Tardis

[m4gnum]

Ok, so it's a little early, and quite short but here's an update.

Click to enlarge the images.

Well, it all seems to be coming together nicely, but very slowly. There is a lot of fiddly little details to make it look just right which take up a lot of time. For example, at the top of the vertical posts are little "caps". Should be fairly straight forward to make, just a square with a corner cut out. However, I had to take 3 goes at it before I got it right. These caps force the roof piece into the correct place, and prevent it slipping off.

Talking of the roof, I needed to build a little "chimney" into it. Well, it's not a chimney it's a lamp housing, but in my Tardis it serves as an air hole for the fan. Quite simple, just 4 mitred pieces of wood the same length glued into place.

The base also needed to be remade. The first one wasn't square and due to some changes to the lower half of the case wouldn't work. A simple square piece of MDF, with slightly rounded corners, and some internal brackets which would stop the TARDIS sliding about.

One of the final things for the inside of the case was a little bracket that stops the hard drive falling out of place and putting too much pressure on the motherboard. I routed a very shallow trench out of some stripwood. This was then glued into the inside of the case just below the TARDS' window, and the L shaped harddrive mouth would hook into this and hold it securely, as the third graphic shows.

There may be another short worklog tomorrow. Maybe.

[GT40_GearHead]

this is looking great, how much work do you think you have..?

[m4gnum]

Probably another couple of weeks I think. There isn't anything too difficult left to do other than decide where exactly to put the fan and how to mount it, and where to put the LEDs to illuminate the signs.

[GT40_GearHead]

what finish are you gonna use, i mean like: clear coat or paint

[m4gnum]

I don't really want a glossy finish, so it'll be matt paint.

It's not 100% ready for painting if I'm honest, but I got started anyway. At least slapping on the undercoat would show up any major problems e.g. if the wood filler I've used is allergic to paint, It takes a heck of a long time to paint, as the wood didn't really soak up the paint like I thought it would, but an hour later I'm left with a white TARDIS. Thankfully, it didn't show up any major problems. On the photo of the roof you may just note a few brush marks. The case will be lightly sanded with some 240 grit wet 'n dry (it'll be dry). You'll also note on the full photo the hole ready for the lock, that we made waaayyy back on Page 7. I'll glue that into place after painting.

Then I had to go and buy some coloured paint. The colour of the TARDIS seems to vary from every generation. In the end I went for a tester of Celestial Blue 3. I had wanted a nice satinwood, which is basically matt paint for wood, but no-where does tester pots of the colour I wanted (or would mix some up) so I went with emulsion. I'm not 100% sure how the paint will react to the primer etc, as emulsion is usually only used on walls/ceilings. However, it paints very very easily compared with the primer. The colour is OK, but maybe a little too light. I might go for Celestial Blue 2 or maybe even 1, but they could be too dark. I'll put the test piece of wood next to my desk for a week just to see if I like it.

In other news, I've been buying the last few bits for the case. I decided the power switch I'd mashed up wouldn't look very good, so I got some little red ones (thanks to GT40_GearHead for pointing me in the right direction). Then I realised as I'm extending the length of the LED wires from the fan that I'd need some heatshrink. And finally, I also bought some tiny handles for the doors from a dolls house shop. With some luck they should all be here by next weekend.

(woo! 2000 views)

[Airbozo]

Something I have discovered over the course of doing electronics, electrical and other house/computer stuff: the last 10% of a job takes longer than the first 90%. Usually.

This is looking so great. I can't wait to see the finished product! I was discussing this project with my SO and was _amazed_ that she knew right away what the Tardis was...

[GT40_GearHead]

you made an awesome job its the first full picture of it, it looks perfect, al the joints al of it, i just have no words
my switch can be proud of its new home

but i'm note shure about the emulsion paint, as i know it made with water,
and i dont know how it will stick on the primer

[m4gnum]

Well I hope the new paint is ok....

Celestial Blue 3 didn't look right, so I went and got some Celestial Blue 1 as it's darker. At first I thought it was a bit greeny (the flash from the camera has adjusted the tones somewhat) but the more I look at it the more blue it becomes. I've painted one side and round the top. I had to stop as it got quite dark outside.

Sorry for all these little short updates. If I don't write them up the day I do it, I forget what I've done. Something that has come up since putting on the primer and you can notice it in the white tardis pic is that the roof doesn't fit and the front door doesn't close, as I'd made it with some very close margins. I've sanded a bit off the door, and will trim a bit off the roof where it is tight.

[GT40_GearHead]

the color looks great
didn't noticed the roof and the door, glad you made them fit right

[Crow_T_Autobot]

As a fellow Whovian, I love the attention to detail you put into this project. The detailing is nice enough that it looks like one of the professional models they used on the show.
I think you chose well on the paint color. Police Boxes are actually pretty dark. One site I like that details the build of a full-scale box points out how well you did your detailing: http://www.relative-dimensions.net/P...0Box/index.htm