Hi there - can someone help me...  Im working with a very lovely carpenter to try and build my own box.  Does anyone know the pantone for the main exterior colour.   Also if anyone knows the same info for the colour on the signage at the top that would be even more amazing.

Thank you

Mike

I'm afraid our knowledge may not extend that far yet. But these links will be of help.

http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=2390
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=475
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=3080.msg33710#msg33710
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=4382.msg50751#msg50751

Quote from: timerotor on Feb 23, 2013, 10:19 pm
Hi, I'm pretty sure that the flat surface of the post is MORE than 4 inches. more like 4.5
the round mould, I can't find a record, probably 1 inch - or 1.5. hope this helps.
best,
MBH

Yeah... color is one of the hardest things to ID on any TARDIS prop, especially from the Classic Series. Those props underwent so many repairs and repaints, they could look a different color blue even in the same story. Not sure anyone has figured out the Pantone for the Classic TARDIS props for that reason, but somewhere on here is a thread with the "Official BBC Pantone" for the New Series TARDIS blue. (I'm digging for that now.)

Found it: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=5322.0. The comment is in the first paragraph of the opening post: Pantone 2955C. So if you don't fine anything in those links to the threads that warmcanofcoke posted, and you can't find a suitable photo of the TY-J box for doing a color match for the box's blue, then maybe you could work with the "new official" Pantone color.

I hope this is helpful.

Dino.

Hi Warmcanofcoke and Dino.
Both replies gratefully received.  Thank you so much to both of you for taking the time.  It seems it is something of a moveable feast.  I think the first of your suggested notes offers a great palette of piccys that will be really useful down the local hardware store.  For me, I was brought up on that lighter blue, almost with a hint of green as the post says.  It's what I prefer to the more navy boxes of the modern era.

Hi there.

It is a common thread that the biggest headache a lot of TARDISbuilders have is "What colour should I paint her?"

As Dino pointed out, reference pics don't always help as the colour can look really different in each shot due to lighting conditions etc.
It's easy to say: pick a colour & give it a try, then if you don't like it, try another- after all, paint is quite expensive!
Personally, I used a fairly light blue Cuprinol as my undercoat, so I could see what it would look like, then went darker for my final emulsion overcoat, as I prefer the darker look.
Of course, if your TARDIS is outside, it will need a fresh coat of paint every year or so anyway.
I'm thinking a really dark blue gloss next time round.

Good luck with your colour choice. I'm sure it's going to look great whichever you choose.

All the best.

Russell

The colour changes so much depending on lighting (studio or location) and recording method (film or video). And, as has been said, so many repaints almost constantly (slightly) changing the colour. So my advice for a TYJ would be look through those galleries and pick the blue that looks right to you. After all, you'll be the one looking at it the most, so it's your eye it has to please.

Caveat: my advice would be different if you were going for the more specifically identifiable colours: vivid blue of the 2010; very dark Brachacki, etc.

Quote from: galacticprobe on Nov 08, 2016, 04:51 am
Yeah... color is one of the hardest things to ID on any TARDIS prop, especially from the Classic Series. Those props underwent so many repairs and repaints, they could look a different color blue even in the same story.

Whilst I agree that the colour was frequently changed between stories, apparent changes within the same story are more likely to have been caused by changes in lighting and/or the swap between video and film. See http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=6868.msg88163#msg88163

Quote from: galacticprobe on Nov 08, 2016, 04:51 am
If you don't fine anything in those links to the threads that warmcanofcoke posted, and you can't find a suitable photo of the TY-J box for doing a color match for the box's blue, then maybe you could work with the "new official" Pantone color.

There are plenty of reference pictures of both of the TY-J Tardis exteriors here: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=6965.0

T

Just to complicate things further. The UK used the Pal Format (Phase Alternating Line :625-lines) and America at the time used NTSC for their Video format. (National Television System Committee :480 lines). So there was a lot of lost information during the conversion.

The joke name for NTSC is "Never Twice the Same Color" - Because at the time it was very hard to produce two monitors to accurately display exactly the same colors.

So the idea of finding the specific Hex Color from a video source is impossible. You need to find the original box and scan it. -There may be a smart phone App.

Quote from: warmcanofcoke on Nov 08, 2016, 01:39 pm
You need to find the original box and scan it. There may be a smart phone App.

I'm afraid that wouldn't work Nate - none of the Tardises were one colour; rather, they were a 'base' colour (blue) over which a series of washes (glazes) were applied to achieve the desired weathered/dirtied-down appearance.

Add to this lighting, the various recording formats, etc and Mike is just going to have to pick a colour that he finds the most pleasing. (I would suggest Prussian Blue - Red/Blue/Green code 00, 49, 83 - as the starting point and weather/dirty-down from there.)

T

Sorry, I should probably have added that Prussian Blue is the base colour Barry Newbery specified for his version of the Tardis (and the RGB code I quoted is the internationally recognised colour 'co-ordinate' for that shade of blue).

T

And you'd have to be more specific, regarding what color is "accurate" because the color changed markedly, season to season (and serial to serial).  I hesitate to say anything because there are people here with far more knowledge than I (and a wonderful reference thread to boot) but as a rule, I remember her looking a lot lighter blue in the early stories and getting darker as time passed.  The blue of Castrovalva-Black Orchid era is quite different than the blue of, say, "Mawdryn Undead." 

Quote from: Tony Farrell on Nov 08, 2016, 12:16 pm
There are plenty of reference pictures of both of the TY-J Tardis exteriors here: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=6965.0

Many apologies, Tony. I was going to reference that in my post. I dozed off while thinking what to type after mention of that Pantone Code, and woke up 20 or so minutes later and had completely forgotten my thoughts. (I smacked myself in the head when I read the above. )

Dino.

No need to apologise Dino - I simply offered-up that article because every story is referenced in the order they were made. Mike can then choose the look he's after based on one, all or none of the references available!

To my mind, my comment regarding the perceived change of colour is more important (http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=6868.msg88163#msg88163 ) because the 'washes' applied to the props react to different lighting conditions and give the viewer quite different results.

So, as Steve/Volpone says, even if we knew the starting (base) colour, because of all the 'tinkering' there is no such thing as an accurate colour-scheme and because of the way the prop is lit/filmed, even the same colour-scheme can appear to change anyway!

T

Hello (or as the 4th Doc said Wotcha)

I trust this is slightly related / relevant.

I have often wondered if there was no discussion about giving the 'old girl' a repaint for its only studio appearance in The Five Doctors, after all the various types of weather it must have encountered in Wales during the location filming.

Also if it is alright to inquire, why is there next to nothing about the process used to make the Tardis split from itself at the end of the story, I for one would like to know more.

The Tardis Split apart using a device called "paintbox"  (or similar unit. Also used for the Transduction of the Tardis in Deadly Assassin. There was more than one function for this device.) a device that would allow you to copy a section of the video image and overlay (or key) the image over the video signal. Yeah, most of the effects were live at the time.

Probably had a patch rig with patch cables and signal terminators. *classic tech.