Useful items for sixth-scale environments (continuously updated)

BAD WOLF-787 wrote:I stopped by our local Hobby Lobby just a few hours ago but unfortunately I couldn't find the mini passports or the coins I'm not sure if our
 store does not carry them or they were just sold out although I find the mini backpack a few weeks ago.

@ Gubernator Fan: That sixth-scale looking motorcycle from Hobby Lobby that you talking about did it look like a custom chopper with red
 paint?

GubernatorFan wrote:

BAD WOLF-787 wrote:I stopped by our local Hobby Lobby just a few hours ago but unfortunately I couldn't find the mini passports or the coins I'm not sure if our
 store does not carry them or they were just sold out although I find the mini backpack a few weeks ago.

@ Gubernator Fan: That sixth-scale looking motorcycle from Hobby Lobby that you talking about did it look like a custom chopper with red
 paint?

Hi BAD WOLF. No, the motorcycles I saw (some of them about sixth scale, some smaller ones too) were a copperish/bronzish color and had no actual headlight (other than the cup for one). More like the one in the first two photos of the OSW thread. I think this is the online listing:

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Home-Decor-Frames/Decor-Pillows/Accent-Pieces/Black-Motorcycle-Metal-Decor/p/38680


The passports and coins are from the Explorer line of jewelry in the beads and jewelry section. If you can't find them in your store, here are the online listings:

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Beads-Jewelry/Mixed-Media-Jewelry/Embellishments/Mini-Coin-Bezel-Fillers/p/80870696

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Beads-Jewelry/Charms-Pendants/Charms/Blue-Gold-Passport-Charms/p/80654178

Hope this helps!

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:While I may not sympathize with some of their politics/practices, it's not going to keep me from purchasing from them. They were the only dedicated hobby shop in town, and I am used to them. They closed, and even though it is the same distance, I still instinctively go to another one of their stores instead of a Michael's.

ReverendSpooky -- if you have several pairs of the passports, you could make them a little heap in a corner... discarded relics of a bygone age in your post-Apocalyptic world.

I shop at Hobby Lobby because I believe that when you’re buying items that you need for a display, any moral differences with the seller are totally irrelevant, and you do whatever it takes, even if it’s immoral or even illegal.  Guess who I learned that from:  http://www.newsweek.com/christian-hobby-lobby-bible-museum-stole-713321

In a post-Apocalyptic narrative like ReverendSpooky's, it would actually be kind of ironic if one of the first things resurrected by the emerging territorial gangs was paper passports -- kind of a "Postman" concept.  Just spitballin'

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:Yeah, sorry. Yes it is. Because Reverend Spooky is totally The Man on 1/6 music subjects, and the Radio Kings rock, I wanted to give him a complete answer with a better pic of the Running Press compared side by side to a couple of other 1/6 turntables I have, that I'm trying to find in my stuff. Reverend, if that delay made it seem I was ignoring your straight-forward question, I apologize.

Turn, Turn, Turn… (A Tale of 3 Turntables + 1)



#1 Reverend Spooky was inquiring about the Running Press Table, though he may have already got one by now. Anyway for general interest here’s a better pic. $12.95 US. It comes with 3 LPs and each one plays a different 30 seconds of music, which doesn’t mean much to me for picture-taking purposes. I erroneously assumed they would actually spin (which would show as a nice blur in a pic) but they don’t. I think the turntable itself works in scale but the actual records look too big in the figure’s hand.

#2 From the World’s Smallest” Series, @$8 US. Unquestionably it is too small. Otherwise it would be just perfect. Nicely detailed. The record spins, a “strobelight” lights up. I am trying to remember if anybody ever made a record player, for kids maybe, that was smaller and played 45 rpms only. If so this could be a 1/6 version of that. It spins fast enough for 45 rpm.

#3 Rolling Stones Portable Record Player ornament. I have this but I can’t find it. Fun! It spins, plays Gimme Shelter. I was torn about converting it from a Rolling Stones promo item to a more generic portable record player. SO I made a plain cardboard insert for the lid, and put white tape on the front. Now I can have it both ways – or I could, if I could just find it. I believe they made similar ornaments for Elvis Presley, maybe others.



#4 This is one that I don’t have, I wish I did. It was a Hallmark Christmas Ornament in 2016 but it was sold out everywhere before Christmas, so I couldn’t find one when I got my general run of Ornaments for 1/6 on Boxing Day that year. Like the Running Press it detects different “records,” these being Christmas-sy. Scale seems good but I haven't had one in hand.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nice alternatives. Thanks for showing them off, MBAM.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Damn MBAM, thanks for posting these! I did order the running press one, and it came in yesterday. And I completely agree with your assessment, that it's perfect looking in scale, even if the records look oversized. I tried it with one of my records, and it looks so good. I'm definitely going to do a dark brown wash on the base to get the wood grain to pop. The center spindle is a little big to fit my records, so I may either drill my records out a touch, or replace it with a thinner metal rod. The platter is bigger than the record, but that's not really uncommon. I may replace it with something smaller, but I really could leave as is. Over all, it's EXACTLY what I wanted when I made my own, and I'm so happy with it. Really appreciate the heads up on it.

The world's smallest really does look great, and I do remember there being those kids players for 45s back in the day. That Rolling Stones one is super cool too! Give Me Shelter may be my favorite Stones song , so bonus! I know you can't find it now, but do you remember, size wise, how it scaled against the rest? It is quite cool.

The Christmas one is delightfully retro, although the reindeer on the front does kinda detract from it's uses. I remember someone on OSW mentioning a few years ago Hallmark doing an ornament (I think for Downtown Abbey) of a phonograph, but I never found in store. If it's the one I found googling just now, it might not have been to scale anyway.

Stryker2011 wrote:Cool record players. Thanks for sharing.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:

ReverendSpooky wrote:Damn MBAM, thanks for posting these! I did order the running press one, and it came in yesterday. And I completely agree with your assessment, that it's perfect looking in scale, even if the records look oversized. I tried it with one of my records, and it looks so good. I'm definitely going to do a dark brown wash on the base to get the wood grain to pop. The center spindle is a little big to fit my records, so I may either drill my records out a touch, or replace it with a thinner metal rod. The platter is bigger than the record, but that's not really uncommon. I may replace it with something smaller, but I really could leave as is. Over all, it's EXACTLY what I wanted when I made my own, and I'm so happy with it. Really appreciate the heads up on it.

The world's smallest really does look great, and I do remember there being those kids players for 45s back in the day. That Rolling Stones one is super cool too! Give Me Shelter may be my favorite Stones song , so bonus! I know you can't find it now, but do you remember, size wise, how it scaled against the rest? It is quite cool.

The Christmas one is delightfully retro, although the reindeer on the front does kinda detract from it's uses. I remember someone on OSW mentioning a few years ago Hallmark doing an ornament (I think for Downtown Abbey) of a phonograph, but I never found in store. If it's the one I found googling just now, it might not have been to scale anyway.

Oh man, don't get me started on phonographs now. The Downton Abbey ornament one works well. It may be very marginally underscale but phonographs weren't all a standard size, and it probably helps that phonographs are more remote to us than record players, historical, never a part of our day to day experience. Oh gosh, depressing thought, that's probably how "kids nowadays" relate to the record players. The most common phonograph for 1/6 would be from the "brass pencil sharpeners" series, and isn't bad. The horn looks credible so that phonograph only looks small if you look closely at the record area. There is also a phonograph made by ReMent or one of those "gashapon foods" companies, but that one is definitely too small.

I remember the Stones portable record player being perfect -- slightly less wide than the Running Press but a bit taller, and of course the lid is permanently up. I always take a "scale demo pic" of incoming items so I don't know why I didn't. It will turn up for sure -- one of these days I'll be in my basement and move Jimmy Hoffa's body and there it will be.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:John Constantine shows you the Pencil Sharpener Phonograph; and here's a pic of the Downton Abbey Christmas Ornament (though I screwed up to the extent there should always be a figure for purposes of logging in a scale pic."

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Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:.
While we're on the subject, you'll probably appreciate this ornament. I also have a whole series of mini juke boxes, but they're too small to use (I have a couple of full size 1/6 ones too). This Hallmark ornament works perfectly because it's just the right size to be on a Diner tabletop.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice items, Moonbase Alpha Male. They certainly add detail and depth to any sixth-scale environment. But it occurs to me that this is the Barbie thread... and we turned away poor BAD WOLF from posting non-Barbie stuff here as opposed to the Useful Items thread. But you were answering questions and one thing led to another, I know...

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:I'll stop now. OK, just one more music related pic for you - here's a sample of my 1/6 musical instruments.

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GubernatorFan wrote:Wow... well, double wow -- I didn't expect to be taken that seriously. But I meant this is a whole concert team you have assembled here, MBAM! What are these figures anyway?

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice items, Moonbase Alpha Male. They certainly add detail and depth to any sixth-scale environment. But it occurs to me that this is the Barbie thread... and we turned away poor BAD WOLF from posting non-Barbie stuff here as opposed to the Useful Items thread. But you were answering questions and one thing led to another, I know...

Sorry, you're right of course. Should I delete anything? Technically some of the instruments, mike stands etc shown in the last pic are Barbie items. The pianos were made for doll use, and part of the drums was (ugh) from a Justin Bieber doll set.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Both of those phonographs are a lot of fun. But that tabletop Jukebox!!!! Holy crap, I need to start hunting for one immediately. Those have always had a big place in my heart. I'm from New Jersey, pretty much the mecca of 24 hour diners, and spent a lot of late nights flipping through these little table top jukeboxes. And the scale looks spot on. Damn, so excited just seeing that's out there!

GubernatorFan wrote:

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:Sorry, you're right of course. Should I delete anything? Technically some of the instruments, mike stands etc shown in the last pic are Barbie items. The pianos were made for doll use, and part of the drums was (ugh) from a Justin Bieber doll set.

No, no, it's fine. I would never ask anyone to delete something (or delete it myself) unless it is truly inappropriate -- I do make suggestions sometimes but even that seems to hurt people's feelings (different instance, not this). It's just we have to be fair overall. But also in fairness, you were following up on ReverendSpooky's question. Besides, this includes Barbie items as you pointed out (I thought I recognized one or two). If it wasn't for the context, this could have been moved into the appropriate thread, but it's fine as it is.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:Wow... well, double wow -- I didn't expect to be taken that seriously. But I meant this is a whole concert team you have assembled here, MBAM! What are these figures anyway?

The figures are all versions of Captain Action, Doctor Evil. One is my actual childhood one from 1967. A couple of the others are from the 1998 Playing Mantis version and the rest are from the 2011 version. Obviously it's a Collage so I don't have that crazy many.

Call this a Teaser from my eventual music-themed Post. I've actually done a little booklet about the 50 year career that these guys have had in the music industry, as the Evil Band. They're a little like KISS, a little like the Dead, and little bit like Forrest Gump because they've been everywhere and met everybody.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:OK, here's a full on Teaser for this project -- Front Cover, Back Cover and some concert photos. Fully belonging in this thread because the set up is the Hannah Montana doll's Concert Stage (actually two of them combined). There's quite a lot of Barbie stuff in the overall project.



[/url]

ReverendSpooky wrote:What an awesome project!!! That band just kills me, and of course, I love the nod to The Clash cover.

Also, just ordered that Hallmark tabletop Jukebox on EBay. 100% needed one for St Crow's Loft, although the prospect of doing a Fallout style 50's diner is quite appealing...

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:

ReverendSpooky wrote:What an awesome project!!! That band just kills me, and of course, I love the nod to The Clash cover.

Also, just ordered that Hallmark tabletop Jukebox on EBay. 100% needed one for St Crow's Loft, although the prospect of doing a Fallout style 50's diner is quite appealing...

You will love it. It lights up, it plays music (which doesn't matter for photo purposes I guess) and it has movement in that the "pages" actually flip. In fact you can actually select different music by pressing the letter codes at the front. Awesomeness squared. I hope I didn't lead you to spend too much but I think you will find it worthwhile. Look forward to seeing it turn up in something.

Thanks for the comments on the Teaser for the Dr Evil Band. I'm most grateful you mentioned the Clash reference because the project contains dozens of music and pop culture references, some obvious and some very well hidden, so I hope people will find that amusing. There's a lot of narrative hidden or implied in the pics. You may tell from the back cover that I started this concept back in 2014 (at Christmas) so it's been a long time coming. The problem for me is that I still haven't done a couple of fairly complex photoshoots for it (like "the Evil play the Egyptian Pyramids '78" and "the Evil go to Sturgis") and unfortunately because the whole thing is laid out like a booklet, the incomplete gaps will be obvious. I have decided now however to just put it out there even with a few gaps -- partly because I figure here in OSF, "we're among friends," and people should be ok with that as a work in progress. May I say, I am nowhere comparing myself to your excellence but it was your Radio Kings repost that made me want to get this out there (along with the fact I showed off my pic with all the instruments, and the ball rolled from there).

ReverendSpooky wrote:

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:

ReverendSpooky wrote:What an awesome project!!! That band just kills me, and of course, I love the nod to The Clash cover.

Also, just ordered that Hallmark tabletop Jukebox on EBay. 100% needed one for St Crow's Loft, although the prospect of doing a Fallout style 50's diner is quite appealing...

You will love it. It lights up, it plays music (which doesn't matter for photo purposes I guess) and it has movement in that the "pages" actually flip. In fact you can actually select different music by pressing the letter codes at the front. Awesomeness squared. I hope I didn't lead you to spend too much but I think you will find it worthwhile. Look forward to seeing it turn up in something.

Thanks for the comments on the Teaser for the Dr Evil Band. I'm most grateful you mentioned the Clash reference because the project contains dozens of music and pop culture references, some obvious and some very well hidden, so I hope people will find that amusing. There's a lot of narrative hidden or implied in the pics. You may tell from the back cover that I started this concept back in 2014 (at Christmas) so it's been a long time coming. The problem for me is that I still haven't done a couple of fairly complex photoshoots for it (like "the Evil play the Egyptian Pyramids '78" and "the Evil go to Sturgis") and unfortunately because the whole thing is laid out like a booklet, the incomplete gaps will be obvious. I have decided now however to just put it out there even with a few gaps -- partly because I figure here in OSF, "we're among friends," and people should be ok with that as a work in progress. May I say, I am nowhere comparing myself to your excellence but it was your Radio Kings repost that made me want to get this out there (along with the fact I showed off my pic with all the instruments, and the ball rolled from there).

$17 with shipping, which is a straight up steal. It was a drop everything and go buy it now kinda purchase when you showed it. Man, your collection of 1/6 pieces that weren't intended for 1/6 is awe inspiring. Be careful, I may start asking you weird "was something like this ever made in 1/6" kinda questions.

I'm so glad you did end up posting the work in progress shots! The whole project is so fun. The alien looking band is such a trip, and the fact that they have this really retro look already lends itself so well to the classic rock feel. And I'm not sure if the white flowing shirt was from the original Doctor Evil, but its somehow a perfect fit for both 60's rock guitarist or 60's super villian, which kinda cracks me up for a lot of reasons. I'm really looking forward to seeing it as a whole, when it is finished, because it's a really cool project.

What is the 1st photo in reference to (I bet Dadrab would have seen it immediately)? I feel like with the pose, and that specific photo effect, it's on the tip of my tongue.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:

ReverendSpooky wrote:

I'm so glad you did end up posting the work in progress shots! The whole project is so fun. The alien looking band is such a trip, and the fact that they have this really retro look already lends itself so well to the classic rock feel. And I'm not sure if the white flowing shirt was from the original Doctor Evil, but its somehow a perfect fit for both 60's rock guitarist or 60's super villian, which kinda cracks me up for a lot of reasons. I'm really looking forward to seeing it as a whole, when it is finished, because it's a really cool project.

What is the 1st photo in reference to (I bet Dadrab would have seen it immediately)? I feel like with the pose, and that specific photo effect, it's on the tip of my tongue.

Chapter One is up now, I'm dying for your comments. You are never going to believe what that white flowing shirt is. That's an actual Seinfeld "Puffy Shirt"! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qWFSBqAxR4 It originally came with the DVD set of that particular season of Seinfeld. It fits 1/6 OK, though it doesn't close at the back. Pic #1 isn't specifically anyone (unless unconsciously) but it's meant to be in the spirit of "Crawdaddy" magazine, which was Rolling Stone's poorer freakier cousin in the day.

Any questions you may have about out-of-left-field potential 1/6 items, I'll be glad to answer if I know. In case it should be something you don't want to reveal in advance to readers of Radio Kings or whatever, feel free to PM me, or I can give you my real world email.

Stryker2011 wrote:Lot of cool music stuff. Very nice,

Stryker2011 wrote:Nice photo. I like his short robe and belt. And... Aww, how sweet.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nice tower, Moonbase Alpha Male! I really should pay more attention to these sections of Hobby Lobby. And since we've been talking about Hobby Lobby and flowers, they do sell these real (I think) dried flowers which also have some potential. It's an old photo, but Thor 2.0 offered some to Sif for the International Day of the Woman last year:

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:.
This trestle tower is another Hobby Lobby find I liked.  Got this about a year ago.  It's metal decor, like those motorcycles, but easier to use "realistically" because it is a simpler structure.  Cost was $13.50 with a coupon.

Pontiacivan wrote:Whoah! I can see some uses for one of those. I better go today, since tomorrow they will be closed.

shazzdan wrote:No Hobby Lobby in Australia

shazzdan wrote:The problem is that you need to see and handle the items. There is no way to tell whether an item is suitable for 1:6 from a photo. Most online shops list the dimensions of the packaging, not the item itself.

shazzdan wrote:The problem is that you need to see and handle the items. There is no way to tell whether an item is suitable for 1:6 from a photo. Most online shops list the dimensions of the packaging, not the item itself.