On May 12, 2012, at 7:09 AM, up4479 (Steve Solombrino) wrote:

The concept of making accurate models is very old. It goes back
centuries. Over time, documentation of the prototypes, materials,
techniques, available components and communications have all
improved to enable better, more accurate models built by those that
desire to model what was in real life.

Many years ago, on a visit to the Greek island of Crete, I saw what
amounted to a scale architectural model in clay of a structure that
was apparently built exactly as shown by the model. So prototype
modeling goes back at least to the third century BC.

Richard Hendrickson