@wkerzendorf Are you confusing this class with [PolynomialModel](https://github.com/astropy/astropy/blob/master/astropy/modeling/polynomial.py#L86)? [PolynomialModel](https://github.com/astropy/astropy/blob/master/astropy/modeling/polynomial.py#L86) inherits from [PolynomialBase](https://github.com/astropy/astropy/blob/master/astropy/modeling/polynomial.py#L30) and the base class hardly has any functionality.