Winter 2009). "Eye on 1:43". Die Cast X Magazine. Vol. 5, no. 1. pp. 82–84.
Olson, Randall (2006). Ford in Miniature. Dorchester England: Veloce Publishing.
Olson, Randall (2008). GM in Miniature. Dorchester England: Veloce Publishing.
Footnotes
== External links ==
Brooklin Models Homepage | Wikipedia/Brooklin_Models |
Western Models Limited was a company making detailed white metal or pewter model vehicles, mostly cars in 1:43 scale. They were made in Taunton, Somerset, in southwestern England. Models were either in kit or built form. The company ceased production of cars about 2007 to focus solely on contemporary aircraft models.
== History ==
=== A First in White Metal ===
Western Models Limited was one of the first companies anywhere to produce high-quality hand built models for collectors, usually in lead based white metal. 'Small Wheels' was a line name also used by Western Models, after purchasing a rival company of that name. Models were introduced annually but production runs were often limited, so collectability was insured. By about the year 2000, more than 70 different models had been made, with a new line of aircraft as well.
Western Models was started by entrepreneur Mike Stephens in 1973 with help from his wife, Joyce. Stephens conceived of the company in Devon, but then started production in his garage in Epsom, Surrey, southeast of London. Later, production was moved to larger premises in Redhill, Surrey, then later to a small factory in Taunton, then to Acre Ridge near Taunton, which Stephens claimed was a return to his home in "western" roots. The company, which had about 38 staff in the mid-1980s dropped down to only about 5 by 2005 because of increased competition from China.
=== Manufacturer for Danhausen ===
Western Models was often commissioned to produce vehicles for Danhausen (see Minichamps) and other companies like Motor City USA, Design Studio, Kim Classics, TFC, and EWA Miniatures of New Jersey.
Models could be purchased either assembled and fully finished or in kit form. Other limited edition brands were appearing in the 1970s, however Western Models gained a reputation for exceptional detail, quality parts and ease of assembly.
The first Western Models vehicle was a Mercedes Benz 540K made for Danhausen in November 1973. Soon after, the second model was a 1937 Lagonda 4.5 litre-J.G. 45 Rapide. These early models showed small batch collector car lines had a way to go to get to today's level of Western Models and Brooklin fidelity, et al, although they were welcomed by classic car enthusiasts who had generally meager offerings of models from before World War II.
Danhausen attempted purchase of Western Models, but Stephens did not sell and Danhausen purchased AMR Models instead. Through the 1980s and 1990s, hand built white metal Western Models (similar to Brooklin Models) gained a reputation for high quality and precision detailing and casting, where models are produced in the hundreds or a few thousand - and not mass-produced in the hundreds of thousands or millions.
=== Small Wheels ===
Small Wheels was started by Dave Evans and Sue Pinnington around 1983. They commissioned Paul Willet to make a 1/24 model of the Jaguar Mk2. Paul happened to live in Taunton and so it was convenient to have the parts made by Western Models. A friendship with Mike and Joyce was established. The company made a number of 1/24th scales models including the XJ6/12 and XK150. At this point the models were only sold completely assembled and painted, dials, lights etc were hand painted. Personal details such as individual number plates and car colours were the unique selling point of these models. Around 1986, western Models bought out the company and went on to produce 1/43 scale models the first of which was the XJ13.
== Models Produced ==
On many boxes the phrase "1:43 scale metal model cars for the collector and enthusiast" was printed - the "A" being a pair of engineer's calipers. In the 1980s the box design was changed to mainly black. The company specialized in 1:43 and 1:24, but did special models in a variety of sizes.
American cars of the 1950s (particularly Fords, Plymouths and Buicks in four door and station wagon styles), classic race cars, vintage sports and Grand Prix cars, and land speed record cars were the main types of vehicles represented. Detail was exquisite down to precise numbering from the real race cars and model specific wheel selection and detail. For example, as seen in period photographs, Carroll Shelby's Le Mans-winning 1959 Aston Martin was accurate even in the wheel well covers and in the asymmetrical segmented pieces of the front grille. Jaguar also seemed to be a favorite marque of Western Models, with over 30 different models produced over the years. Another company preference was for Land Speed Record vehicles, and more than 8 different LSR cars were produced.
Though some boxes were black or red, packaging was usually recognizable by the white boxes with "WM" lettering in red and black which covered half of each box.
The 'Small Wheels' series were more likely to be European marques and were made later, through 2000. Also unique were Small Wheels kits in 1:24 scale.
== Today ==
In July 2007, after 34 years of model production, Mike and Joyce Stephens retired. The Western Models name and logo were sold. The company then ceased production of cars to focus solely on its line of modern commercial aircraft, mostly in 1:200 scale. At least thirty-one different aeroplanes have been produced in a wide variety of airline liveries. According to the Western Models website, the company has now apparently moved to Ramat Habalagan, Israel.
Still, the venerable Western Models name did not ceased for the production of collectible miniature automobiles. By 2008, respected SMTS started a line called Western Models Collector's Editions. Models are made at the SMTS Hastings, England shop and have included 1950s American Cars and older European Grand Prix racers. Selections manufactured have been a 1957 Plymouth convertible, a 1958 Plymouth Belvedere hardtop, a 1957 DeSoto Firesweep hardtop, and a 1959 Edsel Corsair four door. Grand Prix models have been an Alfa Romeo 158 and a Talbot Lago T26.
== Notes ==
== References ==
Western Models (2011). "Company History". Archived from the original on September 7, 2011.
Johnson, Dana (1998). Collector's Guide to Diecast Toys and Scale Models (Second ed.). Padukah, Kentucky: Collector Books, a division of Schroeder Publishing.
Levine, R. F. (December 1, 2009). "David Sinclair in the driver's seat". Lake Erie Lifestyle. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011.
Minichamps (2011). "Autavia Models website".
Olson, Randall (2006). "Western Models". Ford in Miniature. Dorchester, England: Veloce Publishing. ISBN 1-84584-027-5.
Olson, Randall (2008). "Western Models". GM in Miniature. Dorchester, England: Veloce Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84584-156-0.
Oxley, Gary (2005). "Western-Small Wheels". Jaguar Model Club On-line Magazine.
Sinclair, David (1974), Exact Scale Magazine, Erie, Pennsylvania: Sinclair's Auto Miniatures
SMTS Models (2011). "Company Facebook webpage". Facebook. | Wikipedia/Western_Models |
Monogram is an American brand and former manufacturing company of scale plastic models of cars, aircraft, spacecraft, ships, and military vehicles since the early 1950s. The company was formed by two former employees of Comet Kits, Jack Besser and Bob Reder.
Mattel acquired Monogram in 1968, and the firm passed through various owners and was merged with Revell, the combined company being bought by Hobbico in 2007. Along with Revell, AMT, and MPC, Monogram is sometimes called one of the traditional "Big 4" in plastic modeling.
== History ==
Monogram was founded in Chicago in 1945, making balsa wood model kits of ships and airplanes. Seaships such as the USS Missouri battleship, the USS Shangri-La carrier and the USS Hobby destroyer were among the first products. Meanwhile, a company called Revell started making plastic kits in 1953, and Monogram responded with "All Plastic" "Plastikits" the first of which were a red plastic midget racer and a "Hot Rod" Model A - and the modeling race was on. These two cars, and later an Indianapolis-style racer and hydroplane racing boat, were also offered with CO2 "Jet Power". Early kits advertised that the models were made from "acetate parts molded to shape". The wording showed the newness of the plastics industry and how plastics were not yet being taken for granted.
Early airplane models were mainly balsa wood, but more plastic parts were added over the next couple of years. By 1954 the airplane lineup consisted of the "Speedee Built" series which flew under rubber band power. A few of these planes were all-plastic. Also seen were the Superkits with a prefabricated balsa fuselage, but more plastic parts.
Auto kit makers AMT and Jo-Han started early but focused on manufacturers' promotional models and did not enter the kit fray until the late 1950s. As the 1950s progressed, Monogram increasingly included more automobile models and custom wheeled creations in competition with the other makers. Through the 1970s, competition required increased production of a variety of fantastical vehicles.
=== The Monogram approach ===
By the late 1950s, the company moved steadily into the car scene, especially with its hot rods and race cars. In 1956 it released a Model A V-8 rod and a Sprint Car, two of its first car kits. In 1959, Monogram issued its 1932 Ford Deuce 5 window coupe. One 1962 kit, however, showed the company's prowess and intent - the "Big T" (kit PC 78). This was a huge 1/8 scale 1924 Ford Model T bucket, complete with hot-rodded Chevy engine. The 24-page 8 1/2 x 11 inch instruction booklet showed that the model came with an optional electric motor to power the wheels, and featured customizing tips by Darryl Starbird, the famous Kansas customizer. The manual also shows how sophisticated the company's catering was toward hot rod culture - long before Hot Wheels or the Detroit muscle car craze.
=== Competition ===
As the 1960s progressed, Monogram and Revell squared off as rivals in the scale model market. While companies like AMT and MPC focused almost exclusively on cars, Monogram and Revell were more diversified, offering aircraft, naval craft and other military vehicles. Monogram aircraft kits were known for imaginative "operating features", such as a spring-loaded ejection seats on their F-105 Thunderchief model (operated by a tiny plastic tab on the side of the plane), and a tactical nuclear bomb which could be dropped from the RB-66A model - which also featured a moving tailgun turret.
In the 1970s, Monogram wanted to portray a different perspective of its kits and add some spark to sales. 'Make it large' was one marketing approach that the company returned to. For example, Monogram introduced a 1978 Corvette kit in 1:8 scale - when assembled it was over 23 inches long. Examples of vintage auto offerings were a 1930s Rolls-Royce Cabriolet with rumble seat, a 1930s Packard Phaeton, and a 1941 Lincoln Continental. The company's Early Iron series featured variants of Ford Model As. During the 1970s, the company also hired modeler Sheperd Paine to construct and paint aircraft models and dioramas, which were used for photographs on boxes and instruction booklets. Some metal kits, like a 1953 Corvette, also appeared.
=== Daniel hot rods and customs ===
While Revell carried many foreign cars and AMT and MPC handled the promo markets (and so moved forward with mostly American car brands), Monogram's emphasis was on aircraft and military vehicles. In the 1970s, however, Monogram started to focus more on hot rods and customs and, in 1961, was the first company to hire a well-known automobile stylist, when Darryl Starbird was brought on board. Similarly, AMT hired customizers George Barris, Alexander Brothers, and Bill Cushenbery, and MPC had Dean Jeffries. In 1968, Monogram then hired stylist Tom Daniel who designed more than 80 fantastical vehicles, not always based on real cars.
When the company was bought by Mattel in 1968, custom vehicles designed by Daniel and others were seen in both small and large sizes in Hot Wheels diecast - and then in Monogram kit form. Examples seen in both Hot Wheels and Monogram venues were the Ice-T, the Red Baron, the Paddy Wagon, the S'cool Bus, the Sand Crab, and the T'rantula (even made by Mattel subsidiary Mebetoys of Italy). Some of the handsomest vehicles were the simpler rods, like the "Son of Ford" '32 Ford rod and the "Boss 'A' Bone", a rodded '29 Model A pickup. Models of later vehicles were also common in this series, like the sleek "Street Fighter", a Daniel-designed '60 Chevy panel truck powered by a Camaro Z/28 engine (Quicksilver was another variation of the same kit), and the 1955 Chevrolet Bad Man gasser. By around 1970, many of these models were molded in bright reds and oranges and did not require painting.
Monogram offered a variety of more official race cars as well, again often leaving foreign vehicles to Revell which had established a Germany subsidiary. Monogram examples were Tom McEwen's Duster funny car, and its rival the Plymouth Barracuda driven by Don Prudhomme. Of course, both were offered by Mattel as Hot Wheels.
=== Many changes of hands ===
In 1984 Mattel divested itself of many companies not associated with its traditional toy industries. In 1986, Monogram was bought by Odyssey Partners, a New York private equity firm. Later that same summer, Odyssey purchased Revell Models of Venice, California. Subsequently, Odyssey Partners merged Revell with Monogram and moved all its usable assets to Monogram's Des Plaines, Illinois Plant Number 2. After Revell was merged with Monogram, company headquarters was moved a short distance to Northbrook, Illinois.
In the early 1990s, Revell-Monogram embarked on an experiment that tried to match historic modeling logos with a CD-Rom racing car game. After investing nearly $4 million, customers had trouble distinguishing model from game and the project was scrapped after only 50,000 were sold (Wallace 1994). Also in the early 1990s, Monogram sold their 1/87 Mini Exacts HO series to Herpa, where some of the models continue to be sold even today. One difference from the normal Herpa models was a metal chassis.
In 1994 Revell-Monogram was purchased by Hallmark Cards as part of its Binney and Smith division (the owners of famous Crayola crayons). This relationship lasted for thirteen years.
In May 2007, Hobbico Inc., the radio control airplane maker, announced the acquisition of Revell-Monogram LLC. From 1987 to 2005 the Monogram logo had appeared underneath that of Revell, but since the Hobbico acquisition, the Monogram name has disappeared. Now the Revell logo stands alone as Hobbico renamed the subsidiary the Revell Group, which consists of both revered names (the Revell-Monogram webpage has a graphic progression of the development of the two companies' logos going back to 1945). Concerning plastic kits, Hobbico also owns Estes, and is the exclusive distributor of Hasegawa, as seen on their company websites.
Hobbico declared bankruptcy on June 30, 2018 and went into liquidation.
== Product lines ==
Monogram was a prolific model producer. The following lists of kits are definitely not all-inclusive:
=== Aircraft ===
Japan 1/48 scale
Mitsubishi A6M
Germany 1/48 scale
Arado Ar 234, Dornier Do 335, Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Heinkel He 111, Junkers Ju 87G Stuka, Junkers Ju 88, Junkers Ju 52, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 262
United States 1/48 scale
United Kingdom 1/48 scale
de Havilland Mosquito
Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Typhoon
Supermarine Spitfire
=== Cars ===
1/8 scale
1985 Corvette Coupe, kit #2608
1/24 scale classics
1934 Duesenberg SJ, 1939 Mercedes 540K, 1941 Lincoln Continental, Cord 812
1/24 scale contemporary
1957 Chevy Hardtop
1965 Chevy Impala SS 396
1982 Pontiac Firebird TransAm
1/87 scale Mini-Exacts
=== Armor ===
1/32 scale
== Notes ==
== References == | Wikipedia/Monogram_models |
Model Products Corporation, usually known by its acronym, MPC, is an American brand and former manufacturing company of plastic scale model kits and pre-assembled promotional models of cars that were popular in the 1960s and 1970s. MPC's main competition was model kits made by AMT, Jo-Han, Revell, and Monogram.
Traditionally a Michigan company, since 2011 the "MPC" brand name has been part of Round 2 of South Bend, Indiana (which was also acquired by Japanese company Tomy for $ 640 million.
== History ==
=== Beginnings ===
MPC was established in 1963 by George A. Toteff Jr. (1925–2011) and Dick Branstner with facilities in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Toteff had been one of the original employees at AMT, eventually rising to vice president in the company. There, in 1958, he had developed the first “3-in-1” model car kits based on his innovative “side-slide” injection-molding technique, which allowed the tooling of one-piece model car bodies.
MPC produced its first promotional models in 1965; the first product to appear under its own logo was a highly detailed 1/25-scale 1964 Corvette Sting Ray coupe kit featuring working front suspension, and including extra speed and customizing parts. Their first 'promos' were a 1965 Dodge Coronet 500 in both convertible and two-door hardtop versions, a 1965 Dodge Monaco hardtop, and a 1965 Dodge Custom 880 convertible.
As with other companies before it, most notably AMT and Jo-Han, MPC developed many of its kits from pre-existing promo toolings. Toteff remained on good terms with his former colleagues at AMT, and many of the first MPC products were distributed in AMT packaging. For example, the 1967 MPC Plymouth Barracuda, originally made as a dealer promotional for Chrysler, was also marketed as a kit in an AMT box. Later, for 1968 and 1969 the newly designed second-iteration Barracuda reverted to an MPC box, with no apparent AMT connection.
Original model kits quickly followed, including the 1932–33 Chevy Roadster and Panel Truck, the first 'non-classic' subjects other than a Ford to be offered in 1/25-scale kit form.
=== Ownership of the MPC name ===
About 1970, General Mills bought MPC from Toteff, who stayed on as president. General Mills also had purchased Lionel and the MPC name and logo even appeared on early 1970s train sets next to the Lionel logo. After these two names was stated, "...of the fun group at General Mills". An example was the Silver Star train appearing about 1972, with "The Mighty Sound of Steam".
In the late 1970s, General Mills created a separate identity for its toy and hobby arm, CPG Products Corporation. During this time, MPC kits were marketed as part of CPG's Fundimensions Division. General Mills's ownership lasted until 1985 when it sold off its hobby companies. General Mills then floated its remaining toy division as "Kenner Parker".
In 1985, MPC was purchased by The Ertl Company, which had also acquired AMT in 1981. Ertl, in turn, became part of RC2 Corporation in 1999, and was subsequently absorbed into TOMY International, Inc. From 2008, MPC products were re-issued under license from Japanese Tomy by Round 2 LLC, which ultimately acquired MPC's assets outright in 2011 (along with those of AMT and Ertl).
== Product lines ==
From its inception, MPC offered original toolings of a wide variety of automobiles ranging from classic luxury cars of the 1920s and 1930s, to contemporary dragsters and funny cars, as well as conceptual customs and caricature models developed by well-known racers and customizers such as Dick Branstner (who had built the original full-size 'Color Me Gone' Dodge Truck dragster), George Barris (designer of the TV Batmobile), and Dean Jeffries (designer of the TV Monkeemobile). Along with the production of pre-assembled promotional models, MPC released a regular series of current-model-year auto kits (annuals).
=== Notable products ===
Gangbusters (1/25 scale classic cars): One of the company's earliest dedicated series, some of the kits included scale gangster figures and accessories such as Tommy guns.
Examples: 1927 Lincoln Roadster; 1928 Lincoln Phaeton; 'Ma Barker's 1932 Chrysler roadster' (complete with 'bullet holes' in the windscreen); 1932 Imperial Custom 8; and a 1932 Chevy Roadster and Panel Truck.
Connoisseur’s Classics (1/25): Many of the kits in this series were re-boxings of Gangbuster subjects.
Examples: 1932 Chrysler Roadster and LeBaron Imperial; 1927 Lincoln Roadster and 1928 Lincoln Phaeton; and a 1914 Stutz Bearcat (which came with a vacuum-formed display base).
Switchers (1/25): This series was a continuation of the "3-in-1" concept Toteff had introduced at AMT.
Examples: 1925 Ford Model T roadster; 1927 Ford Model T coach or cab; 1932 Ford roadster or coupe, and the Ford Tudor Sedan or Phaeton.
TV and movie tie-ins: MPC marketed numerous kits based on popular television shows and movies, most in 1/25 scale.
Examples are Hogan's Heroes Jeep, 'The Sweathogs Dream Machine' featuring John Travolta from Welcome Back Kotter, The Monkees GTO Monkeemobile and 'The Fonz Dreamrod' from Happy Days (a simple reworking of the Monkeemobile); Barnabas's Vampire Van from Dark Shadows, The Fall Guy Chevy pickup, John Milner's yellow Deuce Coupe from American Graffiti, the fiberglass sports car from Hardcastle and McCormick, several variations on Space 1999 vehicles, and the Knight 2000 Firebird from Knight Rider. Other notable tie-ins included the 1914 Stutz Bearcat from the 1971 TV series Bearcats! (later re-purposed as part of the Connoisseur's Classics series), and a number of kits related to The Dukes of Hazzard: General Lee (1969 Dodge Charger), Sheriff Roscoe’s Police Car (1977 Dodge Monaco), Daisy’s Jeep (CJ-7), Daisy’s Roadrunner and Cooter’s Tow Truck. Many of the 'Dukes' kits were re-purposed and re-boxed annuals. A few of them were also modified and marketed as slot cars.
Airfix re-boxings: Early in its history, MPC developed a licensing agreement with Airfix, releasing some of the British manucturer's 1/32 scale car kits under the MPC logo with unique box art and lithography. Some examples were: Aston Martin DB-5; Jaguar XK-E; Mercedes Benz 280SL; MGB 1600; Porsche Carrera 906 and 917; Ford GT-40: Ferrari 250; Triumph TR-4A; ’30 Bentley 4 ½ Litre; and a 1930 Alfa-Romeo 8C LeMans Grand Prix racer. In the early 1980s, MPC also issued some Airfix 1/72 figures (listed as "HO/OO" scale), notably WWII infantry figures and in their Historama range.
1/20 scale cars: From the late 1960s on, MPC tooled a number of kits in larger 1/20 scale. Notable among these were the McLaren M8B and M8D CanAm racers, a popular series of Corvette annuals, the AMC AMX and the Dick Dean-designed Shalako dune buggy. These kits often included highly detailed interiors with realistically simulated vinyl interior upholstery.
Slot cars: Like many model makers during the mid-1960s, MPC capitalized on the popularity of slot car racing. Using its plastic car bodies, a new 'Dyn-O-Charger' (or simply 'Dyn-O') slot cars series were at first issued in a yellow box. A notable example of the series was the 1957 Corvette, which featured 'Dyn-O-Brakes', special brakes for the front wheels of the slot car.
Zingers in approximately 1/32 scale: In the early 1970s, MPC ventured into caricature model concepts, similar to Revell's Ed Roth Ratfink custom car kits, or Bill Campbell's Weird-Ohs series for Hawk. Such impish creations were popular at the time and reflected the strong-willed independence of the western and national sub-cultures, which were tied to, first, the beatniks and later, to the hippie scene. MPC's offerings were marketed as 'Zingers', and featured comical stubby and swollen looking vehicles with huge drag racing engines. Examples include Dick Branstner's 'Little Red Truck' (based quite broadly on his 'Color Me Gone' Dodge Truck); the Super Drag Zinger, Super Semi, and Super Dune Zinger; a 1965 Dodge van, a VW microbus, a VW bug, and a Corvette. MPC's caricature models differed from other manufacturer's offerings (such as Aurora) in that they did not feature strange people or animals, but, rather, only oddly distorted vehicles. Thus MPC's answer to the imp phase of hot-rodding was to make the vehicles themselves into caricatures. The Zinger line was reintroduced in 2009 by Round 2 LLC, a recognition of MPC's stature among historic kit-makers.
Chromies: A series of beginner's-level chrome-finished snap-together kits in 1/32 scale introduced in the mid-1970s. Examples include a 1984 Corvette, and the 'Futuristic Dragster' as well as cars from the Wacky Races animated television series.
Additional (non-series) car kits in 1/25 scale: Some of MPC's most memorable kits were released as "one-offs" and were not part of a dedicated series. Some examples were: Toyota 2000 GT (with female Japanese driver figure), Ford LeMans J Car (with clear plastic body); Super Judge GTO Funny Car
== Promotional models ==
=== Early products ===
MPC began when George Toteff, a vice president at AMT, left to form his own company. AMT had regularly produced pre-assembled promotional models for the Ford Motor Company while Jo-Han had long-standing relationships with Chrysler and American Motors. Toteff's new company developed license agreements with General Motors Corporation as well as Chrysler. Many of MPC's first promotional offerings from about 1965, represented Chrysler vehicles. One of the company's earliest promos was the 1965 Dodge Coronet. One difference between the Coronet promo and contemporary AMT products was that MPC exhaust systems and rear suspension parts were often highlighted in silver, while AMT's were simply portrayed as detailed one-piece chassis molded the same color as the rest of the car. Later MPC dropped this specific type of exhaust highlighting.
MPC thus was a late-comer to the promotional and model-kit scene, preceded by PMC, AMT and Jo-Han. It is interesting to compare origins – while AMT had its beginnings in manufacturing dealer oriented promotional models first and kits later, by the 1960s, the tables had turned and kits were the big money makers. From this time forward, MPC mainly profited from kits first and promotional models secondarily. Kit makers Aurora, Industro-Motive Corporation (IMC), Pyro, Revell and Monogram had also appeared earlier than MPC, but did not enter the promotional business of pre-assembled models. By the early 1970s, however, MPC was as popular as any of the 'traditional' model makers.
=== Relations with the Big 3 ===
How a model company chose to offer specific brands depended on its relations with the Detroit Big 3 and the specific contracts it could achieve with them. In the 1970s, a variety of GM products were offered by MPC – mostly Chevrolets and Pontiacs, though contracts for some models, like the full-sized Impala changed back and forth between AMT and MPC. MPC achieved the dubious distinction of landing contracts for the Vega throughout its entire span and also offered the later Monza. Since the Vega was not seen as being too exotic a vehicle, Doty notes that there would probably have been no MPC Vega kits without the contract for the promos. Full-sized Pontiacs – LeMans and GTO models – were offered early on while MPC Firebirds, always a fairly popular seller, appeared throughout the entire decade.
Chrysler products in the early 1970s were Chargers and Barracudas. Of particular cultural interest were the Plymouth Duster promos offered in 1971 and 1972. The cars came in boxes brightly colored in the "Rapid Transit System" graphics of that time when cars were actively marketed to youth. In the late 1970s, MPC also offered Chrysler promos of the Volare and the larger Monaco. These were not so popular, but were still accurately crafted with actual metallic model paints and detailed chassis.
While virtually all full-size cars were abandoned as subjects for promotional models after 1970, MPC continued to produce both promotional and kit models for full-size Chevrolets, including Impalas (1971 and 1972), and Caprices (1973 -76). Both these kits and promos are in high demand and garner high prices for original, mint-condition examples.
In the late 1970s, MPC issued a plethora of GM promos, particularly Chevrolet Corvettes and Camaros. A 1978 and 1979 Monte Carlo and Monza were offered. In 1981, the downsized Chevy El Camino was a promotional and Corvettes continued to be offered in the early 1980s – appearing in their simple undecorated white boxes with end flaps labeled – until AMT/Ertl took over such contracts. These MPC Corvettes were manufactured in large numbers and can be easily found in antique malls and flea markets – often for prices between five and fifteen dollars.
== Additional model products ==
Aircraft Kits
While MPC offered no original aircraft kits of its own, the company maintained a longstanding relationship with the British model maker Airfix. Before 1970, both companies had actively re-boxed each other's car kits under license. Additionally, Airfix' line of aircraft kits in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/24 scale were imported from the U.K. and sold under the MPC logo. Some of the initial 1/72 reissues from about 1970–71 featured an array of extra "customizing features" with a few chrome-plated parts, and strange "psychedelic" decals, similar to the wild custom car kits of the time. Later, MPC would offer several of these same Airfix 1/72 kits as part of its "Profiles" series. Each kit in this series featured a decal sheet with three complete sets of markings. The decals and box art were based on color illustrations from the "Profile Publications" monograph series. In 1981, the Airfix kit range was acquired from the administrators by General Mills. Production was relocated to France and the model range was co-ordinated with MPC. Eventually in 2006 the Airfix name was bought by Hornby.
In the CPG Fundimensions era, MPC carried out a marketing scheme that it called "Golden Opportunity kits." One could collect "Golden Wings" tokens from the airplane kit boxes and turn them in for free models.
Canadian boxings
MPC boxed some kits specifically for the Canadian market like the "RCMP" 1973 Chevrolet Mountie police car, the 1/20 scale McLaren, and the "Voodoo" Corvette. The Canadian-market offerings were among the first model kits to include both English and French documentation on the boxes and instruction sheets.
Other models
The company made scale model kits of Schwinn "Sting-Ray" and other bicycles and action figure kits, like the Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion offerings (based on the original rides at Disneyland, and not directly related to the later recent movie series) and a Dungeons & Dragons scene. Additional TV tie-ins included items related to Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman ("Bionic Repair Shop"), as well as Dark Shadows. Movie figures from Stephen Sommers' The Mummy trilogy, Alien, The Time Machine, Raiders of the Lost Ark and a series of 'Star Wars ships also appeared. A unique Aurora-like set of horror figures were the cartoonish "Glo-Heads" of Dracula, Ape Man, the Mummy, and the Werewolf.
MPC also offered a series of kits based on "Hot Curl", a surfer caricature. The kits included Hot Curl, his girlfriend Curl's Gurl, and his brother Hot Shot, a skateboarder; for a time a small figure of Hot Curl was included in MPC's 1929 Ford pickup/woodie kit. MPC also issued two kits based on Tom Medley's "Stroker McGurk" cartoon character: a hot-rodded surfboard and a Tall T, with a phone booth body mounted on a Model T chassis.
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
Old Model Kits website, for vintage MPC models | Wikipedia/Model_Products_Corporation |
Winross is a diecast model truck producer based in Churchville, New York, just west of Rochester. The company was started in 1963 to make models of White brand trucks. Winross was the pioneer in 1/64 scale promotional model semi-tractor-trailer trucks. The trucks were known for their wide variety of logos and promotional ads on their sides. Over time trucks have become more sophisticated and the company has moved into silk screen printing for a variety of products.
== Early promoter ==
Even in 1970, Winross was known as a pioneer in diecast truck promotional models when such were more commonly manufactured in Europe. Winross trucks were not known for many features, just good diecast detail. Many later diecast producers, like Penjoy and Ertl were more similar or more popular, but Winross was first company in the United States, and maybe anywhere, to blaze the trail in diecast model trucks manufactured specifically for product promotion. Winross' recipe was (usually) semi trucks invariably in 1:64 scale (about 9 inches long), offered as promotionals to a variety of companies. Since the 1960s, Winross' "American Highway Series" celebrated a few basic truck cab makes with a variety of liveries - which were offered for retail sale. These liveries were what made Winross famous among toy and promotional collectors. Some of the first special liveries were created specifically for (David) Sinclair's Auto Miniatures in the early 1970s. Sinclair brought many European brands to the U.S. for the first time as well.
Winross then, was unique in several ways. It almost single-handedly established the promotional model market for model trucks of this scale made exclusively in the United States. Cecil Gibson, a collector in England, recognized the importance of Winross in the market as early as 1970. Also, Winross continued production of diecast metal models in the United States when most others had succumbed to lower labor costs in other countries. Ertl, Road Champs, Racing Champions, Matchbox, Hot Wheels and others followed in similar scales, thus copying Winross's lead, though these models were produced in China or Southeast Asia.
== Diecast details ==
Through the 1970s, cabs could be described as rather quaint; they were simple castings with no windows, interiors, or much decor. One of the simplest cabs was the curved roof White Trucks cab. In typical Winross style, it had no interior and few details. It is interesting that on the base of the model was cast, "a TOY from Winross, USA". This would have been out of character later as the models were seen as promotionals and collectibles more for adults.
Models were brittle and the metal broke easily. Only three or four different cab manufacturers were originally represented, most of these were White Trucks. Wheels were diecast as well and tires were rubber. Trailers were a diecast frame with flat soft metal (lead?) pieces inserted into the sides of the truck after different company liveries were applied. Dual rear trailer doors opened. Original trucks consisted of about 40 parts.
Perusal of the Winross website, however, shows that models have become gradually more sophisticated. Models circa 2010 have about 100 pieces earlier ones had about 60. Twelve different cabs are now available with more chrome and exterior lighting details. In one homage to Winross' past, cabs still do not have windows. Among Freightliner, International, Kenworth and Ford, though, there is still the Winross cab-over, a generic design that has been offered for thirty years.
== Offerings ==
Many different companies' names appeared silk-screened on the sides of Winross trucks through the 1970s; decals were never used. Examples were Ryder, McLean Trucking, Roadway, Coca-Cola, Caterpillar, Arkansas Best Freight, Quaker Oats, and Goodyear. Sometimes the individual factory or plant was identified on the truck as well.
David Sinclair was one of the first collectors and vendors in the United States to introduce many European brands of diecast cars and trucks. Sinclair was an ardent supporter and promoter of Winross. In 1973, Sinclair's Auto Miniatures of Erie, Pennsylvania, spiced up collectible offerings in the United States by commissioning new liveries in limited numbers of one-time offerings. Some of these were: Epstein Department Stores, Dannon Yogurt, Campbell 66 Express with their "Snortin' Norton" Camel who was "humpin to please", and Meadow Gold Milk, among others. So early on Winross established a good connection with collectors, and supported the Winross Collectors' Club of America.
By 2010, many new liveries had been produced to the specifications of many new clients. Examples are Allied Van Lines, Price Chopper, Kelly Tires, Sorrento, RPS, Ashland Oil, and Clover Farms Milk. Whereas one generic box trailer type was available in the 1970s, at least 16 different trailer and truck types are now manufactured by Winross, including package haulers, beverage haulers, dairy, oil, cryogenic, and propane tankers, a flatbed trailer, moving van trailer, drop pup, double pup, and triple pups, and a couple of straight frame non-articulated trucks. Occasionally, special models have been made, like the special late 1950s Sunoco trailer, or the Charles' Chips delivery van.
== Company direction ==
The official website reports that the company abandoned all retail sales to focus purely on corporate accounts in 1978, though the company is openly pleased by collector activities and formed a branch called 'Winross by Mail'. The Winross Collectors Club, formed in 1988, is still headquartered in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.
Winross merged with AMA screening in 2005 and moves forward with promotional activities which now are not limited only to trucks but to print screening ads on a variety of products.
== References ==
Gibson, Cecil (1970). Commercial Vehicles. A book of the Troy Model Club Series. London UK: Thomas Nelson and Sons.
Levine, R. F. (2009). "David Sinclair in the Driver's Seat". Lake Erie LifeStyle.
Rixon, Peter (2005). Miller's Collecting Diecast Vehicles. London: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 9781845330309.
Sinclair, David (1974). "Exact Scale". Exact Scale Quarterly. Vol. 1, no. 1. Erie PA: Sinclair's Auto Miniatures.
Footnotes
== External links ==
Official website
Winross Collectors Club official website
TruckHobby.com | Wikipedia/Winross_Models |
RIO Models was an Italian manufacturer of diecast and plastic 1:43 scale model cars, based in Cernobbio, Italy.
== History ==
All started in 1952 when three brothers, Reno, Nilo and Diego, founded the Fratelli Tattarletti (Tattarletti brothers) company. The small and young company, which in 1961 changed its name to ttttt Stampoplastica, limited itself to diecast works for other companies, e.g. Dell'Orto, Vespa, Rivarossi and Dugu.
The three Tattarletti brothers started Rio Models as an independent company about 1961, or in 1962. Besides customary etymologies for the name 'Rio' (the Italian word for creek), the origin as a company name is unclear, although two of the three founders' names are also those of rivers, Reno and Nilo.
Later, in 1972, Nilo, one of the three founders, leave the company to found, along with a couple of business partners, Brumm another company producing diecast metal model cars and horse-drawn carriages. According to Sinclair it was a brother-in-law who started Brumm.
RIO models first appear to have been imported into the United States by David Sinclair, a model enthusiast who brought many previously unknown European model brands to the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s. RIO Models, along with R.A.M.I., Safir, Brumm, Dugu Miniautotoys, Lledo, Minialuxe and Cursor Models took off on the original Matchbox 'Models of Yesteryear' theme producing replicas of veteran and classic cars that appealed to older collectors. Of these companies, only R.A.M.I. appears earlier than RIO Models. According to Edward Force, the first four RIO Models were made in 1961 – two 1906 Italas and two 1919 FIATs. These toys also may have been made under the earlier Stampoplastica name and manufactured for Dugu Miniautotoys. Soon however, the company was producing its own vehicles, and not contract works for other companies.
A few new models a year were sporadically produced until the company had a line of over 30 cars by 1972 and over 60 by 1978. Traditionally, models were supplied in 'top-up' and 'top-down' versions each being painted in just one color.
RIO models were always 1:43 scale and models were ultra detailed with between 45 and 75 individual parts. Models seem chosen for a combination of popularity, rarity, and unique design, traits consistently making Rio selections appealing. At first, most models were vehicles chosen from the European Brass era and from the 1920s. This favoritism toward earlier cars is seen in the standard RIO logo of two different automobile horns from the brass era; a fancy snake and more mundane trumpet.
Later, models of vehicles all the way up to the 1960s and 1970s were produced, such as the Citroen DS 19 and even a 1970s FIAT 124 Sedan. Still, there is a 'classic' sense to the RIO line – the unique cars of an earlier era. One also gets a sense that RIO was ahead of its time in offering models to collectors, and not children, long before such a practice became more common in the 1980s. In the mid-1970s, RIOs would cost between $15.00 and $20.00 when most other diecast 1:43 scale cars hovered in the $5.00 to $7.00 range.
== Not Toys ==
RIO models, however, can be very brittle and many seemed made from a zamac alloy that perhaps was heavier on the lead than the zinc – drop a RIO and it will smash into pieces – they were definitely not made for children (drop a diecast Corgi Toys car and it will just bounce off of the floor). Rio zamac was also prone to zinc rot and the metal often tended to crack and deteriorate.
The mid-1970s also saw unstable supplies and many retailers stopped carrying RIOs when models were only delivered a few vehicles at a time. In 1977, David Sinclair, the main RIO importer to the United States, wrote that there were collectors who had been waiting on certain RIO models since 1964 and that he could have used 1,000 examples of each instead of the trickle he received.
== Focus on classic vehicles ==
A perusal of the online store 'Carmodel' shows that RIO makes at least 25 different models today. They seem more solid and the company more aligned to the mainstream model car business. Packaging is more in line with other collector / toy car manufacturers. Perhaps this is now RIO's main business – its other tool and die pursuits perhaps pushed aside.
One reason RIO modernized was due to competition with newer companies producing similar products. In the 1970s, German Cursor Models and Ziss and French Minialuxe, though often plastic, were similar to RIO in style and classic models selected. The kicker, though, was Brumm Models, which was a much closer competitor. Though likely unrelated to RIO, Eligor Models was another high production diecast company, started about 1980 in France, and focusing on cars from the 1930s to the 1960s.
== RIO today ==
Though RIO models had more parts and more detail, Brumm seems to have outdone RIO in many ways, producing more models that are sturdier and better marketed. Quality of Brumm Models was excellent, packaging well-executed even in the 1970s, and models were cheaper, which ostensibly pushed RIO to up standards and promotional know-how.
Since this time, RIO has greatly improved presentation, often producing cars in unique dioramas and in unique historical situations. Commonly, RIO will insert into the box a small brochure giving specifications and historical information about the car (Vitesse Models of Portugal has a similar practice). Even today, there is a feeling of uniqueness and irresistibility to RIO's models that other classic car model producers have difficulty emulating. Models today usually cost $50.00 to $60.00.
In 2011 RIO Models was acquired by M4 models of Pesaro, Italy, makers of the Best Model and Art Model lines.
== References ==
Sinclair, David (1979). "Scale 1:43, a Survey for Collectors". Automobile Quarterly. Vol. 17, no. 4. Princeton, NJ: Automobile Quarterly in association with the Princeton Institute for Historic Research. pp. 384–99.
Force, Edward (1992). Classic Miniature Vehicles Made in Italy. West Chester PA: Schiffer. ISBN 0-88740-433-2.
Rampini Paolo, Modelcars made in Italy, Giorgio Nada Editore Vimodrone 2003, ISBN 88-7911-308-9
Sweetman, Chris. 2008. Dugu Bernardi 10. Hobby Talk forum. See important references on this webpage.
Footnotes
== External links ==
RIO models are featured on the website of their present parent company M4: M4 S.A.S. | Wikipedia/RIO_Models |
Aluminum Model Toys (AMT) is an American brand of scale model vehicles. The former manufacturing company was founded in Troy, Michigan, in 1948 by West Gallogly Sr. AMT became known for producing 1:25 scale plastic automobile dealer promotional model cars and friction motor models, and pioneered the annual 3-in-1 model kit buildable in stock, custom, or hot-rod versions. The company made a two-way deal in 1966 with Desilu Productions to produce a line of Star Trek models and to produce a 3/4 scale exterior and interior filming set of the Galileo shuttlecraft. It was also known for producing model trucks and movie and TV vehicles.
The AMT brand was bought in 1978 by the Lesney company of UK, then by competitor Ertl in 1983, then by the Round 2 company in 2012.
== History ==
=== Beginning ===
Because Gallogly had solid connections with Ford Motor Company, he was able to place his first models exclusively in Ford dealerships, starting a long promotional relationship. Gallogly's first model was a 1947–1948 Ford Fordor sedan made of cast aluminium and painted with official Ford paint. After issuing successful Ford sedan models, the company set up shop on Eight Mile Road outside Detroit.
By 1948, injection plastic molding was already being used by Product Miniature Corporation (PMC). After the first Ford aluminium promotional model was offered, aluminium was abandoned. Different colors of plastic could now be used, so the company name was quietly changed to AMT, which deemphasized the word "aluminum". For example, AMT's 1949 and 1950 Ford and Plymouth sedans were its first plastic models, along with the 1950 Studebaker coupe. These promos often had wind-up motors which could not be seen through the shiny silver-tinted windows. They had metal chassis and diecast metal chrome-plated bumpers, which were later replaced with chrome-plated plastic. Often, official factory paint colors were applied to the models. The company's first commercial products were pre-assembled plastic promotional models, which were only available through automobile dealerships.
In the early 1950s day-to-day operations of the company were turned over to George Toteff so that Gallogly could better attend to his law firm. Model design was kept in-house, but molding was outsourced. Continental Plastics in Fraser, Michigan, was one of the companies contracted to mold AMT's models.
=== Early competition ===
AMT was the most successful company in the mid-1950s to mold accurate plastic models in 1:25 scale and sell them to auto manufacturer dealerships, but it was not the first promotional automobile model maker.
National Products of Chicago, Illinois, started manufacturing pot metal promotional models in the 1930s. Among their earliest models were the 1934 Studebaker, Chrysler Airflow, Graham and Hupmobile four-door sedans and a variety of other cars and trucks. National Products was purchased by Banthrico in 1949. Banthrico started making promotional banks of animals and buildings in the 1930s. After World War II, Banthrico continued with a focus on precision metal replica banks of cars, accurately painted, and mostly in 1:25 scale. According to promo aficionado Clarence Young, these car models were used to display factory car colors to prospective buyers. Through 1956, Banthrico was the leader in metal promotional models.
Nevertheless, the use of plastic was on the rise and would become dominant once Banthrico quit manufacturing promos. These other companies were Scale Model Products (SMP), Product Miniature Company (PMC), and Ideal Models, which later became Jo-Han in 1955 because of the name conflict with the Ideal Toy Company. PMC may have been the first to actually produce a model in plastic, but Banthrico, PMC, and others faded while AMT and Jo-Han gained momentum on the promo scene.
Among these companies, SMP of Birmingham, Michigan, is the most significant to AMT. About 1958, SMP started what was to become the plastic modeling craze by introducing the “annual” kit, often with a 3-in-1 theme where the model could be built in stock, custom, or racing versions. Aluminum Model Toys bought SMP in 1961, adopting SMP's 3-in-1 kit idea and the SMP logo, which at the time was a diamond shape. AMT also adopted some of the SMP kit features when making promotional models. For example, the 1959 Imperial came with a detailed chassis and glued-in axle mounts. Also, the universally recognizable red rectangle with rounded corners shifted from SMP to AMT with a simple change of the diagonally-formed white letters. Thus, SMP seems to have created the 3-in-1 annual kit and logo, not AMT. AMT then marketed both the SMP and AMT names simultaneously for a couple of years. On promo boxes, the diagonal SMP logo was copied by AMT but that style did not last.
=== Promotional models ===
AMT then, through the early 1960s, ruled supreme in the promotional (and kit) market, rivaled only by Jo-Han. It is important to compare AMT marketing with that of other plastic model makers. Newcomer MPC (Model Products Corporation) entered the arena in 1964 with their Chevrolet Corvette kit, followed by 1965 promos of the Dodge car line. Plastic model makers like Pyro Plastics Corporation and Premier Products came and went, while other kit makers focused on different vehicles. Lindberg rarely touched the promo market. Monogram focused on custom, hot rod, TV, movie, racing cars, aircraft, and ships. Revell did U.S. vehicles, but focused on European sports and racing cars. Aurora Plastics Corporation diversified, specializing in aircraft, TV, classic Universal Monsters, and figure kits. Aurora also made a large range of 1:32 scale and several 1:25 scale car kits. Palmer Plastics sold a number of American 1:32 scale car models for 98 cents each throughout the 1960s, but these models were poorly detailed and lacked basic features such as clear windows and correct wheel covers.
Importantly, through the 1950s post World War II, plastic gradually became the primary material for the modeling and collecting hobby in the United States. The post-war labor and business environment in the U.S. supported only the simpler casting of cheaper materials for toys, although they could be made with great detail. By contrast the common trend in Europe was making more sophisticated diecast metal zamak toys in smaller sizes with many working features. These were more complex products for a labor structure driven by a densely populated European craft guild environment. Such characteristics were not as prevalent in the United States.
==== Development ====
Promotional makers like AMT worked very closely with styling departments of American automobile manufacturers. An article appearing in Ford Times chronicled the manufacturing process of AMT models. Intricate drawings and styling models, just like with the real thing, were first constructed. Larger 1:10 or 1:12 scale clay models would be crafted to perfect details. Accurate dies in 1:25 scale, which was the most common, would be made from these for plastic injection. Bumpers and hood ornaments were chrome-plated and bodies were painted, often in factory colors. Painted bodies were baked in ovens, then the models were assembled and packaged.
The auto manufacturers would often pay the cost of model tooling. Such costs could range anywhere from $20,000 to $250,000. The model companies were often pressed to get sales, display, paint and promotional details correct in order to offer the models to the “Big Three” before the real vehicles hit the market. Detroit's annual model changes required last minute alterations in model details and showroom displays had to be finished in advance of the actual cars reaching the dealerships. One example was AMT's 1968 Chevy hardtop kit. AMT did not have access to GM's 1968 details, so the resulting model was not correct. (MPC was able to get the '68 details and produced accurate models of the Impala SS 427 in both Sport Coupe and convertible styles). Another example was the 1960 Ford Falcon promo that was offered in a hardtop, which was not available on the actual car. Limitations of models offered also sometimes had interesting results. The 1966 Mercury Comet promo came only in a hardtop and that year a convertible paced the Indianapolis 500, so the 500 promo came in any style desired as long as it was a hardtop.
Models were sometimes used in dealerships as display materials that were not generally sold. They were also used to promote sales to customers. Models would be used to show prospective customers what new models would look like. They could also be purchased at the parts counter for around one dollar. Commonly, especially in the 1950s, they were simply given away in the showroom after a test drive, usually to children. For example, a 1958 Edsel advertisement prompted "Road Check The Big One, Get A Little One Free".
=== Details ===
Though simply cast, promotional models were exquisitely detailed and proportioned, and by 1960, AMT became the main supplier of the pre-assembled model to American car companies. AMT worked most closely with Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation, but promo contracts among the model manufacturers seemed to alternate year to year. Shapes of the vehicles were near perfect, though in the 1950s, cellulose acetate, the plastic of choice, was prone to serious warping. In 1960, AMT and some other manufacturers switched to styrene (the brand name being Cycolac, which is actually ABS – or rubbery styrene, more flexible and less brittle) and by 1964, all of the major model car manufacturers had changed over to the new plastic. This solved the problem and styrene models 50 years later still maintain their form. 1961 was a key year for the switchover. For example, some early 1961 Mercury Monterey two door promos were done in acetate while most for that year were done in the new non-warping Cycolac.
Models were molded in different colors, but often painted with actual factory paints, a practice that went back to the 1930s. Also, as with the 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix, the roof was cast in "vinyl" black. Script and emblem details were intricately molded into plastic bodies, grilles and wheels. Hoods did not open, there was no engine detail and no interiors on most models in the 1950s. Thus promos without interior or engine detail were called “coaster models” as opposed to kits with more detail. With the development of kits, however, viewing the interior became practical and as important as exterior appearance. Speedometer numbers could be read on the instrument panels. Horn rings on the steering wheels were accurately depicted brand by brand.
Early on, AMT chassis were often made of metal, but later, they were usually a single piece of plastic with lower engine, exhaust and suspension details molded in a single piece with metal axles fitted through holes in the sides of the plastic. Normally, on the chassis, there were no operating suspension parts. Wheels were one-piece plastic pressed onto the axles. With parts typically "melted" together, forming a permanent bond, promotional models were much more durable than their counterpart assembled kits. Of course, promotionals were simpler and had fewer parts than kits which were a later marketing ploy to enhance sales. Hoods did not normally open and suspension details were molded into the chassis. One exception to this was the 1962 Ford Fairlane and Chevy Impala promos, both of which had an opening hood and a detailed engine. Beyond this, extras were not often built in, but there were occasional surprises like the button on the 1959 "Wide Track" Pontiacs which pushed the wheels inward toward the body to simulate how wide the new cars were.
Seats were often, but not always, part of the single bucket of the interior whereas they were usually separate parts in kits. Many promotional models have survived intact for decades, whereas assembled kits tend to fall apart as the plastic cement deteriorates and small parts fall off, unless they were "solvent welded" with acetone or some other specific solvent for ABSW. AMT commonly molded sales specifications into the chassis, especially on Ford cars. The promo 1962 Ford Galaxie, for example, had thirteen different phrases molded on the chassis, from the very factual "Vacation Volume Trunk-28 Cubic Feet" to the more fanstastical "Galaxie, silent as a secret" or "Enduring elegance with the power to please”.
Beginning collectors may try to simply identify a year of a promo from its license plate, but not all promos followed this tradition. 1970 and 1971 Thunderbirds had no year-stamped license plates, so telling them apart can be difficult.
A few, in the mid-1950s, like the 1954 Buick Roadmaster, 1954 Ford Customline sedan or the 1955 Sunliner, were also offered in remote control versions.
==== Radios ====
Also, some models were made with built-in radios, like the 1964–1969 Ford Thunderbird, 1964, 1966 and 1967 Riviera, 1965 Grand Prix, Dynamic 88 and Wildcat, and 1965 and 1966 Impala SS. Others were the 1966 Continental sedan, 1966 and 1967 Mustang fastback, 1967 Ambassador, and Chrysler Turbine Car, but this is not a complete list. These generally do not hold as much value as promos or frictions.
=== Decline ===
Gradually, perhaps since the mid-1960s, the importance of promotionals began to dwindle. AMT produced their last dealer promos for the 1972 model year and by the late 1970s, plastic promos were mostly a thing of the past. AMT, along with MPC and Jo-Han, continued to produce promotionals until the 1980s, but it was not the enterprise it once was. Eventually models were offered only for the most sporty or prestigious cars and sold in dealerships for steep prices and not given away, so the term “promotional” hardly applied any longer. Also, the auto companies, which earlier had seen promotional models as easy and free advertising, began to charge fees to modeling companies in the late 1980s for the use of their names and designs. Thus smaller companies had a more difficult time affording manufacturing licensing.
Models began to appear in dealerships in metal by Ertl, Brookfield, and even Maisto, and in scales other than 1:25. Through the 1990s, AMT/Ertl continued some plastic promotionals in the traditional fashion, though metallic flake molded into the plastics was a new twist. These models were now made in China and were mainly Corvettes and Vipers. Plastic promotionals still exist, like the AMT/Ertl 2008 Dodge Challenger, but they cost at least $25.
== Friction powered models ==
In the 1960s, commercial versions of AMT promos were marketed in retail toy and dime stores like Zayre and Murphy, commonly for $1. Differences from the dealer promos were: the addition of a friction motor located on the front axle, noticeable by the studded white vinyl gear that protruded around the axle (and through the oil pan); and the lack of manufacturing paint schemes (they were simply molded in different colors). By contrast, the promo version often had a special lower engine plate that covered where the friction motor was placed on the commercial model. Early on, some cars, such as the 1953 Studebaker Commander promo, had the addition of acetate windows, while the friction powered model was windowless.
Slightly different were unassembled versions of the promo cars, like the AMT 1971 Ford Torino. These were typically simpler and easier to assemble than the full blown kits. In fact, before the 3-in-1 kits discussed below, promos were offered as kits without all the extra custom and hot rod parts. These were sometimes molded in color instead of the traditional white for the kits and easily assembled without glue.
Some cars were only manufactured as frictions or kits, but not promotional models. One example is the 1968 Ford XL Fastback, which was available only in bright yellow as a friction, or as an annual kit molded in the standard white color. However, the 1967 and 1969 XL were available as promos. Other cars were available as frictions and promos, but not kits. An example of this is the 1963 Ford Galaxie 500/XL "boxtop" square-roof hardtop. Some versions were only available in some forms as hardtops, others as convertibles.
AMT friction models competed with those also offered by Jo-Han at that time.
As collectibles today, friction powered models are worth somewhat less than official promos, but the quaintness of the frictions makes them equally appealing. Nevertheless, not all models offered as promotionals were also made as commercial frictions, like the 1964 Comet Caliente which came as a dealer promo only. Conversely, some dealer promotionals like the 1961 Falcons, did come with friction motors but were painted in dealer colors. Like promotionals, friction car models are extremely durable, using the same basic plastic components as the promos.
== Annual kits ==
George Toteff, a senior manager at AMT came up with the 3-in-1 kit idea. It began when, as a young man struggling with marketing ideas at his new post at AMT, he made a pilgrimage to St Anne's in Canada and received a vision in a dream. The Trinity and three roses inspired him to create the 3-in-1 model car kit that propelled AMT to great success. Like most plastic model kits, AMT's parts were molded onto "trees" and could be separated easily for assembly. Kits of cars in stock form were soon augmented with parts to build custom and hot rod versions. Thus, the annual promotional model was also offered in kit form as an extra sales benefit. As mentioned above, this configuration was soon named the "3-in-1" kit where the modeler could build a car in stock, custom, or hot rod versions by selecting different parts included in the box. Some of AMT's first successful kits were of 1932 and other early Fords. These were reissued several times over the years.
Unlike promotional models which had sealed hoods, no engine detail, and basic suspension detail molded into the chassis, kits usually had opening hoods, full engine detail, complete interiors, and detailed multi-part suspensions. Earlier kits had less chassis detail and featured promo-like interiors, metal axles, whitewall tires and screws to attach the body to the chassis. Later kits often had more detail but metal parts such as axles, screws and hood clips were either deleted or made of plastic instead. Miniature whitewall tires, which were once a regular feature of kits, became outdated and modern blackwall tires took their place as they did on actual cars.
Sometimes the same box design was used to package different kits. For example, the 1961 Pickup kit box illustrated both the Ford and the Chevy, but the kit inside the box was identified by a label affixed to the outside. In the early 1960s, AMT's 3-in-1 Trophy kit instructions usually came with short biographies of popular customizers of the day such as Bill Cushenbery, Dean Jeffries, Alex Kraus, Gene Winfield, Alexander Bros. from Detroit, and George Barris, most of whom were employed by AMT. Winfield even closed his California shop to work with AMT. Also, instruction sheets for some kits had a section with customizing hints by Barris exclusively. An extreme example was the 1957 Ford Thunderbird kit. The instructions included five pages devoted to "stylizing", a practice of adding parts by using body putty and sanding which went beyond ordinary customizing. Included in the kit were additional street rod, drag racing, and land speed racing styling ideas, all suggested by Barris.
By 1965 AMT and other kit manufacturers had made significant changes to their product lines. Although dealer-oriented promotionals were their lead business, by the mid-1960s most manufacturers developed a whole new market by tapping into customizing and customizers. These were often linked to TV and movie themes which now drove AMT and other model companies.
AMT offered some foreign car kits, but usually only if they were associated with U.S. car companies or a film favorite. An example was the 1971 Opel GT, a General Motors product made in Germany. Foreign car kits were left to other manufacturers such as Monogram or Revell. Custom TV and movie cars, often designed by Barris, like the ZZR (from the 1966 beach movie Out Of Sight) or the Monkeemobile, were also popular.
By the early to mid-1960s, modeling had exploded in popularity and kit sales easily overcame that of promotionals. Model Products Corporation, known as MPC, entered the promotional and kit scene in 1965 and by 1970 was just as popular as AMT. To fight back, AMT started offering kits for an even wider variety of machines and themes.
=== Trucks ===
In the 1960s, competition forced diversification and AMT added new product lines, specifically trucks. For example, its early Dirt Hauler kit was merely a generic tractor-trailer with dumping trailer. Then, in 1969, AMT released the California Hauler 359 kit. This new kit was a realistic model of a Peterbilt 359 tractor-trailer, the design having been copied from the manufacturer's specifications. It also had an authentic 8V71 Detroit Diesel engine under the hood. The kit lacked a sleeper cab, but there was a coupon that could be sent in along with ten cents to get it. The following year, the second version was issued with a sleeper cab.
Due to the success of the California Hauler 359, AMT proceeded to issue more truck kits through the 1970s. Examples of offerings were the Chevrolet Titan/GMC Astro, Peterbilt 352, Kenworth W925, Autocar A64B and White Road Boss. Trailer kits to accompany these trucks, such as box, flatbeds, refrigerated and tankers were introduced. These kits tended to cost about $5.
When the TV series Movin' On debuted in 1974, AMT made new versions of many of their truck kits with new features such as CB radios, dragfoilers and sometimes new engines. For example, the Peterbilt 359 kit was given a Cummins NTC-350 diesel engine, a larger-windowed 1100 series cab (as opposed to the small-windowed Unilite cab) and a larger bumper in addition to the previously mentioned CB radio and dragfoiler.
When Ertl bought AMT in 1983 (forming "AMT-Ertl"), many of AMT's old truck kits were reissued, but completely new models were rare except for the Kenworth T600A (1991). In addition, some of Ertl's plastic model truck kits were reissued under the AMT-Ertl brand. Many of the old AMT truck kits can be found on auction sites like eBay, often commanding fairly high prices.
=== Star Trek and other science fiction ===
In July 1966 previews began to air for Star Trek, which were seen by executives at AMT. They sought a contract to produce model kits based on the starships and other props seen in the series. A contract was signed between AMT and Desilu on August 1, 1966, stipulating that kits based on the Enterprise could be made in exchange for AMT providing a 3/4 scale exterior of a Galileo shuttlecraft and an interior filming set. The prop measured 22 feet (6.7 m) long and 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, built by specialty car designer Gene Winfield working for AMT, from blueprints created by Thomas Kellogg.
Around 1966, AMT obtained the plastic model rights to Star Trek and developed a model kit of the Starship Enterprise, beginning a long association between AMT, science fiction and television. AMT's 1966 Enterprise model is one of the company's highest-selling kits. The original model of the Enterprise was equipped with battery-operated lights, but even after the lights were deleted, a number of features from the lighted model persisted in the kit, including a removable main deflector assembly which had covered the battery compartment and served as an on-off switch for the lighted model. There were also indentations in the saucer section where the light bulbs were to be placed. By the 1980s an ongoing series of tooling revisions were made to correct various inaccuracies, but these created a few new inaccuracies, such as a deflector dish that was too small and nacelle caps which were shaped incorrectly. There was also a kit of the Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser ship seen on the TV show. It too was lighted in its first couple of issues.
By the mid-1970s the Enterprise kit had been joined by a 1:12 scale figure of Spock defending himself against a three-headed reptile on an alien landscape, as well as models of a Romulan Bird of Prey ship, a Starfleet Shuttlecraft, the Enterprise Bridge, the K-7 Space Station from the episode “The Trouble With Tribbles”, and a three-piece Exploration Set consisting of approximately 3/4 scale, toylike models of a phaser, communicator and tricorder. Round 2 has reissued the Spock model, the Romulan Bird of Prey ship, the Enterprise, and the K-7 Space Station, all from the original AMT molds. The Klingon ship was reissued in 2011 and most of the other AMT Star Trek kits are scheduled to be reissued by Round2.
In 1968 AMT also produced a kit of a science fiction spaceship Leif Erickson designed by Matt Jeffries, the designer of the Enterprise and Klingon ships for Star Trek. This tooling was reused in the middle 1970s, albeit without several engine and ship parts as well as the original stand and the landing gear to the scout ship, to produce a glow-in-the-dark "UFO" kit. This UFO model was reissued in 2010 by Round 2 from the original molds, this time including the missing ship parts and the scout ship landing gear but still missing some engine parts on the main ship, as well as the original display stand. The Leif Erickson model was reissued in 2011.
AMT-Ertl has also reissued the former Model Products Corporation kits of various Star Wars spacecraft and has added several new designs based on the prequel trilogy.
=== Fire engines ===
In 1971 AMT issued models of at least three different pieces of American LaFrance fire-fighting apparatus, including a pumper, a rear-mount aerial ladder truck and a rear-mount articulating boom truck. The prototypes were selected to allow part sharing among the kits in order to minimize tooling costs. All three kits have been reissued by AMT-Ertl in recent years.
Surprisingly, given the company's penchant for licensing various television series, they did not offer models of any of the vehicles from the then-current Emergency TV series, such as the Crown Firecoach that was the first Engine 51, the Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador that was the second Engine 51 or the Dodge rescue squad vehicle. Oddly, none of the decals supplied with the American LaFrance kits included markings for the Los Angeles County Fire Department that was also featured in the series. In addition, they also released a Chevrolet fire chief's car and a Chevrolet rescue van, the latter of which could be built in stock, custom, fire department or police department configurations.
== Buyouts ==
=== Lesney ===
In 1978, British company Lesney, makers of Matchbox diecast vehicles, bought AMT and moved the company to Baltimore, closing the Maple Road facility in Troy, Michigan (just outside Detroit). By this time, prices of plastics had increased and Detroit was squeezed by government regulations of safety, emissions and fuel economy. Detroit sponsored fewer and fewer promotionals so model companies depended more on kits but the model building hobby declined as well. Also, AMT had an incredible display of models and documentary history at its headquarters that was scattered at that time.
=== Ertl ===
In 1983 AMT was purchased by Ertl from Lesney and renamed "AMT-Ertl". The business then had a twenty-four year relationship until AMT was sold again in 2007. In the early 1990s AMT released brand new kits with new tooling for some of their old favorites, such as the 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, 1966 Ford Fairlane GT, 1958 Edsel Pacer, 1960 Ford Starliner and 1957 Chrysler 300. These kits sold fairly well and can still be found on auction sites at reasonable prices. The details in these kits far exceeded any from the 1960s. In the late 1990s AMT did something new in releasing pre-assembled and painted versions of these kits. These assembled models were sold as the Masterpiece Series and were packaged in foam, similar to heavier diecast metal Franklin Mint or Danbury Mint models. Each had a Certificate of Authenticity enclosed. These models had finishes and featured whitewall tires along with very detailed and authentically painted engines, suspensions and interiors, although these seem to be oriented to the adult collector and not the possible customer. Selections included a 1957 Chrysler 300C, 1960 Ford Starliner, 1962 Chevrolet Impala SS convertible, 1962 Pontiac Catalina SD421, 1966 Buick Riviera and a few others. These ultra detailed models can still be had for less than $30.00 today on eBay and are one of the best bargains around. As assembled kits they were factory-glued together, but the glue used appears to be of high quality and when cared for properly they can be kept in good condition for years.
=== Round 2 ===
For a time, AMT kits were reissued by independent companies such as Stevens International and Model King, before AMT came solidly into the stable of Round 2 LLC of South Bend, Indiana in 2012. In an ironic turn that parallels other large companies, AMT now co-exists in the same organization alongside a revived MPC and Polar Lights. Ertl is still in the Round 2, LLC stable as Ertl Collectibles.
Today, Round 2 is making a determined effort to recreate some of the 1960s glory of the model car business. Reissued classics such as the 1962 Buick Electra 225 and the 1961 Ford Galaxie Skyline kits are now available with many of the original features including whitewall tires, metal axles, chassis screws, and molded-in suspension detail. Often the same exact artwork as when the kits originally appeared is reproduced for the new boxes. These reissues cost about $20.00, which is not unreasonable based on the value of the dollar today versus the early 1960s.
A few 1950s and 1960s models were reproduced and sold as promotionals featuring the sturdiness of the original 1960s promos in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These included the 1966 Ford Fairlane GT/A (based on the new tool), the 1964 Ford Galaxie 500/XL hardtop (based on the original tool) and the 1953 and 1954 Corvettes.
Today certain AMT kits and promotionals, especially models from the 1960s, command premium prices on the collector market. Typically, original muscle car promos such as Mustangs, Pontiac GTOs, Camaros and Chevelles command prices in the hundreds of dollars in mint, boxed original condition. Even full-size models of GM cars such as Chevrolet Impalas, Pontiac Bonnevilles and Grand Prixs also garner high prices. Such models, like the reissued kits, are easily obtainable through Internet auction sites such as eBay.
== Restoration aftermarket ==
Today, because of the high value of old promotional, friction and annual kit cars in 1:25 scale, a “cottage industry” boom has taken place. Parts for these valuable old cars are being cast in high-quality resin and sold online by such vendors as R & R Resin and Star Models. A skilled modeler can now restore a broken promo that was played with as a toy decades ago to like-new condition. Such parts as hood ornaments, wheels, tires, and even windshield frames from delicate convertibles are available. Some parts that were originally chrome-plated are available pre-chromed for easy restoration, others are cast in unplated resin and require chrome plating.
In addition to parts, complete and partial resin kits in the original 1:25 scale are also available. These are typically reproductions of original promos and include many of the features of the original kit including whitewall tires, metal axles, and hoods molded into the body. The Modelhaus was a top-quality producer of scale resin kits, but they are no longer in business. Some resin makers offer partial kits which require additional parts (from kits currently produced). A good example of a partial reproduction kit in resin is the 1971 Dodge Demon. Although the original MPC Demon kit is worth hundreds of dollars, the SMH Resins Demon kit (around $50 retail) can be combined with AMT's current Plymouth Duster kit to finish. Some offerings are models that were never available when the kits were first issued. For example, Modelhaus offered a 1:25 scale resin model of the 1973 Chevrolet Caprice Estate Wagon, based on the original Caprice hardtop promo. These new issues originally sold at rather high prices, often $50 to $100 each, but because Modelhaus is now out of business, these sell for upwards of $300.
== References ==
=== Footnotes ===
=== Works cited ===
== External links ==
Official website
Clarence Young Autohobby
Leif Ericson plastic model | Wikipedia/Aluminum_Model_Toys |
Cursor Modell was a German company making models of antique and modern German vehicles. It is best known for its plastic replicas of vehicles mainly of the era 1880 to about 1920, produced for, and sold in, the Daimler-Benz museum in Stuttgart.
== Museum models ==
Cursor started making ultra detailed 1:40 scale plastic replicas of 1880–1920 era Mercedes-Benzes and Daimlers about 1969. The first models were produced by model maker Wiking and then immediately taken over by Cursor. Models produced (sometimes marked with the initials C.R.) were mostly of vehicles on exhibit at the Mercedes-Benz museum, like the 1886 "Dreirad" three-wheeler and Daimler's gas powered horse-buggy style "Motorwagen" of the same year. These were the first gas powered vehicles ever produced. Also made were an 1895 Erster Benz omnibus and an 1896 firewagon, and a 1904 MAN Bussing omnibus. David Sinclair, an influential dealer to the diecast collecting hobby, imported some of the first Cursor Models to the United States in the mid-1970s; previous to this they were unknown in the United States.
Cursor also featured several racing models for the museum as well, including the 1903 Mercedes Rennwagen, 1911 Blitzen Benz race car and the Mercedes SSK Kompressor driven by Christian Werner, the winner of the 1924 Targa Florio race in Italy.
Some collectors are critical of plastic for collector's automobiles, but those in-the-know realize that companies like Cursor, Minialuxe of France and Brumm and RIO Models of Italy, all have done their earlier "bicycle" tire vehicles in plastic because the spidery detail necessary for realistic portrayal of wire wheels and roof ties is not possible with diecast zamac.
== Case example ==
A good vehicle for analysis is the 1923 Benz Diesel Lastkraftwagen 5K3. The truck was notable for being Mercedes Benz's first diesel. The model is five and a half inches long, and made of a sturdy, rather heavy styrene type plastic that seems heavier than the styrene plastic used by American companies AMT or Jo-Han, the American promotional model and kit makers. It is also much more solid than most French Minialuxe models or early Brumm carriages and steam vehicles which seemed much more 'spidery' and delicate in the use of their plastic.
This model is very tasteful and authentic in appearance and is molded in three different colors; green cab, brown lipped flat-bed, dark gray fenders and rail frame base. The fenders and frame are diecast metal which lends more weight to the model. It has a realistic gold radiator with black grille and headlights. The headlights are 'lit' with an authentic looking chrome for lenses and higher up, beside the cab on the driver's side, is another light – painted yellow.
Despite the plastic make-up of many pieces, axles and spoke wheels are also metal, with realistic rubber tires. On the base of the model is molded "Made in Germany", while "Made in W. Germany" is printed on the perforated box base. It is likely the model was made around 1980, perhaps earlier.
The package is a cut and folded shiny card stock base with perforations for the tires of the truck. Covering this is a softer clear plastic cover. Printing on the bottom of the package gives specifications of the real 4 cylinder in German, English, French, and Spanish.
== Plastic promotionals ==
Some of the company's first promotional vehicles appeared about the same time as the museum pieces, and though they were not brass era, they were yet molded in plastic. One model was the Audi 100 sedan, the real car being one of the first Audis to be exported to the United States around 1969. This model was slightly larger than 1:43 scale, in a silver box with black lettering. The car was well detailed in styrene plastic, especially the front grille and also the floorpan and engine features on the plastic chassis. This model may have been one of the first promotionals offered by Cursor, and perhaps somewhat rare, because it is not mentioned in Force's book.
At this same time, around 1970, Cursor made other VW models in a similar style as the Audi. These were also made in plastic. One was the oval-eyed 411 sedan in light blue and also red (#868). It came in a promo looking white box with the car neatly shadowed in black on the sides. How much Wiking was involved in these models is uncertain, but it appears Wiking only produced a few of the older cars for the museum at the earlier time.
== Diecast promotionals ==
About 1978, Cursor went in a different direction. First, models of contemporary trucks, mostly Mercedes-Benzes, started to appear. Secondly, these were now often diecast in zamac. Then, similar to NZG Models and Conrad Models three or four Mercedes-Benz sedans (the 230, 200, and 190) and the Gelandewagen SUV were introduced in 1:35 scale. This marked Cursor's main focus on the production of miniatures mainly for promotional purposes. Apparently all three companies were taking similar marching orders from Mercedes-Benz on how the company wanted its promotional models standardized. A BMW 3 series coupe also was made by Cursor in the 1:35 scale. As was typical models usually had opening doors with tilting seats and realistic rubber tires.
Some truck models were accompanied by tractors, bulldozers, Unimogs, at least four buses, a frontloader, a backhoe and some antique trucks and tractors – one was a 1903 Bussing flatbed truck.
It is interesting that packaging for many of the promotional offerings was identical to that of other diecast manufacturers. For example, the Mercedes Unimog (shown here) had an identical silver black-lined box design to that of the NZG Mercedes Coupe. The only difference is the precise box size and the color of the lettering stating what vehicle came inside. This is evidence of the control of the client over many promotional companies and their offerings. Obviously, Mercedes wanted a particular appearance for its packaged products and required that across multiple providers.
== Construction and agriculture ==
Cursor also produced construction and farm vehicles. One brand reproduced was Kramer tractors, one made in plastic, and also a Kramer backhoe/shovel. A Fendt Favorit tractor was also made. The trucks and heavy construction equipment were very similar to NZG and Conrad, though Cursor never matched their dizzying productivity. In fact, after producing about 40 different models over 18 years, Cursor seems to have produced nothing more after about 1987.
== References ==
Force, Edward (1990). Classic Miniature Vehicles Made in Germany: with price guide and variations list (1st ed.). West Chester PA: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 9780887402517.
Footnotes | Wikipedia/Cursor_Models |
A glow plug engine, or glow engine, is a type of small internal combustion engine typically used in model aircraft, model cars and similar applications. The ignition is accomplished by a combination of heating from compression, heating from a glow plug and the catalytic effect of the platinum within the glow plug on the methanol within the fuel.
== History ==
German inventor Ray Arden invented the first glow plug for model engines in 1947.
== Model glow plug design ==
The glow plugs used in model engines are significantly different from those used in full-size diesel engines. In full-size engines, the glow plug is used only for starting. In model engines, the glow plug is an integral part of the ignition system because of the catalytic effect of the platinum wire. The glow plug is a durable, mostly platinum, helical wire filament recessed into the plug's tip. When an electric current runs through the plug, or when exposed to the heat of the combustion chamber, the filament glows, enabling it to help ignite the special fuel used by these engines. Power can be applied using a special connector attaching to the outside of the engine, and may use a rechargeable battery or DC power source.
There are three types/shapes (at least) of glow plugs. The standard glow plug, which comes in long/standard and short (for smaller engines), in both open and idle-bar configurations, has a threaded tube that penetrates the combustion chamber to varying degrees. Due to the small size of the combustion chamber changing brands or styles of standard glow plug can affect the compression ratio. Turbo style (European/metric) and Nelson style (North American/English) glow plugs do not penetrate the combustion chamber. Instead they have an angled shoulder that seals against a matching surface at the bottom of the glow plug hole. As a Turbo or Nelson plug is installed and seals the combustion chamber, they create a smooth surface inside the head. This smooth surface is very desirable for high-performance application such as Control Line Speed events and also high-revving RC Cars. The design of Turbo/Nelson plugs allow switching between brands without the possibility of affecting compression. Turbo and Nelson plugs are not interchangeable as they have different threads and dimensions.
== Fuel ==
Glow fuel generally consists of methanol with varying degrees of nitromethane content as an oxidizer for greater power, generally between 5% and 30% of the total blend. These volatiles are suspended in a base oil of castor oil, synthetic oil or a blend of both for lubrication and heat control. The lubrication system is a "total loss" type, meaning that the oil is expelled from the exhaust after circulating through the engine. The fuel ignites when it comes in contact with the heating element of the glow plug. Between strokes of the engine, the wire remains hot, continuing to glow partly due to thermal inertia, but largely due to the catalytic combustion reaction of methanol remaining on the platinum filament. This keeps the filament hot, allowing it to ignite the next charge, thus sustaining the power cycle.
Some aircraft engines are designed to run on fuel with no nitromethane content whatsoever. Glow fuel of this type is referred to as "FAI fuel" after the aeronautical governing body of the same name, which requires such fuel in some competitions.
== Starting ==
To start a glow engine, a direct current of around 3 amps and 1.5 volts is applied to the plug from a "glow plug igniter" or "glow driver", powered by a high current single cell rechargeable battery, or a purpose-built "power panel" running on a 12VDC source. The current heats the platinum filament, causing it to glow red hot, hence the name. The engine is then spun from the outside using a manual crank, built-in rope-based recoil starter, spring-loaded motor or purpose-built electric motor, or by hand, to introduce fuel to the chamber. Once the fuel has ignited and the engine is running, the electrical connection is no longer needed and can be removed. Each combustion keeps the glow plug filament hot, which along with the catalysis of methanol oxidation by the platinum, allows the ignition of the next charge in a self-sustaining power cycle.
The rechargeable battery may be of NiMH, NiCD, Li-ion, or lead-acid type. The higher fully-charged voltages of lead-acid (2.0) and Li-ion (4.2) cells, if applied directly to a regular 1.5 volt glow plug, will cause it to burn out instantaneously, so either a resistor of the proper value and wattage, or a high-power germanium transistor's base/emitter junction (in a series connection with one of the plug's terminals) can be used to limit the current through the plug to an appropriate level. Even with an appropriate power input, glow plugs can burn out at any time, and hobbyists are encouraged to carry spares.
Technically a glow plug engine is fairly similar to a diesel engine and hot bulb engine in that it uses internal heat to ignite the fuel, but since the ignition timing is not controlled by fuel injection (as in an ordinary diesel engine), or electrically (as in a spark ignition engine), it must be adjusted by changing fuel/air mixture and plug/coil design (usually through adjusting various inlets and controls on the engine itself.) A richer mixture will tend to cool the filament and so retard ignition, slowing the engine. A leaner mixture produces more power, but the engine is less well lubricated, which can cause overheating and detonation. This "configuration" can also be adjusted by using varying plug designs for a more exact thermal control. Of all internal combustion engine types, the glow plug engine most resembles the hot bulb engine, since on both types the ignition occurs due to a "hot spot" within the engine combustion chamber.
Glow plug engines can be designed for two-cycle operation (ignition every rotation) or four-cycle operation (ignition every two rotations). The two-cycle (or two-stroke) version produces more power, but the four-cycle engines have more low-end torque, are less noisy and have a lower-pitched, more realistic sound.
== Considerations when using glow plugs ==
A glow plug engine must be operated with the correct glow plug temperature. Large engines can operate with lower temperatures, while smaller engines radiate heat to the air more quickly and require a hotter glow plug to maintain the correct temperature for ignition. The ambient temperature also dictates the best glow plug temperature; in cold weather, hotter plugs are needed. Since glow plug engines are air-cooled, an engine that "runs hot" can sometimes benefit from a lower plug temperature, although this may cause rougher idling and difficulty in tuning. The operating speed of the engine must also be considered; if the engine is to run at consistently high RPM, such as with an airplane or a car on a mostly straight track, a lower plug temperature is more efficient. If the engine is to operate at lower RPM, combustion will not heat the engine as much, and a hotter plug is required.
The fuel type and the fuel/air mixture must also be considered. The greater the nitromethane content in the fuel, the hotter the fuel will burn; high "nitro" fuels require cooler glow plugs. Lean mixtures (low fuel-to-air ratio) burn hotter than rich mixtures (higher fuel-to-air ratio) and operating temperatures can be raised to levels that can prematurely destroy the glow plug if too lean a mixture is used ("over-leaning").
If the engine slows down ("sags") when the battery power is removed, the plug temperature or the nitromethane content of the fuel should be increased, as the engine is not sufficiently hot. If the engine backfires when it is hand-cranked, it is operating too hot and the glow plug temperature or "nitro" content should be lowered.
Glow plugs have a limited lifetime and users are advised to have several replacement plugs on hand. Replacement plugs must be the correct type; plugs for turbo engines are not compatible with plugs for standard engines. The plugs should be tightened a quarter-turn past a snug fit to avoid over-tightening. Glow plugs, like all incandescent objects, are extremely hot, and glow plugs should never be removed when hot. Likewise, care must be taken when fueling because a hot glow plug can ignite fuel. Overheating of the battery can also be dangerous and only well-made connectors should be used.
== Technical specifications ==
Turbo Glow Plug
Overall Length: 17 mm (0.67 in)
Diameter: .35 in (890 mm)
Thread size: M8x.75mm
Normal Glow Plug
Length: .8"
Diameter: 6.35mm
Threads: 1/4-32 UNEF (most often used thread specification for model engines)
== See also ==
Nitro engine
== References ==
== External links ==
All about glow plugs
How to Choose the Right Glow Plug | Wikipedia/Glow_plug_(model_engine) |
Radio-controlled cars, or RC cars for short, are miniature vehicles (cars, vans, buses, buggies, etc.) controlled via radio.
Nitro powered models use glow plug engines, small internal combustion engines fuelled by a special mixture of nitromethane, methanol, and oil (in most cases a blend of castor oil and synthetic oil). These are referred to as "nitro" RC cars. Nitro fuel can be dangerous. It causes complications like cancer if ingested and blindness if in the eyes. Exceptionally large models, typically of scale 1:5, are powered by small gasoline engines, similar to string trimmer motors, which use a mix of oil and gasoline. Electric cars are generally considered easier to work with compared to fuel-driven models but can be equally complex at the higher budget and skill levels. Both electric and nitro models can be very fast, although electric is easier to upgrade and more versatile.
In both of these categories, both on-road and off-road vehicles are available. Off-road models, which are built with fully functional off-road suspensions and a wide tire selection, can be used on various types of terrain. On-road cars, with a much less robust suspension, are limited to smooth, paved surfaces. There are also rally cars, which fall somewhere between on-road and off-road and can be driven on gravel, dirt or other loose surfaces. In the past decade, advances in "on-road" vehicles have made their suspension as adjustable as many full scale race cars, today.
== History ==
The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), recognized and documented early radio-controlled model aircraft as having been developed in the 1930s. However, radio-controlled model cars have only been documented more recently. There may have been earlier model car hobbyists, inspired by RC airplanes, tinkering with RC cars but not documented. Here are the RC car projects that have been documented.
=== Early experiments ===
- 1954 Design Competition RC Winner - A streamlined radio-controlled vehicle won a third prize in Ford Motor Company's 1954 Industrial Arts Awards program. David Swinder of Warren, Ohio used a large control console to demonstrate the operation of the six-foot vehicle to Al Esper, Ford's chief test driver.
- 1955 Ford Motor Company RC Model Car - Automobile manufacturer studios used scale models to reduce new design development lead times and save money. Among Ford designs executed in 3/8 size were the LaTosca, a futuristic bubble-top dream car, and the Mexico, an aerodynamic reskin of the 1955 Thunderbird that was designed to top 200 mph. For these two models the designers constructed radio control systems, adapting six-volt car batteries, convertible top motors, and other full-size components from the Ford parts bins. Along with motive power, braking, and turning, the radio control system also reportedly operated the headlights, brake lights, and turn signals.
- Early 1960's Bill Johnson Experimental Car - In an article in the first issue (September 1970) of ‘Pit Stop’ magazine, Bill Johnson of Burbank, California is credited with building “in the early 1960’s”, an internal combustion engine-powered, radio-controlled, 1:12th scale, model car. The date is not specific, but it seems reasonable that “the early ‘60’s” would mean the car was built around 1963 or earlier.
It was described as an all metal, radio-controlled race car using an early Bonner reed radio control system. The car was composed of two sections, in the forward section the radio, power pack, two servos, and front suspension; the rear section contained the motor, rear end, rear suspension and the fuel tank.
A Veco .19 engine was chosen for its ability to deliver power at any given RPM. Bill experimented with a 4:1 direct drive gear ratio and finally settled on a 6:1 ratio. Using 3+3⁄4-inch diameter rear tires, Bill achieved a 600 to 2,500 RPM range resulting in speeds from 6 miles per hour to 29 miles per hour.
His independent front suspension, while not having adjustable camber, caster or other adjustments, and although on the heavy side by later standards, proved quite durable. The car tracked well in a straight line or in circles as small as 8 feet in diameter. Bill utilized a leaf spring front set-up to reduce jolts on rough surfaces. He had tried a worm drive to eliminate the jolts to the steering servo but that proved impractical.
For the rear suspension Johnson also used leaf springs because of the ease of installation in the car and to facilitate the changes that he anticipated as the car design evolved. Working alone, Bill achieved a remarkable degree of success and sophistication with a model car that was a very early functioning RC car, more remarkable because it was built from scratch, since no RC car parts were yet available.
- 1964 Ken Balz Experimental Car - Ken built an electric-powered, radio-controlled model car which combined a Monogram 1:8 scale Big “T” plastic model car kit with an Orbit 4-channel radio transmitter and receiver. Two “Micro Mo” motors with 485-to-1 gear reduction were used, one for steering and one to power the car. Rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries supplied the energy. Steering was proportional but required two channels, one for left turns and one for right turns. Drive was not proportional but was single speed, radio-controlled “forward-stop-reverse-stop” sequence switch.
- 1965 Chuck Eckles Experimental Cars - (Chuck was erroneously called Bill Eccles in one article) Chuck's first experiment was a 1:8 scale plastic kit Monogram Jaguar E-Type, McCoy35 internal combustion, radio-controlled car with a stainless-steel chassis. His initial clutch was designed to engage and turn the engine to start it and then disengage so that the engine could idle. It would then re-engage centrifugally as the engine speed was increased.
The car ran well, but the combination of a fragile plastic body, more power than needed and a complex clutch led Chuck to do a major redesign. He used a 1:11 scale Wen-Mac 1965 Mustang to make a plaster plug master for more durable vacuum-formed 0.060 butyl-acetate bodies. He developed a simplified centrifugal clutch more like current designs. Two servos were used, the forward servo being used for steering, while the rear servo for both brake and throttle. The Mustang's rear axle ratio was 12:56 with a 56-tooth gear that was as large as space and ground clearance would permit. Wheels and tires used were semi-pneumatic, 2+1⁄4-inch Veco aircraft wheels.
After several experiments, the engine used was a Cox Medallion .15 with part of the throttle control used as a collector ring for exhaust and excess oil. The carburettor spray bar had been reworked to give a better idle, while an adjustable stop was installed. The top speed achieved was 35 miles per hour.
Steering was rack and pinion with an independent front suspension. The overall length of this pioneering vehicle was 16+1⁄2-inch, with a height of 4+1⁄2-inch, a width of 6+1⁄4-inch and an all-up weight of 3 ½ pounds.
=== Early commercial RC car kits ===
Toy and hobby companies had been selling various motorized model vehicles for many years but interest in commercial production of radio-controlled model car kits began with hobbyists -
- 1965 - In the July/August 1965 issue of American Modeler magazine, Walter McEntee, called the “World’s best-known writer of radio control news” published a picture of five people with transmitters racing five cars (in a slightly snowy lot) and the caption, “West Germany’s Schuco-Hegi outfit offers Porsche Carrera 904GT racing coupe kit for multi-channel operation. Car is 22.8” long on 12.6” wheel base, uses two Monoperm electric motors. Kit has ready-made plastic body, special front suspension parts and diecast wheels. These demonstration cars were said to have Metz Mecatron 10-channel superheterodyne radio receivers".
- 1967 – In the March 1967 issue of Car Model magazine, an article by an experienced RC airplane hobbyist, Tom Dion of Michigan, USA, outlined how to build an RC car and announced the availability of 1:18 scale RC car and radios in component kits.
=== Early commercial ready-to-run RC Cars ===
- 1955 Radicon Radio Control Bus - Masudaya is Japan’s oldest operating toy company, tracing its history back to 1724. The Masudaya Toys (MT) “Radicon Radio Control” series of toys from the middle 1950s included a bus which was said on the box to be “The First and Only Complete Radio Remote Control Toy”. From eBay company “Yuzuhina Shop” in Japan, I received this: “According to my research…it was the world’s first radio-controlled toy, launched in November 1955”.
- 1965 Astroguide Astro Car – In the July/August 1965 issue of American Modeler magazine, on pages 50 and 75, the Radio Control Equipment Report section included announcements from the 1965 Toledo (Ohio, USA) RC Conference about several radio controlled models made by the Astroguide Corporation of Addison, Illinois. Along with the Astro Cruiser boat and Astro Plane; the Astro Car was included. It used a plastic 1:25 scale AMT 1962 Ford body with proportional steering controlled by the single channel Astro Fli radio. Five different frequencies were available, range was listed as 150’ and scale speed at 180 mph.
The car, with three nickel-cad pencells and a charger was announced at $36. These items were listed in a later Montgomery Wards catalog as complete packages, the Astro Car with radio was $59.95. It is interesting to note that the range was still listed as 150’ but scale speed was up to 200 mph.
- 1966 Wen-Mac/Testors Mustang - In the early 1950s, toy company Wen-Mac produced a cast aluminium, .049 gas engine powered Indy tether car, the Wen-Mac Automite. By the ‘60’s they were producing plastic, gas-powered tether cars. Then, in the November 19, 1965 issue of Life magazine, Ford Motor Company advertised an exclusive – “Only at Your Ford Dealers” - 16-inch, 1966 Poppy Red Motorized Mustang GT made by Wen-Mac. The price was $4.95. The ad showed a young boy playing with it indoors to show that it had a battery-powered electric motor. However, the ad also noted, “For racing buffs a conversion kit (gasoline engine and slicks) and remote-control throttle may also be ordered.” The conversion kit also included a pylon and spikes for attaching the pylon to an outdoor racing surface and a line to tether the car. The revolutionary advancement was the “remote control throttle” (not radio control). This consisted of a second line fed from the car, through the pylon and back to the “driver” to control the throttle of the .049 cubic inch, two-stroke gas engine. Remote control by radio was the next step.
Apparently that next step was being developed during late 1965 and early 1966. Wen-Mac was purchased by Testors in 1966 and, in the April 1966 issue of Car Model magazine, coverage of the February 1966 Hobby Industry Trade show in Chicago included the Testors model company announcement of a radio-controlled, electric powered version of what was apparently the same basic 16” 1966 Mustang GT. It was mistakenly called a 1:9 scale model when actually, a 16" long 1966 Mustang is 1:11 scale.
It was powered by electric motors and had rechargeable nickel cadmium batteries. To operate the car, a switch on the bottom of the chassis was first set to select Low Speed or High Speed. The transmitter had 3 channels, one connected to a push button that transmitted a simple “Go or Stop” signal to the drive motors. The other two channels were very early proportional controls, activated by a single stick; pushing it right activated the right turn channel and left for the left steering channel. The innovative drive system had two transverse motors, one for the right rear wheel and one for the left. Both motors powered the car when operated in a straight line but in a turn, the inside free-wheeled, creating a form of rear differential. Three different 27MHz channels were available to allow running 3 cars at a time. The price announced in 1966 for the complete, ready to run car was $69.95, a clear indication of the high price of radio control in what was originally a $4.95 battery electric car without radio control.
- 1966 ElGi Ferrari 250LM - Another commercially viable RC car was available by mid-1966, produced by the Italian company El-Gi (Elettronica Giocattoli) from Reggio Emilia. Their first model, an electric 1:12 Ferrari 250 LM had a radio-controlled on-off motor function with no reverse. Steering had two on-off switches, turn radius was determined by how long the operator held down the appropriate left or right switch on the transmitter. An extensive article about the car and its driving characteristics appeared in the June 1966 Italian magazine Quattroruote.
Concerning viable 1:8 scale race cars, information received by David Palmeter in a November, 2018 email from Mardave founder Wes Raynor stated: "When I started Mardave R/C Racing (in Leicester, England) in 1969/70 (not too sure which!) we claimed to be the first r/c (racing) car manufacturers in Europe. These cars were 1/8 scale, (proportional radio) I.C. engine powered cars."
In the early 1970s, several commercial products were created by small firms in the US. Most of these companies began as slot car companies and with the wane in popularity of that genre moved into the R/C field. Among these were Associated Electrics, Thorp, Dynamic, Taurus, Delta, and Scorpion. These primarily were 1/8 scale nitro-powered (then called gas) aluminium flat pan cars generally powered by a .21 cubic inch engine. The bodies for these cars were vacuum formed polycarbonate (the most popular made of Lexan). The most popular engine was the K&B Veco McCoy. The primary sanctioning body for races for these cars was Remotely Operated Auto Racers (ROAR). In 1973–74, Jerobee, a company based in Washington State, created their 1/12 nitro car using a Cox .049 engine. Over 54,000 were sold "Ready to Run" W/Radio control system of which 25K were made by EK Product od Texas and the balance by JoMac when they bought the company from Rocket Research Corp. Several aftermarket companies created parts for this car including clear Lexan bodies, heat sinks, and larger fuel tanks. This scale evolved into 1/12 scale electric racing when Associated Electrics created the RC12E in 1976–77. Jerobee became Jomac and created their own electric kit called the Lightning 2000 that won the "ROAR" National Championships in 1981& 82 for 6-Cell Modified and 82 the 6-Cell Production classes. The Lightning 2000 was designed by Don McKay and Jon Congdon.
By the late 1970s, interests in 1/12 scale electric racing began to grow as 1/8 scale IC racers, the sole racing category at the time, needing to race throughout the winter as an alternative to their impractical IC cars began to race 1/12 cars, therefore a winter national series was developed. As a result, the series grew into popularity as a large number of scratch-built cars started to appear in these meetings. Again, electric r/c cars were enabled by one revolutionary development, that of the NiCad rechargeable battery. Prior to the mid-1970s, batteries were either heavy lead acid or expensive throw away dry cells. In 1976, the Japanese firm Tamiya, which was renowned for their intricately detailed plastic model kits, released a series of elegant and highly detailed, but mechanically simple electric on-road car models that were sold as "suitable for radio control". Although rather expensive to purchase, the kits and radio systems sold rapidly. Tamiya soon began to produce more purpose-built remote-controlled model cars, and were the first to release off-road buggies featuring real suspension systems. It was this progression toward the off-road class that brought about much of the hobby's popularity, as it meant radio-controlled cars were no longer restricted to bitumen and smooth surfaces, but could be driven virtually anywhere. The first true Tamiya off-road vehicles were the Sand Scorcher and the Rough Rider, both released in 1979, and both based on realistic dune buggy designs. Tamiya continued to produce off-road vehicles in increasing numbers, featuring working suspensions, more powerful motors, textured off-road rubber tires and various stylized "dune buggy" bodies. They also produced trucks, such as the Toyota HiLux Pickup, that featured realistic three-speed gearboxes and leaf-spring suspension systems. All of these models were realistic, durable, easy to assemble, capable of being modified, and simple to repair. They were so popular that they could be credited with launching a boom in radio-controlled model cars in the early to mid 1980s, and provided the basis for today's radio-controlled car market. Popular Tamiya models included the Grasshopper and the Hornet dune buggies as well as the Blackfoot and Clodbuster monster truck models. The earliest Tamiya models, particularly the early off roaders, are now highly sought after by vintage R/C collectors and can fetch prices of up to US$3000 on internet auction sites if still in mint, unbuilt form. Acknowledging their continued popularity, several of the early kits have even been re-released by Tamiya during 2005–2007, with a few alterations.
A British firm, Schumacher Racing, was the first to develop an adjustable ball differential in 1980, which allowed nearly infinite tuning for various track conditions. At the time the majority of on-road cars had a solid axle, while off-road cars generally had a gear-type differential. Team Associated followed suit with the introduction of the RC100 1/8 scale gas on-road car, RC12 1/12 scale on-road electric car, and RC10 1/10 scale off-road electric racing buggy in 1984 (see below). Team Losi followed with the introduction of the JRX2 in 1988.
== Toy-grade RC cars ==
Toy-grade RC cars are typically manufactured with a focus on design coupled with reducing production costs. Whereas a hobby-grade car has separate electronic components that are individually replaceable if they fail, toy-grade cars are typically made with cheaper components that are harder to find as spare parts, and a single electronic circuit board is integrated into the design of the vehicle.
Although hobby-grade enthusiasts may look down on toy-grade RC cars, their maintenance is much easier than that of hobby-grade models since the number of components is drastically smaller, and parts can be harvested at almost no cost from any RC toy car of a similar size. Performance is generally much less than hobby-grade cars but can be upgraded by adding hobby-grade parts. Stock toy-grade cars are equipped with weaker motors and are powered by alkaline or NiCad batteries, which means their top speed is usually only 3–7 mph (4.8–11.3 km/h). Cheaper ones lack any form of a suspension and the ones that do feature a suspension that has very primitive or rudimentary designs. Steering typically lacks proportional control (with only three positions: straight, full left, and full right) and there is typically no proportional "throttle" either, with stopped and full power usually being the only options.
Most toy-grade cars are primarily marketed toward children, although some older enthusiasts enjoy tinkering with them and improving them. Many toy-grade cars also have highly detailed scale body shells, which are often adapted for use on hobby-grade vehicles to give them a more scale appearance. However, you can get hold of larger more powerful real-looking RC cars but they are not exactly "toy-grade".
Many hobby-grade enthusiasts began their fascination with radio-controlled models starting with Toy-Grade models during the 'Golden Age of Toy RC' from the late 1980s—early 1990s when the companies Taiyo Kogyo Co. Ltd (Japan) and Tyco Toys (USA) dominated the market and became household names, with their products starring in TV shows, Hollywood movies, and featured under Christmas trees worldwide just as often as the leading Sega and Nintendo game consoles of that era. It was during this time that some of the most popular radio-controlled toys ever made were manufactured, beginning with the 1986 Taiyo Jet Hopper (Japan, Europe, Australia), later sold as the Tyco 9.6V Turbo Hopper (in the United States), followed by the Typhoon Hovercraft, the Fast Traxx, the Scorcher 6x6, the Bandit, and the Eliminator to name just a few. The designs for many of these toys can be traced back to only a few inventors, namely Shohei Suto (owner of now defunct Taiyo Kogyo Co. Ltd.) who was responsible for many of the early Taiyo cars such as the Jet Hopper, and who contributed together with Neil Tilbor, and Michael G. Hetman (inventors at Tyco) to the Bandit, Eliminator, Fast Traxx, Typhoon, Mutator 4WD, Scorcher, and Python.
== Hobby-grade radio control models ==
In past several years, hobby-grade "ready-to-run" (or "RTR") models have become readily available from major manufacturers of radio-controlled cars, attracting many hobbyists who would otherwise not have purchased a kit car. Vehicles of this type need little or no final assembly and in most cases, the bodies are shipped painted and trimmed. Safety inspection of the product to ensure correct operation is essential, as injury to operators or bystanders from disassembling vehicles is possible. A number of cars and trucks are presently available only in ready-to-run form. The growing popularity of the RTR vehicle has prompted many manufacturers to discontinue production of kit vehicles. High-spec racing vehicles are generally still available or sold only as kits, and companies like Thunder Tiger, Losi, HPI, Traxxas and Tamiya sell kit and RTR versions with the benefits of a kit version being in upgraded parts or lower costs, respectively. Hobby grade vehicles can cost much more, ranging from US$90 to over US$2000.
=== Ready-to-run ===
As the name suggests, are pre-assembled models ready for immediate use. They can reach varying speeds, with lower end models reaching about 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) and higher end or modified models capable of reaching upwards of 150 miles per hour (240 km/h). There are versions that run on both batteries and nitro.
=== Kits ===
Kit vehicles are sold as a box of individual parts, and must be assembled before driving. Although they require more skill to get running than an RTR vehicle, a relatively easy kit (such as those from Tamiya) is a good way to learn more about working on RC cars. Many kits are very easily modified with a wide variety of available parts. There are also "ARTR" or Almost Ready To Run models, which come mostly assembled but require a small amount of extra work before running. Most ARTR's only require electronics that are distributed by other brands.
=== Electric models ===
Electrically powered models utilize mechanical speed controllers (MSC's) or electronic speed controllers (ESC's) to adjust the amount of power delivered to the electric motor. The power delivered is proportional to the amount of throttle called for by the transmitter—the more the trigger is pulled, the faster it goes. The voltage is "pulsed" using pulse-width modulation to produce varying output with smooth transitions and greater efficiency. Electronic speed controllers use solid state components that regulate the duty cycle, adjusting the power delivered to the electrical motor. In addition, most electronic speed controllers can use the electric motor as a magnetic brake, offering better control of the model than is possible with a mechanical speed control.
Mechanical speed controllers use a network of resistors and switch between them by rotating a head with an electrode around a plate that has electrical contacts. Mechanical speed controllers are prone to being slow to react because they are actuated by servos, waste energy in the form of heat from the resistors, commonly become dirty and perform intermittently, and lack a dedicated braking ability. They appear only in vintage RC models, and are now essentially obsolete.
Most electric cars up to recently used brushed motors but now many people are turning to brushless motors for their higher power output and because they require much less maintenance. They are rated either in relative turns or Kv. The Kv number tells how many RPM the motor will turn per volt. However, the ability of the system to put out power is dependent on the quality of the batteries used, wires and connectors supplying power. Due to their power, brushless motors are also used in bigger monster trucks and 1/8 nitro-powered buggies that have been converted to electric. High quality brushless systems can be much more powerful than nitro and can accomplish feats such as standing backflips when installed in a monster truck, most notably the HPI Savage Flux. Some 1/5 scale gas to electric conversions are in production but are uncommon due to high price.
A new form of electric RC racing was introduced in an August 3, 2008 YouTube video by Wes Raynor of England, he called the new hobby 'MAGracing'. Cars are primarily 1/32 scale with some 1/24 scale. They are powered by rechargeable batteries, speed is controlled by RC. A magnet linked to the steering follows one of multiple steel wires buried just below the track surface enabling more accurate steering than is attainable with free running RC cars. An RC steering override allows cars to change lanes at specific places for following the 'racing line' and to pass a slower car. Tracks can therefore be much narrower and smaller making the system suitable for 'in home' racing. Cars can be driven back onto the track after an 'off', using reverse if necessary, so that track marshals are not required.
=== Nitro powered models ===
Nitromethane nitro powered models utilize a single servo for throttle and braking control; rotation of the servo in one direction will cause the throttle on the carburettor to open, providing more air and fuel mixture to the internal combustion engine. Rotation of the servo in the other direction causes torque to be applied to a linkage and cam which causes friction with the braking material. The brake is commonly located on the driveshaft or spur gear in some cases and applies stopping power only to the driven wheels. Some models will also use an additional servo to control a transmission box, enabling the vehicle to drive in reverse.
Fuel engine sizes most often range between 0.12–0.35 cubic inches (2.0–5.7 cm3). This is due to restrictions by the main sanctioning bodies for radio-controlled racing. Many "outlaw" engines are manufactured larger than these, mainly intended for vehicles which will not be used in sanctioned races and therefore do not need to comply with these regulations. Engine size is related to the class of car; 1/10 scale on and off-road vehicles usually are equipped with .12–.18 cubic inch engines, with 1/8 scale vehicles using .21–.32 cubic inch engines. There are exceptions, with many Schumacher and Thunder Tiger/Team Associated RC models being good examples of unusually large engines coming as standard equipment on certain models.
Fuel-powered engines allow model cars to reach moderate speeds unmodified. Maximum power is generally achieved at medium to high speeds, and a slightly slower throttle response than electrically powered vehicles is to be expected due to clutching and lack of torque. Electric motors effectively produce instantaneous torque, whereas nitro engines, like full-sized gasoline engines, take time for the engine to spool up and for the clutch to engage. Nitro- (and fuel) powered cars may be refuelled and returned to action in a few seconds, as opposed to electrics which require removal of the body shell and battery fasteners to replace a discharged battery. Nitro cars are cooled some by air, some by the oil mixed in with the fuel and may be run continuously with no need to take breaks for cooling down assuming they are properly tuned.
Nitro-powered cars operate like full-sized fuel vehicles more than their electric counterparts do, making use of a two stroke engine rather than an electric motor. The sound of the engine noise is a main selling points to nitro enthusiasts, even though brushless electric equivalents are generally faster and do not require special fuel. However, their exhaust contains unburned oil, which usually ends up coating the chassis. This, in turn, requires more cleaning than an electric-powered equivalent. Cleaning is usually achieved by the use of compressed air nozzles and solvents (such as denatured alcohol). Tuning a fuel-powered vehicle requires learning to maintain optimum performance and fuel economy, and to minimize engine wear and overheating, even in ready-to-run vehicles. Running a nitro-fuel motor without tuning or tuning improperly can hurt performance in rich conditions, and cause severe damage in lean conditions.
Because of their ability to be driven for longer periods of time and the use of burning fuel, mechanical wear in nitro vehicles is generally greater than in electric vehicles. In addition, the increased weight of fuel-powered vehicles generally lead to higher speed collisions, causing greater damage to the collided vehicles, and a greater degree of safety concerns needs to be taken into account. Maintenance such as cleaning of the air filter and general chassis cleaning, replacement of worn clutch parts, proper after-run lubrication (necessary for storage) and maintenance of other motor-related items such as glow plug replacement makes for a more frustrating experience for first time RC users. In addition, nitro motors typically require rebuilding or replacement after 2–8 gallons (7–30 litres) of fuel run through them, due to loss of compression, which can be accelerated by poor tuning and overheating. It is also possible to seriously damage the engines by over-revving them with no load or ingestion of dirt into the carburettor. As such, nitro-powered vehicles are by nature expensive to maintain.
=== Gasoline-powered models ===
Gasoline-powered vehicles, also known as "fuelies" or "gassers", run on a mix of gasoline and oil. They cost much more (usually US$800–US$3000 RTR) than nitro and electric cars. They are also much bigger, usually scale 1/6 or 1/5 usually referred to as Large Scale, and therefore require much more space to run. They do not usually have as high top-end speeds (compared to nitro and some electrics) but have much power and do not require much fuel to run. Over time the cost of a gas-powered car can be less than some nitro-powered vehicles, because of the high cost of nitro fuel and buying new nitro engines to replace worn-out ones. In addition, gas-powered motors rarely if ever require tuning and have a very long lifespan. These gas-powered vehicles really pertain to the individual who is more interested in scale than imagination. These large-scale models have been popular in Europe for over a decade with brands like FG Modelsport, MCD, Elcon, N-R-P and have become popular in the US thanks to companies like HPI Racing and Losi producing affordable high-quality models locally. In Europe there are sanctioned EFRA races that compete both in on-road cars as well as off-road cars to determine National Champions as well as European Champions, in the US ROAR has yet not picked up these as official classes.
=== Accessories and upgrades ===
Most RC models generally require the purchase of additional accessories. For electrical vehicles, battery packs and a suitable charger are needed to power the car and are seldom included. A soldering iron and supplies are often necessary to build high-performance battery packs or install upgraded electronics with low-resistance connectors. A Li-Polymer battery with a hard case is popular for RC cars, with the most common voltages being 7.4 V, which represents a 2S battery or 11.1 V, known as a 3S battery.
LiPo batteries are known to be explosive if mistreated, so some enthusiasts still use NiMH batteries instead, which are less powerful but safer. For nitro-powered vehicles, a glow plug heater and fuel are needed to start the engine, as well as 4 AA size batteries, or a rechargeable six-volt, five-cell battery pack to power the on-board electronics.
Nitro vehicles also require a means of cranking the engine over, which can be achieved using a pull-start, starter box, battery operated rotostart, or by an electric drill. The Traxxas nitro rc cars come with a hand start up system, that revs the engine and starts it up. It doesn't require a pull start system. Relatively expensive model fuel, spare glow-plugs, and after-run oil are also needed. Gasoline-powered vehicles require only a receiver battery pack and a means to start the engine, usually the included pull-start. Hobby-grade vehicles almost always require 8 AA size batteries to power the transmitter, though some can use rechargeable transmitter pack or simply rechargeable AAs.
A large industry of aftermarket manufacturers produce upgrade or hop-up parts for hobby-grade cars. Upgrades range from mere improvements to the longevity of R/C car parts, to all-out performance enhancements. Some hobbyists create their own upgrades for sale via classifieds and online forums. Hobbyists choose to upgrade hobby-grade cars from plastic stock parts to aluminium parts to increase strength and the steering angle of the car.
== Principle of operation ==
Radio-controlled cars use a common set of components for their control and operation. All cars require a transmitter, which has the joysticks for control, or in pistol grip form, a trigger for throttle and a wheel for turning, and a receiver which sits inside the car. The receiver changes the radio signal broadcast from the transmitter into suitable electrical control signals for the other components of the control system. Most radio systems utilize amplitude modulation for the radio signal and encode the control positions with pulse-width modulation. Upgraded radio systems are available that use the more robust frequency modulation and pulse-code modulation. Recently however, 2.4 GHz frequency radios have become the standard for hobby-grade R/C cars. The radio is wired up to either electronic speed controls or servomechanisms (shortened to "servo" in common usage) which perform actions such as throttle control, braking, steering, and on some cars, engaging either forward or reverse gears. Electronic speed controls and servos are commanded by the receiver through pulse-width modulation; pulse duration sets either the amount of current that an electronic speed control allows to flow into the electric motor or sets the angle of the servo. On these models the servo is attached to at least the steering mechanism; rotation of the servo is mechanically changed into a force which steers the wheels on the model, generally through adjustable turnbuckle linkages. Servo savers are integrated into all steering linkages and some nitro throttle linkages. A servo saver is a flexible link between the servo and its linkage that protects the servo's internal gears from damage during impacts or stress.
== Modern developments in radio-controlled racing ==
In 1984, Associated Electrics, Inc. of Costa Mesa, California introduced the RC10 off-road electric racer; this model was a departure from 'Associated Electrics' regular line of nitromethane-powered on-road race cars. Designed as a high-grade radio-controlled car, the chassis of the RC10 buggy was manufactured from anodized, aircraft-grade aluminium alloy. The shock absorbers were machined, oil-filled and completely tuneable; they were also produced from the same aluminium alloy. Suspension control arms were manufactured from high-impact nylon, as were the three-piece wheels.
Optional metal shielded ball bearings were sometimes incorporated in RC10 wheels and transmissions. The RC10 transmission contained an innovative differential featuring hardened steel rings pressed against balls—which made it almost infinitely adjustable for any track condition. The RC10 quickly became the dominant model in electric off-road racing.
In 1986, Schumacher Racing Products released their CAT (Competition All Terrain) vehicle, widely considered the best four wheel drive off-road "buggy" racer of the time. The CAT went on to win the 1987 off-road world championship. This car is credited for sparking an interest in four-wheel-drive electric off-road racing.
Gil Losi Jr., whose family ran the "Ranch Pit Shop R/C" racetrack in Pomona, California, turned his college studies toward engineering, primarily in the field of injection molded plastics, leading to his foundation of Team Losi. When the JRX-2, the first Team Losi buggy, was released, it initiated a rivalry with Team Associated that continues to this day. Team Losi went on to secure a number of achievements, which included the industry's first all-natural rubber tires, the first American-made four-wheel-drive racing buggy, and an entirely new class of cars, the 1/18-scale Mini-T off-road electrics.
Although Losi and Associated seemed to dominate much of the American market, Traxxas, (another American company, famous for the X-Maxx and the Slash), and Kyosho (from Japan), were also making competitive two-wheel-drive off-road racing models. Although Losi and Associated were close rivals in the US, Schumacher off-road models continued to be popular amongst European hobbyists.
Electric and nitro cars have come a long way in terms of power. Electric cars have gone from non-rebuildable brushed motors and NiCad batteries to brushless motors and LiPo. Nitro cars have gone from small engines to huge .36-.80 engines that are used in big monster trucks.
The control systems for robotic cars have greatly evolved with the advances in internet communication systems. Attempts have been made to provide web protocol based control over robots.
=== Telemetry in RC racing ===
In the last few years, one-way telemetry systems have also been applied in RC racing cars to get information from the car's sensors like:
Engine/motor RPM
Battery voltage
Engine/motor temperature
The telemetry system is usually integrated in car's receiver and transmitted to the controller.
=== Competitions ===
== Radio-controlled racing ==
1:8 Sport On-Road
IFMAR 1:8 IC Track World Championship (1977–)
ROAR 1:8 On-road Fuel National Championship (1968–)
EFRA 1:8 IC European Championship (1974–)
Campionato Italiano Pista 1:8 (1971–)
Championnat de France 1:8 piste (1975–)
Deutsche Meisterschaften Verbrenner Glattbahn 1:8 (1971–)
BRCA 1:8 Circuit Championship (1971–)
JMRCA All-Japan 1:8 GP On-Road Championship (1978–)
Campeonato de España de 1:8 Pista Gas (1980–)
AARCMCC 1:8 IC On-Road National Championship (1979–)
FEMCA Asia On-Road GP Championship (-)
Copa Sudamericana e Copa FAMAR de 1:8 Pista Gas (2010–)
Copa Sudamericana de 1:8 Pista Gas (-)
Campeonato Brasileiro 1:8 Pista
SARDA On-Road Gas National Championship
Hong Kong On-Road GP Championship
RCCA Nitro On-road Thailand Championships
Euro Nitro Series (2013—)
1:10 Electric Off-Road
Include championships for stadium and short course trucks
1:10 radio-controlled off-road buggy
IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship (1985—)
ROAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road National Championship (1984—)
JMRCA All-Japan 1:10 EP Off-Road Championship (1986—)
EFRA European 1:10 Off-Road Championship (1985—)
BRCA 1:10 Scale Electric Off-Road Championship (1989—)
Championnat de France 1:10 tout-terrain (1984—)
Deutsche Meisterschaften Elektro Off-road 1:10 (1984—)
AAMRCMCC 1:10 EP Off-Road National Championship (—)
Campeonato de España de 1:10 Todo Terreno Eléctricos (—)
FEMCA Asia 1:10 Off-Road EP Championship (—)
Euro Offroad Series (2011—)
1:8 Off-Road
Also includes championships for truggies and ebuggies (electric buggies)
IFMAR 1:8 IC Off-Road World Championship (1986–)
EFRA European 1:8 IC Off-Road Championship (1979–)
ROAR 1:8 Fuel Off–Road National Championship (1997–)
FEMCA 1:8 Off-Road Championship (1986–)
JMRCA All-Japan 1:8 GP Off-Road Championship (1980–)
BRCA Rallycross Championship (1983–)
Deutsche Meisterschaften Verbrenner Offroad 1:8 (1982–)
Championnat de France 1:8 tout-terrain (1983–)
Campeonato de España de 1:8 Todo Terreno Gas (1983–)
Campionato Italiano Buggy 1:8 (1991–)
RCCA Nitro Off-road Thailand Championships
Nordic Championships – 1:8 Buggy (1986–)
Copa Sudamericana e Copa FAMAR de 1:8 Todo Terreno Gas (2010–)
AARCMCC 1:8 Scale IC Off-Road National Championship (1979–)
Copa Sudamericana de 1:8 Todo Terreno Gas (2003-2009)
Campeoes Brasileiros FEBARC – 1:8 Off Road (19??–)
SARDA Off-Road Gas National Championship
RCACR 1:8 Off-Road Championship
Israel League
1:10 Electric Touring Car
IFMAR ISTC World Championship (1998–)
EFRA European 1:10 Electric Touring Cars Championship
JMRCA All-Japan 1:10 Scale EP Touring Car Championship – Super Expert (2007–)
JMRCA All-Japan 1:10 Scale EP Touring Car Championship – Expert (1996–2006)
Deutsche Meisterschaften Elektro Glattbahn Tourenwagen 1:10 (1997–)
FEMCA Asian 1:10 ISTC Championship
ROAR 1:10 Scale Electric On-Road Paved Sedan National Championship (–)
ROAR 1:10 Scale On-Road Carpet Sedan National Championship (–)
BRCA 1:10 Scale Electric Circuit Championship (–)
RCCA Thailand On-Road Championships
NOMAC Nederlands Kampioenschap Electro Circuit 1:10 – Toerwagens
AARCMCC 1:10 Scale Electric Touring Car Championship
AMSCI Campionato Italiano 1:10 Touring Elettrico (197?–)
Campeonato Brasileiro 1:10 On Road
SARDA On-Road Electric National Championship
China National 1:10 Touring Car Championships
Euro Touring Series (2007—)
1:12 On-Road
IFMAR 1:12 Electric Track World Championship (1982–)
ROAR Electric On-Road National Championship (1979–)
JMRCA All-Japan 1:12 EP Racing Championship (1982–)
EFRA 1:12 On-Road European Championship
BRCA 1:12 Electric Circuit National Championship
1:10 200mm Nitro Touring Car
Euro Offroad Series (2011—) 1:5 Large Scale On-Road
PRO 10
IFMAR PRO 10 World Championship (1992–2000)
1:10 235mm On-Road
IFMAR 1:10 235mm On-Road World Championship (2000–2002)
(1:6) Large Scale Off-Road
EFRA European Large Scale Off-Road Championship (2010–)
== See also ==
International Federation of Model Auto Racing
IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championship
1:10 radio-controlled off-road buggy
== References == | Wikipedia/Radio-controlled_car |
Conrad GmbH (previously "Gescha Toys") is a German manufacturer of diecast scale model trucks, primarily in 1:50 scale for use both as toys and promotional models by heavy equipment manufacturers. Conrad is one of the few European diecast companies which have not outsourced production to China or elsewhere in Asia. Conrad Modelle is headquartered in Kalchreuth, just northeast of Nuremberg.
In the past, Conrad also manufactured model cars.
== From Gescha to Conrad ==
On early German toys the abbreviation "Ges. Gesch." was short for the German for "trademark registered". This may have led to the eventual name of the predecessor toy firm of Gescha which was established in 1923. Gescha had previously specialized in wind-up tin toys similar to Schuco Modell or Gama Toys. The Conrad website says that Conrad – a family name – started making diecast models in 1956, however Gescha used the Conrad name as a sub-brand first. Most diecast truck and heavy equipment models, for which Conrad became most well-known, were marketed as Gescha in the 1960s and 1970s. The name Conrad was increasingly used through the 1970s and by about 1980, the Gescha name was discontinued.
The official website says that since 1987 the company has been run by Gunther Conrad assisted by his wife Gerde and their son, Michael. Thus the company has remained a family owned business, probably since about 1956 when the Conrad name was introduced when the Conrad family took control of Gescha.
== Models today ==
Conrad today has a line of over 90 separate models, mostly trucks and cranes. The appearance and finish of the diecast models themselves is similar to its competitor, NZG Models, though perhaps NZG's are slightly more adventurous in models contracted and slightly more realistic – but this is simply a perception. While NZG Modelle focuses more on construction and earth moving equipment, Conrad's line-up centers more on a variety of commercial trucks themselves. Several models, however, are quite distinct, like stationary construction cranes, tunnel borers, and jackhammer trucks.
Lately, some NZG Models have been marketed under the Conrad name, but normally the two companies remain fairly autonomous from one another, while competing for similar contracts. For example, Conrad had the Caterpillar line of construction vehicles through about 1990, but the licenses changed over to NZG sometime after.
Model details were generally finely crafted. For example, Conrad's Volvo 470 F16 Intercooler Globetrotter cab with refrigeration tanker had some priceless details such as an opening rear door on the tanker revealing cooling gauges and mechanisms. Intricately detailed cooling fins under the rear of the tanker were surprising considering one couldn't even see them unless the model was turned over.
Various websites show that prices for Conrad construction models vary greatly from about $55.00 (AU) for a Moffett forklift or $80.00 (AU) for basic Mercedes Sprinter ambulances to over $1,900.00 (AU) for some of the more complex Liebherr tower cranes.
== Diecast cars ==
During the 1980s in particular, and similar to NZG, Conrad introduced automobile promotionals mainly in 1:43 scale. Fit and finish of the auto models was very good and comparable to other German manufacturers, Schuco Modell, Schabak, Gama Toys, or NZG. Conrad focused on Volkswagen (Polo (Mk2, hatchback and coupé), Passat (B2, 5-door hatchback and wagon), Santana, Scirocco (second generation) and Type 2 (T3)) and Audi (Coupé (B2), 100 (C3 sedan) and the Quattro). By contrast, NZG did more Mercedes-Benz and Porsche models while Cursor focused on Mercedes and BMW. Conrad did, however, do some Mercedes-Benz replicas like the 280TE wagon and 190E sedan. Also similar to NZG, Mercedes-Benzes were cast in a larger 1:35 scale, indicating the marketing preferences of the client. Also NZG made Porsche promotionals, while Conrad did not, but, like NZG Conrad has not produced automobile models since the 1980s so as to focus more on models of trucks and construction equipment.
Observation of the selection and timing of promotional products of Conrad and NZG reveals a sophisticated relationship between model companies and real vehicle manufacturers – relationships rarely seen among toy manufacturers in England or Italy. In Germany, the contract of the model manufacturers, the choice of models and their appearance and packaging, appear to be more decided by the specifications of the specific German auto producing client, not the demands of the toy industry or the collector. This kind of relationship, however, was somewhat more common in France where even Citroen (for a time) made its own promotional models. This marketing relationship also emphasizes the probability that, to avoid confusion, there was more interaction between the different German firms making the models.
== Promotional packaging ==
Conrad model cars were packaged in boxes virtually identical to those of other German manufacturers like NZG and Cursor. Boxes were normally silver and standardized (down to vehicle likenesses on the flaps and the big blue serif lettering on the box sides). This is another indication demonstrating that, here, the requirements of the client drove the appearance and marketing of the promotional product. The model companies are closely knit to the real companies' requirements – something not quite as common with American promotional makers and the 'Big 3' auto companies.
The uniform packaging situation among different model manufacturers, then, causes brand confusion. Which models are made by Conrad and which by NZG or Cursor? It is not always clear on the box – one could assume Mercedes-Benz itself might have made them. This is similar in a way to how Corgi Toys, Dinky Toys or Lonestar Toys were packaged similarly in the 1960s. But, by contrast, Corgi and Dinky were not making promos for competing companies, they were competing against each other.
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website | Wikipedia/Conrad_Models |
Schuco is a German brand and former manufacturing company founded in 1912 by Heinrich Müller and the businessman Heinrich Schreyer in Nuremberg, popularly known as Germany's toy capital. The company's specialty was making toy reproductions of cars and trucks in tin, plastic and die-cast. The company went bankrupt in 1976 but was reorganized in 1993 and then totally independent again by 1996 before its acquisition by the Simba Dickie Group in 1999.
Some of the products currently commercialised by Schuco include die-cast scale model cars, aircraft, ships, and commercial vehicles.
== History ==
Originally named Spielzeugfirma Schreyer & Co, the company changed its name to the more succinct Schuco in 1921 (likely a derivation of Schreyer und Company. At its beginnings, the company made unique clockwork tin toys. Some of these were clever in that, instead of using a key, one would wind an arm or another feature.
In the 1920s Schuco introduced its famous Pick-Pick bird (over 20 million were made up until the 1960s). A wind-up mouse, a dancing mouse and trotting dog wearing a cape were other popular offerings. Before World War II there were also a number of 'gnome'-like wind-up figures and soldiers sometimes called blacksmiths – finished in creative colorful attire.
== Pre-War vehicles ==
In 1935 one of the first Schuco patent motor cars was produced, starting a legacy of producing toy motor vehicles that have usually been the company's main offering. Schuco toy lines always had some special quality or gimmick to attract collectors as well as children. Around 1938, production was begun on tin cars that were made either with clockwork motors or 'telesteering' where the toy could be steered through a small steering wheel attached to the car with a wire.
Schuco 'Studio' cars had a starting crank, removable wheels, varied gearing and rack and pinion steering. Cars came with miniature tool kits. Probably because the Schuco name ended in "o", this started a tradition of naming vehicle lines and sets with a somewhat male, Italian-sounding "o" at the end. Thus, Studio, Piccolo, and Varianto. One notable Studio car was the Luigi Fagioli Auto Union Avus 'Streamline', built in 1937, which came in a detailed box, complete with tools. Only 1,000 were produced. Schuco 'Turn Back' cars had a metal pin sensor that made the car turn when approaching the edge of a table. Wooden pegs were actually provided with the toy so the car could be driven around them.
The Schuco 'Command 2000' car was voice activated, by speaking loudly or blowing through louvres in the roof, it would start or stop on command.
== Post-War directions ==
Toy production was halted during the devastation of World War II. In the late 1940s, Schuco again began tin toy assembly – this time focusing a bit more on the broader European and international market. Tin toys were larger scale – in the neighborhood of 1:24 to 1:18. During the 1950s there was a shift to plastic (especially for larger scales) and diecast metal, introduced in the Piccolo series in 1958, became commonplace for models in the early 1970s. Model types were varied and continued to include remote control and wind-up toys. Toy scales were always widely varied starting with HO (1:87) up to a foot long or larger (about 1:12).
Post-war cars during the 1950s mimicked real cars but were most often generic – some Schucos looked like Kaiser-Frazers, BMW 328s, Buick sedans, or Porsches, but these names were never used for the toys until the Mercedes Elektro Phanomenal was introduced in 1955. By the mid-1960s, most cars were given specific brand names of actual automobiles.
== Varianto ==
The Schuco Varianto wire-track system was introduced in 1951. The company's advertisements stated, "The automatic traffic game featuring a new kind of wire track never seen before." The clockwork or battery-operated cars had a guide wheel on the underside that set within coiled wire tracks. The tracks could be arranged in various configurations of the owner's own design. Different plastic pieces could be linked with the wire track to create intersections and overpasses. The Varianto system was sold for fifteen years and was immensely popular as a much cheaper alternative to electric train sets, having similar features and limited in layout only by the owner's imagination.
== Piccolos ==
Edward Force wrote that Schuco's first consistent foray into diecast toys was in 1958 when the 1:90 scale 'Piccolo' series was introduced. These solid metal (and heavy) cars were accurate, yet mildly cartoonish at the same time. Piccolos were solid cast metal without plastic windows nor did they have interiors. Piccolos are highly collectible today, whether the original models or the later Schuco reproductions. More than 100 different Piccolos have been produced, some in many liveries, like the VW transporter van.
== Micro Racers and Old Timers ==
With a windup key, the 1:45 scale Micro Racer cars would zip around, yet could also be pushed forward or backward without harming the wind-up mechanism. The "micro" name came from the "micro" – threaded steering which could be precisely adjusted. 'Old Timers' had specialized clock-work motors. When wound up and in neutral, the cars would shake and vibrate. Shift the car into gear and off they roll – the direction chosen by how the steering wheel was turned. Examples of cars in this series were a Ford Model T, a Mercedes Simplex, or a Mercer 35J. In addition, remote, drive-by-wire "telesteering" was seen on earlier, larger scale cars.
== Larger Scales ==
Larger cars made during the 1970s were equally impressive and usually focused on German products. The 1:12 scale BMW 3.0 CSL Coupe in racing colors had switches to turn on and off head, tail and hazard lamps. A lever on the steering column operated the turn signals. The instrument panel was illuminated. The model had working steering. A 1:16 scale Porsche 911 was cleverly equipped with an electric horn that sounded with two tones and a set of studded rally tires that could be placed on the vehicle after raising it with a functioning jack. The car, similar to the BMW, ran with a smooth electric motor forward and reverse and also had working steering. Schuco's 1:16 scale Formula 2 Brabham Ford BT33 and Formula 2 Ferrari were made in the early 1970s and very nicely detailed with many pressed metal pieces including very authentic looking wheels and tires. They had electric motors for both forward power and steering.
== Traditional diecast ==
Models in 1:43 scale (the 1000 series) were introduced in 1960. In 1971 and 1972, a new 1:43 scale was introduced (the 600 line) and the first 1:66 Matchbox-sized 300 series appeared. The smaller cars were called "Super Schnell" (Super Fast), which after translation from German seems essentially identical to the wording used by Matchbox. As seen, other diecast and remote control vehicles were sometimes much larger.
Schuco's diecast 1:43 scale line in the 1970s was extremely precise in detail with near perfect proportion to the real cars. Usually all features opened. Paint application seemed more refined and not as thick as with British Corgis and Dinkys. As might be expected, most models were German makes: Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.
Accurate replication was as good as Solido and the earlier Politoys M series, and better than most Gamas or Conrads. Precision was perhaps on par with later NZG Mercedes and Porsche promotionals. Also, similar to Solido, Schuco avoided the attractive but less realistic jewels for head and tail lights. Alas, when the company comes up with near-perfect models – financial troubles arrive.
== Schuco lines ==
Some of the popular Schuco toy lines (often ending in -o) have been:
Command Car, Magico Series, Radio Series, Patent Series, Piccolo Series, Fex 1111, Mirako Series, Telesteering cars, Examinco Series, Akustico Series, Ingenico Series, Elektro Phanomenal, Dally cars, Grand Prix Racers, Studio series, Varianto System, Old Timers, Micro Racers, Motorcycle range, Elektro Radiant Airplanes.
== Financial woes and casting seconds ==
Schuco went bankrupt in 1976. An English company Dunbee-Combex-Marx (DCM) acquired Schuco (or large parts of it), but it too went bankrupt in 1980. Eventually, rival German toymaker Gama Toys, acquired the rights to Schuco in the mid 1980s, and, for a time, new Gama Toys were 1:43 scale Schucos put directly into Gama boxes – with no name change on the base of the vehicle. Whether these were newly cast cars with no change in lettering, or leftover stock is uncertain. In the U.S. during the 1980s, Schuco toys were marketed by the Lilliput Motor Company of Yerington, Nevada, with the Lilliput name appearing prominently on the colorful Schuco-style boxes.
Edward Force writes that about the time of the Gama purchase, Schuco dies were sold off to many other companies in different countries. Some even appeared with "Made in Russia" on their bases. The MIR Toy factory in Mir, Bulgaria (later to become Mikro'67), reproduced at least 16 different Schuco vehicles through the 1990s, in several colors. Sometimes they were packaged with "Made in Germany" still marked on their bases – but after a time this labeling was removed. Some Schuco model castings then appeared as Gamas; some went to France and became Norevs, and some went to Brazil and were sold by Rei.
== Revival ==
In 1993 Gama-Schuco combined with Trix, a maker of small ('N') scale trains, and a company previously associated with Märklin. In 1996, Schuco became independent again and saw a revival, producing a wide variety of collectible models, with many newly designed castings, but many being exact replicas of earlier lines.
In 1999, Schuco was acquired by the Simba Dickie Group and model boxes were labeled with stickers saying "Dickie Schuco" even if it was old inventory. Simba Dickie had previously absorbed Smoby which had previously purchased French Majorette which in turn had acquired Solido. Majorette and Solido were apparently spun off, but by 2009, Schuco was healthy enough to acquire Schabak.
Today Schuco makes a variety of models (mainly street vehicles) in different scales. There are classic and newer lines, all accurately detailed. For example, the classic BMW 2000 sedan has a multi-colored interior, very tiny logo decals on the centers of the wheels, and more realistic clear plastic lights. One author wrote that the Schuco 2000's appearance was crisp because there were no opening features – which often causes the mismatching of body panels. The company also became involved, in the early 2000s, in the production of promotional models for GM (Opel and Vauxhall) in 1:43 scale. These were done in authentic GM colors and interior styles with authentic dark flat gray window trim. Changes in the parent company caused the name to change to Dickie Spielzeug GmbH. Under Dickie, the quality of the models is superior to the average toy model vehicles, therefore unit prices are higher as well.
In 2023, Schuco became a part of Minimax Import & Export Co. Ltd., a French model car manufacturer which has famous brands such as Spark and Bizarre, which stake had been acquired by Simba Dickie in 2021. As a result, the 'Schuco' brand was integrated into the joint model car group.
== References ==
Force, Edward (1990). Classic Miniature Vehicles Made in Germany: with price guide and variations list (1st ed.). West Chester PA: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 9780887402517.
Johnson, Dana (1998). Collector's Guide to Diecast Toys and Scale Models (2nd ed.). Padukah KY: Collector Books. ISBN 9781574320411.
King, Constance Eileen (1986). Encyclopedia of Toys. Secaucus NJ: Book Sales. ISBN 9781555210847.
Knox, Chris (2002). Schuco Classic Tin Toys. Iola WI: Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87349-545-4.
Levine, R. F.. 2009. David Sinclair in the Driver's Seat. Lake Erie LifeStyle, web published 1 December.
Lilliput Catalog n. 98. Yerington NV: Lilliput Motor Company. 2009.
Rixon, Peter (2005). Miller's Collecting Diecast Vehicles. London: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 9781845330309.
Schweizer, Ulrich. 2007. Schuco Raritaten und Fahrzeuge von 1967–1976 (Prototypes, Rarities and Vehicles from 1967–1976). 147 pages. Self-published. ISBN 978-3-00-020287-2.
=== Footnotes ===
== External links ==
Official website
Schuco Varianto demonstration on YouTube
Bullgarian Collection, for Schuco models made in Bulgaria
Tin and Toys (in German)
Fabintoys features Schuco and 600+ other tin toy brands]
Antique tin toys and Original Schuco toys | Wikipedia/Schuco_Modell |
Kaden Nachod (and the later name, KOVAP Náchod) is the somewhat anglicized name for the Kovodružstvo Náchod toy factory in the town of Nový Hrádek in the Czech Republic. The factory, however, started making toys around 1950 when the country was still communist united Czechoslovakia.
== History ==
The state factory, started around 1950, was also called by the acronym KDN which led to the spelled out and somewhat more western name Kaden. The enterprise reportedly changed its name to Kovap Náchod in 1991, though the factory's products were most commonly referred to by the Kaden name during the 1970s and 1980s. Since about 2005, the company uses both names as different brands.
Approximately through the 1960s, the KDN logo included those letters inside of two overlapping circles, like a Venn diagram. Since the 1970s, the KDN factory logo has been a stylized child on his knees playing with a vehicle with the entire logo against a black background. The newer logo is similar, but with a yellow, red and blue 'Rubik's-cube'-like graphic behind the child (with the 'E' in Kaden similarly colored). By contrast, the Kovap logo appears as a stylized 'K'.
Many, but by no means all, Kovap models were apparently retooled 1960s and 1970s CKO/Georg Kellerman pressed metal toys from Nuremberg, West Germany.
== Communist toys ==
Typically, East European toys and other more sophisticated models replicated the actual vehicles chosen by these governments for the people, the workplace, or more often, the communist party elite. Real vehicles were not manufactured as a result of research development response to market demand, thus Eastern European automobiles usually lagged far behind the west. Since there was no market, what people received was what the government deemed worthy of production. In Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, therefore, and, above all, Russia, most vehicle toys replicated the real vehicles from the state factories – operated and owned by the government. The toys, then, were also made in factories owned by the state. Sometimes the toys were made in the same factories as the real vehicles.
Nevertheless, Czechoslovakia was a bit different than its Soviet sphere neighbors. It was the country behind the Iron Curtain that let engineers and designers have the most free rein in the production of vehicles. Real factories such as Škoda and Tatra developed unique designs and clever engineering features which were lacking in communist industrial environments elsewhere. Tatra was known for aerodynamic shapes, sometimes even contracting with Torino design studios in Italy. Tatra trucks were (and are) known world-wide for their endurance. Škoda was one of the few communist names to have market success in western Europe, even participating in western rallying. Not unexpectedly, Czech toys largely represented the vehicles from these state enterprises.
== Czech toys ==
=== From play to promotional ===
Kovodružstvo Náchod was established in 1950. Its vehicles ranged from tractors and military to everyday Škodas and politburo Tatras. As seen below, varieties of the famous Tatra trucks were common. Some of the first KDN toys manufactured in the late 1960s and through the 1970s were either more conservative plastic construction vehicles like a cement mixer, a dump truck, and a road roller – or brightly colored lithographed tin tractors and forklifts among others. KDN also produced other toys and models in plastic for promotional purposes including the KDN Kino 85 working film projector.
Many vehicles, even though often done in plastic, had a refined western quality and solid feel lacking in other communist bloc toys (with the exception of many Russian models which were often much more impressive in miniature than the real cars they represented). Sizes ranged from about 1:20 or larger scale (about 6 – 7 inches long) to about 1:43 for cars, vans, tractors and also larger Tatra trucks. Some of the smaller early cars like the Innocenti Mini and Mercedes 280 sedan were a bit simpler than the later Miniauto range. Many of these were marked KDN and had the overlapping circles logo on their bases.
These often had a crisp promotional feel, and one wonders if Škoda dealerships in the west (say, Spain and Italy where Škodas were fairly popular) used the tiny cars for sales purposes. Circa 2010, Kaden has also begun to offer 1:87 scale coupes and sedans of their new VW affiliated offerings. Packaging, usually colorful for the toys, was a bit more subdued for the 1:43 scale cars, accurately illustrating the vehicles and featuring logos of the real vehicles.
=== Miniauto Range ===
The promotional style toys in 1:43 scale were called the 'Miniauto Model Range' and offered by the mid to late 1970s, alongside some of the brighter play toys. Most offerings were Škoda and Tatra cars, often used for promotional purposes – for example the Škoda 110 sport coupe. A styrene plastic was used for these models that was harder than that of American kit makers, and often with very simple interiors. Proportions of the bodies compared to the real vehicles was excellent and details were nicely rendered. Headlights and tail lights were clear lenses and looked realistic – for example on the Tatra 613 Vignale sedan, the tail lights were actually set on metal bezels – an interesting detail, even if they were not always installed perfectly straight. Tires were realistic looking hard black plastic and wheels were silver metal caps stamped with five even holes (four for the Tatras – they look like buttons). These wheels are an outstanding identifying marker for Kaden Miniauto models and for a time they even offered a five-spoke metal wheel almost identical to that of Märklin's stamped metal wheels on their short-lived 1:43 scale series.
Some of the Miniauto range were copies of Politoys M-Series cars done in plastic, similar to how MacGregor did metal copies of the M-Series in Mexico, and how others were also done in plastic in the Soviet Union like the Maserati Mistral. Some M-series cars offered in plastic by Kaden were a Jaguar XK-E, Mercedes-Benz 220 sedan, Citroen DS, FIAT 1300 and 1800 sedans, a FIAT 1100 Lusso Berlina, Alfa-Romeo 2000 Berlina, an Innocenti Austin A40, and a Ford Anglia Deluxe. These could be offered in tasteful whites, grays, and reds or odd, unrealistic, and very un-Politoys bright pinks, chartreuses, purples, and oranges.
Some of the last of the 'Miniauto' line were the pedestrian Škoda Favorits. These were also done in plastic and featured opening rear hatches, though wheels were now in plastic also. The boxes for the toys featured photos of the actual car.
Starting around 1994, Kaden started offering diecast metal more regularly. One of the first cars offered in metal was the Škoda Felicia sedan and Estate which featured opening doors. These were offered as dealer promotionals. Newer VW-influenced Octavia sedans and wagons were also model selections with specially decorated boxes for dealers. Some of these, like the Octavia were also made in an attractive Hungarian Rendǒrség (police) and also Portuguese police livery. Kaden's 1:87 scale offerings were also used for promotional purposes.
Early on, in larger 1:20 scale in plastic, Kaden offered a Stahlberg-like (but more toy-like) series of Skodas in brighter yellows, blues, and also white. Models such as the 120L sedan and the 1203 van had opening hoods and trunks or tailgates. The 1203 came in several different versions: police, ambulance, pickup with canvas top, and regular model. The 120L sedan could be found towing a small trailer or came in police livery. Most of these models were apparently offered from the 1970s through the 1990s – because the real cars saw little change over the same time period.
=== Trucks, tractors and military ===
A series of relatively newer Tatra trucks was offered in the 1980s and 1990s in plastic by Kaden, as were real Czech and Slovak production Zetor tractors which were often sold with hay trailers, with the tractor sometimes motorized with a simple remote control. Some of the trucks offered were delightful choices for miniature reproduction like the Tatra 815 in Paris-Dakar rally form or detailed diecast 815 dump truck with working suspension, tipping bed, tilting cabin, and two sets of steering wheels. Another 815 was a foam sprayer fire truck and another a "Kaden African Expedition" truck with trailer.
Probably the most compelling Kaden Tatra 815 was the GTC ("Grand Touring Caravan") which in 1987, (while Czechoslovakia was still Communist) was driven by a crew over 200,000 kilometers across six continents and through sixty-seven countries. The huge Tatra was colorfully decorated in "Tatra Around the World" paint and had large windows on the front and sides of the box. The pressed tin miniature faithfully replicated the real truck, with window tampos, accurate colors and the many sponsors on the sides of the truck. This same 'big box' Tatra was also done as a large ambulance. One Tatra website also displayed an equally startling 815 – a Tatra car carrier handsomely filled with three non-Kaden T600 1938 Tatraplans.
Most later trucks, however were either diecast zamac or, more commonly, pressed tin. The factory usually kept the scale to 1:43 or 1:48, so the trucks take up more space than the cars in the same scale. Nevertheless, some vehicles were also offered in 1:24 scale and many were made in pressed steel, including a World War II half-track, a Jeep, and a Nazi Kubelwagen. Now here, when 'pressed steel' is mentioned, it is not like rather crudely done early Tonka or Buddy L products. Kaden finely crafted metal pieces in an exacting and precise way resulting in a very professional look. Today, like with its cars, Kaden makes most of its trucks in diecast zamac. For example its Tatra T-815 military materials carrier is finely done in diecast and selling for U.S. $100.00 or more.
=== Continuation of Kovap and Gonio ===
In 1991, shortly after the fall of communism, but before the split between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the company Kovodružstvo Náchod apparently changed its name to Kovap Náchod probably reflecting the new line of pressed steel cars and trucks from tooling inherited from the old German Kellerman CKO firm. From this time forward the company offered vehicles under two lines: Kaden Models for the more precision detailed diecast models of Skodas and Tatra trucks, and the Kovap name for the pressed steel vehicles.
The vehicles offered did not include all of the old Kellerman offerings. For example, the Ford Capri and some of the helicopters were not carried over. Those offered were all numbered from 400 to 600 and included a Mercedes-Benz 350SL convertible and hardtop, Volkswagen transporters (in regular van, pickup, ambulance and postal variations), a camper trailer, dump truck, ladder fire truck, a flat bed canvas truck with trailer, a forklift, a bus and variations on some older Mercedes trucks. On the back of the box shown in the picture, Tatra trucks previous made by KDN are also shown.
On the bottom of the Volkswagens, which are almost all tin, it still says "CKO" with the word "Replica" and the Kovap logo applied as a sticker. Some of the newer Kovap models even appeared superior in finish and packaging to those of the old Kellerman.
Kaden also took over the production of Gonio, another model company from the Czech Republic that had earlier produced a large range of high quality 1:24 scale military vehicles in pressed tin which Kaden developed further. Gonio had operated from Tovarni 560, 374 15 in Trhove Sviny. No new models were made, but Kaden continued many variations, including the Long Range Desert Group Jeep which was shown in the last of the Gonio price lists, but which finally arrived in the later Kaden Red box, rather than the Gonio Blue packaging. Vehicles like the Kubelwagen came out with material covered plastic roofs. Some items shown in catalogues have never seen the light of day. Apparently, however, Kaden has ceased producing the Gonio range.
== Factory directions ==
With the fall of communism, as with all the Soviet satellite countries, products were recrafted and repackaged to be sold to the western markets and toys were no exception. Reflecting the 180 degree change in economic orientation away from the Soviet Union, Kovodružstvo Náchod changed its name to Kovap Náchod in 1991. In 1993, Kaden toys became products of the Czech Republic as Slovakia made its own way in the new Europe. As of 2016, both names had parallel websites.
In the mid-1990s, Kaden models continued to be sold in the west, but now in diecast metal instead of pressed tin or plastic. Offered are modern Škodas, Jeeps, and Tatra trucks and military materials carriers. Škoda models are often sold in promotional company colored boxes of white and green, which carry company information on their end flaps. The company (which it now legitimately can be called – not being a communist party factory anymore) has also moved into the buzzing European 1:87 scale market.
== References ==
== External links ==
KOVAP Official website of the company KOVAP. | Wikipedia/Kaden_models |
Lima S.p.A. (Lima Models) is an Italian brand and former manufacturing company of model railways. The company was headquartered in Vicenza for almost 50 years, from the early 1950s until the company ceased trading in 2004. Lima was a popular, affordable brand of 00 gauge and N gauge model railway material in the UK, more detailed H0 and N gauge models in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States as well as South Africa, Scandinavia and Australia. Lima also produced a small range of 0 gauge models. Lima partnered with various distributors and manufacturers, selling under brands such as A.H.M., Model Power, and Minitrain. Market pressures from superior Far Eastern produce in the mid-1990s led to Lima merging with Rivarossi, Arnold, and Jouef. Ultimately, these consolidations failed and operations ceased in 2004.
Hornby Railways offered €8 million to acquire Lima's assets (including tooling, inventory, and the various brand names) in March of the same year, the Italian bankruptcy court of Brescia, last headquarters of Lima, approving the offer later that year. In December 2004, Hornby Railways formally announced the acquisition along with the Rivarossi (H0 North American and Italian prototypes), Arnold (N scale European prototypes), Jouef (H0 scale French prototypes), and Pocher (die-cast metal automobile kits) ranges. As of mid-2006, a range of these products has been made available under the Hornby International brand, refitted with NEM couplings and sprung buffers and sockets for Digital Command Control (DCC) decoders.
== Formation ==
Lima (Lavorazione Italiana Metalli e Affini) was founded in 1946 as a parts supplier for the Italian state railway. In 1948, Lima switched its aluminium casting capability to producing toy boats, trains and cars.
In 1953 it started manufacturing a low budget model range. The models were gradually improved and by 1962 Lima was producing French, Belgian, Dutch and German models. Less than 10 years later, Lima was one of the largest model manufacturers in the world serving the modeling markets of the United States, Australia, Britain and South Africa. In 1977 the British model range switched from HO to 00 gauge.
Starting in 1982, Lima gradually moved into the higher quality market in mainland Europe with the introduction of better mechanisms such as Central Can Motors, flywheels and all bogie power as well as catering for niche markets.
== United Kingdom ==
Lima focused heavily on the British range in the late 1980s which had expanded hugely due to the Sectorisation strategy of the then state operator British Rail. This was possible because of their capability to do small production runs (c.500), in contrast to its main UK rival, Hornby Railways, who required a minimum run of 4,000. Consequently, Riko International, Lima's UK distributor, were able to provide models within weeks of rollout of the actual prototype.
By the mid-1990s, Lima had a swollen UK product range of over 300 models, some of questionable quality, while still producing new variations at a rate of five or more new schemes a month. A clearance campaign ran in 1993 with a mass sale of the entire range of existing stock. While this stimulated sales, demand subsequently shifted to the now considerable second-hand market. There was also an attempt to compete with Hornby and Bachmann by introducing new paint schemes on existing 1980s steam models. The distributor, Riko International went into receivership in 1999 and their replacement, The Hobby Company, commenced by commissioning further repaints and a new model, the Class 66. In early 2000, Lima finally delivered an updated Class 67 to match the improved standards in the market. However, the much-improved motor did not compensate the many other faults and failed to make an impact. This turned out to be the last completely new model from Lima and the company subsequently folded, being bought out by Hornby.
The demise of Lima in 2004 left a significant supply gap for some of the key classes of the British diesel and electric locomotives range. However, since acquiring Lima, Hornby have re-released many of these models under their own brand name. Hornby now provide updated models of the Class 08, 31, 50, 60, Class 67 and Class 92 also, re-releasing many of the much sought after Lima originals such as the Class 73 and 156.
== North America ==
Lima produced a variety of H0 models for the North American market. Initially, the quality was on par with other brands of the era, but competitors' improvements in detail and running characteristics soon relegated much of Lima's product to near toy status. At least one round of improvements was made, but Lima never quite caught up with its competition.
The company also entered N scale fairly early in the game, producing at first Continental and British outline stock, some of which was fancifully decorated for North American railroads and sold in the States under the A.H.M. brand. Eventually, Lima developed a small assortment of distinctive American equipment, including four diesel locomotives, heavyweight passenger cars, several freight cars, and a caboose. Generally, the N scale line suffered from the same lack of improvements that plagued the North American H0 offerings. HO scale is 1:87.
== Europe ==
Lima's continental outline catalogue concentrated first on French and German and then Italian and Swiss equipment. Their relatively inexpensive offerings doubtless brought many people into the hobby. A modest assortment of accessories, including operable pieces like level crossings and an intermodal terminal, as well as static structures and lineside details, enhanced the 'playtime' pleasure of building and operating a Lima-based train layout.
Lima also was one of the first to make scale models from the Scandinavian countries. Examples covered the DSB class MZ diesel locomotive with the matching coaches in a smart red livery. They made the Swedish SJ Rc locomotive with a wide range of coaches, including the rare dining and sleeping car. Also Norwegian locomotives and coaches were made. Several goods cars, for example "Tuborg" and "Carlsberg" beer cars, were made - some of these to be repeated in "0" scale. Most were simple but robust. Only the engines suffered from lack of traction and too high speed, a problem first solved much later when Roco started to set pace in the Model railway world in the 1980s.
In the 1990s, many products could compete with other significant brands and catalogues covered almost any European country both in DC/AC. However a price had to be paid for running a 300-page catalogue at the same time as demand was generally dropping overall, and Lima went bankrupt.
== Australia ==
Lima entered the Australian market in 1970 with models that matched the railways of New South Wales and Victoria reasonably well. Some models were not true representations of the prototype (the Lima XPT was just a repaint of the British HST) and all had NEM wheels and couplers. However the cheapness of Lima models made them popular with beginners and many models were super detailed by experienced modellers. The Australian Model Railway Magazine (AMRM), Issue 200, October 1996, carries a 14-page article on super-detailing the Lima New South Wales State Rail Authority 422.
For NSW, Lima produced the steam 38, and diesel-electric 42, 44 and 422 class locos. For Victoria, they produced the d-e S and B class. For South Australia, they produced the d-e 930 class. In the early 1980s, Lima also renumbered their HO British 4F steamer as a NSW 19 class in black. The Commonwealth Railways stainless steel carriage stock was also produced by Lima.
In 2006, Hornby Railways announced that some of the Lima Australian range would be re-released under the Hornby International brand from late 2007.
== Limited Editions ==
A unique feature of Lima was its capability to do production runs of less than 1,000 units versus the norm of 4,000 to 5,000. This was because the importer only ordered a volume that matched the orders received in advance by its retailers. In the mid-1990s, Lima used this flexibility to introduce a range of "limited edition" models in small quantities (550 to 850), so as to maintain sales. This commenced with a model of the Class 50, "Thunderer" issued at £33, which proved very successful, commanding over £100 within a few weeks.
Lima also took on commissions from shops that purchased the entire limited production run, these being retailed directly through their stores. This began with Cheltenham Model Centre's D1015 Western Champion. Over 100 different models were produced this way. This commercial practice provided Irish modellers, via Murphy Models of Dublin, with the first ever specific Irish scene RTR diesel locomotive, the General Motors 201 Class. Fewer than 3,000 were produced (in nine variants) and as of 2009 can still fetch over £300 at on-line auctions. In 2008, Murphy Models brought out the second specific RTR Irish Diesel Locomotive, a highly detailed Bachmann version of the CIE 141 Class.
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
Lima Classic, collector website | Wikipedia/Lima_(models) |
The use of a third rail in rail transport modelling is a technique that was once applied, in order to facilitate easier wiring.
== Early train sets ==
Pre-war train sets from makers such as Hornby were almost entirely O gauge, either clockwork or electric, with the electric sets using a three rail system. Both the track and rolling stock were made from pressed, lithographed tinplate, with a few pieces of die-cast zinc or turned brass. The third rail was insulated from the tinplate sleepers by insulating fibre washers.
Post-war, there was a shift from O gauge to half-size scales of HO and OO. Improved technology at this time, particularly for moulded plastic components, made two-rail electrification practical. Many of the new generation of scenic railway modellers scratch-built their new locomotives for two-rail, although this was far from universally accepted. Most of the commercial train set makers continued with three-rail systems for some time.
== Difficulties of two-rail ==
Using a two-rail electrification system for a model railway has a number of difficulties, for both track and rolling stock.
=== Track ===
Track obviously requires the two rails to be insulated from each other, and from the trackbed, if that is made of metal. If the track pieces are reversible, both rails must be insulated. Reliable running also requires accurate control of the track's gauge, all of which needed accurately injection-moulded plastic fittings, rather than the flexible fibre.
Pointwork was a further problem, as the frog and moving blades are connected to opposite rails, according to which direction in which the points are set. This requires either an insulated two-part frog, with the risk of poor contact to locomotives crossing it; or else an all-metal 'live' frog which must be insulated from the rails beyond the pointwork, and which usually requires an additional switch to give a reliable connection. In comparison, the three-rail system is simply isolated from the running lines.
Some layouts, such as a balloon loop, also create problems for two-rail, as they connect the opposing rails together around the loop and could require isolation.
=== Rolling stock ===
Carriages and wagons can use moulded plastic wheelsets, which are compatible with both three- and two-rail systems. Hornby Dublo introduced these in 1959, during their transition to two rail, when most users were still using three-rail layouts.
=== Locomotives ===
A two-rail locomotive must both avoid shorting the two running rails, and must also collect current from both sides independently. For a three-rail locomotive the wheels and axles are typically metal and the metal chassis may be used as a ground connection. This has the advantage that all wheels, including bogies, act as pickups. This gives a long collection length, reducing the problem of crossing supply gaps.
For two-rail, current collection is typically done by phosphor bronze spring strip collectors on the back of the wheel rims. If the wheels are insulated by using plastic wheels in metal rims, only the rim is available to a collector. Only those wheels, often two, with collector springs can collect current from the track. This can give problems for crossing gaps in pointwork. An alternative system is 'split frame' construction, which had some popularity for the early narrow gauges, such as N gauge and the modelling of narrow gauge prototypes. This uses conductive metal wheels and axles, where the axles are split in half as two sides, insulated from each other. The locomotive frames are split likewise. Rather than separate pickup springs, the axle bearings are used as the collectors. This technique is somewhat complicated for making the axles, but adapts more easily to narrower gauges. It can also easily collect current from all of the driving wheels, or even pony truck wheels too.
== Two-rail versus three-rail system ==
Early toy trains used two metal rail tracks like most real trains. However, manufacturers quickly found that using a center rail for electric power and the two outer rails for common or ground made electrical contact much more reliable and less prone to short circuits. Three rail contact also negates the need for insulated wheels, an important consideration before plastics became widely available. Most scales and gauges that predate H0 scale used three rails for electric operation.
=== Direction ===
Three-rail DC locomotives will move in the same direction, 'forwards', whenever the third rail has the same polarity, no matter which way round they are placed on the track. Two identical locomotives can move in different directions on the track, depending on which orientation they are placed on it.
In contrast, two-rail locos will move in the same direction relative to the track. If the loco is reversed, it will still move in the same (track-relative) direction. By convention, all locos are wired and geared to move consistently, so that double-heading trains is possible.
The Marklin stud contact system uses AC motors. These are independent of the supply polarity and instead use an internal switch, controlled by a higher-voltage pulse to reverse direction.
== Three-rail system ==
A key advantage for three-rail track is balloon loops, where a train enters a loop through a turnout and then exits through the same turnout in order to change the train's direction. With two-rail track, when the track reverses on itself, this causes a short circuit. With three-rail track, because the center rail remains constant and the outer rails are electrically identical, this causes no problems.
The third rail has also been used to automate and animate layouts. An accessory, such as a railway signal, can be wired to a section of track that has had one of its outer rails insulated (not grounded), either at the factory or by a hobbyist. A passing train then grounds the insulated rail, completing the circuit and causing the accessory to operate.
Insulated rails (or rail sections) can also be used to control turnouts, causing the turnout to switch to the position needed by an oncoming train.
Because of this feature, railroad cars intended for three-rail operation will not work on two-rail track unless their wheels are first insulated from each other. Cars intended for two-rail track will operate on three-rail track, but they will not activate controls wired to an insulated rail. Conversion of three-rail cars for two-rail operation, or vice versa, is thus a common practice among hobbyists. It requires either replacing the bogies (wheel assemblies) on the car, or replacing metal axles with axles made of a non-conductive material.
The main disadvantage of three-rail track is its lack of realism. While some real-world trains do use a third rail, the prototypes for the majority of model railroad operations do not. Lionel tried to improve this situation in the late 1950s with its Super O track, which blackened the middle rail and made it thinner to reduce its visibility. Other O scale manufacturers use similar techniques today.
== Stud contact ==
Märklin uses a "phantom" third rail, where the middle rail is concealed in the track ballast or ties, with only studs protruding, giving the advantages of three-rail operation without seriously detracting from its realism. This is stud contact electrification for model railways and is often used on garden railway systems. Garden railways often have a mixture of electrical and real steam locomotives, and while it is possible, insulating model steam locomotives to run on two rail electrification systems is problematic. In practice the stud system outdoors has been found to be more resistant to continuity problems caused by the outdoor environment.
== Trix twin ==
Although most three-rail systems ties the two outer rails together electrically, some manufacturers wire all three rails independently. GarGraves is a North American manufacturer of O gauge three-rail track with all of its rails insulated. Trix Express is a European manufacturer of three-rail track who insulates all three rails.
On a simple, non-computerised layout only one train can run independently on either a two or three-rail system (two trains if combined with overhead lines). On the insulated three-rail type, two trains can run independently (three trains if combined with overhead lines).
== Outside third rail ==
In the early days of railway modeling, some O scale modelers (the dominant scale at the time), made use of an outside third rail and a shoe pickup system for power. This system had the benefit of being more realistic by removing the central third rail common to O scale track, while retaining an effective power source. As technology progressed, later developments in locomotive and track design would allow for two rail operation, and ultimately rendered the practice obsolete.
== See also ==
Rail terminology
== References == | Wikipedia/Third_rail_(model_railroading) |
A model airport is a scale model of an airport.
While airport models have been around, in a way, since airfields were open to the public, early model airports were basically restricted to public showcases about the airport and its surroundings to the public; these were usually located inside the airport themselves.
Since Herpa Wings's introduction of their airport set series to their line of airline related toys, there has been an increase of aircraft modelers who have made mock airports to showcase their private collection of model aircraft. Often, the collector will model their airport after a real-life airport.
Model airports can be made to look very realistic, with many real airport features such as terminals, control towers, cargo terminals, hangars, passenger bridges and more. Companies such as Gemini Jets, Herpa Wings, and JC Wings have produced ground support equipment in various scales.
Collectors who make model airports may use die-cast models for their creation. Among the brands of die cast aircraft models most commonly used on these airports are Aeroclassics, Herpa Wings, Dragon Models Limited, Gemini Jets, Phoenix Models, JC Wings, and NG Model.
In 2011, what may be the world's largest model airport opened for public view at Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. The model, named Knuffingen International Airport, is based on Hamburg International Airport.
Another popular park in Europe, Madurodam in the Netherlands includes a model airport featuring models of several airlines such as KLM, Emirates, Lufthansa, EVA Air, Turkish Airlines, UPS Airlines, Transavia, Thai Airways, Korean Air, Delta Air Lines, and an A380 of Singapore Airlines, alongside a DHL-branded Airbus A300. The Madurodam airport is based on Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
In addition, the TWA Hotel in New York features a model airport that demonstrates the way the TWA airline's operation center used to look like at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport in the 1960s and 1970s. This model airport was made using TWA model aircraft and runways and buildings in the 1:400 scale.
== See also ==
Diorama
Model building
== References == | Wikipedia/Model_airport |
The Hasegawa Corporation (株式会社ハセガワ, Kabushiki Gaisha Hasegawa) is a Japanese company that manufactures plastic model kits of a variety of vehicles, including aircraft, cars, ships, military vehicles, model armor, model space craft, and science fiction kits.
Based in Shizuoka, Hasegawa competes against its neighbor, Tamiya, though it does not have as large a line of products.
Primarily using polystyrene, Hasegawa kits are typically regarded as very accurate, but without quite the ease-of-assembly that Tamiya kits offer, though of very high standard nonetheless. Currently, Hasegawa kits are imported into North America by Hobbico's Great Planes Model Distributor division. Hasegawa ended their long-time agreement with Dragon Models Limited for US distribution in early 2010. Hasegawa also imports Revell kits into Japan and sells them under both the Revell brand and its own brand label, and Revell frequently re-boxes Hasegawa kits for the European and North American markets.
Lacking their own lineup of paint products, Hasegawa kits come with instructions that specify the use of Gunze Sangyo products, most notably paints in the GSI Creos brand. This is in contrast to Tamiya, who specifies the use of its in-house brands.
Hasegawa is noted for releasing a large number of minor variations of their major products, often adding or modifying a small number of parts, or only changing the decals for the kit. This strategy allows them to maximize their return on their investment in kit tooling quicker, as such minor variations cost little to produce compared to the cost of manufacturing the original. Most such variations are usually only released once.
== History ==
In 1941, the Hasegawa factory opened as a manufacturer of wooden teaching materials, such as a woodwork models. It entered into the plastic model field in 1961, with its first plastic model "glider" airplane models. In the following June 1962, the "1/450 battleship Yamato" was released after high development costs and became a success with about 150,000 units sold in the same year, and continuing success in the following years. The profitable line of 1/90 F-104 Starfighter and 1/70 P-51 Mustang model kits became the turning point which prompted Hasegawa to turn away from woodwork models and to plastic models completely.
== External links ==
Official website (in English)
(in English) Examplar build of 1/8 Sopwith Camel Museum Model | Wikipedia/Hasegawa_(model_company) |
Fleischmann is a German manufacturer of model railway products. Fleischmann was founded in Nuremberg in 1887 by Jean Fleischmann, as a toy company. Their first model train, in O scale, was produced in 1938. Their first H0 scale products were introduced in 1952 and their N scale "Piccolo" product line in 1969.
Nowadays, Fleischmann is a well-established brand name in the German model railway industry, rivalling Märklin in market share. Since they focus almost exclusively on central European prototypes, Fleischmann is relatively unknown outside that area. Most Fleischmann H0 products are made for the two-rail direct current system, but they make three-rail, Märklin-compatible versions of some locomotives, as well as replacement non-insulated wheelsets for use with their wagons on three-rail systems.
== History ==
At the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1952, Fleischmann first began presenting its very own lineup of H0 scale models. Building off their prior preference to use 2 rail DC, the technology was implemented into the H0 scale, making Fleischmann the first company to offer such a product line. Since its early introduction, it was the company's intention to completely exploit this technology, and give its fans the opportunity to determine the direction of the trains in advance. The tough metal tracks with discreet cardboard sleepers was indication of Fleischmann's objective, and was the base for the perfected track line used in layouts today. In conjunction with the track, and a full assortment of accessories for the model railroad layout, H0 tycoons were presented with a class 01 tender loco, a class 80 tank loco, and a class E44 electric loco since the very origin of the product line.
Fleischmann offers a model track with full profile rails, "thinking" turnouts, a turntable, and even a rack & pinion railway. Its more recent lineup includes the PROFI label, which consists of the pre-ballasted track, PROFI couplings for true close coupling operation, and even the tilt technology found in both the Pendolino and the ICE-T express train.
In February 2008 Fleischmann was taken over by Modelleisenbahn München GmbH, which also owns Roco. The two companies continue as separate brands under Modelleisenbahn München GmbH, while benefiting from economies of scale through joined development projects, marketing and procurement. In August 2017 the two companies were put up for sale by Modelleisenbahn München GmbH.
In March 2018 it was reported that the Fleischmann brand would from 2019 and onwards only cover the company's N scale products, while the H0 production would be designated the Roco brand. Many Fleischmann H0 models have since been issued as Roco H0 models.
== References ==
== External links ==
Fleischmann official homepage
Fleischmann US distributor
Online database of Fleischmann H0 models
(in German) News item on Roco takeover | Wikipedia/Fleischmann_(model_railroads) |
The Sydney Model Railway Exhibition is an annual railway modelling exhibition, which is held on the Labour Day long weekend in October in Sydney. It is organised by the New South Wales Branch of the Australian Model Railway Association (AMRA).
The Exhibition was first held in 1962 in Burwood, and since then, the Exhibition has been held annually: first at Burwood at the Police-Citizens Boys Club, and then at the Lower Sydney Town Hall. In 1977 the Exhibition moved to the Ford and Mazda pavilions at the Sydney Showground (Moore Park), before moving to the Whitlam Centre in Liverpool in 1984. The Exhibition was held at the Hurstville Leisure and Aquatic Centre in 2005, when the Whitlam Centre at Liverpool was being renovated. The 2019 Exhibition is to be held, for the first time, at the Southee Pavilion at Sydney Olympic Park.
It includes various layouts and commercial stands of the following gauges:
G scale
O scale
On30 scale
00 scale
HO Scale
HOn3 1/2 scale
HOn 2 1/2 scaleAustr
N scale
Z scale
The programme sponsors a vote of favourite layout, for which the winner receives a prize (usually, but not always, a train set). In the past, "The Train Shed" has operated a ride-on Thomas the Tank Engine for children at the show. Ride-on train rides are now operated by the North-West Model Engineers. There is also a "U-Drive" display that allows visitors to operate working scale models of Thomas the Tank Engine and Australian prototype trains.
In 2005, the Association moved the exhibition to the Hurstville leisure centre for 2005 and 2006 before returning to the Whitlam Centre from 2007 onwards. This model railway exhibition is one of the oldest and largest model railway exhibitions in Australia. In 2012 the Australian Model Railway Association celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Sydney Model Railway Exhibition.
In September 2023, the AMRA NSW Branch announced on Facebook that the 2019 exhibition ran at a loss, and COVID had prevented exhibitions in 2020 - 2022. AMRA NSW stated that it "is not currently in the position to host the Sydney Model Railway Exhibition, not in 2023, not in 2024, and not for the foreseeable future."
== References == | Wikipedia/Sydney_Model_Railway_Exhibition |
The Hara Model Railway Museum (原鉄道模型博物館, Hara Tetsudō Mokei Hakubutsukan) is a model railway museum in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan, which opened on 10 July 2012. Managed by Mitsui Fudosan, the museum houses the extensive collection of model trains built and amassed by the Japanese model railway enthusiast Nobutaro Hara (原 信太郎, Hara Nobutarō). The museum covers an area of approximately 1,700 m², with the display area covering an area of approximately 1,200 m².
== Exhibits ==
Approximately 1,000 items from Hara's private collection of more than 6,000 model railway items are on display. The centrepiece of the museum is a 30-metre x 10 metre diorama called "Ichiban Tetsumo Park" (いちばんテツモパーク) which features "1 gauge" (45 mm gauge) model trains from around the world, and has approximately 450 metres of track. The layout features working overhead lines to power trains via their pantographs. The collection also includes the original models of Thomas the Tank Engine and several of the other characters from the production of Thomas & Friends prior to 2009 when the show was switched to CGI animation, some of which occasionally operate on the layout.
Exhibits on display include models in 1 gauge (45 mm gauge, 1/32 scale), 0 gauge, and H0 gauge.
== History ==
The museum was unveiled to the news media on 20 June 2012 ahead of its public opening on 10 July.
== Nobutaro Hara ==
The owner of the collection, Nobutaro Hara, was born in Tokyo on 4 April 1919, and built his first model train at the age of 13. He studied mechanical engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. After World War II, Hara worked as a development engineer for the office equipment company Kokuyo. In his spare time, he continued to build and collect model trains, travelling to some 380 (?) different countries and building up a collection of over 6,000 items. Over the years, he received a number of invitations from museums to exhibit his models, but always refused. He finally agreed to lend part of his collection to Mitsui Fudosan because the museum was located in Yokohama, the terminal of Japan's first railway, from Shimbashi in Tokyo. Hara died on 5 July 2014 at the age of 95.
== Access ==
The museum is located on the second floor of the Yokohama Mitsui Building in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, and is a two-minute walk from Shin-Takashima Station on the Minatomirai Line, and a five-minute walk from Yokohama Station.
=== Address ===
1-1-2 Takashima, Nishi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website (in Japanese) | Wikipedia/Hara_Model_Railway_Museum |
Chemical milling or industrial etching is the subtractive manufacturing process of using baths of temperature-regulated etching chemicals to remove material to create an object with the desired shape. Other names for chemical etching include photo etching, chemical etching, photo chemical etching and photochemical machining. It is mostly used on metals, though other materials are increasingly important. It was developed from armor-decorating and printing etching processes developed during the Renaissance as alternatives to engraving on metal. The process essentially involves bathing the cutting areas in a corrosive chemical known as an etchant, which reacts with the material in the area to be cut and causes the solid material to be dissolved; inert substances known as maskants are used to protect specific areas of the material as resists.
== History ==
Organic chemicals such as lactic acid and citric acid have been used to etch metals and create products as early as 400 BCE, when vinegar was used to corrode lead and create the pigment ceruse, also known as white lead. Most modern chemical milling methods involve alkaline etchants; these may have been used as early as the first century CE.
Armor etching, using strong mineral acids, was not developed until the fifteenth century. Etchants mixed from salt, charcoal, and vinegar were applied to plate armor that had been painted with a maskant of linseed-oil paint. The etchant would bite into the unprotected areas, causing the painted areas to be raised into relief. Etching in this manner allowed armor to be decorated as if with precise engraving, but without the existence of raised burrs; it also prevented the necessity of the armor being softer than an engraving tool. Late in the seventeenth century, etching became used to produce the graduations on measuring instruments; the thinness of lines that etching could produce allowed for the production of more precise and accurate instruments than were possible before. Not long after, it became used to etch trajectory information plates for cannon and artillery operators; paper would rarely survive the rigors of combat, but an etched plate could be quite durable. Often such information (normally ranging marks) was etched onto equipment such as stiletto daggers or shovels.
In 1782, the discovery was made by John Senebier that certain resins lost their solubility to turpentine when exposed to light; that is, they hardened. This allowed the development of photochemical milling, where a liquid maskant is applied to the entire surface of a material, and the outline of the area to be masked created by exposing it to UV light. Photo-chemical milling was extensively used in the development of photography methods, allowing light to create impressions on metal plates.
One of the earliest uses of chemical etching to mill commercial parts was in 1927, when the Swedish company Aktiebolaget Separator patented a method of producing edge filters by chemically milling the gaps in the filters. Later, around the 1940s, it became widely used to machine thin samples of very hard metal; photo-etching from both sides was used to cut sheet metal, foil, and shim stock to create shims, recording heat frets, and other components.
== Application ==
Etching has applications in the printed circuit board and semiconductor fabrication industries. It is also used in the aerospace industry to remove shallow layers of material from large aircraft components, missile skin panels, and extruded parts for airframes. Etching is used widely to manufacture integrated circuits and Microelectromechanical systems. In addition to the standard, liquid-based techniques, the semiconductor industry commonly uses plasma etching.
== Process ==
Chemical milling is normally performed in a series of five steps: cleaning, masking, scribing, etching, and demasking. Video of chemical milling process Learn more about the video
=== Cleaning ===
Cleaning is the preparatory process of ensuring that the surface to be etched is free of contaminants which could negatively impact the quality of the finished part. An improperly cleaned surface could result in poor adhesion of the maskant, causing areas to be etched erroneously, or a non-uniform etch rate which could result in inaccurate final dimensions. The surface must be kept free from oils, grease, primer coatings, markings and other residue from the marking out process, scale (oxidation), and any other foreign contaminants. For most metals, this step can be performed by applying a solvent substance to the surface to be etched, washing away foreign contaminants. The material may also be immersed in alkaline cleaners or specialized de-oxidizing solutions. It is common practice in modern industrial chemical etching facilities that the workpiece never be directly handled after this process, as oils from human skin could easily contaminate the surface.
=== Masking ===
Masking is the process of applying the maskant material to the surface to ensure that only desired areas are etched. Liquid maskants may be applied via dip-masking, in which the part is dipped into an open tank of maskant and then the maskant dried. Maskant may also be applied by flow coating: liquid maskant is flowed over the surface of the part. Certain conductive maskants may also be applied by electrostatic deposition, where electrical charges are applied to particles of maskant as it is sprayed onto the surface of the material. The charge causes the particles of maskant to adhere to the surface.
==== Maskant types ====
The maskant to be used is determined primarily by the chemical used to etch the material, and the material itself. The maskant must adhere to the surface of the material, and it must also be chemically inert enough with regard to the etchant to protect the workpiece. Most modern chemical milling processes use maskants with an adhesion around 350 g cm−1; if the adhesion is too strong, the scribing process may be too difficult to perform. If the adhesion is too low, the etching area may be imprecisely defined. Most industrial chemical milling facilities use maskants based upon neoprene elastomers or isobutylene-isoprene copolymers.
=== Scribing ===
Scribing is the removal of maskant on the areas to be etched. For decorative applications, this is often done by hand through the use of a scribing knife, etching needle or similar tool; modern industrial applications may involve an operator scribing with the aid of a template or use computer numerical control to automate the process. For parts involving multiple stages of etching, complex templates using colour codes and similar devices may be used.
=== Etching ===
Etching is the immersion of the part into the chemical bath, and the action of the chemical on the part to be milled. The time spent immersed in the chemical bath determines the depth of the resulting etch; this time is calculated via the formula:
E
=
s
t
{\displaystyle E={\frac {s}{t}}}
where E is the rate of etching (usually abbreviated to etch rate), s is the depth of the cut required, and t is the total immersion time. Etch rate varies based on factors such as the concentration and composition of the etchant, the material to be etched, and temperature conditions. Due to its inconstant nature, etch rate is often determined experimentally immediately prior to the etching process. A small sample of the material to be cut, of the same material specification, heat-treatment condition, and approximately the same thickness is etched for a certain time; after this time, the depth of the etch is measured and used with the time to calculate the etch rate. Aluminium is commonly etched at rates around 0.178 cm/h, and magnesium about 0.46 cm/h.
=== Demasking ===
Demasking is the process of clearing the part of etchant and maskant. Etchant is generally removed with a wash of clear, cold water. A de-oxidizing bath may also be required in the common case that the etching process left a film of oxide on the surface of the material. Various methods may be used to remove the maskant, the most common being hand removal using scraping tools. This is frequently time-consuming and laborious, and for large-scale processes may be automated.
== Common etchants ==
For aluminium
sodium hydroxide
Keller's reagent
For steels
hydrochloric and nitric acids
ferric chloride for stainless steels
Nital (a mixture of nitric acid and ethanol, methanol, or methylated spirits for mild steels.
2% Nital is common etchant for plain carbon steels.
For copper
cupric chloride
ferric chloride
ammonium persulfate
ammonia
25-50% nitric acid.
hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide
For silica
hydrofluoric acid
== See also ==
Photochemical machining
Etching (microfabrication)
Electroetching
== Notes ==
== References ==
Harris, William T. (1976). Chemical Milling: The Technology of Cutting Materials by Etching. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-859115-2. | Wikipedia/Industrial_etching |
Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, 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, cranes, and landscapes including: countryside, roads, bridges, buildings, vehicles, harbors, urban landscape, model figures, lights, and features such as rivers, hills, tunnels, and canyons.
The earliest model railways were the 'carpet railways' in the 1840s. The first documented model railway was the Railway of the Prince Imperial (French: Chemin de fer du Prince Impérial) built in 1859 by Emperor Napoleon III for his then 3-year-old son, also Napoleon, in the grounds of the Château de Saint-Cloud in Paris. It was powered by clockwork and ran in a figure-of-eight. Electric trains appeared around the start of the 20th century, but these were crude likenesses. Model trains today are more realistic, in addition to being much more technologically advanced. Today modellers create model railway layouts, often recreating real locations and periods throughout history.
The world's oldest working model railway is a model designed to train signalmen on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. It is located in the National Railway Museum, York, England and dates back to 1912. It remained in use until 1995. The model was built as a training exercise by apprentices of the company's Horwich Works and supplied with rolling stock by Bassett-Lowke.
== 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).
Modellers may collect model trains, building a landscape for the trains to pass through. They may also operate their own railroad in miniature. For some modellers, the goal of building a layout is to eventually run it as if it were a real railroad (if the layout is based on the fancy of the builder) or as the real railroad did (if the layout is based on a prototype). If modellers choose to model a prototype, they may reproduce track-by-track reproductions of the real railroad in miniature, often using prototype track diagrams and historic maps.
Layouts vary from a circle or oval of track to realistic reproductions of real places modelled to scale. Probably the largest model landscape in the UK is in the Pendon Museum in Oxfordshire, UK, where an EM gauge (same 1:76.2 scale as 00 but with more accurate track gauge) model of the Vale of White Horse in the 1930s is under construction. The museum also houses one of the earliest scenic models – the Madder Valley layout built by John Ahern. This was built in the late 1930s to late 1950s and brought in realistic modelling, receiving coverage on both sides of the Atlantic in the magazines Model Railway News and Model Railroader. Bekonscot in Buckinghamshire is the oldest model village and includes a model railway, dating from the 1930s. The world's largest model railroad in H0 scale is the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. The largest live steam layout, with 25 miles (40 km) of track is Train Mountain in Chiloquin, Oregon, U.S.
Operations form an important aspect of rail transport modelling with many layouts being dedicated to emulating the operational aspects of a working railway. These layouts can become extremely complex with multiple routes, movement patterns and timetabled operation. The British outline model railway of Banbury Connections in New South Wales, Australia, is one of the world's most complicated model railways.
Model railroad clubs exist where enthusiasts meet. Clubs often display models for the public. One specialist branch concentrates on larger scales and gauges, commonly using track gauges from 3.5 to 7.5 inches (89 to 191 mm). Models in these scales are usually hand-built and powered by live steam, or diesel-hydraulic, and the engines are often powerful enough to haul dozens of human passengers.
The Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) at MIT in the 1950s pioneered automatic control of track-switching by using telephone relays.
The oldest society is 'The Model Railway Club' (established 1910), near Kings Cross, London, UK. As well as building model railways, it has 5,000 books and periodicals. Similarly, 'The Historical Model Railway Society' at Butterley, near Ripley, Derbyshire specialises in historical matters and has archives available to members and non-members.
== Scales and gauges ==
The words scale and gauge seem at first interchangeable but their meanings are different. Scale is the model's measurement as a proportion to the original, while gauge is the measurement between the rails.
The size of engines depends on the scale and can vary from 700 mm (27.6 in) tall for the largest rideable live steam scales such as 1:4, down to matchbox size for the smallest: Z-scale (1:220) or T scale (1:450). A typical HO (1:87) engine is 50 mm (1.97 in) tall, and 100 to 300 mm (3.94 to 11.81 in) long. The most popular scales are: G scale, Gauge 1, O scale, S scale, HO scale (in Britain, the similar OO), TT scale, and N scale (1:160 in the United States, but 1:148 in the UK). HO and OO are the most popular. Popular narrow-gauge scales include Sn3, HOn3 and Nn3, which are the same in scale as S, HO and N except with a narrower spacing between the tracks (in these examples, a scale 3 ft (914 mm) instead of the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge).
The largest common scale is 1:8, with 1:4 sometimes used for park rides. G scale (Garden, 1:24 scale) is most popular for backyard modelling. It is easier to fit a G scale model into a garden and keep scenery proportional to the trains. Gauge 1 and Gauge 3 are also popular for gardens. O, S, HO, and N scale are more often used indoors.
At first, model railways were not to scale. Aided by trade associations such as the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) and Normen Europäischer Modellbahnen (NEM), manufacturers and hobbyists soon arrived at de facto standards for interchangeability, such as gauge, but trains were only a rough approximation to the real thing. Official scales for the gauges were drawn up but not at first rigidly followed and not necessarily correctly proportioned for the gauge chosen. 0 (zero) gauge trains, for instance, operate on track too widely spaced in the United States as the scale is accepted as 1:48 whereas in Britain 0 gauge uses a ratio of 43.5:1 or 7 mm/1 foot and the gauge is near to correct. British OO standards operate on track significantly too narrow. The 4 mm/1 foot scale on a 16.5 mm (0.65 in) gauge corresponds to a track gauge of 4 ft 1+1⁄2 in (1,257 mm), 7 inches or 178 millimetres (undersized). 16.5 mm (0.65 in) gauge corresponds to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge in H0 (half-0) 3.5 mm/1 foot or 1:87.1. This arose due to British locomotives and rolling stock being smaller than those found elsewhere, leading to an increase in scale to enable H0 scale mechanisms to be used. Most commercial scales have standards that include wheel flanges that are too deep, wheel treads that are too wide, and rail tracks that are too large. In H0 scale, the rail heights are codes 100, 87, 83, 70, 55, 53, and 40 -- the height in thousandths of an inch from base to railhead (so code 100 is a tenth of an inch and represents 156-pound rail).
Later, modellers became dissatisfied with inaccuracies and developed standards in which everything is correctly scaled. These are used by modellers but have not spread to mass-production because the inaccuracies and overscale properties of the commercial scales ensure reliable operation and allow for shortcuts necessary for cost control. The finescale standards include the UK's P4, and the even finer S4, which uses track dimensions scaled from the prototype. This 4 mm:1 ft modelling uses wheels 2 mm (0.079 in) or less wide running on track with a gauge of 18.83 mm (0.741 in). Check-rail and wing-rail clearances are similarly accurate.
A compromise of P4 and OO is "EM" which uses a gauge of 18.2 mm (0.717 in) with more generous tolerances than P4 for check clearances. It gives a better appearance than OO though pointwork is not as close to reality as P4. It suits many where time and improved appearance are important. There is a small following of finescale OO which uses the same 16.5mm gauge as OO, but with the finer scale wheels and smaller clearances as used with EM- it is essentially 'EM-minus-1.7mm.'
== Modules ==
Many groups build modules, which are sections of layouts, and can be joined together to form a larger layout, for meetings or for special occasions. For each kind of module system, there is an interface standard, so that modules made by different participants may be connected, even if they have never been connected before. Many of these module types are listed in the Layout standards organizations section of this article.
== Couplers and connectors ==
In addition to different scales, there are also different types of couplers for connecting cars, which are not compatible with each other.
In HO, the Americans standardized on horn-hook, or X2F couplers. Horn hook couplers have largely given way to a design known as a working knuckle coupler which was popularized by the Kadee Quality Products Co., and which has subsequently been emulated by a number of other manufactures in recent years. Working knuckle couplers are a closer approximation to the "automatic" couplers used on the prototype there and elsewhere. Also in HO, the European manufacturers have standardized, but on a coupler mount, not a coupler: many varieties of coupler can be plugged in (and out) of the NEM coupler box. None of the popular couplers has any resemblance to the prototype three-link chains generally used on the continent.
For British modellers, whose most popular scale is OO, the normal coupler is a tension-lock coupler, which, again has no pretence of replicating the usual prototype three-link chain couplers. Bachmann and more recently Hornby have begun to offer models fitted with NEM coupler pockets. This theoretically enables modellers of British railways to substitute any other NEM362 coupler, though many Bachmann models place the coupler pocket at the wrong height. A fairly common alternative is to use representations of chain couplings as found on the prototype, though these require large radius curves to be used to avoid derailments.
Other scales have similar ranges of non-compatible couplers available. In all scales couplers can be exchanged, with varying degrees of difficulty.
== Landscaping ==
Some modellers pay attention to landscaping their layout, creating a fantasy world or modelling an actual location, often historic. Landscaping is termed "scenery building" or "scenicking".
Constructing scenery involves preparing a sub-terrain using a wide variety of building materials, including (but not limited to) screen wire, a lattice of cardboard strips, or carved stacks of expanded polystyrene (styrofoam) sheets. A scenery base is applied over the sub-terrain; typical base include casting plaster, plaster of Paris, hybrid paper-pulp (papier-mâché) or a lightweight foam/fiberglass/bubblewrap composite as in Geodesic Foam Scenery.
The scenery base is covered with substitutes for ground cover, which may be Static Grass or scatter. Scatter or flock is a substance used in the building of dioramas and model railways to simulate the effect of grass, poppies, fireweed, track ballast and other scenic ground cover. Scatter used to simulate track ballast is usually fine-grained ground granite. Scatter which simulates coloured grass is usually tinted sawdust, wood chips or ground foam. Foam or natural lichen or commercial scatter materials can be used to simulate shrubbery. An alternative to scatter, for grass, is static grass which uses static electricity to make its simulated grass actually stand up.
Buildings and structures can be purchased as kits, or built from cardboard, balsa wood, basswood, other soft woods, paper, or polystyrene or other plastic. Trees can be fabricated from materials such as Western sagebrush, candytuft, and caspia, to which adhesive and model foliage are applied; or they can be bought ready-made from specialist manufacturers. Water can be simulated using polyester casting resin, polyurethane, or rippled glass. Rocks can be cast in plaster or in plastic with a foam backing. Castings can be painted with stains to give colouring and shadows.
== Weathering ==
Weathering refers to making a model look used and exposed to weather by simulating dirt and wear on real vehicles, structures and equipment. Most models come out of the box looking new, because unweathered finishes are easier to produce. Also, the wear a freight car or building undergoes depends not only on age but where it is used. Rail cars in cities accumulate grime from building and automobile exhaust and graffiti, while cars in deserts may be subjected to sandstorms which etch or strip paint. A model that is weathered would not fit as many layouts as a pristine model which can be weathered by its purchaser.
There are many weather techniques that include, but are not limited to, painting (by either drybrushing or an airbrush), sanding, breaking, and even the use of chemicals to cause corrosion. Some processes become very creative depending on the skill of the modeller. For instance several steps may be taken to create a rusting effect to ensure not only proper colouring, but also proper texture and lustre.
Weathering purchased models is common, at the least, weathering aims to reduce the plastic-like finish of scale models. The simulation of grime, rust, dirt, and wear adds realism. Some modellers simulate fuel stains on tanks, or corrosion on battery boxes. In some cases, evidence of accidents or repairs may be added, such as dents or freshly painted replacement parts, and weathered models can be nearly indistinguishable from their prototypes when photographed appropriately.
== Methods of power ==
Static diorama models or "push along" scale models are a branch of model railways for unpowered locomotives, examples are Lone Star and Airfix models. Powered model railways are now generally operated by low voltage direct current (DC) electricity supplied via the tracks, but there are exceptions, such as Märklin and Lionel Corporation, which use alternating current (AC). Modern Digital Command Control (DCC) systems use alternating current. Other locomotives, particularly large models, can use steam. Steam and clockwork-driven engines are still sought by collectors.
=== Clockwork ===
Most early models for the toy market were powered by clockwork and controlled by levers on the locomotive. Although this made control crude the models were large and robust enough that handling the controls was practical. Various manufacturers introduced slowing and stopping tracks that could trigger levers on the locomotive and allow station stops.
=== Electricity ===
Three-rail
The first miniature electric trains used a three-rail track, with non-insulated wheels resting on the two outer rails that were in contact with the metal sleepers. The insulated central rail supplied the current to a skid under the locomotive. The outer rails ensured the return of the current. The current was alternating, supplied by the domestic network, lowered by various means (transformer or serial resistances). This kind of track made sense at the time as models were metal and conductive. Modern plastics were not available and insulation was a problem. In addition the notion of accurate models had yet to evolve and toy trains and track were crude tinplate.
In 1938, Hornby, a manufacturer of ‘O’ scale model trains in the UK, launched a range of ‘OO’ scale electric trains (Hornby Dublo) with 1/76 scale rolling stock using 1/87 scale 16.5 mm wide track with a third centre rail. The power supply was 12 V DC and the track was equipped with an electrically insulated central rail and two non-insulated running rails. In 1959 Hornby abandoned its three-rail track in favour of a two-rail track for its ‘OO’ scale electric trains.
Other systems such as Märklin instead used, since 1953, fine metal studs to replace the central rail, allowing existing three-rail models to use more realistic track.
A variation on the three-rail system, early introduced by Trix in 1935, used a track with three insulated rails that allowed two trains to be independently controlled on the same track. The use of a catenary made it possible for three trains to be independently controlled. The center rail ensured the common return of the current. That system, known as Trix Express or Trix Twin in the UK, which first used alternative current and then direct current after 1953, was abandoned in 1997 when Märklin took over Trix. This three-rail system enabled DC and AC locomotives to run on the same track.
Two-rail
When DC motors with more powerful magnets began to be used for model trains in the 1950s, the two-rail track was generally preferred because at the same time accuracy became important. The two insulated rails from each other are to be used with insulated wheels on the same axle. In the direction of travel, the right-hand rail carries the positive potential and the left-hand rail the negative. This system excludes certain track layouts such as the reversing loop, the reversing triangle and the diagonal in a circle without insulated sections and suitable cabling.
Overhead line
Where the model is of an electric locomotive, it may be supplied by overhead lines, like the full-size locomotive. Before Digital Command Control became available, this was one way of controlling two trains separately on the same track. The electric-outline model would be supplied by the overhead wire and the other model could be supplied by one of the running rails. The other running rail would act as a common return.
Battery
Early electric trains ran on trackside batteries because few homes in the late 19th century and early 20th century had electricity. Today, inexpensive train sets running on batteries are again common but regarded as toys and seldom used by hobbyists. Batteries located in the model often power garden railway and larger scale systems because of the difficulty in obtaining reliable power supply through the outdoor rails. The high-power consumption and current draw of large-scale garden models is more easily and safely met with internal rechargeable batteries. Most large-scale battery-powered models use radio control.
=== Live steam ===
Engines powered by live steam are often built in large outdoor gauges of 5 inches (130 mm) and 7+1⁄2 inches (190 mm), are also available in Gauge 1, G scale, 16 mm scale and can be found in O and OO/HO. Hornby Railways produce live steam locomotives in OO, based on designs first arrived at by an amateur modeller. Other modellers have built live steam models in HO/OO, OO9 and N, and there is one in Z in Australia.
=== Internal combustion ===
Occasionally gasoline-electric models, patterned after real diesel-electric locomotives, come up among hobbyists and companies like Pilgrim Locomotive Works have sold such locomotives. Large-scale petrol-mechanical and petrol-hydraulic models are available but unusual and pricier than the electrically powered versions.
== Scratch building ==
Modern manufacturing techniques can allow mass-produced models to cost-effectively 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 moulds 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.
== Control ==
The first clockwork (spring-drive) and live steam locomotives ran until out of power, with no way for the operator to stop and restart the locomotive or vary its speed. The advent of electric trains, which appeared commercially in the 1890s, allowed control of the speed by varying the current or voltage. As trains began to be powered by transformers and rectifiers more sophisticated throttles appeared, and soon trains powered by AC contained mechanisms to change direction or go into neutral gear when the operator cycled the power. Trains powered by DC can change direction by reversing polarity.
Electricity permits control by dividing the layout into isolated blocks, where trains can be slowed or stopped by lowering or cutting power to a block. Dividing a layout into blocks permits operators to run more than one train with less risk of a fast train catching and hitting a slow train. Blocks can also trigger signals or other accessories, adding realism or whimsy. Three-rail systems often insulate one of the common rails on a section of track, and use a passing train to complete the circuit and activate an accessory.
Many layout builders are choosing digital operation of their layouts rather than the more traditional DC design. Of the several competing systems, the command system offered by the majority of manufacturers in 2020 was a variant of Digital Command Control (DCC). The advantages of DCC are that track voltage is constant (usually in the range of 20 volts AC) and the command throttle sends a signal to small circuit cards, or decoders, hidden inside the piece of equipment which control several functions of an individual locomotive, including speed, direction of travel, lights, smoke and various sound effects. This allows more realistic operation in that the modeller can operate independently several locomotives on the same stretch of track. Several manufacturers also offer software that can provide computer-control of DCC layouts.
In large scales, particularly for garden railways, radio control and DCC in the garden have become popular.
== Model railway manufacturers ==
Model railways
== Magazines ==
== Layout standards organizations ==
Several organizations exist to set standardizations for connectibility between individual layout sections (commonly called "modules"). This is so several (or hundreds, given enough space and power) people or groups can bring together their own modules, connect them together with as little trouble as possible, and operate their trains. Despite different design and operation philosophies, different organizations have similar goals; standardized ends to facilitate connection with other modules built to the same specifications, standardized electricals, equipment, curve radii.
ausTRAK, N Scale, two-track main with hidden third track (can be used as NTRAK's third main, as a return/continuous loop, or hidden yard/siding/on-line storage). Australian scenery and rolling stock modelled in Standard Gauge.
FREMO a European-based organisation focusing on a single-track line, HO Scale. Also sets standards for N Scale modules. Standards are considerably more flexible in module shape than NTRAK, and has expanded over the years to accommodate several scenery variations.
Free-mo Originally developed by the San Luis Obispo Model Railroad Club in 1995 (California), it has grown across North America and is expanding across the world. The objective of the Free-mo Standard is to provide a platform for prototype modelling in a flexible, modular environment. Free-mo modules not only provide track to operate realistic models, but also emphasize realistic, plausible scenery; realistic, reliable trackwork; and operations. Free-Mo was designed to go beyond the traditional closed-loop set-up in creating a truly universal "free-form" modular design that is operations-oriented and heavily influenced by prototype railroading. This is emphasized in the Free-mo motto, "More than Just a Standard".
MOROP, European Union of Model Railroad and Railroad Fans, the European standardization organisation.
NEM, The German modelling standards organisation.
NMRA, National Model Railroad Association, the largest organization devoted to the development, promotion, and enjoyment of the hobby of model railroading.
N-orma, Polish N-scale (1:160) modules organization.
NTRAK, standardized three-track (heavy operation) mainline with several optional branchlines. Focuses on standard gauge, but also has specifications for narrow gauge. Due to its popularity, it can be found in regional variations, most notably the imperial-to-metric measurement conversions. Tends to be used more for "unattended display" than "operation".
oNeTRAK, operationally similar to FREMO, standardises around a single-track mainline, with modules of varying sizes and shapes. Designed with the existing NTRAK spec in mind, is fully compatible with such modules.
Sipping and Switching Society of NC is a society/association of individuals which has developed a system of HO modules, which feature lightweight waffle construction using 5 mm lauan plywood underlayment and an interface which depends on using a metal template to locate 1-inch (25 mm) pegs to mate to 1-inch holes in the adjoining module. The rails of the tracks are positioned in an exact relationship with the pegs. The rails come up to the end of the modules, so that the rails on adjacent modules do not need joiner track, but depend on the accuracy of the placement of the rails to allow trains to pass from one section to another. This style of module allows for very quick set-up, compared with module systems that use joiner tracks.
sTTandard, Polish TT-scale (1:120) modules organization.
T-TRAK, is a modular system that uses table-top modules, 2+3⁄4 inches (70 mm) high, which set on tables, that are not part of the modules, but are often found at sites which members meet. It uses a specific track interface, which has joiners which hold the modules together, which enables quick setting up and taking down.
Z-Bend Track, uses a double-track mainline running down both sides of a module. Modules can be of any length or width in the middle and any overall shape. The "standard" called Z-Bend Track applies only to the last 5 inches (130 mm) of the module's interface to other modules, the electrical interface and the module height.
== In popular culture ==
In the 1990 film Back to the Future III, Doc brown builds a "crude" electrified model rail "not to scale" to demonstrate his time travel experiment to Marty in 1885.
In Hinterland Season 1, Episode 4 ("The Girl in the Water"), a semi-recluse who lives and works at Borth railway station maintains a model train set with custom made components; the set and certain components contribute to a death as well as provide important clues to a murder investigation. During the investigation, DCI Tom Mathias reveals that his late brother was a model train aficionado.
In The Sopranos, Bobby Baccalieri is a model train aficionado. He is shown wearing an engineer's cap while playing with model trains in his garage.
In The Simpsons, Reverend Lovejoy is often depicted playing with his model trains when not on ecumenical duty, often while wearing a conductor's uniform and hat. His character may be a nod to the real life Reverend W. Awdry.
In Trailer Park Boys, Season 7 Episode 4, "Friends of the Dead", heavy metal singer Sebastian Bach is a featured guest at the Bangor model train convention and is introduced as "our Competitive Model Train World Champion". He expresses a dislike of alleged rival model train competitor Patrick Swayze. Attendees at the family event are shocked by Sebastian's use of obscenities as he attempts to work the crowd in a rock concert fashion shouting, "I know, I just know, that there are some great f**king trains here in Bangor!"
In That '90s Show, Red Forman runs a model railway in the garage after he retired.
== See also ==
Displays and famous layouts
Groups dedicated to railway modelling
== References ==
== External links ==
The National Model Railroad Association, USA – the largest model railroad organization in the world
The Model Railway Club, UK – the oldest known society in the world – established 1910
Associazione Ferrovie Siciliane – AFS (Messina – IT) – One of the most important group of rail enthusiasts end railways modellers active in Sicily and all over Italy founded in 2006 | Wikipedia/Rio_Grande_Models,_Ltd. |
Rail transport modelling uses a variety of scales (ratio between the real world and the model) to ensure scale models look correct when placed next to each other. Model railway scales are standardized worldwide by many organizations and hobbyist groups. Some of the scales are recognized globally, while others are less widespread and, in many cases, virtually unknown outside their circle of origin. Scales may be expressed as a numeric ratio (e.g. 1/87 or 1:87) or as letters defined in rail transport modelling standards (e.g. HO, OO, N, O, G, TT and Z.) The majority of commercial model railway equipment manufacturers base their offerings on Normen Europäischer Modellbahnen (NEM) or National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) standards in most popular scales.
== Terminology ==
Although scale and gauge are often confused, scale means the ratio between a unit of measurement on a model compared with a unit of measurement in corresponding full size prototype, while gauge is the distance between the two running rails of the track. About 60% of the world's railways have a track gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) known as "standard gauge", but there are also narrow-gauge railways where the track gauge is less than standard and broad-gauge railways where the gauge is wider. In a similar manner, a scale model railway may have several track gauges in one scale.
In addition to the scale and gauge issue, rail transport modelling standards are also applied to other attributes such as catenary, rolling stock wheel profile, loading gauge, curve radii and grades for slopes, to ensure interoperation of scale models produced by different manufacturers. Globally, the two dominating standard organizations are NMRA in North America and MOROP in Europe with their NEM standard.
== History of scale standards ==
The first model railways were not built to any particular scale and were more like toys than miniature representations. Eventually, models became more accurate, and benefits of standardization became more obvious. The most significant and the most basic area of standardization was the model track gauge. At first, certain gauges became de facto standards for hobbyists and manufacturers. While the first unofficial standard gauges made interchangeability possible, the models were still only a rough approximation of rolling stock.
Eventually unofficial or manufacturer-specific scale standards became more established, and model railway standardisation bodies such as the NMRA and MOROP formalised them. However, they were very often poorly implemented in design and manufacturing processes with commercial manufacturers before the World War II. The conformity to scale standards grew strongly in the 1950s and 1960s when many new model railway accessories manufacturers were born and to whom the standard conformity was vital.
=== Inaccuracy to improve reliability ===
For most standardized model railway scales, the nominal scale reduction ratio is not applied systematically to all the components of a scale model railway, and normally the standards give scale specific design guidelines for all the scales they cover. Reliability of operations requires that certain parts be made oversize. A typical example is the wheel flanges, which must be proportionally higher in smaller scales to ensure that lighter and smaller models do not derail easily as they would if universal flange proportions were used in all the scales. For instance, a Z scale wheel flange as defined in the NEM standard should be about 9% of the scale nominal standard gauge (6.5 mm / 0.256 in), whereas the same standard gives only 5% for 45 mm (1.772 in) standard-gauge I scale.
=== Finescale standards ===
Modellers who were dissatisfied with inaccuracies in the name of reliability have developed alternative finescale standards. Finescale standards are very much restricted to discerning hobbyists since, by definition, finescale model railways are generally less reliable and more expensive to manufacture, which makes them unsuitable for mass-production products.
=== Linear propulsion ===
One limitation with smaller scales is that the small size of the metal contacts means it is easier for dust and dirty track to interfere with the electrical circuit needed to drive the train. Moreover, the tight tolerances also mean friction can more easily interfere with the train moving. One approach to enable further miniaturization beyond T Scale is the recent commercial introduction of linear drive motors. The magnetic propulsion eliminates moving parts, simplifying motion and models. Commercially available scales using linear propulsion drive range from 1:655 to 1:1000.
== Scale standards ==
Most standards are regional, but some have followers in other parts of the world outside their native region, most notably NEM and NMRA. While the most significant standardised dimension of a model railway scale is the gauge, a typical scale standard covers many more aspects of model railways and defines scale-specific dimensions for items like catenary, rolling stock wheels, loading gauge, curve radii and grades for slopes, for instance.
=== NEM ===
MOROP (the European federation of national model railway associations) is a European organisation which publishes NEM-standards. NEM-standards are used by model railway industry and hobbyists in Europe. The standards are published in French and German and both versions have an official status. Unofficial translations in English from third parties exist for certain NEM-standard sheets.
Model railway scales and gauges are standardized in NEM 010, which covers several gauges for each scale. Narrow gauges are indicated by an additional letter added after the base scale as follows:
no letter = standard gauge (1,250–1,700 mm or 49.2–66.9 in)
m = metre gauge (850–1,250 mm or 33.5–49.2 in)
e = narrow gauge (650–850 mm or 25.6–33.5 in)
i = industrial (400–650 mm or 15.7–25.6 in)
p = park railway (300–400 mm or 11.8–15.7 in)
For instance, a metre-gauge model railway in H0-scale is designated H0m. In German text the letter "f" (for Feldbahn) is sometimes used instead of "i". The letter "e" represents the French word for "narrow", étroit. NEM gauges are arranged conveniently to use the normal gauge of smaller scales as narrow gauges for a certain scale. For instance, H0m gauge is the same as the TT-scale normal gauge, H0e same as the N-scale normal gauge and H0i same as the Z-scale normal gauge.
For H0 and 0 scales, NEM uses the number zero, and NMRA uses letter "O" (HO instead of H0).
=== NMRA ===
The NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) standardized the first model railway scales in the 1940s. NMRA standards are used widely in North America and by certain special interest groups all over the world. To some extent NMRA and NEM standards are compatible, but in many areas, the two standards specify certain model railway details in somewhat incompatible ways for the same scale.
There are two NMRA standard sheets where the scales have been defined. NMRA standard S-1.2 covers the popular model railway scales and S-1.3 defines scales with deep flanges for model railways with very sharp curves or other garden railway specific design features.
In certain NMRA scales an alternative designation is sometimes used corresponding the length of one prototype foot in scale either in millimetres or in inches. For instance, 3.5 mm scale is the same as HO. For HO and O -scales, NMRA uses the letter "O" whereas NEM uses the number zero (H0 instead of HO).
The NMRA published alternative, more accurate and realistic standards for track and wheels sheet in S-1.1 These model railway standards are based on the full size prototype standards and the scale model operational reliability is therefore reduced in comparison to the models conforming to the normal NMRA standards. Proto and finescale rails and wheels are generally not compatible with the normal scale model railway material with the same scale ratio.
Proto scale was originally developed by the Model Railway Study Group in Great Britain in 1966 and later adopted into NMRA standards with modifications necessary for the North American prototype railway standards. Proto scale reproduces faithfully the prototype wheel tread profile and track work used by the Association of American Railroads and the American Railway Engineering Association.
Finescale reproduces the prototype wheel tread profile and track work used by the Association of American Railroads and the American Railway Engineering Association with minor compromises for performance and manufacturability.
==== NMRA popular railway scales ====
Note: to interpret the number in the left-hand column, these examples illustrate:
3.5 mm scale (HO): 3.5 mm scale measurement = 1 foot (304.8 mm) prototype. The ratio is therefore 1:87.08571, usually reported as 1:87.
1 in scale: 1 in scale measurement = 1 foot prototype, the ratio is reported as 1:12.
==== NMRA deep flange scales ====
==== NMRA proto scales ====
==== NMRA finescale ====
=== British ===
The main railways in Great Britain use the international standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) but the loading gauge is narrower and lower than in the rest of Europe with the same standard gauge. This is one of the main reasons why the country has traditionally used its own distinctive model railway scales which can rarely be found outside the British Isles.
When H0 scale was being introduced, the motors available were too large to fit in scale-sized bodies and so as a compromise the scale was increased from 3.5 mm to 4 mm to the foot, but the gauge was not changed so other elements could be shared. For 00 therefore the track is about 12.5% narrower than it should be for the scale used. EM and P4 standards correct this anomaly by adopting a wider track gauge.
The globally more-widespread international NEM and NMRA scale standards are relatively rare in Great Britain and used almost exclusively by those modelling foreign prototypes.
=== Japanese ===
While there are Japanese model railway manufacturers that export their products to other parts of the world and follow the scale standards of the export destinations, in Japan there are several domestic scales that are popular in the country but virtually unknown elsewhere. International NEM and NMRA scales are also used by some Japanese modellers. The main reason for the domestic scales different from international standards is the smaller prototype loading gauge and unusual gauges of Japanese railways: 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in), 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) and 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) are used, along with standard gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in).
=== Lego trains ===
Lego trains use a fixed nominal gauge of 37.5 mm (1+15⁄32 in), based on 5-stud track centerlines gauge.
The 37.5 mm length is not derived by a certain scale ratio. While HO scale is a 1:87 scale (3.5 mm to 1 foot), resulting in a 16.5 mm (0.65 in) gauge from real life prototype 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge standard gauge.
Conversely, modeling standard gauge in Lego trains would yield a scaling of (37.5:1435 =) 1:38.3.
=== Live steam ===
Live steam model railways are not standardized systematically by any single standardization body. There are, however, certain scales and gauges which have become de facto standards and in some cases correspond to either NEM or NMRA standard scales. One example is the "IBLS" (International Brotherhood of Live Steamers), an informal organization which has published standards for some of the gauges. Many clubs have their own standards, which also may vary slightly from country to country. Hornby Railways have pioneered commercial model live steam in 00 (1:76 scale on 16.5 mm gauge), the existing models are heated using a controllable electric current through the two running rails and have the steam pressure chamber in the model tender.
In addition to these scales, the United Kingdom has, over the last forty years, fathered a scale that is based on the predominant British narrow track gauge of 2 ft (610 mm). Using 32 mm (1.26 in) - 0 gauge - track, there is an extensive range of 16 mm to the foot scale [1:19] live-steam and other types of locomotives, rolling stock and accessories. Many of these models are dual gauge, and can be converted to run on 45 mm (1.772 in) track (gauge 1), and radio control is common. Locomotives in this scale are generally large and "chunky", and can range from the tiny 0-4-0 seen on Welsh slate quarry lines all the way up to the very largest found in the UK, such as the ex-ACR NG/G16 Beyer-Garratt locomotives, seen running on the Welsh Highland Railway in North Wales. The hobby is supported by a number of 16 mm live steam and electric traction builders, dominated by the likes of Roundhouse Engineering and Accucraft UK.
=== Static model ===
=== Historical ===
There have been many short-lived and often promising model railway scales which are very much defunct nowadays. Quite often these were backed by only the company that created a new scale in the first place.
== Mixing of scales ==
It is possible to use different scales of models together effectively, especially to create a false sense of depth (referred to as "forced perspective"). Scales close to each other are also hard to tell apart with the naked eye. An onlooker seeing a 1:43 model car next to a 1:48 scale model train would probably not notice the difference.
Some common examples of mixing scales are:
a foreshortening technique using N scale (1:160) model trains in the background (distance) with HO scale (1:87) in the foreground.
mixing 1:43 scale, 1:48 scale and 1:50 scale die-cast models with O scale model trains.
using Matchbox cars (1:64 to 1:100) with HO scale and S scale.
mixing OO scale British model trains with HO scale models. Both scales run on the same track but OO is slightly larger in scale.
using 1:144 scale die-cast models with N scale.
== List of scales ==
== See also ==
Rail transport modelling
List of scale model sizes
The Museum of the Moscow Railway
National Model Railroad Association
Normen Europäischer Modelleisenbahnen
Rail transport modelling
List of narrow gauge model railway scales
== References ==
== External links ==
http://www.spikesys.com/Modelrr/scales.html – Contains more specifics about some of the scales
https://dfarq.homeip.net/sizes-of-model-trains/ – Contains photos of human hand comparison to each scale
http://modeltrains.about.com Archived 2017-01-29 at the Wayback Machine – Online resource for model railroaders
The Gauge One Model Railway Association
The Gauge 3 Society
Mundo Ferroviario Archived 2009-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, Web portal dedicated to a modelling in HO scale (Spanish).
"About Gauge" guide from Lionel discussing O versus O27 gauge
"More About Gauge" guide from Lionel discussing gauges other than O | Wikipedia/Rail_transport_modelling_standards |
Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc. makes scale models in N scale, HO scale, and O scale. The company is based in Hillside, New Jersey, United States. They produce a wide variety of locomotives, rolling stock, and vehicles. Atlas is well known for their flex track and codes 55, 80, 83 and 100 track. Atlas also produces a line of compatible structures and bridges.
== History ==
Stephan Schaffan, Sr., an immigrant of Czechoslovakia founded the Atlas Tool Company in the garage of his home in Newark, New Jersey, in 1924. In 1933 his son, Stephan Schaffan, Jr., came to work for his father at the age of sixteen. Steve Jr. built model airplanes and frequented a local hobby shop. He would often ask the owner if there was anything he could do to earn some extra spending money. Not taking his inquiries seriously, the store owner challenged Schaffan to come up with better track components using the materials available in the shop. In those days, railroad modelers had to assemble and build everything from scratch. Steve Jr. created a "switch kit" which sold so well, that the entire family worked on them in the basement at night, while doing business as usual in the machine shop during the day.
Subsequently, Steve Jr. engineered the stapling of rail to fiber track, along with inventing the first practical rail joiner and pre-assembled turnouts and flexible track. All of these products, and more, helped to popularize model railroading and assisted in the creation of a mass-market hobby. The growing company quickly outgrew the garage and basement of the family home. Realizing they could actually make a living selling track and related products, the first factory was built in nearby Hillside, New Jersey, at 413 Florence Avenue in 1947. On September 30, 1949, the Atlas Tool Company was incorporated.
=== Expanding into Rolling Stock ===
Atlas’ days as a track and plastic building kit manufacturer began shifting in 1968, when Atlas delved into the N scale locomotives market, starting with USRA Pacifics in 1968 and USRA light and heavy Mikados in 1969, all made by Rivarossi in Italy.
In 1970, Atlas ventured more deeply into the growing N scale market with two locomotives made for the company by Rivarossi: the Baltimore & Ohio C-16 0-4-0T saddletank switcher commonly known as the Docksider or Little Joe and its converted cousin, the C-16a 0-4-0 with coal tender. Those offerings were followed by EMD diesels, the F9, GP9 and GP30, made by Roco in Austria, in 1973 and 1974.
Atlas would continue its N scale line with a wide range of freight cars, made at their Hillside factory, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Also, beginning in 1971, Atlas began importing a line of O scale locomotives and rolling stock produced by Roco in Austria. New items were not advertised after 1973, though some pieces remained catalogued through the 1980s.
Atlas entered the market for ready-to-run HO scale diesel locomotives in 1975, importing models produced in Austria by Roco. Six models of various EMD diesels made up the base of this initial offering through the 1980s. Complete train sets were first offered by Atlas in the 1970s, using the Roco-produced diesels and freight cars supplied by Athearn. Atlas later forged a partnership with Japanese manufacturer Kato Precision Railroad Models to release an Alco RS-3 in N scale in 1983 that raised standards in the hobby for fine scale fidelity.
Stephan Schaffan, Jr. died in 1983. In 1985, he was honored posthumously for his inventions by the Model Railroad Industry Association (now known as the Hobby Manufacturers Association) and was inducted into the Industry Hall of Fame in Baltimore, Maryland. He was also nominated and entered into the National Model Railroad Association Pioneers of Model Railroading in 1995.
=== Atlas Model Railroad Co. Era ===
In the early 1990s, the Atlas Tool Co. changed its name to Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc.
In 1997 Atlas O, LLC was established as a separate business entity dedicated to producing multiple lines of O scale model railroad products including track, freight cars, locomotives and accessories, co-founded and led by James J. Weaver. After spending many years developing a number of products across many price points, including a successful line of O scale sectional track, Weaver died in 2011. Atlas O, LLC became a wholly owned subsidiary and was merged into Atlas Model Railroad Co. Inc. effective January 1, 2012.
Expanding their O scale product line, Atlas purchased certain assets of Industrial Rail from Hobbico in 2006. In 2011, Atlas purchased the tooling and inventory of Branchline Trains, including their line of HO scale "Blueprint Series" and "Yardmaster" freight cars and passenger cars.
In 2021, Atlas acquired some of the O scale tooling from MTH Trains. They also acquired some River Point Station tooling for N scale vehicles in 2021.
Stephan Schaffan's daughter Diane and her husband Tom Haedrich continued to lead Atlas until 2013. Paul Graf was named chief executive officer, while Jarrett Schaffan Haedrich, great-grandson of Atlas founder Stephan J. Schaffan Sr., was promoted from vice president of marketing to chief operating officer.
== Product Lines ==
Atlas offers the following tiers of their products
Master: The highest quality and price
Classic: Older molds with less detail, but more affordable
Trainman: Newer molds with less detail at lower prices
== References ==
== External links ==
www.atlasrr.com — Atlas Company site
Atlas 1970s HO-Scale Trains Resource
Atlas N Scale Database TroveStar.com | Wikipedia/Atlas_Model_Railroad |
Rail transport modelling uses a variety of scales (ratio between the real world and the model) to ensure scale models look correct when placed next to each other. Model railway scales are standardized worldwide by many organizations and hobbyist groups. Some of the scales are recognized globally, while others are less widespread and, in many cases, virtually unknown outside their circle of origin. Scales may be expressed as a numeric ratio (e.g. 1/87 or 1:87) or as letters defined in rail transport modelling standards (e.g. HO, OO, N, O, G, TT and Z.) The majority of commercial model railway equipment manufacturers base their offerings on Normen Europäischer Modellbahnen (NEM) or National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) standards in most popular scales.
== Terminology ==
Although scale and gauge are often confused, scale means the ratio between a unit of measurement on a model compared with a unit of measurement in corresponding full size prototype, while gauge is the distance between the two running rails of the track. About 60% of the world's railways have a track gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) known as "standard gauge", but there are also narrow-gauge railways where the track gauge is less than standard and broad-gauge railways where the gauge is wider. In a similar manner, a scale model railway may have several track gauges in one scale.
In addition to the scale and gauge issue, rail transport modelling standards are also applied to other attributes such as catenary, rolling stock wheel profile, loading gauge, curve radii and grades for slopes, to ensure interoperation of scale models produced by different manufacturers. Globally, the two dominating standard organizations are NMRA in North America and MOROP in Europe with their NEM standard.
== History of scale standards ==
The first model railways were not built to any particular scale and were more like toys than miniature representations. Eventually, models became more accurate, and benefits of standardization became more obvious. The most significant and the most basic area of standardization was the model track gauge. At first, certain gauges became de facto standards for hobbyists and manufacturers. While the first unofficial standard gauges made interchangeability possible, the models were still only a rough approximation of rolling stock.
Eventually unofficial or manufacturer-specific scale standards became more established, and model railway standardisation bodies such as the NMRA and MOROP formalised them. However, they were very often poorly implemented in design and manufacturing processes with commercial manufacturers before the World War II. The conformity to scale standards grew strongly in the 1950s and 1960s when many new model railway accessories manufacturers were born and to whom the standard conformity was vital.
=== Inaccuracy to improve reliability ===
For most standardized model railway scales, the nominal scale reduction ratio is not applied systematically to all the components of a scale model railway, and normally the standards give scale specific design guidelines for all the scales they cover. Reliability of operations requires that certain parts be made oversize. A typical example is the wheel flanges, which must be proportionally higher in smaller scales to ensure that lighter and smaller models do not derail easily as they would if universal flange proportions were used in all the scales. For instance, a Z scale wheel flange as defined in the NEM standard should be about 9% of the scale nominal standard gauge (6.5 mm / 0.256 in), whereas the same standard gives only 5% for 45 mm (1.772 in) standard-gauge I scale.
=== Finescale standards ===
Modellers who were dissatisfied with inaccuracies in the name of reliability have developed alternative finescale standards. Finescale standards are very much restricted to discerning hobbyists since, by definition, finescale model railways are generally less reliable and more expensive to manufacture, which makes them unsuitable for mass-production products.
=== Linear propulsion ===
One limitation with smaller scales is that the small size of the metal contacts means it is easier for dust and dirty track to interfere with the electrical circuit needed to drive the train. Moreover, the tight tolerances also mean friction can more easily interfere with the train moving. One approach to enable further miniaturization beyond T Scale is the recent commercial introduction of linear drive motors. The magnetic propulsion eliminates moving parts, simplifying motion and models. Commercially available scales using linear propulsion drive range from 1:655 to 1:1000.
== Scale standards ==
Most standards are regional, but some have followers in other parts of the world outside their native region, most notably NEM and NMRA. While the most significant standardised dimension of a model railway scale is the gauge, a typical scale standard covers many more aspects of model railways and defines scale-specific dimensions for items like catenary, rolling stock wheels, loading gauge, curve radii and grades for slopes, for instance.
=== NEM ===
MOROP (the European federation of national model railway associations) is a European organisation which publishes NEM-standards. NEM-standards are used by model railway industry and hobbyists in Europe. The standards are published in French and German and both versions have an official status. Unofficial translations in English from third parties exist for certain NEM-standard sheets.
Model railway scales and gauges are standardized in NEM 010, which covers several gauges for each scale. Narrow gauges are indicated by an additional letter added after the base scale as follows:
no letter = standard gauge (1,250–1,700 mm or 49.2–66.9 in)
m = metre gauge (850–1,250 mm or 33.5–49.2 in)
e = narrow gauge (650–850 mm or 25.6–33.5 in)
i = industrial (400–650 mm or 15.7–25.6 in)
p = park railway (300–400 mm or 11.8–15.7 in)
For instance, a metre-gauge model railway in H0-scale is designated H0m. In German text the letter "f" (for Feldbahn) is sometimes used instead of "i". The letter "e" represents the French word for "narrow", étroit. NEM gauges are arranged conveniently to use the normal gauge of smaller scales as narrow gauges for a certain scale. For instance, H0m gauge is the same as the TT-scale normal gauge, H0e same as the N-scale normal gauge and H0i same as the Z-scale normal gauge.
For H0 and 0 scales, NEM uses the number zero, and NMRA uses letter "O" (HO instead of H0).
=== NMRA ===
The NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) standardized the first model railway scales in the 1940s. NMRA standards are used widely in North America and by certain special interest groups all over the world. To some extent NMRA and NEM standards are compatible, but in many areas, the two standards specify certain model railway details in somewhat incompatible ways for the same scale.
There are two NMRA standard sheets where the scales have been defined. NMRA standard S-1.2 covers the popular model railway scales and S-1.3 defines scales with deep flanges for model railways with very sharp curves or other garden railway specific design features.
In certain NMRA scales an alternative designation is sometimes used corresponding the length of one prototype foot in scale either in millimetres or in inches. For instance, 3.5 mm scale is the same as HO. For HO and O -scales, NMRA uses the letter "O" whereas NEM uses the number zero (H0 instead of HO).
The NMRA published alternative, more accurate and realistic standards for track and wheels sheet in S-1.1 These model railway standards are based on the full size prototype standards and the scale model operational reliability is therefore reduced in comparison to the models conforming to the normal NMRA standards. Proto and finescale rails and wheels are generally not compatible with the normal scale model railway material with the same scale ratio.
Proto scale was originally developed by the Model Railway Study Group in Great Britain in 1966 and later adopted into NMRA standards with modifications necessary for the North American prototype railway standards. Proto scale reproduces faithfully the prototype wheel tread profile and track work used by the Association of American Railroads and the American Railway Engineering Association.
Finescale reproduces the prototype wheel tread profile and track work used by the Association of American Railroads and the American Railway Engineering Association with minor compromises for performance and manufacturability.
==== NMRA popular railway scales ====
Note: to interpret the number in the left-hand column, these examples illustrate:
3.5 mm scale (HO): 3.5 mm scale measurement = 1 foot (304.8 mm) prototype. The ratio is therefore 1:87.08571, usually reported as 1:87.
1 in scale: 1 in scale measurement = 1 foot prototype, the ratio is reported as 1:12.
==== NMRA deep flange scales ====
==== NMRA proto scales ====
==== NMRA finescale ====
=== British ===
The main railways in Great Britain use the international standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) but the loading gauge is narrower and lower than in the rest of Europe with the same standard gauge. This is one of the main reasons why the country has traditionally used its own distinctive model railway scales which can rarely be found outside the British Isles.
When H0 scale was being introduced, the motors available were too large to fit in scale-sized bodies and so as a compromise the scale was increased from 3.5 mm to 4 mm to the foot, but the gauge was not changed so other elements could be shared. For 00 therefore the track is about 12.5% narrower than it should be for the scale used. EM and P4 standards correct this anomaly by adopting a wider track gauge.
The globally more-widespread international NEM and NMRA scale standards are relatively rare in Great Britain and used almost exclusively by those modelling foreign prototypes.
=== Japanese ===
While there are Japanese model railway manufacturers that export their products to other parts of the world and follow the scale standards of the export destinations, in Japan there are several domestic scales that are popular in the country but virtually unknown elsewhere. International NEM and NMRA scales are also used by some Japanese modellers. The main reason for the domestic scales different from international standards is the smaller prototype loading gauge and unusual gauges of Japanese railways: 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in), 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) and 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) are used, along with standard gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in).
=== Lego trains ===
Lego trains use a fixed nominal gauge of 37.5 mm (1+15⁄32 in), based on 5-stud track centerlines gauge.
The 37.5 mm length is not derived by a certain scale ratio. While HO scale is a 1:87 scale (3.5 mm to 1 foot), resulting in a 16.5 mm (0.65 in) gauge from real life prototype 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge standard gauge.
Conversely, modeling standard gauge in Lego trains would yield a scaling of (37.5:1435 =) 1:38.3.
=== Live steam ===
Live steam model railways are not standardized systematically by any single standardization body. There are, however, certain scales and gauges which have become de facto standards and in some cases correspond to either NEM or NMRA standard scales. One example is the "IBLS" (International Brotherhood of Live Steamers), an informal organization which has published standards for some of the gauges. Many clubs have their own standards, which also may vary slightly from country to country. Hornby Railways have pioneered commercial model live steam in 00 (1:76 scale on 16.5 mm gauge), the existing models are heated using a controllable electric current through the two running rails and have the steam pressure chamber in the model tender.
In addition to these scales, the United Kingdom has, over the last forty years, fathered a scale that is based on the predominant British narrow track gauge of 2 ft (610 mm). Using 32 mm (1.26 in) - 0 gauge - track, there is an extensive range of 16 mm to the foot scale [1:19] live-steam and other types of locomotives, rolling stock and accessories. Many of these models are dual gauge, and can be converted to run on 45 mm (1.772 in) track (gauge 1), and radio control is common. Locomotives in this scale are generally large and "chunky", and can range from the tiny 0-4-0 seen on Welsh slate quarry lines all the way up to the very largest found in the UK, such as the ex-ACR NG/G16 Beyer-Garratt locomotives, seen running on the Welsh Highland Railway in North Wales. The hobby is supported by a number of 16 mm live steam and electric traction builders, dominated by the likes of Roundhouse Engineering and Accucraft UK.
=== Static model ===
=== Historical ===
There have been many short-lived and often promising model railway scales which are very much defunct nowadays. Quite often these were backed by only the company that created a new scale in the first place.
== Mixing of scales ==
It is possible to use different scales of models together effectively, especially to create a false sense of depth (referred to as "forced perspective"). Scales close to each other are also hard to tell apart with the naked eye. An onlooker seeing a 1:43 model car next to a 1:48 scale model train would probably not notice the difference.
Some common examples of mixing scales are:
a foreshortening technique using N scale (1:160) model trains in the background (distance) with HO scale (1:87) in the foreground.
mixing 1:43 scale, 1:48 scale and 1:50 scale die-cast models with O scale model trains.
using Matchbox cars (1:64 to 1:100) with HO scale and S scale.
mixing OO scale British model trains with HO scale models. Both scales run on the same track but OO is slightly larger in scale.
using 1:144 scale die-cast models with N scale.
== List of scales ==
== See also ==
Rail transport modelling
List of scale model sizes
The Museum of the Moscow Railway
National Model Railroad Association
Normen Europäischer Modelleisenbahnen
Rail transport modelling
List of narrow gauge model railway scales
== References ==
== External links ==
http://www.spikesys.com/Modelrr/scales.html – Contains more specifics about some of the scales
https://dfarq.homeip.net/sizes-of-model-trains/ – Contains photos of human hand comparison to each scale
http://modeltrains.about.com Archived 2017-01-29 at the Wayback Machine – Online resource for model railroaders
The Gauge One Model Railway Association
The Gauge 3 Society
Mundo Ferroviario Archived 2009-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, Web portal dedicated to a modelling in HO scale (Spanish).
"About Gauge" guide from Lionel discussing O versus O27 gauge
"More About Gauge" guide from Lionel discussing gauges other than O | Wikipedia/Rail_transport_modelling_scales |
The San Diego Model Railroad Museum is a museum in San Diego, California, that focuses on the heritage of railroading through model railroads. It was founded in 1982. The museum is located on the lower level of Casa de Balboa in Balboa Park.
At 27,000 sq. ft., it is the largest model railroad museum in North America. It was visited by nearly three million people in its first three decades. The museum is a 501(c)(3) organization non-profit charity.
== History ==
Model railroading in Balboa Park began at the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. In the 1930s, pioneer model railroader Minton Cronkhite designed and directed the construction of a number of scale model railroads in the 1930s, including a large exposition O scale model railroad in Balboa Park. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, as well as Pennsylvania Railroad, hired him to create giant model railroads for world fairs to stimulate interest in train travel and help revive the national economy during the years of the Great Depression. His 40-by-70-foot model railroad exhibit was the "chief transportation feature" of the 1935 exposition.
The San Diego Model Railroad Museum opened in 1982 with a mission to "preserve the heritage of railroading through a series of miniature representations of California railroads, research and preserve the history of model railroading, and educate the public in the many different aspects of railroading."
== Exhibits ==
With 27,000 square feet (2508 m2) of exhibit space, the museum is home of some of the largest HO and N scale layouts of their types. There are two massive HO scale layouts, a 1,200 sq ft (110 m2) N scale layout, a 2,700 sq ft (250 m2) O scale layout, and a Lionel type 3-Rail O gauge Toy Train gallery.
Cabrillo & Southwestern (O scale). This 2,700 sq ft (250 m2) layout is a freelance representation of a route from San Diego to Sacramento.
Pacific Desert Lines (N scale). Based on a rail line that was surveyed but never built, this 1,200 sq ft (110 m2) layout features handlaid Code 40 track (0.040 inches - 1 mm high) and 33 scale miles (1,089 actual feet - 331 m) of mainline track.
San Diego & Arizona Eastern RR (HO scale). This 4,500 sq ft (420 m2) layout is based on the prototype San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway line from San Diego Union Station eastward through Carriso Gorge to the desert floor at El Centro.
Tehachapi Pass (HO scale). This two-level layout represents the joint Southern Pacific / Santa Fe railroad from Bakersfield to Mojave, California, of the 1950s, including the Tehachapi Loop. The model is unique for its size and geographic fidelity. Thousands of photographs of the prototype were used to closely model the details of the actual area with nearly curve-for-curve and switch-for-switch accuracy.
Toy Train Gallery (3-Rail O gauge). A 42 by 44 foot permanent layout that has four separate main lines, realistic scenery, and many operating accessories. Club members control the trains with modern remote control systems such as LEGACY by Lionel and DCS by MTH. This gallery features operating toy trains of "Lionel type" 3-Rail O gauge, a collection of rare Lionel and American Flyer cars from the 1920s though the 1950s, and modern toy trains from Lionel, MTH, K-Line, and Atlas-O. There is also an interactive kids layout where children of all ages can push a button to run a train.
== Library ==
The museum has a specialized library related to both model railroading and real railroads. The library has a collection of books, magazines, VHS tapes, blueprints and other materials for research. It is a reference library and the materials do not circulate, but it is open for any attendee of the museum.
== Railroad clubs ==
The model railroads were built and are maintained by four local railroad clubs, which exhibit their respective displays as nonprofit organizations. The clubs are:
San Diego Model Railroad Association, formally, The San Diego Model Railroad Club
La Mesa Model Railroad Club
San Diego Society of N-Scale
San Diego 3-Railers
== See also ==
List of railway museums
== References ==
== External links ==
San Diego Model Railroad Museum website
San Diego Society of N Scale
San Diego Model Railroad Association
La Mesa Model Railroad Club
San Diego 3-Railers Club | Wikipedia/San_Diego_Model_Railroad_Museum |
Varney Scale Models was founded in 1936 by Gordon Varney, an early pioneer in manufacturing HO scale model trains. The development of a reliable 6-volt motor made it possible to produce model locomotives capable of pulling long trains. The company relocated from Chicago, Illinois, to Miami, Florida, in 1955. Varney sold his company to Sol Kramer in 1960, which became the basis for launching his own line of Life-Like Trains in 1970. Varney models were above average in quality and detail and are still quite popular with collectors and model railroad enthusiasts.
== History ==
The company was founded by Gordon Varney in 1936. Varney's main significance to the model railroad community was his early advocacy of the HO scale and the development of a reliable motor small enough to power the locomotives of this gauge.
Gordon Varney played a crucial part in bringing the hobby to the smaller size and offering those with less space a tremendous opportunity to enjoy model railroading at its fullest. Varney's V-1 motor was the beginning of his HO endeavor. It was small enough to place in an HO scale loco, with enough power to pull a long train. The motors ran on 6 volts direct current, like most designs of that day.
Varney first offered the 4-6-2 Pacific and the 2-8-0 Consolidation in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The first HO scale model trains were just emerging as a viable commercial product when these steam locomotive models made their appearance. The Pacific had the USRA boiler style and was patterned after the Southern Pacific prototype. The Consolidation was designed after the Reading 2-8-0. Soon the 2-8-2 Mikado followed, and the other models were also added to the line.
One of the most popular HO Scale models of all time was the Varney model of the B&O Railroad C-16 0-4-0T Switcher, nicknamed Li’l Joe, by Gordon Varney in advertising copy, a locomotive that reportedly sold more than 50,000 copies.
For many years, the Varney advertisement occupied the back cover of Model Railroader, the most popular hobby magazine at the time, often using photographs taken by John Allen, the most famous Model Railroader.
== Vehicle Models ==
Varney was also a leader in producing accessories, the most popular of which were miniature Ford vehicles. In 1954, Varney created a 1 1/4" model of the 1953 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan. With moveable wheels and incredible detailing, the accuracy was the result of the use of the AMT Corporation's 1/25-scale Customline, which was used as a master. Released at the same time were a 1949 Ford F-1 pickup truck, panel truck and stake truck, all pantographed off 1/32-scale models made by National Products. The stake truck was later modified so it could be assembled as a van or a flatbed. A 1953 Studebaker Starliner (also spawned by AMT) soon joined the Ford line-up. Originally offered in gray, red and black, in 1956 they offered these same models molded in clear styrene, allowing the really detail-oriented hobbyist to paint the vehicles and have clear plastic window glass.
== Sale and legacy ==
Varney relocated the company to Miami, Florida, in 1955. Some of the steam locomotives previously developed by Varney were acquired by Penn Line Manufacturing, which itself was later acquired by Bowser Manufacturing. In 1960, Gordon Varney sold his company to Sol Kramer of Life-Like Products. Gordon Varney died in 1965. Model trains continued to be produced under the Varney name until March 1970, when the branding was changed to "Life-Like." Gordon Varney was named a "Pioneer of Model Railroading" by the Model Railroad Industry Association (now the Hobby Manufacturers Association) in 1985.
== References ==
== External links ==
Varney Catalogs- Varney Catalogs
http://hoseeker.net/varneymiscellaneous.html | Wikipedia/Varney_Scale_Models |
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