A Propped up Box

[tinkering_timelord]

Hello everyone, I'm the Tinkering Timelord. I'm a new member here, but I've been lurking for at least a decade, possibly more. Actually, "lurking" sounds rather ominous, maybe "admiring" would work better. Either way, I've been using this site for reference, inspiration and just general enjoyment for over ten years so I thought it was high time to add my own contributions. I've managed to build a partial Police Box and a custom TARDIS Console and Control Room. For my first post, as you may have guessed from the title, is going to be about the partial Police Box build.

Let's take a trip back in time to the summer of 2009, that's when I saw the first set picture from series 5 of Doctor Who. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were filming on a beach, and behind them was the newly redesigned TARDIS. It was that TARDIS, I decided, that I would base my build on. I was building the Police Box to function as a prop for use in Doctor Who shorts that I was creating at the time. I didn't have a job and had to rely on money saved up from Christmases, birthdays and other holidays in order to pay for materials. For that reason I decided that a full box would be too expensive. So I designed a Police Box that was merely the front doors, frame and sign with a long base and four support struts to hold it up. As I was (and am) only 5' 5" I decided to build the doors at a height of 6'. From there I used this site and reference photos to come up with some approximate dimensions and made a 1/12 scale model.



You can see the drawer pulls that I had found in my Dad's shop for the doors.



As you can see I wasn't aiming for 100% accuracy, but a close approximation that would work as a filming prop. The only limitation was that I could only film it from certain angles without giving away that it only had one full side. After I figured out the dimensions for my partial TARDIS prop, I went out and bought the lumber I needed. I used pine common board from Home Depot as the type of wood. The first thing I made was the base which measured 4' long by 5' deep. It was made of 4 pieces of 1/2" pine 4' long by 6" across and screwed together by 4 6" by 6" pieces left over from the same 1/2" pine.



I would recommend using an actual screwdriver and not one of the "sonic" varieties.



From there I put together the outer frame of the Police Box doors. The corner posts were 6' high by 6" wide and were connected by a top piece measuring 4' long by 6" across. They were joined together from behind using two 5" by 5" metal plates that my Dad had lying around. Each door measured 6' high and 1' 7" across.



I then sanded and primed the base. In order to achieve some approximation of the bevel on the doors I used a power sander to grind away the corners.





You can see the strip of wood I used to stabilize the frame so it would be less likely to break while being moved about. After ten years of use I can confirm it was most effective!



1/4" sheets of plywood were used to back the doors and a ceiling panel light diffuser sheet was carefully cut to size in place of the usual glass windows.



I used some tape to briefly attach the pull to open sign, St. John's ambulance badge and door pulls.



Next I began painting!



I used painters tape to create the template for the windows




The panels for the doors and windows were attached using a nail gun.



I used painters tape to mark out the window frames. Initially I had intended to make window frames using quarter inch ply, but ended up simply painting over the tape with white paint!



Eventually I decided to make a mock-up of the police box sign from wood wrapped in several sheets of black contruction paper with individually cut letters made from white printer paper.




This lasted until I was able to have a proper sign made up from a woman known only as "The Sign Lady" at my Dad's work. The semi-opaque white acrylic was a gift from our neighbor across the street who had some left over pieces from one of his many projects around the house.  




The sign box was attached above the doors and backed with a string of Christmas lights. A central divider was added to the lefthand door along with the pull to open door, which was made from a single piece of half inch plywood and was held in place by a double roller catch from behind. I found a slightly more accurate handle for the righthand door as well as a night latch lock. To keep the doors from swinging open a small barrel bolt was installed at the bottom of the lefthand door.

The partial Police Box build was completed in January 2011. It was a very satisfying project to work on, and the first time I turned the key and opened the doors was a truly magical experience.

[russellsuthern]

That's a very nice looking box.

It  really is fantastic when you finish the build & step inside for the 1st time, isn't it?

Great work!


Regards,

Russell

[tinkering_timelord]

I thought I'd share some updates on the build. These pics are from last spring and show the support beams that hold up the front facade, as well as some changes that have been made. The prop was repainted and weathered down, the handles were removed and the SJA badge has gone missing! The construction is quite rough, but it worked okay on my old SD camera.

[tony farrell]

Even though the box isn't complete, it puts me in mind of the Tardis Porch Doors which were intermittently used throughout the Hartnell era as a 'stand in' for the full Tardis prop.

This photo especially shows how the illusion of having a full Tardis present in Lanzarote might have been similarly created for "The Planet of Fire":




And also how even this might have looked on screen with a carefully chosen camera angle:



I do like your build tinkering_timelord.  Thank you.

T

[tinkering_timelord]

Thank you very much! I've been very impressed with all of your contributions to TARDIS Builders over the years and have spent a lot of time looking over your reference materials, it's great to hear feedback  

[Shwalamazula]

One thing I have noticed that really stands out between builds and the actual prop is that all of the wood pieces on the prop are beveled. This looks like it takes a ton of time. Would you recommend doing the beveling before making the frames or is it not too terrible on the frame?

[Volpone]

I'm glad you asked.  I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, the the original 1963 prop did NOT have bevels.  Bevels are of value for an outdoor prop--unless you're in Arizona or the Sahara or someplace.  Here's why:  When it rains, the water rolls down the sides of the box.  But it pools on top of the crossbars.  And as much of it manages to work its way in between the wood and plywood as comes off the front.  And once it's in there, it starts to rot. 

I skipped bevels on my box and now there's a grid pattern of rotted plywood that I've gouged away on the inside.  Luckily I did a renovation that moved some of the outside trim around so I've got that to help hold everything together.  I also added beveling after the fact.  I did it for cosmetics, but it turns out it helps prevent rot and, in my case, hold everything together.  If you're doing tile work, you lay the tiles in a mortar.  Lowe's and Home Depot sell the stuff premixed in 5 gal pails.  It's called "thinset mortar" and they use some kind of evil chemicals to keep it from drying out as long as it's in the sealed plastic bucket.  I had 3 gallons leftover from some tiling and decided to use it for texturizing on my TARDIS.  I also used it like glazier's putty to add bevels to the wood.  Worked quite well if I say so myself. 

[Shwalamazula]

Chatting with my brother-in-law, who is letting me use his woodworking tools, he told me that the bevels also add strength to the pieces. Hard points tend to get chipped and damaged easily. Apparently the bevels help with that. Another neat thing I learned is that you can use a router to quickly get the bevels created.