Saturday, April 08, 2017

Saturday Film Cloub: 3D printed Starbug

Starbug

I've seen Starbug, and it's real. Or at least it's a real model and a good looking one. 

Bringing Red Dwarf back to our screens must have been a challenge and unsurprisingly, the makers have used a fair bit of CGI. Not all of the space ships are virtual however, it seems that they still wish to chuck real models around. 

Rather than break the studio models, they have scanned and 3D printed Starbug. Then it can be thrown at tables full of sand without worrying. If Gerry Anderson had been able to do this years ago, avid spotters of details on his Space 1999 Eagles would have saved many hours and the owners of said models wouldn't have had to carry out so many repairs. 

Anyway, the process is interesting but the printed ship still looks like it's made of sand compared to the "proper" version even when it's been painted with a great big brush. 



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Anyway, the process is interesting but the printed ship still looks like it's made of sand compared to the "proper" version even when it's been painted with a great big brush."

If some 3D prints I encountered the other year are anything to go by, I can't help wondering if the printed version might also feel like sand ... .