diff --git a/src/assets/AssetsLoader.cpp b/src/assets/AssetsLoader.cpp
index f3f575df..9fecf7da 100644
--- a/src/assets/AssetsLoader.cpp
+++ b/src/assets/AssetsLoader.cpp
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include "objects/rigging.hpp"
 #include "util/ThreadPool.hpp"
 #include "voxels/Block.hpp"
+#include "items/ItemDef.hpp"
 #include "Assets.hpp"
 #include "assetload_funcs.hpp"
 
@@ -240,6 +241,15 @@ void AssetsLoader::addDefaults(AssetsLoader& loader, const Content* content) {
                 }
             }
         }
+        for (const auto& [_, def] : content->items.getDefs()) {
+            if (def->modelName.find(':') == std::string::npos) {
+                loader.add(
+                    AssetType::MODEL,
+                    MODELS_FOLDER + "/" + def->modelName,
+                    def->modelName
+                );
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/content/ContentLoader.cpp b/src/content/ContentLoader.cpp
index df12461a..3294b040 100644
--- a/src/content/ContentLoader.cpp
+++ b/src/content/ContentLoader.cpp
@@ -429,6 +429,7 @@ void ContentLoader::loadItem(
     root.at("icon").get(def.icon);
     root.at("placing-block").get(def.placingBlock);
     root.at("script-name").get(def.scriptName);
+    root.at("model-name").get(def.modelName);
     root.at("stack-size").get(def.stackSize);
 
     // item light emission [r, g, b] where r,g,b in range [0..15]
diff --git a/src/items/ItemDef.cpp b/src/items/ItemDef.cpp
index 321f7be7..8d0cdd66 100644
--- a/src/items/ItemDef.cpp
+++ b/src/items/ItemDef.cpp
@@ -14,4 +14,5 @@ void ItemDef::cloneTo(ItemDef& dst) {
     dst.icon = icon;
     dst.placingBlock = placingBlock;
     dst.scriptName = scriptName;
+    dst.modelName = modelName;
 }
diff --git a/src/items/ItemDef.hpp b/src/items/ItemDef.hpp
index 81a9dbb7..999b190f 100644
--- a/src/items/ItemDef.hpp
+++ b/src/items/ItemDef.hpp
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ struct ItemDef {
     std::string placingBlock = "core:air";
     std::string scriptName = name.substr(name.find(':') + 1);
 
+    std::string modelName = name + ".model";
+
     struct {
         itemid_t id;
         blockid_t placingBlock;