The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. I., No. 3, July, 1889Various
Science
The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. I., No. 3, July, 1889
Various
Geography -- Periodicals
fifty inches, it is not too great for an ordinary model. If greater
accuracy be required, it can be secured by transferring the contours to
the card-board by means of tracing or transfer paper. The great
advantage of the photographic method lies in the fact that when the
model has been built up, with all the contours in position, it presents
a copy of the map itself, with all the details, drainage, etc., in
position, instead of blank intervals between the contours. Such details
and drainage are a great help in the subsequent modeling.
The next step in the process is to fill in with clay or wax the
intervals between the contours. I have always found wax more convenient
than clay for this purpose as, unless the surface coating is a thick
one, the clay is difficult to keep moist. To obviate this difficulty,
some modelers have used clay mixed with glycerine instead of water;
this, of course, does not become dry, but the material is, at its best,
unsatisfactory. The filling-in process is the most important one in
relief map making, for it is here that the modeler must show his
knowledge of, and feeling for, topographic forms. Some models seem to
have been constructed with the idea that when the contours have been
accurately placed the work of the modeler is practically done. This is
a great mistake. The card-board contours are only a means of control,
occupying somewhat the same relation to the relief map that a core or
base of bricks, or a frame of wood, does to other constructions as, for
example, an architectural ornament or a bust. It is sometimes necessary
to cut away the contour card; for, as has been already explained, a map
is more or less generalized, and a contour is frequently carried across
a ravine, instead of following it up, as it would do if the map were on
a larger scale. Such generalizing is of course perfectly proper in a
map, but, with the same scale, we expect more detail in a model. The
modeler must have judgment enough and skill enough to read between the
lines, and to undo the generalizing of the topographer and draughtsman,
thus supplying the material omitted from the map. This can be done
without materially affecting the accuracy of the model, considered even
as a copy of the contoured map.
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