1929 Trench build Waiuku NZ

[Oor Wullie]

Close to lamp assembly, I have let my dreams of a steampunk clear dome go by sanding the plexiglass with one of those sandpaper sponge blocks, good for curves and crannies.
 
Sanding plexiglass is necessary to give it some tooth for good paint adhesion.

I’ve got some house ding and hole wall plastering going, so I’ll use the same white primer sealer on the dome as I do on the walls. An indoor/outdoor choice of paint.

The reason I left the dome clear was that I’d gotten a solar remote control light from China last year. But the solar doesn’t work, yet the USB does. So much for cool solutions.

 

[Oor Wullie]

Baby stepping. I didn’t even photograph the dome with white primer sealer but you can imagine it. Two top coats of blue done. I’ll redrill the holes to get the paint drippings out and then get the lamp together, can’t wait.

But house sale and US tax season are eroding my time.

 

[Oor Wullie]

Lamp temporary assembly done today. The vinyl wingnuts might not be every TARDIS builders cup of tea, but I like them for their nautical steampunk feel. The plastic nut eliminates electrolysis and corrosion between metals.

The wingnuts at the bottom will get replaced by countersunk hex nuts so the bottom is flat to attach to the roof. I’m just putting tension on to get everything snug. I have some nuts with vinyl locks but it would be a pain getting them up the threaded rod.

The brass tubes are staying brass, I like them, though they should be blue.

It’s all an illusion caused by the stuck chameleon circuit anyway. A working circuit and a TARDIS can look like a carrousel, a hot dog stand or the Taj Mahal.

I use rubber washers at each end of the brass tubes and under the top wingnuts.

 

[Volpone]

You've put so much thought into this.  At the risk of unsolicited advice (and knowing how often my good ideas have went wrong on my own build so maybe I shouldn't be giving advice) I wonder if a grease or petroleum jelly on the threads would both serve for additional waterproofing and to prevent metal interaction. 

 

[Oor Wullie]

Thanks Volpone. Yep, I’ll use silicone grease on the threads to keep water from creeping down the spiral. Or I could countersink a nut into the top wood circle and then turn the plexiglass dome on order to screw on on, covering those nuts completely. What I like about the wing nuts is they operate as a clamp to seat the ‘fresnel’ lamp chimney against the white silicone O-rings which keep water out of the circular wood groove.

My companion is off visiting for a week, so I’ll finally start to tackle the window puttying. Long time coming, that job.

 

[Oor Wullie]

Problem solving thought exercise. I have to countersink the nuts and washers at the base of the lamp. I have a great countersinking bit for this thanks to my father in law giving me his set of large bits.

This type of bit makes a flat- bottomed cylindrical hole. Pointed bits would leave a cone-shaped hole. The ‘flat’ bit I’m using has a small point to grab the center. But I’m drilling into a pre-existing smaller hole!

Solution is to drill through a thin piece of scrap stock and then eyeball that hole to equally surround the small hole. Clamp the guide stock to the lamp, using the guide to centre the hole on the smaller hole.

Mark the sum of the thickness of the guide stock plus the depth of the nut and washer with electrical tape on the bit. Drill the countersink hole but stopping at the tape mark.

If I tried to simply drill the hole out by eye, I can guarantee the bit would walk off centre, preventing the threaded rod and nut from lining up perfectly.

I’ll report on the theory to progress ratio when I drill tomorrow.

 

[Oor Wullie]

OK, I won’t re-explain. Please see my last post. It worked a charm. Here’s the photo evidence.

The guide hole in scrap stock



Clamped onto the lamp base



Drill bit depth-stop marked by electrical tape, depth = scrap guide thickness plus nut and washer height = 15 mm



Marker mark on threaded rod showing where the flush lamp bottom ended. The countersunk washer and nut sit below this mark



Countersunk nut on re-tightened rod



Now the lamp base can sit flat on the roof-top square. The rods extend inside the TARDIS to support a wood square holding the lamp light and inside light.

 

[Oor Wullie]

Probably a year after getting the build 90% done, I’ve set new co-ordinates and hit the Master Dematerialization Switch, due to enter the Vortex on 24 May.

Translation: Sold the house and bought another and we move on the 24th. I’m testing my forethought during assembly and taking her apart in reverse order. I look forward to the rebuild as I can fix a couple of flaws from the first time, like getting the roof in place early to get the columns square. This will help with better seating of the sign boxes.

So far I’ve gotten the sign boxes down and the walls unscrewed. Today I’ll scrape back the puttied screws in the outer floor edges and the screws holding the front and back floorboards that attach the columns. Once the columns are down, the base can be lifted and that’s that then.

Moving from Tutukaka in Northland to Waiuku in the south-west reaches of Auckland, below the Manukau Harbour (New Zealand, this is). Lovely huge lawn and gardens in the new place, affording a few choices for landing the ship.

 

[Oor Wullie]

It’s been four months in the new digs and entering springtime, which is a lovely time to get around to rematerialisation.

I’ve had a full year since my open heart surgery and survived the regeneration.

The good part about building the same box a second time is the opportunity to fix things that went wonky the first time around.

My first new fix will be using plywood on the floor, rather than a series of floorboards. The first build saw 150 mm wide fence palings used but they had varying warpage so the walls never sat level in relation to each other.

Plus I used palings which were 25 mm thick, completely filling the inset in the base. This meant that when I covered the floor with 2 mm vinyl, it was a bit too high for the door bottom.

I can get treated plywood in 21, 22 and 25 mm. I’m toying with the idea of using 22 + the vinyl to get to 24. This leaves 1 mm  wanting from the outside of the walls and the beveled edge of the base. I had some sloped moulding in this space the first time, cut to fit all the wiggly bits. One thing I might do is cut the bottoms on the centre mullions on the walls so I can slip these floor strips underneath, rather than cutting around them.

Plywood is a great choice but it largely come in 1200x2400 mm and my floor inset is 1370 mm square. So one piece will be 1200 x 1370 and then I’ll cut two lengths of 1200 x 150 and cut their lengths to 685 mm to meet in the middle at the centre joist.

My first actual work was screwing in the inside mullions and muntins in the window frames. I was going to putty them in but there’s no need to. Just a bead of putty on the outside to ward off rain.

I cleaned the old tarpaper off the bottom of the base and will apply a new lot when I lay the base in place.

Here’s the new site. We gained some beautiful gardens with this new house.

 

[Oor Wullie]

I went local to see what plywood I could get and found a 21 mm H3 product and went for it. My local hardware store has a huge table saw, capable of very precise and square cuts.

I went to the front counter to pay and to bring my car around and found that the young guy who was helping me had already cut it all to spec. Home I went to find the precision was off by a mm, enough to make my inset too tight. Plus, the board was a C/D grade, meaning the top face has knots which are filled and sanded and the back has open defects. I found that the kid had chosen a cutting approach which left me with a long missing lamination layer along one edge.

So I took it back today and an older guy cut off the crap edge and we compensated for this loss by cutting two wider filler boards as I explained in my last post. He also shaved off that extra mm. Got it home and it fits great! Age and experience matter, even though the younger guy knew what a TARDIS was.

While there, I bought four tricorner brackets for the inside of my right angle columns/pillars.

As I said last time, the 21 mm floor plus 2 mm of vinyl flooring leaves 2 mm of lip at the edge of the base. I think it’s a good way to seat the columns square and then these brackets will lock that square in place. Last time I built it, I screwed upward through the floorboards, into the bottom of the columns. I’m sure this lead to slight shifts from 90 degrees and one sign box wasn’t flush on one side.

Next I’ll paint the ply and cut the two smaller boards to meet in the middle of the floor joist.

Still need to level the land where she’ll sit.

 

[Oor Wullie]

I had this flooring vinyl sitting around, rolled up. Had to let it relax overnight to get it flat for cutting to size, 1370 mm to cover the floor to the angle of the base. 

With this done now, I can do a final level of the landing site, position the base and screw in the floor, with this vinyl glued on top.

 

[Oor Wullie]

Slow start getting her rebuilt. I got the floor plywood on the base and the vinyl tacked on.





Today, I got the four roof triangles out of the closet. I’ve kept them tight together to avoid warpage. They’ve been there for a year and a half, through the mechanical heart valve replacement and, recently, a double eye lens replacement with plastic prescription lenses, to remedy cataracts.

I feel more like Major Steve Austen than the Doctor.

Anywho, I’ve rested the four panel on each other. Warpage is minor. I was going to glue the four triangles before I glued them to the frame.

But I might just glue and brad each panel in sequence, just to get the base contact lines totally warp free.

Feeling my way through this roof but determined to get her done, fiberglassed and painted.

Last time I built this box, the roof was going on last and that threw it all out of square. This time, it’s columns, roof, sign boxes and walls and door. The more flexible a piece fit, the later in the sequence.

 

[Volpone]

Be well.  Getting old sucks but I guess it beats the alternative. 

 

[Oor Wullie]

In Time Lord fashion, I’ve thrown caution to the wind. I wrestled with getting that brad nailer for a long time, but today I was proven right in getting it.

Got the roof together by cutting splines for each shoulder. The same angle the pyramid calculator gives you is the double slope of the spline, out from the centre spline line to each edge. This fits inside the shoulders of each triangle pairing. I attached a spline to each left inner shoulder, so they all supported the right side of the next pyramid.

Brad nailed the shoulders and pyramid bottom to the base.

I cut an old cardboard tube to prop up the pyramid top square and bradded it in place. I might screw these in for extra strength.

No gluing involved. If it ever breaks or rots, it’ll be easier to remove.

Next stop is fibreglassing over this pyramid for waterproofing and strength.

Hoorah! Feel the fear and do it anyway. But if you see a Dalek, feel the fear and run! And celebrate with a cold root beer.

Photos not uploading, I’ll do them in the next post.

 

[Volpone]

We're working on some things and photos are currently not uploading--although it is possible to host them elsewhere and link to them.  We hope to get it resolved soon. 

 

[Oor Wullie]

Nice fresh look to the website, thanks admins. I’ll try to add some photos which went with the last post.


This is a spline that sits inside the angle of the roof triangle joins. I first attached one to each of the four triangle shoulders so each supported the next piece, right around to all four. The angle of each slope is the same as the intrrnal angle of the shoulders, 10.5 degrees, in my case.



I used this Ryobi 16 gauge brad nail gun (a thicker nail than an 18 guage, counterintuitively) to join the splines to the triangles and also to join the whole roof together. Great tool, it accepts different length nails and runs off a battery for easy handling.



The triagle bottom sits in an angularly rabbeted groove in the roof base, each side then resting on a spline.



Once all four splined-triangle are self supporting, I brad gunned them together in the pyramid including the pyramid bottom lines into the roof base.



The roof from underneath showing the four splines. I used no glue on the joins, in case I ever have to do repairs. Time will tell if that was sensible.



The roof summit square ready to be popped up inside the pyramid.



The square bradded in place. I’m going to do two countersunk screws in each side, for overall strength.

Since then, I’ve been reading up on expoxy resin fiberglassing using West System products. This will waterproof and strengthen this construct. Once I get my 3M safety mask this week, for protection against degreasing acetone rub down, fumes from the drying resin and particles of both fiberglass and sanded resin, I’ll do a bit on the steps. First time doing this type of work so I’m reading deeply so it goes very smooth and easy.

 

[Oor Wullie]

Busy trying to get her reconstructed. As I mentioned last time, step 1 in fibreglassing the roof was to wash it off with acetone.



It’s not the only harmful vapour-producing chemical with epoxy resin coming up quick, plus sanding the resin and fibreglass as well as treated timber. So the old P2 covid mask needed an upgrade. So I got a 3M 6300 Large-sized (fat head) 1/2 face mask plus the clip on 3590 gas/vapour cartridges and 5925 P2 particle filters that fit on the cartridge using 501 filter retainers. This mask, some sealing goggles and nitrile rubber gloves and we’re good to go.



Wash down, complete. Next task on the roof is a good scuff sanding since resin likes some tooth to grab onto. I’m using a palm sander with some course sandpaper. This also lets me slightly round off the roof pyramid shoulders since the fibreglass strands don’t like sharp corners. But I’m done with the roof today and moving over to getting the columns/posts standing again.



Last time I had the box up, I drilled up through the floor boards and into the bottoms of the columns. This made for a strong join but any minor errors in squareness became set in stone.

So this time, I used tri-corner brackets to mount columns to floor. I tried 10 gauge screws at first but it left things wobbly, so I went for big 14 gauge bugle screws for the downward join and they hold well.



In order to get a perfect placement of the screw holes, I got some card paper, sat it squared to the bottom of the column with tri-corn bracket attached and marked the holes. The image shows two corners on one card.

I used these cool hole punches to knock out the hole for transfer of the hole position to the floor.




I also got a cool punch that makes great centring holes to guide a drill bit and keep it from walking out of place. There’s a spring inside that lets you get a strong push using your palm only. Works a charm to mark where I need to drill. No clumsy hammer required. Recommended.



So I got the four columns up easily. Then braced them together, above, with some precut spacers. Calling it a day. I’ll get two walls and two sign boxes up soon to act as an extension ladder holder and landing pad for the heavy roof, once it’s ready.

 

[Oor Wullie]

Sorry for the small detail but I’m enjoying remedying parts of the construction that didn’t work well the first time I put her up.

This one is about the external part of the floor from the wall to the edge of the down-angled base.

I always thought this area would end up with floor and wall rot in five years, since rain won’t run off a flat surface. Same for the top of the sign boxes, for that matter.

Last time, I put the walls up with the center mullion ending at the floor. In order to get an angled piece of home-made moulding on the floor, I had to cut out a relief for the mullion. This presented a future water ingress.



So this time around, I have some store-bought 90 mm wide moulding. Since my column L is made with 45 mm wood, I’ll cut this moulding lengthwise to 45 mm, using the angled half. It’s 18 mm high, so I’ll cut 18 mm off the bottom of the mullions to fit over the moulding, the rain draining on top of the moulding and running off. Easier than cutting the reliefs.



I’m using a multi-tool with flat serrated blade to cut the mullion.

Good-O!

 

[Oor Wullie]

Good progress the last two days. I scraped down any old putty, cut the notches in the bottom of the wall mullions to fit the outer floor trim under and primed and painted the newly cut bits all day yesterday.

Today I put up the right and left walls. I found that the overlap behind the columns saw the wall corners sitting on top of the far bugle screw heads holding down the tricorner brackets holding the columns up.

This left a wee gap under the wall edge. It’s actually a good thing to prevent wicking of water into the walls. The trim covers the gaps on the outside. I’ll lose the gap height at the top but, as long as the roof has some column cradle, I’m happy.

I measured the inside column gap, subtracted the 1200 mm of the plywood wall and divided the remainder by two. This number was used to cut two spacers for each wall, unique to the reality of the gap variance for each wall. Never assume that everything is a perfect fit to the plan. I screwed these into the corners, high up the columns.

When I set the wall in place, these spacers become a vertical levelling means for the columns. In fact, both walls are dead level, unlike last construction.

Two sign boxes next. Just have to clean them up and put a silicone bead in each corner of the plexiglass to hold the rubber waterproofing beading in place.

Feeling good about this build.

The mullion notch and wee gap



The spacer between the wall edge and the column to keep things vertically level



The top of the walls are level as a result



Two walls standing



Left wall outer view



View from the kitchen through the sun deck, there’s a blue box materialising in the back garden



And the two sign boxes are up.

 

[Oor Wullie]

I bit the bullet and got the roof fibreglassing done.

I measured up, width, height and desired overlap. From that, I made a brown paper template and laid it on the roof to see about the odd angles for the shoulder foldy overlaps and the top square overlap.



From this template, I cut four triangles of fibreglass. Mask and goggles for that simple-seeming job. Little fibres of glass don’t belong in the lungs or the eyes.



Then the no-return step begins. Four layers of resin. One to soak into the wood, then a mix of microbeads into the resin to make a peanut butter consistency putty to fill screw and nail holes and gaps between parts, however minor.

The resin is from the WEST System. The pumps are calibrated in a 5:1 ratio of resin and hardener, mixed with a tongue depressor and the resin is applied by roller.




Then another quick coat of resin as each piece of fibreglass is laid onto the roof. I put another coat on top of the glass to wet it and then rolled it with this special metal roller which gets any bubbles out.



As each sheet of glass goes on, the edge overlaps the adjacent sheet by 30 mm, ending with a double overlap at the shoulders. The top square overlap and the bottom edge which covers the third tier to pyramid join are single layers.



Once all four sheets of glass were on and rolled, I gave the roof a while to get tacky, maybe 15 minutes. Then I did a float coat, to get resin into the visible weave of the glass fabric. This should result in resin on top to scuff sand before painting. Both resin sanding dust and glass sanding dust still require that mask and goggles.

Any stray edge fibres can be trimmed with a razor knife once the piece is dry in 12 hours. Tomorrow morning. I’m reasonably happy, pleased this long term procrastination is over and keen to get this roof puttied and painted. Bit tired from the intensive resin layering. My hardener is a slow cure one, they also make very slow cure and fast cure. I had 50 minutes to finish any given layer on all four sides.