Tony's Console Room Measurements

[tony farrell]

A bit of colour in the thread (at long last, you sigh)!

Look at the shadow on the roundels in the picture of Katie and the photographic walls 'make sense' (especially when viewed in black and white and in 405 lines).
A quick comparison with the second shows that, when studied, it is plain that whatever was photographed as the roundels was photographed from a slight angle. Sorry, in the picture I've labelled both sides of the roundel as being narrow - obviously, I should have written that the left hand side is wide compared to the right, doh!! In the screen grab from "The War Games" a couple of posts ago, the 'shadow' on the photographic wall makes no sense at all now that the wall has been stood on it's side.

The same observation can be made of the large roundels shown in the photographic wall used in place of the fault locator panels in the pilot episode - the shadow is completely wrong; the edge in darkness should be uppermost and not at the bottom.



This is a problem constantly faced when the photographic walls were use in a different orientation to that they were designed to be seen in.




Tony

[tony farrell]

The photo from the Pilot Episode again.



This shows a couple of interesting things: Firstly, at the time of recording the pilot episode, the Tardis set was nowhere near ready. The housing on the Tardis scanner was even missing its sides!
This un-readiness leads me to think that the pilot episode was never intended for transmission but was more intended as a 'proof of concept' test run. That's besides the point because what the picture actually helps with is how the scanner scaffolding and down-lighters were actually constructed: In the 'Beginnings' DVD, Richard Martin states that the 'scaffolding' may have been build out of metal (after 49 years, the word 'may' can be forgiven) and that the original idea was to have the scanner slide downwards from the central down-lighter when in operation. This is confirmed by the presence of the rear half of the 'blanked-off' down-lighter appearing on the underside of the box containing the television set.
In terms of how this part of the set was supported, this picture is invaluable as it shows the supporting wires which held the scanner in place. Logically, all the down-lighters could have been held in place in the same way.

This neatly brings me back on course as I can now post some additional measurements of the scanner down-lighter section before returning to the subject of the fault locator wall.
Tony

[tony farrell]

[tony farrell]

It's very difficult to find clear screen grabs of the underside of the scanner down lighters. But, from these, it would appear that only two of the four down-lighters either side of the scanner are fitted with diffusers made from concentric circles.



Oddly, considering it was mostly hidden from view by the scanner, the rear down=lighter also appears to have been fitted with this diffuser/concentric circle design.



So, it looks (when viewed from above) that the arrangement looks like this.

[tony farrell]

This photo is from "An Unearthly Child" and shows the Tardis taking off for the first time (after all these years it is still a magnificent piece of television); the skyline of London on the scanner screen is just about to 'melt' into the swirling shapes of the vortex.

After some effort, I managed to freeze-frame the DVD just at the moment where the centre-point of the down-lighter to the left of the scanner is just on the edge of the frame.



The outer diameter of the down-lighter is 34". From this figure it is possible to calculate the radiuses of diffuser/concentric circle detailing.




A couple of more detailed drawings showing the underside of the down-lighters. N.B., the down-lighter boxes in front of the Perspex which separate the Control Room from the Fault Locator wall measure 40" by 40". Because the down-lighter box to the rear of the scanner is mounted inside the 'scaffolding' frame which forms the recess, this box measures 38" by 38" (though the diameter of the down-lighter itself is the same at 34").



Regards
Tony

[tony farrell]

Because it is so difficult to find clear pictures of the diffuser/concentric circle detailing, it's difficult to know what it is made from. However, it is possible to come up with a logical guess:

This photo is of the so-called 'power octagon' (though why it was called an octagon escapes me)! The 'octagon' contains the same concentric circle detailing as the scanner down-lighters (albeit a different diameter).



To me, the concentric circles appear to be made from lengths of clear (or at least semi-transparent) plastic which have been bent and then pop-rivetted into circles. Interestingly, the picture also shows that one side of this plastic has a textured or 'pebbled' finish. It seems sensible to suggest that the diffusers in the scanner down-lighters are made from the same 'pebbled' plastic and in the same way.



What does everyone think?

Tony

[DoctorWho8]

I think it was called an octagon because we thought it had 8 sides, but better photo references showed it was a hexagon.  Plus power octagon sounds cooler.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[kert gantry]

Was hoping you'd get onto the ceiling unit at some point. Great stuff.  

From which episode did you get the screengrab that shows the pebbled rings so clearly?  I've been hoping to find a pic like that for ages.

[mechanoid]

Yea, me too! Brilliant grabs! So any dimensions on the power Hexoctogon?

[tony farrell]

Thanks guys.
I had (wrongly) assumed that the 'octagon' had been called 'octagon' in the TV programme - I didn't realise it had been called that here.
The close-up of the 'pebbled' rings inside the hexagon is actually a BBC archive picture but I'm not sure which website I found it on - probably 'The Radio Times' (I've looked through hundreds of pictures whilst researching this thread)!
As regards discussing the 'Power Hexagon' - well, you'll just have to wait a bit; I haven't finished with the down-lighters or the scanner recess scaffolding yet. And then, I still have to complete the Fault Locator wall. And then I have to cover the computer towers/light-boxes and then, I have to cover the.....

Patience, patience!   

Tony

[cobalt]

Oddly, considering it was mostly hidden from view by the scanner, the rear down=lighter also appears to have been fitted with this diffuser/concentric circle design.



So, it looks (when viewed from above) that the arrangement looks like this.

I'm not too sure about this. Maybe it's clearer on a larger image, but I'm not seeing any rings in that rear downlighter. Also, all the shots I've seen of the floor show only the two spotlight beams, from the lamps to either side of the scanner.

[kert gantry]

As regards discussing the 'Power Hexagon' - well, you'll just have to wait a bit; I haven't finished with the down-lighters or the scanner recess scaffolding yet. And then, I still have to complete the Fault Locator wall. And then I have to cover the computer towers/light-boxes and then, I have to cover the.....

Patience, patience!   

Tony

Take as long as you like - I'm loving all of this!

[Teletran]

It seems logical to assume that the pebble effect plastic diffuser would be the same stuff used in the windows of the original Tardis police box prop.

[tony farrell]

Thanks for the feedback. Glad you're enjoying this Kert.

Teletran, you make an interesting point which I hadn't thought of before: Using the same materials for different elements does indeed make sense especially when you consider that both the Police Box prop and the Tardis Control Room were designed by the same person.

Cobalt, I agree that the screen grab isn't the best quality. In addition, the angle the rear down-lighter was filmed from means that we are seeing it through two sheets of Perspex (the main panel to the left of the scanner and the side panel of the scaffolding recess). I agree that the rear down-lighter isn't illuminated - I too can't remember ever seeing it lit. But, that doesn't mean that the diffuser/concentric circle detailing wasn't there.

I've tried to find a better screen grab but haven't so far been able to. I'll keep trying but if anyone else can help out here, please join in.

In the meantime, have a look at these grabs; I hope they'll clarify why I think that the rear down-lighter does have the diffuser detailing:

Regards

Tony

 [attachid]myphoto (1).png[/attach]

[cobalt]

In the meantime, have a look at these grabs; I hope they'll clarify why I think that the rear down-lighter does have the diffuser detailing:

Yes, the larger image definitely helps. I can see the raised edge now. Amazing that they would go through the trouble to add the detail and then never put a light in it.

I'm looking forward to your examination of the fault locator area.