The Brachaki Police Box Prop (The War Machines to Seeds of Doom)

[tony farrell]

TONY,

I love all of these photos you are adding in this thread. Having built my own Brachaki box, I was surprised to discover how easily the sign boxes were produced. After they aged and the wood started to seperate it is obvious it was made in pieces as when I built my sign box I attempted to construct the face of the sign boxes as one piece routing out the opening.  I love seeing the photos of this box as I am in the process of fixing some winter damage and while I havent decided to just lop off the roof yet, it is good to see these close up images of the ol girl.

Thank you - I'm glad this thread will be useful to you in your repair work. I too was slightly surprised by the simplicity with which the entire prop - not just the sign-boxes - was made. In many ways, it is actually quite crude (all 'top show') and, frankly, l'm surprised that it lasted as long as it did!
Thanks again - it's nice to be appreciated.
Tony

[DoctorWho8]

I don't believe the door sign was completely repainted, but cleaned up.  Notice the tan stain at the top and the chipped part on the bottom left in both Time Warrior and in the studio shot of Invasion of the Dinosaurs.  If it was repainted, those would have been covered up.  Instead they remained.  Not sure if it was retouched later on that season or not.

Also to note, the two missing struts in the lamp housing from Time Warrior through Monster of Peladon.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[Rassilons Rod]

I wonder if the marks are staining from the expanded foam used in Planet of the Daleks to simulate whatever the plants were spraying about.

[tony farrell]

I don't believe the door sign was completely repainted, but cleaned up.  Notice the tan stain at the top and the chipped part on the bottom left in both Time Warrior and in the studio shot of Invasion of the Dinosaurs.  If it was repainted, those would have been covered up.  Instead they remained.  Not sure if it was retouched later on that season or not.

Also to note, the two missing struts in the lamp housing from Time Warrior through Monster of Peladon.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

Thanks Bill, I didn't say it was completely repainted, just repainted - the lettering is definitely new (much whiter than before and the letter 'S' as in "respond to urgent calls" is now complete). I agree with you about the 'tan stain' and have already pointed out the chip on the bottom sign.
You might however be able to help with the tiny handle on the left of the phone panel (about an inch and a half long and 1/2" deep (so too small to be of any real use as a handle). I can see this all the way back to Claws of Axos, but not before. Any idea if this was fitted when the panel was first made in Seeds of Death?

As for the lamp, give me a chance Bill - I haven't got round it yet!!!
I agree about the struts, but we also need to mention the loss of its 'domed' cap (in Death to the Daleks, though the rest of the housing was still present), the removal of the housing entirely for Planet of the Spiders, followed by the loss of the circular cap for Planet of Evil and the eventual fitting of a bigger circular cap in Tom Baker's era.
I also need to pin down exactly when the rear doors were rehung to open inwards (it wasn't during the Three Doctors) and I'd like to mention the prop's history after 1975 - apparently she definitely still existed in 1983. So, in this the 50th Anniversary year, we don't have to end our history of the Brachaki Police Box with this sad picture

and possibly, just possibly, parts of the prop may survive to the present day!
Tony

[tony farrell]

I wonder if the marks are staining from the expanded foam used in Planet of the Daleks to simulate whatever the plants were spraying about.

Good point Marc - I think it was the damage caused by the expanding foam which prompted the repainting (maybe the missing chip was as a result of the foam being chiselled off).
T

[Rassilons Rod]

Ah, so the chip wasn't missing before Planet?

[tony farrell]

Nope - the panel wasn't damaged in The Three Doctors, we first see this chip in Time Warrior which was recorded immediately after Planet - your theory about the jabolite (expanding foam) certainly fits with the chronology.
T

[Rassilons Rod]

It's nice to be able to contribute!

[Teppic]

Well, I don't know when the rear doors were rehung to open inwards, so here's a grab from Spearhead from Space episode 3, showing them open outwards, with a stage hand doing a very poor job of hiding behind them ready to fill the TARDIS with smoke.

[gerald lovell]

The tiny handle was definitely there in "The War Games", Tony:



G

[tony farrell]

Cool - production of Seeds of Death finished on 7th February 1969 and filming for the War Games began on March 23rd. So, the phone panel was only 7 weeks old by the time of your photo. I can't imagine why anyone would go to the trouble of fitting the mini handle in such a short interval of time, so it looks as if it was there from the beginning. 
T

[galacticprobe]

Maybe it was intended more as a "finger pull", as the small door wouldn't really need a full handle? They obviously wanted that door to be able to be opened, but with no frame and the "handle" having to be mounted on the panel where the words were, perhaps they were limited with space and figured just a small, dark-painted finger pull would work, and also not detract from the wording on the panel? (Just speculation as to why it was put there.)

(Just a trivial note: The "handle" was also on the left-hand side on the TVM box's PTO door, and like this one it, too, was too small to be more than a finger pull; but it was mounted on a frame and had a brassy, shiny finish.)

Dino.

[gerald lovell]

And here it is on the phone panel in Episode One of "The Space Pirates".  It doesn't look straight either!:



As regards the state of the phone panel in "The Time Warrior" and the likelihood it was caused by what happened in "Planet of the Daleks", I'm not able to access "The Green Death" at the moment, but maybe someone could check out the panel's condition in that?

G

[Rassilons Rod]

What I can't figure out is why? They never once needed it to open on the Brachacki... It wasn't until Logopolis that it opened (Modded Newberry) and then again in Delta and the Bannermen (TYJ Mk II)....

[kert gantry]

I'd like to mention the prop's history after 1975 - apparently she definitely still existed in 1983. So, in this the 50th Anniversary year, we don't have to end our history of the Brachaki Police Box with this sad picture

and possibly, just possibly, parts of the prop may survive to the present day!
Tony

Whaaaat?  Never heard that before!  Can't wait to hear more about this!