Exploded View

Technology, exploded.

Real machines taken apart in hand-drawn 3D.

See the filmsDownload renders and models
The Roadster exploded into its body, cabin, battery and chassis, with the cold-gas thrust system lit amber.
Fig. 01Tesla RoadsterExploded

Sheet 01Tesla Roadster

How Tesla's flying Roadster works

The Roadster in Track Mode from the front three-quarter, rear wing raised and the aero parts lit red.
Fig. 01Track ModeTesla Roadster

On October 15, 2026, Tesla's new Roadster drove up a wall, hung upside down from a ceiling about 69 feet off the ground, rolled off the end and landed on its wheels. We built the car and its ramp in 3D and take them apart to show how it works, from the fans that pull it onto the ceiling to the tank of compressed air behind the seats that feeds its cold-gas thrusters.

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Downloads Renders and 3D models

Everything · ZIP · 14.1 MB

Renders · 3840 × 2160 PNG

3D models · GLB

Plain geometry with simple colours, in metres, parts named by system, Draco-compressed glTF. Opens in Blender and most glTF viewers; the ink look is how we render them, not part of the file.

Sheet 02Falcon Heavy

How Falcon Heavy works

Falcon Heavy climbing on a diagonal, its 27 Merlin engines lit orange.
Fig. 02Lift-offFalcon Heavy

Two of Falcon Heavy's boosters fly home and land side by side, so why does the middle one almost never come back? We take the rocket apart to find out, from the 27 Merlin engines and the throttle trick that saves the centre core's fuel to the grid fins and legs that bring the side boosters home.

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Downloads Renders and 3D models

Everything · ZIP · 15.8 MB

Renders · 3840 × 2160 PNG

3D models · GLB

Plain geometry with simple colours, in metres, parts named by system, Draco-compressed glTF. Opens in Blender and most glTF viewers; the ink look is how we render them, not part of the file.

Sheet 03SpaceX rockets

How SpaceX's rocket catch works

Saturn V, the Space Shuttle, Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship standing side by side at true scale.
Fig. 03The lineupSpaceX rockets

NASA built a brand-new Saturn V for every flight. Starship's Super Heavy booster flies back to the tower it launched from and gets caught by two steel arms. We line the rockets up generation by generation, then take a close look at how the catch actually works and why it beats landing legs.

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Downloads Renders and 3D models

Everything · ZIP · 17.9 MB

Renders · 3840 × 2160 PNG

3D models · GLB

Plain geometry with simple colours, in metres, parts named by system, Draco-compressed glTF. Opens in Blender and most glTF viewers; the ink look is how we render them, not part of the file.

Sheet 04Automatic watch

How an automatic watch works

The movement exploded layer by layer: the rotor lit amber, the mainspring barrel coral, the balance and escapement blue.
Fig. 04ExplodedAutomatic watch

There's no battery in an automatic watch, and yet it keeps going for as long as you wear it. We rebuilt a self-winding movement of the ETA 2824 class in 3D and took it apart piece by piece, following the energy from the rotor your wrist swings into the mainspring and back out through the escapement, eight ticks a second.

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Downloads Renders and 3D models

Everything · ZIP · 14.1 MB

Renders · 3840 × 2160 PNG

3D models · GLB

Plain geometry with simple colours, in metres, parts named by system, Draco-compressed glTF. Opens in Blender and most glTF viewers; the ink look is how we render them, not part of the file.

Sheet 05Google quantum

How Google's quantum breakthrough works (and could it break Bitcoin?)

A Willow-class chip in its package with the top die lifted off and the qubit die lit blue.
Fig. 05Willow chipGoogle quantum

On October 15, 2026, Google showed magic state cultivation working on its Willow chip, a cheap way to make the one ingredient an error-corrected quantum computer can't make for itself. We go down the dilution refrigerator and into the chip to see why that matters, then ask what a full-size machine would really be for.

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Downloads Renders and 3D models

Everything · ZIP · 19.0 MB

Renders · 3840 × 2160 PNG

3D models · GLB

Plain geometry with simple colours, in metres, parts named by system, Draco-compressed glTF. Opens in Blender and most glTF viewers; the ink look is how we render them, not part of the file.

How the films are made

Every film starts with one real object, rebuilt as a 3D model and drawn like a technical illustration: dark paper, fine ink lines and colour only on the part we're talking about. Then we take it apart and run it with real numbers, so you can watch how it works.

Using the renders and models

The renders and 3D models are free to download. If you share one, please credit Exploded View and keep the model credit where one is listed.

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