Exquisite marine engineering ship model with lighting effects for collection or corporate exhibition display

Engineering ship model making case

Project background

A shipbuilding company has commissioned a 1:50 scale engineering ship model for exhibition in the showroom and customer negotiations. The model must accurately reproduce the core features of the actual ship, including the streamlined hull structure, yellow crane, green deck, and red warning signs. The overall fidelity requirement is ≥90%.

Material and Process Selection

Main materials: The hull is made of ABS engineering plastic (high strength, easy to shape), the deck equipment is made of PA6 nylon (wear-resistant, suitable for moving parts), and the detailed decorations are made of PVC board and metal wire.

Printing technology: Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology, with the hull printed in 3 sections, equipment components independently molded, and soluble support to reduce surface marks.

Production process

Data collection and modeling

Scan real ship data, repair the surface through 3D software, and focus on restoring the curvature of the hull, crane mechanical arm, and deck pipeline layout. During modeling, retain details such as hull numbers and railing patterns to ensure consistency with the proportions of the real ship.

Printing and post-processing

After the hull is printed in sections, the seams are polished with 180-grit sandpaper, and then fine-tuned with 320-grit sandpaper to ensure the surface is free of layered patterns.

The crane components are manufactured through casting processes, and the metal connectors ensure that the mechanical arm can rotate 360°, simulating operational conditions.

Assembly and painting

Structural assembly: Wooden tooling frames are used to secure the hull, with screws and epoxy resin glue used to connect components. Railings are hand-bent using 0.5mm metal wire, and lifebuoys are thermoformed using PVC.

Painting process:

Primer: Epoxy primer enhances adhesion, and after drying, lightly sand with 800-grit sandpaper;

Color separation and painting: The main body of the ship is painted in matte blue with red waterline, the deck is coated with green anti-slip paint, the crane is painted with yellow highlight paint, and the warning stripes are hand-drawn;

Protective coating: Covered with transparent varnish to enhance scratch resistance and glossiness.

Quality acceptance

Dimensional accuracy: The error in critical parts, such as ship length and crane height, is less than or equal to 1%, consistent with the design values.

Detail reproduction: The layout and color painting of the deck equipment match the real ship with a degree of accuracy of 92%, and the mechanical arm moves smoothly.

Delivery standard: Equipped with a solid wood base, laser-engraved with the company's LOGO, meeting the long-term display needs of the exhibition hall.