Bob's First Doctor Console 1986 Build

[dynaman]

Not too long ago I found the negatives of the pictures I took of the details of the TARDIS Console I built over a year's time in 1986.  They've been scanned in and with my noobie luck are posted here for a good peek at past glory.

After completion, the console was taken to many of the local San Francisco Bay Area conventions and to the Sacramento PBS station for pledge drives in the latter half of the 80s -- I don't remember if I took it to KTEH 54 San Jose.  Later on it was used in a haunted house room, then stored somewhat badly and parts of it were in other rooms during the lifespan of the haunted house over a five year period.  Unfortunately it was the last I ever saw of any of it; not that I could have taken care of it in later life due to compression of space and moving all over the place but it would have been nice to have kept a few parts...

I decided on the First Doctor version, mostly because it seemed the simplest to build and there was enough reference on it to make it possible, namely the plans published in Dr. Who Magazine[?] with the parts labeled, and the color pictures of Patrick Troughton with the console so I at least knew what color to paint the thing and why it was light green to begin with because I was questioned on it at the time.  I also had several bad videotapes of episodes which helped, though certainly not as well as today's DVD releases... you builders today have it so easy  

Hindsight being what it is I could do a better job of it today, but back then there were certain things and effects I wanted to do with the controls that had nothing to do with accuracy and everything to do with looking cool; and there were parts I missed completely like the two silver balls in the time rotor.  And I was lucky in finding other things like the roentgen meter I used for the Radiation Meter [it's the same meter as used in the DeLorean time machine and I had a real one!].

The console broke apart in the six panels, the two halves of the support plinth, the time rotor outer cylinder, the rotor interior and its support, and the trim bits.  Also all the small lever switches [with the colored wood balls] were attached to toggle switches encased in a vacuform shell, and most of the black slide switch wedges [also vacuformed] had electronic functions to them.  And I included labels referencing favorite time and extra-dimensional travel stories.



I used the labeling from the article plans, so Panel 1 contained the main power key switch, using the classic Yale lock and the same key as used in my build group's police box!  Also the Fast Return box, remote switch to the air compressor, etc.



Panel 2's main detail was the "Brownian Motion Generator" which had a Star Trek style rocker switch strip and LED lights.



Panel 3 contained the sound system, using the last word in 1980s loop tape technology... an 8-track player!  I actually had enough recorded background console noise from the VHS tapes [thanks to "Edge Of Destruction"] to make it sound convincing without breaking into the Radiophonic Workshop for a copy of the original!

As a note: all the silver levers were Bondo castings using a door handle from a 1960s Rambler station wagon.  As I said; accuracy wasn't a big concern, it was a case of finding something that worked and I wasn't entirely sure of the real shape.



Panel 4 is a favorite: the etched brass plaque was made by a work friend who had a shop next door to where I was working at the time, and he was an original Hartnell-era viewer and fan!  I also really liked the two rotating lights [LEDs with a circuit for mine], and had the sort of grinding sound effect going when they were on! [from what I presume was a mechanical effect in the original... oh shit I think I know how: two rotating discs with holes drilled in that are rotating above a group of steady on lights, like a color wheel, and all hidden beneath the clear red covers]



Panel 5 is my other favorite of the six... not just the radiation meter already mentioned but Mr. Spock's moire display from Star Trek!  'Nuff said, really...



Now Panel 6 on the other hand... well it's kinda needed to make it a complete structure.
[Update note: this also had the air pressure meters for powering the time rotor]



The Time Rotor!  It was fully functional, and had a Bimba air cylinder with switching apparatus connected to a small air compressor for the up and down, and a slow turning record player [connected to a belt with a small motor? don't exactly remember but I think that's it], and a spaghetti colander basket.  [Note to Celation: congrats on finding a real vintage basket, it's pure genius and totally makes the look!]

The three fluorescent lights worked but I couldn't get them to flash on and off.  Maybe today I could do so...

[type55tardis]

Welcome to the forum,this was a fantastic build ,you must be devastated it no longer exists.

[kiwidoc]

That is brilliant!  what a shame that's it's lost in the 20th centrury, but what a build!   That's the best console of t's type I've every seen, until Celation's current build came along.

I'm really fond of Spock's moire panel too, have always meant to work out how to build one of those.    Beautiful work!  Can't wait to hear more about your builds! - Glen

[celation]

What an astounding build. Even more incredible for being built in '86!

I couldn't imagine doing this without the benefit of the internet and 3D. I'm gobsmacked.

And that rotor is sublime!

Very sad to hear that it's no more, Bob...

[warmcanofcoke]

Love all the little details - the H2G2 reference, Roentgens, signed sealed delivered, etc. great stuff! I'm thinking some fan has this right now and thinks he has the original console ... maybe he's trying to restore it right now 

[geminitimelord]

And what an awesome looking build back in the day before all the resources we have now with the Internet. Groups like this never would have existed to the depth and global reach that they do today.

Great Job.. Again too bad it is missing. Personally I dont think I would have ever let it out of my sight

[Rassilons Rod]

Simply awe inspiring

Shame your last two pics timed out...

[markofrani]

That is astounding! Really nicely detailed and as Celation said, amazing that something like that could be achieved in the 80s where reference material was very hard to find. Such a shame that she exists no more...

[mechanoid]

What a great build and a great shame that this no longer exists!

And like others' have said, to have done this back then, incredible!

[rocket]

Wow that's amazing, such a shame it no longer exists.

[tony farrell]

Lovely pictures of a lovely build!

[atomicgraph]

wow really inspiring build. i can only echo whats already been said. very nice build and i thought that an air compressor rotor motion would be more  reliable and stable than a crank system.

[maverickjsmith]

I wanted to play with this console for so long as a kid. I lived in Sacramento and channel 6 showed that thing all the time. My mother worked for channel 6 occasionally for the pledge breaks, but sadly she was never called in when they had it in the studio (Why God why?). If I got my hands on it a SWAT team would have to come in and get me out

You could not stop my fandom as a child. It knew no bounds.

Did you by any chance also make the police box and Dalek that also appeared during that time?

Maverick

[tony farrell]

That is brilliant!  what a shame that's it's lost in the 20th centrury, but what a build!   That's the best console of t's type I've every seen, until Celation's current build came along.

I'm really fond of Spock's moire panel too, have always meant to work out how to build one of those.    Beautiful work!  Can't wait to hear more about your builds! - Glen

Great build indeed! Just how did you achieve that 'moire' effect?

[dynaman]

Thanks very much to everyone, the warm welcome is totally appreciated! It was very much a labor of love, but in reality if I had retrieved possession of it I could not have kept it intact over the years.  It's sad but it's life and I long ago moved on.

Now that I got the original post the way I want it with all the pictures, let's see if I can answer some questions...

The blue moire: if any of you know anything about Star Trek's classic communicator prop, it's the same thing.  Two sets of radial line art, one stationary as the top surface with a blue gel sheet covering it, one slowly rotating on a motor below, and backlit by a round fluorescent tube that just happened to just fit within the meter housing with plenty of space in the middle for the motor.  I think I knew back then that the taller one was on the right but I didn't want light effects to be scrunched in too tightly, the cool stuff needs to be spread around a bit so the short non-working meter went to the right.

How the console came together: I worked at a wood fabrication shop back in the day, and was allowed to use the saws after hours for angle cutting and other work, with construction in a bedroom and outside the house I grew up in, and with help from several friends when they would come over to the house for the day or the weekend.  I was the vast majority builder of this console but I wasn't doing it all alone.

There are construction pictures but it might be some time before they get to here.

To reply to DoctorWho8 from the intro thread: for the silver levers see the original post.  The ball end toggle switches were painted wood balls on brass tubing glued to actual toggle switches; fairly fragile but they worked and with careful handling in transportation stayed mostly intact.  The dome lights were all done using milk plex [milk perspex?] which were heat formed in a pair of male/female molds using an arbor press, then painted.  It never occurred to me that I could have used some license plate lights off of a car!

These has the old 110V Christmas tree lights inside, several of which were colored and flashing if not most of them.

The black slide switch wedges, the toggle covers, and the other round domey things were also heat formed the same way.  The only parts that were vacuformed were the large lever covers.

Everything else including the large meter housings, lock box, etc. was scratch built from sheet plastic and/or metal; that included the time rotor... reasonably cheap laser cutting was 10 - 15 years away!

The time rotor as said previously was powered by an air cylinder with approx. a 12 inch travel.  This rode on [I believe] three poles with UHMW plastic block bearings, and an electronic switching system that when travel started would activate and deactivate a valve to allow compressed air to go in or out of the air cylinder by hitting a switch at either up or down end to reverse the flow; this needed a minimum pressure to work.  I never considered using a large motor to do this as I had worked with a man who built some really complex machinery at my old work which was all air powered... he was a genius at it!

The compressor was very loud if used anywhere near the console, a motor setup would be much quieter.  A pressure tank helped a lot so the compressor didn't have to run all the time.

To maverickjsmith: The police box I was involved with was used at KTEH 54; the Sacramento Channel 6 group had their own box.  Don't remember if they had their own Daleks or if they used ours...  with me I built one and two friends built the other in 1983-4, both based on the old [inaccurate] Radio Times plans but they looked good.  Our Daleks were named Morton and Leslie [for the salt brands] and were at the old Timecons, KTEH, a San Francisco Creation con, even an appearance on John Stanley's Creature Features!

I very definitely remember being inside the Leslie Dalek when Patrick Troughton rode on its back at a local con!

Both Daleks are also long gone... mine disappeared in the GYRO World of Terror haunted house at what used to be the Old Mill Shopping Center in Mountain View [California] around 1990.

As for the police box, the last I heard of it, KTEH had it stored for the longest time but I doubt they would have kept it 25+ years.