How Modelbee works, what it costs, and how your designs stay yours.
Modelbee is a marketplace that connects people who need something physically made — designers, architects, students, inventors and product teams — with vetted model shops and fabricators. It covers functional prototype modeling, custom fabrication and short manufacturing runs, for industrial design, architecture and scale models as well as art, sculpture and on-site installations.
Posting a project and comparing bids is free. You only pay the maker you choose, and you pay them directly. There is currently no platform fee.
Your 3D and CAD files are locked by default. Makers browsing your project see only the brief and reference images — never the files. They unlock only for the maker whose bid you accept, and that rule is enforced by the database itself, not just hidden in the interface.
You post a brief describing what you need. Modelbee ranks the makers whose processes, materials and batch sizes genuinely fit, and they bid with a price and a lead time. You compare bids side by side, accept the one you want, and a private chat opens with that maker.
Yes. Either side can start a conversation on a project before any bid exists — useful when a maker needs a detail clarified before quoting. Your CAD files stay locked until you accept a bid.
Scale and architectural models, appearance models, functional and engineering prototypes, jigs and fixtures, one-off custom fabrication, short production runs, and art, sculpture and on-site installations. Processes include CNC machining, 3D printing (FDM, SLA and SLS), injection molding, sheet metal fabrication, laser cutting, woodworking, PCB assembly and finishing.
Makers are hand-picked partners with decades of industry experience, and each keeps a public shop profile with photos, capabilities and client reviews so you can judge their work before you hire.
Yes. The entire platform runs in English and 中文, so a brief written in one language is readable in the other and neither side needs a translator to agree on a tolerance.
Create an account, choose “I am a maker”, and set up your shop profile with your logo, photos, processes, materials, batch sizes and lead time. Creating a profile is free, and matching projects appear on your dashboard straight away.
Payments currently happen directly between the client and the maker on the terms they agree. Platform-managed payments and escrow are planned.