3D-printed Aston Martin DB5 takes the hit in “Skyfall”

No gadget or actor in the showing of "Skyfall" I caught this weekend drew quite as much reaction as the reveal of the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 -- the same car driven by James Bond in his earliest movies. Those of you who've seen the film know the Aston suffers a bit of damage that looks distressingly true to life. Thankfully, no real '64 DB5 were harmed; the hit was carried out on a model printed by a machine that's straight out of Q's old lab.Using a 3D printer and computer design data from the original, British model builder Propshop constructed three one-third scale models of the DB5 so accurate to the original that it's impossible to spot the fake even in tight shots. Laid down layer by layer using a Voxeljet printer, the 18 separate pieces were then finished, painted, chromed and even given realistic bullet holes for one scene.

Before "Skyfall" opened and earned $500 million in ticket sales worldwide, one of the three models created for the film was auctioned by Christie's for $100,000. Given that one suffers (spolier alert) quite the damage in the film itself, the remaining model might be worth quite a bit. Then again, if demand runs high enough, Propshop can always print more.