Isaiah Ritchey
Total scratch built model

Page 2

Videos of his model are available on YouTube: Video 1 Video 2 Video 3

The indicator LEDs with copper wire surrounds. The only one that blinks is the right side yellow one. The other do nothing. Just like George's model in the movie. I used a 5 mm blinking LED for the yellow, and the others are 3mm LEDs. The light platform was superglued to the black base.	The disk. I hand painted on the line design work. I wanted to do it the way I figured George would have.

This is the new generator and new motor. This time I used gray PVC plastic instead of brass for the circular generator and ABS for the square box and mounting plate. The new generator tower is made of brass. It is mounted from a brass bolt, which was a small hole into which a magnet wire is stuck through to reach the positive of the tower light. Since the tower is grounded, all I had to do is ground one side of the light to the tower. The black grooves of the tower were done from a grinding tool mounted on my mill, and using a turn table they are all perfectly aligned. The new motor is an airplane engine motor. It runs on 1- 7.5 volts. When I first hooked it up and spun the disk, it went so fast it acted more like a gyroscope and scared me quite a bit!! The gold design was hand painted on. Just the way George would have. Obviously he didn't have the same motor I do . The other change was that I put 2 race car bearings into the tower instead of using brass rotating in brass.	The chair was made of Brazilian cherry wood flooring I got from a house I did a wood floor in. It is a wonderful wood, super strong and very beautiful!! I used a small bladed scroll saw the cut out the parts. But the first part was to cut out the different widths on the table saw and then sand them down. I cut out the patterns from paper and super glued it to the wood to make perfect cuts. I used a dremel tool to make the artistic cut designs in the wood. For the 7 little balls I used small needles and heated the wire to move the plastic ball where ever I need it. The round legs were made on the lathe and I made a special cutting tool then perfectly copied the design. I super glued everything on the chair together. For the material I used an old T-shirt, and brass nails.

The Large generator cones. I wanted to used real wire and not a silly decal. In the original blueprints it lists them as grills. I thought up a way to make repeat patterns in the wire and solder them on thin brass rings the went on the acrylic cone after painted. If your interested or anyone is as to how I made these wires look the way I do I can provide detailed plans for them. For the large generator coil grills I used only one 8mm Red and I cut a angled hole into it to reflect the light at a 180 degree. When lit it made the generator cones light up very nicely. Even in a brightly lit house.

The base I used the same Brazilian cherry wood again. I made a special made rotor bit to cut the design on the base. The feet were made of the same wood too, and super glued to the base. Everything once it was glued was stayed dark.

I thought when I first started building this model that I would have the batteries under the base. But after watching the movie closely the model George has, possessed no such thing. So I decided to hide the batteries in the chair! Which turned out to be the perfect solution. The wires were easy to run to it, and it looks so good too. The base of the chair was a thin piece of ABS plastic and wrapped with the same red material. For the little white and red counter weight I used white delrin and red styrene plastic from a push button. They are mounted on a brass fitting soldered on the tower. The light in the tower is a real bulb from Radio shack, NOT an LED! Also a note: the forum on your site on how to create the lamp cage was such a great help!! And I used the same technique for creating the generator grills. So Thank you so much for that tutorial!!!!

This is the latest and final part of the model. For the design on the control box I had a talented young paint artist do this design.

The back of the generator is where the motor sitcks out. I didn't remove the gear that came attached to the motor spindle. I pushed on a rubber sleeve. I figured rubber was the best possible material to use to spin the dish. If I used metal it would sound terrible spinning the brass dish. By the way I found the dish at a Goodwill!! It was an Indian candle holder!! The mounting bolts that secure the generator to the wood base, are brass of course. I soldered the nuts to the bolts and sanded the top smooth and painted it. That way it has the 6 sided look of a bolt top. On the bottom everything is bolted on. I now used 3 AAA batteries. It provides plenty of amperage for the motor and lights. Neatly tucked under the seat it gives a great finishing touch!!!


By the way if anyone who is building a TIME MACHINE model needs help or would like a part remade out of brass or plastic I would be willing to help them out. I have a decent amount of experience and would love to help someone out in building this wonderful little model!! Isaiah is offering this model for sale, he is asking $1000 for it. If interested contact him directly. You can do so by clicking the link below