A Met Box Build

[russellsuthern]

Looking great!
The whole colour thing is really weird, though...
I used exterior oxford blue from Wilko's but my TARDIS looks so much darker than yours....

Maybe if you have a Wilko's near you, you should try a pot & see what you think....

Russ

[Volpone]

I suspect it is undercoat. White primer versus black rubber roof patch material makes enough difference in how dark the blue looks.   Quick, someone do a study. 

[russellsuthern]

So Steve,
We need to use your Metbox as a guinea pig for a very important experiment....

You need to paint half your box with white undercoat/primer, then paint the other half with black bitumen sealer, then cover the whole lot with Oxford Blue & see if the two halves look any different.

Steve, this experiment is vital for the survival of TARDISbuilders as we know it!!

(Or... you could just tell me to p!$$ off.....)

(Whatever you decide to do in the end, it will look fab...)

Russ

[fivefingeredstyre]

To date the box has always been primed in grey, so i'm not sure if the primer makes much of a difference. The Oxford Blue just seems way too vivid in direct sunlight; however when teh sun goes down a little it looks perfect...

[russellsuthern]

To be serious for a second,

I agree that the undercoat shouldn't affect the topcoat. The whole point of the overcoat is that it's opaque & the undercoat doesn't show through.

I think It's more a case of the different manufacturers idea of what "Oxford Blue" (or any other colour) actually is, can vary wildly.

It's a bit like all the different clothes manufacturers have a different idea of what a size 12 is.

Just as you have to try the clothes on before you know if they fit, you can only tell if the paint is the right colour once it's gone on.

(Probably teaching you to suck eggs here, Steve... )

Half the fun is hunting for that perfect shade of blue, although it is a pain if you spend money on a colour that turns out wrong...

Oh well, happy hunting!!

Russell

[Scarfwearer]

To be serious for a second,

Well, alright, but just one second, okay??

My standard advice when uncertain is to find some pieces of scrap wood and do experiments. Much better than experimenting on your precious build!

[alistair]

Well I have just forked out £42 on 2.25 litres of Oxford Blue Dulux Weathershield in Satin finish. I've not been able to get a taster pot and the only way to get it 'cheap' was to buy it all in one go. So however it looks, I will have to call that 'right'!

[russellsuthern]

This is why I like Wilko's... A pot of Oxford Blue exterior gloss is only £9.
Two pots did the whole of my TARDIS... £18!! Bingo!!


Russell

[galacticprobe]

It's a bit like all the different clothes manufacturers have a different idea of what a size 12 is.

This is so true, especially in shoe sizes. Depending on the maker, I can take anywhere from a size 8.5 to a 10.5!

My standard advice when uncertain is to find some pieces of scrap wood and do experiments. Much better than experimenting on your precious build!

And excellent advice it is, especially coming from the man that built a transformable TARDIS! Most home improvement and paint stores will sell you a pint sample for you to test with (at least those in the US will), so testing is always a good way to start.

I've not been able to get a taster pot and the only way to get it 'cheap' was to buy it all in one go. So however it looks, I will have to call that 'right'!

You could be very surprised, Alistair. That color could be exactly what you're looking for, even if it's by accident and the mixed color is off from the sample "chip" you looked at. (A neighbor of mine recently had his house done over in vinyl siding. The company put the wrong color siding on - not the color he chose. And because they started work while he was at work, by the time he got home the job was 80 or more percent finished. Now for the kicker: the "wrong" color the workers put on appealed to my neighbor more than the color he chose, so he was happier with the "wrong" color... which I guess in the long run actually made it the "right" color.)

Dino.

[Volpone]

To be serious for a second,

Well, alright, but just one second, okay??

My standard advice when uncertain is to find some pieces of scrap wood and do experiments. Much better than experimenting on your precious build!

Surely, you can't be serious.

[galacticprobe]

Surely, you can't be serious.

At this moment in time Scarfwearer is very serious! (And don't call him "Shirley"! )

Dino.

[russellsuthern]

You CANNOT be serious, man!!!

[Scarfwearer]

Where's my inflatable dalek...?

[fivefingeredstyre]

I've not been skiving, honest...







And just to prove that blue is a complete pain in the arse, here is a picture comparing the colour of the new doors against the old. You wouldn't believe it, but the new one is actually darker!



Next up  - Windows!

Ask anyone who's built a TARDIS and they will tell you that the windows are the most tedious part to make. I'm upgrading mine now and rather than have to chop around wood to make eight new sets i'm going to make my new windows out of resin.

first off I need to knock up a dummy unit to make a mould from...







These new windows will have individual panes in them (unlike the single piece of opaque acrylic I used last time). So my next job is to fabricate the inner dividers and then i'll knock up the mould...

More to follow...

[fivefingeredstyre]

There's been a little bit more slow progress over the last few weeks...

First up I needed to make a mould to cast the rest of the windows from





Which didn't turn out too bad...



Next up was the internal dividers











Put them together and you get this...



All ready for painting...

Casting is definitely a more expensive way of making the window frames; however I remember last time that making these out of stripwood was so laborious and tedious that I'm happy to offset the cost. Besides, its more fun this way...