Restoration of the TYJ MK2 for the DW Experience

Started by DoctorWho8, Feb 26, 2011, 08:50 am

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DoctorWho8

http://news.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/the-restoration-of-a-tardis/
Behold, the restoration of the MK2 made to look like the early MK1.  So is that you Time Rotor? ;)
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

sanguinewolf

wow that is really ace, i do wish they had taken more care of the props so that we could enjoy them today, but when you making these things everything seems throw away ect...

but its nice to see the old girl restored to former glory..


timerotor

Feb 26, 2011, 11:14 am #2 Last Edit: Apr 25, 2013, 09:59 pm by timerotor
Hi, yes! It was indeed me.
I had to keep quiet about it until it was all open and in the public domain.
It was a labour of love (I know I was very,very lucky to get the job),  and I had to prove my capabilities & skill to the BBC bosses and the one and only Andrew Beech. (although this prop is NOT the TARDIS which HE owns) - he is in charge of ALL props and artifacts as he is now the BBC's head of Doctor Who artifacts - what a title LOL anyway he saw my research and that I was working on original paint matches etc, it was only when I presented him and the powers that be at the BBC with mock ups of windows doors and signage - that he told me I could proceed.)
So I was contracted and given full access to the prop onsite for two weeks. I also agreed that I would build an interior set representing the 1980s too! - supplying the fibreglass roundels and lighting and sound effects all together!
so...
I had to act quickly as it was only a matter of days until we opened.
when I actually got the dusty old thing, I literally ran out of time but managed to Complete the Interior Tardis set before Mike Tucker delivered The 5 Doctors console. (syncing up the sound to the console was a  bit of a bugger!)
My thread over Christmas about my Tom Baker/ Davison Tardis refurb was my dummy run
so that when it came to the crunch, and under extreem pressure AND with people constantly watching, commenting and criticizing... I knew exactly what I was doing and could get on
without falter. So it's all documented there, paint colour wize ;-)
I now work there as a Steward.!!!! (edit, since it moved to Cardiff, I now don't).

Great fun. And regardless of my involvement, it's the biggest Doctor Who exhibition ever and is absolutely fantastic! Get there! And come and say Hi.
Mike Tucker and Karen Davies, Any Hopkinson and Mr Beech have ALL done so much work on other props and costumes, it's wonderful to see!
Peter Davison has come twice already! He told me yesturday that he is going to post a clean version of his film on the web shortly!
All the best.
MBH
p.s thanks for bringing this to light  :)
living, learning, loving, refurbing, & preserving!

superrichi1a

Fantastic! (Love that word, much like someone else we know). So. Can I just get this story straight. The prop you refurbed on here was truly your OWN replica, that you did for yourself, then, later you did the BBC prop?
I was hoping to see some of the stars at the Experience. Didn't see any, although I was told by one of the stewards that Peter Davison indeed had just left. Slightly annoyed not to catch him but I've met him a few times before so not a biggy :)
You also did the roundels for the Davison interior? That's pretty awsome. I was lucky in the way that he let me duck under the barrier half way to get some better shots of the sort of interior angle of the room. I've always wanted to make a Davison mock-up in the room behind my garage, not full room, sort of like the half-room they had at the Experience. That console would be a bugger to build though...
Isn't it how ironic that we have to think of solutions out of the box, in order to build our boxes a lot of the time?

Kingpin

It's good to see the old girl back to her former glory, the work you've done is fantastic, and you should be extremely proud of your efforts.

I hope the BBC takes better care of her from now on, it's criminal how they treated her after the last restoration.

DoctorWho8

You did a great job.  My only question is why the 5 Doctor's console has the panels going backwards from its traditional arrangement?  I would have thought logically the door panel would be facing the other way where the hatstand was. It'd be nice to do a whole 360 of that console like the Tennant and Matt Smith ones.  Do you know if there had been talk about recreating all the different TARDIS console rooms for Cardiff?

superrichi1a

Quote from: DoctorWho8 on Feb 26, 2011, 08:22 pm
Do you know if there had been talk about recreating all the different TARDIS console rooms for Cardiff?


I probably can't answer this as well as Timerotor, but, from what I've heard from my "mysterious contacts" (well, not really, just a Dalek-building friend who is working as security at Olympia-plus a few others), the plan is to move it to Cardiff, expanding as much as possible on the New Series side of things, as in series 6 and 7 (for clarification - apparently the 2 half series next year will be counted as 2 seperate series, so, for the BBC that's series 2 and 3, and for us 6 and 7 respectivley). What I have been told though is that they are thinking of trying to get a Tom Baker style console room set up - like the one at Longleat. I've heard that some of the Experience's organisers were very annoyed at Blackpool's console room being auctioned off, that apparently wanted to use that (although - nice that one of us TBers got it!). Does anyone know what happened to the Baker Longleat console room?
Isn't it how ironic that we have to think of solutions out of the box, in order to build our boxes a lot of the time?

action_mat

I'm very envious, Time Rotor ;D   What a labour of love!

Taking the family to Earls Court for the DW Experience tomorrow (one very exited little boy upstairs who can't sleep) ;)  I look forward to seeing your work :)

timerotor

Hi and thanks for those lovely comments.
I'm sure that if any one of us got the job, it would have been done to a most high standard!
-and I appreciate that there is a lot of interest in this particular prop.

I have no idea about the exhibition in Cardiff. We have only just got into Olympia,  so anything said about Cardiff is really just speculation on a situation which simply doesn't exist yet. (all in good time). I just sincerely hope that I will be engaged and available to rejoin the 'build up' team in fitting it there too.

Anyway, in response to superrichi1A
Yes, that's right.
they are two separate boxes and are nothing to do with each other - other than the fact that they are identical in colour and finnish.
(they do differ in shape and scale)
The replica resides in my parents back garden in the west country (they tell me that they often hear a family pass by, during their sunday afternoon walk, absolutely aghast when they see 'The Tardis' in its beautiful surroundings.)
It was most important to me that It looked as close to how it appeared in 1980, re-using as much of it as I could and when I had to replicate the lamp, signs a few windows etc, that they were done as faithfully and with the same techniques as were originally done all those years ago, so they would look spot on. - making it a restoration job, rather than a complete renovation.
I was delighted the other night when I watched my new DVD 'Meglos' - and in the last episode when its against a black backdrop, I was thrilled, as it looked so similar to how it is displayed in Olympia. SPINE TINGLING! (although 'Meglos' was filmed before the frosted windows were put in - as you could clearly see Lala Ward and co awaiting their cue on action inside the prop).
but THATs when I really relaxed and believed I had done as good a job as anyone could've done.
Now, about the console being the wrong way around etc...
its all to do with the internal wiring and ease of fitting together.
Mike Tucker and his team have done AMAZING work to make it look as good as it does (half the children think its brand new) and they have maintained the original workings from The shooting prop before The Five Doctors re build.
The problem is that after a few refurbishments/services back (1990's) it wouldn't fit together and work and wire up the correct way, as the people who did the work didn't know where the panels went and kind of put them in any old how. So Im' afraid its stuck in this new configuration in a semi-permanent state. It simply doesn't fit together any other way now.
EVERYONE comments that the door lever is on the wrong side! But there's nothing we can do. :-\
The walls were made to resemble the 'Hartnell' days, with the famous fibreglass roundels inset - just because the powers that be thought that they would look better and appeal to more fans. It was also decided to keep the hatstand dark brown, instead of white, as it is an amalgamation of all the styles really.

I can't post any more pictures than I let www.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk have, as its too early and I may get into trouble with my bosses and my other bosses and everyone else who likes to boss me about at Olympia ;) LOL ( no... it true)
So... there we have it, and YES lets hope they look after it this time!
TTFN
Mark
living, learning, loving, refurbing, & preserving!

timerotor

Feb 26, 2011, 10:33 pm #9 Last Edit: Feb 26, 2011, 10:37 pm by timerotor
Okay, Action-Matt its NOT at Earls Court!!!
Its Olympia, go to Earls court tube station, and change there to get the Olympia shuttle! when you arrive you walk out the station turn left a long road will lead you to the High Street, turn right and you'll see it in the distance. and don't stress about the time slot or if you're late - they're all really cool and should admit you anyway :-)
We have had SO MANY people go to the wrong place! it would be a real bugger if you did it too!
I sincerely hope you have a wonderful time. I won't be there unfortunately as its my day off and I'm escaping to the country.
A nice treat for you and the kid - who is clearly a HUGE FAN! - he's gonna love it!
ENJOY and take loads of pics in the exhibitions areas!
all the best (don't envy me)  :P
Timerotor Mark :)
living, learning, loving, refurbing, & preserving!

Teletran

Great work, I'd love to hear more about the internal set you built as well.
(http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/1360/omni02g.jpg)

timerotor

Feb 26, 2011, 10:58 pm #11 Last Edit: Apr 25, 2013, 10:07 pm by timerotor
Quote from: Teletran on Feb 26, 2011, 10:39 pm
Great work, I'd love to hear more about the internal set you built as well.

I can't take credit for the entire construction, although I did do quite a lot of carpentry to finish them off properly - as well as make all 39 replica roundels (there's one original slap bang in the middle- which i got from JNT many moons ago.)
I assembled it as it was delivered in separate bare wooden panels.
I may have done it, if they wanted a faithful repro of The Five Doctors studio set (because I would have loved to do that!)
but they wanted the hefty Hartnell type walls, which are much more intricate in style and I didn't have the time.
A separate company were commissioned from the BBC's Head of DR WHO Artifacts to his specifications.
I only ;) arranged the panels, fixed them together and into position (helped by Gareth), filled them, painted them with help from Karen D
- did the floor, as I say, made all the roundels - (which took months), and completed the set above the half ones which had no tops, I did the floor, the lighting, the sound effects and even supplied my own sound system actually! The last thing I had to do was mask off the walls of Olympia with black out drapes - which was a real bugger to do, but made the whole thing come together!and worth the blood sweat and near falls off a very tall ladder!!! and of course the delay timer of the rotor to the appropriate sound effects was my last job (which are usually out of sync if Im not there incidently, sorry).
The Tardis Pillars belong to Andrew Beech's set - previously seen at Panopticon events.

The Hat stand is a genuine screen seen one which I got from JNT for a few grand many years ago, look at Arc of infinity, Earth shock, Mawdrin undead, to mention a few stories. I was surprised when I over hear some male fans say that they were more fascinated by the hat stands than the sets as they were always different from season to season and story to story! - WHAT??
Ah well, I'm currently obsessing about Tom Baker scarfs and June Hudson's designs!  - which sadly do not feature at all! (but we sneaked one of her scarfs in)  ;)
living, learning, loving, refurbing, & preserving!

action_mat

Time Rotor Mark,
Thanks for the tip, re: Olympia, you're a life saver!

Teletran

Quote from: timerotor on Feb 26, 2011, 10:58 pm
The Tardis Pillars belong to Andrew Beech's set - previously seen at Panopticon events.


So they're authentic inauthentic setpieces? interesting. Were the wall panels all identical, i.e. every second one is upside down? This is probably the most comprehensive attempt to reconcile the two types of roundels used over the course of the classic show (following on from the Panopticon sets and the Five Doctors set itself), it's nice to see that after all this time they're still interested in tweaking the design rather than just showing us what we've seen before.
(http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/1360/omni02g.jpg)

superrichi1a

Just wanted to input about the location of the Experience. I think it was a silly idea putting it at Olympia. It's too hard to find. No space to que, and, it is a real pain to get to. I indeed had to ask for directions at the event next door, and the woman there told me that she had been asked that loads of times that day. It also restricts the size of the Experience, doesn't it? I mean, the place is full, and it is only about the size of the current Cardiff Exhibition (even though the content of said Experience is FAR better than the Cardiff Exhibition!), and the place is crammed full. What I want to know, is why didn't they put it somewhere like the Earl's Court Exhibition? Much more space, for much more props (I am really hoping that some point in the future a Tennant Police Box gets added. It feels incomplete without it).

Anyways, that is not to insult the Experience, nah, that it fantastic, it's just Olympia itself I'm not keep on (great name though ;) )
As a steward, do you get to go inside all the exhibits and fiddle with things? I mean, obviously you must have had a little play with the Davison console, you have inhuman levels of self control if you didn't. but, do you get to look at other stuff, to get a good look around the replica Smith room and Tennant room specifically? When I went there, I had been dreaming of seeing the Tennant in real life for so long that it took every ounce of my self control to resist the urge to lean over and fiddle with something. It also annoyed me hugely when I saw little kids doing just that hehe.
I'm going into a bit of a rant here, but, an amusing story is that, as I was going around, I got talking to a father going round with his son. It was very funny because the son kept trying to give the father the lowdown on all the props, but clearly knew nothing much about many of them. He looked at the Tennant room, and immediatly exclaimed "It's not original. The original is bigger than this", and, most ammusingly, when he saw the Davison "That's the TARDIS that they used for the 9th Doctor". I know I shouldn't laugh lol, but, what can you do? We got a system going whereby, after the father had been given the lowdown by his son, he would then come to me and quietly ask what exactly it was. I wish I'd known you were the brains behind it Timerotor. Would have been nice to bump into you there lol :)
Isn't it how ironic that we have to think of solutions out of the box, in order to build our boxes a lot of the time?