Kiwidoc's Console

[kiwidoc]

Thanks Dave (and Dino), I've been looking earnestly for parts for ages now but though I'm happy with what I've acquired 'm really frustrated at how hard it is to find stuff too!   My handles are packed up now but I'm sure they'd be the same as yours, the Singer handles can't have varied too much.  Actually those ones came from the US because I couldn't find any locally or buy an old machine with case at a reasonable price here.      The P45 bomber compass was lucky - the local version of Ebay here had one come up one day ( i can set a regular watchlist email alert up but it's 99.9% dross) and I was the highest bidder but at around US$80 I thought it was a great price.  There had been someone else trying to sell one for ages at closer to $500 and he never had any takes so I think I was just lucky to be the only serious person looking that week.    The sextant was the next expensive item at about the same price and the old extinguisher was the next at about $US50.   I really don't have much to spend on my build and almost all the wood and stuff so far has been scraps but i really wanted a few authentic pieces for the controls.        I'd dearly love to get a set of the Ikea glass bubble paperweights but they cost waaaaaay too much to ship from the UK and most sellers aren't even willing to try it.   There was a set of 8 on UK Ebay last week (two blue/green, two red, two clear, two amber) - exactly as used on the TARDIS and only starting at a fiver but do you think they'd even consider shipping?  No!  

Anyway...

Dave, I think that you've been amazingly inventive in your parts and I'm impressed, amazed and jealous regularly- you've accomplished miracles with that build and you deserve to be very darn proud!   I've still got heaps of things to pick your brains about but without your example of how this console actually could be attempted I don't think I'd have been brave enough to try.

Cheers, Glen

[galacticprobe]

The P45 bomber compass was lucky - the local version of Ebay here had one come up one day ( i can set a regular watchlist email alert up but it's 99.9% dross) and I was the highest bidder but at around US$80 I thought it was a great price.

I'll say it was! The lowest I've seen very similar ones go for is $250 US. As for the bubble globe paperweights, have you tried the US ebay? They seem to come up quite often at decent prices, many have that "Buy It Now" button, and I think the sellers will ship to places outside the US. (Or maybe you could get help from someone in the UK with that set of 8 since you're right in that it isn't easy to find all of the colors needed in one place.)

Dino.

[the mister]

wow! you have all the things! they're perfect things.

[kiwidoc]

Hullo folks, I'm finally home again, largely unpacked and looking at my console build again in spare moments.    I'm done a couple of things in recent days:

* I've sanded and painted my outer rim (brown undercoat which will show through the cracks later)
* test assembled the console now that all ribs have been thinned a little - didn't make a huge difference- the panels still feel a little small but it could just be that my imagination is cheating and that's how big they're supposed to be.  My rim is 6' across as most plans agree on this.  I think it's like the Dalek effect in reverse, where everyone remembers them as 4' high horrors and think that the real-size ones are wrong when they see them...
* I've worked on the turbine thing that sits on one rib - this is currently having white perspex glued inside it as per the early version.  will probably get knocked out in due course and become the alter version of the prop...
* I've been working on the Demat lever.  Completed the housing, made the dial from perspex and the plastic cover from some wire.  I've also made a dial/gauge which everyone else is welcome to if wanted.  I figure it to be 5cm across at accurate size.

Have tooled around with a few other small things including designing the porcelain disks that sit on the top and bottom of the column but they're going to be a right pain to make, I suspect.  Have also been scratching my head a lot as I try to figure out how to make the console come apart for transport in the future but more and more i wonder whether I should just make it in place in my future console room and worry about pulling it apart when and if needed.   Will let you know!














OOH!   I also discovered a nifty craft short-cut.  I've been struggling to find the right ball for the top of the lever on my DeMat unit but I did buy a while ago a marine morse unit (inspired by the Matt smith console V1) with the right ball but couldn't actually get it off of it!  I pushed this into plasticine, filled the gap with hot glue gun glue, and pressed my lever stick (with screw in it for traction) into it.  Repeated to get the other side and hey presto - lever!  It's a little rough now but with some sanding/carving and paint I think it will serve well!  I wonder if there's anything else I could replicate so easily?

[kiwidoc]

Oh, and also.. have been pulling apart our old washing machine which leaked and keeping most of the innards for the TARDIS!  Have the motor but no idea how to wire it up now that it's been removed, plus lots of hose, plastic containers and misc wiring.   And there's a nice dial that makes ratchet sounds when turned that will be built into something too.

And the other thing, here is the gauge image I mentioned.  Yes, slight artistic licence with the gallifreyan characters.  Probably won't see it through my scruffy old perspex anyway.  Oh, and by the way, I've noticed that the real gauge actually reads bar x 10, not just bar. Hasn't helped my googling it though.    




And one last thing-  I've been looking up Flickr images of the console and the latest I've seen hows the BlueBell tobacco bell has gone missing.  hopefully it's in the hands fo the curators not some toerag in the wild...

[galacticprobe]

Looking mighty fine, kiwidoc! Definitely cranking up the needle on the old with this posting! Clever way of making that knob on the Demat Lever. (Did you ever consider drilling a hole into a small wooden ball and using that - gluing it onto the tip of the Lever?) And good catch on the "x10" under "bar" on the dial. (So go right ahead with that artistic license for the little Gallifreyan symbol on your dial, which looks "killer", by the way!)

Your rim is looking fantastic! And how did you put together that "turbine" thingy? It almost looks like you've pulled the original right off of the actual console. And speaking of which...

And one last thing-  I've been looking up Flickr images of the console and the latest I've seen hows the BlueBell tobacco bell has gone missing.  hopefully it's in the hands fo the curators not some toerag in the wild...

For the record... NO! This wasn't me! I know I've made loads of noise about wanting one of these bells, but I did not pull it off the console! (I wasn't even there. I know The Evil One visited the DWE when she was in the UK, but at least all things 'Who' are sacred to her and she would never think of doing such a thing; in fact she'd probably use her karate skills to defend those props!)

I'm still on the lookout for one of those bells, though. That said, if this missing bell shows up on the market and I can get my hands on it, I will promptly return it to the DWE, and hopefully be able to point them towards the thief who stole it. (It's not just The Evil One; in this house, to everyone, all things 'Who' are sacred.)

Dino.

[kiwidoc]

Thanks Dino.   I wish I could find a suitable wooden ball - have been keeping my eyes peeled for likely parts for ages, must just be looking in the wrong places.    Oh well, done now!  

[Kingpin]

I'm not sure if New Zealand has a chain called Hobbycraft, but they carry some near-complete spheres called "dolls head" knobs, which are flat on the bottom.  I've used these as the dot on my replica McCoy ? umbrellas.  Alternately, a DIY store may carry them as detail pieces for woodwork or bannisters.

[galacticprobe]

Alternately, a DIY store may carry them as detail pieces for woodwork or bannisters.

Excellent point, Kingpin. Although, for the size needed on the Demat Lever handle, rather than woodwork or bannisters, I'd look to cabinet drawer or door pull knobs. Some craft stores (in the States we have chains like A.C. Moore and Michael's) that sell wooden balls that are completely round - no flat spot (though they have them as well) - and in diameter sizes from half-inch up to four inches.

Just something to throw out there in the event of future upgrades.

Dino.

[kiwidoc]

I visited the US a couple of years ago and simply LOVED the craft stores there - so many great things to look at and choose from.   There is nothing similar in New Zealand sadly though I have kept my eyes open at the local DIY stores.   Cupboard handles is not something I'd thought of.  I'll probably get my improvised glue-ball handle just right and then come across the perfect wooden ball for 5c...     Oh well!    thanks for the feedback guys - nice to know that my updates get read.      Spent some time last night trying to figure out dimensions for the 'helmic regulator' units with wheel and handles.  They're interesting pieces to try and figure out!   And one of them has a very mutilated handle which bends back on itself.  Hopefully I'll make two units in the next few days (just have to figure out how to do the wheel justice) but I don't think I'll copy the mutilated lever!

Cheers, Glen
Nice (main) version of unit:


Messed with version!  Is there even a second handle/lever on this one?

[whovian-almighty]

I noticed you can just about see the 'ribbed' handle hiding inside the other lever, hopefully you can see it but to answer you question yes there is a second handle/lever

[kiwidoc]

Oh, there it is!     Thanks W-A!

[galacticprobe]

Glen, take a look at how museumdave built his. I think he's got the lever configuration figured out just right. That large lever does have an odd shape to it, and I think M.D. has a pattern posted in his build. (When you look at it as he built it, you realize that it's not really all that complex.)

As for the wheel, I think M.D.'s idea of the bottom of a large, plastic pickle jug looks the part. With a bit of wood backing for structural integrity, all you need is to figure out how to mount it onto the whole assembly. Again, M.D.'s build diary might just be the "go to" place for this one. (And, M.D., if you're reading this, I'm still hoping that you can get hold of another of those pickle jugs because I'm still after one of them - just one, and just the bottom; not the whole jug! )

Dino.

[museumdave]

Hey
Glen, the build is looking great....
as for the trim-wheel assemble I do have patterns I made from looking at loads of different reference images from different angles.  I am still not saying they are 'right', but they seem okay, and I am more than willing to share (once I find them ).
As for the pickle jug /relish jugs, I got lucky at my old place of employment- not likely to happen again (sorry Dino) also although the wheels look okay (ish) they really FEEL light and wrong... I would love to find something else, and hope to sometime in the future (at which point Dino You can have the these).

Keep up the super work
cheers

Dave

[kiwidoc]

thanks DAve, any plans would be appreciated if they come to light in the next day or so.  I've devised a plan of my own and spent a happy half hour last night cutting out cardboard versions to test for size.   I know that I have a little of the shape wrong but the overall effect should work.  We'll see!   I'm also unsure about the wheel - I'm hoping to chance across a suitably sized Frisbee but have also been eyeing up some car hubcaps as having potential to take a mould from!        I'm planning currently to cut my levers from some 6mm perspex/acrylic which will be heated and bent as needed but you had some steel that you used and looks great - I've been wondering where to find such steel - was it bought or salvaged from anywhere particular or just something else from your garage of handy delights?   Cheers, Glen