Tardis console room

 

 This was my first model for New Elementary's parts festival. The idea occured me at my accomodation in Bredebro after receiving the parts, or at least some of them - on night before my misplaced alarm clock accident and adventures on P-shop. It has been a while since my last minifig scale model, which I think was called Slalom Tripmaster. In all, this was a fast and enjoyable build, and again big hand to Tim and Elspeth for organizing this. Shorter version of the text was originally published on NE couple of weeks ago.

Building an own design of Tardis’s console room was my first actual, clear idea for the parts festival. I’m a fan of Doctor Who (though, to be honest, I’ve only seen handful of classic episodes) and those various mechanical bits, along with the round pieces, made me think of Tardis interiors. It also made it possible to use those Fat Boy wheels – I got so many and they’re so big, so not among the easiest seed parts. Reminded me bit of the Dublo grass, actually. 

Despite I began planning it in my head while still in Skaerbaek, most of the piece uses defined them during the building process itself. I hadn’t given much thought to the walls, for example. I wanted it to be somewhat round space. I think that was inspired 9^th, 10^th and 11^th Doctor’s Tardises – Matt Smith’s first console room is my favourite – but I in fact did not check any inspirational material during the process. I first though about using some wedge plates for the shape, but then I realized that those 1x8x3 white slope pieces would be perfect for the use. Together with plate swivel hinges and brick hinges they formed a half of an UFO-like structure. It also reminds of Finnish architect Matti Suuronen’s plastic Futuro home, designed in 1968.

In the center of the wall, an interior police box door print from the official Tardis set marks the main doors. Above it there is an interesting pattern made on 1x2 plates with ball joint – nothing to do with seed parts, but Tardis-esque anyway. 4x4 circle pieces have been used on the walls as the console room tends to have round things along the walls. The lanterns were added to enhance this design’s unique features. As the white structure felt very clean and even cold, I wanted to add some warmth and cosiness with colours and various bric-a-brac; this refers to 11^th’s Tardis. Dark orange tiles were used on the walkways to bring warm feel of varnished wood. The copper rails – I think the odd bends give them authenticity – are connected using Batman greeble bag gun pieces. There isn’t rail on the other side (I had only two, and the build sort of “cuts” or intersections there) but the connection concept is visible.

The console is the main course here, and the funniest one to build. It forms a pillar that runs through the build, supporting the hinged structure. It is quite sturdy, even though it leans on some slightly weak connections. On the structure, there are two Fat Boy wheels, two 3x3 domes and two ship’s wheels – the another one is hidden inside the console itself, keeping it together. Brown travis bricks connect to each bar, and various apparatus are connected to them. It uses wealth of Batman greeble bag parts, along with some other interesting parts. There should be things that spin around and flash and go “ping”… and a big lever to pull. There’s even a little Bionicle reference o it, as the view screen hanging from the above has a sticker representing unreleased Bionicle game from 2001; It’s from Hidden Side school bus. Batman bits are used on the screen’s arm, and one of those pieces represents my Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, too.

I also designed a new doctor and her companions for this MOC. The Doctor – let’s call her Nth Doctor – has an attire that combines new and old styles, with classic ascot and cool striped trousers. The companions represent I’d like to see more in the show: a non-human companion (a crab. I like crabs. I’ve been wanting to use Atlantis crab person for some time) and a non-present-day human companion (who is sort of samurai fellow. I tend to have samurais in my builds). They also represent Tardis’s ability to travel anywhere in time and space.