Mike Verta's s18 TY-J

[watcher]

Any luck with the handle I sent you Mike?

[mverta]

Any luck with the handle I sent you Mike?

It's so great.  While it's not a Season 18 handle, it's a "non-standard" size (bigger), which helps open up possibilities for matches on other boxes/versions of the TY-J.  It's just nice to know it doesn't rigidly have to be a typical 6" handle.  It also really helps confirm the surface quality and texture - clearly a cast iron.  The little bits of blue paint still on it reveal it was designed for one of the lighter blue paint schemes - there's not enough paint on it to match by a device, but more than enough to match by eye.  We don't know its exact provenance, but I think looking post-s18 it might be fun to be on the lookout for its match on screen somewhere.  It's been really neat to have for reference while working on the handle, and it's been thoroughly documented and surveyed.  Just let me know when you're ready for it to come home and I'll pack it up!

[mverta]

Explanation of roof sections here:

[ThymeLorde]

At this moment, I literally got a huge, goofy grin on my face, and said out loud, "how f*cking cool is that?"  

Seriously Mike, that's such a good idea, one that I don't think I've ever seen before, and one that I would like to see more in the future. (Also, you wouldn't mind if I lifted this idea from you for my own TARDIS interior design, would you?)

[mverta]

Seriously Mike, that's such a good idea, one that I don't think I've ever seen before, and one that I would like to see more in the future. (Also, you wouldn't mind if I lifted this idea from you for my own TARDIS interior design, would you?)

Please do. Steal away! I really wanted roundels in the interior somehow, but everything I liked took up too much interior volume. This seemed like an obvious and functional option. It's a second-read; you don't see it until you're inside. Like the interior TARDIS door handle, which you don't see until you're inside and close the door, which is also when you notice the control panel. I like the experiential flow of unfolding, staggered moments.

[Rassilons Rod]

Wowsers! This thing is going to be amazing!!!!

[mverta]

I've never seen a real police box.

Having the wall and sign box pieces in my living room helped me get a sense of scale, but temporarily assembling the roof pieces really brought it home.

However big she is on the inside, she's pretty big on the outside, I'd say.

[Volpone]

lol.  Had to check your profile.  "Los Angeles."  Check.  I forget if you're old enough to remember phone booths.  Given that you're building a TYJ, I'll assume you are.  That's a phenomenon I've observed.  Americans my age remember the Newbery box, with its chopped-down dimensions.  And the closest thing we have for reference is a phone booth.  So our brain assigns a TARDIS the size of a 1960s American phone booth.  When I built mine, I assembled the sides and the roof and then screwed it all together.  I had an inkling of scale when I had them all laid out on the garage floor for paint and they basically took up the entire garage. 

[mverta]

I'm 46, originally from Chicago where I grew up watching our local Public Television station broadcast handfuls of Tom Baker episodes on a loop.  Slowly we got them all, then some Davison, then some Pertwee.  I first saw the Newbery - that's what I drew pictures of.  Then we got S18 and I liked the new police box so much I asked my parents if we could build one.  They indulged me to the point of inviting a carpenter over and listening to his $1,200 estimate before bidding him a good day.  I have pretty good spatial awareness such that I could definitely feel it being bigger than a phone booth; and of course, Adric was sprawled on top of the Newbery roof in Logopolis for reference.

But having the roof laid out on the floor of my office is a thing entirely other.   My 11-year-old self is pleased. 

[ThymeLorde]

I'm 46, originally from Chicago where I grew up watching our local Public Television station broadcast handfuls of Tom Baker episodes on a loop.

A bit off topic, but you wouldn't have happened to have seen the "Max Headroom"
broadcast intrusion, would you? If you didn't (or haven't heard of it), I'd definitely recommend looking it up on YouTube. It's equal parts interesting and terrifying, especially if you first saw it when you were 10 years old and sitting in a pitch black room at 2:00 in the morning (like I was). That video traumatized me for a good week or so 

[Volpone]

I'm 46, originally from Chicago where I grew up watching our local Public Television station broadcast handfuls of Tom Baker episodes on a loop.  Slowly we got them all, then some Davison, then some Pertwee.  I first saw the Newbery - that's what I drew pictures of.  Then we got S18 and I liked the new police box so much I asked my parents if we could build one.  They indulged me to the point of inviting a carpenter over and listening to his $1,200 estimate before bidding him a good day.  I have pretty good spatial awareness such that I could definitely feel it being bigger than a phone booth; and of course, Adric was sprawled on top of the Newbery roof in Logopolis for reference.

But having the roof laid out on the floor of my office is a thing entirely other.   My 11-year-old self is pleased. 

Same here.  I drew up my plans.  We'll say it was 10x4x4.  I know what 10'x4' looks like.  But somehow it just doesn't register until you actually see it--even when the cart at the hardware store kept getting fuller and fuller and sorely taxed the load capacity of my friend's venerable 1983 Nissan pickup.  But once it started coming together...

And as for your carpenter story, that's another common theme.  I figured "couple sheets of plywood, some 1x3s, some 4x4s...I can do this for a 80 or 90 bucks or so."  Now I'd say even the most basic full-sized TARDIS, you can't do for under $500--and then if you're willing to cut a few corners and also get EVERYTHING right the first time.  I did a "good enough" TARDIS that I was later unhappy with--but didn't have an excuse to build a second TARDIS.  I bemoaned this on Facebook.  Well there was a "Dr. Who"-themed bar in town (don't tell the BBC!) and a friend of a friend heard about it and offered to buy my TARDIS.  He instantly lost interest when I told him I'd need $500 for mine--and even that wouldn't cover cost of materials I had into it--or that I could build them a much more accurate one for around what your childhood carpenter quoted.*

*I only mention selling TARDISes as no TARDISes were actually sold in the story--and if they had it wouldn't have been for a profit anyway.  I did wind up figuring out a way to retrofit my TARDIS so, while still not anywhere near the degree of accuracy you're going for, I'm mostly happy with her. 

[mverta]

A bit off topic, but you wouldn't have happened to have seen the "Max Headroom"
broadcast intrusion, would you?

Of course - still can't look at Matt Frewer without seeing him.

He instantly lost interest when I told him I'd need $500 for mine--and even that wouldn't cover cost of materials I had into it--or that I could build them a much more accurate one for around what your childhood carpenter quoted.*

A few people have asked me privately what I think my build is going to cost... I don't think it's useful information because this is not a reasonable build.  I get hired by clients whose primary concern is accuracy and exclusivity, and they have budgets to match, which is just as well because I learned long ago that "really doing it right," is always, always, always insanely expensive.  But decades of projects like that has also completely changed my expectations for a build like this, so I haven't experienced sticker shock, but I also don't pretend this is normal.  My hope is that when it's done some of you enterprising builders will find ways to do it far more economically.  Even a second build exactly like this one would only cost a fraction of the first one due to all the R&D costs being unnecessary and prototypes and initial building of the molds, etc.  But we definitely had to have a family meeting on it before jumping in.  Fortunately, everyone in the family is either in the business, or the business of documenting projects like this, and thus super excited about the whole thing.  Doesn't hurt that everyone's become a Doctor Who fan whether they meant to or not

[bjones]

Madness loves company.

Bx

[mverta]

The TARDIS has materialized in Florida.

[karsthotep]

all those little tabs are completely inaccurate.....just saying!!!!!