B&M Third Doctor TARDIS modifications

[brenk9carter]

Got myself another Third doctor and tardis set from the e of bay to modify, i decided it wasnt accurate enough for me and naturally i want to change that  
My plan is:
Add the clover door stops
Cut down the doors so they utilise said door stops
Change the signs all over
Make any "damage" necessary
Repaint the whole thing
Remake the roof from scratch
Make new lamp
Add an LED in the lamp

First off i started by disassembling the whole box completely
(Yes this picture is after some mods were done)


So after this I set about making the door stops.
Unfortunately i didnt have any of the right size styrene or acrylic which is what i wanted to use so instead i decided to hack out a small bit from the unused battery compartment,
This was cut out into roughly the shape of the door stops ( may replace them later).
These were just superglued into position

Will update as and when i get more done, its just a little side project so im not aiming for it to be a massive undertaking

[phillbarron]

The Doctor looks utterly bewildered there.

[deafeningsilence]

Nah, he's just having flashbacks to The Mind Robber.

[ThymeLorde]

Looks great so far, Bren! Can't wait to see the final product! I might even repeat your build if I'm able to get a second one. One question though - how do you plan to tackle the rectangular (or, depending on how late in the history of the box, trapezoidal) geometry of the walls?

[brenk9carter]

Started on the roof today  
I made it out of some 2mm thick styrene sheet
Using the great roof calculator on this site i was able to quickly work out something that looks about right.  The pitch may be a little high but i think its passable for a first attempt. (With the original lamp for looks)




And as for what ThymeLorde asked about the rectangularness of it (is that a word  )  I think im going to leave that out until i do a proper scratch build because the moulded plastic just wont be able to distort like that without some real work, im just going to leave it as an "idealised" version

[ThymeLorde]

It's amazing how two small pieces of plastic attached over the doors can greatly improve the look of the entire box. If adding the clovers had been the only change you made to the prop, it'd still look 10x as accurate! Can't wait to see the finished build!

[brenk9carter]

New signs front and back.
I printed them on some label paper so i just peel the back off and stick them straight on, its weird how it suddenly looks completely different now.

Also replaced the door sign so its more clear

[galacticprobe]

Also replaced the door sign so its more clear

She's looking better and better with each post, Bren! And not meaning to play "Rivet Counter", but if you're going through this much trouble to make this Old Girl as accurate as possible, then you should replace the Phone Panel door sign with one that has no frame and is flush (or nearly that) with the rails and stiles. The Phone Panel lost its frame when it was replaced in "Seeds Of Death", and remained frameless (albeit changing color from a TARDIS blue background to a charcoal grey/black background in Season 9), and remained like that until her final cameo appearance in the last scene of "Seeds Of Doom".

Dino.

[brenk9carter]

if you're going through this much trouble to make this Old Girl as accurate as possible, then you should replace the Phone Panel door sign with one that has no frame and is flush (or nearly that) with the rails and stiles.

thanks for reminding me Dino   so here you go.

i took the old sign out its just held in by 2 screws in the back so easy to take out.

This was also the part which held in the window so i had to superglue the window back in place.

I cut out a piece of styrene to fit the hole tightly.

I printed out a new sign to fit on the label paper again so just stuck it on, trimmed it a bit to fit properly and bingo

Little comparison to how it was originally
(I also took the handle and lock off to replace in a more accurate position


And finally for today i replaced the handle with a bent pin, i heated up the end of it with a lighter to melt through the plastic and glued it from the back

[deafeningsilence]

Not gonna lie, it already looks way better than the official release. Props to you (no pun intended)!

[galacticprobe]

Stunning, Bren... absolutely stunning! You are certainly doing this Old Girl justice, and are going above and beyond to do it. If I was doing this mod, I'd make the new stickers for the front and rear Top Signs, add thin styrene "clover" doorstops, and print a new Phone Panel sign to stick on a piece of thin styrene and stick it over the existing frame (to hide the frame and have it look close to yours), and call it good.

You, on the other hand, are creating a work of art!

Dino.

[brenk9carter]

quite a big update for today, I've been cracking away at it in my spare time and its getting near completion (for the exterior anyway).
she's had a fresh paint job and a good weathering and is looking better than i could have ever thought  

started off by priming all the pieces

as usual i was working on it until late  

looking a bit mind robber to me in this one  

then started on the base coat of blue.  you can really see the difference that 2 coats makes

and reassembled, almost seems a shame to make it so dirty  


then i hit it with the washes (i actually used black leather shoe polish as the wash because it works a treat)
the a reassembled it properly and this is the result... like i said earlier i couldn't be more happy with how its turned out so far

showing the left hand side window detail


and the broken strip on the right side

and another glory shot for good luck  

as you can see i really went all out with the weathering, next step i think is the lamp and housing then ill move on to rigging some electronics.
(also im going to remake the roof again, it needs to be bigger so it can have he correct overhangs)

[brenk9carter]

Well i can say that the exterior of the model is pretty much finished, just some minor tweaks needed.
I made a new roof again which is bigger so it overhangs correctly and i made a lamp from scratch out of a turned piece of acrylic rod, some styrene  and some pins for the struts
I think ill let the pictures talk




I like the comparisons, it looks like a completely different model