Hartnell Console Room Set

[expendable]

It could be a simple grill, hard to tell. Can you make the filter folds a glossy metallic color? Keep in mind that the BBC's prop department is very good at kit-bashing to get the right look, so you're probably right.

[galacticprobe]

I have seen car (and motorcycle) filters with a silver foil on them, so those console grilles could very well have been (at least some of them) such filters. As for those kinds being made back in 1963, remember the age of the "muscle car" (at least in the US) started in the mid 1950s with such cars as the 1955 Chevy, the 1956 Thunderbird, the 1959 Cadillac with its huge tail fins, etc. And with that came the customizing and the demand for parts to customize with, rather than having to make your own.

A similar thing could have been happening in the UK at the time, so some of those car filters may have been covered with a foil. (Most times the foil was just used on "for show" cars since the air flow through them wasn't the best.) So it's possible the props builders bought some of those filters for use on the console, but then had to finish out with regular filters since those custom foil-covered filters are more expensive, and we know that back then 'Doctor Who' had a budget of about a nickel.

If those filters that Barry found are a good match to what was on the original console, then for the reflective "grilles", one could use a thin piece of wood (popsicle stick?) to insert some aluminium foil into the folds (or as Barry suggested give those a quick spray with a silvery paint). And for the non-reflective ones, either leave them as they are (or if there are good enough color reference photos, give them a quick spray with a charcoal-grey paint to darken them).

So depending on the size of those filters, if they match the size of the grilles on the console, great find, Barry!

Dino.

[barryrwuk]

So... maybe something like this...



...perhaps.

Barry 

[tony farrell]

Why is nothing to do with this console ever easy?  

That's what makes the console so brilliant! Wonderful renders of the various lenses Barry but, haven't you missed one?  

Tony

[barryrwuk]

That's what makes the console so brilliant! Wonderful renders of the various lenses Barry but, haven't you missed one? 

Tony

Hey, Tony. Welcome back. 

You mean this one?



Barry

[tony farrell]

I do indeed! Thanks Barry it's nice to be welcomed back!
T

[galacticprobe]

Welcome back, indeed, Tony! I hadn't realized that you'd been away for so long. Then again, with me, things have been a bit of a time blur this past month and I'm still fighting through it. I hope all is well.

Dino.

[tony farrell]

Now, forgive me if this has been suggested before but it suddenly occurred to me that it might very well be a car's air filter. A quick search online produced the following picture.

What is the current thinking on this? Am I way off?
Barry 

Forgive me Barry, but can you see through car air filters? In various screen shots and photos, the grille you're talking about is allowing light through from the central column:



Admittedly these are from season two but, it is the same grille and it is still mounted 'proud' of the console's panel.

T

[barryrwuk]

Forgive me Barry, but can you see through car air filters? In various screen shots and photos, the grille you're talking about is allowing light through from the central column:

I had always taken that to be a reflection from above rather than light from below and I'm not sure that I can see it as light from below even now - although I'm always open to persuasion.

It certainly seems to be a reflection in the 'Marinus' photo.



None of the central column's tube lights are on in that photo.

Having said that, I'm not saying that the air filter is definitely the right part. Just that it has pleasing similarities to the part in question.

What does intrigue me are the diagonal lines across the grille. The picture above shows it quite clearly and I had taken it to be part of a reflection. However, the picture that you have just posted seems to have the same diagonal lines. Having checked the start of 'Marinus', I can see the same lines there - although none of the glaring reflection that is in the photograph of the same scene. Do you think these lines indicate something physical about the grille itself?

Barry 

[tony farrell]

Does this help?

[davidnagel]

Did we conclude that each grill at the top of each panel is different? Or are we presuming they're all the same?

I'm wondering if they are all different which seems to suggest that one has reflective/transparent etc.



The one on the left looks clear, and the one on the right looks like it has a layer over the top that is reflecting the studio lights.
Unless of course it IS all about the lights and where they are placed that determines this reflection, then feel welcome to ignore me

EDIT: Having posted that now, you are all using pics of the same panel, so yes, maybe best to ignore me!

[barryrwuk]

Tony: Yes, I can see what you mean about the hole. It does look like it has a hole, shorter than the grille, into which some part of the grille sits. Is that what we're seeing? I'm just not (yet) able to conclude that I can ever see light from below coming through the grille. Our eyes are all different, of course.

Did we conclude that each grill at the top of each panel is different? Or are we presuming they're all the same?

EDIT: Having posted that now, you are all using pics of the same panel, so yes, maybe best to ignore me!

davidnagel: Actually you raise an interesting point. The 'grilles' are certainly not all the same. Panel 5 seems to have a solid piece of black perspex. Panels 3 and 4 are probably best left for another day. However, it is possible that panel 6 had a similar grille to panel 2 - (is that right Tony?). If so, then they were, presumably (dangerous reasoning, I know), fitted in the same way. I'd therefore expect the same hole in the console as we think panel 2 has.

However, that does make this picture tricky to explain.



It is from 'Planet of the Giants' and the original grille on panel 6 has been replaced with something (or possibly nothing?).

You've gotta love this console - and luckily, we all do.  

Barry

[tony farrell]

Panel six definitely had a hole under the grille just like panel two. However, the grille on panel six was less elongated than the one on panel two (it isn't mounted 'proud' of the panel either). Excuse the lines (this was from when I was working out the controls' spacings), the hole beneath the grille can definitely be seen through the mesh:



There is a publicity shot of Michael Craze and Anneka Wills (which I cannot find) which shows a console panel minus its grille altogether and the plywood/blockboard construction of the console can be seen.

As regards why the black-framed grilled was replaced with a white one, who knows? Artistic preference or damage -  your guess is as good as mine!

[barryrwuk]

Yes, I can see the hole through the mesh in that picture.

I am suggesting that panel 6 started out with a similar grille to that on panel 2. This picture that markofrani identified as coming from 'The Daleks' shows this clearly.



The grille here is much wider than it's later replacement. It lines up with the ends of the panel under the small levers. That would make it 8.5" long - the same as the grille on panel 2. It also sits proud of the surface like the grille on panel 2.

By 'Planet of the Giants' it appears to have gone missing.



It might have been replaced at that time with a piece of clear perspex. This is shorter than the original grille - perhaps 6.5". If it is indeed clear perspex it reveals no hole beneath. If it is white perspex then the hole would not be visible. I cannot see any frame around it in that photo.

The framed grilles (on this and other panels) seem to appear later after one of the refurbs. If there was no hole to begin with then it is possible that one was cut in the panel at that time.

However, my interest is in concluding what the grilles were in 'Edge of Destruction' as that is, ostensibly, the console I am attempting to model.

[markofrani]

Here's Panel 5 with the hole minus any grille from the Ben & Polly press photo from 'Power Of The Daleks'...