Richard's Smith/McGann TARDIS

[mordrogyn]

If your on a tight budget you could make your sign graphics how Scarfwearer did his, even if only as a temporary measure:

http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=41.msg300#msg300

Scroll a little over half way down the page

[superrichi1a]

As I said I'd post the proper update "soon", I thought I should post this little message saying it's not coming as soon as I thought because, as I'm a total idiot, somewhere between taking photos of my lamp in the kitchen, and carrying my camera to the computer room, I've (not lost) "misplaced" it well, yes, lost, but I'm trying to be optimistic). Hopefully it'll turn up soon.
I can see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel now, although when I lay out what I have left to do, it's sounding like it'll take a while, I have to make the whole roof, make the window frames, find some pebbled glass and translucent black perspex to fit in the windows, have the door sign and roof signs made cheaply, I'm having trouble with this, paint the whole damn thing with wood preservative and blue paint, add the lock and handles, then do all the electrics, find a place in the garden for it to live, build a brick platform for it, assemble it, wood-filler in some of the more obvious gaps, repaint, and enjoy. Sounds like I won't hit my September 1st deadline here, considering I miss 2 weeks of potential build time to go on holiday, but I hope thait'll pull together more quickly now, and if I miss my target deadline it'll be complete soon after...

[mordrogyn]

Can I just say this...

Wood filler  NO!

It cracks and falls out, the stuff I used in my windows was terrible, the stuff on my panels is better but not by much.  I'd suggest something else, car body filler would stay better but may offer problems depending on where you are, wood will swell and shrink with the seasons (across the grain more noticably than with it) a silicone sealer would be more flexible but you would have to make sure you get one that can be painted over.

I wouldn't recommend wood filler, not unless you want to be repairing the cracks often, though others may have used it with more success...

[superrichi1a]

Hello, yes, very sorry for (very) late update (although I assume no one even noticed hehe). I had a string of problems befall me which occupied most of my time, but I have now finally had some time to take  some pics and post a proper update.

Riigght, a lot has happened since last update, and I'll do  a quick round-up of events:



My New Haven lamp arrived a few weeks ago, and this is widely believed to be the exact same lamp used in promotional material for the box in series 5 (31-whatever). A huge, huge thank you to pmc for giving me the link to buy it. I suggest you check out his threads for more detail and some lovely pictures of the promo box in the Television Centre.
I've made several modifications to the lamp housing to make it closer to the box's lamp. Unfortunately, I can't get the roof of the lamp to be the correct Tennant-style model, as I cannot get my hands on a Guardman Parisian Lamp to stick on the top, but that doesn't really bother me much. The lamp also has 6 struts around the outside rather than 4, this is because if I removed to the rest would be unequally placed, and while, this is the case with the real box, I think it'll look better with the full 6.



I have also done the sign-boxes, it's such a relief to have them over with. They are not nailed together yet, I am going to wait until I have the sign graphics to make sure there are no mistakes, I still have had no luck in finding a place to have these made, but I'm not giving up!



Yup, roof steps are done as well, they are not complete in these pictures, seeing as I haven't actually taken any of the finished thing, but I'd say it's about 80% there, so you get the idea.

Right, that's about it, today I also finished the square stand for the lamp to fit on, not much, but it's progress none the less. I have also got some wood for a prototype window, and have ordered some translucent black perspex online, and still need to test it to see if it gives the desired result, but before that I still need to do the sloping top of the roof. Not sure what materials to use here, was thinking about exterior ply, but I'm not sure, so if anyone can give me any tips that'd be great.

So, that's it. Have fun and happy TARDISing

[geminitimelord]

EXCELLENT!!

I like how you did your roof, At first I thought you didnt have enough of a step but then I referenced the Photo of the real deal and you look spot on. I also like the Sign box construction. This will indeed be a Box to look for.

[superrichi1a]

Thanks! It's very reassuring to have a comment as nice as that, thank you for the compliment.
Yes, I was concerned about the step at first too, and I had reference pictures in front of me which I thought looked roughly in-line with my build, but I just wasn't sure that it'd look right in real life, I don't think the end result looks too bad though, but I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to have someone tell me that it looks right lol, so thanx for that

[superrichi1a]

I just thought I'd post some pictures of the roof steps, in all their completed glory, well, apart from the post caps, but no-ones perfect



Yup, the lamp stand is not yet fixed on permanently, as it will serve as a reference as to how high my roof slopes should be, I'm still stuck on what material to use for the slope, so if anyone can give me a few good ones to think about that'd be great

I also thought I might as well post this:



I'm sure it's been seen here before, but for anyone who doesn't know, this is the new Police Box in Cardiff Doctor Who Exhibition, which i went to recently. It's in quite bad condition, and one of the staff told me that it may be swapped for a better model soon, so I thought I might as well post this on here. For the general interest of no one inparticular. I just thought it might be a nice change

[DoctorWho8]

I believe this is one Purple tried to rehab 2 years ago.  Here's his blog post.
http://purpleblancmange.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/lets-do-the-time-warp-again/
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[superrichi1a]

I believe this is one Purple tried to rehab 2 years ago.  Here's his blog post.
http://purpleblancmange.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/lets-do-the-time-warp-again/
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

Aaahh, yes, looks like it. How did I know that somehow it'd all trace back to Purple. It seems that where ever Police Boxs turn up, Purple isn't far behind.
Perhaps the box now needs another restoration. 2 years is a long time for a box to live in an Exhibition, and when I went recently I tell you, that box wasn't far from falling over. The pics on Purp's blog from when it was just restored show it in better condition, but I guess it's been damaged again, what with every passing 10 year old trying to grab a suovenir off it...

[DoctorWho8]

Purple did confirm this prop is 7 years old and definitely agrees in needs to be "retired."  Supposedly when it was in Brighton, it was left out over night during a storm and was blown off the pier and was found the next day on the beach.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[geminitimelord]

Purple did confirm this prop is 7 years old and definitely agrees in needs to be "retired."  Supposedly when it was in Brighton, it was left out over night during a storm and was blown off the pier and was found the next day on the beach.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

CRAP! I wondered about that. Ever since I was able to tip my TARDIS to 45 degree with ease I have been concerned about it blowing away in a good wind.

[DoctorWho8]

Maybe putting some heavy weights on the inside might help?
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[superrichi1a]

Not really much of an update, since I don't have any pictures of any interest, but:
The translucent black perspex for my windows came recently, so today I started building my first window. I did take some photos of the perspex, but they didn't turn out to be very good, so I'll take some more when the first window is finished Minor hiccup, I discovered that my original plan of sanding the back of the black acrylic to difuse the light from inside didn't work, as on the black particularly you could see every little sandpaper mark in perfect clarity, especially when lit up, but I alse made an excellent disovery to rectify that. When I put some frosted acrylic behind the black, it rendered the black totally opaque, and reflective, exactly like the one on the telly, but, when lit up from the inside, all the light is difused evenly, and the whole thing lights up rather nicley. Infact, what happens in the white lights up, and thw black is then tendered near transparent, so the end effect is a evenly, brightly lit white window, exaclty as it is on TV. I've yet to test how this will stand up when actually placed in the box, but my tests in the house in the dark went very well.
I also started the window frame, which I rather messed up on as I didn't think to paint the frame white before attatching it to the bak of the door, which means I'll have to be extra-careful when paiting the door later on.

As a side note, today officialy marks the start of my Dalek build, so there is a point to this update after all

[superrichi1a]

I bring photos 



Yes, I have startes my windows. Mord's prediction that I would find the windows the most frustrating part of the build...DIDN'T come true...because I cheated 
Yes, rather than build the actual windows themselves I have built them onto the inside of my box walls. First I use thinker wood to make the outside frames, and glue them onto the inside of the window holes, and afterwards I carefully cut the window-frame-struts out to the exact lenght I need and glue them to the frames by the edges. When it comes to adding the perspex a huge wad of glue will be used to secure the whole thing... yes... I know it's a very unsophisticated way of doing it but meh, it works
Takes ages though, since these pics were taken I've finished the window on the other side of the wall and started on the nexxt wall's lot. I have to be very careful when glueing the pieces in place... I don't like careful so I'll be happy when this is over

[deck5]

Looking good!  Maybe you'd have an easier time of it if you glued in the plexiglass first, and then glued the strips in place on top?