Features / Local landmarks turned into models thanks to 3D printing
SOME of Shetland’s most iconic and historic buildings have been brought to life in miniature, thanks to a local 3D-printing enthusiast.
Jonathan Beer has created plastic models of buildings like Lerwick Town Hall, Scalloway Castle and Fort Charlotte.
Through his new company North Atlantic 3D, he is also offering digital 3D reconstruction which stem from images he captures using drones.
The 3D prints of buildings and historic attractions, however, have perhaps gained the most attention so far – with plenty of interest on social media.
They also include the likes of Stanydale Temple on the westside and the Clickimin Broch.
He said these 3D prints, which could be painted, can sometimes take more than 20 hours to complete.
The Scalloway Castle one, for example, has dimensions of 125x103x119mm; this print-out had an extra challenge as Beer had to “painstakingly” remove scaffolding from the image before printing.
Beer, who has recently returned home to Shetland after living on the mainland, first started 3D printing around five years ago at an engineering business in Aberdeen.
But things picked up during the Covid pandemic when, after leaving his previous role, Beer and an acquaintance with a 3D printer began making PPE (personal protective equipment) from charitable donations.
“I received a 3D printer as a donation from my father, and quickly learned to print myself,” he recalled.
“This was quite a ‘baptism-by-fire’, with my 3D printer running constantly for months.
“Once the PPE shortage came to end, my partner and I went separate ways.
“I continued to develop my CAD [computer-aided design] and 3D printing skills, mostly using printers to solve problems around the house, but also to create some personalised gifts for friends and family.
“3D printers were much more primitive back then, and an awful lot of my time was just spent fixing the many problems which would arise with the printer.”
After moving back to Shetland for personal reasons, Beer looked for 3D work both locally and remotely but initially did not have much luck.
However, a friend was planning to renovate an old home, and Beer started 3D modelling the building to support the project.
This then led to a friend asking if Beer could help with the old saat store at the Skeld pier – which ultimately led to the creation of his new business North Atlantic 3D.
“The Skeld Waterfront Development Trust were considering options for what to do with the remnants of the building, and I was asked if I could measure it up and model it in CAD,” he said.
“I knew that the old stonework of the building wasn’t suited to traditional engineering CAD software, so I proposed that it should be scanned with a drone, from which I could create a more accurate 3D model than via hand-measurements.”
Cue Beer buying a new 3D printer and a drone too – with things starting to pick up this year.
The 3D models stem from a process called photogrammetry, he said, where software stitches together hundreds or thousands of images.
As the process continues, “depth maps” are combined to compose a mesh 3D model.
Although the speed of printing varies depending on various factors, Beer said the time taken to complete prints has typically ranged from between 14 to 27 hours.
“I have quite a good 3D printer now, which prints around five times the speed of the ones I used in 2020,” he said.
“On an older printer, it would take days to print a high-quality print of any size. I’m looking to get a second printer, which will be larger, and the print time for high-quality prints using the full build volume will, of course, be much longer.”
He said he can print a wide range of materials, including carbon-fibre-infused polymers with “incredible toughness that outperform metal in many ways”, as well as printing parts to order.
Beer was speaking to Shetland News ahead of attending a workshop with Historic Environment Scotland at its ‘digital conservation HQ’ in Stirling.
Among the jobs lined up for the future is a trip to Foula where he hopes to get some “nice scans of the cliffs and maybe the whole island”, as well as a multi-part print of Fair Isle.
Beer said he is most interested in drone 3D scanning – “either to produce digital models, for surveying, measurements, and general oversight, or to produce 3D printed models”.
One of his more unusual printed creations is an egg cup with the face of a friend on it, which was made after there was an issue with the top of the head.
“People are much harder to scan than buildings,” Beer said.
“The target needs to remain perfectly still for a 3D scan. This is much less trouble with buildings.”
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