Scuba Diving regulator for American Girl Doll

See all my other free diving tutorials

What you need

• black soda bottle cap (coke zero cherry, has it, I believe)
• black wire from an old charger or something (about 1/8" - 1/4" diameter, mine was 1/8")
  alternatively you can use 1/4" black irrigation hose
• Polymer Clay (FIMO, Sculpy) in black, yellow, red and color of choice (mine was green)
• hot glue gun
• ModPodge Dimensional Magic
• 1 small nail (3/4" long)
• small 3/4" diameter compass (found on ebay) optional
• 3/4" wooden dowel piece or similar (used to make the console impressions)
• regular ModPodge (recommended to seal console pictures) optional
• black plastic jewelry string
• 2x 23mm Lanyard hooks (optional)

How to make the first stage (attachment to tank)

1. Take the bottle cap and drill a small hole in the center (diameter of nail)

2. Drill 4 holes into the side of the bottle cap  (diameter of wire)
    The nails just show where the holes are located
    You don't need those nails (except if you would use a hose instead of a wire)

How to make the second stage (mouthpieces)

1. Take 1/4 of a black polymer clay packet and roll into a ball

2. Flatten one side of the ball (diameter should be around 1")

3. Take a pencil with an eraser and push into center to create a dip

4. Bake

5. Take your color of choice of clay (in my case green and I will from now only say green)
     and roll out to 1/8" thickness
     Cut a circle about 3/4" in diameter or slightly smaller and add onto black ball
     Create indentation from before

6. Make a small black ball the diameter of the indentation and push it into indentation, flattening slightly

7. Take a knife and cut 3 slits, exposing the black from underneath

8. Bake

9. Repeat for another mouthpiece, this time use yellow instead of black.
    This will be the emergency mouthpiece which is ALWAYS yellow

10. Take a small drill and drill a small hole into the left side of each mouthpiece
     the size of the wire.

 

11. Cut a 9" piece of wire and glue into hole of GREEN mouthpiece.
 
12. Cut a 11" piece of wire and glue into hole of YELLOW mouthpiece.

How to make the console

1. Take green polymer clay and create a block 3" x 1" x 1/2"

2. Take a 3/4" dowel and make 3 indentations about 1/8" deep
    If you use a real compass, make the last indentation deep enough to fit the compass.
    Bake.

3. Download the pictures here and print onto white paper or card stock (no scaling)
    The console pictures should be 3/4" in diameter
    You can pick either metric or standard, both are included

4. Cut your choice of depth meter and air pressure and optional the compass interface

5. Seal all images with ModPodge (both sides) and glue into holes. Let dry
    If you don't seal the card stock, the clay color will come through as you can see on my pressure gauge

6. Fill indentations with ModPodge Dimentional Magic

7. Drill a hole into the end (see where nail is sticking out to indicate hole)

8. Cut a 11" piece of wire and glue into the hole.

How to make the connection to the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device)

1. Cut a 8" piece of wire

2. Take the black plastic jewelry (lacing) string and start wrapping 1/4" from one end up
    Go about 2" up, then wrap around back down again to create a second layer
    Glue the end in place. I used instant glue (adults only though)

3. Take black polymer clay and create a 3/4" x 3/8" x 1/4" block

4. Take a small amount of black polymer clay and create a tiny ball, less than 1/4" in diameter
     and press to one end

5. Take a small amount of red polymer clay and create a tiny ball, less than 1/4" in diameter
     and press to the bottom half of one side

6. Bake

7. Drill a hole into the other end (where there is no ball)

8. Glue wire with the side that is wrapped with the jewelry string into hole.

Assemble all onto first stage

Optionally you can thread a Lanyard hook onto the wire with the console and the wire with 

the yellow regulator (this will be use to hook them into the BCD)

Strip all wire ends about 3/4" and thread through holes in bottle cap in the order bellow.

Assemble as the picture shows, the order is important !!!
Always bend the red wire one way and the black the other way and glue in place.

Add small nail through center of bottle cap and attach to tank.
Attach bottle cap to the silver wooden piece, on the opposite side of the on/off knob.