the Key to Time?

[exilea]

I thought maybe one of us could try making some 3d models.

Would you say all the angles are 45°?

[exilea]

Here's my attempt at 3Ding it (minus the Tracer holes).
They appear to be 45° angles on the 5th segment anyway

[exilea]

Looking at the pictures and assuming that the prop uses standard imperial measurements my best guess is that the cube is 7" across and the stem of the tracer is 1/2" in diameter. If only I'd worked that out before I finished my 3D model.

You know...i should really pay more attention before posting.

Think you could render a few broken down shots of the key when you get time? 

[exilea]

...it's been holding up remarkably well aside from being left to right reversed and that's only because of which side of the paper I used.

For the sake of completeness here is a link to her original post:
http://welten.horus.at/1994/08/the-key-to-time/

I just put together the paper model (took damn near 15 minutes to figure it out again). I noticed these paper pieces are inverted/backwards too. A horizontal flip on the images will fix that. It's much easier to piece together with the grey areas on the inside! 

[03jmain]

i made a card model from here

http://welten.horus.at/1994/08/the-key-to-time/

if you print the pages on A3 the model is on a pretty good scale to work from

[Teletran]

Ok from the image purple posted and some grabs from "The Armageddon Factor" I've laid out the outer surface of the cube and coloured the different segments. I also changed my spellchecker so it wouldn't automatically change colour to color.

The first segment is blue, the second/4th is green, the fifth is yellow and the sixth is red. Gray represents unknown segments and dark gray represents the side that can't be seen from the pictures.

[exilea]

That's pretty

[Teletran]

I'm not sure it entirely works.

[exilea]

So are you fairly confident about the key being 7"³ with a 1/2" diameter for the tracer rod?

[Teletran]

Well I think it's a good size for the prop and fits the evidence so barring further evidence I'll stick to that.
If you take an image like this and measure the edges of the cube and then the tracer you can come up with a ratio of the sizes then its just a matter of finding a size that works for both.
The trouble is that when the tracer is inside the cube it's as far as it can be from either edge which means that measuring photos can only take us so far. Also the holes in the segment might be slightly larger than the diameter of the tracer stem to allow it to slide cleanly into place. I believe the tip of the tracer may be made of a soft corrugated rubber to stop it from slipping.
[noIMG]http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3331/PDVD_007.th.jpg[/img]

[purpleblancmange]

Going by Teletran's new drawings, segment one is correct over the card version which had an extra "section" on it, the card segment for Four is certainly entirely wrong, though Card Five is right.  I'm going to have to dig out my notes, where-ever they are.

I wish that I could do 3D modelwork as I could then zap across my findings for segment four to see how they compare with your findings, Teletran.  This is quite an interesting puzzle to crack.

One area where I disagree with you however is the end of the tracer, I seriously do not think it's made of rubber, but I do suspect that it is actually just unpolished acrylic or perspex as that would tie in with the fact that everything else about that prop was readily available shop bought elements (tubes, rods, box section etc) which were then spun (and chopped) to create the detailing.

[Teletran]

In fairness it does look very off the peg like the end of a plastic bottle stopper or something.


Hang on its some kind of adapter!

[Teletran]

I think there must have been a mix up in the props department because the second and fourth segments are both the same prop. The fourth segment as listed in the card model is the third as seen on screen, ("the stones of blood" introduces both the second and third pieces so you have to watch closely for the order) and third as listed seems to be entirely fictitious.
[noIMG]http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3875/PDVD_024.th.jpg[/img]

[Teletran]

here is my revised first segment.
frontbackleftrighttop

And my finished cube layouts.


[size=1.5]Please note that where there is confusion between the show used segments and the card model segments I have used words to represent the show used segments and numbers to represent the card model segments.[/size]

Once again blue is the first segment yellow and red are the fifth and sixth respectively. Green still represents the fourth/second/2nd but I've swapped it with the previously unseen fourth/second segment (grey). Purple represents the third/4th segment and the 3rd segment has been dispensed with.

[Teletran]

angle
backfront
leftbottom
right  And here's the missing piece, all others should be correct.