Thanks.  I think it is like all art though--we love another artist's work and are disappointed with our own.  I see all the little flaws--roof is too tall for a Brachaki box, corner posts are too narrow, etc... 

I've got a refit planned, but I've got so many other projects that should get done around the house before monkeying with little cosmetic things on a storage shed that most people won't even notice that I'm forcing myself to hold off. 

I love the weathering on this build so much, it really helps it make distinctive and suggests a rich interesting history all of its own

Heh.  The weathering is 1 part natural wear and 2 parts hiding shoddy workmanship.  All the brown around the bottom is actual mud that has splashed up from the rain.  I had to dirty down the phone panel sign because it is just white 8.5x11" printed paper behind contact paper so I had to hide the edges of the paper.  The window and phone panel trim were both white before being painted blue, so when I went with the Hartnell paint job, I just sanded off the blue, leaving a bit to make it look like the white was wearing off and the older blue undercoat was showing through. 

So many people put so much effort into sanding everything where I just embraced the dings and imperfections and slapped the paint on heavy to help make it look older.  Finally, the false windows--I used the ubiquitous "crackle" fluorescent light diffusers and just painted the wood behind them with whatever I had.  Some are more primer grey and others are whiter.  The front ones, I tried putting aluminum foil behind and wound up very disappointed by it (and by then I'd learned about the glass pane sequence) so I sanded the heck out of the smooth panes and then painted the "pebbled" ones with heavily diluted black paint.  Now that I've looked more at the way the light refracts on actual police box windows, I wish I'd done it the other way around. 

As for the intentional weathering, I went with purpleblancmange and scarfwearer's technique of a wet rag and a tube of black artist's acrylic paint.  The nooks and crannies get the most attention.  I've tried highlighting the corners and edges with lighter paint with less success (I haven't been thrilled with the look and it keeps wearing off).  A few months back I discovered that sanding the high points makes a neat weathered look, but I'm holding off on that until I get around to the refit. 

Wow - I love your TARDIS!!! She is so beautiful all year round. That solar lamp looks great - where did you find it???

(I'm new here so if it has been mentioned in another post then I apologise but my TARDIS needs a good solar lantern.) 

Thanks.  I've actually done a renovation (updated photos below).  The plan for the initial build was to be "close enough" while keeping cost and complexity down.  I feel it accomplished that, but hanging around this place started to make me itch to make her more accurate.  Water intrusion problems and finding a better lamp chimney in my price range (that was being discontinued so the clock was ticking) gave me the excuse/incentive to do the renovation.  

As for the lamp..."some assembly required", so I apologize for being long.  I don't see the exact model, but this looks like it might be it:  http://www.lowes.com/pd_379422-59179-RS40PB-R5-RS-T16_1z0yqsg+1z108ds__?productId=3612266&Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_price|0%26page%3D1&facetInfo=Path%20lights .  Just go to your big box hardware store and look for something the appropriate price and size.  

1) Take the top off the lamp.  This is where all the "guts" are:  The solar panel, batteries, light.  Throw the rest away.  
2) Go to Wal*Mart or your local dollar store or somewhere and get, like, a cheap 7" plastic plate.  Take a Dremel (or other tool) and cut out enough of the center of the plate to let you get at the battery pack and allow the light to shine through it and then glue the lamp onto the bottom of the plate.  
3) Paint your assembly blue.  (I found a blue plate, which was good because my paint didn't stick to the plate as well as it did to everything else but up on top you really can't see it.)  

The base is just scrap lumber cut and nailed together.  (Well actually that isn't entirely true.  I rummaged around the ductwork department of HomeDepot for a sheet of tin that I was able to trim into an exterior cladding for it.  

The glass chimney was "while supplies last" from these people:  http://www.vermontlanterns.com/catalog/lamp-chimney .  Sadly, it does look like they've sold out of the smaller chimneys, but maybe they could put you on track to where you could find one elsewhere.  You don't get a true Fresnel lens for that price, just glass that is shaped about like a Fresnel.  

The posts are just wood dowels and the way they are "attached" is so rickety I hate to admit to it.  There's more on that and maybe some photos in my build diary.  

Anyway, here's a montage of my build's history with her current state at bottom right (I was going to do another "beauty shot" but I don't have one handy at proper file size):  

OK.  A couple beauty shots.  I've been watching the old Hartnell episodes where they generally use a model for the materialization shots.  The models have blue window trim with an SJA badge, so I tried putting the badge back for a bit before taking it off again.  Then I happened to let the dog out one morning when the light was hitting it just right and the result was striking:   

"Striking" is certainly the right word here! This looks so much different since it's refurb that I can barely believe it's the same box It also suits your garden I think now - an early 60s style box under a tree on some grass is, I think, an unexpectedly familiar image and as you say the way the light hits it can me magical

Agreed- a beautiful job.
Love seeing it progressing through all it's different incarnations.
Funny how I never get tired of looking at really well made TARDISes...

Russell

Yeah, Rich, it is funny.  The old TARDIS was a perfectly good one that did what it was supposed to, but the renovation turned out so very well.  I think one of the tip-offs for me, that I wasn't happy with the original build, was when I was going to use it for my laptop's wallpaper and decided not to.  Instead I had someone else's TYJ build for a bit before going to a photo of the Barnett Bypass box. 

As the classic post-1955 police box paintjob becomes more familiar to people* the chance that my box will eventually sport a proper Hartnell paintjob approaches 100%. 

It is amusing, how short a time this remodel has managed to hold off my need to fiddle with it.  Immediately, I need to do some touch up work with caulk and when I do that I'll probably take another stab at getting the black flecks that worked so well on the old version. 


*Sidebar:  The white windows/SJA badge appears on more and more of the promotional material.  It is on the new disappearing TARDIS coffee mug that showed up in my mail last week.  That's right, someone mailed me a TARDIS coffee mug--no name, no contact info.  Sometimes life is cool that way. 

First shot of the renovated TARDIS from the street (once the leaves fell):

And what the heck, one of The Dog, keeping her eye on a treed squirrel:

And, since I have no idea where else to put it, a photo that highlights the "what color is the right color of blue?" conundrum--two mailboxes, right next to each other and completely different colors of blue: 

Looks like one of those mailboxes is weathered, and the other one isn't. (And one of them could be a disguised TARDIS... just look at the Cyberman debris on the ground around them! )

That first photo looks great volpone! It almost looks like it came right out of one of the Classic Series stories!

Dino.

Looking brilliant as ever Be cool if my TARDIS was visible from the street: no one can ever find the house so I reckon a blue box would help it stick out!
Hope it's all standing up well and I like the dog! Mine is somewhat less bothered by squirrels these days, all that old energy he had is now reserved for sleeping and eating :-P

These old Type 40s...they're more trouble than they're worth.  Now that the rainy season has got going in earnest I've got moisture on all 4 corners.  Tried spraying a waterproofer over the acrylic/latex caulk to no avail.  Next summer I'm going to break out the last of the roofing tar and try to cure this (and the leaky roof vents in the garage) once and for all.  And something is going on with the signal lamp.  I'd resigned myself that the battery in it was dead.  Then about a weak ago it worked perfectly for about 2 days.  Now, nothing.  The solar lamps in the front yard flower bed are lit up, so I know there's enough light to charge the batteries.  Bah.  

The other thing...at somepoint I'll work on the signal lamp.  The recent work on the Crich replica has confirmed a band along the bottom of the cap.  If I put that on it will provide a better way of attaching the lamp housing to the roof.  I also want to put a "lightbulb" inside the "lens".  But since it doesn't actually emit light (and since my "lens" is really just a lens shaped chimney) I want a lightbulb shaped lens.  That way the light from the solar lamp will be aplified by it.  I did a test of a small bottle filled with water.  Forget that the shape was less than perfect, when I stuck it in the freezer it shattered, in spite of leaving room for expansion.  I considered curtain rod finials, but Bed Bath & Beyond wants $14 for a pair.  Right now I'm looking for a lightbulb-sized clear rubber ball.  

And that's just the cosmetic stuff.  The other day I thought I finally had something lashed together that could pass for a dematerialization circuit that could at least get me somewhere where I could find the right parts and tools to build a proper one.  Powered up and everything, but when I tried to activate it it blew the whole main buss.  Now I've got to rewire everything.  And I don't know where I'll ever be able to find another atomic beryllium clock in 2015.  

Volpone, have you checked inside that lamp for a loose connection? It could be between the battery and the solar cell or the bulb. Either one would cause that sort of intermittent problem. Also, water intrusion is a big problem with those kinds of solar-rechargeable lamps (the problem they never tell you about). Look for dampness inside it as well as that can cause corrosion, which can also lead to intermittent problems.

I hope this helps.

Dino.

The color blue and time of day are a funny combination.  When I worked nights, my TARDIS was painted in Hartnell colors, and I got home from work, it was dark enough that I decided it would really look better with blue window trim.  Now that it is blue and I work days, on some mornings when the light is just right, as I see it from the corner of my eye through the garage window while heading out for work, I see how good she'd looko in Hartnell colors. 

Now I'll mention that I think the TARDIS generally looks better with blue windows instead of white, because generally there isn't enough contrast between the windows and the trim, whereas the blue really brings out the panes.  I think that is why the models always had blue trim, even when the actual prop had white. 

Right now, I've probably got enough blue for a fresh coat of paint next spring.  Then, the year after that I think I'll get the darkest blue I can find and do her up in Hartnell/late 1960s police box colors.  Although in my search for "the darkest blue" I found a paint guy who said he could mix me Oxford blue, which I always thought was the proper color for a TARDIS--even though I suspect it is too light when the sun is out.  I may wind up having blue trim for another year or two if I take a shot at Oxford blue.