Pertwee Tardis Build

[Pravus]

The opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of building a full size Tardis has finally presented itself. My back yard is about 1 acre and runs into the forest. Towards the end of where we have cleared I am going to build a Tardis to house my well pump. It will be permanently anchored with 4 posts which will run the entire length of the Tardis plus 2 ft. (which will be set in cement underground - it gets very windy here in northeastern Pennsylvania and I wouldn't want it blowing over). The Tardis will be built around the posts and have working light up Police Call Box signs / flashing lamp and 2 outdoor speakers set inside the roof for the takeoff / landing sounds.

It will look fantastic at the edge of the forest, especially during winter.

My dilemma is this: I want to build a Pertwee Tardis model staying as close to that style as possible but every picture of his Tardis I see has different features. I can only guess that his Tardis was in such a state of disrepair that it was constantly subject to quick fixes.

Does anyone know if there is a definitive model or reference as to what it is supposed to be?  I can estimate the dimensions based on images of Jon Pertwee standing in the Tardis door way without any problem, I already have that figured out for the most part. The pictures I found here are a valuable resource but also make the point of the changes it seems to have gone through.  These are the dimensions (in inches) I came up with based on the way his Tardis appears in most of the pictures I've seen. She's about 5 or 6 inches smaller than scale because it was originally to be indoors and wouldn't otherwise fit.

[Rassilons Rod]

Technically speaking, it is the same box that they used since the very beginning in 1963. It had undergone many alterrations since then for repair work - including narrowing the side walls, which necessitated modifying the side signs so that the P and the X were obscured...

I suggest two things:
1, get hold of the plans for the Brachacki box (this is what it was *supposed*
to look like. More or less. These plans have been drawn up using screengrabs and other reference pics).
2, read on the TARDIS library site for a list of things that was done.

Unfortunately I am internetting via my phone right now so I cannot point you in the right direction. If nobody else has piped up before I get home tonight I will give you some links

oh, and welcome to the forum!
-Marc

[lorisarvendu]

You've more or less stated it in a nutshell there.  Pertwee's TARDIS did indeed look different in almost every season because (as Marc says) the BBC modified/repaired it so much.  Which kind of means there never was a time when it had a "definitive" look.  Basically pick an episode (or a season) that you like the look of the most, and build that one.  The way I see it, TARDIS design has been such an evolving process over the entire history of Doctor Who, all a builder can do is capture a snapshot of the TARDIS at a particular time.  But if you do that, your build is as accurate as any other since it is true to the TARDIS as it was at that moment.

I really like the flat-topped look of the Pertwee TARDIS, probably because it's the one I grew up watching.  Joining this forum has made me look at it with a more critical eye, and I can now see all the appalling faults and botch-jobs the BBC had subjected it to, but to me it will always be "my TARDIS"!

-Dave

[markofrani]

Strictly speaking, the Tardis prop has never had a flat roof in any of its versions. The shallowest pitch was on the Newbery box, but the original Brachacki prop roof was not flat, even when the roof was altered/enlarged at the time of the refit during 'The War Machines' in 1966. It's just that when it was filmed, the perspective gave the impression the roof was flat.
To show you, first here's a pic from the Patrick Troughton story 'The Abominable Snowman'

and then from the Tom Baker story 'Planet Of Evil'


Also I note from your blueprints that you have drawn a fresnel style lamp. This was only ever used on the original prop for Season 1 of the Hartnell period. It was then lost or damaged and replaced by a large cylinder with a square lamp housing arrangement as seen in the Troughton picture above. This was introduced way back in the Hartnell era during Season 2 'The Web Planet', though with a more prominent domed cap. You can see that by the time the prop was used in the Baker story, the lamp housing has gone, leaving just the tube light. In fact the lamp housing disappeared towards the end of the Pertwee era (possibly during 'Invasion Of The Dinosaurs'). Best place for checking all these details and much more, is The Tardis Library - as mentioned before. Good luck with your build!

[Pravus]

Thanks for your input guys. The pitch on the roof is so slight that I never noticed it wasn't flat. As far as the lamp, that is the one thing I would change about "my Doctor's Tardis". I felt the one I used in the drawing looked good but if it looks too out of place on the finished product I could always go back to the original style.

[atomicgraph]

You should take a look at " zimbiues" model (sorry for the misspelling ), build of this tardis it's amazing and it has tones of details that make this tardis so unique. Lookin forward to this build as it's one of my favorite versions.... Good luck

[rocket]

It all depends on how "screen accurate" you want it. If you'd prefer to use the fresnel lamp, then go for it. Plenty of builders on this site have made minor alterations to suit there own preference, and there's nothing wrong with that.

[geminitimelord]

easy build a brachaki or hartnell tardis and then slice off the roof just above the sign boxes and add that slab roof.

[Rassilons Rod]

easy build a brachaki or hartnell tardis and then slice off the roof just above the sign boxes and add that slab roof.

Conveniently forgetting to narrow the side walls, bodge the sign boxes, slice off part of the door divider on the right wall, add a "doorstop" to the bottom of said wall.........

[notard4u]

Thanks for your input guys. The pitch on the roof is so slight that I never noticed it wasn't flat. As far as the lamp, that is the one thing I would change about "my Doctor's Tardis". I felt the one I used in the drawing looked good but if it looks too out of place on the finished product I could always go back to the original style.

I don't find the flat roof offensive--infact, at eye level, I, (like you), always thought this model had a flat roof (what exactly is the angle of that pitch anyhow?  it must be so slight, it's almost indiscernable).  I like the Pertwee and Baker models the best--that's my era 

[galacticprobe]

Just eyeballing it in those screen grabs from (I think) 'The Yeti' and 'Planet of Evil', I'd say the roof pitch was no more than 5 degrees. It's hard to tell in those because they're not quite an eye-level shot of the roof line, but they are close to it.

The Newbery TARDIS looks very close to this Modified Brachacki version (see progression chart, Newbery, 3rd from left):

(Photo courtesy of The Mind Robber - web site shown on the diagram.)

If you can enlarge this enough to put a protractor on it, it should give you a more accurate "guesstimate", unless someone knows the actual angle. (Is anyone still in contact with Purple? Maybe he can give us a figure on the degree of pitch for the modified Brachacki, and how closely it compares to the Newbery box?)

Dino.

[DoctorWho8]

Oh look, it's my Newbury and NST drawings.  How nice!
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[galacticprobe]

Bill, are you The Mind Robber?

If so, then I want my mind back!

Dino.

[DoctorWho8]

No, no, not me.  Someone went through here at some point, gathered all the plan drawings we off for free, and put them together in a cohesive format.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[zbigniev hamson]

I could give you the plans for my model (am I zimbiue?) if they'd be any help.

I based mine on plans for the original box (I think made by lorisarvendu, but the plans I have don't have a name on so I'm not sure now (sorry)), and then modified them based on info from the TARDIS Library and as many reference photos as I could fine. Whoever it was who made the original plans has since updated them (particularly modifying the sizes of the wall panels, which I think is an improvement and therefore better than my plans in that respect), but I think I got most of the details right, particuarly on sourcing fonts for the signs and door panel.

The only general observations I can make, other than what's already been said, are:

- The lock is below the handle not above, pretty much bang between the middle two panels on the door.

- The side windows still have the bars at the bottom of them from the original build, only the front windows don't have them (and I think maybe the back too technically). The front windows also have slightly thicker "frames"

- The central divide on the right side wall (when looking from the front) is broken off just above the bottom of the door panels.

- Not sure what's going on with the quarter-round detailing on your plans, but it should be on all the outside corners and then on the inside corners on both the front and back sides, but missing on the sides (if that makes any sense).

- And there's also the 4 bolts through the corned posts on each side.