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Mike Verta's s18 TY-J

Started by mverta, Nov 14, 2018, 12:03 am

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mverta

Apr 24, 2019, 09:05 am #345 Last Edit: Apr 24, 2019, 09:06 am by mverta
Perhaps you're seeing an illusion - that's the exterior face of a wall.  The walls are now permanently sealed with fronts/backs.  The backs make for a uniform, smooth internal set of walls.  

As seen in earlier posts, a steel frame is inserted into the front wall, which is gelcoated fiberglass.  That frame is attached to the wall face by a series of screws, and the sides have nuts welded onto them to accept connection bolts.  The back face is then laid on top, also screwed to the frame, and then the entire assembly and seam between walls is fiberglassed/bondo'd, sanded, and primed making for a single, permanent, solid structure.

mverta

APRIL 24, 2019

Throwing our "McCoy" blue on a panel to check the relief on the surface.

Initialtex.jpg

It's the right scale, but just a touch strong, so we knock back the relief with some sanding, re-priming a piece to help see the effect of the sanding.  The interim step looks like this -

Knockback.jpg


The darkened areas represent the peaks which were knocked down a touch.



Re-priming again and it looks much better -  the proper effect is such that it should show strong relief with small point lights and at grazing angles, but be able to almost disappear dead-on.  This shot is a touch overexposed, but you'll see the effect more in later updates.

Finaltex.jpg
Finaltex2.jpg

Here are some of the blues from our palette on one of the walls:

Bluespalette2.jpg

Tomorrow we're knocking back the texture on all the pieces, repriming, and laying down a base blue.


deck5

Quote from: mverta on Apr 23, 2019, 09:48 pm
If there's interest, we can put up the PPG automotive paint formula for it.


I'd appreciate that information.

ThymeLorde

The blue paint moment has finally arrived! Can't wait to see this part of the process documented! Looking amazing so far.
"An apple a day keeps the... no, never mind."

mverta

APRIL 25, 2019

The TARDIS has her base coat. It is a powdery blue-purple, with some of the McCoy blue randomly striped about the surface. This is automotive paint. The rest of the paint is water-based which is not as durable, and so this allows us to scratch the water-based paint layers and reveal either the powdery blue or the McCoy. We never quite know what we're going to get.

Basecoat.jpg

This next image is not painting, it is playing, but I thought it would be fun to post anyway!

TardisBlue1.jpg

ThymeLorde

...wow.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say these were photos taken midway through the build of the original prop. This is unbelievably good looking.
"An apple a day keeps the... no, never mind."

Volpone

...aaand now that the blue is on I'm back to not noticing the bowed roof step.
"My dear Litefoot, I've got a lantern and a pair of waders, and possibly the most fearsome piece of hand artillery in all England. What could possibly go wrong?"
-The Doctor.

Scarfwearer

Looking fabulous!
I'm really enjoying watching this build. :)

mverta

Apr 26, 2019, 10:22 pm #353 Last Edit: Apr 26, 2019, 10:27 pm by mverta
APRIL 26, 2019

Getting the door and PTO sign ready...

Door1.jpg

Sign1.jpg

To make the sign, we moulded some high grain wood and actually cut the strips from that- this way,even after sanding and painting the grain will still be subtly visible. I think

And starting some tests on the windows.

Windows1.jpg

mverta

Big moment - the TARDIS is up on her wheels!  We've torn down and put her up a few times now and she goes together just the right way each time. Collective sigh of relief!

Wheels1.jpg

mverta

APRIL 30, 2019

The TARDIS is on her base.  Here we're testing the assembly and making sure nothing is racking so that when we do the doors, there are no issues.  Paint, windows, signs all temp, of course.

Wbase1.jpg
Wbase2.jpg
Wbase3.jpg

fivefingeredstyre

That is looking fantastic!

Is the base fibreglass as well?

mverta

Yes, fiberglass with steel support structure - I'll get some photos of that next time it's out and upside-down!

tony farrell

She's looking gloriously battered already. Wonderful!

T

mverta

Tony, a few steps ago we made a rule to no longer protect the build from anything - chemicals, damage, whatever. We're just letting it be what it will be; get what character and history she will.  It's liberating. :)