Nissan creates the world's largest 3D pen sculpture as full-scale model Qashqai

Nissan commissioned a team of designers to draw a full-sized replica of the Nissan Qashqai, creating the world’s largest car sculpture by using innovative 3D pen technology.

3D pen Qashqai model

The artwork was painstakingly hand-drawn by a talented team of 3D pen artists, using pens supplied by 3Doodler.  They worked with true attention to detail to ensure their creation expressed the design of this popular Nissan crossover.  The Nissan Qashqai is Europe’s most popular crossover, with Nissan producing 58 new Qashqai every hour at its plant in Sunderland, UK.

The 3D model took 800 man-hours to complete, over a 3-week period.  The final sculpture is 4.4 metres long and 1.6 metres high, drawn to a 1:1 scale of the actual Qashqai.

3D pen drawing

Launching the innovation on the mass market, the 3Doodler Create 3D pen allows anyone to draw in the air to produce unique three-dimensional shapes and patterns (sort of 3D drawing, rather than 3D printing).  It works by heating solid plastic to 230°C and forcing it through a nozzle just 0.7 mm wide as it cools.  

Led by artist Grace Du Prez, the team of artists brought the Qashqai to life with an astonishing 13.8 kilometres of plastic strands.  She commented: “I’ve been drawing with 3Doodler’s pens for a few years now, but this is by far and away my most ambitious commission to date.  It demonstrates how far 3D printing technology has come and how it can be used by anyone.”

The 3D printing industry is predicted to be worth more than $17 billion by 2020.  As a design technology, it has become increasingly common in manufacturing in recent years, including in the automotive sector.