Thank you.  We had watched the last couple of eps of Logopolis the night before, so he was genned up.  The sun was in his eyes a bit.. and he was getting fed up by the time he maneuvered the string into the right place!

The Oak Tardis will be partially dismantle-able.. but yes..  I was thinking its going to be heavy.  Good job its going downstairs and not up!

Another day out with the kids before I shut myself in the workshop for two days!

Tardis Cutaway 2..

Before I found this message board I was searching for Police Box Plans and strangely, a Scarborough style Police Box in Ripon's Police Museum popped up.

We went there today!    And also made a little detour to see the one in Weatherby Police Station.

Another day at it.  At lunchtime my wife asked if I'd be out late again.  I think she's thinking she's becoming a 'Weekend Tardis Builder's Wife', never seeing me at weekends!

Began today cutting up a sheet of 7mm oak veneered MDF to make matched panels.






I'll pick the nicer grains for the front.

Then I cut up and planed some oak for the window sections, phone 'box' section, phone box door edge section and phone box door panel.




I always find its nice to wear black gloves when doing Dr Who related work.. then I can think I'm The Master, an Auton, Sharez Jek or a Voord in a shirt!


Then I rebated the various bits.




Cut the sides of the windows in.







Also had a look around and found some 'nobbley' glass near the loo.  Probably best to handle the glass with gloves til its washed!




Then cut the sides for the phone 'box',  and tried them in.





People have occasionally popped in the workshop and asked what I'm doing.  I say wardrobes.   Today someone said, but the kids said its a Police Box.

I go.. "Er.. its a Police Box wardrobe."  They ask, "Where is it?"

I say it hasn't *cof* materialised yet...  


And what should I call a Tardis wardrobe?  I've heard Tardirobe before... but surely WARDIS is more like it!


Oh.. and Thomas has been busy too making.. he says.. a 3rd and 4th Doctor Flat Roofed Tardis..




Back to the Tardis grind again tomorrow.

Cheers
Ian

PS.. now had 7 'guests' in the mouse trap hotel!

Today I glued and screwed the phone 'box' together, then fitted the back.

Then cut the joints for the window bars and assembled one window.










I decided to leave the rest of the windows until another day and do some other bits instead of spending all day on them.


I partly sanded up the phone 'box' and cut the bits for the phone door to size.




Then I glued together some off-cuts for turning a Fresnel at some point.




Last job today was cutting and gluing the top sign frames, and planing some wood for the signs.





Til next weekend...
Ian

Slow start this morning. Had an extra hour in bed due to being up until almost 1 finalising phone box door sign layout..  but ended up not doing that today!  More on that tomorrow.

I thought I'd have a go at the 'lamp' today.   I worked out scaled sizes and printed off some sections before I went to the workshop.  Then glued some blanks together ready for dusting the lathe off.




I possibly haven't used this lathe for 10 years!   It doesnt have its own legs and just bolts to a bench or trestles.  I bought it cheap from a market 20+ years ago and it needs bolting down well!

I'm thinking that the last time I used it was to repair someone's porch column base.  It wasn't like the Master's 'Doric' column though.. no fluting!

Blanks almost ready to roll.




I thought I'd do the top lid's 'bump' first and see how it went.    And it did go pretty well.  Although I had forgot how messy it can get with stuff shooting off...  I had shavings everywhere.. in my shirt, down trousers, in trainers!




Then I went for the big one.






I thought I would just make the lid and base with bandsaw and sander.  But as I was enjoying myself, I made them with the lathe too.



Both the top and bottom wide bit are similar, with the base being a tad thicker.


And all the bits put together.




Thomas said, "Where are the verticals?"

[sob..!]

This morning didn't leave the house for ages as I had to sort out the lettering for the top sign.  Then scale it down a bit and print it off.

Then I had to tidy away the lathe - give it a good clean and wrap it up and put it in its storage place.

Then I had a look at the oak 'Fresnel' again - and I was thinking it looks a bit big?    Deck5 said that his boating fresnel was about 5".   So I was thinking that's what I would do.    The plans I was using were from the Criche lamp, and that one is 6" tall.  Scaled down to 84% makes it 126.   This is 5"..  so I went with that.. but I think I should have scaled 5" down to 84%.      I'd rather not have to dig the lathe out again!   I shall wait til I began assembly and if it looks a bit too big I'll have to put it back on the lathe before I cut it in half.

Anyway..  so I used the top sign print outs (I preferred the Newbury ones) and using carbon paper, transferred it to the oak sign piece.




Then a bit of free-hand routing.



For the sides of this build, I only require half signs.  I jiggled the letters a little bit for the sides so that I had complete words, and not "ublic all Box" on one side!


And popped into the sign 'frame'.




I still have work to do to the lettering, and to do so I need to seal the wood.  So gave them a coat of Osmo Oil.




This morning I was hoping the phone door sign would be on the cards today.. but unfortunately it wasn't.

In the week though I'd decided on the Newbury phone door sign (due to the more basic, solid style of font), but had to jiggle the smaller letters so that they had a bit of a bigger gap between each.




Then I used trusty old carbon paper to transfer it to the oak panel.




This may be my last big Tardis Confessional for a while.  I've only had two days off work (including usual and Tardis work) in the last 28 days.  (And they were the long drives to Jodrell Bank and Ripon Museum). And its back to work for yet another week tomorrow.   Today I decided I need a rest soon!   So I wont be (or don't yet plan on) working next weekend.  And then the weekend after that we're going to Japan for three weeks.  (And when there I shall keep a look out for any nice Koban!)

I'll probably do a top sign update in the week though.

Cheers
Ian

Beautiful workmanship!

T

Those signs and lamp are bloody impressive! 

Many Thanks, Chaps.  Means a lot coming from Police Box Engineers of Esteem.

Police Box Cut-away..

We have returned from Japan and saw a lot of their Police Boxes [Koban] around Tokyo.  Most are just like a 'usual' shop type building with a big window and door, but we happened across this fab design in Ueno, Tokyo.




And also spotted this translated sign while travelling on the railways.




Hopefully more Tardis building soon, but feeling rather jet lagged now so need a holiday this weekend!

Wow, that Japanese police box is fascinating! Its design reminds me of the rather bizarre TARDIS that the Sixth Doctor, Peri, and Frobisher stumble upon in the Grant Morrison-penned comic The World Shapers. (AKA, the one where Morrison tried to retcon the Voord and the Mondasian Cybermen as being the same race, and also killed off Jamie McCrimmon!)

Not been feeling 100% recently, so after 5 days of 'usual' work during the week, I've not felt like doing Police Box work at weekends.  Maybe next Sunday.

Yesterday we were thinking about going to Stockeld Park.  A friend said that they have a big hedge maze, with a couple of Police Boxes in there.






It was a nice warm sunny day, so we were quite surprised to find it closed on arrival!   Went to somewhere else nearby instead.

Also popped into the Weatherby Police Station car park again as it was on the way.






Looks like the door sign has been nicked since the last visit.   And a police man wandered past and said that he has properly searched high and low around the Police Station, but a key for the box can't be found!

It is said, a Dr Who fan can smell a police box from 500 yards away.

I wasn't planning on going to the workshop today, but we came home from a jaunt out earlier than expected.   I thought I could at least do some preparation ready for tomorrow.

First I had to read through my notes and plans as its been two months and a day since I last had a play.   Then I had to dig out and dust off the sections I'd made as they had become buried under 'usual work'.


In the end I had quite a good afternoon/evening session.

Cut the sections for the base to length, and glued together some off-cuts of 19mm Oak veneered MDF.




Then assembled the base frame.




Then fitted the board in, sanded it all and gave it a coat of Osmo Oil to seal it.





Back in the shop for some more full-throttle Tardis action tomorrow!

Before we begin today, I've had a change of thread title.   When making furniture at proper work I don't generally make wardrobes and cupboards.. it sounds much nicer to say they are cabinets and units to the customer!  So a kindly moderator has changed it, thank you.

I began today by finding some of the sections for the roof, then cut the stepped bit to size and glued together.




Then hand cut the angles on the sloped bits.




Then glued together.




And fitted the top 'square'.




While the glue was going off I thought I'd have a go with the phone door sign.  I thought this may not be too long a job, but had to change the cutter in the router first.  Unfortunately this was stuck and I managed to slice across the side of my finger when trying to pull it out.    Luckily I had TCP, plasters and superglue handy so I wasn't too long before I was back on the job.

The superglue does say not to use in this way.  But is this because of toxic chemicals in it, or because people less practical that we Tardis Builders are likely to glue fingers together?

Although saying that, I did glue up a cracked finger a couple of months ago then immediately eat a doughnut.  Well you just have to lick your fingers with all that sugar don't you.  Luckily the glue didn't stick very well to a wet tongue and it peeled off easily!

I had carbon papered the lettering onto the panel a couple of months ago.  I tentatively began routing out!




I was thinking.. just one slip and I'll be having to make another panel...



Anyway.. glue was dry on the roof bits, so I hand sawed the back off and sanded both parts.  Then screwed them together.




Then gave it a coat of Osmo Oil.






And luckily the sign routing went fairly well or there could have been a couple of harsh words thrown around!

Gave that a quick coat of stuff too to seal it before coming home.




'Til next weekend.
Ian