Windsor Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Yes, it can be done and has been done. Ive experimented with this in the past. You need to have strong pressurized pipes just like a real house. otherwise when you turn on your mini faucet the water just runs along your faucet and will drip down the walls. The water needs to be forced out to go straight down into the sink, that's were the pressure comes in. I think its best to use flexible plastic tubing and a pump is required. if you want to bypass a pump i'm sure there's ways you could just hook it up to your real faucet but you couldn't show it off at a miniature show that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purvismj Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Thanks Mark: Any idea where I would find the working faucets? My internet searches have come up empty. While I don't have the dough to duplicate the Queen's house working plumbing....I am willing to pay for high quality (truly realistic) work. MJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windsor Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Thanks Mark: Any idea where I would find the working faucets? My internet searches have come up empty. While I don't have the dough to duplicate the Queen's house working plumbing....I am willing to pay for high quality (truly realistic) work. MJ In miniature there are some things you can't buy and a working faucet is one of them. You have to make them yourself. I used brass tubing from the hobby store to create the faucet itself. I then used brass rods (from the same section at the hobby store) to build the handle and soldered a 2mm metal bead on the bottom end (the part that goes into the tubing) and this created a good on/off handle. This required a metal tubing bender and many jewelers tools to achieve. If you look up antique faucets you will see its not hard to create a primitive working replica in miniature. The trick is making sure everything fits together perfectly otherwise it will leak, this was a big problem for me! Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caseymini Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 There was one at the NAME convention in Anaheim, CA in the early 80s. The guy that built it even had a swimming pool in the back yard and electrical poles on the street! It was amazing, but I have no idea how he made it all work. As I remember, the water in a couple of the sinks was running. I think maybe it was done with an aquarium pump, like they use in portable fountains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GirlPiper Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 When I was a child (in the '50s) I had a toy sink, small as for dolls, but not 1:12 scale, and it had working faucets that would actually turn and release water from the reservoir attached to the back. It was my absolute favorite toy - a forerunner of my passion for miniatures! So it can be done! You'll just have to get very creative Unless, of course, it has already been done in 1:12 scale and I haven't heard about it. You'll probably get more help in this Forum -- there are a lot of experienced and very smart people on board! They know a whole lot more than I do. I had that same sink! The bathtub did the same thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mygrommi Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 I know this is primitive, but there is a lady in my town in her late eighties whose father built her a doll house when she was about 10 years old. Every bed is dressed with sheets, linens, etc. Every dresser drawer contains more linens, clothesetc., - all very realistic. I saw the house 35 years ago and was fascinated that her father (70 years ago) had fashioned a sink in the kitchen with running water. In a cabinet above the sink is a container of water. Her father got some kind of medical equipment valve from the local doctor to make the faucet. There is a small pipe where the water runs down by gravity into the sink when the valve is turned. The water can then be released through a drain in the sink to another container which catches it and the process can be repeated by refilling the counter in the cabinet above the snk. Not as sophiscated as you all are talking about making with pumps, etc., but it is unique especially since the house is 70 + years old. Renea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caseymini Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Renea, your post reminded me of a German kitchen from the turn of the last century that I restored for the Mini Time Machine. I forgot about the system in that one. It was just as you described. It was a small tank on the outside wall that could be filled with water. The kitchen was more like Barbie sized, but I think that it still qualifies as mini. So that system goes back even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windsor Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Very interesting. I would have never though of using a tank and relying on something as a simple as gravity to send the water on through! We like to complicate things these days. If someone got crafty enough they could build a dollhouse with a system like that and have the water tank hidden in the chimney or some place were its not obvious where the water is coming from! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheckMouse Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 The toy sink I mentioned earlier in this thread just had a tank on the back of the sink, which could be filled with water. I suppose it was a little higher than the faucets, because just opening the faucet released the water. I don't remember now, but I assume there was a tank under the sink to catch the water again. No pump was involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mygrommi Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 In my post above, obviously, I should have said: "The water can then be released through a drain in the sink to another container UNDER THE SINK which catches it and the process can be repeated by refilling the CONTAINER in the cabinet above the SINK." I was typing on my iPad and did not re-read before posting. I have wanted to copy this method, but have never been able to figure out something small enough to use for a valve for the faucet in 1/12 scale. Anyone have a suggestion? One could use clear plastic tubing or preferably small copper or brass tubing for the pipe, but it is the valve that has me stumped. I need to go back to see the lady's dollhouse - I'm thinking the scale may be a little larger than 1/12th. I need to look at the faucet again. Renea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purvismj Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Ok....it looks like I'll need to learn to make miniature faucets! I will try a few things and post progress (ok...maybe not of the real early stuff ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheckMouse Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 This is another reason I LOVE this forum - this thread was started 4 years ago, but it's still here, and when someone comments on it it's up front and center again I stop by another forum once in awhile and they lock the threads each month - so even if you should be interested in something, you can't comment on it - you would have to start a new thread, I guess. Seems rather pointless to me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalesq Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 I haven't read this entire thread from the beginning, so it may have already been mentioned, but there are several books on Queen Mary's dollhouse. It had running water and you might be able to get some ideas researching it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miamc Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 I went down this path a ways, and it ultimately stalled me out for several years (well, I had other distractions). I tried making toilets and sinks out of Sculpey. It's hard to make them look really good. I bought copper pipes and a pipe bender, and aquarium tubing and valves, and a small pump. My plan was to have all faucets and toilets open, so when I turned on the pump water ran through them. I ran into trouble with pumping through the tiny diameter pipes. I needed miniature water :-) I finally scrapped the idea for this project, which is ambitious even without that element. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 At the top of this page Mark explains how to make 1:1 water work for 1:12 plumbing. My imagination works just fine for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrickyNickie Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 I have seen a YouTube video where the woman building her kitchen added running water to her kitchen sink. She is so talented and VERY detail oriented. Her YouTube channel is called To Square to Share. She is so intricate. She is on Instagram as well. https://youtu.be/Hc5UnAJ-Gjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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