cheap build

[walsallmatt]

now i know i've put in a request for any consoles that can be filmed with but thats i haven't quite done my own yet and the time involved outweighs the time i have to do this first film.

But non the less, here is my console idea, i beg you dont laugh.

The idea is simple



A console made from...wait from it, a plastic hexagonal upturned plant pot. Now to my mind i could in theory make something quite shalka esque. This might be a longer drawn out process than i first imagined because i'm having trouble finding the plant pot large enough for my purposes...

but what do folk think? Good wheeze?

matty

[Scarfwearer]

A very reasonable approach when scratch-building a custom design is to take a number of found items, add bits to them, cut bits off and then spray paint the whole thing a single colour. Once you've added some more high-lighted 'controls' people will usually not recognise the pieces underneath. Most model and prop producers use this approach at various times.
If you paint plastic, you'll need to put a primer on first, as most paints won't stick to a clean plastic surface.

Hope this helps
Crispin

[walsallmatt]

it does cheers matey

[DoctorWho8]

One word: cardboard.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[walsallmatt]

nah been there done that...it was crap

[DoctorWho8]

Only if you don't use it like it's building with wood.  I built a 5 Doctors console full size out of cardboard.  It held up for about 9 months on it's own.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[galacticprobe]

To add a little to what Scarfwearer said, besides painting the plastic (flower pot) with primer, also give it a good wash with soap and water. Pots like this usually have a thin layer of "mould release" still on them when you buy them, and that will also prevent paints from sticking to them. (A light roughing up of the surface with fine sand paper after the wash can also help the paint stick; just give the pot a quick rinse after the sanding to flush away the sanding dust.)

As to the size of the pot, if you're considering a "Shalka-esque" look, might I suggest going for a Shalka-esque secondary console: smaller than a full-size main console, but doable with the flower pot size available? At the smaller scale of the secondary console you could easily build up the part of the console control surface below the flower pot using good quality cardboard (as Bill suggests) or foam board. For the plinth you could buy a small diameter table from a thrift store. I've seen ones about three feet or a little smaller in diameter in thrift stores around where I live, so that's an option to set the control surfaces on. And if time is a factor then that might work for you, especially if you also apply Scarfwearer's method above to create the control surfaces.

Dino.

[walsallmatt]

cheers for the prep tips mate Yeah it might end up being a smaller console, probably more akin to the tage play versions that were used in portsmouth all those many moons ago.

Though....i have found a company that will make custom shapes and sizes of "plant pot" so i've contacted them and hopefully might get a far more classic shape but still within affordable limits so i MIGHT and i can't stress this enough, MIGHT be able to go down the route of creating a close approximation with an individual twist of a classic console.

So the plans will be ever changing but for the moment i will pursue this shalka esque console idea, because with the body design in mind it will be easy to change and swap at will maybe even have more than one console, cheap and greedy, what are the odds lol

matt