Scarfwearer's TARDIS

[greatwazoo42]

Very cool!

[atomicgraph]

awesome find crispen!!!! it WAS clearly meant for you. it looks like the spacing is larger between the spacing on the pebbled glass, or is it just the angle of the photo

[Dematerialiser]

Nice one with the glass Crispin - I did almost exactly the same last year (found some reclaimed pebbled glass in an old door) , I think it makes all the difference to a build - can't beat that chunky glass effect

cheers
Chris

[lungman]

Hey Crispin!

Great to see your TARDIS again!  OMG what a find for that pebbled glass!  I found mine at a local lead-lighting supplier here in Adelaide, and after re-mortgaging my house, I was able to get enough to finish my windows.  Would have been a heck of a lot nicer to find some like you have!  Well done!

[Scarfwearer]

Well, I just can't seem to leave my poor TARDIS alone.

Recently I wired the top sign lighting into the TARDIS interior lighting, so the top signs are lit whenever I'm in there. This is all well and good, but since I changed the top signs to their new font and narrower sign boxes a few years ago I have had temporary paper top signs in there, made from three sheets of paper with the signs printed across them. They're held onto the back of some clear perspex with sellotape.
These paper top signs look OK until they are back lit, at which point the joins look glaringly obvious and light leaks through the printing. Also the paper gets damp after a while and starts to curl...
[attach width=600 height=400]120[/attach]

What to do?

Well I've been putting off going to the sign maker (which is what I did last time), and I've not been confident with the idea of cutting out stencils to make the signs by hand, although Chris Kingbees has done a marvelous job of this on his build.


My first attempt was to laser-print the signs onto overhead projector sheets. I remembered from a work experience a long time ago that you have to use the laser-printer sort, not the inkjet printer sort, which if used in a laser printer will melt!!

[attach width=600 height=405]122[/attach]

I was hoping that I could cut the sheets accurately enough using a guillotine to make the joins almost invisible, but unfortunately they still show:

[attach width=600 height=400]124[/attach]

For the next step, I printed the signs again, but further across the page so the joins would happen at a different place, and stuck these to the back of the first attempt, being careful to align them accurately. Unfortunately the laser printing is not completely opaque, so the joins still show, though not as much.

Finally, I offset the image to a third position, stuck these on as well, and finally the joins no longer show, as each join has two layers of black behind or in front of it from the other layers.

[attach width=600 height=354]126[/attach]

The three layers are stuck together and down with a spray adhesive designed for photo mounting (no acetone, which I was concerned might dissolve the acetate sheets). Sellotape will actually show if backlit.

Here's the result:

[attach width=600 height=400]128[/attach]

I think I spent £25 in Staples for the acetate and spray adhesive, and probably $20-30 in the US for the sheet of perspex/acrylic, which was enough for all four signs.

And here's a mostly-full-length shot, just because.

[attach width=600 height=900]130[/attach]

I should mention that the top sign layout was designed by Ironageman from TARDIS Rebuilders, though he hasn't been online much recently.

The only problem now is that you can't read the signs when the light is off, as the letters are actually transparent and the signbox interior is then dark, so I'm going to have to back them with something like tracing paper that will reflect light from the front. There's always something more to do...

Crispin

[atomicgraph]

that turned out awesome crispin, and a very clever approach to hiding the seams. lovely tardis too, its getting that genuine beat up look but yours has done the most traveling

[Doctor Iz]

Crispin,

Your build is always lovely to admire.  Now, I must commend you on the new sign boxes, they look quite good and definitely gives her that 'TARDISy Police Box' feel, but hey I am partial.  My signs boxes are done up the same way.  I really like how you handled the light bleeding through the background issue.  It turned out splendid.  Ironageman did a wonderful job with those sign fonts as well.  It's too bad he's been on hiatus for some time.  I do hope we see pop back in from time to time.

cheers,
Jon

[Dematerialiser]

That's a really great job Crispin - I think you may have found the best method for making home-made signs (without needing any paint!)  Nice one!

[purpleblancmange]

Just brilliant to see this again, especially with nice new and improved signage.  I'm really going to have to pull my finger out and pop over to see this in person... I know we keep trying to arrange it, but still, before the summer is out.  Hopefully.

[Scarfwearer]

I built a TARDIS shell in 1999/2000 (gosh was it really that long ago?) Here it is:



It's incredibly heavy, being 1/2" plywood with 1/2" MDF decoration. The corner posts are also solid and square. Even the parts of this box are nearly too heavy to move.

There's an album on The TARDIS Builders here:
http://groups.msn.com/thetardisbuildersg....snw?albumlist=2

And it's also described on my website: http://www.relative-dimensions.net.

Crispin

[Scarfwearer]

I woke up this morning to quite a surprise!



Crispin

[cyberleader1991]

 Dear Crispin

That's what you get for leaving a Dalek unsupervised in your console room   

Cheers mate, Tom

[Scarfwearer]

 Well, he must have changed history again, as things are back to normal this morning, but yeah, he's in there alright...



Crispin

[kalarcana]

 
Quote:

I woke up this morning to quite a surprise!



Crispin

Don't you just hate it when you have a bad Father's Day?

Rick 

[TG]

 That is so cool Scarfwearer!

And you have a Dalek as your assistant! – That’s a first!

TG