Father Son 1/2 size build

[wizzer2801]

Hey all!  First time poster but long time lurker.  

So, to put this out there early on, I am fairly new to Doctor Who.  I have had a few friends try and get me into it for many many years and only recently finally broke down and started watching.  The wife and I have now made it through all of the new Doctors and I am slowly working my way through the classics.

One of the thing that struck me was the Tardis.  I looks at it early on and thought.....I bet I could build one of those.  See, I love woodworking.  Especially odd ball stuff.  I designed and build a box for my cat to have his food and water in that we could see into, but the dog couldn't get to it.  So I thought, "why not build a Tardis!"  Shortly afterwards my Son mention that we should do it as a team project.  Since he is prepping to join the military, I figured this was a good bond type of thing for us to do.

So, here we are.  For the last two months I have been browsing the forum here, looking at everyone's builds and gaining inspiration.  I know that I would have a few days off from work (just switched jobs) and it would be perfect timing for this build.  I eventually want to build a Full scale box but wanted to start small and get ideas.  This will help me build the larger one when it comes time.

So we started yesterday and I made a point to try and take pictures along the way.


Since this is a 1/2 scale (ish) we started with a simple base frame:



We opted to have the walls be plywood (1/4 inch thick) and cut out the squares.



Sonic Screwdriver says Math is Hard!


Cutting out the squares:



Our Corner pieces are 4x1 inch paired with a 3x1 inch, 4 feet long:


With the walls attached (doors are just leaning)




And here we are after today.  Doors attached and everything mounted on the base:



Tomorrow we put the backing on the walls and start work on the sing boxes and roof.  This should take us through the weekend and I am hoping to start painting come Sunday.  I'll post more progress as we go.

Thanks to you all for all of your un-knowing help so far!

[DoctorWho8]

Looking good, but are you going to trim down the top above the top windows?  It's about 3 time taller than normal.

Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[wizzer2801]

Looking good, but are you going to trim down the top above the top windows?  It's about 3 time taller than normal.

Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

Yeah, I see what we did, and it may be too late to trim the top without taking it all apart.  But, Since we weren't looking to do an exact replica.....we will improvise! 

I think we are going to make our sign boxes a little larger than planned.  We were aiming for 3 inch height, but have have to go with 4 to make up for the extra space.

Well, that's why we built small first....to learn!

Thanks for the heads up!

[superrichi1a]

That's a valuable lesson to have learnt. I'm kicking myself so hard right now because I made exactly that mistake, but on my full size build (I REALLY should have built a model or virtual model or something to test it... I just didn't think of it at the time), so I can't change it. It annoys me every time I see it,  because it  makes an other wise New-Series looking box look like a badly built classic series.
I'm hoping to be able to fix it next year, when I plan to give my box a major make over. It's going to be a tough job, I have to cut down several inches of all the 4 sides, re-fit the hinges, cut down all 4 corner posts, then stick it all back together again, which I'm not sure will go together as well after that. If that's not enough, I've worked out that if I do that, my roof will look top-heavy, because it's more of a Hartnell sized roof than a New Series, so, that will have to be a re-build too.
My point is, if you are not sure about any details, any at all, make sure you ask or check, or you may regret it later.

Anyway, sorry, that was a bit long-winded
Love the work so far, looks to be a nice sturdy build!

[wizzer2801]

So today we got the backings on all the panels and added a roof to brace for when we add the tiers (and to hold everything in place.




Also, First Blood happened today.  I almost always bleed somehow on every project.  Thankfully it's only a small puncture.


You may also notice that the top is a tad shorter.  We cut off about 3 inches to solve the tall top problem.  our sinage will be about 3 inches tall so we should have maybe an inch of overage.

A big lesson learned here would be to save the door attachments until after the top is on.  We now will need to take the doors off and trim them up a bit as they stick when opening.  (Through warped wood or being 1/4 inch off.)  That's one of the downsides to working small scale. even 1/4 of an inch can cause HUGE problems. 

Next stop, Lowes to pick up wood for the Signs and Roof!  I think we may look at doing a flat roof instead of the slanted as in 1/2 scale the difficulty curve is pretty high.  I am open for suggestions though.

[wizzer2801]

Man it's hot today.

We are painting and that means some outside time.  I am so glad my shop is downstairs in the basement where it's nice and cool.

So here's where we are now:

Took the doors off and started painting the main body, first coat.



While that was drying (and the wife helped with the second coat) the kid and I went down to build the roof.  here it is sitting on the top. (Not the actual lantern that will be used)


I bought some pre-cut plexi for the windows and left the frost plastic on them.


So that leaves us with the Signs, Window frames, and Lantern for the top.

I opted to not do the Phone box on the side door because of the material we are using being very thin and the overall size being very small.  On the plus side, the whole thing is extremely light!

[DoctorWho8]

You can make the door sign out of cardboard or balsa wood.  Both are light and won't affect the door weight.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[wizzer2801]

Been a little while since an update due to my starting the new job.

While I was at work the kid Started in on the signs for the top.  Went for all wood and painted using a stencil.  If we go full size I will definitely look into getting signs made.

Also, I think I see a table saw in my future.  All of the cuts here were made with a handheld circular saw or a hand skill saw, and it shows. (and it makes me sad).  But hey, this small one was more meant for fun and learning!

So here is where we are now:



We stuck the front door sign (phone box sign) on with Lamination and sticky back.

Whats left is the Lantern, and Window framing, and then some touch up painting!

[DoctorWho8]

That looks much better with the signs on.  Well done.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[wizzer2801]

All Done!

Decided to paint the Frames on the windows directly as they would show up better.  Attached the lamp and even got it wired up!

Next step will be to line the inside with Fabric so it doesn't look too bad on the inside.  I fully realize that it kind of looks cartoony with odd wavy edges but like I have mentioned, this was purely for practice and to see where I need improvement.




more later!

[DoctorWho8]

So will the TARDIS serve drinks too?  I see a portable cooler next to it.  Season 13 scarf is a nice touch.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff