1/2 Tardis Build Into A Smoker

Mini build thread. Always wanted a nice wooden outdoor smoker so I decided to build one, but when coming up with the design I decided to make a Tardis Smoker. With the Tardis being half scale. So it's about 4 feet tall (a little taller with the vent at the top.) It's modular construction, so it can be taken apart and rebuilt really easy (although I'm going to secure the final product before I start to cook


The base has a channel to fit the sides and a corners in it. The corners just slide in and rest in a 3/4" groove. Notice at the top of the base there is a black dot. That is the bottom hole for the door pivot hinge.


The corners just slide into the groove on the base -- as noted above and seen in the third pic. I kept everything pretty tight in the joints and grooves so the corners rest into the grooves nicely. The second pic above are of little wooden "clips" I made for the doors to rest in and lock all four side together. These also act as guides when putting it together.


There are three sides like the first pic above and they just slide into the corners. It's a nice tight fit as seen the third pic.


Next up is the top. It's just three layers and is a separate piece. I'm going to caulk the inside of this completely and their will be a vent out of the top (that will be the lantern fixture).


The top just sits on top of the sides and fits like a glove.


There are two front doors. Only one has hinge hardware right now (the right one). But I plan on making them both open. I originally thought that only the right one would open but I think it would be best if they both do. It will just help with the functionality overall.


The doors have to open out because the inside will have meat hangers and a grill for the smoker and I want the inside to have maximum space for that. So I just bought some pivot hinges on amazon. They work perfectly and really like how the door works.


And that's about where I'm at. The last pic has a top vent that I'm going to work on to make it more lantern like. The front will have glass windows. I plan on frosting the glass to look whitish to keep the Tardis look. I'm going to seal the inside also with some high temperature caulk (that I had left over from my workshop wood burning stove). I'll continue to post to this thread with additional progress. But it's almost ready and I'm getting excited. Now I just need to decide which Tardis blue to use?

awol007 said:

Mini build thread. Always wanted a nice wooden outdoor smoker so I decided to build one, but when coming up with the design I decided to make a Tardis Smoker. With the Tardis being half scale. So it's about 4 feet tall (a little taller with the vent at the top.) It's modular construction, so it can be taken apart and rebuilt really easy (although I'm going to secure the final product before I start to cook

View attachment 536553
The base has a channel to fit the sides and a corners in it. The corners just slide in and rest in a 3/4" groove. Notice at the top of the base there is a black dot. That is the bottom hole for the door pivot hinge.

View attachment 536555View attachment 536559View attachment 536560
The corners just slide into the groove on the base -- as noted above and seen in the third pic. I kept everything pretty tight in the joints and grooves so the corners rest into the grooves nicely. The second pic above are of little wooden "clips" I made for the doors to rest in and lock all four side together. These also act as guides when putting it together.

View attachment 536563View attachment 536561View attachment 536562
There are three sides like the first pic above and they just slide into the corners. It's a nice tight fit as seen the third pic.

View attachment 536564
Next up is the top. It's just three layers and is a separate piece. I'm going to caulk the inside of this completely and their will be a vent out of the top (that will be the lantern fixture).

View attachment 536565
The top just sits on top of the sides and fits like a glove.

View attachment 536566
There are two front doors. Only one has hinge hardware right now (the right one). But I plan on making them both open. I originally thought that only the right one would open but I think it would be best if they both do. It will just help with the functionality overall.

View attachment 536567View attachment 536568View attachment 536572
The doors have to open out because the inside will have meat hangers and a grill for the smoker and I want the inside to have maximum space for that. So I just bought some pivot hinges on amazon. They work perfectly and really like how the door works.

View attachment 536574View attachment 536575View attachment 536577
And that's about where I'm at. The last pic has a top vent that I'm going to work on to make it more lantern like. The front will have glass windows. I plan on frosting the glass to look whitish to keep the Tardis look. I'm going to seal the inside also with some high temperature caulk (that I had left over from my workshop wood burning stove). I'll continue to post to this thread with additional progress. But it's almost ready and I'm getting excited. Now I just need to decide which Tardis blue to use?

Click to expand...

This is a great project build looks amazing [emoji2] [emoji106]

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Thanks! I'll be heading out to my shop tonight to make some more additions to it. I'll keep this thread updated. When it's ready to cook with I'd like to prepare Doctor Who themed food. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

awesome idea and nice execution. would like to see more

I love this

Just a quick update to this and I wanted to post the dimensions in case anyone is interested.

Exterior Dimensions
Height: 48"
Height: 53" with the top vent (the lantern)
Width: 24" sq at the base

Interior Dimensions
Height 47"
Width 19" sq
6.2 sq feet of cooking area inside

I plan on having two hangers rods at the top to hang sausage links and such and just one grill for now. There is plenty of room for more than one grill (grate) but I want to keep it mostly simple. It will be easy to expand if I want to.

Now for the update:


I just bought a couple of oak dowel rods but I needed a way to hang them so I just got a scrap piece of wood at 19", figured out the 1/3 to put two holes in the middlish.


Then just cut it down the middle so I could have two sides to hang the rods on. The rods I got are also in this pic.


Just an example of the hangers inside.

That's my mini-update. I really want to finish this project soon before the weather turns completely on me.

Some additional updates and it's pretty much done (just some minor exterior details to finish).


All painted and gathered together. I had a concrete slab for an electrical transformer by my workshop that is never used so I'm going to put it on there.


It's going to smoke on indirect heat so the firebox will be next to the smoke house itself. Just some blocks and a grate from an old grill I'm not using anymore.


Both doors open nicely. Plenty of room inside.


A scouting party of the Slitheen tried to infiltrate the Tardis while I was constructing it.



And the near finished product! The windows on the door is glass because I want to see inside. I thought about frosting them but I like it as is.

Imgur Gallery http://imgur.com/a/nIxYi if you'd like to see high res images.

I'm really pleased with it. I still want to add the police box sign on the top. I also still need to install the racks inside and finish the firebox. But I'll trying it out next weekend. I loved building this project. If I do anything else to it I'll post more to this thread. Going to add a project run for these is anyone is interested. Doesn't have to be a smoker since it's just a half scale Tardis. You can turn it into anything you'd like.

I book marked this as I wanted to get my dad a smoker but wasn't able to last year thanks to the one i ordered getting destroyed in the mail. This may be a good project for next year while they're away on vacation as I can knock it out in a few days and not have to worry about them wondering what it is lol. Though due to space limitatoins and the fact he doesn't smoke much other than jerky I'd may be make it a bit smaller.

Wes R said:

Though due to space limitations and the fact he doesn't smoke much other than jerky I'd may be make it a bit smaller.

Click to expand...

Well let me know if you want any help when you decide to scale it down. Remember pocket holes are your friend!

The only thing I bought for it besides wood, screws, brads and glass were the door hinges http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NUFQMYA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 They are small and worked nicely.

It'd be next summer at this rate, hopefully this time their vacation will go better as this year every time they left there was an emergency. Now that I said that i'll probably saw my arm off building this lol.

So it's beefier on the inside? (Or porkier).

Any worries about that wood outgassing during the smoking process?

NormanF said:

So it's beefier on the inside? (Or porkier).

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I had to follow the laws of science as we know them now. I'll be sure to upgrade if there is a way for me to make the inside larger than the outside.

NormanF said:

Any worries about that wood outgassing during the smoking process?

Click to expand...

I've thought a lot about this and did take some measures in the build to prevent this like not using treated wood, not using paints or glues inside and using high temperature sealers (the roof is sealed with some sealer that is rated for wood burning fireplaces). I've also decided I'm going to line the inside walls with aluminum foil. The foil I'm mainly going to be used for temp regulation but it should also help with adding life to the smoker in the long run. On the outside I've added some water resistance spray as well which did a nice job the other night when it rained. But basically it is plain old pine boards and with the firebox being offset it will not reach very high temps which is what I'm going for: the long, slow cook through time!

But I'm in no way an expert on the matter and would love suggestions if you got them.

I dusted off the Tardis this weekend and plan on smoking some pork this weekend again. I added the thermometer to the front in place of the St. John's sticker. It tell the internal temps of the smoker and I use it to regulate the heat. Worked out great too. The pic below you can see some smoke coming out. I made a beef and cheese smokie and it was awesome.

You know we are all waiting to see you weld up a Dalek grill next, right? (Bonus points for Dalek in agony noises.)

darth_myeek said:

You know we are all waiting to see you weld up a Dalek grill next, right? (Bonus points for Dalek in agony noises.)

Click to expand...

I have actually thought about doing that very thing but I can't really figure out how to make it work right. I have this large 275 gallon fuel tank that I want to turn into a large trailer grill (although I doubt I'd move it anywhere.) So I was thinking that might be my next outdoor project. However, I've always wanted a pizza oven and I was kind of saving that empty space on the concrete pad for that. Maybe I can come up with an interesting Dalek pizza over design? hmmmmm.... Or maybe there is another Dr. Who option for that one? My thinking cap is officially on.