Defender

Two friends (Felix and Indigo of ) asked for my help CAD modeling a PopTop (an expandable roof) for their Landrover Defender. You can find the full build instructions on their website

Assignment

Old Landrover Defenders are very popular cars for this type of odd jobs due to their modifiability. There are multiple third parties that sell these kinds of poptops for this car. However, they go from expensive to really expensive and not adaptable. Obviously, these companies do not provide/sell the blueprints.

The goal was to create a blueprint that could be produced for around half the price. Additionally, this blueprint will be available for free online with the option to donate (especially if help is needed).

Preparation

I had no experience in creating a structural sound model. I spent the most time on figuring out the structure of the car and how the existing third party poptops were constructed. After figuring this out and discussing it with Felix and the welder we designed an easy blueprint. After posting some pictures on social media, Felix already found our first user who built it before we could. This user also helped us figure out a lot of details.

Final product

We received some feedback after the first user built the PopTop. Using these insights, Felix and the welder built their own PopTop. We will release the blueprint around July/August, when I have summer holiday.

The PopTop was approved to for the public road in Germany. In March 2022, Felix and Indigo started their long journey through Europe and possibly Asia in their car with the PopTop.