WD-40 Atlas rocket

A 2.5 m replica of the SM-65 Atlas, the rocket WD-40 was invented to protect, 3D printed and finished in-house for WD-40's Middle East agent at Big 5 Global 2026.

Brief

WD-40 was formulated in 1953 to stop the skin of the SM-65 Atlas rocket corroding. Water Displacement, 40th formula. GDT Group, WD-40’s agent for the Middle East, wanted that origin standing on their Big 5 Global stand: a full Atlas replica in USAF livery, on a plinth that tells the story. Two weeks from go-ahead to install.

2,500 mm Nose tip to base plate

Process

Nothing exists off the shelf at this size, so we modelled the Atlas from reference photographs and sectioned it for the printers. Every part of the rocket is FDM printed in-house on our Bambu Lab P1S farm: nose, body sections, boosters, fins, skirt, the fuel line. Off the bed, filler, sanding and polish to kill the layer lines, then 2K automotive paint and clear coat.

Two raw FDM-printed engine bells resting on red-painted booster sections in the NSQD workshop — Engine bells straight off the P1S, sitting on booster sections already in red. Filler and paint next.

Livery is the USAF Atlas scheme. Silver body, USAF lettering and roundel, blue raceway lines, red nose, boosters, fins and skirt, and a chrome-finished fuel line running down the booster.

Inside, a steel frame takes the load and keeps it plumb: a 700 × 700 × 8 mm base plate, a Ø40 mm centre mast and two 50 × 50 mm posts, all hidden in the printed body. The 700 × 700 mm plinth carries the brand in WD-40 navy, a matt-laminated printed vinyl with the logo, the “WHY 40?” headline and the origin story.

The assembled 2.5 m Atlas replica standing in the NSQD Dubai workshop with the Bambu Lab printer farm behind it — Assembled in Dubai. The printers that made it are on the shelf behind.

Exhibition rulebooks don’t agree on height. Some venues cap built elements at 2 m. So the rocket is built for two heights: a mid-body section lifts out and 2.5 m becomes 2 m, shape and detail intact.

Same rocket, two rulebooks. Lift out one section and 2.5 m becomes 2 m.

Outcome

Installed at GDT’s Dubai office on 19 October 2026, 15 minutes on site, where it stands until it moves to the Big 5 Global stand at Dubai World Trade Centre, 25 to 28 November 2026. Printed, finished and framed in-house. One unit, two weeks.

15 min On-site install

Finished WD-40 Atlas rocket replica standing on its navy WHY 40? plinth in the GDT Group office, Dubai — At GDT's office in Dubai. The plinth carries the brand, the rocket carries the story.