Model building is a hobby and career that involves the creation of physical models either from kits or from materials and components acquired by the builder. The kits contain several pieces that need to be assembled in order to make a final model. Most model-building categories have a range of common scales that make them manageable for the average person both to complete and display. A model is generally considered a physical representation of an object and maintains accurate relationships between all of its aspects.
The model building kits can be classified according to skill levels that represent the degree of difficulty for the hobbyist. These include skill level 1 with snap-together pieces that do not require glue or paint; skill level 2, which requires glue and paint; and, skill level 3 kits that include smaller and more detailed parts. Advanced skill levels 4 and 5 kits ship with components that have extra-fine details. Particularly, level 5 requires expert-level skills.
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Model building as career
Model building is not exclusively a hobbyist pursuit. The complexity of assembling representations of actual objects has become a career for several people, and is heavily applicable in film making. There are, for instance, those who build models/props to commemorate historic events, employed to construct models using past events as a basis to predict future events of high commercial interest.
The categories of modelling include
Scale model building
Live steam models
Model engineering
Matchstick models
Military models
Model aircraft
Model cars
Model construction vehicles
Building models
Architectural models
Lego
Model figures
Model military vehicles
Rail transport modelling
Model rockets
Ship models
Cardboard engineering
Firearm models (such as airsoft guns)
Gundam models
Miniature effect, for filmmaking purposes