diff --git a/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/src/main/assets/models/helmet.glb b/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/src/main/assets/models/helmet.glb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2cee76d76a
Binary files /dev/null and b/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/src/main/assets/models/helmet.glb differ
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/src/main/java/com/google/android/filament/gltf/MainActivity.kt b/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/src/main/java/com/google/android/filament/gltf/MainActivity.kt
index 8322cbbb88..56855eb274 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/src/main/java/com/google/android/filament/gltf/MainActivity.kt
+++ b/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/src/main/java/com/google/android/filament/gltf/MainActivity.kt
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package com.google.android.filament.gltf
 
 import android.annotation.SuppressLint
 import android.app.Activity
+import android.content.Intent
 import android.os.Bundle
 import android.util.Log
 import android.view.*
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ class MainActivity : Activity() {
         // Load the library for the utility layer, which in turn loads gltfio and the Filament core.
         init { Utils.init() }
         private const val TAG = "gltf-viewer"
+        private const val STATIC_MODEL_TAG = "use-static-model"
     }
 
     private lateinit var surfaceView: SurfaceView
@@ -69,6 +71,7 @@ class MainActivity : Activity() {
     private var loadStartTime = 0L
     private var loadStartFence: Fence? = null
     private val viewerContent = AutomationEngine.ViewerContent()
+    private var useStaticModel = false
 
     @SuppressLint("ClickableViewAccessibility")
     override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
@@ -83,6 +86,12 @@ class MainActivity : Activity() {
         doubleTapDetector = GestureDetector(applicationContext, doubleTapListener)
         singleTapDetector = GestureDetector(applicationContext, singleTapListener)
 
+        val intent: Intent = intent
+        val bundle: Bundle? = intent.extras
+        bundle?.let {
+            useStaticModel = it.getBoolean(STATIC_MODEL_TAG, false)
+        }
+
         modelViewer = ModelViewer(surfaceView)
         viewerContent.view = modelViewer.view
         viewerContent.sunlight = modelViewer.light
@@ -141,7 +150,16 @@ class MainActivity : Activity() {
     }
 
     private fun createDefaultRenderables() {
-        val buffer = assets.open("models/scene.gltf").use { input ->
+        // Sometimes it's useful to set to the default model to something static. You can enable
+        // the static model by launching the app from adb, as in
+        // `adb shell am start -n com.google.android.filament.gltf/.MainActivity --ez "use-static-model" true`
+        val modelPath = if (useStaticModel) {
+            "models/helmet.glb"
+        } else {
+            "models/scene.gltf"
+        }
+
+        val buffer = assets.open(modelPath).use { input ->
             val bytes = ByteArray(input.available())
             input.read(bytes)
             ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes)