The following is a semi-brief summary of my creation of a Dalek. It’s word heavy rather than picture heavy because once I get started on a project I tend to focus on the work at hand (a bit OCD).
I came across the old BBC handout “How to Build A Dalek” and decided to give it a try. I’ve read the opinions of some folks here on RPG that the plans are poor and won’t make a screen accurate prop. But after looking at the plans and making a few corrections on measurements I figured it was good enough for me. Especially since it can be made from easily accessible materials. I make a few (more than a few) changes to the design but I felt it was in the grand tradition of the Daleks who seemed to get modified each time a new art director came on the show. But I scavenged through my junk and bought what I didn’t have a came in at a cost of $157. I had thought I could do it for under $130 but a couple of oops shot that down.
I started with the dome since it was the one thing I couldn’t make from wood. I had the needed clay and made the mold from plaster of paris that I bought at Lowes (25 lb bag at $15 and change). The plaster is a little crumbly but I used strips of cloth for reinforcement and it help together fine. I thought I hade enough fiberglass resin left over from another project but here was the first oops. The resin had cured in the can after my last use about 7 months before so another $18 for a new quart. I used carnauba car wax for the release agent (three coats and polish) and it worked fine. I started to use a gel coat but didn’t see the extra money as being worth it. Anyway, the dome came out fine with just a few pinholes.
The plans start the Dalek from the top down but after looking at how the shoulders fit on the base I decided to start in the other direction. I redrew the base to get the angles and lengths to work. I used an old CAD program and made fast work of it. I kept the dimensions in metric to make it match as closely as I could. (Mistake! After the build was complete I measured the width and it came out to little under 37” which if fine for my workshop’s 8’ doors and my garage but my house has 36” entries. I made it so the shoulders can be removed for access by the wearer so I can turn the base on its side and get in the door but it’s a pain. Oh well. I redrew the base so if I ever make another on it’ll fit in a standard entry door.) Anyway, I made the frame for the base and covered it with cheap ¼” plywood. I used an epoxy to seal the joints and sanded them smooth with a belt sander. I laid out all the locations for the sensor balls (4” foam balls from eBay made from the same foam as coffee cups for $23 including shipping) but I added them after building the shoulders.
The shoulders are the hardest part; at least they were for me. The instructions are vague for the dimensions of the bottom plate but I used the top of the finished base for my pattern. But since the bottom of the shoulders is rounded and the top of the base is straight lines curves have to be tight enough to fit but not so tight that the sheathing for the shoulders can’t bend to fit. This one stumped me for a bit. The instructions call for 1.5 mm plywood that I can’t get. I didn’t want to use 1/8” plywood because I didn’t think it has enough strength to hold the arms. So I ended up using ¼” tempered pressboard to sheath the shoulders. I made patterns ten cut out the 2 pieces and laid them over a sawhorse and sprayed them down with Murphy Oil Soap. This was to relax the boards so they would be easier to bend into place. I used Murphy’s rather than water because it was handy and I thought it wouldn’t penetrate as deeply as water. Plus I like the way it smells. The next day the pieces had fallen into a nice curve that went on with just a little coaxing.
Before I cut the holes for the boxes for the arms I did another redesign. The instructions call for 100mm (4”) balls for both arms and for the ball on the eyestalk. I looked on eBay and elsewhere on the net and the cheapest I could find were around $12 each. I have a lathe that I use for miniatures but to make a 4” wooden ball (much less 3 of them) would have taken more time than I wanted to spend. I considered using the balls from an old croquet set we have but we still play with it once every blue moon so that was out. I ended up using 3” balls from treated lumber post caps that I got at Lowe’s for a little over $3 each. A little rough but they worked.
I got lucky with the blaster. I’d taken an old lamp apart, added some copper tubing and acrylic rods and reassembled some of it into what I’d planned on making into a steampunk style rifle. I noticed it sort of resembled the Dalek blaster and decided to use it rather than braze together the one in the plans. Came out looking pretty good. The rifle can wait.
Making the collar and the belt was interesting. The plans called for metal with a slight stand off from the waist. I don’t have a sheet metal roller and the metal would have cost and blaster and a leg even if I did had one. So I ended up using the ¼” tempered pressboard again. The tricky part was getting a good fit. I made patterns out of poster board and finally got it tight and neat (after making several test pieces out of lovely, cheap, pressboard). To give the look of metal mesh to the collar I used an old nylon decoy bag that had a few too many holes for field use. I glued it to the pressboard collar and once it was painted it looked fine.
The neck wasn’t too tricky except for a few things. The plans didn’t give the location dimensions for the vertical dowels so I put them in the center since that was what the drawing seemed to show. Once I tried to mount the dome it wouldn’t turn because the dowels were too far to the outside (should have measured). So I took the neck collar apart filled the dowel holes and drilled new ones close to the inside edge. (Didn’t want to make new rings. It would have meant buying more plywood.)
The other problem was the aluminum mesh for the inner cylinder. I tried using several layers of screen wire but it was too easy to see into. The whole purpose is to allow the person in the costume to be able to see but not be seen. I solved it by cutting a piece from an old T-shirt, tacking it onto the cylinder, then spray painting it dark red just for the color. I then put a layer of black fiberglass screen over the shirt and it looked good and it’s easy to see through if you’re looking out but not if you’re looking in
Also, it as I was laying out the 200mm holes in the 480mm mesh collar disks I thought they looked a little small for someone to get their head through. Now I’ll admit I have a big head (cap size 7 3/8”) but 200mm (a little less than 8 inches) would be too small for most people, not just me. So I increased the bottom hole on the mesh color to 12 inches, which worked fine.
The plans show a system for making the head turn using plywood, hardboard and ball bearings that looked more than a little iffy. I had an old hollow center lazy susan ring that I left over from a brief stint of making magic tricks. It worked perfectly. Even if I’d had to buy it would have only added ten bucks or so to the cost. Plus it saved a lot of time.
The eyestalk was pretty simple using the 3” ball. I cut off one end and used a Fostner bit to drill a depression to mount the eye. I used CorelDraw to draw the eye and printed it on glossy photo paper then mounted it under a clear Plexiglas disk. I used fiberglass rather than screws to fasten the eyestalk supports to the dome. I was worried the screw would crack the dome with use.
For the dome lights I used prescription pill bottles and LED’s. You have to look hard to tell what they are. The power source is one of those free flashlights from Harbor Freight. I put it inside the dome where it can be reached by any one wearing the costume but I also put a small switch on the back of the dome so lights can be turned on from the outside.
I ended up painting it black and red just because I like the colors and because Black and Red were the war colors of the Cherokees. Seemed to fit.
Anyway, after 52 hours and $157 dollars (darn expensive plywood) I have a Dalek. Maybe not the latest and greatest but I’m happy with it.
I came across the old BBC handout “How to Build A Dalek” and decided to give it a try. I’ve read the opinions of some folks here on RPG that the plans are poor and won’t make a screen accurate prop. But after looking at the plans and making a few corrections on measurements I figured it was good enough for me. Especially since it can be made from easily accessible materials. I make a few (more than a few) changes to the design but I felt it was in the grand tradition of the Daleks who seemed to get modified each time a new art director came on the show. But I scavenged through my junk and bought what I didn’t have a came in at a cost of $157. I had thought I could do it for under $130 but a couple of oops shot that down.
I started with the dome since it was the one thing I couldn’t make from wood. I had the needed clay and made the mold from plaster of paris that I bought at Lowes (25 lb bag at $15 and change). The plaster is a little crumbly but I used strips of cloth for reinforcement and it help together fine. I thought I hade enough fiberglass resin left over from another project but here was the first oops. The resin had cured in the can after my last use about 7 months before so another $18 for a new quart. I used carnauba car wax for the release agent (three coats and polish) and it worked fine. I started to use a gel coat but didn’t see the extra money as being worth it. Anyway, the dome came out fine with just a few pinholes.
The plans start the Dalek from the top down but after looking at how the shoulders fit on the base I decided to start in the other direction. I redrew the base to get the angles and lengths to work. I used an old CAD program and made fast work of it. I kept the dimensions in metric to make it match as closely as I could. (Mistake! After the build was complete I measured the width and it came out to little under 37” which if fine for my workshop’s 8’ doors and my garage but my house has 36” entries. I made it so the shoulders can be removed for access by the wearer so I can turn the base on its side and get in the door but it’s a pain. Oh well. I redrew the base so if I ever make another on it’ll fit in a standard entry door.) Anyway, I made the frame for the base and covered it with cheap ¼” plywood. I used an epoxy to seal the joints and sanded them smooth with a belt sander. I laid out all the locations for the sensor balls (4” foam balls from eBay made from the same foam as coffee cups for $23 including shipping) but I added them after building the shoulders.
The shoulders are the hardest part; at least they were for me. The instructions are vague for the dimensions of the bottom plate but I used the top of the finished base for my pattern. But since the bottom of the shoulders is rounded and the top of the base is straight lines curves have to be tight enough to fit but not so tight that the sheathing for the shoulders can’t bend to fit. This one stumped me for a bit. The instructions call for 1.5 mm plywood that I can’t get. I didn’t want to use 1/8” plywood because I didn’t think it has enough strength to hold the arms. So I ended up using ¼” tempered pressboard to sheath the shoulders. I made patterns ten cut out the 2 pieces and laid them over a sawhorse and sprayed them down with Murphy Oil Soap. This was to relax the boards so they would be easier to bend into place. I used Murphy’s rather than water because it was handy and I thought it wouldn’t penetrate as deeply as water. Plus I like the way it smells. The next day the pieces had fallen into a nice curve that went on with just a little coaxing.
Before I cut the holes for the boxes for the arms I did another redesign. The instructions call for 100mm (4”) balls for both arms and for the ball on the eyestalk. I looked on eBay and elsewhere on the net and the cheapest I could find were around $12 each. I have a lathe that I use for miniatures but to make a 4” wooden ball (much less 3 of them) would have taken more time than I wanted to spend. I considered using the balls from an old croquet set we have but we still play with it once every blue moon so that was out. I ended up using 3” balls from treated lumber post caps that I got at Lowe’s for a little over $3 each. A little rough but they worked.
I got lucky with the blaster. I’d taken an old lamp apart, added some copper tubing and acrylic rods and reassembled some of it into what I’d planned on making into a steampunk style rifle. I noticed it sort of resembled the Dalek blaster and decided to use it rather than braze together the one in the plans. Came out looking pretty good. The rifle can wait.
Making the collar and the belt was interesting. The plans called for metal with a slight stand off from the waist. I don’t have a sheet metal roller and the metal would have cost and blaster and a leg even if I did had one. So I ended up using the ¼” tempered pressboard again. The tricky part was getting a good fit. I made patterns out of poster board and finally got it tight and neat (after making several test pieces out of lovely, cheap, pressboard). To give the look of metal mesh to the collar I used an old nylon decoy bag that had a few too many holes for field use. I glued it to the pressboard collar and once it was painted it looked fine.
The neck wasn’t too tricky except for a few things. The plans didn’t give the location dimensions for the vertical dowels so I put them in the center since that was what the drawing seemed to show. Once I tried to mount the dome it wouldn’t turn because the dowels were too far to the outside (should have measured). So I took the neck collar apart filled the dowel holes and drilled new ones close to the inside edge. (Didn’t want to make new rings. It would have meant buying more plywood.)
The other problem was the aluminum mesh for the inner cylinder. I tried using several layers of screen wire but it was too easy to see into. The whole purpose is to allow the person in the costume to be able to see but not be seen. I solved it by cutting a piece from an old T-shirt, tacking it onto the cylinder, then spray painting it dark red just for the color. I then put a layer of black fiberglass screen over the shirt and it looked good and it’s easy to see through if you’re looking out but not if you’re looking in
Also, it as I was laying out the 200mm holes in the 480mm mesh collar disks I thought they looked a little small for someone to get their head through. Now I’ll admit I have a big head (cap size 7 3/8”) but 200mm (a little less than 8 inches) would be too small for most people, not just me. So I increased the bottom hole on the mesh color to 12 inches, which worked fine.
The plans show a system for making the head turn using plywood, hardboard and ball bearings that looked more than a little iffy. I had an old hollow center lazy susan ring that I left over from a brief stint of making magic tricks. It worked perfectly. Even if I’d had to buy it would have only added ten bucks or so to the cost. Plus it saved a lot of time.
The eyestalk was pretty simple using the 3” ball. I cut off one end and used a Fostner bit to drill a depression to mount the eye. I used CorelDraw to draw the eye and printed it on glossy photo paper then mounted it under a clear Plexiglas disk. I used fiberglass rather than screws to fasten the eyestalk supports to the dome. I was worried the screw would crack the dome with use.
For the dome lights I used prescription pill bottles and LED’s. You have to look hard to tell what they are. The power source is one of those free flashlights from Harbor Freight. I put it inside the dome where it can be reached by any one wearing the costume but I also put a small switch on the back of the dome so lights can be turned on from the outside.
I ended up painting it black and red just because I like the colors and because Black and Red were the war colors of the Cherokees. Seemed to fit.
Anyway, after 52 hours and $157 dollars (darn expensive plywood) I have a Dalek. Maybe not the latest and greatest but I’m happy with it.
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