Doctor Who, 4th Doctor's 1974-1980 Sonic Screwdriver and Tardis Key

replica movie prop

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The 4th Doctor's sonic screwdriver as seen in such serials as "All of them".

This sonic screwdriver is an RB Replicas FX Sonic screwdriver from their first run in 2010 . I ordered the basic Baker styled sonic and then custom detailed it by buffing out the casing with .0000 grade steel wool and some Brasso to give it a nice shine. With the help of some other sonic builders I located a 1/2inch Alnico magnet that I had attached to a quarter inch extention and then painted black to match the appearance of the magnet end through most of it's time on the show. I then replaced the emitter halo with a smaller one that was custom powder coated in burgundy which I proceeded to remove the powder coat from the inside of the emitter ring. I then found a perfect flat head slotted screw to secure the magnet to the emitter, painted it burgundy to match the ring and installed it. Small finishing details include painting in the three bands on the mid section of the grip as well as the band at the bottom and also replacing the set screw in the base with a stainless steel set screw.

The Tardis key was made by Mooncrest Models out of Britain and is based on recent pictures that have surfaced of the key showing the details on the back. It was then cast is a very durable lead free pewter. I placed the key on a steel jump ring and put the key on a stainless steel curb chain to match how the key looked in such stories as "The Android Invaision". This key is a bit different than the one they offered as their Pertwee/3rd Doctor key in that the damage to the arms was reworked so the key now features symmetrical cross arms. The key also appears to be a brighter pewter in tone though this may just be because of how long I had the ertwee key before this key and it may still darken over time.

There's not too much more that I can do to this sonic really to make it more accurate. Dimensionally it is very close to the actual prop though with some differences.