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1929 Trench build Tutukaka NZ

Started by Oor Wullie, Apr 06, 2022, 09:36 pm

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Oor Wullie

Procrastination is the brain's way of saying Take another look! So my progress today was catching a measurement error. Minor but, ya know.

As I'm extending my walls to be screwed into the inside of the columns, I started marking up this line on my ply and then measuring windows from that line. But I was off by 3 mm on each side. 88, not 85 mm. I'd only marked three back sheets so only two windows to shift inward by 3 mm each! Minor, but a good catch.

I got two parts in the mail. The solar remote light which sits in the lamp dome. Fits well, very bright, and the remote works. The strobe is manic but the SOS mode is slow enough.

Second parcel was a used hard cover copy of the TARDIS operations manual. Nice book with great schematics of the boxes and props and good photo reference plus show history. Worth the few bucks.

Talked with a signmaker on the phone yesterday and he has some leftover opal acrylic for my signboxes. I'll go see him tomorrow.

Not a bad day other than nearly sitting on the cat in the dark getting ready to show the flashing lens to my companion. Cat survived but we're both rattled. Black cats in the dark are pretty cloaked.

Four hours sleep last night due to looking at plastic plates and trays for my inset roundels until 2 AM, so an early night tonight. Some plates get pretty close and would glow if LED lit from behind.


Oor Wullie

May 04, 2022, 10:42 pm #46 Last Edit: May 05, 2022, 02:26 am by Oor Wullie
Roundels roundels roundels. I think my right wall will be an additional sheet of hardboard with circles cut out and roundels inserted. If the plastic is thin enough, I'll back light them. Found these plastic plates online and love how they have white and black, each gold trimmed.

The gold circles give the impression of actual fluting.

Though I don't want more hardboard on the doors, the black would look cool there. 30E39EE2-9F9A-4CD4-BB46-2AD6BF65A552.jpeg

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Oor Wullie

May 07, 2022, 09:18 am #47 Last Edit: May 09, 2022, 03:02 am by Oor Wullie
A good progress day. Went to town to get the 12mm sheet of ply to match with the 9 mm backing sheet. I go to a hardware store with a wall saw and the guy who usually cuts my sheets was there. I actually took one 9 mm sheet in with me and he graciously cut both sheets to my exact door dimensions. Pick up some primer/ sealer paint for $30 for a full can so I can prime the components before getting them together.

Then I shot down to this discount store which is an institution in town. Stuff you can't find elsewhere, seemingly from the 80s and 90s. They had some end of roll linoleum and I scored a nice blue roll for the floor surface, over the paling planks. I was waiting to get it to determine the depth of the inset cuts on the base posts. Ready to roll now.

The second indoor light arrived. I'll get photos of both solar lights up soon.

Ordered a solar USB charger battery, a cell to jack gateway and an aqua blue rotary dial phone. Once they arrive, I'll let you know if they work. Lets you bluetooth off your smartphone to the TARDIS phone.

Had a flu vax today as well so feeling a bit fluey.

Also heard back from Weprofab in China. That hammered acrylic is available so tomorrow I'll order my window acrylic. The trick will be seeing if they will bond a lucite blue pane in pane 5. The rest is hammered. This company seems eager to please but say China is in covid locklown so business is slowed down.

moonbeam

Nice to see your building up a stack of materials, excuse me for asking if I've already missed it in your previous post but how far are you into the build? Any pictures Of a police box?

Oor Wullie

Hiya Moonbeam, thanks for asking. My method, as I assume is most people's, is to get all the components together in order to get the building process itself efficient. Loads of learning curve before you proceed into mistakes saves time and money. So I've been getting my woodworking methods decided according to where I veer from the plan I'm using. Plus, every time I go to a hardware store, I end up getting tips from the guys who really know the materials and tools well. I'm a seasoned woodworker but haven't done router work since I was in high school woodshop.

I'm tending to work on it when my partner is at her folks as she starts giving me a list of 100 non-TARDIS projects she wants me to do! So on Wednesday-Friday this week, I'll get cutting.

You have to treat this project like a project management plan. Every step is interlinked. Like my floorboards being inset into the base were held up until I got some linoleum flooring. I needed the lino thickness before I could cut the inset depth so the doors can be free of the lino.

I have everything I need now other than my roof tier wood. Holding off on that until the columns and sign boxes are standing as I want to verify the real measurements for a good tight fit of the roof.

Still debating where it will sit, so getting my foundation ready is really the start of in-place construction. Base, columns, walls, signs and roof.

So yeah, I appreciate everyone wanting to see the box go together, but I'm documenting the journey every painful step of the way in case others meet the same hurdles I do.


Oor Wullie

New components have been arriving. The lamp light and interior light, both solar charged. And the Solar USB charger battery pack for the bluetooth rotary phone. Plus my plan for the 26 cm roundel right wall to reflect as four walls in my two back and left wall mirrors.the pattern avoids the windows nicely.3A36C4E6-8426-491B-8B9B-8FD48407F0AB.jpeg41B0943E-B447-4248-BA3E-C4C0840D5983.jpegFC076D57-B3D6-49CB-9134-B580F2C366BC.jpeg973763F3-EBC3-4D79-837B-8FB70C9F1F9C.jpeg52283F48-B59C-43D7-AE6C-DA91D8862082.jpeg9CF3FE9D-EC64-42E8-A840-0F272A17FCC3.jpeg

Oor Wullie

Just back from a trip down to Auckland to see daughter #2 and granddaughters 1 and 2. Even better than TARDISes! But, worry not, on the way home I popped in to see my plastic supplier face to face for a change from mail order. Lucky I did, since they had an off-cut sheet of 3mm opal acrylic sheet for me at $40, plus no postage. Also bought some acrylic welding glue since I'm going to try welding the opal with the Police Public Call Box stickers on them to a cover sheet of clear acrylic.

Gotta say that the sign boxes and windows are the key contenders for the lost sleep award. I still haven't fully realised either yet. I'll cut to size tomorrow and do a small test gluing with leftovers. End to end gluing seems easy, but how with sheet to sheet go when glued around the edges? Will the glue follow capillary action and leach too far in? But I guess water will if I don't seal the sheets together.

Oor Wullie

Got a parcel yesterday and thought it might be the overdue hinges but it turned out to be the phone and Cell2Jack bluetooth unit. Plugged them together and to the solar battery, bluetoothed from my iPhone and it instantly worked well. Fun to use a rotary dial phone again. Takes me back.

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Oor Wullie

May 14, 2022, 04:35 am #53 Last Edit: May 15, 2022, 09:40 pm by Oor Wullie
Short post. Two-way hinges arrived. Got my 5mm clear acrylic sign box front sheets cut no sweat with a jigsaw but found the 3mm opal I just got this week subject to fractures by jigsawing! I might get away with salvaging it as it was the end cut but still have three long cuts to make and frustrated. To score and snap or handsaw? Either way, I'm complaining to the shop with this brittle acrylic. I'd go 5 mm but they had this sheet on hand as a cutoff ready to go.

Oor Wullie

May 15, 2022, 09:35 pm #54 Last Edit: May 15, 2022, 09:37 pm by Oor Wullie
Whoohoo! Did my long cuts on the opal sign acrylic after using painters tape on either side of the cut line and one up the middle of the line on the back side. No fractures and only one minor corner chip. I have a 20 mm overlap all around where the sign decals sit and where wood trim will cover the front clear sheet so I should get away with it.

My advice, therefore, is to tape, tape, tape to avoid the fractures. And to wear a dust mask and eye protection as the acrylic sawdust is nasty in the eyes and lungs. Vacuum up the workspace well.

Next stop is decal placement with no bubbles. The decals come with a smoothing tool to keep the bubbles from forming.

Been reading about cleaning acrylic. Both ammonia and alcohol based cleaners are out as the chemically damage the material. A microfiber cloth is best or soapy water with a freshwater rinse after.

I'm going to use acrylic welding cement glue (medium body, not the liquid one) in a bead around the edges on the clear and opal to seal out future water influx. That's the next worry.

Oor Wullie

May 20, 2022, 02:57 am #55 Last Edit: May 20, 2022, 03:01 am by Oor Wullie
Progress update. Found better location for the foundation. Awaiting approval from the High Council (Sue).

Bit the bullet and had a local glass guy cut me some 4.5 mm opal sign box acrylic, my 3 mm just had too many fractures. I'll make a light box out of my old offcut and use the ones I cut in the console pedestal build at the end.

I've been calculating my window mullion and muntin wood needs and the window pane sizes to order. A full sized drawing helped me figure it out. My plan calls for the backing ply to be 12 mm larger all around than the front sheet window hole, leaving an inset lip inside. I'm going with 24x24 mm stock for the frames and 12x12 mm for the M&Ms. That way, 12 mm is glued into the inner lip with 12mm remaining forming the frames and the M&Ms jointed into it. If I cut a square notch inside the 24x24 mm frames, I can inset my window acrylic. Now that I have pane sizes, I'll write to the Chinese supplier to see if they will glue my panes into one sheet. Hammered for 1,2,3,4 and 6 with clear blue in 5. All that should make the windows watertight.

My stencils are sitting with the opal waiting to be adhered. Maybe today.


Oor Wullie

Try those photos again.4F054E36-43FA-42E0-94FF-DDBAEB8F195B.jpeg

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Oor Wullie

I've been absent for a bit. Lots of wind and rain. Scratched cornea (yard work, not TARDIS), now back to normal, and sweating over cutting my inside rectangles.

I read that a circular saw could plunge cut, but I doubt the accuracy I'd get. So I bought a plunge saw kit which includes tracks. Really easy to start and stop the cuts at the corners. Finished up with a hand saw. First nice day and I'll dig in.

After that, the holes need to be routered for the bevel angles. But you can't get a square corner be using a round router bit. I'll see when I get to it whether they need chiseling or if they look ok. I found this article on the psychology of rounded rectangles and their benefit to brain processing speed. Steve Jobs was a pioneer in their use. https://designmodo.com/rounded-corners/

Anyway, with my outside sheet being only 9 mm except for the doors at 12 mm, the slight rounding might not be so perceptible. We'll see.

I'm beginning to see why most of you simply cut your rails and stiles as separate pieces. I still think the rigidity of a solid sheet will make a stronger wall. Plus less clamping and gluing and less water egress. But the solid sheet is definitely giving me a rectangular headache.


Oor Wullie

Jun 08, 2022, 04:00 am #58 Last Edit: Jun 08, 2022, 04:10 am by Oor Wullie
Just in from day one location digging. Gentle slope two directions. Levelling to go another day. Pooped.

I also ordered a pair of rechargeable 24 cm sound activated LED columns for the eventual Time Rotor on my quarter console. You may have seen them. They pulse to music or sound like a dematerialisation vworp pulse.

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Oor Wullie

Jun 10, 2022, 12:16 am #59 Last Edit: Jun 10, 2022, 04:14 am by Oor Wullie
Finally got vinylly and adhered my vinyl stencils to the opal acrylic sheets.

The secret to success is:
1. Wiping the acrylic with a microfiber cloth to get dust and smudging off it.
2. Laying down the stencil and measuring its placement to the acrylic edge.
3. Using green painter's tape, tape the stencil in the middle, allowing for black on either side of cut letters.
4. Burnishing the stencil with the hard plastic squeegee tool to get the vinyl well attached to the front and back papers.
5. Folding back half the stencil to the tape mark and peeling back the bottom paper to the tape mark. Then cutting the paper at the mark. The blank inside parts of the A, B and P may want to stick to the bottom paper. I used a paring knife to tease it off so it sticks to the top sheet.
6.  Slowly squeegeeing the stencil onto the acrylic from the inside to the end. Take your time to avoid bubbles and don't let go of the end or you'll get adherence disaster.
7. Take the painters tape off and flip back the other half. Remove the bottom paper slowly and squeegee the second half down.
8. Burnish the top paper again to make sure the vinyl is set down well.
9. Slowly peel back the entire top sheet and you're done!

I'm going to chem-weld glue sheets of clear acrylic to the edges of the opal. The glue is jelly-like, not the liquid one. It dries clear.60A4B0A4-202D-4E12-92AD-42CF697B62AA.jpeg