Ghost's inaccurate 11th

[AtilAnon]

I knew I was forgetting something with this build, I was forgetting to post it to tardisbuilders.
This is the tardis i've been working on for about a year now at my college carpentry shop. it is nearing completion but i still have to repaint it and do all the wiring, lighting, and control panel. it's loosely based on the smith box with dimensions squished and stretched to make it fit under my 9 foot ceiling, bringing it in at about 8'10 tall.

Although i do not know their usernames here, some people that I regularly pestered for advice were TARDISman, Cooly, and Violet


I used Tardish blue wood dye for the paint, however i did it wrong so i'm going to have it repainted with actual paint.

The signs are all printed acrylic i ordered from signs.com


On the bottom side of the PTO door i have a slide-out desk to sit my art tablet on, and the back of the phone compartment is where i will mount my control panel when the time comes.

[Angelus Lupus]

I used Tardish blue wood dye for the paint, however i did it wrong so i'm going to have it repainted with actual paint.

Well, it might be 'wrong' for an 11th Doctor Tardis, but that slightly faded/patchy look would work well for a Classic-era box!

[Volpone]

I guess technically it may be inaccurate.  But only technically and because we're all such OCD nerds here.  Looking at it, I can immediately tell what TARDIS it is supposed to be.  Besides, not getting everything exactly how you wanted it right away just gives you something to do once the build's "done." 

You get it 100% right the first time and all you can do is admire it--maybe try to keep it from wearing out.  You get a few things that you're not happy with and you have projects to think about and look forward to. 

[ThymeLorde]

Very nice! The flattened roof reminds me a bit of the Newbery TARDIS. As Volpone said, this TARDIS is only "inaccurate" to detail freaks like us; show it to someone with a general knowledge of Doctor Who and they won't be able to tell anything is different about it. I also love the look of the dyed wood, really has that "travelling through the vortex for millennia" look to it. Slap on a black wash in places to make some details pop, and it'd be a stunning battered blue box!

(Side note - if you were concerned about its height, you could have built a classic box. I'm not 100% sure but I think all of them were under 9' tall. Not trying to put down your build, just saying as I know how frustrating it can be to alter dimensions and measurements to rescale something. Hope you didn't have too bad of a headache sorting them out!)

[AtilAnon]

(Side note - if you were concerned about its height, you could have built a classic box. I'm not 100% sure but I think all of them were under 9' tall. Not trying to put down your build, just saying as I know how frustrating it can be to alter dimensions and measurements to rescale something. Hope you didn't have too bad of a headache sorting them out!)

Thanks, and yeah i knew i could just build a classic, but i wanted smith specifically cause he's my favorite, more specifically: the clean shiny look of the later smith prop

[AtilAnon]

I'm pondering how i'm going to rig this up with wires and lights. I want this prop to be functional with a small "Console" board on the back of the phone compartment, with switches and levers that controls individually addressable RGB's, sounds, and possibly even a smoke machine. Although I have no idea where to start on something like this. If anyone has any ideas please let me know

[Volpone]

Depending on what you want do do and how, this advice may be of limited use.  I'm a big believer in keeping it simple--and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

As I understand it, the original police boxes were lit by a bare bulb hanging at about the height of the POLICE BOX signs.  This served to light the windows, POLICE BOX and phone panel signs AND provide interior lighting for the Bobbies after dark.  Since the signal lamp had to flash when the switchboard was calling the box, that was a separate bulb. 

In the past I've had an LED lantern hanging to serve as the main bulb.  Not terribly bright but it makes the effect with no wiring.  Then I had a solar lamp in the signal lamp so that would come on at dusk.  For some reason that solar lamp dies every few years and I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. 

But for the first time, my TARDIS is parked close to wired electricity so I got a mechanic's shop light, took the protective guard off it and hung it in the TARDIS.  Then I happened on LED lightbulbs at the hardware store with a built in photo sensor.  So now my TARDIS lights up automatically at dusk and turns off at dawn.  Still haven't replaced the solar lamp.  Probably will.  But I've got a hole open through from the lamp to the interior so I stuck a bottle of rubbing alcohol up in the lamp.  It isn't anywhere near as bright as a police box signal lamp would be (or even my old solar lamp) but the bottle of alcohol transmits the light from the shop light up into the signal lamp.  And it doesn't shatter if the temperature drops below freezing.

[davidnagel]

Ya know...that wood stain really works if you ask me.

[AtilAnon]

Some time has passed
The box has been painted, both inside and out, with a color that much better suits the look i'm going for (although i do miss the original paint). The inside is solid white with an off gray floor to avoid looking filthy every time my shoes touch it.


I've removed the drawing desk for now while I begin work on the electronics for it.
Last week I've disassembled the TARDIS and taken it home from the carpentry shop. One thing I learned in this process: Paint is basically just glue with color in it, it will stick things together unless you paint each piece separately, but it wasnt anything a razor knife and a mallet couldn't fix.







It fits perfectly. If it were 5cm taller the fan would be chopping into the roof, and I didn't even account for that so it seems I'm just lucky. Now that I can have it in actual complete darkness, the flashlight I have taped to the ceiling inside works quite well to light it up, although i'm going to be kitting it out with Addressable RGB strips and reflective panels in the windows, all hooked up to an Arduino for control. If anyone has ideas or tips to go along with this please lmk!

[AtilAnon]

I've gotten a basic sound system going after some arduino tinkering. I'll be adding more sounds and functionality as time passes, including addressable RGB lights which arrive tomorrow.