Interior Workshop

This is the place to talk about building consoles or console room sets.

TARDIS Builders :: TARDIS Interior :: Console Workshop :: What is the average cost of building a console? Author Topic: What is the average cost of building a console? (Read 632 times) exilea Castellan TARDIS Toolkit Guardian: Call this man if your TARDIS breaks down... member is offline The toolkit is DONE Joined: Mar 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 480 Location: Ham Erica Karma: 3,033 What is the average cost of building a console? « Thread Started on Dec 21, 2007, 4:31pm » What do you guys generally spend on all the materials and parts to build a console? Link to Post - Back to Top   Logged Scarfwearer Administrator member is offline Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 175 Location: Somewhere beginning with 'S' Karma: 12 Re: What is the average cost of building a console « Reply #1 on Dec 21, 2007, 9:05pm » Quote: What do you guys generally spend on all the materials and parts to build a console? That would be a hard question to answer - as it depends so much on which one you're building and what you make it out of. Compare a half-size 'custom' console of your own design made from whatever you can find against a fullsized accurate replica of the new series console, and the price difference might be 100 fold. There are also very few consoles around (compared with Police boxes or daleks) so averages are less meaningful. Here's what I can remember of the basic structure of my Season 17 console: 2 sheets 5/8" plywood for underside of panels 2 sheets 3/8" plywood for top sides of panels (also cladded with hardboard) 1 sheet of 5/8" plywood for top and bottom plates of plinth 1 sheet of 5/8" plywood for hex column 3 sheets of hardboard for cladding 3 8' 2x4s for outer edge 3 8' 2x8s for plinth pillars 1 sheet of ½" plywood for trapezoids and panel boxes So probably around 200 credits ($ and £ buy about the same) for the basic structure if you buy it all new from the lumber yard. Karsten might have a more up-to-date figure soon, as he's presently doing this - my console is some years old now. On top of that you've got bits of junk for the controls depending on whether you're trying to match an existing design, paint (which is not insignificant), clear plastic bits for the central column and as much lighting and other electrics as you want. All of the above could amount to next to nothing, or quite a lot, depending on where you find it. Oh and the central column cover. A nice custom casting with no seams could cost 1000 credits or more. Alternatively (and much more reasonably) it should be possible to bend some thin sheet around a couple of times to make a cylinder that can be held together with rivets or small bolts. I think the beeb have done it both ways at various times, presumably depending on the available budget. I put an old computer in my console, which might set you back a few hundred (or nothing) depending on what you use. So I think the answer is that it will cost whatever you're prepared to spend... which is much the same with a police box. Crispin Link to Post - Back to Top   Logged SeanClarke1 Gallifreyan member is offline Foolish Ephemeral! Joined: Apr 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 36 Location: Southern Counties Karma: 1,000 Re: What is the average cost of building a console « Reply #2 on Dec 22, 2007, 5:04pm » My console (see"Old News Console" in the gallery) is made from MDF (thickness: 18.0mm) and hardboard (4mm & 9mm thickness). I spent about £200.00 on the main console. £70.00 of which was paint. The clear cover for the time rotor cost me about £500.00. Much of the cost of this was for a mould to form the column. The interior of the time rotor cost about £150.00. I got a plastics company to build the clear cover and some of the interior of the time rotor. I decided that they could do a better job than I could, plus I dislike the swarf created from cutting plastic. I built my console about seven years ago. I can give the name and address of the company I paid to make the time rotor. As I said most of the cost was for a mould that this company may just have kept. If by some good fortune they still have it then this may radically reduce the cost for another clear column to be made. My time rotor cover is 500mm in diameter and 700mm in height. If the mould still exists then it could be adapted for a slightly bigger diameter. The plastic company is in the county of Berkshire. As I said I will give the address and telephone number if requested. As for switches etc.. Most of these I got for nothing by just keeping my eyes open and looking in skips and stuff left in country lanes by fly tippers. Best regards, Sean Clarke. 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