Doctor Who Prop - Replicating the "Money Bug" from Battlefield

[@PBProps]

Folks, thanks for taking the time to watch this video and like I said within it, if you do decide to follow along and build your own Money Bug, then please do let me know how it went for you as I'm all ears. Incidentally, don't mind the few shots that are out of focus, I am going back to the optician at the end of the month as I really do need a stronger prescription for my glasses! Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this one, it's been quite a fun production and I'm really pleased to present it to you all. Thanks!

[@owenrichards1418]

I love the fact that you are tackling these really obscure little McCoy props. It's great to see how inventive the model teams were back then.

[@PBProps]

To be honest, I get bored of seeing the same stuff over and over again. One day I will get around to doing replicas of the usual suspects such as full sized TARDISes, K9, a Dalek et al, but for now (as space is at a premium here) the smaller, more obscure props are of interest to me - just because they're different. The BBC didn't have too much money to give to Doctor Who, mainly because they were stingy, so the crew had to get creative!

[@inspector2363]

Its a lot more work than expected. I always assumed the TV prop was just quickly put together from rearranged existing parts

[@PBProps]

There's always a lot of work with these kind of builds, but if you're not filming every step of your progress, you should be able to complete this in a couple of days.

[@benjoe3676]

Looks like eBay in the USA still has a few of the Saicurtis sets shipped for under $20. Used and one would need to disassemble them, but much less than many of the vintage MIB kits. Hasbro toys did a "Pincers Battle Robot - 29 pieces" and a "Zoids Wild Kabtor" kit, but neither of these match the old Saicurtis mould. But those are only $11 brand new and would result in a very similar (although not screen accurate) version. Still, this should be an affordable project for even the mildly ambitious fan of this channel. Excellent instructions and makes me feel confident that I could finally figure out exactly what to modify and someday soon assemble my little bug.

[@PBProps]

If you do have a go, best of luck with it and let us all know how you got on. Thanks for watching!

[@DoctorWho8]

I would like to nominate renaming the storage containers as Greeble Boxes. Love seeing this again!

[@PBProps]

Consider it done!

[@Terry.W]

Takes patience and skill..you are an artist..

[@PBProps]

Patience, yes. Skill, perhaps... But I don't think I'm an artist, although I have been called worse! ;)

[@The-Cosmic-Hobo]

So, for a prop that appears on screen for all of - 10 seconds? - the amazing guys behind the scenes spent all of that time modifying an off-the-shelf kit model. Love it. :) I've always loved that Money Bug. It just felt very "Doctor". I could imagine any of the Doctors popping that out of their wallet.

[@PBProps]

You'd be amazed at the amount of work that actually goes into prop builds when it gets just seconds of screen time. You'd almost wonder if it was actually worth it, but if something is needed - then it's needed.

[@heldmusic]

Wonderful work, as always. Watching you go about this makes me marvel at the original props team - you've got your previous work to follow, and you of 20 years ago at least had reference images to go off of, but the props team just did all this out of their own imaginations. I just love the inventiveness of good kitbashers!

[@PBProps]

Glad that you enjoyed it, cheers. To be honest, making something like this is pretty easy, you just keep going until everything fits - as you have the artistic freedom to make it up as you go along. Replicating it many years later is actually harder. I had one screen shot to go off of and it took me days back then to reverse engineer what I could see. It's just like building a kit without any instructions at all, you're effectively going about it blind. I was pleased when a couple of years later that the original turned up for auction and I could finally see what it looked like, I was rather relieved to see that I got it right. Thankfully this time around, I had something physical to follow and the auction image - which made it a lot easier! Still, you can't help but appreciate what the makers did back then with limited resources and budget.

[@TheRealChickMacGyver]

Thank you for taking the time to make this video and sharing your build, I will have to try to make one myself. Seeing the Zoids brings back frond memories of putting some of the Mecha robot kits together in the 90's. The cheapest Saicurtis kit I could find to Australia was AU$60 (including shipping), most were more like AU$150 with shipping and some still had pieces missing!

[@PBProps]

And thank you for watching, I appreciate it. If you do make one yourself, let me know how you got on as I'd love to see it!

[@MartinFutter70]

As I showed you my small Zoid collection to you on Facebook, I was a tad worried billions of pounds worth of collectible toys were to be obliterated, but I shouldn't have worried as that particular Zoid was very much a later release compared to the earlier Tomy releases... thus go for it! Battlefield passed me by without me being able to remember the story, let alone this prop. Nice tutorial as always, and they look very much as per the original - and when you gain all that coin from these money bugs you can get that Stalwart you always wanted 😀

[@PBProps]

You barely get to see it in the show, it's literally seen for the duration of one short sentence - it's about the only thing that I remember from that story, that and another prop from my list of pieces to replicate... Yeah, when I cash it all in, I'll get that Stalwart! Thanks for tuning in!

[@23dark]

Cool little prop. Looks great. I liked mcoys era. Im currently working on a 40 inch eagle from space 1999.

[@PBProps]

It's just a little bit of fun to stick on your shelf. You're working on a Transporter? Gosh, I would worry about where to put it - and that's the main reason why I haven't taken on some of the larger, personal builds that I want to tackle.

[@SkageXL5]

Fantastic work!

[@PBProps]

Thanks a lot!

[@SkageXL5]

Holy cow! Yeah! LOL That's cool!

[@PBProps]

It is pretty neat, yeah!

[@brianartillery]

I loved those Zoids kits. Full of really odd shaped parts. I always bought two; one to build, as they were incredibly clever little models, which always looked great, and one for interesting bits, for use elsewhere. The great thing about Zoids kits, was that every single part in them, was unidentifiable if used as a greebly. (unless you bought Zoids kits, of course). Great to see the Money bug again. It was a fun idea for the story. The Doctor is very rarely seen with money - Indeed, the only other time I can think of, is the Fourth Doctor, in a frame from the comic story, 'The Iron Legion', where he digs through his pockets, and is seen holding some alien currency that looks like a piece of raw meat.

[@PBProps]

There were some interesting kits released in the 1980's that simply don't have a huge following, so they were often used for greeblies... along with your standard military vehicles. I have a whole stash of them, just waiting to be used on replicas. The only other time that I recall the Doctor with alien money was in The Planet of Fire... something else that I have on the great big list of things to recreate!

[@gazdma]

very cool litttle prop!

[@PBProps]

I think so too.

[@benflay6038]

I remember it so many great props in this story it skittles over the bar 😅 i always wanted to get the hose bits for radiation detection device excellent...i had couple these kits once

[@PBProps]

Don't you have the kits any more and why didn't you build them up?

[@benflay6038]

@@PBProps now I wish I had good answers no and did I had a walking t rex lol

[@OptimumBuster]

Great video. I was curious do you spray paint versus air brush because it's perferred by you or because that was how the prop master would have done the prop originally in 89?

[@PBProps]

Automotive spray paint is way more durable than airbrushed pieces, but it really depends on the finish that I want. Almost all props made back in the day were spray painted, though airbrushing was using for weathering and detailing. That said, they can be airbrushed too. Thanks for watching!

[@georgemartinezjr]

Outstanding tutorial what Brand of Rattle CanSpray Paint do you use😊

[@georgemartinezjr]

Did you use Artist Acrylics 😊

[@georgemartinezjr]

Humbrol.?? Enanels

[@PBProps]

Thanks for watching. The paints used are Halfords automotive spray, Humbrol enamel and standard artist's acrylic paints - it's basically what I had to hand.

[@thegingerfazbear2557]

Hi! I am just wondering if you are familiar with the iron man helmets that do the multi piece opening as I am having a problem with mine as one faceplate doesn't seem to move, I am just wondering if you specialise in things like that as it has some very complex electronics and I have no clue what to do next. I understand your channel is a lot more DT and things like that rather than electric but I wondered if you could offer any help? Thank you anyway regardless and keep up the great videos!

[@PBProps]

I'm familiar with the franchise and the costume element, but without actually seeing yours, I can't really comment. I trust that you've gone through all the obvious trouble shooting elements with this one... Batteries first, loose connections etc. Has the servo lost power? You could try hooking the power directly to that servo and see if the power is getting through. A common (and sometimes overlooked) issue is that something could be physically blocking the movement.

[@thegingerfazbear2557]

@@PBProps I've taken it apart and had a look and the servo seems to be fine so that may be the problem with the loose connections, I think you are probably correct about the power then so I'll try and sort the wires next! Helpful advice thank you I'm sure that must be the issue and I could try find a servo replacement.

[@PBProps]

Well best of luck with it, hopefully you'll get it sorted - but I'd hone in on that servo and really check that out first.