DAPHNE, Ala. — Alan Southern builds models, but not as a hobby. It’s how he earns a living.

“I’ve been building scale models since 1975, said Southern, owner of Southern Model Builders. He says he got into the business following in the footsteps of his father, Albert “Bob” Southern.

Alan Southern says his grandfather was also a model builder, building ship models, making him the third generation in the trade. He worked with his late father for many years.

Southern says he creates models for industrial purposes, marine engineering, engineering needs, architectural models and accident reconstruction.

“All have different uses,” explained Southern. A model of a refinery may tell engineers the design they have on paper won’t work, or it can be used in a trade show, giving people a 3-D representation of what an industrial site does or will look like.

Asked how many people can visualize what is actually going on in the models, Southern said, “There are a lot of people who can’t think in three dimensions.”

He cites a time when he was asked to model how the light from a proposed shopping center would affect a nearby neighborhood. This would be an example of civil engineering, or land development uses.

“The people (in the subdivision) were worried about the light from the shopping center. The model was able to show what would happen,” said Southern.

A marine model might show how equipment will fit into a ship’s spaces.

And if a client gives him wrong specifications, that’s enough to send a $50-60,000 project, “straight to the garbage.”

Southern says he especially likes jobs involving accident reconstructions.

“It brings the incident to a personal basis,” said Southern, adding that in some cases he meets the victims of the incident his models portray.

“I recently finished a model where two people were killed at a Alabama-LSU football game,” said Southern.

He works from police information, and has occasionally gone to the scene of the incident with his camera and tape measure to make sure his models are accurate.

And he says having lawyers watch as one of his truck models was wrecked was “kind of fun.” The lawsuit involved seatbelts in the vehicle.

“They decided to settle in the lot,” said Southern.

He makes his models out of balsa and  several other material.

“They are not elaborate woods,” he said, adding he has made desktop models of Civil War cannons for a client.

And while many of his models are life-and-death, or will help engineers build a better facility, some are just plain fun.

“We did Miss Louisiana’s hat once,” chuckled Southern. “It was a shrimp boat.”