Camping Tardis

[Shwalamazula]

Thanks a bunch to Davros Skaro for the tips.

Today's build is cleaning up the roof (trimming the overhang, filling seams). I got a router that has a tilting base and a flush-trim bit. I set the base on the roof panels and used a level on the top of the router to lock down an angle that would give me a straight cut. It worked like a dream. I now have a roof totally flat with my frame.







Once the routing was finished, I did a light sanding just to clean up the burrs. Next I mixed up the wood filler and started to apply it. This stuff is very volatile and smells just like Bondo. I kinda just slapped it on with wood scraps cause I didnt have a proper putty knife. The sander will take down the extra material anyway.





Even though it smells terrible, that Bondo filler is great. 15 minutes to cure and it's ready for sanding. I watched an episode of TNG just to be sure and then got to sanding.

Once sanding was complete, I mixed sawdust with wood glue and did spot-fills on little knicks and divots in the wood. This will be left to dry. I also grabbed the roundover bit and routed the top of the light box.



Next steps are:
1. Sand the roof flat
2. Roundover the roof panels at the base
3. Figure out how to carve out a groove in the light box to hold the lantern
4. Decide if I want to roundover the verticle parts

[Davros Skaro]

Thanks a bunch to http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=7077.msg89326#msg89326 for the tips.

Your welcome, glad to have been able to help! 

Chris.

[Shwalamazula]

Just a tiny update today...

My initial plan for the roof base was to use a roundover bit to round off the base. I was going to use the tilt-base with the router to get a flush cut and then use the vertical adjustment to lower the bit until the profile of the roundover bit matched the roof pitch. The guide on the tilt-base base plate was too thin to accommodate the bit, so that idea went out the window.

As a backup, I just took the orbital sander and carved a 45° lip around the base and then just rounded that with the sander. I think it looks good.



I am still not sure if I want to round the vertical parts. I think I'll decide that when we do our first full-size dry fit outside. Then I can see how noticeable it is on the roof.

Moving on, I wanted to cut a channel in the light box for the lantern. This will help keep water out and offer a little more stability. I may still want to make some kind of lockdown for it in the future though.

I wanted to do this with the router but couldn't figure out how to get a clean ring around the circle, so I took the long way around. I measured out the lantern base and made a circle on the box. I then grabbed a small chisel and cut a vertical perimeter along the circle.

Once the initial cuts were made, I started taking out material.



I kept checking with the lantern to make sure the groove was big enough and would be sturdy.





The end result was a groove with some chunky edging. I put the lantern in the groove after cleaning the groove out. I then mixed sawdust with wood glue and used it to fill in and smooth the wood around the lantern.

When I was happy with the coverage, I carefully removed the lantern by twisting it before pulling it so that I didn't disturb my putty. Using a damp cloth, I cleaned the glue off the lantern. I put the roof to the side to let it dry. Next project day I'll give that top a light sanding to clean it up.

This project is getting close. I have a handful of core bits left before painting:

1. Create frames for the Police Box signs (vinyl is ordered)
2. Finish lantern prep
3. Route vertical surfaces on roof (pending dry-fit)

Post-Paint
1. Install the windows
2. Install hinges for the doors
3. Install door lock
4. Finish tiny door (letters are being 3D printed)
5. Source and install handles
6. Source lighting for signs and lamp

I have 4 weeks left and I know painting will take a week. Fun fun fun

[Shwalamazula]

I am doing the calculations for estimating how much paint I am going to need for this. I have broken down the build into a set of core components:

•   Walls
•   Base
•   Corner Posts
•   Roof Tier 1
•   Roof Tier 2
•   Roof Tier 3
•   Roof Top
•   Lantern Box
•   Lantern
•   Sign Frames

I did a rough calculation of everything, knowing I'm gonna need extra paint.

This is overkill on some of the parts. The walls, for example, will be missing paint for all of the windows, but will add paint for all of the routed bits. The lantern also has a lot of unpainted space because of the glass, but I still used a box approximation for the paint needed. If you are curious, the 8x multiplier on the signs is because the paintable areas of the signs are just 4 strips, so the dimensions are doubled. The one part I was more precise with was the roof. Assuming the roof was just square, I came up with 1105 in² for the flat roof surface area. With my 10% buffer, that makes 1216 in². I knew that the angle on the roof would add more surface area but I was not sure how much. So I calculated the trapezoid surface area for the roof panels and came up with 1398 in². My 10% buffer would have not cleared that, so I replaced the flat approximation with the proper trapezoid calculations.



Here in the states, paint coverage is expressed in ft². So, to finalize my calculations, I will need 159.29 ft² per coat for this box. For those who do not use our fancy fancy measurement system, you are looking at 147988.80 cm² or 14.80 m². These may be good general approximations for anyone building a full-size TARDIS. I am sure someone who built one with a computer model as a base could get much better numbers but I think rounding it to 160 ft² or 15 m² per coat is a good eyeball estimate.

From what I gather in the forum, it takes 1 primer coat and 2 color coats. On average, paint suppliers seem to quote around 300 ft² per gallon of paint. So it looks like I'll need a gallon of primer (I'll probably prime the inside too, just to seal it) and 1.25 gallons of paint. Now to find my color.

UPDATE
I painted my TARDIS with a paint sprayer. Because the sprayer had such a huge coverage area, there was a lot of wasted paint. I assume these number were spot on for brush or roller apply, but for a spray application, I had to increase the paint to 1.5 gallons to cover just the outside of the TARDIS. I think I will just cover the inside with a spray paint primer just to seal it up and give the interior some color.

[kutan66]

Aren't you using a wood preservative first?     At work we use it on any softwood which is to go outside.   Helps stops rot and some stop insects eating into them too.  It looks like water and soaks into the wood (prior to priming).  Some brands in the UK are a lot better than others.

[Shwalamazula]

This build will spend most of it's time indoors. It is only coming camping with me a few times a year, so I really don't need to worry about bugs getting to it. I have a friend that has built a number of outdoor projects and he recommends just a straight high quality, latex-based, paint+primer mix.

Michigan is pretty brutal to outdoor stuff because of our frequent freeze/thaw cycles for a third of the year. He finished some stairs this way and they are high-traffic with dogs and are holding up fine.

[Volpone]

Back in they day, I had a friend who was adamant about using oil-based paint for exterior wood.  His reasoning was that the linseed oil medium the pigment is suspended in soaks into the wood, impregnating the pores with oil.  His reasoning was probably sound, but oil-based paint is expensive, messier to work with and harder to clean up so I've never bothered with it.  I probably should, but cleaning brushes with a garden hose is so much nicer than sitting there with a bucket of turpentine. 

[kutan66]

I bought a few packs of 10 higher quality paint brushes for £6 each the other month.   I just chuck'em once finished! Its not worth cleaning them.  Though if I'm painting again the next day I'll wrap it in plastic tightly.

[Shwalamazula]

I went to Home Depot to get paint. I took my friend's advice and am going with a premium paint/primer that will cover in 1-2 coats. It's a little more pricey but it will get the job done quicker and it seems to be a better product.

I asked the paint folk if they could program a paint for me. They said sure. I gave them the Pantone code and they just gave me a blank stare. Next, I gave them the hex code ... still a blank stare. I then gave them the RGB percentages and the person said they can only program if I had their formulas (1.5 oz of this color, .5 oz of that color ...). I looked on the Behr website for a color matching feature and did not find one. At this point, I thought I may just have to go to a print shop, get the Pantone color printed, and then bring the sample back to get scanned.

I don't remember how I got to it, but Home Depot has an app that has a built-in color matching feature. It will also scan from a photo or from a stored image. I downloaded the app and pulled up the Pantone color for the TARDIS. I then used the app to get a color match. This is what the app came up with:



This looked like a pretty close match to me, so I had them make me a sample so that I could go test it. The color looks great.

Inside


Outside


After getting the paint sample, I got a quote back from the first person I had asked about making vinyl signs for the box. They were a bit pricey for me, so I am going to keep looking for another supplier or come up with something else for my signs.

Getting back to the build, I put the roof bits together to see how they looked and how well the lantern stayed in place with the new groove cut into the lantern box. Everything fits nice. I am a happy panda.



To test the color, I grabbed some scrap materials (pine, plywood, and drywall) to test the color and the coating. I also grabbed a few parts off the lantern. I wanted to know how well the paint would stick to the lantern surfaces and if I needed to scuff up the surface or not.







The paint goes on the organic materials just fine. One coat is all I needed and the color is fantastic. The paint on the metal was a little more testy. On the metal, the paint coated unevenly and required more than one coat. It did not seem to make a difference whether or not I scuffed the surface first.

After 4 hours, the organic materials were dry (at least they would not transfer paint to a white paper towel) and there were no signs of bad coverage. The metal parts didn't look bad but I will need multiple coats on it and most likely some kind of sealer.





In between the painting and the drying, I went to work on the TARDIS signs. As you can see, the plans call for a frame, a backing, and a base. The base nestles in right between the corner pillars. I think Steve Ramsey just uses Velcro to hold his signs on (they are also not lit). I want these signs to light up and want them to be a bit sturdier than Velcro. You can see below how the build is called out on the WWMM plans:



To make the build a bit more sturdy, I am going to make the main base a little bigger than 6". The base will extend down over the wall a bit. I am going to cut a channel out of the base for the center strip and will be rigidly mounting the base to the lower frame of the roof. This will give a solid mount for the signs and will also help reinforce the walls. I plan on putting barrel-pins on the inside where the walls meet the roof to stop any play that would push the walls in. The groove in the sign base will prevent any outward play. I will need to make the frame a bit thicker (since I can't mess with the inner-dimensions because I have quotes out for the signs that fit in that space).

I am still unsure how I will light the signs. I am thinking of using the router to hollow out the base and also drill a hole thru the base and the lower roof frame. This will allow me to mount LEDs inside the base and run the wiring out to the inside of the TARDIS. This leaves all electrical mounted directly to body parts without the worry of smaller pieces like the signs carrying the electronics.

Once the signs are done, I will most likely cut dovetail joints into the base so that the signs can easily slide on.

I would also like to report that I got a new dust mask that has one-way valves for exhaust and prevents hot breath from fogging your safety glasses. Also, the mask is beard friendly.



Making the bases was pretty simple. I took the 1 x 8s and marked the length needed for the bases. I then cut those down into the 4 bases and cut them a second time to make sure they were only 6.5" tall.



I then held the bases up to the TARDIS and marked where the center strip met with the base. I used the router to cut out the groove and then took the bases back to the TARDIS to make sure the cuts adequately covered the center strip. Everything checked out.





Next build night I will have the signs figured out and should be able to mount the bases to the roof frame. I will need to make sure that any routing or modifications (other than simple holes) are done on the base before gluing and tacking the bases into place.

[Shwalamazula]

I am back about 4 updates because I just got super busy, so I just figured I would break the update up into 4 smaller updates, focusing on the primary portions of the build.

I got my new vinyl signs for the build. I had a friend print them up for me and they came out fantastic. This is 2 mm blackout vinyl. If you are looking for a true no-bleed vinyl for LEDs, you may want to go with a 4 mm.



I needed to get the material out of the sign backing so that I can install LEDs into the backing. To get initial measurements, I laid the vinyl on the backboards to get an idea for how much material needs to be removed to illuminate the letters of the sign.



Once I had a couple reference points, I was able to use the speed-square to scribe lines for the cutout.



I did not have access to a mill so I tried to figure out what would be the easiest way to remove all this material. I thought it may be good to use the drill press. The drill press was was really annoying. You have to be really careful to make your holes 2/3 undrilled, or you end up having the bit walk about. It gets really annoying really quick.





Once I had all the holes drilled, I grabbed the router with a cutting bit and set it to half of my total depth and started clearing out the material.

Pro Tip:
Make sure you remember to lock down your router bit because a router bit dropping into your workpiece is really freaking spooky. Also, going fast over a knot can be spooky too.



I eventually got all of the material hogged out. As you can see, there are a few spots where my bit wasn't locked down completely and it dropped right into the workpiece and made a mess.





The backing fits up there nicely but it really took a long time to take the material out.



I decided to take another route to get the material out of the backing. The previous piece took about 45 minutes to do. On the next 3, I changed up my technique to be less time consuming. Rather than use the press to do the entire piece, I only did enough of one corner to get the router started. I then used the router at half depth for the first pass, then went full depth for the last pass.



To make the cutting a bit more stable, I did cutting in thirds. This allowed me to keep my clamps on the piece and avoid the router from spinning the piece around too much. You also need to make sure you adjust your router speed appropriately to avoid fire.







The sign backs were attached to the upper frame with wood glue and nails. I used clamps to keep them all squeezed together.



While this was setting, I grabbed wood for my frames. I used the extra 3/4" wood I already had and used the planer to get the wood cut to the proper width and thickness. These frames were made a little larger than the WWMM frames because of the backing being larger and covering part of the center strip on the walls.

[Shwalamazula]

I needed to get a new sheet of acrylic for the signs. I was able to go to the local hobby shop and get a sheet large enough for all of the signs.



We used the table saw to cut up the acrylic. The acrylic made a mess (even with the vacuum attached to it) and it was quite stinky. A furnace filter attached to a box fan helps out a bunch.



Once the acrylic was cut to size, I cleaned up the acrylic and and went about the putting on the vinyl. My signs turned out a bit poopy with bubbles everywhere.



I told my friend about the bubbles and my friend gave me a good talkin-to. Apparently, I made all the mistakes.

Chuck's Vinyl Mistakes
1. Applying a large sheet of vinyl alone
2. Removing the entire vinyl backing before application
3. Applying the base material to the vinyl instead of the vinyl to the base material

1. I was told that for a piece this large, you need two people to apply the vinyl. This allows you to keep the material taught and to smooth it out as you apply it.
2. If you remove the back of the vinyl all at once, you run a larger risk of accidentally allowing parts of the vinyl to touch the base material and get stuck or form a crease.
3. Applying the base material to the vinyl makes it harder to properly align the vinyl and does not allow you to properly smooth out the material as it is being applied.

Now I get to spend hours with a really tiny needle to pop and smooth out the bubbles. If I decide to remake the signs, I will have my friend help so I can avoid these damn bubbles.

Once the signs were put together, we took the LED strip and put it into one of the backings to see how well the signs illuminate. They look pretty cool but the 2mm material is a bit thin and lets the LED bleed thru.





I put printer paper behind the signs and it completely gets rid of the bleed issue. To avoid the printer paper overlap in the future, I think I will get a roll of wax paper so that I can get one continuous piece out of it.



The sign backing will have foil applied on the inside to enhance the reflectivity.

[Shwalamazula]

On this build day, I worked on setting up light controls with an Arduino UNO. The LEDs are powered off a 12V power supply, so I went to the local electronic store to get a 12V AA battery brick. This will allow me to make small portable test batteries. I will eventually use a much higher capacity battery for the full build, but this little brick is perfect for prototyping.



The supply generates more than enough current to power the entire LED strip. Before working with the UNO, I cut the LED strips so that I would have a strip for each of the 4 signs, a strip for the interior of the box, and one for the lantern.



The remote I picked for the build is an IC 2262/2272. The remote has 4 buttons and looks pretty neat.





We worked with this transmitter for a while and couldn't get the darn thing to work. I am not sure if it was intentional or not, but the transmitter did not have an LED in it to tell if the buttons were pressed. Rather than clamp a multimeter to the remote, I just wired in an LED. This worked just fine and showed that the transmitter was working.





We tinkered with the board for a couple hours trying to get things to work. We tried out multiple kinds of MOSFETs and drivers to see what was wrong with the circuits. We eventually came to the conclusion that the receiver was not working properly. We at least got a pulsing sine wave function put together for the LED with some sample code from the web and a bunch of tinkering. I was able to get a return processed for the remote and receiver.





My friend was super cool and had an UNO that was already in a protective blue case. I am going to use this for the build. Once I knew that all of the wiring was correct, and got my replacement remote, I was able to wire everything up and start tinkering with the code.

I was being really fussy with the coding and stayed up till 4:00 am trying to get things to work correctly. I had the buttons trigger a flag and then the flag state would determine if the lamp would turn on or not. I kept getting myself caught in the lamp's control loop and couldn't get the code to exit.

I eventually came to the conclusion that I needed interrupt code to break the control loop. Once I added interrupt functions to all the button channels, everything started to work properly.

I will update the code as i debug it but the code I am using is below. There are 4 discrete button states I am calling out. I know I can create combined button states (AB, AC, AD ...) but that is just more tinkering than I want to do at the moment. There will be 4 major light patterns on the box:

1. All lights on solid
2. All lights on with lantern pulsing
3. All lights off with lantern pulsing
4. All lights on without lantern

I think this covers the bases for the light states.

Code Select Expand


/*=================================================================================================

 Program Name:   TARDIS Control
   
 Author:         Chuck Badger

 Description:    Software is written for controling the electronics of a TARDIS. Hardware
                 includes a prototyping board with 3 digital outputs wired to mosfets to drive 3
                 LED arrays and a remote receiver with a global signal line and 4 discrete
                 signal lines (one for each button on the remote).
         
                 The 3 LED arrays are the lantern at the top of the TARDIS, the lighting for the
                 inside of the TARDIS, and the lighting for the 4 POLICE BOX signs.
         
                 The discrete signal lines from the remote receiver are wired to individual
                 inputs on the prototyping board. The global signal line from the remote
                 receiver is wired a hardware inturrupt circuit.
         
                 The 4 buttons on the remote will activate the following 4 light sequences:
                   1. Lantern pulsing with all other lights off
                   2. All lights on solid
                   3. All lights on soild with lantern pulsing
                   4. All lights on solid with lantern off
           
 Note:           Software was designed using an Arduino UNO. Software should be
                 compatible with similar hardware.
         
                 Wiring diagram can be found at:
                 http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php/index.php?topic=9572.msg120021#msg120021

===================================================================================================

 CHANGE LOG

 1.0.2   2019-09-27    BUG FIX
 
- Corrected a bug found in 1.0.1 where attempting to change a pulsing sequences didn't
          always succeed unless the sequence was canceled first
       - Removed invalidation of lighting sequences when the sequence is triggered
       - Added invalidation of lighting sequences to the sequence activation status
 
 1.0.1   2019-09-26    MAINTENENCE BUILD
       
       - Changed evaluations to compare number to variable (10 == x rather than x == 10)
       - Added OR conditions to the pulsing light sequences so that any button press will
         exit and reevaluate instead of staying stuck depending on when you press a
         button
       - Updated lighting sequences to be discrete sequences calling out all 3 arrays
 
 1.0.0   2019-07-10    INITIAL BUILD
 
=================================================================================================*/

/*  RF Transmitter button-to-circuit is as follows:
     Button A = Circuit D2
     Button B = Circuit D0
     Button C = Circuit D3
     Button D = Circuit D1
*/

//Declare lighting sequence activation status variables
int value_a = 0;
int value_b = 0;
int value_c = 0;
int value_d = 0;

//Declare change flags
volatile bool changeA = false;
volatile bool changeB = false;
volatile bool changeC = false;
volatile bool changeD = false;
 
//Attach labels to pin designations for easier code comprehension
#define boxPin 10
#define lampPin 11
#define signPin 9

//=================================================================================================

void setup(){

//Identify the output pins
pinMode(boxPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(lampPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(signPin, OUTPUT);

//Identify the input pins
pinMode(A5, INPUT);
pinMode(A4, INPUT);
pinMode(A3, INPUT);
pinMode(A2, INPUT);
pinMode(2, INPUT);

//Identify the interrupt pin and what function will be called when triggered
attachInterrupt(digitalPinToInterrupt(2), ButtonPressed, RISING);

}

//=================================================================================================

void loop() {

/*  TOGGLES FOR THE 4 SEQUENCES ===================================================================
   
     When a button is pressed, the corresponding toggle will force a change in the lighting
     sequence activation status variable
*/
 
//  Button A Pressed  
 if (changeA) {  
   if (0 == value_a) {
     value_a = 1;
     value_b = 0;
     value_c = 0;
     value_d = 0;
   }
   else {
     value_a = 0;
   }
   changeA = false;
 }
   
// Button B Pressed
 if (changeB) {  
   if (0 == value_b) {
     value_b = 1;
     value_a = 0;
     value_c = 0;
     value_d = 0;
   }
   else {
     value_b = 0;
   }
   changeB = false;
 }
 
//  Button C Pressed  
 if (changeC) {  
   if (0 == value_c) {
     value_c = 1;
     value_a = 0;
     value_b = 0;
     value_d = 0;
   }
   else {
     value_c = 0;
   }
   changeC = false;
 }
 
//  Button D Pressed
 if (changeD) {  
   if (0 == value_d) {
     value_d = 1;
     value_a = 0;
     value_b = 0;
     value_c = 0;
   }
   else {
     value_d = 0;
   }
   changeD = false;
 }

/*  LIGHT SEQUENCES  ==============================================================================
     When a light sequence is activated, the controller will drive the appropriate LED arrays
*/
 
//  Default, No Flag State
 if(0 == value_a && 0 == value_b && 0 == value_c && 0 == value_d) {
   analogWrite (boxPin, 0);
   analogWrite (lampPin, 0);
   analogWrite (signPin, 0);
   }

//  Flag A Turned On - All Off With Pulse
 if (1 == value_a) {
   analogWrite (boxPin, 0);
   analogWrite (signPin, 0);
   
   for(int i = 0; i<3600; i++){
     //convert 0-360 angle to radian (needed for sin function)
     float rad = DEG_TO_RAD * i;
     
     //calculate sin of angle as number between 0 and 255
     int sinOut = constrain((sin(rad)*128)+128, 0, 255);
     
     analogWrite(lampPin, sinOut);
     delay(5);
     if (changeA || changeB || changeC || changeD){
       break;
     }
   }
   
 }

//  Flag B Turned On - All On Solid
 if (1 == value_c) {    
   analogWrite (boxPin, 255);
   analogWrite (lampPin, 255);
   analogWrite (signPin, 255);
 }

//  Flag C Turned On - All On With Pulse
 if (1 == value_b) {    
   analogWrite (boxPin, 255);
   analogWrite (signPin, 255);

   for(int i = 0; i<3600; i++){
     //convert 0-360 angle to radian (needed for sin function)
     float rad = DEG_TO_RAD * i;
     
     //calculate sin of angle as number between 0 and 255
     int sinOut = constrain((sin(rad)*128)+128, 0, 255);
     
     analogWrite(lampPin, sinOut);
     delay(5);
     if (changeA || changeB || changeC || changeD){
       break;
     }
   }
 }

//  Flag D Turned On - Lights On No Lamp
if (1 == value_d) {  
analogWrite (boxPin, 255);
analogWrite (lampPin, 0);
analogWrite (signPin, 255);
   }
}

//  BUTTON PRESS INTURRUPT ========================================================================

void ButtonPressed(){
 
if (digitalRead (A5) == HIGH) {
changeA = true;
}
   else if (digitalRead (A4) == HIGH) {
changeB = true;
   }
   else if (digitalRead (A3) == HIGH) {
changeC = true;
   }
   else if (digitalRead (A2) == HIGH) {
changeD = true;
   }
}


A lot of debugging was needed here. Turns out. The Arduino UNO only has 2 interrupt circuits. The remote has 4 discrete trigger circuits and one circuit that fires anytime any button is pressed. I re-wired the board to take D0 - D3 as analog inputs and to use the other circuit as a general interrupt.  Now everything works perfect.

**2019-09-27 UPDATE**
I fixed my code and updated the code here so that the wiring and code would stay in the same place.

[Shwalamazula]

It is painting day and things are groovy. I went to the hardware store to rent the paint sprayer and picked up plastic to protect the surroundings from the paint.



I started with some smaller pieces to get a feel for the sprayer. This application method is not precise at all, there is a ton of overspray.





Once I got a feel for the paint gun, I moved on to painting the big panels. I only ended up painting the outside of the box panels. I ran out of paint and had to go back to the store to get another gallon of paint. I will have to add a note to my old paint post to double the paint if using a sprayer. On the plus side, I have a half-gallon of touchup paint.

[Shwalamazula]

Today I wanted to put the TARDIS together to see how well it all fits together after being painted. Panels did not fit very well at all. It has been in the upper 80's here for the last few days and humidity has been around 80% - 90%. I am assuming that the wood sitting in the garage for 4 days in this humidity caused the wood to swell. Everything was really really hard to assemble.





I grabbed the sander and started hogging out material to get everything to fit. As annoying as this is, I think it is fortunate. This will guarantee that under all weather conditions, this will go together. If it goes together when swollen, it will fit even better when the humidity drops. The only bit I don't really like is the main pillar by the door. I sanded off too much material and it looks wonky. I know with paint it will not be really noticeable, built it still annoys me.



We didn't move it to another pillar because this one has the slots made to accommodate the door hinges. I would have to do a lot of cutting an refitting to move that pillar. I think I am just going to paint it and live with it. If it really annoys me, I can just build a new pillar.





Once I got everything to fit nice, I took the router around the top to make everything rounded and smooth. I will use my extra paint to touchup the top. Once the routing was complete, I sanded it down and put the roof on to see what it looks like full size. This is pretty rad.





The mosquitoes were starting to come out so I had to stop ogling my TARDIS and break it down. Breakdown takes about 15 minutes. Before putting everything in the garage, I checked to see if the walls fit in my little truck. Success!



To wrap up, I put everything in the garage. This doesn't take up as much space as I thought it would. I will be storing everything vertically, so this will take up even less space in my garage.



I still have 1.5 weeks to finish. My finishing list is:

1. Get 3D-printed letters for the tiny door
2. Put a back-panel on the tiny door
3. Glue letters to tiny door
4. Reattach tiny door
5. Frost the lantern lens
6. Build window frames
7. Cut, frost, install windows
8. Cut channels into police signs
9. Assemble police signs
10. Acquire and attach handles
11. Install lock
12. Install hinges for main door
13. Finish code for lights
14. Attach electrical

A lot of this stuff will all be completed at the same time (like the tiny door stuff or the frame stuff). I think I will actually be able to finish this build right on schedule. Woot!

[Shwalamazula]

Got stuck late at work today, so I didn't have time for much. I ran to the grocery store and picked up a roll of parchment paper. The idea is to spray adhesive on the back of the box signs and roll out the parchment over it. Once the adhesive drys, i should have a nice frosted look without any seams or darker overlap.







That turned out pretty good. I'll have too test ot with the LEDs later to make sure I don't need a second sheet.

The second half was getting pieces for frames. There was a lot of spare scrap wood and Brian had some choice (I think it's choice, no knots) pine. With all the extra material and access to a planer, it didn't make sense to buy framing strips.  

I really like the look of the Smith TARDIS with the white outlined window frame. I'm modifying the design to resemble that frame. I will be cutting notches out of the inner bits so I won't have a bunch of tiny pieces.

(I'll put a better diagram here later)


Once I figured out how many strips I needed and what size, i got to cutting up the wood. We took all the wood to the saw and made cuts just over .5". I am going to use the planer later to make them all a perfect .5" x .5".

Once the wood was cut to width, we cut them to length. I did make all of my cuts about .25" longer than needed so they can all be made the same size later with a block stop on the saw.



Now I just need to plane and cut these and they'll be ready to paint and assemble. Tomorrow, I'll be doing the electrical in the roof.