The TARDIS Toolkit

[galacticprobe]

I found some reference images on the net we might be able to divine some dimensions off of.

I wonder if there might be some information at the Helix website? Sometimes you can download old manuals or those little sheets of paper that tell you how to operate an object that is usually obvious.

Don't forget the link to that ebay auction markanthonyquested posted above. The auction may be over, but the listing is still up (though it has "ENDED" across it) and it does give the overall dims (all in cm) of the main case in the Item Specs (scroll down to find them). Some clever work with those numbers should help derive other dims for this one.

Dino.

[warmcanofcoke]

from the ebay auction :


Lockable with 2 keys with carry handle

measures 44cm wide by 15 cm deep and 32 cm high

also found another one here
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/87537955/HELIX_HOME_FILE_METAL_STORAGE_HOLDER_OPENS_LIKE_A_BRIEFCASE_SOLID_WITH_KEY_SOME_SLIGHT_MARKS.html

here are the images:

[warmcanofcoke]

found this post about the same item over at the RPF

http://www.therpf.com/f9/tardis-toolkit-found-item-original-series-173227/

Also here is a good reference image of the tool kit.

[galacticprobe]

I know this topic has been quiet for a bit, but with the airing of the special "The Doctors Revisited: The Fifth Doctor" and the following adventure "Earthshock", did anyone else notice that while the Doctor and Adric were working to disarm the cyberbomb, when the Doctor took the Magnetic Clamp from the toolkit:

(photo courtesy of Purpleblancmange in one of Exilea's earlier posts in the http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1201.0 thread - arrow added by me)

and attached it to the cyberbomb:

(again, photo courtesy of Exilea's post in the http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1201.0 thread - arrow added by me, pointing to the extended section of the shaft)
that the shaft on the clamp was extendable? I hadn't noticed that before. So did anyone else just notice this detail on that particular prop? (Or did everyone know about it already, leaving me as the only dunce? )

Dino.
PANNA: What's he babbling about? ... Is he an idiot?
KARUNA: Are you an idiot?
DOCTOR: Well, I suppose I must be. I have been called one many...
PANNA: Keep silent, Idiot.
             -scene from "Kinda" - or those four lines could simply be the Readers' Digest version of my life!

[expendable]

I think you're being too hard on yourself. It's not used much and there's only one in the kit. Making it telescoping helps make it a little more useful.

[galacticprobe]

Yeah... I know of the clamp's two main uses that I can recall: 1) disarm the cyberbomb; 2) whack the 8th Doctor across the head by a Master-possessed Grace Holloway (but she didn't extend it or it would have left a bigger mark ).

And I'm guessing that knurled ring on the clamp's shaft is a twisty locking ring so the shaft can be locked into the required length. I was just curious if anyone else had noticed that about it before as the extendability of it isn't mentioned in any of the Doctor Who (non-fiction behind-the-scenes) books I've got, even the 1980s Doctor Who Technical Manual.

As for me being too hard on myself... (notice the and ). Warning: Historical Content. My wife reminds me of Idris/TARDIS, as ever since we started dating in 1978 she's occasionally referred to me as "[my] beautiful idiot" (a term I take proudly, and laugh at how, so many years later, the great Neil Gaiman used that exact phrase in his script for "The Doctor's Wife"). And quite often when I was working and we had a stubborn piece of electronics that we just couldn't find the problem with or seem to get it to work once we'd repaired it, I would always invoke my Number One Philosophy: "When all else fails, try the ridiculous; nine times out of ten it works." They were usually really off-the-wall ideas (and yes, they worked!), but even after proving this time and again, my guys in the shop - and sometimes our boss - would look at what I was about to do and say "You're going to do what?! Are you an idiot?!" I would rise up on my toes, put my arms akimbo, puff out my chest, hold my chin high and say in the deepest voice I could manage, "Why, yes; yes I am!" and jump into my "ridiculous" thing before anyone could stop me. Bingo! The equipment worked like a charm, much to their amazement.

I think it became a standing joke after a while; they realized that I knew what I was doing (you don't "normally" get to be a Master Chief Petty Officer if you don't), and I think they just liked asking that question so they could get me to do my pose and response. So those few lines from "Kinda" have always struck a chord with me: the Doctor, so intelligent, yet when being called an idiot says "Well, I suppose I must be. I have been called one many..." And then when "The Doctor's Wife" came along - well - need I say more? It's all in fun! End Historical Content.

But to return to my original question: did anyone else ever notice that the clamp could extend like that?

Dino.

[davidnagel]

Well I finally got my hands on one of these rare helix file for a friend in the US and took some measurements before sending it off. See attached for reference - do excuse my hand writing! Taken 2012.



Come 2014 I now actually have a helix file myself! I will start a build thread when I get around to it

[lespaceplie]

I recently acquired one of these file boxes myself. If you need to revisit any of the dims or other aspects, please ask. Unfortunately mine has the lattice supports (like the green one pictured earlier in the thread), but it's the same in every other way.

[warmcanofcoke]

This looks like a plastic drawer from a VHS video holder or something similar. If i make it slide off maybe I can store my sonic screwdrivers in the tool kit in the hollowed out interior. Line it with velvet felt.

[Davros Skaro]

But to return to my original question: did anyone else ever notice that the clamp could extend like that?

Dino.

I didn't know it extended either, so your not alone there.

[warmcanofcoke]

Are those buttons Blue or Green?

[Rassilons Rod]

Are they illuminated ?

[galacticprobe]

In the image of the toolkit with the tools in it, the "Operational Lights" look sort of, well, "bleen" - bluish-green; but that image looks like its color is a little off: tinted towards the blue more than normal when compared to the images that follow, where the toolkit looks like a proper silver/grey.

In the images with Davison and Matthew Waterhouse, lights look more green, though they don't look illuminated. In the image with Colin Baker, they do look illuminated. They also have that bluish tint to them, but that could be due to the illumination - how bright they are and how the camera's filters and the video tape pick up the light from them.

And another thank you to Nate for posting those images.

Dino.

[warmcanofcoke]

Are they illuminated ?

five whole buttons and in charge of safety. Tell me more. Are Some of these buttons illuminated?

[warmcanofcoke]

Never realised there were those shots of the toolbox, to the toolbox thread!

images of this prop can be seen here : http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=7085.msg89439#msg89439
Image references: TimeFlight 69 - 71, 77-84

Time-Flight 1982 Story 123

TimeFlight 069

TimeFlight 070

TimeFlight 071


TimeFlight 077 The Temporal Limiter

TimeFlight 078 The Temporal Limiter

TimeFlight 079 The Temporal Limiter

TimeFlight 080 The Temporal Limiter

TimeFlight 081 The Temporal Limiter

TimeFlight 082

TimeFlight 083

TimeFlight 084  The Temporal Limiter

images of this prop can be seen here : http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=7102.0
Image references: Antimatter Meter 001-006

Arc of Infinity 1983 Story 124

Antimatter Meter 001

Antimatter Meter 002

Antimatter Meter 003

Antimatter Meter 004

Antimatter Meter 005

Antimatter Meter 006

images of this prop can be seen here : http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=7101.msg89582#msg89582
Image references: Mawdryn Undead 001-009

Mawdryn Undead 001

Mawdryn Undead 002

Mawdryn Undead 003

Mawdryn Undead 004

Mawdryn Undead 005

Mawdryn Undead 006

Mawdryn Undead 007

Mawdryn Undead 008

Mawdryn Undead 009