From Concept to Completion
It all began in December 2024 when we wanted to showcase a full line of our PCB Production machines at tradeshows but bringing in 20 metres worth of machinery just wasnāt doable, so the idea of a model was born.
This project started off with conversations with professional model makers, but we ultimately decided for me to make it in house. Iāve made scale models in the past but nothing quite like this. I made a little foam model to assist in the planning and visualising of our trade show stands; and I had only ever worked with basic 3D printing in high school.
What followed was months of learning how to make these model through refinement, experimenting, and continuous printing.
The 3D printer ran for nearly 387 hours which is over 16 days of non-stop production time. Throughout this period, 117 individual parts were printed for the final model but there were of course a handful of failed prints. In total, this model consumed 9 rolls of filament which is roughly about 3.03 kilometres of material.
What these numbers donāt show, however, is what it was really like behind it all ā the adjustments, reprints, and meticulous precision required to achieve a final result that accurately represents the real system.
But I’ll show you in this video.
The Unprintable Files
At the time, we only had some of the manufacturersā STL files. Because these were only intended to be used by the engineers for visualisation purposes, they contained way too many details, and some elements were single layer āquiltsā that couldnāt be printed.
Our service engineering team had created a line with all the bells and whistles – a line that was fitted out with a workstation, a laser marker and all the rest of it. 15 of our state-of-the-art PCB manufacturing equipment.
I finally had all the files I needed ā now, to print them. But I was stuck.
We had the files but I didnāt know how to make these into 3D printable models. No matter how many tutorials I watched or whatever tools I learnt in uni for 3D modelling, I couldnāt figure it out.
The first print we did was a little Yamaha YRi-V. I knew it wasnāt going to work as is so I added a box inside and hoped the external surfaces would stick to it.Ā It was really cute but as expected, a lot of the outer layers ripped right off when I removed the supports. Here, you can even see some of the glue I used to stick it back together.
3D Printing
My manager suggested we go back to the same designer who created the 3D renders of our machines to see if he could do it. He did a whole bunch of machines for the virtual line demo on our website, so we were hopeful.
One by one, I worked with the 3D modeller to make these into files we could print. One by one, as each of them came through, I set them up for printing. Slowly, the empty desk next to mine was filled with an assortment of random bits and pieces from different machines. It was pretty chaotic but I knew what was going on.
Some machines had helpful names like the reflow oven or the solder paste inspection machine. These made sense. But others had names like NTM 0400. Like great, thatās real descriptive.
One of the most satisfying parts was snapping off the supports, specifically the tree supports – they came off so clean and crisp. With so many prints, there were of course a handful of unsuccessful ones. Some failed prints were so bad I even got excited to clean it up.Ā
Super glue smells really bad, by the way. And I used quite a lot of it. At one point, Ā I got some on my favourite pants and my chair, and I only realised it was there when I went to get up and I was stuck to the chair. Iāll be completely honest, I was done for the day after that.
Spray Painting
I was now up to the base coat step. I set up a little spray-painting space in the warehouse with my little light and mini tent.Ā I sprayed each model piece a few times with the primer/paint combo.
After this, I used painters tape to seal off all the little details I wanted to either keep grey or primed and ready for hand painting. This step was particularly fun because it involved cutting out really small and specifically shaped pieces of tape. Burnishing the tape was also a satisfying part of the process.
After each piece was all primed and details all taped up, it was now time for the white acrylic enamel spray paint. Because this was not like the regular spray paint I had been using, my throat got a little sore each time I used it, even with a proper respirator mask on. So, I added an air purifier to my set up which blew filtered air behind me and told me about the air quality. The poor machine kept telling me the air quality was so bad with an unhappy flower on its little screen.
Another super satisfying part of the process was peeling off the tape and revealing the unpainted grey base layer.Ā I had taken my time with the tape, burnishing all the edges so that hopefully, I was left with clean crisp lines.
Even though the frog tape was incredibly helpful in keeping the lines clean, some areas still got sprayed. I experimented with a mixture of acrylic paints as well as some white wall filler to achieve the matte finish, then used that to mix up a perfect colour match for the matte grey.
The Details
Out of all the parts in this entire process, painting the details onto the machines was by far my favourite part. It took the models from looking like just models to actual machines. Little details like a red and yellow button or a contrasting black handle would give the machines so much character.
Because the model is 1:10, the details were really small. I would use the tiniest little paint brushes and make sure each detail was perfect before moving onto the next. Because of this, this step was incredibly time consuming.
I had painted all of the screens and windows black, and they had a semi-gloss. But in order to achieve a more realistic finish, I used some glossy black vinyl wrap that was cut to size and then stuck onto the windows. Good thing the windows and screens were painted and had a smooth shiny finish as this allowed the vinyl to adhere well.
The glossy black vinyl I used was actually left over material from my first time wrapping car parts. I was comfortable with using this material already, so it made working with it for the models a lot easier. This vinyl was in storage for quite a few years, so some areas did raise up slightly. I ended up taking off the vinyl to apply some glue, wet a paintbrush and spread the glue around the contact surface.Ā I waited until it got tacky, then put the vinyl back on and pressed down firmly, smoothing the surface. This made for a much nicer finish.
The Really Small Logos
To continue making the machines look even more realistic, we needed to add the incredibly small logos. This step was quite difficult because all the custom sticker printers I went to came back to me saying that the size I wanted was way too small. I needed them to be the same scale as they would be on the actual machines, it was gonna be tiny.
So, I figured; how hard could this really be? And I decided to try to print and cut my own. I had gotten some clear sticker sheets that you could run through a normal printer.
I wanted to make sure the printer toner didnāt smudge so after printing, I let the sheet set for an hour before spraying over it with my clear workable fixative that I was confident would work. It made the stickers matte, which was ideal.
Because the stickers were so small, Ā they were really difficult to cut out so I used tiny little tweezers to assist me. I had reference images up on the screen as I carefully placed the stickers onto the machines using the same tweezers.
One by one, the line started looking Ā even more like the real thing. The glossy black windows and the little logosĀ brought these machines to a whole new level.
A Line Operator
For a better sense of scale, we wanted to include a machine line operator. Using an AI 3D modelling tool, I was able to generate and print a line operator with an ESD jacket, who was holding a PCB while positioned in a way where he is looking at the screen on one of the machines.
To tie it in nicely with Hawker Richardsonās brand identity, I painted his pants, shirt, and coat the Hawker Richardson greys and dark blue. I then made some stickers for his PCB details and added the Hawker Richardson HR logo to his shirt pocket.
Conclusion and Reflections
The final product is a 1:10 size realistic representation of what a line of PCB production machinery supplied by Hawker Richardson looks like.
This has got to be one of my favourite projects Iāve had the opportunity to take on. Sitting at my desk painting little models wasnāt on the job description but Iām so glad I got the chance to do so.Ā And as I said earlier. This is my first time doing a model like this so itās not perfect, but I really am proud of it.Ā
This project will make its first appearance at ElectroneX 2026 at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in New South Wales this June.
Weāll see you there!
The Machines
Learn more about the real life version of these machines.
