Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Desktop Model Kit

When I was a kid, I went on a family vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina every year. I loved to see the iconic lighthouses there, and each year I brought home a souvenir model of a different one (I completed the collection years ago).

I thought that Cape Hatteras--the most famous of the NC lighthouses, and my favorite one--would be the perfect structure to model for the SeeTheWorld challenge.

Over the past month, I developed a multi-piece 3D model of the lighthouse from scratch, designed to be completely 3D printer friendly. The kit consists of 11 STL files, one of which you print 16 copies of. The largest single piece has a height of 182mm (7.2in), and the assembled model stands 234mm tall (9.2in).

I planned to paint mine all along, but you may choose to leave yours unfinished or use different colors of filament.

My printing, assembling, and painting process is described completely in the instructions and accompanying GIF animations, so if you want to create one just like the photo, you can!

(I took the photograph of my finished lighthouse at Shark Fin Cove in Davenport, CA.)