1/12th scale 'working' Microwave!

Yes, I know, just a bit random when you're more used to me making horsey stuff but, in my defence, I've been meaning to make this for a good long while now and I was hit with a sudden burst of inspiration this morning, lol.

I intend to make another roombox at some point with a big tv, comfy sofa and a mini fridge/sink/microwave/kitchen area so that people can come in from the cold and have their lunch or watch the eventing when it's on etc and being able to reheat last night's cold pizza would be a godsend in winter! While I'm still no further forward on actually getting the roombox itself, I see no reason why I can't make things for it in advance! :P

To begin with I made the obligatory google image search for a suitable microwave to construct. in hindsight I could have probably just photographed the one in the kitchen but meh, lazyness. :P I printed it onto some nice shiny photo paper, cut it out and took away the window part as I would be replacing it with tracing paper afterwards.

Double-sided tape ftw! :D

After a moment of epic facepalming when I remembered that the door and buttons were supposed to be separate I started on construction. My styrene handling skills were VERY rusty and it took several attempts to make a box that actually had reasonably straight edges.

It was after this that I decided to take a risk and make it awesome.

LEDSSSSSSS!

I bought a box of 'flameless candles' from the £1 shop before Christmas with the intention of using the LEDs for something and this seemed to be the perfect thing as the space in the box that in the real thing would be full of electronic components was now filled with...slightly smaller electronic components. I used the battery it came with but completed the circuit with a length of very fine wire. I taped everything together as I wasn't sure if it'd still work if I glued it but the connection seems strong for now and as the eventual lid was just glued card I can easily remove it and fix it if it dies. The 'switch' is just the two ends of wire sticking out the sides that can be pushed together. I probably should have moved them to the back so they aren't visible but I honestly didn't think of that at the time!

I made the hinge joint out of double-sided tape which works well but could very well break in the future. I didn't have any actual hinges small enough and my attempts at making my own ended up in the bin so this will have to do for now.

The lovely interior texture came from an unlikely source - a Christmas card!

The handle was something of an afterthought when I realised that the door shut flush with the frame and I'd need something to open it with other than fingernails which ruined the finish. It's a piece of copper wire with the ends flattened and glued onto it. It's a little fragile but as it's not a prop I'll be using often and can be easily re-glued if necessary I think it'll be ok.

So you see, you put in your food...

...punch in the time and cook away!

...and just for the lulz...

Here it is working - it's looking a bit out of place there but I thought it could live beside the kettle for now. :P