Awesome Miniature

Anyone with a workshop or garage knows those big metal tool cabinets. Etsy seller GunView makes these nifty miniature tool cabinets for holding pens, pencils, and small tools. They come in a variety of styles, inspired by popular brands like DeWalt, Kobalt, and Makita. Each is 3D printed using brand-appropriate filament colors.

CountyComm created this novelty mini version of their Hooligan Forced Entry tool. This 4″ long titanium tool can pry small objects apart, but is unlikely to open anything more than a dollhouse. They made a batch of these as gifts for firefighters who use larger versions to breach doors and windows in emergencies, and have a limited overstock run available.

Japan’s KARAKURI Channel loves to make inventive mechanical playthings. This time, they built an amazing smartphone case with a marble machine inside. The see-through maze keeps tiny ball bearings rolling using a complex series of gears and a small screw-drive motor powered via the phone’s USB-C port. English subtitles are available.

Musicians – especially guitarists and bass players – will love these desk organizers that look like miniature guitar amps. Etsy seller Lions Print makes these 3D-printed pencil caddies and dresses them up with logos from popular amplifier makers. They’re available with silver or gold caps and can be personalized, too.

We’ve seen another tiny steam engine about as wide as a penny, but this miniature by Chronova Engineering takes the cake. The fully functional engine measures just 5mm long – about the size of a pencil’s eraser. In order to work at such a small scale, he had to use precision techniques typically reserved for watchmaking.

This tiny working excavator looks and moves just like the real thing. The 1/64-scale remote-controlled Nano TRX N320 is fully functional, with articulated arms, moving tracks, and a bucket for scooping up small piles of dirt. Register now to reserve your spot for the $99 Kickstarter launch price.

An orrery is one of those mechanical models that simulate how planets move in the solar system. A tellurion is the same concept but only includes the Earth, its moon, and the sun. Chronova Engineering made an incredibly small tellurion and posted this video of the build process. The finished model has six gears, and is smaller than a fingernail.

This miniature milk crate is inspired by the ones used to store and organize vinyl records. Fred designed this one for your desktop to hold pens, pencils, and note cards. The laser-cut wood crate comes flat-packed for assembly and includes 64 vinyl-inspired note cards. Measures 3.4″ x 3.6″ x 3″ – the perfect size for sticky notes.

While this miniature Winnebago won’t take you cross-country, it is still totally awesome. Built by Travis Moore of Toy Factory Fabrication, the Minibago was built atop a Yamaha G29 golf cart and has fun features like remote-controlled water cannons and trucker air horns. Kathryn from the YouTube travel channel Mark & Kathryn got an up-close tour of this adorable thing.

Scott Sloan builds 1:6-scale digital pinball machines that are fully playable. The 3D-printed systems can play many games using Visual Pinball X and are powered by a GMK 5105 mini-computer. They have a 7″ playfield and a 5″ backglass display. Want one? Contact Scott on Facebook. Glen’s Retro Show has a demo video here. Images courtesy of Scott Sloan.

A vacuum engine moves due to air pressure on one side of its piston and a partial vacuum on the other. The simplest example uses a flame on one side of the piston to create these conditions. W&M Levsha shows the process of making a working miniature of this kind of engine using brass, aluminum, and precision machining techniques.

Apparently, it’s not proper etiquette to use your spoon like a shovel. We say screw that. Go all in on the idea with these playful teaspoons that look like miniature shovels. The 4-piece set comes in a stainless or gold finish and in either round or square blade versions. They’re great for digging into desserts.

This wonderfully soothing video provides a close-up look at some of the teensy scale model submarines, boats, and ships floating in the water tanks at Miniatur Wunderland. If you’re ever fortunate enough to be in Hamburg, Germany, you must visit this incredible tiny world.

We can’t think of any practical reason you’d need a car jack that fits in the palm of your hand. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. Maker B took the time to craft a 1/5th-scale hydraulic jack from steel, brass, and copper. It not only looks amazing, but the tiny jack is fully functional. Maybe he can use it to change tires on an R/C car.

You can buy very small Bluetooth speakers already, but we’ve never seen one embedded inside a walnut. Penguin DIY nibbled on the nutmeat inside before outfitting the shell with a tiny amplifier and Bluetooth circuits, a minuscule speaker, and a rechargeable battery. We worried he would crack it while drilling holes, but the shell remained intact.

Say what you will about the Tesla Cybertruck; Elon Musk’s chunky and funky electric truck has given us countless memes and fan-built projects to enjoy. ND – Woodworking Art’s metal-framed, wood-covered vehicle is a roughly 1/2-scale replica of the truck. It runs on battery power like the real deal and has room in its bed for his kid’s mini Cyberquad.