Eccleston/ Tennant Console at Doctor Who Experience

[museumdave]

Sorry there were some typos in that last post...
I count 5 of these littlebabies on the panel bellow the ripspeed gear change knob
Somebody must have had fun sacrificing many hard drives to the glowing column of wibbly wobbly time-y whimy-ness

M.D.

[galacticprobe]

I have no idea where to look for those hard drive hubs. Any old military computer stuff (actually, any old military stuff deemed "excess") is taken to the local DRMO (Defense Reutilization and Marketing Offices). Those places are like the warehouse where they stored the Ark at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Even active duty personnel have trouble getting things out once the items have gone in. A retiree like me has no chance. My active duty buddies might be able to get their hands on some, but the cost would come out of their operating budget and they would have to show justification as to why they needed obsolete hard drive hubs. (Believe me, when I was active I had to jump through hoops backwards to get bits that I actually needed!)

As to those little silver round things, that motor sure looks about right. I never thought they were motors. I always thought they might be buttons of some kind, or very low-profile switches/knobs. Something else to look for now!

Dino.

[museumdave]

Question.

I notice that there are 5 recessed dots on the console arm that had the car CD player on it.  I had noticed others on another photo that had been posted  of the console in construction.  Are all the arms numbered?  Can anybody share what is on each arm- by the numbers?  either from photos or perhaps the play set?


cheers

M.D.

[galacticprobe]

That is an excellent question! I've noticed the recessed "dots" on the console ribs, but I never took note of how many dots there were on the different ribs before. Now I'll have to go through all the photos of it and scrutinize.

The playset, though, I don't think would be a good reference for answering this one. While the top of the console is pretty accurate to the prop, the playset console's base isn't.

Dino.

[museumdave]

An interesting thing happened recently.  I was at a Robbie Burns Supper the Museum was putting on recently (wearing a great tartan bowtie I might add) When I noticed something. We had some young people in demonstrating Highland dances- including the sword dance. The young lassies sword was a knobbly cast single piece that looked exactly like this.

I know this has been identified as a sword hilt long ago, but I am thinking it maybe a sword meant for dancers.  I have been cruising the web looking at dance supply places to confirm this hunch, but as of yet have not.  I will track down the dancer and find out for sure.  
Just thought it was funny and wanted to share.

cheers

M.D.

[galacticprobe]

Very interesting! I always thought it was the hilt of a fencing sword (foil or sabre). Dancing sword?

Now I'll have to find that episode of 'Are You Being Served?' when the staff are rehearsing for their tribute to "young" Mr. Grace's birthday and Mr. Humphries does that Scottish Sword dance so I can take a closer look at those sword hilts.

Dino.

[galacticprobe]

Just browsing through these 2005 console images again (seems I can't get enough of them) and I was wondering if anyone has yet ID'd this part:


I know it's not the clearest image, but it's the best close-up of this lever I could find from Kingpin's images (cropped here to focus on the lever).

Dino.

[Kingpin]

Reminds me that I need to start preparing a list of reshoots, I'll be back there on Saturday (for the third and final time ), and this will be the last opportunity for me to try get some nice high-resolution shots of some of the "blurry" areas from the last set.

[thecloisterbell]

Just browsing through these 2005 console images again (seems I can't get enough of them) and I was wondering if anyone has yet ID's this part:


I know it's not the clearest image, but it's the best close-up of this lever I could find from Kingpin's images (cropped here to focus on the lever).

Dino.

Looks to me to be the transmission from a non-stick car

[galacticprobe]

The shifting lever, perhaps; but that odd component isn't much larger than that bell in the lower right corner of the photo. I've played with a few auto trannies (in American that's short for transmission, and not what you think!) in my high school days, but I never saw a shifting mechanism for one that looked like this.

(Wayne Venomous, you've managed to ID just about every car part used on this console. What do you think? Is this part of an auto-transmission car?)

Dino.

[galacticprobe]

Reminds me that I need to start preparing a list of reshoots, I'll be back there on Saturday (for the third and final time ), and this will be the last opportunity for me to try get some nice high-resolution shots of some of the "blurry" areas from the last set.

Maybe you can check out those indented circles on the console's legs to see how the different number of circles are placed:

Note arrow - this leg looks to have 5 dimples;


Not sure now many on the left - large oval in the middle? - no dimples on the right?


Only 4 dimples on this leg. (And it looks like the 5-dimple leg is to its left.) I know this is an "under construction" photo, but it does show there are different numbers of dimples on the legs.

Might be a good chance to see how those dimples are placed - sequentially going around, or randomly.

Just a thought.
Dino.

[Kingpin]

I've returned from the Experience with a small bundle of new photographs, first... the holes in the console supports.  These photos are taken in sequence running counter-clockwise around the Console, starting with the support featuring the variable resistor:







Support #1 (I'll refer to these based on the order photographed): A large rectangular cut with curved corners.
Support #2: No obvious holes.
Support #3: 6 small staggered holes.
Support #4: 4 larger holes arranged in a diamond pattern.
Support #5: Thin oblong.
Support #6: No obvious holes.

Onto the random greeblies, some are reshoots, in the attempt to clear up some of the fuzzier details, others are new detail shots I missed from the previous gallery:











-About the best shot I could get of this panel due to the restrictive railing, I think it's clear enough to place all the elements despite the foreshortening.













-We should be able to assemble a map* of the various items by comparing these photos.  This panel seems quite sparse compared to most of the others,






-The grey item with the yellow label is the car stereo.









-The fire extinguisher has been lost somewhere between being moved from Cardiff to London (I sure hope nothing else is lost when it makes the return trip).

One observation based on reviewing the console as it is at the Experience against production shots to see if any panels have migrated (none have, thankfully):

Sometime between series 1 and Series 3 the large compass has been moved two panels counter-clockwise onto the panel with the board of flip switches (the one Tennant uses before the TARDIS hits the Titanic), it's visible in its present location in Time Crash[/i].

[galacticprobe]

Seriously great shots, Kingpin! That compass migrated a couple of times. In some of the Eccleston episodes it's in the middle of its original panel, and in other episodes it's on that same panel but nearer to the edge of the console. I'll have to check "Christmas Invasion" again, but it may have migrated to its current panel after extra hot lighting of the console in the post-regeneration mini-episode between "Parting" and "Christmas" caused some of the panels to melt, requiring them to be recast.

Great detail in these photos, especially in the legs. Thanks for also including which leg has which set of holes and openings. As for the sparse panel you mention, that was the panel which the Doctor (at least the 10th) kept the monitor positioned over mostly, so maybe that's why they left that panel so sparse when it came to controls?

And seriously; what you've done with all of your trips to the DWE is provide a huge treasure trove of additional details to the console reference section. For that I think I speak for everyone on the forum when I say thank you for making all of those visits and taking those photos, and going through the trouble of posting them here for us to enjoy!

Dino.

[museumdave]

These are great!

Thank you very much Kingpin.  I don't know that I will ever get to the exhibit, and you have provided great reference material.

wonderful

Cheers

M.D.

[superrichi1a]

Looks to me to be the transmission from a non-stick car

Hhhhmmm, I can see where you're coming from on that, but I don't think so. Looks a bit small and unusually shapen to me, perhaps a motorbike component?