Tony's Console Room Measurements

[tony farrell]

Those of you that have followed the debate in the section called "The Tardis Main Doors" will be aware that there has been quite some discussion as to the correct measurements of the Tardis' main internal doors.
What I'd like to do with this topic is not only present my measurements of the Tardis' main internal doors but also to extend the subject to cover other elements of the Tardis' Control Room as it was first shown in the introductory first few stories from 1963 into 1964 - so, from An Unearthly Child to the Edge of Destruction: The measurements I'll try to show are extrapolated from those I've presented in the Tardis Main Doors topic and, in the coming weeks, I'd like to include not only the walls, the doors to the living quarters and the screens seen in those quarters, but also other elements of the original console room such as the scanner 'scaffold', the fault locator wall as well as the 'computer towers'. The aim is to build up as complete a set of measurements as is possible for the original Tardis Control Room.
I'd like to include reference photos/screen grabs as I go along so that you can see (by comparison to these) how I've arrived at my figures.
Well, here goes!
I'm starting with one big assumption - that the Tardis' doors (by which I mean the Police Box doors as designed by Brachaki) are 6' 6" tall. Virtually every other measurement is based on this figure.



From this, it can be seen that the height of the internal Tardis' door frame is this same as the height of the Police Box doors plus the Police Box base. Have a look at these pictures:



 

You can see that there is a gap under the internal doors to allow for the wall's supporting casters of 3 to 3.5" (albeit hidden by wainscoting). So, if the Police Box doors are 78" and the base of the Police box is 3 to 3.5", then the Tardis' main internal door frame must be the same height. Based on this figure of 78" for the height of the doors plus 3" for the gap under the doors/walls, here is my drawing showing the height of the Tardis' walls.



Thus, the overall height of the Tardis' walls (including the supporting casters) is 120".

Now, have a look at these pictures taken from the the "Beginnings" DVD:



In the background you can see the rear of one of the Tardis' walls standing at 10' high. Joining it are the walls of the living quarters doors and several Persex screens used to separate the boys' and ladies' sleeping rooms. The rear of the Tardis' wall stands about 4" taller than the adjoining walls of the living quarters and internal screens. A better view is seen here:



If the rear of the Tardis wall is 120", then the height of the perspex screens and the wall containing the doors to the living quarters must be 116".




Have a look and tell me what you think.
Next is a drawing of the living quarters doors as viewed from inside the living quarters and finally a side elevation of the same.






The picture with the Time Space Visualiser is the best one I could find that shows the concaved curved section on either side of the doors to the living quarters.
Lastly, a screen grab which shows how the Perspex screen relates (in terms of height) to the roundelled side of the main Tardis walls. This is important when it comes to establishing the measurements of the scanner 'scaffolding'.
Regards
Tony
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[tony farrell]

The same photo with perspective lines added showing the height of the bottom section of the perspex screen and the bottom sections of the scanner 'scaffolding' are the same.

And another view, again with perspective lines:




From these, it is possible to extrapolate the measurements of the scanner 'scaffolding' and also those of the downlighters above the scanner itself...drawing to follow
Regards
Tony

[tony farrell]

The distance between the outside edges of the scanner 'scaffolding' uprights is 40 inches (this matches the width of the perspex dividing screens I drew earlier in this thread. From the floor to the top edge of the cross-rail is 12", again the same size as the Perspex dividing screens used in the living quarters (the distance from the inside edges of the cross-rails is 10").

[tony farrell]

A slightly more detailed drawing:
The 'scaffolding' is recessed behind the scanner - drawn in purple - and is 42" wide (comprising a sheet of Perspex 'sandwiched' between two 1" square uprights. The distance from inside edge to inside edge of this recess is therefore 38".
On either side of this recess are two sections - the overall length of each is 79".
This 79" is made up of three 1" square uprights, each separated by a Perspex sheet which is 38" wide (again, the Perspex is 'sandwiched' between the frames).

Tony

[Scarfwearer]

This is fascinating.
Have you had a play with Sketchup yet? I can really recommend it.

Crispin

[tony farrell]

Hi Crispin,

Thanks for the interest! Glad to make a small contribution to the forum and - to be honest - I'm enjoying doing so!
I have tried Sketchup, albeit briefly, but don't really understand it! Besides, I'm I'm just getting started with 'paint'!
Regards
Tony
Thinking about my last post, I probably should have added the photo before I drew lines all over it; I'll put that right now.


It also gives me the chance to point out a couple of other things: What I'm calling the "recess in the scanner 'scaffolding'", doesn't actually seem to do that much in the way of acting as 'scaffolding' at all! All it seems to support is a down-lighter located behind the scanner. The actual television set is in a plywood box in front of the scaffolding and hangs (slightly angled backwards) from the back half of overhead

(blanked-off) 'down-lighter'.  


To me, it looks like there are only Perspex screens in the panels on either side of the recess. Also, it's on casters and that the Perspex doesn't extend below the height of the recess' lower cross-rails - which would make sense, allowing the casters to swivel/rotate freely. But, what confuses me about the design, is why put the rear down-lighter in a wheeled frame at all?
I wondered about the recess metal frame acting as some sort of counter-weight to the TV box in front, but more-or-less dismissed this idea because of the weight of the TV set and the plywood box surrounding it... Any thoughts out there?

On either side of the scanner recess are the main panels of the scaffolding - which, again, don't really seem to support that much except for two columns of fluorescent tubes! In common with the Perspex dividers in the living quarters, the panels are made from sheets of Perspex sandwiched between 1" square metal frames. Because of the width of the recess scaffolding (42"), it looks as though great care was taken to centre the middle upright of each panel on either side- which makes the visible width of each Perspex sheet 38". The overall width of each main panel is therefore 79".

As to the height of each of these Perspex sheets.. Here I'm not positive but it seems reasonable that they are at least as tall as the upper cross-rail of the living quarters' screens. Looking at the height of the recess scaffolding where it fits around the rear down-lighter box, this looks to be the case. So, somewhere near 104" tall.  

[Rassilons Rod]

I'm also really interested in this

[tony farrell]

Thanks Rassilonsrod - glad it's of interest.
I've always liked the concept of the Tardis - in all her forms - down the years. But, for me, original is best.
That said, my personal preference is for the original console room but with a more 'Pertwee' style console. By that, I mean the Pertwee control panels specifically - i.e., the slightly sleeker re-styling of the original, with slightly less prominent round meters. Absolutely no disrespect to the original - look at Celation's brilliant build - but, Pertwee's just looked the part.
That said, I never liked the metal panel which replaced the radiation meter - so, I guess, my preference (console-wise) would be a sleeker Hartnell/Pertwee hybrid (with the original crystal-like original central column) but standing in the frankly magnificent first control room!
Tony

[maverickjsmith]

I recommend Google Sketchup as well. It's quite easy to use and there are plenty of things you can do with it despite it being free.

Plus with all these measurements you could knock all of this up in Sketchup in minutes to a few hours.

Keep it up! I'll have to build a Hartnell console room soon though at this rate >_>a

Maverick

[tony farrell]

Thanks Maverick - I'll give Sketchup another go when I get time (if I get time -  don't know where the days are going at the moment)! I'm glad the plans are appreciated - it would be good to see them being used to (re)construct the original Tardis control room!
Anyway, back to business and a little more detail on the 'scaffolding'...






The picture of the four members of the Tardis crew shows what I mean about the fact that the Perspex frames must extend above the height of the boxes which contain the circular down-lighters. Even allowing for the fact that the circular down-lighter is in the way, only approximately two-thirds of the uppermost fluorescent tube can be seen. So, either this was a very short tube or the frame/scaffold carries on further up behind the down-lighter housing. In addition, the column of fluorescent tubes starts about three inches above the studio floor, so, the height of the panels must extend behind the down-lighter section by at least that amount.
This brings me to the question of how the tubes were attached to the uprights of the frames. There doesn't appear to be much of a gap between each of the fluorescent tubes, so they are obviously 'in series'. But how are they supported - they can't just be hanging there. Even in 1960s Britain, there was some concept of Health and Safety!
On this point, if there are any electricians reading this thread, let me have your thoughts...

[tony farrell]

I've got work for the next couple of days now  but when I come back, I'll post some details about the down-lighters, their 'boxes' and those curiously sloping semi-circular sections above them. Oh, and I might just tackle the scanner as well!
Kind Regards
Tony

[tony farrell]

Don't have much time today...

[DoctorWho8]

No rush.  We aren't in any hurry.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[tony farrell]

Thanks Bill......
A few more drawings; This time of the scanner and how it relates to the down-lighters and 'scaffolding'. In the spirit of trying to inject some colour into these black and white screen grabs, the scanner recess is again in purple and the main Persex screens are again in green. I like green and I also like purple

[tony farrell]

My scanner has stopped working at the moment - nearly as reliable as its fictional counterpart - so I can't post measurements of the scanner recess until I borrow the one at work.
So, instead, leaping ahead slightly, I'll post the first set of my measurements for the fault locator wall. Besides, these will also clarify how I arrived at the height of the doors to the living quarters which, I now realise, I didn't explain properly.
I'll return to the scanner scaffolding shortly.....
Here goes!
Tony

Again, the measurements are derived from the height of the Tardis' main internal doors and so, ultimately from the height of the doors on the original Brachaki Police Box prop.