Uni Break (ish) Tardis Build

[Angelus Lupus]

That is one gorgeous box! I know a lot of people said they hated the Arwel Wyn Jones design when it debuted with Jodie, but for me it trumps the previous New Who boxes. I love the extra detail you've added by sloping each roof-stack like the original Met boxes had. That will certainly help the rain run off!

[MKXLII]

Well, some not so fun news came today. Having been outside for only a week or 2 at this point some of the detail panels have decided they no longer wish to be apart of my box. So some slightly extreme measures were taken to attach them again, I have placed a backing piece across the panels and have put 3 screws length ways through them in order to pull them back against the wall backing.

I've had to fill them in, sand them then paint again but looks as good as new which is nice. Fingers crossed that no more want to separate but I have a feeling I'm not going to be that lucky.

As of writing this some cracks have also been found by my dad  in the sides of 2 of the signs and a crack on the roof, now all I'll be able to think about is when it rains if there's anymore cracks that water can seep into.













The last photo is how it sat after filling in the holes for the detail panels last night, currently there is more filler on the cracks in the signs and roof and will be painted tomorrow.

Hopefully I wont get too many more cracks and separations as they really do make me worry when they happened and if any water has done any damage.

[russellsuthern]

Unfortunately if you keep your box outside, you will spend an unreasonable amount of time fixing weather related issues, I know I did!
But it is worth it, your box looks great!
Russell

[Volpone]

Yup.  If I had nothing better to do with my time and money, I'd fiberglass the entire exterior of my box.  That's one of the advantages of a classic series box for being outside:  the more beat up and jury-rigged it is, the more accurate it looks (to a point, my roof looks a bit like a toddler's ceramics project these days). 

[MKXLII]

So it has been about a week since I fixed the cracks and splits in my Tardis, sadly a lot more have appeared so it has had to be wrapped up again until I have some sun and a spare few hours to patch them up.

Clearly just the paint wasn't enough so I've decided that I will need to apply something more to the box to try protect it, which is why I have chosen to add a few layers of polyurethane wood protector to the exterior in hopes that will stop any more cracking and splitting.

There's not much of a point of showing photos as its just in the same places as the other splits, just on different sides of the box and some where the roof panels join.

However there is some good news to come at the same time as the bad, the lamp for the top of the Tardis is now 95% ready to be installed with the light. It just requires the screws to be painted and the lens to be sealed into place. This does have a photo and I'm really happy with how it turned out even if it isn't 100% perfect.



I will update after I have managed to fix the cracks and splits in the box and have sealed it with the polyurethane coats, its currently winter here so rain is quite a common occurrence sadly but I will do my best to get it done soon.

[MKXLII]

Well it's been a little while since I gave an update and that's mainly due to uni starting, however since the last post there has been quite a few more cracks that have appeared and that I've needed to fill in and paint which hasn't been very fun but they've started to slow down now so hopefully there won't be too many more that appear.

I have also now sorted out the main lighting source for the box interior and have got everything ready to install the top light, I am currently waiting for the silicone to dry on the top light as of this post but should be ready to install in the next day or so.

I also was able to go to Wellington to see the Doctor Who expo that is currently on there and got to see a whole lot of really cool things that photos alone cannot do justice, my favorite part of it was definitely seeing the TARDIS in person, sadly it was just a fiber glass box that hadn't been treated very well but it was still very cool to see and compare to mine.



Other than that I am only now needing to create a sound box to go inside and figure out a way to sync the sound with the lights, and also add in a cover for the bottom of the doors to stop the light from shining underneath them. I still want to have the blue light on top but as I have not been able to figure out what bulb would work best or where to even find a bright blue bulb like that near me I will have to use a different bulb that matched the colour of the window and sign lights which will also look pretty good.



For anyone who wants to see the lights in a bit of action here's a video, its not fully ready but it's the start of the pulsing so its better than nothing.

https://youtube.com/shorts/8_erbLG3eRw?feature=share

I'm hoping to have the top light installed soon but who knows what will happen with that, thank you all for being very kind with your messages and I hope you enjoy my box. There's not too many people who have come to see it near me so its good to see people enjoying it on here.

[M.Sharif_3d]

This is really impeccable work!

[soniced-up]

Absolutely stunning job you have done there! 👍

[MKXLII]

So I finally got around to installing the lamp up top yesterday and then got the light working this morning, fingers crossed that there is no leaks in it.

I noticed that there was a crack in one of the roof panel joins and so the inner framing is now a bit wet but its been patched up and so hopefully it'll dry out over the next week or so.

All that is left now to do is to get a speaker box built and the sounds to be played in sync with the lights.

Also I would like to weather it somewhat to make it look less "New" but my abilities of weathering are not very good so some practice will need to be done before I can hopefully weather it the way I want.

I will update again when I get the sound box done and installed but I don't really have any idea when that will be done or even started really, But hope you enjoy what is now a visually completed AWJ Tardis.

[russellsuthern]

Looks great.
Will it be staying outside?
If so, you won't need to worry about weathering it yourself... Just leave it a year or two!!

[Volpone]

My biggest "weathering" trick these days is intentionally not matching the paint when I repaint--and then intentionally missing some spots while painting.  I just pick the darkest blue I can find at the hardware store and get to it and it works pretty nicely.  I don't know how well that applies to new series boxes, but it's great for classic boxes.

[soniced-up]

My biggest "weathering" trick these days is intentionally not matching the paint when I repaint--and then intentionally missing some spots while painting.  I just pick the darkest blue I can find at the hardware store and get to it and it works pretty nicely.  I don't know how well that applies to new series boxes, but it's great for classic boxes.

I use a gray paint to daub onto my classic box- it makes the blue appear dirty and darker.