Every year, the Half Scale Yahoo Group does a swap, and I participated this year for the fourth time. It’s a fairly large affair — this year we had 39 participants — so it’s important to come up with items that don’t have too many steps and can be made relatively cheaply. The value of the swap item is supposed to be ~$5 — not that it cost that much to make, but you would pay that much for the item if you were buying it.ear
Past years, I’ve made record albums, kitchen canisters, and butcher block cutting boards. This year the theme was “accessories from all around the house” and I decided to turn my attention to the room it’s nearly impossible to find good mini accessories for: the bathroom.
I found tutorials online for making a 1:12 scale plunger using a small suction cup, but couldn’t find any suction cups tiny enough for half scale. I looked at ear buds but even those were too big, and also kind of expensive in the volume I needed. After a long time poking around online, I don’t remember how I came across these red pipe end caps — but they’re perfect!
I started by cutting down the cap to end up with just the round part. I used a sharp utility knife for this and it cut easily, but I had a hard time getting straight lines. Luckily I had 100 caps and only needed 39 of them, so it was okay to mess some up.
I “drilled” a hole in the cap using my micro drill. This was also hard to do in the exact center since what seemed like the center sometimes turned out not to be when the rounded cap got squished into a flat position. I don’t know what size bit this is, but it’s the same size as a toothpick.
Next I cut the top off a fancy toothpick.
I left one ridge at the end of the toothpick, to “grab” under the hole and prevent the handle from sliding right out.
I stuck the pointy part of the toothpick up through the hole and pulled until the notch settled in the hole. I didn’t bother with glue, it’s a snug fit. Finally I cut down the top of the toothpick and sanded the top with an emery board to round it. The plunger’s finished height is 15/16″.
When I chatted with Jim Marcus about the Little Belle, he commented that it’s hard to paint a house like this because you have to be a really good painter to do justice to all the small details. He pointed out that when the house is all white, the shadows serve as a sort of accent color. He suggested painting the Little Belle’s shingles, stairs, door, and base in shades of gray, and leaving the rest white. 
First things first: someone who read about my 
Emily is a freelance writer, miniaturist, and adventure game enthusiast.
