Useful items for sixth-scale environments (continuously updated)

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.

That is very true. Well, that's why we post these images here; and if you need to know about specific dimensions, I am sure that everyone would be as happy to give them to you as I would. Though there's nothing like checking an item out for yourself.

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.

Yeah, that is definitely an issue. At least with threads like this, though, you can see some of the stuff that might interest you.

Maybe when we purchase these things, folks could post clear images of the packaging and bar codes before making any changes. That way, people could possibly find online sources for that item...?

MBAM, thanks for sharing your flower source, those look nice too. And that's a cute Cthulu.

Bad Wolf, thanks for the table idea, one of my chars will likely use it!

ReverendSpooky, you got it, it's an Obitsu head on a Volks body. Volks New-EB were my preferred body for the height, graceful hand position, and collarbone sculpting. I'm lucky to have bought the 3 for main chars before they discontinued their 1/6 line in favour of MSD and SD sizes.

The white boots were from ebay listed as Blythe Pullip Momoko. I'd like to buy more in this size; too many Blythe boots are comically large.

GubernatorFan wrote:Shazzdan, while it is possible that some of the products carried by Hobby Lobby were specifically created for them by whatever company, I would imagine that finding the name and make of an item would be sufficient to do (if nothing else) an eBay search and order it from somewhere else. So you can at least browse the Hobby Lobby store and note items you want to pick up and haven't seen before.

The majority of the stuff we talk about at Hobby Lobby is Hobby-Lobby-Exclusive.  EBay resellers may have it of course, but the price will reflect that it was bought from Hobby Lobby and is being resold, so E-Bay is a last resort for those with no HL access. It doesn't resolve any moral qualms since you're re-buying a purchase originally made from HL anyway.

It's different for maybe tools or paint, but the knick-knack, costume jewelry and pendants are exclusive.  For example if you look at the cards for "Explorer" by Traditions, you will see on the back "Traditions www.hobbylobby.com Oklahoma City OK 73719" which is Hobby Lobby.  Same info on the tag for the trestle shown above.  No doubt somebody else makes and sells this stuff to Hobby Lobby, but like "Kirkland" for Costco, Hobby Lobby packages and sells everything under its house brands.  The same is true for Michaels (that we don't talk about as much) but actually Michaels sells a bit more non-exclusive stuff (for example we tracked down that the Tim Holtz craft stuff is also sold in the UK).

so many nice items and no store far and wide here in germany. considering 1:6 items it´s quite a desert here and shipping costs for small stuff render any purchase online nonsensical.

found the chair and trash can in my fallout diorama in what you´d call a dollar store, but such finds are quite rare.

what i´d give for a real shopping spree in a store rather than buying stuff online.

Tjolnir wrote:so many nice items and no store far and wide here in germany. considering 1:6 items it´s quite a desert here and shipping costs for small stuff render any purchase online nonsensical.
what i´d give for a real shopping spree in a store rather than buying stuff online.

Maybe take a couple of days off and go visit Machinegun.fr in Paris. Just find out what days they are actually open, especially in summer...

https://www.militar-figuren.de/contact.php

thanks for the idea,

actually machinegun.fr is my go to store when it comes to buying 1/6 stuff online, apart from actionfigurenshop.com. usually i buy some gadgets from them together with major stuff or figures i need for my builds anyways.

funny it never occured to me to check if they got a regular store as well, mainly because i was so used to getting my toys online since the days of bbi and dragon.
this and driving all the way with the gasoline costs would only be worthwile for a major haul.

though i´d still like the opportunity to walk a few shelves further in a store near me and stumble over 1/6 accessories, apart from barbie stuff, which i put to use in my fallout diorama as well.

guess i won´t have a problem convincing my wife of a trip to paris , especially since she´s cool with my hobbies anyways.

kinda miss the days of shopping masters of the universe figures with my grandma as a kid on a trip to the city, those were the days  

Enjoy Paris! And you guys with the cool wives should tell me where you found those. I want one too.

GubernatorFan wrote:Enjoy Paris! And you guys with the cool wives should tell me where you found those. I want one too.

Costco.

Just kidding. You have to go through a gaggle of psychopaths to find the good ones. Trial and error, my friend. Trial & Error

[quote="ReverendSpooky"]And BadWolf, that's a great use for those dragons!

Thank you my friend, that old saying "necessity is the mother of invention" is true, a few years ago when I needed
a table for a photo shoot I went to Hobby Lobby and looked everywhere but I couldn't find anything so I thought let's Walmart and almost
gave up there too until I finally spotted those Dragon Oil Warmers on a bottom shelf and thought Hey those kinda look look a table? LOL

[quote="Kukolka"]Bad Wolf, thanks for the table idea, one of my chars will likely use it!

Your welcome, I will be looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Fox915 wrote:Thank you MBAM, I really appreciate your pictures for comparison.

This was the actual one I ordered. Fingers crossed it's different to the one in the example (from WikiHow). On a side note, after looking at the size provided by the seller, I drew and cut out a paper mock up to get a feel for the size, it seems passable, or might just be 10-20% smaller than scale. Well, I hope it'll work, the new look I have for Cara is something of a skater girl, this skateboard would really be a cool accessory for her.

I hit a local (canadian) Walmart today.  They had lots of the too-small Fingerboards in blisterpacks, and a pricier but same-size version blindpacked in a box series "Mystery Board."    They also had this interesting series at $6.98 CAN (US$5.50) though:  http://wackystacker.com/Skateboards9.html.  Shorter than the 5" pointy one, but distinctively shaped and wider than all the other ones; and it has extra detail like patterns on the wheels.  I think these things totally "sell it" at least when she's holding it in hand.  For adequacy in actually riding it, you be the judge.  I can live with it, esp. given a girl's skateboard would be on the smaller side; but Your Mileage May Differ.

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The other thing to think about with FingerBoards is that you could simply buy a $2 Tech Board, cut your own piece of balsa wood, and just reuse all the wheels, axle, posts, screws etc and maybe even the stickers. You can even bend up the ends of the balsa wood board, though I've never tried it.

Interesting find, Moonbase Alpha Male. Perhaps it is the right size for a girl's skateboard. It certainly looks just fine in her hands.

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Looking at my post above reminds me that people may find it interesting to see the available range of fire hydrants from the Pet sections.  It's become a thing for doggie-doo-bags to come inside hydrant dispensers, and they end up being around 1/6 scale.  All of these have a hole on one side.  You can see the scale in my Lady Death pic above.

Best one, on the right, was (Canadian Dollar Store) Dollarama last year.  The two on the left are what Dollarama carries now -- a bit "Super Deformed".  The one with the silver tip was purchased at a thrift store so I don't know what Pet Store  it originally came from.

I agree, making the skateboard deck yourself out of a bit of wood, and grabbing the trucks and wheels off the tech deck seems like the best option. Although, you're right, the board looks better being held than being ridden. And that newspaper dispenser is the excellent! Where was that find from?

ReverendSpooky wrote:I agree, making the skateboard deck yourself out of a bit of wood, and grabbing the trucks and wheels off the tech deck seems like the best option.  Although, you're right, the board looks better being held than being ridden.  And that newspaper dispenser is the excellent!  Where was that find from?

That one would really break my rule that anything posted to Useful Items should be somewhat available. It was actually a promotional item made for the Metro newspaper itself, and I think only newspaper employees, or maybe big advertisers, ever got one, but you never know what can turn up afterwards in a thrift store. There's a bit more to the story but I'll expand by PM.

I had been meaning to ask about the fire hydrants, and thank you for the information and the photo. Also, for anticipating the questions. Is this just a Canadian thing? Do we have it here in the States?

GubernatorFan wrote:I had been meaning to ask about the fire hydrants, and thank you for the information and the photo. Also, for anticipating the questions. Is this just a Canadian thing? Do we have it here in the States?

Sometimes Dollarama gets someone to make for them cheaper clones of things that are generally available in the states but not in Canada. Googling "fire hydrant doggie bag" images turns up a lot of these (disregard the full-size ones). So I would say Yes.

Good tips, Moonbase. The hydrant dispensers are something I'd have never thought of, but I don't frequent Petsmart as often as I'd like.

It seems I always come home with a critter of some sort...

Regardless, great eyes for spotting the sixth scale goodness.

dadrab wrote:Good tips, Moonbase. The hydrant dispensers are something I'd have never thought of, but I don't frequent Petsmart as often as I'd like.

It seems I always come home with a critter of some sort...

Regardless, great eyes for spotting the sixth scale goodness.

Thanks. I used one of the hydrants here: https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t47-osf-funnies-continuously-updated#2400 (Post #29).

So I made another trip to Hobby Lobby today, in part looking for something (you can guess what) that has been advertised here, in part just looking around. Here's today's haul -- at least in terms of sixth-scale related items.



First up, that vintage gas pump, one of two styles available (the other has been showcased by ReverendSpooky, if memory serves). I think it is scaled pretty well, although to be honest I am not sure I've ever encountered a real one.



Second up, the fake tree stump. Well, it works. It is made of some sort of hollow plastic or polyresin, and I later noticed a little hole near the bottom on one side. Now if only I had a sixth-scale squirrel or woodchuck... Also visible in this photo is the tiny ornate axe, one of various decorative weapons available as charms from Fairy Tale. I picked this one up on a previous occasion, and some of the other weapons are better scaled. In case you are wondering, Thor told Varna "thank you, but I think I'll keep using my own axe." She tried to explain "but mine is magic..." but he cut her off.



Third up, that cool weathered beach lifeguard chair. Perhaps just a little bit undersized, but works great overall. It seemed to be missing either an extra rung or a "footstool" to help the lifeguard get to the seat, so I put in a makeshift one for now.



And yes, he should be facing the sea, but who can blame him?



That is, in fact, how Chris and Michelle met. They hit it off right away.



One thing led to another, and Chris produced a bunch of wildflowers. Available from Blank Slate by Traditions (the different packages sometimes exhibit some minor variation in some of the selection).



Michelle was so touched by Chris' attention, she promptly gave him the keys to her bungalow. Available from Fairy Tale. I know they are not quite in focus, but it should be obvious that the scale is pretty good. I haven't used the little daggers yet; they might be a tad too small for most purposes, but perhaps usable anyway.



Now I could have included photos of what happened next, but then I would have had to go back and censor them. Being lazy, I decided that there was no point doing twice the work for nothing. Sorry DFC!

So, good haul?

GubernatorFan wrote:

Now I could have included photos of what happened next, but then I would have had to go back and censor them. Being lazy, I decided that there was no point doing twice the work for nothing. Sorry DFC!

So, good haul?

Well found, very well used, all shots look terrific.

Alright...you talked me into one of those pumps. I remember using one when I was a little kid (more like watching my dad use one).

In any case, I need to something to fuel my RC Jeeps with, so...there you have it.

dadrab wrote:Alright...you talked me into one of those pumps. I remember using one when I was a little kid (more like watching my dad use one).

In any case, I need to something to fuel my RC Jeeps with, so...there you have it.

They also exist in actual diecast reproductions (ie wherever you find diecast cars), but they tend to be expensive, and 1/6 ones are fairly uncommon as opposed to 1:18 or 1:32. Gubernator's metal decor pump seems just as good, accurately scaled for our purposes, and probably has more of a nostalgic feel than the more plain car-model-world diecast versions.

Man GubernatorFan, what a haul! I have both of those gas pumps too, and I really love hell out of them. Moonbase Alpha Male is right in that they have a nostalgic quality, but still come across as realistic. They just feel a bit more like something you'd find at some rural gas station that still has them. I may need to get over there soon for 1 of those life guard chairs and a set of those keys, which really do look perfect.

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The small daggers will work perfectly for a kind of Ninja / Assassin's Creed setup: the multiple small throwing knives clipped around the vest, kind of thing.

And the keys - thanks for that, I've never seen those particular keys before.  They work excellently as the suggestive centrepiece of your last pic.  You have perfect timing for alerting me to them, as I'm due to be in the US on Saturday.  And believe me, I like 1/6 keys.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:Well found, very well used, all shots look terrific.

Thank you very much! I may have discovered Hobby Lobby on my own, but your posts have been a source of encouragement and inspiration, and continue to be so. Therefore, coming from you, this is a huge compliment for me.

dadrab wrote:Alright...you talked me into one of those pumps.

Didn't mean to twist your arm. But I do hope you enjoy it.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Man GubernatorFan, what a haul! I may need to get over there soon for 1 of those life guard chairs and a set of those keys, which really do look perfect.

Thanks buddy! My Hobby Lobby had 2 of the lifeguard chairs and a couple of wooden deck/beach chairs (basically the same thing, but not elevated). Remember that if you don't find them (in my Hobby Lobby they were in one of those free-standing display areas labeled "beach"), you can probably get to them through their online store. About keys, see below.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote: The small daggers will work perfectly for a kind of Ninja / Assassin's Creed setup: the multiple small throwing knives clipped around the vest, kind of thing.

Thanks for the assurance. I will explore them eventually.

Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:And the keys - thanks for that, I've never seen those particular keys before.  They work excellently as the suggestive centrepiece of your last pic. You have perfect timing for alerting me to them, as I'm due to be in the US on Saturday. And believe me, I like 1/6 keys.

Wow, you are showing quite a collection of keys. And I assume they, too are 1/6 scale, although many of them look very detailed and ornate. The keys I've been getting are simpler, old-style keys like the ones I showed. Now these come three on a key ring, as I am sure you noticed. I suppose you could emancipate them with some fine cutting pliers, if you wanted to use the keys individually. There are such small simple old-style keys in more than one of the charm lines in Hobby Lobby, alongside the more ornate versions. I don't remember the particulars, but I used one of the loose types (do I remember them coming with tiny locks or is that my imagination?) in recreating Arnold from Red Heat for my M34 review here:

GubernatorFan wrote:Wow, you are showing quite a collection of keys. And I assume they, too are 1/6 scale, although many of them look very detailed and ornate. The keys I've been getting are simpler, old-style keys like the ones I showed. Now these come three on a key ring, as I am sure you noticed. I suppose you could emancipate them with some fine cutting pliers, if you wanted to use the keys individually. There are such small simple old-style keys in more than one of the charm lines in Hobby Lobby, alongside the more ornate versions. I don't remember the particulars, but I used one of the loose types (do I remember them coming with tiny locks or is that my imagination?) in recreating Arnold from Red Heat for my M34 review here:

Arnold looks good with your very natural key.  That's what I like about the ones you found so I'll chase down a set for sure.  Most of mine look more like they belong to Gandalf than to Arnold -- they come mostly from Michaels or Hobby Lobby as costume jewelry pendants, like the "Fairytale" stuff, or a few were bought actually as earrings.  To get some more contemporary keys into the mix, I had to accept some slightly oversized including (1) a tiepin, (2) some Monopoly game movers, and (3) actual keys from a small real lock (the ones with the Waynetech keychain).