The Naming of Parts

[The14thDr]

I think the Zigzag Plotter is a gear stick from a Routemaster bus (the big red London buses), but I can't find any close-up images online that might give us a clue as to what the pull knob's function is.

As for the other part, I haven't got the faintest idea. The inside looks like some sort of red circuit board.

Kind regards, The14thDr

[galacticprobe]

I think the Zigzag Plotter is a gear stick from a Routemaster bus (the big red London buses), but I can't find any close-up images online that might give us a clue as to what the pull knob's function is.

Yeah; that's kind of hard when there aren't any labels on this one. I think I might know someone that worked on some of those buses not too long ago. I'll try giving him a poke to see if he can shed some light on it.

As for the other part, I haven't got the faintest idea.

Well, so far that makes it unanimous.

The inside looks like some sort of red circuit board.

Yeah; that much I figured out.

Dino.

[BioDoctor900]

I think the ball that juts out from the zigzag plotter isn't a lever. I think it's the hole where the selector bar connects through to engine from the selector box (zigzag plotter) possibly its the clutch release. Without the ball and the bolt its connected to, there would be a hole.

As for the plastic round box, I don't think its anything in particular. It just looks like a load of circuitry shoved into a container and a connector put in to make it look like you can do something with it

BioDoctor900

[rembrandt]

Thanks for posting those reference images, Dino. I'm planning to add this control to my own TARDIS console, and I've struggled to find any close-up images until now.
Does anyone know what the second handle sticking out from the "front" of the zig-zag plotter is for?

Kind regards, The14thDr

Never knew the Tardis runs on petrol.. If I'm correct I do See A tank pistol right at the panel the photo shows.
Or does it only provide petrol for the occasion the doctor needs to drive his scooter.
I've never seen him use that.
Bdw this is my first post here.
Already like this forum

[galacticprobe]

Never knew the Tardis runs on petrol.. If I'm correct I do See A tank pistol right at the panel the photo shows.

You're quite right, rembrandt; that is a petrol pump handle on the console, with its hose running up towards the top. (I think we IDed that a little earlier in this thread, so do take a look back to see. If it's not in a clear image then I'll see of I've got one to post.) There is also a "FUEL" cap on the console:

I don't think it's very far from the petrol pump handle, and the cap looks like it's sitting on that corrugated tube-like thingy from the 2005 console that would pop out the mobile phone that Martha left with the 10th Doctor. (At least it ejected the phone at him when Mr. Smith made that inter-dimensional phone call in "The Stolen Earth".) In fact, I in a deleted scene from the end of "Flesh and Stone", the 11th Doctor actually opens this fuel cap and looks into it while Amy nags at him:

There's another scene where he looks into it while working one of the hand pumps, but I can't remember which episode that one is in, although I think it did have River Song in it. If someone knows the episode, please speak out.)

Bdw this is my first post here.
Already like this forum

Glad to have you with us, but please do make an introductory post in our http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?board=6.0 Section to tell us a little about yourself.

Dino.

[galacticprobe]

And not to clutter one reply into another, I move on to this one, regarding "the thingy":

I think the ball that juts out from the zigzag plotter isn't a lever. I think it's the hole where the selector bar connects through to engine from the selector box (zigzag plotter) possibly its the clutch release. Without the ball and the bolt its connected to, there would be a hole.

Quite possibly; without knowing what's under that leather sleeve covering the end that connects to the console's rib there's no way of telling. I've asked my friend that used to do some work on buses, but I haven't heard back from him yet. I'll post his reply as soon as I get it.

As for the plastic round box, I don't think its anything in particular. It just looks like a load of circuitry shoved into a container and a connector put in to make it look like you can do something with it

Again, quite possibly. I agree completely that it was shoved into a container, and the hexagonal opening around the connector does lend to it being an "add-on" for looks. As for it not being anything in particular, I'm still out on that one. The reason for that is the way it's put together. Having worked with electronics for 31 total years I can tell that this thing was put together with some precision. If this was just a 'throw something together and stick it inside that round clear container for looks' sort of thing, I doubt they would have gone through the trouble of putting that excessive number of tie-wraps around the wire bundles. There are 23 wraps on the thin bundle (left side of the thingy); at least that's how many I could count before it curved around the top and I couldn't see to count any others. (From experience, only engineers that build the electronics use tie-wraps to excess; we technicians usually end up cutting about half of them away as we work on the equipment. When you look at how close together those tie-wraps are, it just smacks of some engineer having built this for a reason: some actual piece of electronics that some poor tech will have a nightmare with as he tries to trace a wire through all of those wraps - hence why we usually cut more than half of them away.) And then there is an actual cable retainer about mid way along that bundle (about the 10 o'clock position when looking at it) that fits around the bundle and holds it in place near the edge of the red board.

The large wire bundle (right side) has 16 tie-wraps on it (before I can't see to count any others), and a cable retainer near that connector plug. All of the wire ends are soldered to terminal posts (and there is a ton of them), and then there are those small resistors in various places across the board. There are also some small ceramic capacitors in there, not to mention the little labels wrapped around the wires near the ends. That's a frackload of intricate work going into making just a piece of a prop that - if not for this photo - we probably would have never seen in any of the episodes.

What's throwing me is the two silver rectangular things in the center of this thingy. They look like some sort of heat sinks, or possibly small transformers - really can't tell from this angle. They're rather thick, and if you look closely at the red boards you'll see some thick tan colored structure under them, so those are more than just some red board stuff thrown in to make some greeble look nice.

So that connector plug just might actually be part of this, and not an "add-on", and that clear case is so perfectly matched to what's inside it. So I'm still thinking this odd thingy is really a "something" that was found, and someone thought it would be a nice greeble to add to the console, and my cat-like curiosity - not to mention my electronics curiosity - would really love to find out what it is, or what it was part of before it became part of the console.

Dino.

[galacticprobe]

Okay, back to the Zigzag Plotter. I heard back from my friend that did some work on buses and here's what he had to say about it:

"It's a gear shifter from a Leyland Atlantean bus, probably used on other Leyland buses, too.

Found a photo of one still in situ along with a description of how it works: https://www.flickr.com/photos/62826100@N06/9062014900

It's funny, the poster of the image mentions a "sneezing" sound whenever the driver changes gear. I remember this very well! Here's a picture of one of the Leyland buses I probably travelled on as a kid. For some reason they always made me think of giant VW Microbuses.

As for the little knob on the front, I'm not 100% sure but as the buses were semi-automatic it's very likely that it was something to do with engaging/disengaging the clutch."

Here's a photo of the shifter for reference:


I took a look at the super-sized image available for download (and it is HUGE!), and saw the gear pattern. If I were a betting Time Lord (that actually won if I bet on something), I'd say that knob sticking out of the side (front side, or side-side) is the release that let the lever be shifted into "R", so the driver couldn't accidentally shift into reverse before coming to a stop. And if that knob is a pull-out-spring-loaded mechanism (and it's a big IF), then it would take two hands to get the shifter into reverse: one hand to pull and hold the knob out, and the other to shift the lever into reverse. Just guessing, but if I designed it, that's how I would have done it.

So, since my friend isn't 100 percent sure about what that knob on the side is for, it could have something to do with the clutch for those automatic buses, or it could be a safety feature to prevent accidental shifting into Reverse while moving forward. Fifty-fifty shot on that one. On a TARDIS console as a Zigzag Plotter? Let's call it programmable, and up to the operator.

This should be a little helpful. (And now, off to bed because I'm about to lose an hour of sleep tonight! (Oh, how I hate that fracking Daylight Sucking Time!)

Dino.

[The14thDr]

Thanks for posting that information about the ZigZag Plotter Dino! That definitely sheds some light onto the function of that second knob.

I was looking online for some photos of the TARDIS console the other day (as you do ) and I came across this site, which has some great close-ups of the keyboard on the Eleventh Doctor's console. And about halfway down the page, there are a couple of pictures which show a Magpie Electricals logo on the bottom left of the keyboard frame. http://imgur.com/a/e1y42
And, since I'm getting pretty obsessed with the whole "graphic designing" lark, I decided to give this a go on Publisher.

I made this by removing the background from a Magpie Electricals logo that someone posted elsewhere on the forum and replaced it with a copper-textured background.

Kind regards, The14thDr

[galacticprobe]

Nice job on that Magpie logo, 14th! I really like how the copper has that oxidized look to it around the lettering and the bird-lightning logo. It looks like it's been around for some time. Brilliant!

Dino.

[The14thDr]

Thanks Dino. the oxidized look is actually just a happy accident, when I removed the black background from the Magpie logo I was left with a few speckles around the edges of the lettering.
In a few days I'll try printing this out to see how it looks in real life.

King regards, The14thDr

[galacticprobe]

...the oxidized look is actually just a happy accident...

Serendipity! I love it! (Or as the saying goes; "You couldn't have done a better job if you'd tried!" )

In a few days I'll try printing this out to see how it looks in real life.

I look forward to seeing that. I hope it all goes well.

Dino.

[The14thDr]

I just took another look at the link I posted above with the 2010 TARDIS console images, and I found this:

On this photo of the keyboard, the Magpie Electricals logo appears to be black, not copper.

And then there's this, which is what made me originally think that the logo was copper. However, I no longer think that this is the case, as it looks more like the logo is made from a shiny black plastic/metal, and that in this second image it is merely just reflecting the copper lighting from elsewhere in the set. Thoughts?


Kind regards, The14thDr :ad

[galacticprobe]

Well, there were an awful lot of yellow and amber lights on that set, so it's completely feasible that the logo is reflecting some of it. (Although, that copper logo you created still looks fantastic!) So why not make a second, "black" version, and this way people can choose which one they want - or have both on hand to switch them out for variety.

This console underwent some changes between Series 5 and 6, subtle ones that you wouldn't notice unless you look for them: like the LEDs under the perspex panels having the Series 5 blue ones replaced with amber ones in Series 6, and "The Warning Lights" (that never stop) which we saw blinking red - in between the row of four small meters on one of the console segment's "neck", in "The Doctor's Wife" - which weren't there in the early episodes of Series 5. I'm sure there were more small changes than that, not as noticeable as they were on the 2005 console when large components moved from one panel to the next, or a car radio CD player was added in "Blink", or the "combination lock dial" that was added to the phone metal mesh panel in Series 2, but I'm sure if someone took the time to dissect every episode of Series 5-7a they could make a list of every little change they made to the 2010 console.

So that's what I would do, 14th; just make another, simpler black logo and let people choose which one they want to use. After all, one never knows when a nice black Magpie Electricals logo might find its way into the back of - oh - say your wide screen LCD TV, or your wife's electric tea kettle, or the fridge, washer, dryer, (wife's boom box! ).

Never too many variations on a Magpie Electricals logo! Not that I go around the house sticking things like this and those yellow Gallifreyan stickies all over the place... oh... wait... I do, don't I? Talked about that in another thread, didn't we?

Dino.

Dino.

[The14thDr]

For the second keyboard logo, I took an image of the normal Magpie Electricals logo and cropped it down to the correct proportions of the one shown in my post above.


Kind regards, The14thDr

[galacticprobe]

Great job, 14th! Would you also be able to post the larger image - like you did with the copper version? This way we can each size it as needed depending on what we're going to be putting it on.

Dino.
P. S. Did I ever mention how glad I am to have someone making logos to help take some of the weight off of me? THANKS!