Hi I was wondering what could be used for various parts of k.9 eg. His little screen on the side, his tail and things like that

I've ordered an android tablet for my screen. I have some footage of Tom Baker that I want to play on it, and some photos.

For the tail, I have an extending back scratcher with the end pulled off. Havent yet made the loop for the end of it, but am also keeping my eyes open for something suitable.

The rubber base of the tail is a steering rack boot to fit a Subaru Leone. The ebay listing I bought from, described it as "Kelpro Steering Rack Boot SRB-048 fits Subaru fits Subaru Leone 1600, 1800".

Have had problems finding an acceptable neck tubing in the correct size. In desperation, I've ordered an item that is very pleasing to look at, but is a little smaller in width. Not arrived yet, so I can't advise whether it's a good choice.

I cheated with my 'computer' panel on the back. There are good plans, but I doubted my ability to make one good enough, so I ordered a kit from Mooncrest Models. You get everything needed to make a completed assembly.

Mooncrest models is what you need

This is a good question. One that I myself have been pondering quite a bit recently!

I guess it's the usual trade off between accuracy & cost.

Sometimes it can be quite expensive to source 100% accurate bits.
I like the challenge of making my builds as cheaply as I can &, although I try to make my builds look as good as possible, I don't sweat too much over 100% accuracy, as look as it looks recognizable & not too shoddy!

I'm still on the body building part at the moment, so I'm not yet thinking about the appendages, but I am looking forward to seeing what I can come up with!

I'll document everything in my thread, but if I find anything really nifty, I will probably post it on this thread too...

The part I think I'm going to have most trouble with is making the ears look good.

We shall see...

Regards,

Russell.

Ps: I shall be keeping an eye on this thread in case anyone comes up with any cool ideas I can pinch!!

Pps:  Tony:  Any chance of seeing some photos of your K-9 build?
I'd be very interested!  Thanks!!

This thread now amuses me immensely, thinking of it as a real-life forum like classic Camaro or Moog synthesizer enthusiasts have:  "Hey everyone, I've got a Mk 1 chassis I'm restoring.  Does anyone know if the bolt holes for the drive assembly on a Mk3 will line up or am I going to have to drill new ones?  I think I've found an original wiring harness on eBay but I'm wondering if an aftermarket one would be a better choice." 

The aluminum handles are sold out at the moment but might be restocked:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-pc-4-FULL-Aluminum-Handle-Pull-Drawer-Cabinet-Hardware-Kitchen-Handle/264276824119

Those handles look great!

I might check out mt local DIY store to see if they have something similar...

Cheers,

Russell

I got a box of those handles from eBay - 20 of the things and I only needed three haha! But they look pretty much identical to the original and the box they came in looked like it was from the 70's so figure they may actually be the same handle

Here's my mutt - totally different to how I got him about ten years ago

That's a great K-9!!
I love his ears, the 5 bars on the eye & the black bumpers, which I prefer to the grey ones.

I hope mine ends up looking half this good!


Russ

I was wondering if anyone had any idea what to use for k9s TV screen? And even the size of the thing! There doesn't appear to be measurements for it on the plans I'm using

I think the TPE version uses a butter tub lid?

That's what I'm going to use.

Russ

Toying with the idea of a K-9, but wanting to either go all-out or do something scalable--build something powered and explore the option of maybe something self-driving that would follow a Bluetooth or similar signal and design the head so the ticker from "Invisible Enemy" and the nose blaster can be upgraded. 

Of course K-9 should talk, so the first thing to do was see if they ever made a talking K-9 with sampled John Leeson phrases.  And it turns out they did--a 1/4 scale model with a remote control.  This raises 2 questions:  Why by a remote control K-9 to turn into a remote control K-9 when it is already a remote control K-9 and is it really "fair" to use a remote control K-9 to build a remote control K-9? 

And I guess as I started this post I can think of numerous people modifying toy TARDISes to make them more screen accurate, so I guess scaling up motor size and adding other servos as needed is perfectly..."reasonable" probably isn't the right word, but you get what I'm saying.  Of course the challenge would be to actually find a talking K-9 toy, since I think they're out of production.  And it might be some kind of sin to butcher a collectable for a build.  I dunno. 

There's a few of the talking K-9s on Ebay, but on the whole they are not cheap.

In my opinion, you would be modifying/improving it, rather than ruining it.

It's only a plastic toy, after all, not a priceless Van Gough!!!

But people get funny about that sort of thing.

A Graflex was just a fairly cheap bit of obsolete camera kit until people realized they were the base component for a lightsaber.
Now original Graflexes go for a fortune on Ebay & camera buffs get very upset when they hear of Star Wars fans "ruining" them by turning them into Lightsabers!!

Regards,

Russell