| MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! |    |
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MatthewRex
Age : 22
Joined : 20 Jul 2008
Posts : 158
|  Subject: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset!  Sat Aug 09, 2008 3:22 am | |
| I'm 90% done. I have been customising my Tardis to no end for the last two days. I have three sets of lights rigged into the base and buttresses, custom metal floor boards, and custom Tardis walls in the background. The breakdown of the three sets of lights are as follows:
- 2x standard battery fairy lights (10 bulb strand) - used to backlight the walls, and inside the flooring.
- 1x super-white battery LED fairy lights (20 bulb strand) - used as flood lighting underneath the lower floor panels & walkway, and as a fill light along the two front most buttresses.
The photos show the Tardis with ALL lights on, but the sillouhette shots are lit without the super-white fill lights, like this:
The only bits I have left are miscellaneous cables and wires hanging about like inside the actual Tardis. I added one 'wire' for testing purposes, and then got too tired to continue! I am very happy and very proud of my work! I think it came out absolutely stunning, if I do say so myself. It looks even better in person.
I'm going to take some more pictures once it's 100%. I'll also take photos from different angles showing off the placement of each set of lighting.
Let me know what you think! Thanks!
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"Look at me! I'm stupid!"
-9th Doctor |
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Hoosier Whovian
Age : 38
Joined : 01 Feb 2007
Posts : 873
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Sat Aug 09, 2008 3:58 am | |
| Is that real metal mesh or is it one of the hobby plastics? I have wanted to do that to mine also, especially as they have those little pits made for the floors.
WAY COOL! |
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MatthewRex
Age : 22
Joined : 20 Jul 2008
Posts : 158
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Sat Aug 09, 2008 3:59 am | |
| | Hoosier Whovian wrote: | Is that real metal mesh or is it one of the hobby plastics? I have wanted to do that to mine also, especially as they have those little pits made for the floors.
WAY COOL! |
Real metal  It's been a lot of fun, albeit very tiring. Can't wait until I'm completely finished and I can start taking LOTS more photos!
_________________
"Look at me! I'm stupid!"
-9th Doctor |
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Hoosier Whovian
Age : 38
Joined : 01 Feb 2007
Posts : 873
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:01 am | |
| | You should take pictures for the Toysite. do you have patterns for them? I have used 40 watt bulbs for the backlighing on mine, I had a problem after I printed the walls they seemed to be too long, did you have that problem also? |
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DoctorOlly
Joined : 01 Sep 2007
Posts : 349
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:11 am | |
| | Wow! This is excellent! Looks like the actual TARDIS! I bet it took a lot time and effort, too bad you can't buy ones like these in the shops, I would certainly buy it. I've held off buying the TARDIS playset for ages. |
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MatthewRex
Age : 22
Joined : 20 Jul 2008
Posts : 158
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Sat Aug 09, 2008 12:04 pm | |
| | Hoosier Whovian wrote: | | You should take pictures for the Toysite. do you have patterns for them? I have used 40 watt bulbs for the backlighing on mine, I had a problem after I printed the walls they seemed to be too long, did you have that problem also? |
Do I have patterns for what? The walls? If you mean the walls, I used the same ones that are in the "Tardis Wall" thread in this forum. I actually took the jpgs to Kinkos and had 6 of each printed out on a card stock. It came to about $15. They weren't too long for me.
Now that I mention it, I actually had to spend quite a bit of coin to pull this off. I'll list what I spent so if anyone decides to go this route, they can be prepared for the investment! This is taking into consideration you have stuff like scotch tape, electrical tape and batteries around the house.
- $15 on wall print outs (card stock at Kinkos)
- $20 shipped on the 3 sets of fairy lights
- $15 on three packets of metal for the floors
- $3 for "craft lace" (the plastic used for wires)
I spent nearly as much on the customising supplies than I did on the playset itself!  I think it was worth it, it looks so much better lit.
Hoosier, I'd love to take photos for the toy site. What does that entail?
_________________
"Look at me! I'm stupid!"
-9th Doctor |
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Hoosier Whovian
Age : 38
Joined : 01 Feb 2007
Posts : 873
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Sat Aug 09, 2008 12:53 pm | |
| | I was thinking about the floor pieces. We have lots of Menards, Lowes, Home Depots here, so finding bits and bobs shouldnt be too difficult. |
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Hoosier Whovian
Age : 38
Joined : 01 Feb 2007
Posts : 873
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Sat Aug 09, 2008 1:18 pm | |
| | MatthewRex wrote: | | Hoosier, I'd love to take photos for the toy site. What does that entail? |
Just take good pictures, I have always thought it would be cool to have a Tardis Builders piece about people customizing the playsets. |
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terrasolo
Age : 32
Joined : 06 Mar 2007
Posts : 139
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Tue Aug 12, 2008 3:39 pm | |
| Brilliant job there, I love the floor. can you take a detailed picture of how you did the metal grills? how strong are they and where exactly did you get the metal grills?
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Brian A. Terranova
www.kasterborous.com
a Doctor Who Webzine |
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MatthewRex
Age : 22
Joined : 20 Jul 2008
Posts : 158
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Tue Aug 12, 2008 3:48 pm | |
| | terrasolo wrote: | | Brilliant job there, I love the floor. can you take a detailed picture of how you did the metal grills? how strong are they and where exactly did you get the metal grills? |
Essentially the grills are available at most auto body stores. They're a little pricey, but you should be able to complete the job with three packets. Each packet comes with 2 semi large squares, and you can cut 2 floorboards with each square. The removable floor panels are 1 per grill square though. So 3 Removable panels + 6 normal panels = 3 packets of 2 grills. They're around $5-$6 a packet depending on which store you go to.
To cut them, you simply lay the included cardboard floor panels on top of them, and cut with normal household scissors. Once you've done any small adjusting, you simply lay them in the floorboard frames. They are pretty sturdy. They definitely bend when you put force on them, but they don't budge/sag at all under the weight of figures.
The real task was installing the three separate light strands. That was definitely the most time consuming.
Grill URL (it breaks BB code):
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(2asjdsqbj424jk45byiq0q45)/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=8136624
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Thanks for the compliments! My next project is "The Doctor's Hand Capsule" which will be LED lit! i'm excited!
_________________
"Look at me! I'm stupid!"
-9th Doctor |
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terrasolo
Age : 32
Joined : 06 Mar 2007
Posts : 139
| | Subject: Re: MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! Tue Aug 12, 2008 3:55 pm | |
| I'm in the middle of a custom mutant reveal dalek so when I find the time to finish that i will be doing this to my set. been meaning to print out the walls for a while.
it would rock to make plastic walls and ad lights there too.
_________________
Brian A. Terranova
www.kasterborous.com
a Doctor Who Webzine |
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| MatthewRex's Customised Tardis Playset! | |
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