This is a 3D scan of a tinplate toy racing car, from the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. Produced in Germany around 1930 by Johann Distler & Co, it is indicative of the type of toys that were available in Australia in the early twentieth century.

This was one of ten Museum objects scanned in 3D for Hack the Collection, a public program in the 2014 Sydney Design Festival, which matched ten contemporary Sydney designers with ten objects from the Museum’s collection.

Designers spent two intensive days in the Festival FabLab, creatively manipulating the 3D object files to design their own hacked interpretations in full view of an excited public. At the conclusion of the weekend, the designers’ remixed objects were 3D printed on MakerBots and displayed alongside their original counterpart.

We see our collection as raw assets for inspiration. We encourage you to download and remix our collection as you take it in new directions. We'd love to hear about the new forms and uses you find for our objects – drop us a line to show us your work!