As of this starting post, I'm already quite a fair way into the build, but in the interest of passing on the experience and tips I'll learn and have already learnt, I'll try go as far back to the beginning of the project as possible... unfortunately however, I wasn't as careful with photographing the early stages as I have with some of my non-Doctor Who prop projects.

Ever since I could remember, I'd been a fan of McCoy's Doctor.  He was the occupant of the TARDIS when I grew up, and he starred in some of the stories I fondly remember from the "original series".

Being a Ghostbusters costumer, I'd already had a brief brush with the Whovian costumers, as two friends of mine have been quite active, one dressing as 10, the other as 11.  After my friend Carl (the one who dresses as 10) tagged me in a compilation photo of the 11 Doctors as the 7th, I began to muse about making a 7th Doctor's costume.  The proof of the pudding as to whether this would happen, would be for me to acquire the famous question mark handled umbrella:



At first I investigated purchasing one... but at the time, eBay offered now options (although as of this writing, there is one listed... and in High Wycombe, just 15 minutes from me... rather serendipitous), and I had no luck in terms of production runs, so I settled for the DIY approach.

Researching online, I stumbled across DrWhoJr's excellent video tutorial detailing how to make the umbrella handle.  With that in mind, I began to gather the materials together.

Annoying short, I know, but depending on how a stage of the prop build goes later on today, I may just have a small collection of photos to show you guys tomorrow.

Looks like an interesting project. I think all we have on that one so far is collected in this topic:
[ref topic=1155]Sylvester McCoy Umbrella[/ref], which I imagine you've already found...

Crispin

Indeed, a shame that nothing further was reached on that one.

I was lucky enough to find one of the AVON ones. I call it a gift of good karma. I first saw one in 1987 in the back of a friends grandmas car. Another at a friends place of work. Sticky fingers would have made short work of it, but alas no, temptation I did not give into. Then I found one in perfect condition in a bin outside of an auto parts store. 

Definitely a lucky find, metrosonus.

Things on the work front didn't go quite as planned, where I'd planned to curve the ends of the acrylic rod I'm using for the handle using my cordless drill, I had to settle with turning it by hand as my Dad and I couldn't get the rod to fit into the hole drill without it swinging badly.  If I do end up making a second for a friend, I'm going to pay B&Q a visit and see if I can find a close-fitting hole saw.

Despite that though, I'm in good spirits.  My Panama arrived today, and once equipped with Steven Rick's excellent replica of the "hand band", it really looks the part... and is the first finished part of the costume... excluding a bit of forming to the brim to make it look closer to the one McCoy usd - which I'll feature photos of in a separate topic covering the costume itself.

thanks you know that really begs the question though.. Did the Avon one come first and someone from the BBC saw it or was someone at Avon a Who fan? or was it merely a coincidence? which I find hard to believe.

I saw an Avon one probably around 89-90.  I wanted to knick it. The top part was orange and the ball was red.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

I'm hoping to have some of the photos uploaded for Saturday evening.

Contrary to popular belief, finding a simple black umbrella is more complicated then it first appears.  I found plenty of mostly-black umbrellas, but plenty had some form of obvious branding on them, which ruled them out as workable possibilities... eventually I narrowed down the list of potentials on offer down to two, the first being sold for about £5.99 at Robert Dyas, and the second at a "cheapo" shop for £4.99.  I opted for the 4.99 one as it seemed better quality than the more expensive one, and it had a wooden handle.



The handle was quickly removed, and it became apparant that removing the handle would only be part of the modification I'd have to make to the shaft, due to the section holding the handle being a part of the shaft, rather than a separate piece I could remove.

If you arrange it so that your "ball" (I'm assuming your using something sturdy and fairly solid as a ball) acts as a joining piece to attach the hoop section to the rest of the umbrella it should be fine, that way the umbrella handle slots into the ball and the rest of your handle slots into the other side hiding all the joins.... if you get my meaning.

Mord, I think I do.

(I'd hoped to post the whole update in one run, but the forum isn't having any of it).

Mord, I think I do.

(I'd hoped to post the whole update in one run, but the forum isn't having any of it).

With the mounting section removed and the surface sanded, it was good to go with the drilling which would eventually attach the elements of the handle.



As the first day's work drew to a close, I took the opportunity to test the paint and clear lacquer I'd perchased from my local Halfords.  The paint I selected was Ford Radiant Red, not too dark, nor too light... although as McCoy's umbrella appears to have shifted shades as the series progressed... and I suspect there may've been no fewer than three umbrellas, finding the exact shade would be a challenge that wouldn't be worth the effort involved.



A few days later and I had the dowel caps I'd be using as the dots of the question mark, and the clear 1" diameter acrylic I'd ordered from clearplasticsupplies on eBay.  The dowel caps came from a Homebase curtain rod set, which at about £18 is the most expensive element of the umbrella so far.  The acrylic totalled about £17.

Thanks to a small indent on the inside of the cap, I had a guide for drilling and after a few minutes, I had my pilot hole and then, the full-sized hole for the mounting rod for the handle elements.

You may not be aware, but on the show prop, the ball of the question mark could slide down and cover the ends of the umbrella when folded up.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

Bill, thanks for the info... rewatching Rememberance of the Daleks last night, the feature is given away by the black ring of silver where the ball would normally reside.

In addition to that, the length of acrylic was cut for the handle (although in hindsight, it was cut a half inch too short to the measurement DrWhoJr recommended)



A further couple of days later, and I was prepared to start building the jig to mold the handle, equipped with a hole saw from B&Q (which is sadly slightly smaller than I assumed it was) and 50p's worth of fibreboard from Homebase, which was undoubtedly the bargain of the day.

With a bit of fiddling, the hold saw was installed in my Dad's pillar-mounted drill, and the central part of the jig was cut.



As the day drew into evening, the last task of the day was to paint the tip of the umbrella.  Masking off the fabric of the umbrella, and the very end of the tip (as I'd decided to leave it unpainted to avoid it being scraped off through use) I set about priming it, and spraying it so that it could dry overnight.