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Dumba The Drummer – You can have endless fun with this colourful drummer. He is never still and will perform the most realistic antics. Dumba and his drum are easily made and this will make a most attractive novelty for yourself or as a present for one of your friends.
The body of Dumba is made from a wooden ball for the tummy and a smaller one for his head. The hands are two round wooden ball for the tummy and a smaller one for his head. The hands are two round wooden balls and the arms, legs and neck can be fashioned from springs. The drum is made from an old fruit tin and all this is mounted on a round wooden base.
First of all, make the body of Dumba, starting from the head and working downwards. A I in. wooden ball, with a 3/8 in. hole drilled halfway in this, to take the neck spring, will become the head. A tiny ring is put on the top of this head so that a piece of cotton can be tied for holding Dumba and to give the movement. Paint the face with white enamel and push two small coloured pins in to represent the eyes and cut out a slit and paint it red for the mouth. White curly wool, gummed on to the top of the head will make the hair. Dumba’s tummy can be fashioned from a 2 in. wooden ball, with five 3/8 in. holes drilled to a ½ in. depth, to take the spring arms, legs and neck. This ball should be painted with white enamel and lengths of coloured wool, about 2 in., can be gummed to the lower tummy to represent a grass skirt. The hands are I in. wooden balls, painted white, with 3/8 in. holes drilled for fastening to the arms.
Get a length of 3/8 in. compression spring and cut this to size with strong scissors or wire cutters. The neck should be about I ½ in. long, including the parts of the neck pushed into the wood. Cut the springs for the arms into 3 in. lengths and 4 in. for the legs, to include the parts of the springs inserted in the wood. The drum is made from a fruit tin that has had the upper half cut off cleanly with strong scissors.
This tin is placed over a round wooden base to fit the inside of the and about ½ in. deep, which has been screwed into position on the large base, as illustrated. This large wooden base should be about 9 in. in diameter and cut from 1 in. wood. Carefully sandpaper the surface and edges so that it is quite smooth. Before putting the the drum in place, however, drill two 3/8 in. holes, slightly off the straight in the wooden base, to take the spring legs in the position illustrated.
You can now fix Dumba to the large base. This is done by pushing and screwing the springs into the holes in the head and the tummy as shown in the diagram, and fastening on the hands. Do the spring legs last and carefully push these into the wooden base so that it is quite secure.
It is only necessary now to paint the base with brightly coloured enamel and to decorate the tin drum as illustrated. Attach a piece of black cotton to the ring pin at the head of Dumba and hold this in your hand and give little jerks. This will make Dumba lean forward and beat his drum with reckless abandon in a most realistic and lifelike manner.
