There's some info about modeling starships models for table top miniatures gameing via prototyping here: http://www.ninjamagic.com/cgi-bin/gt/tpl.h,content=25&
It's not a young industry though. I worked in games as an artist for 25 years. And it wasn't a new industry when I joined either. Your first two points are spot-on.
The thing I don't understand is why modders bended over backwards for 25%. Bethesda or Steam have done no zero work, but they take 75% of it, seems really insulting.