Model-making resources
These guides answer the questions we discuss with clients every week, from whether you need a model at all to budget, schedule and the details of each kind of model.
Getting started
A physical model or a rendering?
Physical scale models and 3D renderings help people understand a project in different ways. The right choice depends on what you need to explain, how much the design may change and where the presentation will happen. Sometimes the strongest approach uses both.
When is a physical model worth making?
A physical scale model is useful when people need to understand how things fit together. That might mean exploring an unbuilt neighborhood, examining equipment that cannot travel or seeing parts of a facility that are usually out of sight.
What is a model-making company?
A model making company turns drawings, plans and ideas into physical models that people can examine together.
How to choose an architectural model maker
Architectural models are made by specialist model makers. Some work inside architecture firms, and many are independent shops. If you’re commissioning a custom architectural model, you’re choosing a collaborator as much as a supplier. These are the things worth looking at before you decide.
Scale model uses and types
How mass, detailed and semi-detailed physical scale models serve design reviews, sales presentations and public exhibits.
Do you need completed drawings?
No. You can start planning a custom scale model with an early idea, sketches or a conversation. Finished drawings and 3D files save shop time later, but early involvement lets us understand the purpose, set a budget and fit the model to your design schedule.
Budget and schedule
What does a custom scale model cost?
About $5,000 per week of shop time, from $5,000 for a simple study model to $150,000 for the largest projects. Every model gets a fixed-cost proposal.
How long does a custom scale model take?
A custom scale model takes about 1 week of shop time for a study model to 30+ weeks for a large development. See what sets the calendar schedule.
Shipping and transporting scale models
We ship physical scale models worldwide. Shipping usually costs $700–$2,000, depending mostly on the model's size, and on-site installation, when needed, is billed at $1,000 per day away from the shop plus travel. The packing plan is designed around the model's size, materials, destination and how often it will travel.
Architecture and development
Interior design scale models
Open roofs, transparent enclosures and cutaways make room layouts and hidden spaces visible to a physical model’s audience.
Architectural site models
In architecture, a site model shows how a building fits into its surroundings: the neighboring structures, the streets, the landscape and the shape of the ground. It answers questions a building model alone can’t, like how a new structure sits beside what’s already there. Here is what typically goes into an architectural site model and how those choices are made.
Real estate development models for sales centers
Buyers can’t tour a place that hasn’t been built. A sales center is where plans have to start feeling like a neighborhood, and a physical real estate development model can give that conversation a clear starting point. It won’t sell a home on its own, but it gives the sales team something to point at. Here is how models are used in a sales center and how to plan one.
Terrain models for land development and resorts
When the land is part of what’s being sold, a flat plan only goes so far. A terrain scale model shows the slopes, the roads that climb them and where the lots, lodges and amenities sit within the landscape. For a resort or land development, it can give a sales center or a presentation a clear picture of the place. These projects show how.
What is a topographic model?
A topographic model is a physical model of the land itself: its slopes, valleys, ridgelines and water, usually with roads, buildings or other features placed on top. You may also hear it called a topography model or a terrain model. A map or a screen shows the ground from one chosen angle at a time. A model lets a group lean over it together and see how the land rises, falls and shapes what gets built.
Golf course models for golf communities
A golf course is hard to explain from a plan: the holes, the layout and the land they cross all matter at once. When the course is part of a larger development, buyers also need to see how it sits with the homes, roads and amenities around it. A golf course scale model puts all of it in one view people can explore together. Many of our golf course models show the course as part of a larger development, and these projects show how.
Terrain data and scale
Industry, trade shows and museums
Explaining a complex system with a scale model
Some systems are hard to explain because the important parts are hidden: underground, inside a casing, or spread across a campus. A physical industrial or engineering scale model can make those parts visible, so the public, investors or customers can follow the story without a technical background. Here are some ways models do that.
Trade show display models: a planning checklist
A trade show display model is a physical scale model of a product or piece of equipment, built so your team can show it at a booth when the full-size item can’t come. It isn’t event staffing; it’s an object people can walk up to. Because it has to travel, be set up and be handled, planning matters as much as the model itself. This checklist walks through what to decide.
Showing large equipment at a trade show
A good equipment demonstration starts with the questions your sales team hears most often. Trade show models can show the size of a product, the arrangement of its parts or the components hidden inside it. That conversation should guide the display.
Planning a museum or exhibit model
Museum models give visitors a closer look at subjects that are too large, remote or fragile to see directly: a volcano, a river valley, a column of layered ice. A good exhibit model starts with the story you want to tell and the space where visitors will meet it.
Services and methods
Model repair and refurbishment guide
Most damaged or outdated scale models can be repaired rather than rebuilt. Send photos of the whole model and close-ups of the problem, and we'll recommend whether the work should happen on site or in our Denver shop, and what it will cost. We repair models built by any shop.
3D printing for physical scale models
Yes, we use 3D printing, but a 3D print is rarely a finished presentation model on its own. Professional scale models combine printed parts with laser cutting, CNC milling, hand building, painting and assembly, each chosen for the part it suits best.
Where to begin
If you’re deciding whether to make a model, start with a physical model or a rendering? and when a physical model is worth making. If the purpose is settled, the cost and schedule guides explain why two models of similar size can involve very different amounts of work. For a model that will travel, read the shipping guide before choosing its size and removable parts.
Choose your next guide around the decision you need to make. For an architectural or development model, consider whether the audience needs to understand one building, a whole neighborhood or the terrain around a site. For an industrial display, identify which equipment relationships or hidden components need explanation. For a museum exhibit, think about what visitors should notice first and how closely they will be able to approach the model.
Before requesting a proposal, gather the information you already have: drawings, CAD or 3D files, photographs, renderings and site data. Add the intended display location, available space, deadline and any travel requirements. A few sentences about the audience and the model’s purpose are useful, too. You do not need every design detail resolved; knowing which decisions are still open helps us discuss a practical approach.
Read the guides together when your project crosses categories. A lighted resort model involves architecture and terrain; a traveling equipment display involves fabrication and transport. The portfolio shows completed examples, while these resources help you frame the questions to discuss with our team.
Let’s talk about the model you have in mind.
Share what the model needs to show and who it’s for, and we’ll help you think through scale, details and next steps.
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