I have been working on and off on a 3d model for the Shimano XTR m9100 for a while now. With limited references, it has been quite a challenge to understand forms as some of the components can barely be seen in photos. I had to make a dedicated Figma page and bomb it with as many photos from different perspectives as I could find. The two maintenance videos I could find for the derailleur on YouTube helped a lot.
With the references in place, I started with the gears:
After the gears were done, I loaded up a new blend file and placed them along a reference image of the entire gear derailleur. With the gears aligned, I had size reference for other parts. I started with the main metal brackets next which I then aligned to the same blend file.
With the flatter parts of the model done, I moved up to the more complex parts of the model. With no direct orthographic references, I used the model I had so far to estimate sizes and started building ahead.
