As much as I enjoy constructing or customizing many of my 1:6 scale dolls, set pieces and accessories, I always appreciate an accurate, detailed, appropriately scaled piece that looks and functions great straight out of the package. Sometimes I just don’t want to invest hours of work into everything.

With that in mind, I went looking last week for a realistic vacuum cleaner. They are difficult to find, as those most readily available are playscale Mattel pieces that require at least a repaint before use. [Seriously…how many bubblegum pink vacuum cleaners exist in full scale?!]

I was fortunate enough, however, to find a Dirt Devil branded upright vacuum windup toy sold along with its friend, a non-windup handheld vacuum. Unfortunately, these came to me without packaging, so I don’t know the manufacturer, date, price or anything.

Front view with ruler to show scale. A little under 6" in height, the vacuum stands about waist high for the average 12" figure. It says "Dirt Devil Junior Upright" on the top of the red hood. The winder is over on the left. Like larger toy vacuum cleaners, it has a window over the intake. When the vacuum cleaner is wound up, it rolls forward while the little white balls vibrate within.

Handheld vac on the left. Much less detailed than the upright, the handheld still has a Dirt Devil brand collection bag, which can be removed.

Here’s Isabel showing scale.

I would like to modify the vacuum hose so that it can detach. [I want Isabel to be able to vacuum her cat. :p ] Other than that minor detail, I’m very pleased with the vacuums. The upright especially pleases me with its perfect size and detailing. Watching a small Dirt Devil buzz along the desk is also very entertaining.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1578563.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.