It seems less intimidating to me to modifiy dollhouse parts. Less risky than trying to modify the life size (and considerably more costly) versions of things. Since folks seemed to enjoy my tinsy keyboard, I thought I’d add something else I had been working on.
Thermal Grandfather TimeKeeper
Just a fun little thing… nothing fancy. Just amusing. 
I imagine that this could be powered by a stirling engine, it would need some kind of outlet for the smoke and possibly also a heat sink or cooling fins.
I was thinking about putting a little steamstack thing on the top. I have it painted up. But the rod for it was a little bit thick and I was worried that if I drilled the top, I might split the wood. I might try it tonight if my husband’s up for it. He’s got more mad skillz with the drill than I do. I was also contemplating lighting the interior of the cabinet with an LED light… the lower cabinet doors would make a great place to store the battery it would need.
You can’t really tell in the pictures… maybe I’ll try for some better ones later… but there are layers to those gears.