Why Brass

Why do we buy brass models?  Why do we collect them?  What is the attraction?

Each person will have the nuance of their perspective, their choice to own a finely produced model.  My attraction to brass is the art of the process.  Production of unique, limited items requires attention to an ethos of focus and precision.  The researcher, the designer, the builder: they all bring their experience and training to the table.  These learned skills produce a refinement that can not be measure or specified.  It is an eye for line, for color, for proportion that differentiates the great from the good.

I grew up in an OEM manufacturing environment.  Watching the machinery hum always gave me a smile.  Producing component parts for larger projects became an introduction to the bigger process.   Full size manufacturing is a very engineered experience.  The art in the 1 to 1 world can be subtle, where Individual machinists can provide efficiency beyond a textbook programming process.

Brass model production encapsulates the techniques of the larger world.  But these techniques are wrapped in the subtlty of the miniature.  The scale reduction means the builder must work at a level of precision required for the finest instruments.  The choice and quality of the paintwork requires an eye that is trained to detect the slightest discrepancy.  These models become the precision jewels of model railroading, Swiss watches in a Timex environment.

How about you?