A one quarter scale model of a Steam Wagon.

Trevithick’s Industrial Dartford Celebration -

Model Engines

Model engineering is the hobby of constructing machines in miniature.

The 'classic' areas of interest are live steam models (typically steam locomotives, stationary engines and traction engines), internal combustion engines, and clock making.

Other popular subjects are Stirling engines, workshop equipment, miniature machine tools and ornamental turning. These constitute stable genres which are often reflected in competition categories at model engineering exhibitions.

Model engineers typically produce models made in metal. These are machined from stock metal and castings. Some of these are intended as utilitarian working models, others as highly meticulous display models, or sometimes a combination of both.

The model engineer usually purchases commercially available drawings which are used as reference to make the models. However some people produce their own drawings, or even work without drawings.

The most elaborate models involve hand manufacture of thousands of parts, taking thousands of hours to complete, usually over a number of years or even decades.

There are some complete pre-manufactured kits available, but these are limited in the choice of subject matter and are usually expensive.