Volpone's TARDIS build...

[Volpone]

That's an interesting idea.  But I think I will leave it for future science.  Just brainstorming, the advantage of having the acrylic beads (I'm done calling them "discs") on metal is that it gives them nothing to bond with except themselves.  So the big trick is to hit that sweet spot where the beads have melted just enough that they start to lose their perfectly round shape and start to flow and bond with the beads around them--but not so much that they melt into a homogeneous goo.  It could be that putting them on a pane of plastic would anchor them in place too much.  Then there's finding a plastic that has the right melting point to work with the process.  And fiddling around with cutting it to size.  Besides, I've just got the back side to do (turns out I did need another bag--I had just enough for 3 sides.  I could leave it, but that would drive my OCD crazy).  The thing about this is that it is easy--just make a pane mold with tinfoil, fill it with beads, and bake it.  Then stick it onto the existing pane.  I've only had to lightly sand the edges of 1 (out of pane and about half of them are such a perfect fit that they just press into place and stay there from friction with the frame.  I do wish I had a tube of silicone caulk laying around because I think that would have worked nicely as a bonding agent.  I may start a thread of this in the "windows" section to throw it out there for other people to experiment with. 

Who knows?  Maybe in 2 years I'll give it another shot.  (Or maybe I'll find out these buggers are water magnets and I'll have to pull them off before everything below them rots away.  Oh, on a personal note, it looks like shopping for field phones is off the agenda.  Last night I found out someone had cloned my credit card and made some $5,000 of cash advances.  So now I have to write checks until the bank can send me a new card.  I don't know in what reality these new RFID cards are supposed to be more secure.  Between 1987 and 2015 I've never had my credit card stolen.  Since getting an RFID card in 2015, I've had my card cloned twice.  It is so easy that I was accidentally doing it most times that I set my phone down on top of my wallet.  It would beep and say "new card detected."  After the first time, I added a foil pocket to my wallet.  But that doesn't help because you've got to take the card out of the wallet to use it.  Someone with an RFID card reader in a backpack in a checkout area of a busy store could steal everyone's card data in the line he's in--as well as adjacent checkout lines.  What's the solution?  Go back to writing checks?  Walk around with a wad of cash?  Bah.  I hate humans. 

[galacticprobe]

Wow! Sorry to hear about the troubles with your card, volpone. Hopefully since you've reported it, the bank will also get that $5k back for you while they're getting your new card. (Most banks do refund money from hacked/cloned cards.)

As for your OCD when it comes to your TARDIS, I think we've all got a little of that in us. (I've got a bit of "natural" OCD that I've been managing to keep in check, along with a touch of ADD, so I feel your "pains".) At any road, your pebbled glass looks just fine and hopefully it won't be that "water trap" you mentioned. (Maybe if you can find some nice clear silicone caulk, you could spread a thin layer over all of those lower corner panes, and then press the pebbled bead-melt into it. That would hold the pebbled "glass" in place, and also seal it all the way round - while also possibly filling in any tiny gaps between the beads and other small bare spots. Possible?)

Dino.

[Volpone]

TARDISes are exhausting.  Especially outdoor TARDISes.  Maintenance is constant.  And only maybe 10% of the maintenance is actually rewarding and cool.  The new paintjob?  Cool.  Scraping, patching, reinforcing, caulking?  Not cool.  I wanted to redo the signal lamp rain cap to make it more police box and I spent far too much energy doing it.  Ultimately I found a bucket at the dollar store that I was able to use for it.  Unfortunately it was TARDIS console/school bus interior mint green, so I'll have to stay on top of it as the paint wears off.  Or maybe fortunately.  Because the old blue plate, I just ignored after the blue paint wore off and UV radiation on the plastic made it weak and brittle. 

In the spirit of the Doctor, I tried to repair the solar lamp component.  The problem seemed to be that the lamp wasn't shutting off when the sun was out, so it never really recharged.  Unfortunately, when I got the lamp housing apart the circuit board was in bad shape so there was nothing I could do.  (Or maybe fortunately, because I'm not sure I could find my soldering gear even if I knew what I was doing.)  Luckily, Lowe's still sells the lamp I used ($6.98).  They've even upgraded it.  Now it has an on/off switch.  Granted, you need a ladder and to take apart my lamp to use it, but I could conceivably shut it off in the winter and save the battery.  I forgot how cool it looks with a relatively powerful signal lamp. 

Oh, I finished up my pebbled glass.  I think the cooking on a sheet of plastic would have merit if I were doing the build from scratch.  As it is, by the time I was done, I had pretty good effect.  Unfortunately, since I spazzed and did the front windows too early (I was running out of plastic beads and didn't know if I could buy more (I could and ultimately did)), I needed to do some touch-up on one of the ones on the door.  Man, I wish I had a chemist here.  The acrylic really melts after it's been in the oven more than once.  It wound up a lot mushier than I'd hoped, but still, it probably looks pretty good. 

Also, the phone door kind of opens.  Initially I caulked the heck out of the "hinge" side.  And my false hinges get in the way of the opening door, but at some point I can look at it to see about putting in a phone or intercom.  Here's a couple pictures.  I may or may not add comments.  I should be doing other things right now.  Or sleeping.  Anyhow, some pictures of the pebbled glass and some beauty shots.  There's one as the sun is setting and the sun is shining through the front windows and out the back windows (which have my most successful pebbled glass) that is quite nice.  Time soon for some finished work gallery updates and that pebbled glass tutorial.  But not now.  Besides, I still need to monkey about with more waterproofing and painting. 

[galacticprobe]

No matter how you look at it, volpone, she's one beautiful Lady and you've done a magnificent job creating her, upgrading her, and keeping an eye on her to make sure she stays "healthy". One can only applaud you for that (which should raise that "rewarding and cool" maintenance percentage up quite a bit: say even to 50 percent, though when you look at her standing there I should think the percentage would be higher, especially when the end result is so rewarding).

Dino.

[Volpone]

Do you have an electric toothbrush?  You know how the battery wears down over time and you forget how awesome it was when it was new--until you stick a new battery in it?  My new solar lamp is the best $7 I've spent in a long time.  I'm glad I'm not an exile from Lowe's, so I was able to pick up a new one instead of trying to repair my existing one. 

That said, since this is the build thread, I'll talk a few things on the punch list: 
1) Phone door.  It *kinda* opens.  I need to think through this and make it fully open and close.  And find an intercom or military surplus field phone to wire up.  In a perfect world the remote end would be on a TARDIS console in a Control Room.   For now it will probably be in my garage.  I should also wire this to the signal lamp bulb so it flashes when someone is calling. 

2) Speaking of which, I'd like to get my hands on some Fresnel magnifiers to line the inside of my lamp glass to make it look more like it is an actual Fresnel lens (as opposed to a lamp chimney shaped like a Fresnel lens). 

3)  Then I need to make the top panes of my windows clear.  Right now, I think I've got some fiberglass resin laying around somewhere.  If I scrub down my "crackle" fluorescent diffuser plastic and then frost it with resin, I think I can get a decent clear effect.  Alternately, I whip out the [-]Dremel[/-] sonic screwdriver and zap off the old plastic and replace it with clear.  Which brings me to...

The interior.  The raw utilitarian exposed wood Entropy has created quite appeals to me.  But it doesn't look right through clear panes.  So once I stabilize any rot, I need to slather on the white paint.

Oh, and I need to figure out how to make it bigger on the inside and travel through space and time, but all told, there isn't a lot left to do. 

PS:  The classic 1960s look is quite growing on me.  After I finished it I feared I'd made a horrible mistake, but as time goes by I find myself giggling like an idiot again when I see her. 

[galacticprobe]

Well, not sure how much help I'll be, but I'll give some of this a whirl.

1) Phone door.  It *kinda* opens.  I need to think through this and make it fully open and close.

I would start by looking at how the hinges work. It could just be a matter of a different style of hinge. (If you take a stroll through Lowe's and look at the hinges you'll see what I mean, and someone there might be able to provide more answers.) If the door is rubbing, you might just need to sand down the part of the frame that's causing the binding.

And find an intercom or military surplus field phone to wire up.

This is a tricky one. I know military re-enactors/living historians and when they look for those, even the surplus stores are expensive. If you have a friend that knows something about wiring phone systems, maybe he can help you install another phone jack inside the box, with the wiring going through some small PVC conduit underground. (It would only need to be buried a few inches, and it could enter the TARDIS through the bottom.)

In a perfect world the remote end would be on a TARDIS console in a Control Room.   For now it will probably be in my garage.

Maybe a wireless phone? Then again, you'd still need to get power to the base/charging station as well as the phone line, though both could go through the same PVC conduit, and for power you could use an extension cord.

I should also wire this to the signal lamp bulb so it flashes when someone is calling.  

When someone calls a landline it sends a 90-volt "ring voltage" through the line. Normally it just sits at about 15 volts to power the phone (all AC). You'd need to put a resistor in line where you tap off for the ring voltage to trigger the flasher circuit. And then there is the power needed for the circuit and the lamp as well. They do have equipment for hearing impaired that flashes a light when the phone rings, so that might be an easier option to look into for making the lamp flash when the phone rings. It should come with instructions on how to hook things up, but look for that friend who knows more about phone system wiring than I do. (I know just enough to be dangerous! )
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2) Speaking of which, I'd like to get my hands on some Fresnel magnifiers to line the inside of my lamp glass to make it look more like it is an actual Fresnel lens (as opposed to a lamp chimney shaped like a Fresnel lens).

Lowe's should have something suitable for that. Many times people use a pseudo-Fresnel peel-and-stick film to "frost out" (for lack of a better term) bathroom windows. The film has either frosted finish to it, or fine ridges that give it a Fresnel-esque look.

There are also alternatives on Amazon. Here are two inexpensive possibilities:
https://www.amazon.com/Magnifier-Projection-Cz-Garden-Supply/dp/B00IITFX02/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1465883444&sr=8-2&keywords=fresnel+lens

https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Opticlens-Brand-10-25-Fresnel/dp/B00W1Z3054/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1465883444&sr=8-5&keywords=fresnel+lens

And here are several thousand (literally) more to peruse, or sort by department to narrow it down, when you get the chance:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fresnel+lens.
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3)  Then I need to make the top panes of my windows clear.  Right now, I think I've got some fiberglass resin laying around somewhere. If I scrub down my "crackle" fluorescent diffuser plastic and then frost it with resin, I think I can get a decent clear effect.

I would test that out on some scrap "crackle" diffuser first. Fiberglass resin can do strange things to plastic! It also has a yellowish tinge to it so your windows would look really yellow at night when the light is on.

Alternately, I whip out the [-]Dremel[/-] sonic screwdriver and zap off the old plastic and replace it with clear.

Actually, that might not be a bad idea, especially if you want that nice and clear look. Small sheets of 1/16th or 1/8th inch thick plexi is not that expensive, and one sheet could complete all of the windows, depending on its size. Then you could really make sure everything was caulked properly and get that Cushing-esque clear pane look to the windows. It would even lend itself better for getting that lower center pane a nice shade of blue.

Which brings me to...

The interior.  The raw utilitarian exposed wood Entropy has created quite appeals to me.  But it doesn't look right through clear panes. So once I stabilize any rot, I need to slather on the white paint.

That would also go with the Cushing-esque look of the totally clear window panes. Same years as the Hartnell look, with a slightly different twist to it.

Oh, and I need to figure out how to make it bigger on the inside and travel through space and time, but all told, there isn't a lot left to do.

Yeah... and when you do, you'd better pay be a visit! (There are a few things I need to go back and warn my teenage self about... mainly to NOT bicycle race down that hill and blind curve because of the double-parked car where there shouldn't be one, and hopefully one way or another stop myself from smashing my nose and avoiding those surgeries and the sinus problems that will follow! And maybe give myself some investment advice since I know what's coming... though I won't tell myself about the back injury; I'll just worry sick for the next 30 years!)

PS:  The classic 1960s look is quite growing on me.  After I finished it I feared I'd made a horrible mistake, but as time goes by I find myself giggling like an idiot again when I see her.

Giggle away, my fellow idiot! (I won't quote the dialogue from "Kinda" again, but anyone can use the Search bar up top for "Are you an idiot?" and find where I have quoted it before. )

You really can't go wrong with any model TARDIS. Once people have built one I've noticed that even though the Old Girl didn't turn out exactly as they'd intended her to, they still fall in love with the look they've achieved and decide to keep it. So go right ahead and giggle. You've earned that right with that great build!

I hope some of this was helpful.

Dino.

[Volpone]

Not a torrential downpour and no hail--and we haven't had any extreme temperature changes to expand and contract seals yet, but after a good hard extended rain there are no signs of leaks in the TARDIS.  That was a pleasant surprise.  I did think to check the newly semi-functional phone door and even that stayed dry.  Didn't think to look for any effects the new window details might have caused, but it was dry under the windows inside, so that's a good sign. Oh, and I forgot to check the base where I had a lot of rot. 

I'm probably out of time this summer for any upgrades, but eventually I'll be tackling the phone door.  The challenge right now is that the false hinges are attached to the phone door, so when it opens they move with it and hit the side of the panel.  The door only opens 4" or so.  I'd hoped to just stick a real hinge behind the fake hinge, but I'll either have to redesign things or turn the false hinges into actual ones.  This isn't particularly difficult.  I've already got a plan to do that.  The biggest problem is that my homemade hinges would be considerably more fragile than actual ones. 

[Volpone]

Well, there's already some hairline cracks at some of the joints.     The good news is, the dark blue, I don't need any weathering on, so I can just add caulk as cracks develop.  In fact it will help the look because it will add weathering and texture with painted patches. 

If I were doing my pebbled glass experiment again, I'd try finishing with a blowtorch.  Because baking the plastic beads, you've got to stop once the beads start to fuse to each other or you lose the shape, but they aren't quite as fused as I'd like.  I think a quick hit with a blowtorch would be enough to get them to look like pebbled glass.  Of course it would also melt my plastic moulding window panes, so I'd have to pop them out to try it.  And I've got other things to do. 

[Sorvan]

if I could get a big bag of cheap clear plastic beads, I could throw them on a cookie sheet and bake them until they partially melted and fused into a reasonable approximation of pebbled glass.

Ok, so I'm a bit late responding to this message, but WOW what a great job!  I always see glass beads like these so had never thought about looking for plastic ones.

One way you might be able to fill in the gaps is by pouring some resin in a pan and dropping the melted sheet of beads on top of the resin.  My thought is that this would completely smooth out the flat side and eliminate any undercuts which might trap water.

Colin

[Volpone]

Moment of terror today. We've been having high winds and this morning when I got home from walking the dog I noticed my signal lamp housing was missing and my closeout glass anchor lantern chimney was halfway off the base. 

Luckily last year I decided to put a lightbulb up into the lamp assembly for looks (the top of the lamp is built from a solar landscape light so the actual light source is the rain cap).  It actually helps with the light because the LED shines down onto the lightbulb to diffuse the light.  Anyway, because I put a lightbulb up into the housing (which is open to the interior to serve as a vent), the chimney was caught by the lightbulb and didn't fall off the roof and smash into a million pieces. 

After looking around for the rest of the lamp, I peeked over the neighbor's fence and found it had blown into their yard.  It was partly busted up but nothing was actually broken.  I got everything back together and made an attempt to jury rig an improved mount for it (in 28 degree (F) weather with 25mph winds) and that was about as good an idea as it sounds, so for now the lamp assembly is in the garage with a steel dog bowl over the hole with a good sized rock on top of that. 

[Angelus Lupus]

Yikes! Lucky escape on the damage (I wouldn't want to be searching for broken glass in that weather). Seems like there could be a market for Tardis-Tarps™ 
Bet The Doctor never had to deal with missing lamps... mind you, there are a couple of classic episodes without lamps, so maybe..?

[Volpone]

Winds have broken.  I had productive things I was supposed to be doing today.  But they weren't very pleasant.  And I can be a bit OCD.  I had a bucket that premixed grout came in that I've used as a paint bucket.  It turns out that the top is the same diameter as the rain cap on the signal lantern.  And it has a neat step at about 3/4" that makes for a tidy cut.  So I zapped that off with a hacksaw and fitted it around the base of the "fresnel," outside the support legs.  That rests on the base that is part of the TARDIS and is a much better system than using caulk or semipermanent spray adhesive to secure the legs. 

Or it will be when it gets warm out.  Because right now it is too cold to paint and too cold to caulk it into place.  So for now it is white and has little silver areas where it is duct-taped to the TARDIS.  But it shouldn't blow off. 

[fivefingeredstyre]

I feel your pain. I worry that i'm going to find little bits of TARDIS over the lawn every time we have high winds... 

[Volpone]

For posterity, a shot of the re-engineered signal lamp.  When the weather warms up I'll have to think on what to replace the duct tape with.  This shot also shows the black bits that are covered with roof patch compound better than the other shot:

[galacticprobe]

The Old Girl looks great, Steve. And that roofing patch gives her the look of having been around the universe a few dozen times. It really doesn't look bad on her. (The original was described as a "battered old box" after all - or something like that.

Dino.