Well, Steve, it may cost more, but the results are stunningly beautiful. (I'm guessing making the moulds for casting the windows is a page you've taken from Matt and his Crich replica build?

Dino.

And it's good to factor in the cost of your time--even on a labor of love.  Like Matt's walls, there are opportunity costs on the things you could be doing instead of fiddling with bits of wood, so you're buying your time back. 

I did Stargate: SG-1 cosplay before I build a TARDIS.  The show came up in syndication on Sunday nights and I got hooked on it and figured "I was a Marine.  This will be an easy Halloween costume to slap together. 

Turns out, not so much.  I had the boots (because in those days the Marines still wore black boots and allowed the Bates Lites in the field), but that was about it.  The tactical vest is an obscure expensive discontinued Blackhawk! vest with GI compass pouches added to it for radio pouches on the shoulders.  And of course they wear olive drab, not camouflage.  Heck, at one point someone even noticed the trousers don't have the reinforced seat, so off the shelf trousers don't work, and the jacket... the jacket. 

The jacket is based on a Vietnam era Marine helicopter jacket.  Only that is shiny Nomex/nylon.  They used those in the pilot, but after that they had custom-made ones in Rip-stop cotton. 

Anyway (I'm coming to a point, I promise) I found a guy who got jackets made, but he wanted $200 a pop for them.  I figured out a way to make one from a standard utility blouse (BDU top):  Get the largest size you can.  Cut the cuff tabs off.  And the collar.  Remove the pockets and enough of the bottom of the blouse to make it jacket length.  Order some olive drab ribbed material from a company in Colorado for the new collar and cuffs.  The waistband stays rip-stop, but you've got to sew a bit of elastic into it so it gathers like a jacket.  Then you move the larger bottom pockets to where the top pockets were.  (I think you redo the flaps so they're tapered and have snaps but I'm too lazy to check).  Sew a tab and buttons onto the knit collar.  Take the old fabric collar and turn that into a storm flap and sew a zipper on.  Then take one of your old top pockets and sew that onto a sleeve.  This one, you definitely rework the flap and put a snap on it.  But wait, there's more!  Now you take that bottom bit you cut off and carefully rip the backs of the armholes  so you can sew that fabric in place for back "vents".  Then, of course, you've got to sew on Velcro for the shoulder patches and the name badge (that is never used but the jackets have the Velcro).  There may have been a couple things I missed. 

Anyway, when I factor in how much my time was worth as a field grade officer in the USMC reserves with an MBA, really, it would have been smarter for me to just pay $200 for a jacket.  Of course then I wouldn't have this wonderful insane story about about converting a $30 BDU top into a more or less screen accurate Stargate jacket. 

PS:  Don't get me going on what I figured I'd need to charge for a bottle of my plum wine. 

My "Glazing" arrived in the post, this morning.

Now they look very exciting!
They look very blue.. Are they really that blue or is it an optical illusion?

It amuses me that you are working on a big & a small box at the same time...
If you could keep the larger box over there, but also have it over here at the same time, then the big box would fit into the small one!!


Russell

Ha!

They are clear acrylic. THey just look blue because of the protective film on them.

I'm planning on having the lower outside panels "Pebbled" but the rest will be clear.

Can't wait to see them.

Little bit more progress.

We have the first stages of a new lamp...



Still have the dome to fit yet as well as give it a good sealing with PVA, but it's coming along nicely...

PVA is not the best idea as a primer/sealer. Paint can/will react and bubble letting moisture in. are you finishing with oil-based or water based (acrylic ) ?

If oil. primer/undercoat/one or two topcoat. If w/b then product will probably have different names depending on where in the world you are but zinsser 1-2-3 as a primer (UK) then a trade exterior topcoat (exterior) of your choice

I always enjoy spotting the beers in your build diary Steve

can't beat a good beer
and lovely lamp housing

Quote from: wine-o on Oct 02, 2017, 05:11 pm
PVA is not the best idea as a primer/sealer. Paint can/will react and bubble letting moisture in. are you finishing with oil-based or water based (acrylic ) ?

If oil. primer/undercoat/one or two topcoat. If w/b then product will probably have different names depending on where in the world you are but zinsser 1-2-3 as a primer (UK) then a trade exterior topcoat (exterior) of your choice

Thanks...

I'm planning on using an oil based primer with a waterbased topcoat (Dulux weathersheen), I got the advice from the guy behind the counter at the paint shop as my last build has suffered terribly with bubbling. The previous primer was water based and he put it down that...

I don't have any thoughts about a latex topcoat over oil primer.  Well, I have thoughts, but no experience.  And far be it from me to argue my hunches against the paint counter guy.  

That said, if you can stomach the cost and the pain in the butt factor, oil really does make sense for a wood structure that is outdoors.  I've said it before, but the oil will penetrate the wood and help waterproof and preserve it [because it soaks into the pores and repels water].  I would argue that an oil based paint actually makes wood stronger and more durable.  Latex, the best I could say is that it doesn't do any serious damage.  

A fun experiment in this regard would be to take 2 blocks of scrap wood and paint one with water and one with boiled linseed oil (the binder in oil paint) and look at the result.

I once decided to play a drinking game, which involved reading one of Steve's build diaries & having a beer every time I spotted a beer in one of the photo's.
I got about halfway through before I fell over & can't remember what happened next...


Russell

That happens to me...

A lot... 

Bit more progress...



Purists, don't shoot me! The cylinder is only a temporary fitting, until I find an appropriately sized fresnel. (It may well become permanent if I can't find one for reasonable money, though... j