M.D.s console

[museumdave]

Greetings fellow time travellers,

Thank you so much for the comments and resource matterial.

So as some of you may have picked up on MuseumDave is somewhat between museums at this point.  I do have a part time gig, but I am way Underemployed.  So between the weather and limited finances I have struggled to keep the build going.  

So Please don't laugh (too much!), but yesterday had some time and made something to stand in as a hand brake.  
Started with an arm from one of the office chairs that were pulled apart for the tardis seat (work in progress).



The chair arm was cut with a jigsaw -where the tape shows

Cut the steel bar- drilled some holes in and screwed it to a small piece of wood.  I cover this joint with some tape just to reinforced it.  Cut out a plywood half circle and mounted them together with one screw so it pivots.

Added a small piece of plastic and some screws sticking out to create a tick-tick sound.

My father had some small scraps of fake leather around from years back when he restored/rebuilt an old Triumph Spitfire.  The boot is a really simple sewing job, but came out okay.  Added 2 small cleats and screwed it to the console arm.

It is cheap and simple, but turned out okay- though these pictures make the fake leather look like an old bin bag- it looks a little better in person.

Yesterday had a bit more time -so I pulled out a brass kickplate I had bought some time ago for a different project (good cheap source of sheet brass) and marked out a rectangle to make a stand in for a thermometer.  Drilled a couple of holes.

added some clear plastic tubing and red plastic thingy- that i found between a gap in the floor boards of the play room.  I think it is an aerial from a Lego set.  My kids didn't mind though.  The bras was bent to form a base and there you have it

Here it is in place

So that is all for now.  Thanks for looking

M.D.

[kiwidoc]

OOOh, that hand brake is so inventive - looks just right!   nice one Dave, and the green lighting is fantastic!

[13drwho]

I am always amazed at how inventive you are reproducing the controls. They always look so good.

[galacticprobe]

Yeah! What everyone else said!

Oh, and of course...
[attach xwidth=100 xheight=25 id=59634]Envy(medium).jpg[/attach]

Dino.

[warmcanofcoke]

Dave - you are doing what every good BBC designer has done since time immemorial - you are producing an amazingly detailed prop with a budget of thrupenny bits. The Handbrake and the thermometer look fantastic. I love that you even worked out a way for the "Brake" to make a click sound. Well done. 

[atomicgraph]

clever clever clever, looking good to

[the mister]

that hand brake works surprisingly well! wow, the whole thing is looking fantastic! how exciting!

[museumdave]

Wow- thanks for all the great feedback!

It is truly appreciated.  It really does help keep me going.


So after a big dump of snow Friday- this week has been fairly mild.  So much so that I have been able to do some painting.  Did finally find crackle medium at the local craft store, and then found on line that all purpose white glue can do much the same thing.  The rim segments have a base coat of black.

And I have done what feels like hundreds of test pieces to try out different things for crackle; crackle medium, glue, different paints different amounts of medium, more or less paint and different brush strokes.  Finally I seem to have something that I think I could be happy with.

I find my self having some pangs- silly really

So here is the thing- and it comes from designing as you build (on the fly) rather than preplanning like most sensible sorts would.  I had done the rim segments with the larger hand drawn crackle in mind.  Subsiquently the divots made in them are proportionately smaller and less regular. 

Now I know this is a fairly small discrepancy- particularly if you think that the central column is corrugated plastic but....

I don't know.  Generally I agree with Primrodo that the 'Chemical crackle ' effect (if one can call it that) looks better than the large 'smacked egg' crackle, but you can more easily control the effect through doing it by hand- make sure it doesn't get to big or out of hand....

I guess (and I realize this would have been better with photos)- Am at a point where I would be interested in input.  Please.

If you have a thought about the style of crackle let me know.

Thanks for your time.

Dave

[tony farrell]

I've followed this thread 'quietly' so far. At this point however I must say how similar your techniques are to the those I used in my Dalek build - plenty of tape, clamps, filler and cursing!  . I think the way you've captured the curves, the proportions and general silhouette of the console is amazing and the detailing is brilliant. (I love your latest picture with the console room bathed in a green glow!)
Stylistically, according to designer Edward Thomas, at this point in its history, the console was meant to have been almost endlessly repaired and 'cobbled together'. I wondered therefore if you'd considered retaining your 'existing' crackle effect but building upon it with washes of different shades of the same effect.
I'm not sure if "Crackle Glaze" is available in Canada but you might like to experiment with this. It works by applying a base coat over which a slightly lighter top coat is painted; the top coat slightly shrinks as it dries and forms minute cracks - thereby exposing the base colour. Unfortunately, it's solvent based but this does mean the colours are readily mixed. A very, very, light sanding between the layers (base coat, glaze - sand, base coat, glaze, etc), progressively lightening the colour as you go, would mean you'd be able to build up an aged effect like a cracked oil painting.
(The oil streaks and dirtying down on my Dalek were achieved in the same way - by building layer upon layer of thin washes over the base colour.)
Regards
Tony     

[museumdave]

WOW Tony,

Thank you.  I appreciate your kind words.  I like your idea of doing multiple washes like the beautiful dalek.

I am not sure about the availability of the crackle glaze you mention, but I think maybe it does much the same as the medium/white glue.

At this point I do have a slight crackle effect done with caulking that I will not sand out no matter what paint effect I end up using.  I just need to settle on how to paint it.

I was trying to ask a stylistic preference question.  Rereading my post I realize that was not at all clear (Bad things happen when I type after midnight-sorry)

I think I have a way of replicating the second style of crackle (more or less)- although the rim proportions are more that of the first (large crackle style)
I could also just draw on the crackle on the rim the way I have with the collar.

Either way I will strive to make the finish match on all these pieces.

So I guess the question is which do people like better option A

Or option B-

Interested in input.
as always thanks for

Dave

[fridaysgoldfish]

I vote "A" i think the hand done "crackle" job looks better It's also more in keeping with the fact that you have built mostly every aspect of this wondrous thing by hand.

[warmcanofcoke]

"A" may take longer but I think it is worth it.

[the_temporal_mechanic]

I like option A. I've always thought the hand done crackle better represents porcelain than the repainted, later versions of the console. I think it looks waaay better The later crackle is a something that happens to a painted surface and you'd never see that on porcelain. 

[ThisJustinOnline]

I think option B looks the best and most authentic to how the console prop actually looks.

[galacticprobe]

Perhaps a mix of the two? Option A, as in hand-drawn on; and Option B, as in the pattern. That would give you (pardon the pun) a freer hand with drawing the crackle on, not having to be so careful about the curve or straightness of the lines, or if some crisscross here and there.

And just curious (because of lighting both in photos and screen grabs of the original, early crackle on the rim my eyes can't really tell), but does the crackle look like it has some dark/tarnished brass coloring within those lines?

Dino.