'ankh' shaped Tardis door key

[galacticprobe]

It means "it's nice to see a little bit of Welsh being used on the forum"!  

Ah. Cute. I like that.

Most of what little Welsh I know is unrepeatable in polite company!  

Isn't that the way things go? Those are always the ones you don't forget. (I know a few of those Welsh phrases: enough to get me punched in the face!) As I like to say, I know "a few 'choice' words in several languages".

I'd go with a Mooncrest...

Well, I got one of their "Time Travel key Mk3" versions (Pertwee/Baker 1) some years ago, and it's pretty solid. It's held up well. Anyone wanting one will have to keep an eye on the web site as they are flying off the shelf as fast as they're coming in. A friend of mine was looking for a 7th Doctor key. I looked at the site for giggles and saw they were in stock, so I quickly e-mailed my friend. Minutes later I looked at the site again, for giggles, and it said "ONLY 1 LEFT", so I hope my friend got one of the "~ Mk7" keys before they were all gone.

It looks like the reply I got from Mooncrest was right and other keys are selling just as fast, so check often!

Dino.

[Davros Skaro]

they have 3 right now.dam. http://www.mooncrest-models.co.uk/#!/Time-Travel-key-Mk3/p/19262155/category=12462146

Chris.

***Edit*** 12 pound UK + 12.95 postage = $20 Aust + $23 Aust = $43 Aust out of my price range.

[Terrasolo]

The keys in the DWE are an unknown replica of the Pertwee/Baker style key, a Mooncrest Models McCoy key, and just a basic Yale type key as a stand in for the New Series, oddly enough.

Jon Pertwee's original key sold in auction around 2012, at that time Steve Ricks took pictures of the Pertwee key and one of the McCoy keys next to an old Moon Crest Models replica. The original Pertwee key  does have uneven cross bars, or if you like "a notch cut out" of the left one. Thanks to these picture that Steve took next to an old Mooncrest replica, Gary was able to make new , more accurate, replicas by scaling the photos to match his original replica that Steve had in the photos. So Mooncrest's Third and Seventh Doctor keys are very close to the true scale of the originals. Only someone who can actually compare them to the originals can say for sure how close. But Gary copied every detail that he could see, both front and back of each key.

We know that Jon Pertwee kept his original key but a mold was taken of it for Tom Baker, however they corrected the cross bars so that they were both even and symmetrical. This key has become known as "the Pertwee copy", or the "Baker 2" key. Because of this we asked Gary to make another replica of his Pertwee key with even cross bars.

The other Ankh key that Tom Baker had had a diamond top, no lip on the back, and a slightly more pointed bottom. The cross bars were also perfectly straight, no angles. The same constellation design was on the back as well, as we can see in a few stories.

In this picture you can see the keys in my collection, for reference they are:

1) The Pertwee key
This is the Mooncrest Model Pertwee key that was copied from pictures of the original and scale matched thanks to one of his older replicas being photographed with the original screen used key in 2012.

2) The Baker 1 Key
This is a key that I had gotten 3D printed after Straker from the RPF and I had gathered enough screen evidence to make a replica from. The first time this key was used in the show was in Tom's first story "Robot". The front had similar "teeth" to the Pertwee original and the back had the same constellation design as the Pertwee, only larger. The constellation could have been slightly different, given the hand made nature of the props.

3) The Pertwee Copy aka the Baker 2 Key
This is Mooncrest's version of the Pertwee Copy key. The first time that we get a proper good look at this key in the show is in "Genesis of the Daleks" and the cross bars are not bent over like they are in the photoshoots from "Terror of the Zygons". That said, the first actual use of the Pertwee copy seems to be in "The Ark In Space". From what we can tell from screen caps, this key had all the same details as the Pertwee original key, including the lip on the back, with only the uneven cross bars not being copied.



The last time an ankh key was used by Tom was in the end of "The Sun Makers" when Tom hands Leela the key before they head off to the TARDIS we just see that it is an ankh key, but unfortunately we can't make out which one. The various keys get some pretty clear views in various episodes, like: "Robot", "The Sontaran Experiment", "Genes of the Daleks", "Plant of Evil", "The Android Invasion", and "Pyramids of Mars" - perhaps more but I'm doing this from memory, and for those stories we can tell what key had been used, but for other stories like "The Face of Evil" and "The Sun Makers", it's hard to say since the keys didn't get much screen time.

I know some of you here are also members of theRPF so I figured I'd let you know that Straker and I, as well as many others, have kept a pretty comprehensive research thread on the TARDIS keys over there for a few years now. I hope all of this information helps.

[Cardinal Hordriss]

Wow! I've never seen a replica of the other Baker key before, it's the only one I need to finish my collection, soooooooooooooo jealous lol.

[Cardinal Hordriss]

I thought it looked like silver. It's probably too slim for aluminium or for two-part sand casting in another metal, we're having trouble with the lost wax method and our 3D printer at work only does plastic so I'm afraid I can offer no assistance.

[Terrasolo]

I think I deleted my post by accident! I meant to correct an error. Anyway, yeah, it's printed in polished Silver and only three were printed.

[tony farrell]

Thank you for your comprehensive post - that was very informative indeed. It looks like the DWE need to amend yet another of their so-called information cards! 

T

[Cardinal Hordriss]

They won't do, they've got an answer for everything. It doesn't matter how in-depth the research or how well known the facts they have a story to explain why their exhibit is legit.

[Terrasolo]

Thank you for your comprehensive post - that was very informative indeed. It looks like the DWE need to amend yet another of their so-called information cards! 

T

Happy to help. I'm not fond of replicas being passed off as real and I am a firm believer in sharing the knowledge/research on any prop.

[karsthotep]

when it comes to Keys, and Sonics I don't know of anyone that has done as much research as Brian.  Definitely a great resource when it comes to that.   Thanks for posting Brian. 

[Cardinal Hordriss]

Thank you for your comprehensive post - that was very informative indeed. It looks like the DWE need to amend yet another of their so-called information cards!  

T

Happy to help. I'm not fond of replicas being passed off as real and I am a firm believer in sharing the knowledge/research on any prop.

Was Police Box Traveler from DA part of the research group on the other Baker key? I remember him telling me some time ago that he was part of a team working on it with the intention of going to Mooncrest with a design. I seem to recognize your avatar from DA too.

EDIT - Just done a comparison, I think the DWE key was cast from the SJA version. In the pic from the SJA set the finish and crack in that prop would seem to indicate it wasn't made of metal but the unique positioning of the crazy paving matches up to the DWE prop.

[Terrasolo]

when it comes to Keys, and Sonics I don't know of anyone that has done as much research as Brian.  Definitely a great resource when it comes to that.   Thanks for posting Brian.

Thanks Karst! You know me, I like to help wherever I can and I feel that the prop making/collecting community is at it's best when we share the info rather than keep secrets.

Was Police Box Traveler from DA part of the research group on the other Baker key? I remember him telling me some time ago that he was part of a team working on it with the intention of going to Mooncrest with a design. I seem to recognize your avatar from DA too.

EDIT - Just done a comparison, I think the DWE key was cast from the SJA version. In the pic from the SJA set the finish and crack in that prop would seem to indicate it wasn't made of metal but the unique positioning of the crazy paving matches up to the DWE prop.

Police Box Traveller is Straker from the RPF, so yeah, he was. He and I designed the Baker 1 key based on all the screen caps we could take, the scale of the Mooncrest keys, and using some information from the real Pertwee Key as a base (meaning we can see the Baker 1 key has the same teeth on the front but not the exact layout so we meshed what we can see in screen caps with the Pertwee layout.) We did speak with Mooncrest about making the Baker 1 key and it was on his books but it's been a while so I don't really know if it will happen now.

I had at one point considered doing a run of my 3D printed key, which again was made from the design Straker and I worked up and CAD designed by another friend of mine, however the key was fairly expensive and I doubted the commitment I would have been able to get at such a price.

Yeah, I remembered hearing that Liz Sladen's key showed up in SJA but I was never able to find a pic of it before now. I think that the key in the SJA photo - which I agree looks like the DWE key - and the DWE key are a fan made, or possibly one of the ones John Pertwee commissioned for fans years ago, as they doesn't match Liz's own key that she showed off at a convention in the 80s or 90s, which appears to be the Baker 1 key - or one of, if they made more than one.

[Terrasolo]

Wow! I've never seen a replica of the other Baker key before, it's the only one I need to finish my collection, soooooooooooooo jealous lol.

I meant to ask you before, do you have all the Yale/Yale type keys used in the show as well? Or is your collection more so the special Ankh and Rassilon keys?

[karsthotep]

Brian has a great info-graphic of the keys he created for the Doctor's and the companions which shows clearly the variations for Doctor to Doctor.  You may have inadvertently seen it on the web but not realized it was his.

[Cardinal Hordriss]

Wow! I've never seen a replica of the other Baker key before, it's the only one I need to finish my collection, soooooooooooooo jealous lol.

I meant to ask you before, do you have all the Yale/Yale type keys used in the show as well? Or is your collection more so the special Ankh and Rassilon keys?

I've got several yale keys, cut to try and match those seen in the show.

On the 3D print note Shapeways have just cut the prices of cast metals by a fair chunk, stainless steel, polished nickel steel etc. because I'm having my custom key design done again, slightly larger in a new finish, much cheaper than last time. Is your model available on Thingiverse?