Here's a picture of my console and console room.



It's been under way for years of weekends.
There's a photo album on MSN here: http://groups.msn.com/thetardisrebuilders/scarfwearersconsole.msnw?albumlist=2

You can also see and read about it on my website: http://www.relative-dimensions.net

I sometimes call it the "K9 console" as it was the console as seen while K9 was with the doctor.
Now what I need is a K9 to go with it...

Crispin

 Crispin, I've always thought this, but this is the most impressive build that I have ever seen - purely because of the attention to detail. Press buttons and they do something, double doors that open when activated from the console - animated computer screens... I bet the room hums too! (Hum as in the sound - not a smell)

You've done something that I've always wanted to do since being too young to know any better - have a house all of my own and somewhere within that house, have the TARDIS console room.

Do you still smile when you enter the room or has the novelty worn off a bit now?

Oh yes, K9 would suit that room down to a tee!

 Bloody brilliant.   

 Crispin's long been one of my personal heros.  the videos of his console room have to be seen to be believed.

have you managed to fix the column yet? i also remember you talking about how hot it gets in there. any progress on better venting the heat of the roundel lights out? recently, i had the idea for making that space ventilated seperately from the rest of the room, allowing you to freely circulate air from outside the house into those spaces and out again, keeping the airconditioned air inside. it wouldn't work very well in the summer, of course. but for the rest of the year, it could prove worthwhile. of course, during the winter, i bet it's quite pleasant in there!

 That really is a thing of beauty, boss!!

I LOVE it.

 I've always wondered why that book stated that the console in its later years used compressed air to drive the column because this isn't actually true - it's all gears and pulleys. I've got some pictures of the inner workings of this particular prop that I took a short while after the original series ended and when I'm back on my own computer, I'll post them.

In the meantime, have a look at the workings of Jarrod's time column mechanism - that's pretty much near identical to the BBC counterpart! That said, he doesn't use a rusty biscuit tin to hide some of the internal wiring...

Edit: Forgot to mention that the Five Doctors console mechanics were salvaged from the previous model, which had been updated for season 18... before then the gearing was chain driven, which is why it was rather noisey and thus the line in Logopolis by the Doctor to Adric, "You've heard the state of the Time Column recently, wheezing like a grampus." Mr. Bidmead's little dig at the prop.

I've not had any trouble with the central column getting too hot. It has 3x 20W fluorescent lights in it and I've sometimes left it on all night. I think the surface area is enough that the acrylic cylinder can cope with the heat transfer, which barely gets warm. I'd thought about fitting some PC fans underneath it, but haven't needed to.

I still haven't fixed the rotor motion. I must get back to that one of these days, but life is busy.

Right now I have several motion sensors attached to the computer, so the police box does the grinding noise (just one grind) when you approach, and turns on the lights (and flashes the beacon). When you go in it turns on the hum, and it makes very gradually quieter over a couple of minutes so that it's barely audible. Before this I found it got somewhat ennervating after half an hour or so. Dunno how The Doctor is supposed to cope with it.
When you leave it will shut off the hum and then after a few minutes the lights. Late at night it turns on only the ceiling lights and doesn't turn on the humming, so as not to wake the kids.

Usually I turn on a portable air conditioner in the adjacent room in summer, which makes it manageable. I've thought about fitting a fan in the console room window, which is hidden behind one of the walls. The areas behind the roundels are all connected for airflow, so would be separately coolable fairly easily.

And yes, I still get a kick out of it when I go in there 

Crispin

 oh, no.  not another (?) detail maniac.

see, this is why i decided early on to make mine completely original. i could claim it as totally mine, and i wouldn't have to bother with trying to get anything "right".

just keep drawing out and adjusting plans in a CAD program until the 3D model looks right. no sense in wearing a hole in your gut over miscellanious details. unless they are off enough to notice visually, you're not going to care!

guess.  and don't forget to have some fun while you're at it!   

 I think it depends on your objective:
Many builders perhaps even most would like to build replicas that are as accurate as possible.
For some the fun is in creating something original and interesting/beautiful.
For me I just wanted something that's close enough to be reasonably convincing (at least to me) and fun to play with.
I spent quite a lot of time measuring photographs and screenshots, so I think my dimensions are probably mostly within 10% of being correct, but its actually pretty hard to get very close from photos. I was also doing this on my own before I discovered the wonderful guilds...

There's been some recent activity on the prop builder's guild researching the dimensions of K9 and someone was mentioning the existence of some software that can generate 3D dimensions from a few photos from different angles using something called Photogammetry. This might be something that could be applied to the various consoles, but I don't know any more about it than that.

Crispin

 Sorry to hear about your Father...

The drawing you refer to was done many years ago, circa 1990 and was done as a rough as I knew I was going to need something when measuring the original prop (to indicate which bits were which measurements) - so your best bet is not to measure the actual drawing, but to take your references from the numbers on that drawing instead.

A lot of Jarrod's console, but not the column, is based on dimensions that I gave to him when I last had the console parts to hand to physically measure off of, so what he's doing is pretty much spot on. To be honest, I hadn't noticed the discrepancies on the belt, but knowing him as I do, I suspect that he'll address this issue - after all, he's rebuilt quite a lot of it since he and I have been chatting. He's doing an absolutely fantastic job as it is.

Purple

 
Quote:

QuoteThe whoLe Underside of the 5 Doctors coNsole is aGreeably very shallow in deed, aBout 4" high or thereAbouts. TheRe aRe some great pictures Of this prop, including underside shots, someWhere on the old MSN site... This may be useful for you to check out.

Purple

very clever, PuRple, although i thInk it's gone over peoples heads  Can't we all just get along liKe nice people? lol [/quote]

Quote from: iesmeh board=console thread=27 post=1114358090 time=1114358090perhaps this converstation would be better moved to it's own thread, where others can find it more easily in the future. just a suggestion.

 I've also seen Scarfwearers clips of said console room,what a hoot!!
Imagine,you got friends round and you show off your impressive police box sitting there in the corner of the room "Hah" they say "but is it bigger on the inside?"
Step inside and take a look.....
Excellent stuff!!   

 I have to chime in about Crispin's console room, too. Living fairly close by, Crispin graciously showed the room to me and it is just stunning.

Crispin has been very clever in use of space, wiring and programming. The console itself is a remarkable piece, and as I recall, every button and light on it works. Sound effects, a star chart, TARDIS status - just amazing.

And once I get started on my own console, Crispin will be a wondeful resource. (Umm, you will help with my questions, right?    )

Kevin

 I noticed your problem with the doors so I thought I'd point out that in the earlier years of the show the doors opened outwards so they would not have had to worry about it. I know this because I always liked the fact that the inner and outer doors opened in different directions. At some point they did switch sides but I don't know when or how often so your example remains perfectly legitimate.
Nice work!

 Hmm. I don't recall the doors of the TARDIS ever opening outwards, though on an actual police box they would. It was usually the case that the Doctor would only open one door from the outside (which door was used certainly did change during the history of the show) but, on entering the console room, both doors would open simultaneously - which is rather a paradox if you assume they are the same doors.
Perhaps it's time to reopen the long silent "lobby" debate...

The door arrangement in the new series TARDIS is much less problematic, though less aesthetically pleasing. At least to me.

Glad you like my console room 
Cheers
Crispin