Minions at Work: A Photocomic

Since watching the original Frankenstein as a kid, I’ve loved mad scientists and mad science labs, and at some point, I had to start making lab gear in 1/6th scale. The lab bench at the rear is my first effort, and I think it’s a pretty good one. My biggest challenge was finding small-scale lab-ware. Test tubes are a special challenge, and I’ve never found any I was really satisfied with. I have found some small glass bottles and larger test-tube like tubes, but small, hand-held ones remain a challenge. I may have to find a glass blower one of these days, and see if they have any ideas (maybe melting the ends of small, glass, tubes). The fancy stacked retorts in the background were actually made from transparent fishing floats.

Providing “fluids” for the glassware was also a challenge. I needed something that wouldn’t leak or spill, and wouldn’t dry up when stored. One approach would have been to have used some sort of clear epoxy product that would dry transparent, but getting it into the tiny openings of the bottles and tubes would have been a huge challenge. I instead settled on — candy sprinkles. It looks like what it is in person, but in still pictures, it gives the impression of a bubbling, colored fluid. It will also be easy to remove and replace if it deteriorates over time. (Fortunately, we don’t have much problems with ants here.)

The base cabinets are from some Barbie playset, the pink painted over with grey primer. The upright grid is a device for cleaning extra paint off paint brushes. The “hoses” are colored “craft noodles” sold for kid’s crafts. They come in radioactive, translucent, colors, and I picked sprinkle colors to match.

The lab sink is one of the prizes of my lab set. I found it (sold as a novelty paper-clip holder) on eBay. It was my first time ordering direct from a Chinese company, but it looked so cool, I was willing to risk the five bucks or so they were charging. It arrived promptly and was a wonderful piece. My only complaint is that it doesn’t have a drain, so if the bottom is going to show in a shot, I set a small metal washer in the bottom, and it gives a good illusion of a drain. Obviously not an issue in this shot. Anyway, the eBay seller went away, and now I wish I’d ordered a couple more of those sinks while I had the chance.

Poor, Doctor Head-in-a-jar. I’m not sure if this joke works without knowing the poor, put-upon history of Doctor Head-in-a-jar through the life of “Minions at Work,” but here is it, just because it’s what came up randomly on today’s search. Maybe it’s enough just to wonder, how did a head-in-a-jar get himself IN the sink, and how does Doctor Funkystein expect him to get out?