The art of modelmaking has come a long way in its technical evolution, with its modern forms of production including laser plotting, computer aided design and computer aided machining, in order to achieve a perfectly scaled down ‘master’, in preparation for mass production. Creating patterns is an intricate artform and this article shows some examples of how it is done ‘the old fashioned’ way.

So, let’s start with the basics. Any object that is used to duplicate objects is called a ‘pattern’, and the person who creates the pattern is a ‘patternmaker’. 

For diecast models, the pattern is usually twice the size of the model to b