Mar 28, 2024, 08:53 am

News:

New, New TardisBuilders!


1:1 Brachaki Door Sign Panel

Started by jamiebate, Sep 01, 2017, 09:15 pm

Previous topic - Next topic

jamiebate

I've been thinking for a while about making a 1:1 door sign of some sort, and only now has it finally occurred to me how I could realize the project with serious style. I learnt about screen-printing a few months back at university, so I got to thinking, if I was to construct the door sign from wood, with a white painted but porous surface, I could use the university facilities to make a near-perfect printing of the text straight onto the sign. If people aren't familiar with screen printing, I'd suggest looking it up, but it'd be perfect for something like this I'm sure. I'd be using the PDF of the door sign most probably. But in the process I'm also going to build the frame around it and weather the whole thing. I'd like to make it as one solid piece so I'll have to have a good look at some photos to get all of the subtle details. Please comment if you've any advice/info you think would be relevant!
Stay tuned!

galacticprobe

Sep 02, 2017, 05:24 am #1 Last Edit: Sep 02, 2017, 05:37 am by galacticprobe
Jamie, I would start by looking through the images in here: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?board=43.0. There are several threads in there showing both the full Brachacki TARDIS and some focusing on the Phone Panel (specifically http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=5434.0 for the Pilot version, and http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1990.0 which discusses both Pilot and broadcast versions). But the whole main section has great images in several other threads.

Then there is also this section: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?board=85.0. It covers both Phone Panel and St. John Ambulance logo. Some of the Brachacki Phone Panel threads are http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=6709.0, and in this thread (http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=808.0, which is mainly a discussion thread) you'll find a link in the first post to the http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=306 thread, which has a table where you can download PDFs of the graphics for all versions of the Brachacki Phone Panel. (Look down the left-hand column to find the Brachacki Pilot, Original, and Altered versions. The right-hand column has the PDF links, though one of the left-hand columns has a link in it as well.)

I hope this gives you a good place to start. And good luck with the screen printing. Unless things have changed much since I did this when I was in 9th Grade (1975 - not dating myself there, am I? - and no comments from the Peanut Gallery on that one this time, please? ;)), I really sucked at screen printing anything. :P

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

Davros Skaro

Quote from: galacticprobe on Sep 02, 2017, 05:24 am
I was in 9th Grade (1975 - not dating myself there, am I?
Dino.


If my calculations are right, that makes you 1 year up on me. Yes?

Chris.
Chris.

galacticprobe

Sep 02, 2017, 06:25 am #3 Last Edit: Sep 02, 2017, 06:30 am by galacticprobe
Quote from: Davros Skaro on Sep 02, 2017, 05:57 am
If my calculations are right, that makes you 1 year up on me. Yes?


Well, that all depends on the year and month, but going by the Birthday Thread, you've got me by about 5 months (4 months and 28 days, but who's counting? ;)).

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

jamiebate

Sep 09, 2017, 07:25 pm #4 Last Edit: Sep 09, 2017, 07:28 pm by jamiebate
Going on the information I got from Scarfwearer whilst working on my 1:8 build, I've drawn up a very simple two dimensional plan of the panel. The outer most edge if just to indicate the space in which the panel would sit in the original prop - 1/8 inch larger than the panel itself.

phone panel.png

I'm now wondering if a stencil of some kind would make more sense... perhaps having the lettering laser cut from something semi-adhesive. That way I could spray paint it without the concern of the paint seeping beneath the stencil. Just an idea, might be easier than screen printing. Clayton Hickman thinks it was probably hand painted, and given how the text is slightly uneven, I'm inclined to agree. I don't have the steady hand to really paint the letters individually even with a printed guide, let alone the patience for it to go drastically wrong. I still think it'd be possible to get an imperfect look however. I'd then go about weathering the text panel in various ways. I also think a solid black would be too dark... I'm thinking perhaps it ought to be slightly off-black, a very dark grey or something like that... just to knock it off solid black. For the frame, I was thinking of building something up in four pieces, two strips for the top and bottom and two for the sides, as a frame would be put together on something real. I'll be laser cutting these pieces so it'll be a process of building up several to get the desired thickness, perhaps with either the suggestion of a gap with an engrave going diagonally across the four corners or an actual gap.
Paint-wise I'll be using my tried and tested Dulux Sapphire Salute, slightly watered down with white to get that Season 5 period blue. It occurred to me later that I could even attempt to add a handle if I was being very adventurous, to get it looking as it did in Season 6. I then thought what would be insanely cool would be to try and find an authentic of-the-time 1960s door handle to go on the side.
Until next time!

jamiebate

I was also wondering what people would think the depth should be of the panel. I'm not sure by how much the inside section should be recessed from the frame though. As well as this weren't there hinges on the left hand side of the frame (or cutouts where hinges would go)

galacticprobe

Sep 10, 2017, 04:11 am #6 Last Edit: Sep 10, 2017, 04:23 am by galacticprobe
Well, for the lettering, I know there are places out there that make masking for modellers to use when they have custom markings they want to put on instead of using decals or trying to steady their hand enough to free-paint the markings on. (I've seen builders on YouTube videos building that huge 1:350 TOS U.S.S. Enterprise, and have had masks made so they could paint on a different name and numbers.)

That model is massive and the decals are large, so I know the companies that make masks can do large things, and the Phone Panel sign shouldn't be a problem for them. You'd just have to be specific when ordering a mask for this (i.e. send them a 1:1 graphic of the lettering and specify you want the LETTERS to be what gets painted and the background to be what gets masked). I have no idea how much that would cost, though, but I'm sure an e-mail or two to one or more companies would let you know that, and give you prices to compare.

One thing I do know from watching some of those modelling vids - which just about every modeller agrees on (and they never agree on anything) - is that when using such masks, make sure you have a smooth, glossy surface before applying the masking. Masking doesn't stick at all to matte finishes, and it took several modellers multiple tries (and masks) before they figured out the secret: smooth glossy surface, apply mask, remove backing material from the mask, carefully tack down any masking edges that curled up when the backing was removed, paint what you want. Once things dry, remove the mask, and if things look good then apply your matte finish over the surface (which also helps seal the painted-on markings in place). Then you can add the weathering to the matte finish, and top it off with another "fixing" coat of matte finish to complete the job.

That might be a way to get the lettering put on your Phone Panel if you don't want screen printing. (Though, maybe it's just me, but the masking effort sounds like the same amount of work to go through as it would to do screen printing.)

As for going "off-black", I think once all the weathering and final protective coatings (matte?) are put on the sign, the black lettering won't look as black as you think. Making the initial letters lighter than plain black might cause them to get muddied in the end. And from what good color publicity photos we have of the Brachacki TARDIS showing crisp images of that Phone Panel, the lettering does look pretty black rather than "off-black". (Again, that could just be me.)

Anyway I hope some of this was helpful.

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

jamiebate

Sep 14, 2017, 04:29 pm #7 Last Edit: Sep 14, 2017, 04:31 pm by jamiebate
After giving it some thought, I realized I could use the laser cutter to make a stencil of the sign in reverse for printing. This way I should be able to print it using a printing press and a roller. I scaled the re-sized PDF of the door sign to fit into a rectangle and then worked on it, changing it to an outline and flipping it horizontally. Then ready to be laser cut I set the background to be engraved by 1mm approx, leaving a border around the outside. In my experience the roller will cover the letters evenly without going onto the background. I'll mask off any unneeded areas. Now it's just a matter of getting the dust out of it really. The letters are all very crisp and perfect so I might actually rough them up a bit in advance of the printing. My thinking is I'll prep the piece of wood that I'll actually be printing on to - laser ply with a soft sanded/spray painted white surface, then print straight onto it. It'll then just be a question of gluing that layer onto the rest of the panel, rather than needing to print onto there when it's already attached to the panel. It took a little over 2 hours to laser-etch so not something I'll be doing often! although I may be persuaded to do other door signs at a later date.

IMG_1871.JPG
IMG_1873.JPG

DoctorWho8

My sign!
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff