I have included a brief intorduction to the TARDIS build and followed that with an outline of how the posts or pillars were produced. Please click on the link to skip directly to the text regarding the construction of the posts.

Introduction
The TARDIS was built specifically for Children in Need 2005. The project was begun at the end of September 2005 with a visit to BBC TV centre in London. I was lucky enough to be able to measure the prop that appeared on Blue Peter a couple of times in the autumn of that year.

Having taken detailed measurements I set about working out how tall the prop I was going to make should be. This was vital as the 'actual' TARDIS is approx 1.75m tall and therefore would need a workshop with a high ceiling in order to be able to construct a full size prop. The other issue was that you would only be able use the prop in a venue that had the correct height ceilings. It would be a grate shame to arrive at a venue and not be able to use the TARDIS. I decided to build an 80% size prop.

I could build this comfortably in my garage and could also fit it in my trailer without a problem. I also decided to make some special modifications to my TARDIS prop. I would build the doors and one side with all the trims and two other sides I'd not put any of the lower trims on. This would allow me to put information about the TARDIS on one side and have the rear facing side that might not be seen plain. The other thing to consider was that there have been so many different revision to the TARDIS prop over the years that I could choose the one I liked best and build that. I opted for the new style light and grey windows but decided to be a little flexible with the rest as I knew there would be some discrepancies with my measurements during assembly !

I looked at my Sevans TARDIS model and remembered how I assembled that. I drew up some plans of how my prop would be constructed and how it would assemble and pack flat for storage and transportation. With the plans finished I worked out a list of required timber and purchased it all. My garage now looked like a timber yard. I remember my wife saying "...how much more wood do you need ? "

The Posts
I started by building the posts or pillars. It was logical to start with them as the pillars were central to supporting the side panels and roof. I cut two 2"x 1" lengths of wood to the correct length and then cut some small pieces of wood and screwed them together to make a frame work for each pillar.

Once I had set up my work bench for the first one it was quite a quick job to machine together the other pillars. Next I made tops and bottoms for the pillars as they needed to sit unseen at the top and bottom of the posts. I routered the outside corner of each part of the framework to give the rounded edge that I wanted to achieve on each pillar.

I then cut out eight lengths of MDF the correct width and screwed the to the frames. I then cut out eight thin pieces of MDF the correct length and stuck them to the edges to created the effect I wanted near the main panels. This all sounds fairly easy, which it was but with the gluing and drying time took a few days, as I was going to work during the day !

Two photos of the posts are shown above, the first showing the framework, the second showing a completed post.

The Base
I screwed one side panels to two of the posts to allow me to measure the total width of one side. Having measured it I confirmed the size of the base I needed to build. The base was my second favourite part to build as it involved more joinery than some of the other parts. I clad the sides with 9mm MDF made from off cuts of the side panels.

Having routered the edge to chamfer it I was ready to screw the wheels on and fill any minor joint lines that I did not want showing up when it was painted. I attached wheels to the TARDIS so that I could manoeuvre it more easily into position when it was built. It was / is not designed to be pushed around like a Dalek. This my children found particularly disappointing !!

The base was simple, well re-enforced with strong timbers as I knew it would need to be able to bear a lot of weight. It was quite quick to build. When the TARDIS was completed I revisited the base and padded each of the wheels to increase the size ofthe gap below the TARDIS. This made it easier to wheel around. Due to its width it easily got stuck on uneaven patches in the floor just like a long lorry would be stuck over a very shapr hump backed bridge.

The doors and sides were similar in construction but required slightly approaches to thier build in order to keep the weight of each panel to a minimum. Click here to skip down to the section that covers the construction of the doors.

Sides
I had planned that the two plain sides would be made from 9mm MDF, while the decorative side would be 3mm hardboard to make it as light as possible.
The biggest challenge was sawing up the MDF to the correct size. An 8' x 4' sheet of 9mm was too cumbersome to get on my saw bench and so I opted for the circular saw with the wood well supported on blocks. I cut out both sides from of 9mm and one out of 3mm hardboard. I then cut the wood that would trim the edges of the panels. It was wider than I actually needed to make sure that it would overlap into the pillars. This would then provide strong fixing points. I cut up the necessary wood and trimmed the panels.

The top of the panels were the hardest part to make. However in the same way as the posts, once my bench was set up to make one the other three were produced quite quickly. I attached them to the three side panels and put all the bits away that would be used on the side with the doors as I wasn't sure at this point quite how I was going to construct that part. Having arranged the wood in the centre of the decorative panel I attached the top part in the same way that I had done the two other panels. I then measured the gap and worked out the size of the eight panels on each side of the TARDIS. I cut timbers to fit and glued and screwed the wood onto the TARDIS side. I knew that the panels were probably jointed together on the actual prop but I was working to a deadline. HAving said that I took great care to ensure that when each section was complete it looked as good as it possibly could.

Doors
I then assembled all the side panelsI had made to form a three sided TARDIS sitting on its base.
With some slight trimming on the side panels at the top and bottom I fitted them together with ease. I then tackled the doors. I knew that I only wanted one door to open. This would be a stronger design, especially with two very excited children in the house.

I made the fixed door first and decided that since it would need to have the lock attached to it I'd use 9mm MDF instead of hardboard. It needed to have the 'Police telephone pull to open door' panel added to it in the correct place. It was fun making that as it added an extra TARDIS quality to my build and although it was not the correct colour you could imagine it was the TARDIS quite easily now.

The doors were made exactly the same as the decorative side except the top part was made separately and attached as a separate piece to the TARDIS. The doors then had a lip to but up against as they shut. The design of the top part was altered slightly to make it longer. I knew it needed to be stronger as the children would slam the door shut !
I measured up for the second door and left a small gap so I'd have space to be able to swing open the door. It did not matter with the overlap on the front, you'd not see the gap from the outside. The remaining door was also made quite easily.

It was tricky selecting the hinges and lock to use. My problem was the thickness of the door v the standard thickness of most doors. Obviously lock and hinge manufactures do not make their products especially for incorporating into a TARDIS build ! I did manage to find a slim door lock which I could use with a little padding on the inside of the door.

At first I selected quite large hinges but I soon realised that the weight of your average door was quite considerable against my little TARDIS door. I then switched to much smaller hinges which worked quite well. I found I needed to pad both hinges with a small piece of hardboard. However I reasoned that this would also make it quite obvious where the hinges should be located on the framework. Also which post they should be screwed to, as all the posts were identical. I finished the door and attached it to the framework. It was great to see my TARDIS taking shape.

It seemed logical to build the roof and light together as they needed to be part of the same section of the TARDIS build. Click here to skip down to the information about the TARDIS light.

The Roof
The logical next step was the roof. This was the only part that I had a problem with. I incorrectly recorded one of my measurements and so calculated the wrong length of wood to cut. This was not too disastrous as I over allowed as opposed to under calculated my length.

The roof was fun but tricky to make. I needed to make a two square frames and then sit one on top of the other. That would make the box on a box shape that is so much a part of the TARDIS roof. I then had to allow a slight slope up to the roof light platform. I wanted it to be one piece but to be as light as possible since I was going to have to lift it into position, possibly on my own.

The build went really well, it was great fun assembling it all, like a giant model kit but having to machine all the parts in order to advance the build. I would say it was the most satisfying part to build since it was most tricky out of all the parts I had built up to that point.

I then needed to sit the roof on something, in order to be able to locate it on top of the TARDIS.I designed a collar to fit on the top of the side panels that the roof could sit inside of. It also needed to blend into the TARDIS so you did not know how it was assembled from the outside. I removed the end caps from the top of the posts and used the mountings that they located onto as my fixing points. I decided to use the top part of the posts as markers to locate the roof inside and also stop it slipping out of position. This seemed to work well, however after two or three times of needing to disassemble the roof sections in the course of production it became obvious this was not a cunning plan and I screwed then both together. This was an excellent move as it greatly strengthened both parts and produced a roof section that was very strong and stable when being lifted into position.

The Light
Making the light for the top was possibly the biggest challenge, as I needed to hunt out the items that would be used to make the light. I wanted to make a new series TARDIS style light. It was more like a lantern, which I liked really liked.

I looked at loads of outdoor lights in DIY shops but could not find a light that looked like the one I needed at the size that was required to keep it to scale. Then I decided top look for parts to make a light from. This was the turning point for the project. I looked at solar lights and decided on a particular one of them from Homebase. I coupled a few bits together in the shop and stood back, trying to imagine it sat in the lower assembly of the TARDIS light that would be made of MDF. A little unsure I purchased a light set. I bought some dowel to use for the corner posts and set about making a light.

I had allowed for the lower part of the light assembly when I made the roof. I left a platform onto which the light could be attached. I modified it slightly to allow me to use a thinner base, after studying some photos of the actual TARDIS. The light looked good. There was something wrong, it did not look quite right. I realised that my solar lights had pointed tops and the TARDIS was rounded on the top. I remembered my left over pot lid from the Dalek eye and sawed a hole and attached it to the TARDIS. It finished it off beautifully ! I was really pleased with my light but needed to be able to illuminate the light I had made. I resolved to finish the build and then ponder that problem afterwards.

The light illumination solution was a set of flashing brilliant white LED's. I was able to purchase all the parts I needed from Maplin and set about creating my lighting effect. With minor adjustments to my circuits I created a flashing light effect with brilliant white LED's. Due to the construction of the solar ligh casings I had used for the light design, the TARDIS light was quite dim. The plastic simply defused the light too much. This was not much of a problem as I did not expect to use the light too much as it would be unnecessary most of the time.

Police box Signs
The Police box signs were quite simple to make. The biggest challenge was not to buy any more wood, but to make them from what I had left !!

I had worked out a budget and wanted to stay within the boundary of it. The signs went together really fast. As I have said before, once I set up my bench saws, it was so quick to cut up and machine together all the wood. I then made mountings to screw onto the side panels to allow me to attach the signs to them after the TARDIS was assembled.

I considered contacting a sign maker to make the Police Box signs. Having decided I did not have the money for that I printed all the letter on a laser printer and bought some black card. I cut out the card to the correct size. Then I cut out all the letters and glued them to the card. Finally I got them laminated at my local print & copy centre. When the signs were painted I trimmed up the laminated signs and stuck one into the sign box with double sided tape. They looked great.The signs were the last part of the project to be completed and really finished the TARDIS off very well.

Painting
The paint was the trickiest thing to find. It really was quite infuriating. I knew what shade I wanted but could not find it anywhere. I knew I needed to paint the entire TARDIS white before any colour was added.

I painted it with help from my wife and two children. The 5 yr old was pretty good with the paint. The 2 yr old thought it was so FAB to be paining the TARDIS with Daddy that he began to paint everything including himself. This led to much temporary stress with his Mum !!! After we finished it took nearly as long to clean the boots and children as it did to paint the TARDIS !

It was good to paint it white first of all. The white paint showed up all the imperfections and areas needing filling. The MDF also sucks up the white paint leaving it sealed ready for the coloured coats. I had Wickes mix me some paint but when I tried it on a test sample, it did not dry as dark as the colour match card.

They were very good and mixed me another lot but that did not seem to help much. I studied the TARDIS colour on as many reference photos as I could find. I began to realise that it was like a denim, slightly different subtle shades pulling together to make the blue / grey / dark blue effect. I took some midnight blue paint and 'dry brushed' with a tiny bit of paint it all over the panel. When it was dried I stood back and admired the finish. Being a bit fussy I repeated it as it was not quite what I wanted. I simply had too thin a coat. After a second coat had dried it looked great. The only mistake I made was using silk on the under coat and matt on the darker top coat. As the top coat covered quite well but was reasonably thin it would give me a problem I'd not know about until after it's first photos. The bottom coat shines through in photos as it is shiny silk paint. The matt top coat not being as reflective does not show us as well. This is why some of the paint in the photos looks patchy but in real life it looks totally different.