UFO Toy with Base

Kids love getting their hands on this UFO Toy. The base looks like lights beaming from points underneath the UFO. Flip over the base to make a cool landing pad or lift both together to fly the UFO with extra propulsion.

This is a revisit of one of my earliest models. My daughter came up with the original design concept when she was five years old playing with a 3D modeling program. It is a fun toy for kids, but I enjoy fidgeting with it too. The design works well in single colors, dual extrusion, or even four-color printing. Glow in the dark gives it an extra awesome element!

Note that there are two versions of the base and brim. My original one has the cones to a full point. The UFO has a circle cut in the bottom so that it "locks" onto the points of the base but allows for rotating by hand. The sharp points are somewhat dangerous for young kids, especially if they might leave the toy on the ground or couch where someone could step or sit without looking! I made a "Blunt" version of the base that is safer, though I still wouldn't want to step on it. The brim with the "Wider Gap" is designed to fit with the blunt base. So if you use the "blunt" base, be sure to use the "Wider Gap" brim on the UFO.

The UFO together is approximately 70 x 70 x 12 mm. The base is 70 x 70 x 15.6 (or 12.7) mm. My best printed results were with 0.1 mm layer height, 20% infill, and 4 outline/perimeter shells.

I strongly recommend using "Concentric" for "External Fill Pattern" (Simplify3D terms) on the base to get a nice effect around each of the cones. This worked particularly well with the base printed using Mosaic Palette pattern mode.