Our work / Stardust and You
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Stardust and You – Concept Turned into Toy Prototype and Museum Exhibit
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Written by Ralph Hill, Mechanical & electrical systems, 3D manufacturing
Prototyping Engineer
Published August 10, 2026
Large scale 3D printing is not one big print — it is a modular assembly problem. The Stardust and You spiral platform is 6.5 feet in diameter and strong enough for children and adults to walk on, so we split it into 35 modular pieces, each printing in two to five days.
Carol Gamble — founder of Little Partners and inventor of the Learning Tower — wanted a walkable spiral of time to accompany her children's book. We designed a 3D spiral pathway rising as the story progresses, with educational toys that drop into custom cavities or attach magnetically along the way.
Project at a glance
- Client
- Carol Gamble — author, founder of Little Partners and inventor of the Learning Tower
- Category
- Toy and experiential prototype
- Starting point
- A children's book needing a physical, walkable companion experience
- What we delivered
- Concept design, structural engineering, large-format fabrication and finishing of a 6.5-foot spiral play platform
- Key constraints
- Child-safe and load-bearing at 6.5 ft diameter, art-quality finish, transportable assembly
- Outcome
- A work-of-art interactive prototype that brings the book's story of the Universe to life
The client
The challenge
Our solution
The result
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Toy prototype development at a glance
| Scope | Concept art, CAD modeling, 3D printed prototypes, finishing |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Play testing, safety review, manufacturer quoting, photography |
| Deliverables | CAD files, painted prototypes, drawings for quoting |
| Typical timeline | 3-8 weeks |
Toys have to be tested by hand
Scale, weight and how a character feels in a child's grip cannot be judged on screen. Prototypes also expose the things reviewers will flag later — small parts, sharp transitions, pinch points — while changes are still cheap.
How we built the prototypes
We modeled the characters from the concept art with production in mind, printed them at final size, and finished and painted the parts so they read as real product rather than gray resin. Those prototypes supported play testing, licensing conversations and factory quotes without the client committing to tooling.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a toy prototype cost?
Most single-character prototypes run $800 to $5,000 depending on size, articulation and finishing quality.
Can prototypes be used for photography?
Yes — hand-finished and painted prototypes are routinely used for packaging and marketing shots.
Do you help with toy safety requirements?
We design with ASTM F963 considerations in mind and coordinate testing through accredited labs.
Capabilities used on this project
Rapid prototyping services
3D printing, CNC machining, urethane casting and functional prototype builds with published materials, tolerances and lead times.
Prototype design and engineering
Design for the prototype itself: CAD, tolerance stacks, material choices and assembly detail before anything is built.
The large-format prototype playbook
The form had to carry the narrative
Early ideas leaned flat, but a linear or circular platform could not express the evolution of time in the book. A 3D spiral rising from base to summit made the structure itself tell the story.
35 pieces, printed in parallel
Our engineers modeled the spiral in CAD and divided it into 35 modular segments for efficient printing, assembly, and transport. Each segment took two to five days — modularity is what makes a 6.5-foot structure buildable at all.
Load-bearing whimsy
The platform had to survive adults walking on it while matching the book's whimsical visual style. Structural design and art direction were solved together, not in sequence.
Toys as chapters
Atoms, stars, planets — each toy corresponds to a stage of cosmic evolution and was prototyped alongside the platform. Some seat into custom cavities, others attach magnetically so children can move them freely.
| Challenge | Options | What was chosen |
|---|---|---|
| 6.5 ft structure | One-piece fabrication vs. modular printing | 35 modular printed segments |
| Narrative form | Flat, circular, or rising spiral | Rising 3D spiral matching the story |
| Walkable strength | Decorative vs. load-bearing | Load-bearing for children and adults |
| Toy attachment | Fixed vs. removable | Custom cavities plus magnetic attachment |
Questions about this project
Straight answers from the engineers who ran the build. Have a different question? Ask us directly.
Talk to an engineerHow much does large scale 3D printing cost?
Large-format printed structures typically run $15,000 to $60,000 depending on size, structural requirements, and finishing. Modular segmentation is what keeps the cost and the schedule manageable.
How big can a 3D printed structure be?
Effectively unlimited when it is designed modularly. This platform reached 6.5 feet in diameter by splitting into 35 segments printed in parallel.
Can a 3D printed platform hold an adult's weight?
Yes, when it is engineered for it. This spiral was designed as a load-bearing structure for both children and adults, not a display model.
How long does a project like this take?
Segments printed in two to five days each, running in parallel while the interactive toys were prototyped. Projects of this scale typically span two to four months end to end.
Industries this project belongs to
See how we approach development in each of these categories, and the other products we have taken from sketch to production there.
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