James Bond stunt Aston Martin made in giant 3D printer
"Skyfall" filmmakers dropped some of their $150 million-plus budget on 3D-printed scale replicas of Bond's classic Aston Martin DB5.
Sean Connery first rocked the iconic James Bond Aston Martin DB5 in 1964's "Goldfinger." That vehicle made a reappearance in this year's blockbuster "Skyfall" with Daniel Craig at the wheel.
Spoiler alert: Craig's DB5 meets an untimely end involving flames. You can't just take a priceless real DB5 and blow it up on film, so the filmmakers turned to a high-tech prop solution: 3D printing.
Voxeljet, a 3D printing company in Germany, created three 1:3 scale models of the rare DB5. Each model was made from 18 separate components that were assembled much like a real car. The massive VX4000 printer could have cranked out a whole car, but the parts method created models with doors and hoods that could open and close.
The completed models received the famous DB5 chrome paint job and bullet hole details as finishing touches during final assembly at Propshop Modelmakers in the U.K. One of the models was sacrificed to the stunt gods during filming. Another was sold by Christie's for almost $100,000.
We've seen 3D printers used to create everything from a mobius strip of bacon to crazy alien-looking shoes, but this application of an industrial-size 3D printer to make a stunt car is as cool as 007's shaken martini.
(Via Damn Geeky)