My 2005-ish Tardis

[Xxblackbird]

Earlier this year I built a Tardis based on the 2005 style (though with a few inaccuracies) for a few local conventions. This was the first time I've ever built anything to this scale, or ever worked with wood. I'd never used a saw and wasn't even a big fan of measuring.
We worked on this over January through March in Kentucky. It was roughly 15 degrees on a warm day for most of it. We had very few tools and I have no experience, and for 2 and a half of the 3 months we had to work on my mom's porch and in my kitchen.

This is to be taken around to conventions or shows and collapses into about 20-ish pieces that can be hauled in the back of a full size truck.

Here's a collection of WIP images and a few of the shots for the show. I hope to chronicle any repairs and upgrades in this post.
(NOTE: I resurrected this thread and gave it an overhaul. Shrunk and cropped some images and simplified some text)

We had one miter saw and ended up going through 3 table saws. First one died, second one was from a pawn shop and died within a month and the last one was a loaner.

We borrowed a biscuit joiner for the doors and panels. It cuts a slot in the end of each piece so you can join them together with glue and another little sliver of wood called a biscuit.

The lumber came from Lowes (the most time consuming part was finding some decent wood there).
The windows are clear 1/12" plastic from USPlastic.com coated with a frosted spraypaint from Wal-Mart. In the future I will upgrade to white acrylic as the frosted paint wants to flake off.
The lamp is from the same source as the one in the series.
The lock is a cheap off brand from Amazon.
The top signs are from a local business called Speedy Signs and the door sign is from Office Max (I have a Russrep version I'm going to add soon).

We tried to keep everything as simple as possible. The corner posts are 2x4's screwed together. The panels are 1" thick boards, with 1/8" plywood nailed in. The windows are stapled in place. The front doors are secured with some loose pin hinges from Lowes. The side panels are kept in place with what we call "Outhouse Door Technology" which is a wooden block that rotates on a screw. Very, very cheap and incredibly easy to do. Just put the doors in and twist the blocks into place and it holds them very securely.

Finally once everything was (pretty much) put together I started adding some paint. I chose a shade or two lighter than I needed because I knew it would darken with the weathering. I used a mix of brown, black and gray acrylic paint for the blackwash.

And here it is! The first time we ever put it ALL together was at this show (TriCon in Huntington, WV). The first time I saw it painted and in one piece. The first time I tried to get the lights on, the first time I tried out the sound effects... and I think it worked pretty well.

(I don't know these people...)

And here is the only picture I have of myself with my tardis. (I'm the big one)

 

[TimeyWhimyStuff]

Re: My 2005 Eccleston / Tennant Tardis (pic heavy)

Looks great!

 

[Xxblackbird]

I'm starting work on this again.

After taking it to conventions I've noticed EVERYONE wants inside. If not to stand in it, then to at least look in it. And I've had a few too many excited people look disappointed when they see inside.
I've decided I'm going to try to decorate the interior as best as I can.

I'm going to make some light boxes for the windows so there aren't lightbulbs hanging all over the place. This will help even out the lighting (sometimes one window looks bright and the other looks dim) and also allow for far less harsh and bright lighting inside. Small florescent lights in their own little boxes might also decrease the overall temperature inside.
I'm going to paint the interior a gold color except for the front doors, which will be white like on the show.
I don't think I'm going to go so far as to have styrofoam "coral" or anything, but I want to make it look less like a shed.
I will add a console room backdrop. It will be backlit, have some moving lights (probably via a little light show globe decoration from walmart) and help hide the sound system.
I'm also going to add a foam floor so people can stand inside and the pictures look a little more to scale. Right now there is no floor so anyone inside looks 3-4 inches shorter than they should. Foam would be light and easy to transport and I won't have to worry about it breaking.
My girlfriend also had the idea to add a Weeping Angel in it. We had a problem with people opening the "Pull to Open" door even when we asked them not to, so we're going to put a picture of a Weeping Angel inside it. She wants it to be able to pop up and make a sound effect but that might be going too far.

Of course I still have the basic upgrades like replacing the windows, adding a flashing light and installing my new door sign (hopefully a little less crooked this time).

 

[Xxblackbird]

Less talk, more Tardis!

Relatively low profile light boxes. Constructed with plastic tubs from Wal-Mart, lined with aluminum foil and reflective tape, lit by 2 fluorescent lights and it's all velcro'd to the inside of the Tardis. The outside of the boxes will be painted white for the front doors and gold for the other windows.

I determined, thanks to my lack of experience as a carpenter, the door sign will not be even as long as it's permanently affixed to the door. The door will hang differently or the tardis will sit differently at every show, so I've made it so the sign can be repositioned as needed.
Started with my RussRep sign from the Junkyard. It arrived very bent and I'm still kind of straightening it out in places:

Added a piece of thin metal to the back for the magnets to stick to:

Glued a bunch of magnets to the door (it looks like crap but it will be covered anyway):

And I finally have a sign I can reposition:

I have a tardis console room backdrop on its way. Should be here by Thursday. All lightboxes are built, just need some paint. I bought a few packs of foam flooring to lay inside for people to stand on.
I need a day with good weather so I can put the ship together and see how everything meshes. I'm afraid the light box on the front will swing and hit the light box on the panel next to it when I open the door. We will see.

 

[lharles]

Nicely done.

 

[Snow Builder]

Very cool -looks like a HUGE prop.

 

[Xxblackbird]

I put the Tardis up this weekend to test out some of the light boxes and the interior backdrop.
I cut the boxes for the front door and the window directly to its right so they are very shallow. It's the only way I can actually open the door. They open wide enough for me to easily get in and out, and I'm a very big guy. It's not quite open as far as it will go in these pictures (the paint can holding it open was empty and the door slowly closed on its own).
Also note the top signs and the roof are not on it in this picture. Top signs because there was no need to add them, and roof because it's a 2-3 man job to hoist it up.

 

[Pobbrett]

excellent the backdrop really does add to the effect and will really peoples pics, great job matey

 

[Cadeian]

Yeah, your backdrop is one of the best I've seen. I think the lighting is what elevates it, and will make people do a double-take (well triple-take, it IS a 10-foot tall blue box ). Nice work! Is the backdrop illuliminated itself, or is it catching light from somewhere? The 2nd and 4th pic are great!

 

[Xxblackbird]

Thanks guys!
There is a single 18" fluorescent light stuck to the panel behind the back drop.
The roof, signs and left side panel were not up for these pictures. It was dusk when I took the pictures so the lights appear a little brighter than usual.

 

[Xxblackbird]

I had the ship at Shockacon in Charleston, WV last weekend and had a blast. Here are a few pics from the show.

(there was no air conditioning at all. It must have been over 100 degrees, without exaggeration. making it worse, the floor was broken and uneven, which made setting up a CHORE)

(random people in the Tardis)

I set it up Thursday evening. When I returned for the show on Friday afternoon, someone had broken into it! The door lock was broken off! I was pretty annoyed with that. but it was a good show and the upgrades worked very well.