Peterson Space Force Base & Colorado Springs Airport — 45-Tile 3D Terrain Map

Overview

A 45-tile topographical terrain model covering Peterson Space Force Base (SFB) and Colorado Springs Airport (COS) in Colorado Springs, CO. This area captures the flat high-desert terrain of the eastern Front Range at roughly 6,100 ft elevation — the airfield environment where military and civilian aviation share the same runways, making it one of the few joint-use installations in the country. Schriever SFB and the open plains stretch to the east, while the urban grid of Colorado Springs spreads to the west and north.

Each tile is generated from high-resolution 1m LiDAR elevation data (El Paso County 2018 3DEP East CO dataset from the Colorado Hazard Mapping & Risk MAP Portal), producing highly detailed real-world terrain at a printable scale.

Tile Layout

Each tile represents a 3,000 ft × 3,000 ft area and prints at 200mm wide. Tiles are numbered and organized according to the included reference map — use it to identify which tiles you need or to plan your print order.

Assembly

Tiles can be joined together two ways:

• Bowtie connectors — alignment cutouts on tile edges accept printed bowtie clips to snap tiles together

• Screw mounting — each tile has 4 mounting holes on the back, inset 20mm from each edge (160mm × 160mm square pattern), for mounting to a backing board or wall display

Designed for Multicolor Printing

These files are intended to be printed in multicolor to highlight the terrain and infrastructure features. The runways, taxiways, and airfield geometry really stand out with color differentiation.

Print Settings (Snapmaker U1)

These are the settings I used to print all 45 tiles:

• Walls: 3

• Infill: 15% lightning

• Top layers: 5

• Tile size: 200mm × 200mm

• Filament per tile: 200–400g (varies; terrain is relatively flat)

• Total print time: ~360 hours across all 45 tiles

Because this is primarily flat high-desert terrain, filament usage is fairly consistent across tiles — the airfield infrastructure is the standout detail rather than dramatic elevation changes.

What's in the Area

The tiles collectively cover a landscape with significant military and aviation history:

• Peterson Space Force Base — home to Space Operations Command and one of the nation's premier space and missile warning installations

• Colorado Springs Airport (COS) — the region's commercial airport, sharing runways with Peterson in a rare joint civilian/military configuration

• The airfield complex — two parallel runways, extensive taxiways, hangars, and ramp areas rendered in LiDAR detail

• Surrounding urban grid — residential and commercial Colorado Springs to the west and north

• Eastern plains — the flat high-desert terrain stretching toward Schriever SFB and Falcon

Tips

• This model is a great candidate for multicolor printing — the flat terrain lets the airfield geometry and infrastructure details do the visual work

• Lightning infill works perfectly here; the flat tiles need very little material and print quickly

• If assembling the full mosaic, bowtie connectors keep alignment tight across the large flat sections where seam gaps are more noticeable