War Doctor: Progress so far
Another publicity shot of John Hurt as the War Doctor
Sorry, it's been awhile since I've had a chance to post my progress. I've received some purchased pieces, and I've made progress on the parts I'm making. Nothing's completed, but lots of significant progress.
Margnum Classic work boots
That crazy triple hole belt - the right size this time
A replica scarf
The War Doctor's sonic screwdriver
First, the boots arrived. They're Magnum Classics, a version of the work boot that most whovian costumers agree is what's being worn in the show. They were on a clearance sale at the Magnum site.
I also received a replica of the scarf worn by the War Doctor. And I found a set of instructions for tying scarfs, including the "twice around" which is how the doctor appears to wear his scarf.
The belt I originally receive was too small, and I thought I'd modify it. But I realized there was plenty of time to exchange it for the right sized belt, and it just arrived.
Finally, I bought the toy version of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. It's a very good replica and will serve me in the short term, but i do plan on making a better prop replica in the future.
A bright red velvet that's suppose to be cotton
I tried dying s small swatch of the fabric in order to establish the right color ratio
To make the waistcoat, I purchase what I thought was cotton velvet. I bought it in a red color and planned on dying it to a darker, bronze color. Well, I tried dying a swatch in order to get the color right but discovered that it wouldn't take the color. I got suspicious that the fabric wasn't cotton, so I decided to try a fabric burn test.
From upper left clockwise: leather, cotton linen, wool, red velvet
The leather barely burned, the cotton linen burned up completely, the wool smelled like burning hair, and the velvet burned into a shiny glob of plastic.
I'd never done the burn test before, so you can see in the photo that I burned several fabrics at the same time to see how they all behave. I tried a piece of cotton linen, a piece of wool, a bit of leather, and the suspect velvet. The cotton completely burned up with sharp edges left at the unburned fabric. The leather wouldn't burn at all. The wool burned very slowly and smelled like burning hair. And the velvet burned quickly but it burned into a shiny black ball of goo. That was clearly synthetic (plastic) and so to dye it I'll need to use a completely different chemical and process.
Completed sewing the left gaiter
Test fit over the work boot looks good
Both gaiters completed with buttons and button holes
The other side, showing the buttons, but still missing the buckle and belt under the boot
I made some progress with the gaiters. I finished sewing up the two pieces and added the buttons. In the show, several of the buttons are missing, so I tried to match the pattern shown in my close up references. I did a rough fit with the Magnum boot and it looks pretty good. The only things left are to attach the bottom strap and buckle and to weather the pieces.
Soft leather cut to shape.
Pieces of thin styrene cut smaller than the leather
The styrene is heated to mold against a gentle curve
Corners of the laminated shield are cut off
The leather punch used to make the strap holes
The leather is glued to the styrene
A clearer view of the leather/styrene laminate
The cut corners are sanded into a curve
Finally, I started making the small leather shields that sit over the bullet pockets on the bandoleer. I settled on black leather glued down to a thin piece of shaped styrene. For some reason, I took a lot of progress shots so the build is shown in the photo sequence. I still have to paint the styrene, attach the shields to the bandoleer, and then weather.
That's it for the progress so far. Here are the instructions on ways to tie a scarf.
Different ways to tie a scarf