Mini BBQ

Here is my little, tiny, shiny BBQ!  In all honesty, I wanted one that would work.  I still have yet to formulate a concocted BBQ grill with such a small stature.  This cute little thing is for looks, I learned that the hard way.  The solder melted as soon as the flame hit it and the stupid toothpicks took me an hour to light. LOL.  I still can't get over the fact that I was unable to light WOOD with FIRE.  Baffled.  

If you have kids, or if you do crafts with miniatures, here is a cute grill for you to make!  All you need is :

A Monster Can
Some thin wire
Solder
Soldering Iron
Box Cutter
Scissors
Pliers
E6000 glue
Toothpick

Well, actually, this was MY first step and I built the BBQ around the wire grill.  That means - I lucked out 1 million percent, when I cut up the monster can and saw that it fit.  You, on the other hand, can plan ahead!  Measure the can and do your figuring out of scale for your mini grill.

Cut the wires to size and cut extra, just in case.  Soldering will be difficult because the heat will melt the joints that you've already made.  But after the 1st few bars, you'll get the hang of it.  :)

Once your grill is decked out, take some pliers and cut the excess strands off.  You can sand it smooth or use a nail file to take down the rough edges after you're done with it.  For mine, I added 2 cute little handles.

I had my husband drink the Monster, because I've never had one and I don't think I want to.  Rinse out with water, let dry.  Take the lid and pop the blue thing out.

Cut the top of the can off with scissors, then score the top rim, above the lip, with the box cutter.  I learned that when you score the aluminum, and you use pliers to separate the scoring, it works pretty well.  :)  So free the top of the can, then score around the drink opening to get that peak-piece free, that will be the bottom of your grill.  The cap is your .. cap.

Once you get the can/drinking/spout free, just make sure that the cuts are level and you can check by putting your grate on there.  Cut as needed for height.  

Turn the spout upside down, lay your grill on there, admire the fit.  Then put the cap on top, comment on how cute it looks, then get back to work!  :)

I put a little handle on there because I thought it would be fitting, and cute.  Basically, I just took some thicker wire, cut it a little longer than needed, bent to shape with pliers and then I glued it onto the lid.

When you use the E6000 glue, put it on the handle contacts and where you want the handle to stick on the lid of the mini BBQ.  After you attach the handle, carefully go around the glue mounds and free some of the excess up with the sharp toothpick, and scrape it away without moving the handle.  It will look 100x nicer if you clean up the glue.

You can break up some toothpicks for wood, if you're pro with fire and you know how to make things light.  But be super careful, make sure that you line the bottom of your BBQ with foil, to close the hole in the bottom.  The whole idea was to dispose of my fire-filter, ashes and replace it with every new COOKOUT.  But instead, it was a major UN-BURNOUT.  Sigh.  lol.  

Plus, you probably shouldn't light it, because the solder will melt.  My grill's handle almost fell off, it was swinging back and forth as I was holding it.  

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Moral of the story, the grill is damn cute.  Put it together with your BBQ shell and it's freakin adorable.  Stop there.  Don't add fire.  Fire kills.  It kills everything.  Except toothpicks.     Now, you will have a miniature BBQ to put in some kinda diorama and you should E6000 the loose parts so that you don't have to worry about something separating.  (No need for a loose grate if you don't have fire to start.)  

You can spray paint it red, or hot pink, it's up to you.  :)  Enjoy!