Most clients, commission models to exhibit a product when the real-life item is, too large to relocate, fit in a room or while the project remains under development and construction. At this time in the life cycle of a project, there is usually little tangible material that will give potential investors an idea of what the finished product will be. People who are unsure of what they are buying will be unwilling to part with their money! This is when a scale model becomes an important tool in assisting with depicting the project vision. Added value that models offer is to illustrate how things work or to show sequential process flow.
It has been said that if a picture paints a thousand words, surely a model paints a million. In contrast to other media, models are tangible unambiguous renditions of the object they represent. The viewer is able to sum-up the essence of what is being presented, based on his or her own frame of reference, in his or her own time and able to make a value judgement. Those who are disinterested wean themselves out, thus enabling the energy to be focused on probable investors.
A scale model is mostly understood to be a miniaturized facsimile of an object or three-dimensional subject. However the object need not be miniaturized as in this example of models of Afrox gas welding equipment. This equipment is fairly generic and not worthy of a second glance in the minds of most people! Those who use it are usually industry professionals with good knowledge about its functions and applications. Conversely, those who do not use it invariably know precious little to nothing about it with zero inclination to want to investigate.
So, when Afrox presented the problem of how to best exhibit these mundane objects that seemingly had not been modernized for decades, Modelart’s challenge was to come up with ideas on how to make this specialized technical equipment interesting and stimulate curiosity. We were able to achieve this by modeling the apparatus at double size or at a scale of 2: 1. The novelty of oversizing the objects would make them visible from a distance thereby heightening the curiosity of both those familiar, as well as those unfamiliar with equipment. In addition to super-sizing the objects, we introduced cut-away sections on relevant portions of the apparatus to reveal the internal detail. These superbly crafted models at twice the dimension and eight times the volume were presented upright on motorized rotating turntables on a flawless black mirror finish surface. This offered a sophistication that contrasts vastly with where this gear is usually found competing for space with well-used spanners and other hand tools, in a rusty old toolbox.
One other good example of where enlargement of the real-life object was appropriate, was in the creation of point of sale props used for the launch of Phantom, a new brand of energy drink. This was achieved by replicating the branded beverage cans at many times larger than the real life size packaging. The main display unit served as a vessel to house and conceal a chiller dispenser with protruding tap to enable people wanting to sample the drink, to fill their glasses. Smaller repeat replicas of the beverage can were used as point of sale displays. The feedback from our client was most positive. His comments suggest that this strategy was most successful in drawing attention to the exhibit. He alluded to a flurry of investors showing interest in multiple layers of opportunity, including retail and the purchase of agencies for distribution, marketing and sale of the product.
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