Spoiler Alert
The photographs on this page show clearly where the Dinky Doors are located. If you’re planning to look for them yourself and don’t want to know in advance, don’t scroll past the ”Gallery” heading below.
Introduction
The Supreme Leader of an advanced alien civilisation came to Earth to visit the Museum of Technology. Unfortunately he crashed his spaceship, the Dinky Flying Object (DFO), leaving himself stranded in Cambridge.
Some time later a search party was sent. They acquired a Cows About Cambridge cow and equipped it as a reconnaissance vehicle, MooMoo-o-Tron III, to conduct their search unnoticed. The full story is told in a series of videos on the Dinky Doors YouTube channel.
The Dinky Doors are a number of miniature models in various locations around Cambridge, some related to the search for the Supreme Leader and others not. The ones on display change from time to time.
Maps and guides about them can be bought and downloaded from the Dinky Doors website. They are one of the means by which the models’ creation is funded, so no such details are included here and this page merely illustrates the ones I’ve visited. Currently there’s one at Wandlebury Country Park that isn’t shown here.
Gallery
Clicking on any of the images will display it on its own at high resolution.
Dinky Flying Object (DFO)
The Supreme Leader’s stranded spaceship. This got into the photo of the Mini-Moos unnoticed!
Location: Museum of Technology, Riverside
Date visited: 11th September 2021
Emailerator
Spiked postbox with opening door and office inside for an operator to transcribe and e-mail the posted letters.
Both the Royal Mail postbox and the Emailerator were decorated for Christmas 2021.
Location: Priory Road / Riverside
Dates visited: 11th September 2021, 1st January 2022
Ride and Park
Bird’s nest-style portal to either Milton or Wandlebury Country Park, selected using a rotating disc.
Location: Jesus Lock footbridge
Date visited: 11th September 2021
Wonder Emporium
Shop selling assorted small objects.
Location: Sussex Street
Date visited: 11th September 2021
Date visited: 28th August 2022
Refurbished with some new stock and a new till. Apparently the old till was stolen, hence the shop now has CCTV.
Love From Above
Church-style door (replica of a nearby Trinity College Door) with gift.
Location: All Saints Passage
Date visited: 11th and 23rd September 2021
Teleport-O-Matic
Steampunk-style, coin-operated teleport. The first one of these got broken, and was replaced with this one which looks similar but is supposedly more robust. It’s getting a bit rusty now.
Location: St Mary’s Street, between two red K6 phone boxes
Date visited: 11th September 2021
Date visited: 28th August 2022
A year on and more rusty. Must be due a refurbishment soon.
10¼ Downing Street
Replica of the 10 Downing Street (Westminster) door.
Location: Downing Street (Cambridge)
Date visited: 11th September 2021
Reality Checkpoint
Door with movable reality level indicator. The first one of these got weatherbeaten and shabby and was replaced with this one.
Location: Reality Checkpoint, Parker’s Piece
Date visited: 11th September 2021
Date visited: 30th January 2022
It has been removed to carry out some maintenance, leaving behind a drawing and a hazard notice.
Date visited: 28th August 2022
Here’s the refurbished version. Whereas previously the pointer was stiff and could be set to any position, it is now loose and can be flipped to either Splendid or Feisty.
FotoDinkyMat Crime Scene
The FotoDinkyMat was a model of a passport photo booth that was installed on Mill Road Bridge in March 2021. It was stolen within a few days, and replaced by pieces to look as though it had been melted in situ.
Location: Mill Road Railway Bridge
Date visited: 11th September 2021
OctoSpa
Octopus’ health spa consisting of a cottage and a lighthouse that superficially resembles a traffic bollard.
Location: Sedgwick Street
Date visited: 11th September 2021
MooMoo-o-Tron III
Reconnaissance cow, on display as part of Cows About Cambridge from 28th June to 4th September 2021.
Location: Beside the Guildhall at the entrance to the Peas Hill passage
Date visited: 10th August and 3rd September 2021
Rocket Rocket
A space rocket powered by distilled rocket leaves, on a launchpad with a filling station.
Location: Green Street, outside the Open Air shop
Date visited: 7th November 2021
Mage’s Pages
Potting shed and plants growing books.
Location: St Mary’s Street, outside the University Press bookshop
Date visited: 28th August 2022
Dinky Shrinky
A device for shrinking objects (and problems) from human size to dinky size.
Location: Park Terrace, outside the Entopia building (Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership)
Date visited: 28th August 2022