Vegemite here in NZ for me. Being a Yank, I can go Aussie without offense. I'm on aciviclor, a potent antiviral plus mega vitamins and minerals. It hates zinc most. Oysters or pills!

I got two rachet straps per package so will use the hooks in tandem to glue up the base as well.

Hooray for Oysters. I always wanted to know what the ones in the caves on Skaro tasted like. Sontaran I expect! Revolting! Especially after eating Harry's leg. Just how did he manage to do that? Never mind!
  Luckily, with my tiny Tardis' efforts I only need the odd elastic band now and again whilst glue is setting!

Last fine day followed by a string of rainy days. Partner off to Auckland for a few days so I'll probably jump into what I like to call the Ghost TARDIS phase and get painting the walls, columns and base/floor white with primer/sealer.

Plus get around to the glue up of the window frames. Read up on wood glue setting time under a clamp and it's only an hour or so, then 24 hours for curing, so I should get through that while painting.

Got some nice semi-gloss self- sealing white paint for the frames. I was leaning towards blue as it looks more serious, but I like Hartnell's original look of white, followed by the modern approach of crisp white and crisp blue.

Another bit of research is using wood glue to join the base angles. Better to do that on raw wood as the glue sucks into the end grain for a tighter bond, even though the cut parts of treated stock are better paint-sealed for waterproofing.

Next item on order is single sided butyl tape with an aluminium face on the outer side. I want to flash the three wall to floor connections so that water sheds off the angle of the base. Having the floorboards rot through time seems like a nightmare. I'm a big believer that the front view is the pretty one and the other three sides are less seen and can handle a bit of weatherproofing, even though it effects the purist wood look. Same for the floor lip outside the doors. I read that the aluminium side of the tape is paintable so should take the blue paint well.

I did a calculation of the 12 mm butyl tape I bought for the glass to wood seals of the windows, the square plus inside all mullions and muntins, plus a  seal between the wood of each frame where it contacts the insets of the walls and it comes to just over 28 m length, just under the 30 m I have, so I'm pleased as punch.

Bugger, just started raining. For all the satellites, the gods still outsmart the weathermen! Hoping it's just a spit.

Overcast, but meh! Got the first coat of primer/sealer on the front of the shell. More painting than I thought. The plasma hull has been activated.

Sheer determination sees the backs done as well. Turned into a hot breezy sunny day, perfect for watching paint dry quickly. Nearly 4 L of paint so back to the store I go.

Oddly, I notice my tarps are TARDIS blue!
 

Glued up the base frame using the rachet straps and used the floor boards to assess the square of it.

Then puttied the joint notches in the window muntin-mullions to fill any space in between them. Used a clamp to seat them, kinda like a playdoh press, the residual squeezed out of the joints.

Then I got the photo that my grandson was born today in Auckland! So I'm taking the rest of the day off from building other than a trip to town for more primer-sealer, perhaps tomorrow morning.

Took the straps off and got a nice tight bond. The bottom seams are level with some very small height difference in the top seams, so I'll test out the new belt sander later to smooth that all down, including some circular saw ridges. One of the corner grips stuck to the extruded glue and when I heeled it off, it took a small piece of base with it, proving that glue IS stronger than timber. Bit of putty fixes that.

Better day for the paint run, no rain or gale force wind. I aim to paint the columns, base frame, floor boards and the above-door awning strip today plus get those window frames glued. I'll try sitting them on baking paper so they don't stick to the work table.

Bit more research on the outer floor edges and sign box top weatherproof flashing. Found a good product which ticks the following boxes:

As some butyl or bitumen tapes are quilted on the aluminium face, I wanted a smooth one.

Paintability.

Width has to cover the base angle down of 30 mm plus the floor to wall gap of 45 mm (the column thickness) plus the run up the wall at a right angle. This 100 mm wide tape leaves me 25 mm rise up the wall. To use it on the sign box top which is 45 mm column width plus 45 mm sign extension, I get 10 mm rise up roof tier 1.

Lifespan is 15+ years.


Price and length. This one is 10 m, enough to do the floor and sign boxes. Only $40, the price of 5 m off the shelf brands so double bang for the buck.

Here it is, a mail order only product.

Congratulations on the new Grandson! I raise a glass of ale in his honour! The box is-flying together!

Thanks Andrew and it is starting to snowball, apart from during thunderstorms, another today. I went to get a can of paint. There's always bad news, then good news. The paint I got last time, trusting the shop staff and not looking myself, was interior primer-sealer! Went to get another can as it was so cheap at $30 and saw the light.

I found an exterior brand and it was $92/4 L. To be fair, a second coat only makes the box drier and less rotten. Then I see the same paint in a 10 L BONUS can for $98. So I got 6 extra L for $6. I'll need it for the external walls second coat and two coats on the columns, base, sign boxes and roof.

I'll need a second can of blue, I suppose.

Rain brain means I'm planning. My sign boxes are 90 mm deep and a 2x4" is 45x90 mm. At $9/m, I could table saw some slopes off this piece.

The minimum slope of a roof for rain drainage is 2% or .25 units vertical per 12 units horizontal. That means my 90 mm only needs a 1.875 mm rise at the roof tier.

Heck, from the available 45 mm, I could be generous and go to 5 mm rise and still get the push stick past the saw blade for the fourth, 90 degree, cut. First cut angled, second 90 degrees then same again and I'll have four pieces of full bevelled moulding to shed water off the sign boxes. And here I was staring at commercial mouldings.

My saw blade is only 85 mm at 90 degrees, so I'll have to test using my wicked handsaw to finish the 5 mm off.

Same  deal for the wall to floor, using the 45 side of a 2x4. The tape is still in the picture, but a wee slope sounds best under it.

Take the errors with grace and calm, you've learned to do it better. One of the four window frames got band-clamped too tight, I think. I cut a notch into each corner brace since the guy online did. When I rachetted it, I checked the joint for square but I guess the glue allowed slide after I walked away, and the long sides ends slipped a bit up the 45 of the short sides into those notches. Less pressure would avoid that. The objective is to hold the four corners square, not to over-stress the joint.

I had removed the loose mullions and muntins which, if I hadn't, would have held the space needed. Next four windows, I'll leave them in. Another way would be to cut cardboard the size of the glass to signal a good fit.

I'll make up 2 or 3 new frames from scratch, some extras to avoid doing them again, if needed. Cheap material, that 24 mm moulding, so just lost a bit of time.

But I got the glued base done, screwed to further strengthen it, prime painted the joist ends and frame connection points and screwed the joist in, no glue. I want to next sand the corners so they are crisp. Puttied the screw countersink holes.

Once I prime the base, I'll temporarily use it to get my anchor posts cemented into the ground, including the damp proof course under the base. I'll set the posts to be flush with the floor boards above them, perhaps with DPC on top of the posts. Once the cement is dry, I'll remove the base for further painting. Then angle screw to the posts from inside and coach screw into the floor and the post top. Floorboards attached except for the front and back ones which attach to the columns from below.

I primed the quarter round trim on the columns by brush, leaving only flat planes to paint by roller.

I'll do the last four window frames today, with caution. Then get stuck into the replacements when I buy the new wood. I need to buy the 2x4s for the angles for the outer floor and sign box anyway. A band saw would be optimal but they are $500 and I've thought of a top and bottom matching cut on the table saw.

Hold your breath, true believers. I used a utility knife to seperate the glue joins of the dud window. No kerf loss, so I'll try to reglue it.

The next four are glued up, two still under clamp. I'll put the cross-pieces in and give the dud a second chance at life. Beats driving to town for a stick of wood.

UPDATE - Well it actually worked. Eight windows corner glued. The dud one was tight for the glass test but it fit.

Now to let the glue cure for 24 hours before strengthening them with corner tacks. I think I'll predrill to prevent splitting. Then the cross member drill holes and skewer strengthening. Putty, sand and paint before the butyl, glass, glazing points and glazing putty. I'll be glad to see the back side of making windows, that's for sure.

Pro tip, to avoid slipping while glueing.

Sprinkle a bit of salt on the glued surfaces before you put them together (doesn't need much,and it disolves into the glue apparently. Also doesn't affect the bonding strength).

Or what I often do is add an extra clamp in the direction of potential slippage. 

Quote from: Oor Wullie on Nov 23, 2022, 01:42 am...Now to let the glue cure for 24 hours before strengthening them with corner tacks. I think I'll predrill to prevent splitting. ...

One bit of unsolicited advice is that anything that pierces the wood can allow water intrusion.  Actually, as I think about it, I think I had less trouble with screws that went all the way through the walls than I did not having bevels on my trim.  I was going to say that water would get into my screws and follow them to the interior, but thinking back, I think my problem was just that rainwater would sit on the unbeveled trim until it could find its way between the trim and the plywood so pretty early on my TARDIS developed rot on the interior in the shape of the exterior panel trim.  So yeah, forget I said anything.  Predrilling is smart.  And diligent.  Whenever I'm working on something marginal I'll think "I really should predrill this.  Eh, that's an extra step.  I'll just be careful.  [splits wood]  Toldja so." 

Good tip, that salt, Rassilon.

And yeah, Volpone, these tacks will sit inside the box since half the frame width is inset in 12 mm rebates on the inner ply and the brass tacks are entering from the edge of the frames.

But I am freaked out by water getting past the butyl seal between frame and wall rebate, in between the laminated wall ply sheets. There's not enough frame or outer sheet to take screws from the inside and I want the butyl unpierced. I'm using a secondary inner frame which can be screwed from the inside into both sheets of ply and glued to these window frames. I think I'll silicone any gaps between the seated window frames and the wall rebates. You know the drill, lol. I won't know how good a seal the butyl makes until I play with it.

I guess it's a matter of making sure there's enough blue paint on the chamfered wall squares and some fine detail semigloss white paint on the frame contact outside edges to make a paint seal which is watertight. I guess having the windows removable for future rot is the long term plan.

We've had so much driving rain this spring, it's an eye opener to the future of this box's lifespan.

The door and phone cabinet gaps being the next design problem. Maybe she just needs a raincoat, which I've seen in an online build. Weatherproofing is the relative dimension apart from actually getting it standing.

It'll be fine.  You're very methodical and diligent in your work.  My build was pretty slipshod and it is still around over a decade, a move across the country, and a second move within town.  Compared to that yours should...nope.  I'm too superstitious to finish that sentence.  But I will say maintenance is just a reality with an outdoor box.  Entropy and all...  No matter what you do, you'll need little touch-ups and repairs.