When the work has five mistakes, it's not yet completed. When it has eight mistakes, it might be.
Designing a toy as a self-assembly 3D printed model kit — a full sprue-style kit where every part ships attached to a single printed runner, ready to be snapped free and assembled without glue or fasteners.
The sprue format — borrowed from classic injection-molded plastic model kits — turns the unboxing into part of the experience. Each piece connects to the runner via small gate points; a gentle twist and it's free, just like the Gunpla kits that inspired the format.
Design Constraints
The challenge was decomposing the model into a printable kit where every joint relies purely on friction fit. Replicating the snap-fit logic of injection-molded parts in 3D print requires deliberate engineering: wall thicknesses, tolerances and part orientation were all tuned specifically to the capabilities of professional SLS printing through i.Materialise.
Unlike FDM printing, SLS allows the entire sprue — body, axles, chassis, smaller detail parts — to be printed as one cohesive object, with the dimensional accuracy needed to make press-fit tolerances actually work.
Tools
- Cinema4D
- i.materialise