Hobby Thread - July 11, 2026 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. For this week, the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) is feeling micro. It spun and spun and landed on a small scale theme for this Hobby Thread.

A what? You heard me.

Top photo:

The Erzgebirge mountain range in eastern Germany near the Czech border is known for woodcraft. The silver and tin miners used to whittle lindenwood (basswood) as a hobby but when the mines ran dry, the whittling turned into a way to make a living. The nutcracker was born there. A wide range of wood toys, ornaments and decorations are still made and the skills and traditions passed down through the generations.

This matchbox scene shows a woodshop in a box only 2 inches long and 1.5 inches high. Lots of other scenes and characters are available in matchbox form.

There is something about scale that piques our imaginations. There are roadside attractions dedicated to large-scale furniture, food and animals. The only novelty is the size (and the random location of an unusually large random item).

On the other end of the spectrum, small scale is interesting for different reasons. In nature, we're fascinated by small worlds that we barely see. We're impressed by details and the dexterity it takes to produce. We also like being able to wrap our hands around a small scale version of something too large to hold. Scale models allow us to collect cars, airplanes and boats. Doll houses and battlefields are arguably different flavors of the same instinct.

Have you heard the phrase "God is in the details?" What about the converse that says "The devil is in the details?" Both can be true.

Miniatures and small-scale is an unspoken part of hobbying and crafting. Anything small is often more accessible than full scale or large scale. For today's theme, let's focus on the details.

Does the world of miniatures speak to you? What hobbies or crafts or interests revel in the small scale or details? What worlds do you build or observe under a microscope? Do you have any hobbies that require a magnifying glass (other than the painful march of time that often makes it more difficult for those over 29 to see anything clearly)? Do you take extreme pride in details that you know are there, but few others will ever know or see?

Let's get small. It is a small world after all.

What are you hobbying?

The thread is not limited to to the theme. Anything (legal) you are hobbying is welcome. Even if the theme does not speak to you, you might learn something. If not, find something else or offer something else relating to hobbying. If all of that fails, just check in and say hello.

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. Leave politics and religion to threads elsewhere (unless your hobby is building or restoring churches). Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.

Play nice and do not be rude. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.

Making a miniature artist studio:

Making a dollhouse library (the tiny rolltop desk is amazing):

Making miniature plants:

Making miniature tiny furniture:

Miniature book making - with an actual bookbinding method:

Warning: this video is long. But if you start watching, prepare to watch the whole thing (maybe later).

Skip - this one is for you. Making tiny toy soldiers in 1965 England:

Clever re-purposing of a plastic model kit:

I don't think I need one, but it makes my heart happy to know that you can buy a micro scale Caterpillar D8T bulldozer as a keychain.

Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg is high on my list of things to see in Germany someday:

Before this week's Hobby Thread research, I had never heard of the Japan Hand Plane Championship. After watching, I still don't fully understand what I'm seeing but looks like the goal is to create the thinnest wood shaving.

The number of niches across the spectrum of interests and hobbies is breathtaking. How events or people exist just below the radar screen of awareness?

A silver lining of social media and YouTube is the ability to allow people with niche interests to find each other and for us to stumble onto people and interests we did not know exist.

On a related note, between the Hobby Thread and ONT research, the YouTube algorithm for me is quite something to behold... You should see the weirdness in my recommendations...

Horde hobbying from lurker LF:

This came from my great-grandfather's attic. He and his across the street neighbor helped build each other's houses. Both were coopers in the Chicago stockyards. My g-gf died in 1917 right after his roof was finished so last used then.

What was he doing with a Sabatier knife? I have his larger one also. Likely making German sausage for home use and the first floor store.

That and two rental apartments sustained his widow and the rest of the family until it sold in 1965. Oh, and the cracked handle repair is a nod to kintsugi!

Before photo with a dirty blade.

After:

I simply used various grades of steel wool, no powdered abrasives or sandpaper. I clamped and epoxied the handle, but didn't get a photo. The tang prevented the complete closure of the split. Next I will sent the initials on the handle. I remembered MH, my great grandfather's, but clearly MM, his neighbor and co-carpenter of their respective homes.

Genealogy hobbying humor:

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a flreworks theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

Reminder: if you put links in the comments, use a URL shortener and describe what you're linking to. Failing to do either or both makes you barrel-eligible. Don't make people click to find out what you're linking.

Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Or just email to say hello. Do mighty things.

Comments

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1 Welcome Hobbiests

Posted by: Skip at July 11, 2026 05:31 PM (Ia/+0)

2 Huh? I was expecting a small font for some reason.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 11, 2026 05:32 PM (1Ff7Z)

3 I don't think I'd have the patience to do work like this. That and having hands that won't work like I want them to.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 11, 2026 05:36 PM (1Ff7Z)

4 Scale models! I've told the story of my boyhood and young adult adventures with Aurora, Pyro, AMT, Revell, Hawk, and Tamiya model kits, ranging from the Universal Monsters to cowboy figures, custom and stock cars, sailing ships and WWII subs, and a couple of German tanks. I do miss it.

Imagine making a doll's-house version of Nero Wolfe's West 35th St. office and ground floor; would be amazing.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 11, 2026 05:36 PM (wzUl9)

5 Does the PSA Micro-Dagger count as small scale?

Because of the Summer weather, I've switched up my EDC to my church gun.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at July 11, 2026 05:38 PM (xcxpd)

6 Miniature Tanks. 1/285 (6mm) used in a diorama I did about 20 years ago. They're from a site called ghqmodels and are typically used in tabletop wargaming.

The Shermans in the photo each would sit on a dime.

https://ibb.co/SDVVqKH1

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 11, 2026 05:43 PM (jehhT)

7 Of COURSE you need the tiny dozer. Why would you not?

Posted by: tcn in AK at July 11, 2026 05:44 PM (bl07w)

8 Details of doll house ( 1 "=1')
https://tinyurl.com/3zssuxhj
https://tinyurl.com/4r654ccf
Back side
https://tinyurl.com/47xnp39t

Made this, first time and only, when my niece was about 10yo, she is 40 now

Posted by: Skip at July 11, 2026 05:44 PM (Ia/+0)

9 Tamiya offers putty so you can customize your model builds? Well, knock me over and call me a doormat. Pactra used to offer putty in a tube along with their paints. I think they are still around. I know Testors still offers some paints, and Tamiya and Humbrol have a lot of the market sewn up. I see their stuff at the hobby shop in the suburbs.

Which reminds me, I need to buy some more brick-red paint for the red tip of my vintage 1950s Gillette Super Speed. Back then Gillette offered the plain, steel colored tip Super Speed razor -- the knob to unscrew the razor doors was the same shade as the rest of the tool. They also sold a Blue Tip and a Red Tip. I think the Blue was the mildest, the plain or silver came in between, and then came the Red. The red paint wears after a while; I think I last touched it up in 2018 or so.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 11, 2026 05:47 PM (wzUl9)

10 We are de-miniaturizing our house. In the middle of adding a ground floor bedroom, breezeway, connection to the garage, redoing the crappy little kitchen into a real one, and moving the tiny bathroom to the old office so that DH and I both fit at the same time. It's hard to think small when DH is so... Viking-sized.

I love the idea of building doll houses, and I would architect the hell out of them, but I have no kids to give them to, and they do take up space. I guess I could do them for charity or something.

I did some miniature knitting--tiny mittens for Christmas ornaments. They are awfully cute and take nearly no time at all.

Posted by: tcn in AK at July 11, 2026 05:47 PM (bl07w)

11 Martini Farmer have played a minature game with micro armor
There will be games with them and hundreds of other kind of miniatures next weekend at Historicon.
Plan to be there Friday and Saturday in Lancaster

Posted by: Skip at July 11, 2026 05:49 PM (Ia/+0)

12 If I made a dollhouse, it would be mid-century modern.

Posted by: tcn in AK at July 11, 2026 05:50 PM (bl07w)

13 As far as my hobby of pipe smoking: I've got my eye on a sandblast straight Comoy's pot-bowl pipe, possibly from the 1950s or -'60s, on eBay. Comoy's was a French company, or at least it started there, but it produced a lot of its pipes in England. This one says "Made in London, England" on it.

Also I picked up some more Virginia-type flake at the local pipe/cigar shop this morning. I'd been hoping to pick up a blend called "Country Lawyer" from BriarWorks; they had a bunch of those blends a while ago; but they were all out today.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 11, 2026 05:50 PM (wzUl9)

14 OrangeEnt that would have been very funny

Posted by: Skip at July 11, 2026 05:50 PM (Ia/+0)

15 The Colleen Moore dollhouse is in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. It's a miniature fairy castle and incredibly detailed. It has working water fountains, and some of the tiny books in the library were written by the authors and donated.

Posted by: Lirio100 at July 11, 2026 05:54 PM (ky7/T)

16 My plans for a long weekend of SOTA hikes at the coast was foiled by the apparent death of my backpacking radio. Oh well, I still got to enjoy the hiking part. I also went to the Maritime Museum in Astoria, OR; highly recommended if you're in the area. I will finish my trip by gorging on steak and seafood tonight.

Posted by: PabloD at July 11, 2026 05:55 PM (iuwdv)

17 OrangeEnt that would have been very funny
Posted by: Skip at July 11, 2026 05:50 PM (Ia/+0)

Does Rex have the special key to change fonts?



Wolfus, how is the house hunting hobby going?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 11, 2026 05:58 PM (1Ff7Z)

18 > Martini Farmer have played a minature game with micro armor
There will be games with them and hundreds of other kind of miniatures next weekend at Historicon.
Plan to be there Friday and Saturday in Lancaster
Posted by: Skip
---------------
Lancaster, Ohio? My place in WV is only about an hour from there. Significantly farther from here in KY however.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 11, 2026 05:59 PM (jehhT)

19 If I made a dollhouse, it would be mid-century modern.
Posted by: tcn in AK at July 11, 2026

***
A model of Rob and Laura Petrie's house in New Rochelle! Or Darrin and Samantha Stephens's place. Was it supposed to be in New Rochelle too?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 11, 2026 05:59 PM (wzUl9)

20 I've always loved miniatures.

Posted by: lin-duh in Texas at July 11, 2026 05:59 PM (VCgbV)

21 Wolfus, how is the house hunting hobby going?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 11, 2026

***
A nice property popped up on Realtor this morning: 2BR, 1BA, garage, basement, porch; all the floors are wood or laminate, the walls already have colors I like, the kitchen and bathroom are of decent size. 1000 sq. ft. I emailed my agent to set up a video tour.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 11, 2026 06:01 PM (wzUl9)

22 Oh, yes! 12in-scale interiors, dollhouses and book nooks! I am so there, and have been since I was making dolls in high school - dolls on a wire armature with head, hands and feet made from a sort of clay made from soda and cornstarch cooked together with water until it thickened! I actually worked my way through college by making 12-inch scale dolls with hand-sewn costumes for a local miniature shop in Montrose, California. Honestly, they were not the greatest doll-house sized dolls in the world then - but I was one of the very few people making them, and the sweet miniature enthusiast who owned that shop paid me $5 a doll, and sold them for $10, and steered special orders for dolls and doll clothing my way. I could make five dolls a week - which I did for nearly five years. ($25 X 52 weeks a year does add up, especially when one lives at home and occasionally buys gas and groceries for the parents.) This paid for tuition at the local community college, then the state uni, all my books ... and I had enough left over after graduation to spend the summer in England on the student charter-Britrail pass-youth hostel plan. Kay, at Miniature World, Montrose, California - thank you!

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 11, 2026 06:02 PM (Ew3fm)

23 Moki, if you are here from the Pet Thread, yes; it's always hard to say goodbye to a friend, maybe even especially the four-legged ones.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 11, 2026 06:03 PM (wzUl9)

24 The only miniature work I've done involve Christmas ornaments: scenes inside a globe ornament. It can be challenging, and causes one to really think about how to achieve the desired result.

Posted by: The Grateful - Acta Non Verba at July 11, 2026 06:04 PM (IQ6Gq)

25 Not so miniature

Wonder Fest Louisville KY this year, a group of modelers recreated almost in full 1/1 scale the models workshop area for the 1977 Star Wars film. Not only did they recreate the X-Wings and Y-Wings but the benches, tools, and even the kit boxes.

Posted by: Anna Puma at July 11, 2026 06:05 PM (4T3aT)

26 Historicon is in Lancaster Pennsylvania at the Convention center

Posted by: Skip at July 11, 2026 06:05 PM (Ia/+0)

27 Moki, if you are here from the Pet Thread, yes; it's always hard to say goodbye to a friend, maybe even especially the four-legged ones.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 11, 2026 06:03 PM (wzUl9)

She's supposed to be reading a book someone sent her....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 11, 2026 06:06 PM (1Ff7Z)

28 Kay, at Miniature World, Montrose, California - thank you!

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 11, 2026 06:02 PM
***
Great story!

Posted by: TRex- Bad Motor Scooter dino at July 11, 2026 06:09 PM (IQ6Gq)

29 The vintage carbon steel Sabatier blades are high quality, indeed!

Posted by: mrp at July 11, 2026 06:11 PM (rj6Yv)

30 Haven't gone to Philadelphia Flower Show in decades, but remember many miniatures displays there

Posted by: Skip at July 11, 2026 06:12 PM (Ia/+0)

31 TRex,
Thanks (and dammit!) for those videos. Thanks because they look really interesting. Dammit! because I'll probably stay up watching all of them. :-)

Posted by: JTB at July 11, 2026 06:15 PM (yTvNw)

32 Toy soldier video was neat

Posted by: Skip at July 11, 2026 06:19 PM (Ia/+0)

33 This the world chamber pot thread?

Posted by: Oyster Guy at July 11, 2026 06:22 PM (xGYhF)

34 My daughter has a gorgeous doll house from England with kinds of fun miniatures. We haven’t done anything new with it for awhile- maybe these videos will be inspirational for her (after vacation).

Posted by: Piper at July 11, 2026 06:25 PM (p4NUW)

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