The project
Built as the centrepiece for an event Dan-Bunkering held for its shareholders, this is a display model of an offshore wind turbine. Dan-Bunkering wanted a physical symbol of the sector they work in rather than a replica of any particular machine, so the turbine is a generic one.
The approach
The client had no 3D files of a turbine to work from, so the whole thing was drawn in CAD from scratch. That is a normal starting point for display work and it changes the job. With nothing to copy, the model gets designed around how it will be made and how it will read at arm's length, rather than around engineering accuracy.
How it was made
The monopile is a solid steel pipe, painted in bands to give the yellow and white sections. The hub, blades and nacelle housing were 3D printed in PETG, in parts, because each is larger than a single print. The blades in particular were printed in sections, glued, then filled, sanded and painted until no joint is visible, and that finishing is most of the work in a piece like this. Bearings were fitted at the hub so the blades turn freely, and the base plate was CNC machined.
Where the same approach works
A display model earns its place by being the thing people stand next to and photograph. Blades that actually turn do more of that work than any amount of surface detail, which is why the bearings mattered more than the rivet count. The same approach suits trade fair centrepieces, reception displays, event pieces, and anywhere a company needs a physical stand-in for something far too large to bring indoors.
