Carpenter’s son makes fabulous miniature models
The youngster, who is a highly skilled miniature model maker, is busy making replicas of transport vehicles.
A miniature model made by Dilip Kumar
MADURAI: Sivakasi which is acclaimed for its innovative spirit is finding a 24-year-old youth S. Dilip Kumar living true to its legacy. The youngster, who is a highly skilled miniature model maker, is busy making replicas of transport vehicles.
As a junior data analyst with a software firm in Madurai, S. Dilip Kumar developed a deep passion for creating miniature models of vehicles including bus, truck and train. At his home in Sivakasi, this youngster had set out a display of well crafted miniature versions of buses run by Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, State Express Transport Corporation, multi axle bus, private buses, various trucks and coaches of trains.
Dilip said it all started during Covid lockdown. Not willing to sit idle, he went through YouTube content for making miniature models. The youth said his father, a carpenter by profession, lended him support on the financial front too. Dilip Kumar started posting models of buses and trucks he crafted on Instagram and Facebook. Appreciation from social media nudged him to design more miniature models.
As his craftsmanship got wide appreciation, he started selling customized miniature models on demand.
Dilip says he has online orders for his products from all around Tamil Nadu. What started as a hobby to kill time turned into a part time business for the youngster.
“Till date I have sold 24 miniature versions of buses, trucks. Miniature model of a train too finds a place in the list. It takes almost 25 days to create one handmade perfect miniature model. It requires material such as polycarbonate acrylic sheets, PVC plates, wooden beading and glass objects to recreate an exact miniature and is sold for a minimum price of Rs.10,000,” Dilip Kumar told DT Next. A BJP cadre recently ordered making a miniature version of ‘Vande Bharat Express,’ he said
More orders were placed from buyers in Namakkal and Karur, which is a hub for bus body building. It makes their job easy to build a bus structure by looking at the miniature replicas. There are also growing demands for making light weight vehicle miniature versions for placing on car dashboards. “To capitalise on such growing demands, I have started learning to make light weight vehicle miniature models,” the youngster said.
Several civil engineers also place their order for buying miniature house-like structures to present it to their clients on occasions of house warming ceremony as a ritual. However, ensuring the customer gets a miniature model intact is a challenge, said Dilip Kumar.
