My New Series Doctor Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

Only a small update on the roof work.

The roof steps up with several larger then smaller squares of 1x boards.

At the center of the top is the top light support. I'll be making a mount for the light that plugs into a socket in the roof similar to the posts so it can be removed easily for transport.

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re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

Here's a sketch of the roof construction plan. I'm making it like the show prop, which is really as light as possible. Even the 1/4" roof itself is to be joined without additional supporting materials other than a couple of blocks.

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re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

Building the roof is slow going work, especially if you have to do a couple things twice.

On Thursday I became aware the brass Anchor lantern I had bought some time ago that serves as most of the top light parts, was not the correct lantern. This caused me a couple of problems as the chimney it sits on is supposed to be about the same size as the base, and of course I had to track down one that was more correct. It took a few hours of work to locate what I hope is the correct one and the place I found it measured it for me and it's larger than the one I had built the chimney for already. So, I built another one, though this time I used long miter joints, which I had not done the first time around. Miters are more correct, but not as strong.

This image shows added the flat boards that sit on top of the sign boxes and between the posts.

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Also, the last step up on the roof is a pretty wide board at 5-7/8", and finding flat, straight, boards for it was very difficult. It took several attempts to just get four good boards for it.

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This is most of the roof structure, upside down, as I glue in inside corner blocks to help support the miter joints in the tall board.

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Here's the second chimney piece that the top light sits on.

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Along the way, I had to make the little decorative corner pieces, which will nicely cover up the screws used to make the first step of the roof. I made these twice as I mitered both ends of all the boards the first time, just out of habit. Aargh.

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And finally, here's the 1/4" rotary cut red oak veneer plywood I sourced for the roof, walls and doors. The way the prop is finished accentuates the grain in the wood pretty dramatically and this was the only material I was able to find that has a strong grain pattern like the prop. Other types were full of veneer patches common to most plywood veneer (using football shaped patches), along with a really ugly back side. Expensive to need this type, but necessary.

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re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

Work on the roof panels is underway. As I'm not using any supports for the actual panels, I decided to use slow setting epoxy to join the sloped edges because of its strength. Due to this, I wasn't too fussy about the fit, as I wanted a slight bit of room in the seam for the epoxy to flow and create a very strong bond.

I also decided to cut a slot into the top light chimney support for the top edge of the roof panels to slip into. Seemed like a good idea, but it made installing the panels much more complicated than it would have been otherwise and needed to be. I probably wouldn't cut the slots again.

An unexpected issue showed up when I was dry fitting the panels. The slope edges didn't line up with each other as the plywood was bowed just enough so they misaligned. Fixing this turned out to be difficult as I didn't really have access to both the top and bottom of the panels for aligning, and there was no practical way to fix them together even when I did manage to nudge them into alignment.

The fix was some Gorilla superglue that I've used before as it's pretty thick and somewhat impact resistant, unlike other superglues. I used blue painter's tape to mask the wood, aligned the panels, squeezed in the glue, and the sprayed an aerosol superglue accelerant. Worked like a charm. I had to do this 2 - 3 places on every seam but once done, they lined up great.

Next step was to use the tape again, this time on the underside of the seam to prevent any epoxy from coming through the seam. I then masked off the seam on top so epoxy would only enter the seam itself. The slow curing epoxy had a 30 minute open time, and I used a flat stir stick to apply it along all the seams. I used the slow epoxy because it creates the strongest bond, and this seam really needs to never come undone.

This photo is of the entire roof support ready to accept the 1/4" sloped panels.

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This is the top light chimney support roof slots being cut.

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This is the layout of one of the roof panels. I used painters tape to help prevent chip out of the veneer, which is difficult at best when cutting across the grain like this. Keep in mind when using a circular saw the good side always goes down to help prevent chip out.

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Test fitting the roof supports. They are attached with headless pins to avoid having nail holes that have to be dealt with.

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This is where I'm using Gorilla superglue to fix the sloped edges of the panels align.

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Panel edges leveled now, this is the masking where I applied the epoxy, which will sit overnight. Tomorrow I'll pull the tape off, sand level and backfill any parts of the seam that might still need a bit to level. I'll use 5 minute epoxy for those areas.

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re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

Same here, this is looking SO awesome!!! You have some major woodworking skills. This build looks pretty beefy. I really can't wait to see this one all finished up. Incredible.
 
re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

This is such a great build, I really enjoy it (and wish I had your shop)

A couple questions:

1) When cutting the slots in the light support for the roof panels to fit in did you angle the blade to match the roof angle?

2) Have you considered fiberglassing tape down the inside of each seam to add structural integrity?

I can't wait to see this progress and check the thread every day.
 
re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

This is such a great build, I really enjoy it (and wish I had your shop)

A couple questions:

1) When cutting the slots in the light support for the roof panels to fit in did you angle the blade to match the roof angle?

>> yes, same angle cut precisely to fit the plywood.

2) Have you considered fiberglassing tape down the inside of each seam to add structural integrity?

>> I haven't specifically considered fiberglass, or anything else because the show prop didn't use it and it was my guess if it worked for them unreinforced, it would work for me as I'll be able to be more careful with it and it will be handled much less for sure. It does feel very rigid, and I haven't yet fixed the chimney in place, which I'll do from the inside. It's held only by a couple pins on each side at the moment.

I can't wait to see this progress and check the thread every day.

Separately, I'm in contact with the fiberglass guys that did my holochess tables to see about making a mold of the top so I can build one that will sit outdoors without all the issues related to this kind of top design and the elements.

Thanks for the comments. I hope people find it useful to see the process and people who know this stuff don't get too bored.
 
re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

Not much to show today as I had to tinker off and on getting the seams completely backfilled with 5 minute epoxy. I kept finding spots that still needed filling.

In the meantime, I thought I'd add in this nice bird's eye photo of the Matt Smith Tardis that was in a fan magazine that came over from the UK with my locks and handles from my friend Wayne. It's a nice shot showing how the roof looks as it interconnects to the sign boxes and posts and was very helpful in my final design drawings.

I did get a chance to test the stiffness of the roof and it's very good, so I'm quite happy about that. It's also very light, which I'm even more happy about.

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This is just a slightly different photo than before, except it's from today when I was adding in the 5 minute epoxy.

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re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

I'm happy to say the roof structure is done and in place now. It is very light and stiff so it was quite easy for two of us to lift and slide it into place.

Some finished photos below.

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re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

I must say I'm beyond impressed. I've been building large reflector telescopes for over ten years, and have experimented building a desk and other things, but nothing--and I mean nothing--has the quality your build has. It's always amazing to see someone with real carpentry skill do a build.

You set a very high bar. Keep up the fantastic work!

Cheers,

Guy
 
re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

Nicely Done! So strange not to see support beams underneath.

When I was first researching my build, I saw many roof designs with multiple crossbeams. When actually building, I found that with the roof boards cut carefully, they meet and are very strong indeed without any beams underneath, just as in this build.
 
re: My New Series Dr Who Tardis Build (image heavy)

When I was first researching my build, I saw many roof designs with multiple crossbeams. When actually building, I found that with the roof boards cut carefully, they meet and are very strong indeed without any beams underneath, just as in this build.

Agreed. I knew it should work because I have detailed photos of the Eccleston Tardis, and it is built without supports. If it survived production, then it had to be pretty strong.

Legion -> thanks for your kind comments. Deck5 set the bar I think.

Thanks for the others as well.
 

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