Volpone's TARDIS build...

[Volpone]

The funny thing is...among the funny thing are that, while some outside this board might find it eccentric to have a TARDIS, having only one TARDIS (and relatively limited Who paraphernalia) is fairly mundane to the denizens of this board.  Then, as I was woolgathering, I consoled myself that at least I didn't want multiple TARDISes AND a control room--until I remembered both that I DID want multiple TARDISes and a control room AND that at least one of our esteemed members DOES have multiple TARDISes and a control room AND a couple Daleks to boot.  And I don't consider him crazy.  (Actually, I do.  But the good kind of mad genius crazy. ) 

Then I decided there is a continuum of crazy.  I don't think anyone else here goes out in public dressed up as The Doctor.  To be fair, I'm not dressed as any of the screen Doctors, and while eccentric, the outfit (in my current avatar) is within the scope of 21st century western dress.  If I happen to have my sonic screwdriver in my pocket, I don't generally take it out and brandish it.  I don't make a big production of having a jelly baby (actually, maybe I do.  A bit.  But I don't think I've ever offered one to anyone but my dog) and I've never introduced myself as "The Doctor".  One time someone was trying to place my accent and I wish I'd have told them it was Gallifreyan, but such is life. 

There's a good chance I won't get around to building a second TARDIS, but this thread seems like an appropriate place to ruminate on it. 

[Volpone]

And just to be at least slightly on the topic of TARDIS building, some of my unorganized thoughts on that: 

Firstly, it wouldn't be cheap.  I want to do a Met box and they're bigger and the lumber dimensions are all bigger, so I'm betting it would easily push $1,000--even if I didn't make any mistakes and got everything right. 

At first I thought the way to do it (depending on the dimensions) is to screw 4 sheets of plywood together and then just add the rails and stiles and corner posts etc to that and I haven't entirely ruled that out--although I suspect it would be too narrow for an actual Met box.  But I realized one can save a good deal of plywood by cutting the walls off at the bottom of the windows like at least one builder here did. 

So yeah.  Plywood box screwed onto at least a 2x6 base--2x8 would likely be even better.  Then (again, after checking dimensions) a 2x6 on each edge of the box (this is where I also need to start actually drawing a plan to figure out details) because, for example, I'd either need a second round of base or need a 4x6--if there is such a thing--for the base (or the corner posts would be flush with the base).  At that point you stick the biggest quarter round you can get into the corners and another on the inside.  Again, here's where the plan gets tricky--do you do a rail that is wider than you want to allow for the quarter round to be on top of it?  If so, how do you work the visual difference between the quarter round that is tucked between two 2x6s and the one that is on top of a 1x4 (and I'm not even worrying about the door at this point)? 

Anyway...that's the *easy* part.  Once you get above the windows, you get to tackle the roof.  And it would be nice to have one that doesn't leak as much as the current one.  But I'll burn that bridge if I ever get to it. 

[galacticprobe]

Then I decided there is a continuum of crazy. I don't think anyone else here goes out in public dressed up as The Doctor.

Well, I wonder what continuum I fall into. For most of the late fall to the early spring, when the weather is cool enough, I practically live in my 9th Doctor outfit - changing my jumper, of course. And then there have been those formal occasions (concerts and such) where I've worn my 1st Doctor outfit. While I've gotten compliments on the 1st Doctor's outfit and questions on where I found the coat - and had to tell people that a seamstress friend made it for me, so it's a one-off - and for less formal occasions I've taken the wife out for dinner in my 11th Doctor Series 5 or 6 outfits, since doing this starting back in 2008 when I was still working (before I got hurt), I've only had two people recognize <pun coming> who I was dressed as. One recognized my 9th Doctor outfit; it was at The Evil One's university, and he was one of those Steve spoke of... sadly the stereotypical "fan boy" you'd expect to find still living in his mother's basement playing video games during his school breaks: overweight, greasy hair, showing nasty yellow teeth with his crinkle-nosed "fan boy grin" as his eyes followed me as I walked by. <shudder>

The other was a young waiter at a restaurant when the wife and I went out for our anniversary, sometime in 2011 (shortly after I'd gotten hurt and had to retire). I was in my 11th Doctor Series 5 outfit (with the burgundy wavy lines shirt I got from Steve Ricks, thankfully just before retiring). The waiter just smiled and gave me a "thumbs up". (A much better reaction.)

And now is the time of year I slip into my 9th Doctor clothing. (So yes, Steve, someone here does indeed go out in public dressed as the Doctor... though, like you on the occasions when you do it, I do not introduce myself as "the Doctor"; if someone tries to make conversation with me, I simply start with, "Hi, I'm Dino.")

So... where does that put me on your scale for "continuum of crazy"?

Dino.

[russellsuthern]

(Dino, we all know you are completely barking! )

Even though I probably look most like Eccleston with the short hair & all, but I wouldn't feel "right" doing anyone other than Tom.
In the winter I always wear my Dr Who scarf, usually with the coat, sometimes with the hat too.

I'm always getting people calling out "Look, It's Doctor Who!", but always in a good way, no one (touch wood) has ever been funny about it to my face.

I believe: "Wear your Dr Who scarf with pride!"

Cheers,

Russell

[galacticprobe]

(Dino, we all know you are completely barking! )

Ah, Russell... and I thought I was quietly sneaking through...

Even though I probably look most like Eccleston with the short hair & all...

I've got the Eccleston hair as well - leftover from my military days (yeah... I only really let it go for the Halloween season, when I end up looking like Giorgio Tsoukalos). But as we've seen in my convention photos, my face is more suited as a Troughton double... though just going out on an ordinary day I wouldn't wear that outfit... or the wig. (Though now that I think about it, I wonder what would happen if I did? )

Dino.

[Angelus Lupus]

While we're talking hair: If I dyed it blonde, I think my current length would let me manage a passable #13... with a lot of product to get that volume - sadly I inherited my mother's very fine hair (along with the myriad back problems)

[Volpone]

LOL.  Somehow I didn't realize you were a girl.  I mostly blame the tendency to apply your own perspective to others--like how, when you see a movie you're disappointed because the hero sounds nothing like you expected (which is usually a bit like you).  Once upon a time I was at a cub scout overnight in a Old West stockade with kids from all over the US.  We were playing Civil War.  About halfway through it occurred to me to ask the kid next to me who he was fighting.  Turned out he was shooting Yanks while I was busy shooting Rebels.  So instead of Civil War, we decided to fight attacking Indians.  (What can I say?  It was simpler, less politically correct times.  And when you've got a bunch of 10 year olds in a cowboy fort they've got to protect it from *some* kind of attacker. 

[galacticprobe]

LOL. Somehow I didn't realize you were a girl.

Well, Steve, there's nothing in Angelus' post that says Angelus is a girl. I've been to enough conventions to know that cross-dressing is quite commonplace now. There are plenty of "femme" Doctors, just as there are plenty of "male" Sailor Moons, or men (yes, men, not boys) dressed out as other female anime characters, or female characters from video games or other SF and Fantasy shows or films. (I can't even begin to count the number of cross-dressed "male" LT Uhuras I've seen!)

So who's to say that we might not see a "male" cross-dressed 13th Doctor? (I'd almost bet my pension on it, especially since 80 percent of fans polled so far think having a woman in the role is great.)

And now let's be careful not to drift too far off topic for too long, or we'll end up with this topic getting split since it's really starting to deviate from its title: "Volpone's TARDIS Build...".

Dino.

[Angelus Lupus]

LOL.  Somehow I didn't realize you were a girl. 

People assume that gender is a strict binary of male and female, but actually - from a non-binary, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly... gendery-bendery... stuff. - To mis-quote The Doctor. As it happens I don't see either term really applying to me.
As for cross-dressing 13's - well, I'm following a thread over at the RPF where someone is putting together a male version.

And now, back to the topic: I wish you good luck and fair weather on the rebuild (or next build)

[Volpone]

Another non-update:  The door on my TARDIS has always stuck, so when the lock mechanism started getting wonky I just locked it into the "unlocked" position and pushed the door into place.  This gave me 2 benefits:  I could put my flag in the TARDIS at night (instead of in the garage) and then I wouldn't have to unlock anything to put it up in the morning.  I could also keep my stepladder in there and get to it quickly and easily--THREE!  THREE BENEFITS!...AMONG the benefits...Right.  I'll come in again. 

Best of all was hiding keys.  In my old place I locked myself out a couple times.  Each time I figured out a way to break in.  And each time I broke in I figured out how to keep anyone from breaking in that way.  Eventually I couldn't think of a way to break in so I hid a spare key.  Actually, I hid spare keys.  I hid a key to the garage.  Then I hid a house key in the garage.  So you had to find 2 keys to get into my house.  Be patient, I'm getting there. 

When I moved I did this again.  And since the TARDIS is parked near the garage, I hid the garage key "in a cubby above the 'P'."  Well, not really.  Because then I feel like I would have had to make a cubby.  And waterproof it.  But since the TARDIS wasn't locked, I hid it in the POLICE BOX sign from the inside, under the "P." 

Well it's cold enough now that the door doesn't stick.  So I had to find a hiding spot outside the TARDIS for the garage key.  And I moved the flag back into the garage (since the garage key is on my regular keychain and the TARDIS key in on a chain with my 3rd-4th Doctor key on my bookshelf). 

I do kind of like having the TARDIS locked again, but I really should get the inside knob fixed so I don't accidentally lock myself in the TARDIS sometime.  (The key works on the outside, but the latch on the inside doesn't.  OOH!  That's an excuse to figure out a hinge for the phone door!  And it's double plus good, because it would allow me to open the door from inside (by reaching out with the key) but keep anyone from opening the phone door and reaching inside to open the lock.)

[Angelus Lupus]

Well that's a .... convoluted system of keys and security you have there!  I'm confused just reading that, never mind trying to actually work out which hidden key goes where if I wanted to break in!
So the key to the house was in the garage, but to get that you need the key that's in the Tardis, past the step-ladder, next to the flag? Add in a side-quest where you have to find a missing part for K-9 so he can give you the Tardis key and you've got the makings of a classic adventure game! 
I guess the lesson is, never lose your keys. Hmm, maybe that's the real reason The Doctor invented the Sonic, fed up with never finding the right key? LOL

[Mark]

I think I may have posted this anecdote before on these pages but as you brought it up I was kinda reminded.

When I was living in Sheffield I had always dreamed of one day getting inside the last remaining Sheffield Police Box. Well after passing out as a Constable and getting my own "box key" I pretty much made a bee-line for the box!

At the time the police box was still in police use but very infrequently. I turned the key and opened up the door (which opens inwards just like the TARDIS!) and stepped in.

It was a great day, that is until I tried to get out again. For some reason the Yale lock was faulty and would not open by turning the knob on the inside. I spent about 15 minutes evaluating my options to escape without looking like an idiot.

I eventually got out by using my pen knife to force the bolt open after which I promptly reported the troublesome lock.

[Volpone]

Bah. Another beautiful plan, shot down by ugly reality.  I'd love to build a Met box for a second box.  I even came up with the excuse for it (to do a more realistic take on the scene from "Logopolis" (I didn't say it was a good excuse, but it's an excuse)).  But I don't have the time or the money. 

Still...

I could work up the plans for it. 

I remember way back, when Matt said he was going to do his "100% accurate Crich box replica."  I thought "Yeah, right."  Because I knew just how hard 100% accurate is.  Heck, even the real boxes weren't 100% accurate to the plans.  So it's been amazing that he was 100% true to his word (Please, Matt, if you're reading, finish it!  I need to see it done!) 

So I popped into his thread to see if it included the dimensions. 

It does not. 

So I popped into the other reference sections for dimensions. 

Assuming the blueprint I found is accurate...

1) It's going to be very expensive to build.  Some big chunks of lumber.  Shoot, cheap pine 1x3s add up when you need the number to do 2 pairs of 4 panels for 4 sides.  So when you start needing 1x9s... 
2) The dimensions aren't neat and handy for American lumber.  Well, that isn't entirely true.  But they aren't neat and handy for fast, easy, simple builds.  My plan for the corner posts was going to be to use 2x6s with 1/4 rounds.  Not perfectly accurate, but pretty close.  So each side of a corner post would be 5 1/2"x1 1/2".  According to the plan, the dimensions should be 5x1.  So the solution would be to rip a 1/2" 45 degree cut off the inside corner of each board.  That should make for a stronger build.  But it also makes for extra fiddly cuts. 

But if I learned one thing on my build...I learned how much cost adds up when you have to build everything 4 times (and then add in a roof).  And if I learned 2 things on my build, it's how work adds up.  All of a sudden I'm looking at 8 cuts that 99% of people won't notice or care about--unless I get any of them wrong.  And if I learned 3 things on my build, it's how little differences in dimensions adds up when you multiply everything by 4.  The first version of my build, I used 4x4s for the corner posts.  Only American 4x4s are 3 1/2x3 1/2.  That threw off the dimensions of my panels, making them very boxy.  My POLICE BOX signs were way too tall too.  And that made things look off.  The good news was, I focused on the overall dimensions, so when I put facades on the cornerposts and ripped down the POLICE BOX signs to add the "steps" underneath, it all came together into the fairly nice looking build I've got now (looking, because the actual workmanship is a whole other story and an engineer would likely condemn the bugger). 

So yeah.  I may still work up plans, because that's more fun than sitting around and wishing I had more money.  But it won't be as exciting as it was going to be when I thought it would be a relatively quick,simple, cheap build. 

[galacticprobe]

Brave heart, Steve! If you take your time working up your plans so you get everything right (at least to your satisfaction), you can use that time to start stashing the pennies away in the "Met Box Fund". This way, when you've gotten your plans finished, you should have enough stashed away to get your Met build underway.

Working slowly means several things. First, you can make sure you get those fiddly cuts right. Second, if it takes you a little longer to build one wall, it also gives you more time to keep stashing the pennies needed to keep the build going. Third, so what if it takes you several months - or even a year - to complete your Met Box? The end result is that you'll have that Met Box you've been longing for. (As a side effect, we'll get to see what that scene in "Logopolis" would have looked like had the Barnet Bypass Box not been torn down before filming.)

And remember, we don't hold anyone to a time limit when it comes to completing their builds. (Heck, I started my build in 1983 when I snagged that Fresnel lens, and thanks to the cards life's dealt me over the decades, so far I've only progressed to acquiring proper door handles thanks to members' help. So I must have the longest running build in record!)

Work on your Met Box. I'm sure we'd all love to see it grow just as much as you do! (The plans you mentioned: are those the McKenzie-Trench Plans sitting in the Reference Section? I know there are others and I can't remember the name of the designer, and probably couldn't tell the difference in the two by looking at them, but I managed to download some very large plans like those in the Reference Section back in the early 2000s, long before I got hurt, and found this great place.)

Dino.

[Volpone]

I did NOT have time for this project.  And the preliminary information from it is evil.  Took one of the Met Box dimensions analyses from the Police Box History forum for a reference point.  Fired up Corel Draw.  Made my scale 1": 1'.  In retrospect I probably should have just made my "paper" 11' tall because the measurements were all in inches, so I had to keep the calculator handy to turn inches into decimal amounts of feet.  (An inch is something like .13' if you're curious). 

Then I basically just started drawing the lumber I needed.  Not anything like a proper blueprint--more of a "proof of concept"--but I did work out the basics of building a Met box. 

Because my picture is pretty, but largely useless by itself, here's a brief explanation: 
Put down a hunk of plywood.  Chop off the part where the windows are.  Screw a 2x2 to the center of it from the back.  Screw a 1x4 on each side of that. 

Cut your crosspieces and screw them down.  Then a vertical 1x4 on the end of them.  And a 1x12 for the bottom.  (Don't ask me how the top crosspiece goes on.  I've got a biscuit joiner.  Otherwise, brackets or using scrap bits of lumber as "keystones".)  Outside the vertical 1x4s, screw on a 2x6 on each end.  Router the inside edge like a 1/4 round.  Possibly cut a 45 degree cut on the outside edge to make up for a 2x6 being 1.5" and needing a 1" join.  Glue and brad nail a 1/4 round to the outside of the 2x6. 

Cut your 10' 2x6s down to the base widths (with a 45 degree angle for the join).  Somehow join that to your end 2x6s.  (This bit gets a bit hazy and it also doesn't touch on the 1.5" gap between the base and the bottom of the doors.  Maybe a 2x4 cleat around the base?) 

Do this 2 more times.  Then figure out how you're going to do the side with the door and do that.  Stick your window plexiglass onto the openings with silicone caulk.  Then cut up moulding to stick to the front of the plexi to make the window frames and stick them to the front of the windows with more silicone caulk. 

Figure out some way to screw all these 4 sides together sturdy enough until you can get the top on.  (probably blocks of scrap material at the corners) 

****

This gets you to the bottom of the top, while leaving off the platform inside, the phone door, all the hardware, and making the bottom panes different from the top ones.  But I'll have to skin those cats later.  Here's the pretty picture.  And the evil thing, the lumber I actually calculated out, I plugged into Lowe's Website and it came out to under $220. 

The thing to remember is, that leaves off a ton of expensive stuff (everything that is in the "not pictured" text box) and I'm kind of notorious for math errors.  I have a hard time believing I could build a Met box in the $500 ballpark, but that's what my preliminary work seems to suggest. 

Of course until I have something larger than a Ford Mustang, all this is a moot point, because I can't haul 4x8 plywood in it.