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Puzzled's Personal Policebox Plan-out

Started by ThePuzzledBoy, Aug 11, 2020, 06:21 am

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ThePuzzledBoy

(...Ah, alliteration....)

Erm, anyway. Since I'm currently a long ways away from even gaining the budget for my own Police Box or even console, I figure the next best thing at the moment is to plan it out virtually. Don't be surprised if, by the time I "finish" this, it won't even have textures. (And even then, I'm not familiar with that part of SketchUp 2017, which is what I'll be using for this... eh, let's call it "virtualization" of a Police Box.)

So, what's the idea here? As I mentioned in my reintroduction, I want to have a modular TARDIS for cosplay photo purposes. So far, that means I have to achieve a Newbury style, a TYJ style, a Hudolin style (I had to look that last one up, what kinda Eight fan am I?! *Facepalm.*), and a Richmond/Thomas style (I recently got a dead ringer for a Nine jacket cheap, so whoops! ;D ), and all at once on top of that! I also want to include a couple other styles, particularly the Mark I MetBox (yes, really), and the box from the admittedly crude parody Doctor Who Cares (again, yes, really).

Obviously, that will require some compromises, since all of these are different sizes and shapes (and one's never even physically existed in this plane of reality). First, just the top sign and doors (including PTO and SJA signs) will be the modular parts of the exterior in question.

Second, one style roof in particular has to be used (duh). Maybe two to fit with the Newbury look, but I think that may be pushing it.

Now to the build itself, starting with the plans I've made, designed in ol' faithful, LibreOffice Draw:

plans_Annotation 2020-08-10 203901.png

Yes, I did draw it to 1:1 printing scale. I also drew it without the intention of it being in 3-D space, so once again, there goes my palm hitting my face.

Anyway, now to SketchUp.

I began with a basic solid square, pulling it up like normal...

tardis 001.png

tardis 002.png

...then adding some offset by 0 to split it into another plane and make it taller and slanted (I may not even do this slant in the final plan though, since I want to go as cheap and as easy as I can make it. Shame I didn't think ahead or use the save as function correctly. Another facepalm, don't ya hate it when that happens?)...

tardis 004.png

...Next with a Pythagorean theorem calculator (four years since I graduated high school, why does all that time go into very little of consequence right now?), I did another offset to set up the posts...

tardis 005.png

...and then I set up the posts, via squares!

tardis 006.png

(assume I put the pic with all the post squares up, some reason it couldn't upload due to "failed security checks", whatever that means)

Next, more offsetting!

tardis 008.png

And another square!

tardis 009.png

But this ain't just any typical square! No no no, this is what I'll refer to as a "deleting square"! Behold its power!!!!

tardis 010.png

Someday we'll find out footage of that moment resurfacing (doubt it) but until then, let's pull ourselves up some posts!

tardis 011.png

tardis 012.png

With help from the measuring tool (and some more deleting squares)...

tardis 013.png

We finally have completed posts!

tardis 014.png

So yeah, there we have it thus far! Definitely want to do more, but for right now, I'm getting sleepy and it's past 1 AM where I live, so it's good night from me for right now.

tardis 015 2020-08-10.png
ThePuzzledboy - a cosplayer who needs his own TARDIS and console.....

ThePuzzledBoy

So, some good news/bad news for this update.

Bad news is I made a massive calculation error with the base and didn't find out until I was making the doors and thought, "hang on a minute...."

tardis 037.png

Sadder still, I even had the something resembling a Yale lock made for the front of it.

Good news is I've walked away wiser in the process of what's essentially my first (or maybe second) big SketchUp project, so I made a new project file, and plotted out everything from the correct dimensions....

tardis new 001.png

And while I don't have a basic Yale lock modeled, I at least have gone so far as to include a top sign!

tardis new 002.png

You can probably tell now I've gone the bare-bones basic base route for the box (as previously alluded to), but in case it wasn't obvious, I've kinda been somewhat inspired by Woodworking for Mere Mortals' TARDIS in terms of the "easy to build, easy to take apart, easy to reassemble" philosophy.

Anyway, sorry there isn't any other screenshots I can send over. Most of the process is just me working on it, and when I feel like I'm at a good point to show that process, it's a whole lot of "undo" and "export PNG" stuff, before committing mass redo and continuing my normal building thing.

Still, least I've got the proportions right so far.... ;D
ThePuzzledboy - a cosplayer who needs his own TARDIS and console.....

ThePuzzledBoy

Completed the back! (Even though it was meant to be the front, but I want to follow camera positions, so... Shrug.)

tardis new 003.png

And just for fun, some minor edits, one for the Newbury fans...

tardis new 003 newbury.png

...and one for the Yardley-Jones and NST fans....

tardis new 003 tyj full.png

(NOTE: The SketchUp dude is facing the front, so he looks further away.)
ThePuzzledboy - a cosplayer who needs his own TARDIS and console.....

ThePuzzledBoy

Huh. It's been a month since I last posted.

Ah well, least I've hopefully made up for it by actually doing the left and right sides!

tardis new 004.png

tardis new 005.png
Here's the left and front sides...

tardis new 006.png
...and the right and back sides!

Good thing Mr. SketchUp Sample Dude's here, otherwise we'd be a little disoriented..... (Okay, we might be a little bit since he's a simple 2D image in a 3D space, but other than that....)

Right, now to hopefully get the front done in a relatively timely fashion.... :P
ThePuzzledboy - a cosplayer who needs his own TARDIS and console.....

ThePuzzledBoy

Front doors finished!

tardis new 007.png
tardis new 008.png

Now for the roof!
ThePuzzledboy - a cosplayer who needs his own TARDIS and console.....

ThePuzzledBoy

I think... I think I'm somewhat finished plotting this out....

Okay, first I though I'd say I wanted to do a bunch of screenshots to round out this little thing -- as a sort of bookend to my first post and sorta go out with a bang.

Then Ctrl+Z stopped working (I guess it's some undiscovered "feature" in SketchUp, if you know what I mean....), and so I just decided to keep on trucking no matter the circumstance.

And then I finished it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, the roof!

For some reason, SketchUp had an issue drawing the rectangle I wanted (another undocumented "feature", I presume) to make the first part of the roof. Oh well, ingenuity (or rather, overcomplication) to the rescue!

tardis new 010.png
tardis new 011.png

And now to make the slanted part of the roof!

tardis new 012.png
tardis new 013.png

And then I found out the height in my original LibreOffice Draw plans that I set up would be too subtle a slant for the roof...

tardis new 014.png

so now for some modifications after the fact!

tardis new 015.png

Then the lamp post....

tardis new 016.png
tardis new 017.png

....And then the basis for the lamp and stands themselves....

tardis new 018.png
tardis new 019.png
tardis new 020.png

....Then it's just a matter of modelling a basic lamp and standoffs, and....

...wait... where are the other pictures....

Oh...... :o oh............

So, uh, this is unfortunately where the in-progress pics end, and the final pics begin. Rest assured I did make a lamp and standoffs, to the best that my beginner's modelling expertise could possibly make an attempt at, and so, here are the final pictures!!

But before that, I though I'd mention I thought I made the handle (which is a stand-in anyway for a better-looking handle) a little too close to the door, so I thought I'd extend it a little (and also try to make it look better -- again, to the best of my talents as a beginner modeller with SketchUp)!

tardis new handle.png

I think it looks kinda worse than the original though. Regardless, the final pictures.... (with some digital painting!)

tardis new final front.png
tardis new final sorta three-fourths.png

And finally, a view from the bottom (since I have to take advantage of the uneven ground a rural area has):
tardis new final bottom.png

But yeah, that's my plan-out sorted! (At least for a police box.) But first, I'd like to actually get something of a TARDIS console made, before I can spring for a straight up police telephone box!

Til then, stay puzzled, everyone!
ThePuzzledboy - a cosplayer who needs his own TARDIS and console.....