Issue 52 February 2026

Miniature Time Traveller 11 For the lower arm drill right through the top as before. Now either put the piece in a vice and cut a slot with a saw or do as I did, and line it up and cut a short slot on my mini saw which was quicker. You need the width of the slot to accommodate the thickness of the eye. The eye has to be able to sit so the wire coming in from the side can go through the middle of it. The eye then has to swing freely on this wire. Fig. 3 Drill a small hole in the bottom of the arm to attach the hand. Before you doing anything else, cut an angle of 45⁰oƯ the back edge of your dowels to provide ease for movement, fig. 4. The eyes are not always depicted at the right angle to make it easier to see where they are. They should always finish facing front/back so the wire can go through the middle of them as pictured above. Complete the two parts of the body as shown in Fig. 2 How you dress your figure is entirely up to you. It may be easier to fit the top and arms before total assembly. Build the casing next. You will need: 3mm plywood for sides, top , bottom and back. 1 x back 11.5cm wide x 22cm tall. 2 x sides 12.5 cm wide x 22 cm tall x 70 mm deep. 1 x top 11.5cm wide x 6 cm deep 1 x bottom 11.5 cm wide x 6 cm deep 1 x ceiling same size as bottom. Moulding for the front frame, a 20mm deep x 10mm wide length of pine. This has to have a recess cut into it to accept a sheet of 3mm clear acrylic. Do this before cutting into individual lengths as follows: - Machine a slot 3mm wide about 3mm in from the front edge and around 5mm deep. Now cut two lengths 22.5 cm allowing for a mitre cut on the top corners. 1 top piece 13 cm long with two mitred corners. 1 x 11.3 cm piece for the bottom, glued between the sides. Furnishings. You will need a piece of 10mm MDF or wood for the table. 11.5 cm wide x 3cm deep and around 1 cm thickness. An odd piece of wood was used in this instance for a seat. Depending on the size of your figurine, you may have to custommake the seat. See overleaf for details of construction. Top of arm BoƩom of arm Upper Torso Fig.2 Drawings not to scale. Fig.3 Fig.4