This is a reproduction of my original build diary for Dalek Bruce published on the Project Dalek forum between September 6th 2009 and June 23rd 2010 when Dalek Bruce himself was completed.
I will be updating and removing portions for clarity as some of the entries included replies to messages sent in the forum itself which I won’t be including here. I will also add additional comments throughout the diary.
If you ever want to build your own Dalek you can use what I’ve posted below but you should also join Project Dalek. You’ll have access to free guides and the best resource of all, those fans that have already built their Daleks.
You can look through continuing build diaries and ask for help whenever you want.
www.projectdalek.co.uk
Posted September 6, 2009
Let’s me introduce myself,
I’m Splik, early 40’s (now early 50s, this was over 10 years ago), two Dr Who fan kids and ready to build my first Dalek. I say first Dalek as this may become a habit and depending on the storage space who knows. I’ve been knocking around the idea of building a Dalek for a number of years but never got around to building one. I’ve build/made costumes and props from lightsabres to a full armour/costume combo for Boba Fett, but that was some years ago. Project Dalek has been on my mind for quite a while with a plan manual filled with the excellent drawings and guides; I’m working from a verson 4.5 workshop manual at the moment, and have recently downloaded the new plans. It all came back to me when I met a couple of Dalek builders at the Who Wars convention in Newcastle a few of weeks ago where my son and daughter managed to have a go at the controls of a full size build.
Meanwhile I was eagle eyed on the construction and asking a whole bunch of questions which were bouncing around my head the last few years. Now fibreglass isn’t that scary (actually it is, and it was and I never want to do it again) and excellent use of broom handles and Mystic Orbs has demystified the process. My son is a big Doctor Who fan and a big Dalek fan, so seeing his first Dalek in the MDF was a great experience.
I’ve also managed to convince the wife that I can put my Dalek to some good charity use in the local area and help some local projects, so she’s also on board. I’ve been a Doctor Who fan since childhood and I remember visiting the Doctor Who exhibition at Blackpool (feels like my second home – check out another blog about Blackpool) on a number of occasions passing through it’s Tardis doors, riding the Dalek ride-on somewhere up the prom and watching the shows. My Doctor was John Pertwee/Tom Baker and possibly Patrick Troughton (although reading this now I realised I couldn’t have watched Troughton) early on.
My Dalek is the light grey Destiny Dalek, (this was the original plan until I went for the darker shade of grey – to be honest I think I forgot which story had the Daleks I wanted to build) I know it was Tom Baker era but my visual memory of the Daleks of the time were Skaro, Davros and the Daleks. (Obviously Genesis of the Daleks) I did spend an embarrassing time watching Buck Rogers on ITV instead of Who on the Beeb, but we’d always watch the episodes with the Daleks. (this terrible incident is detailed in another blog)
There are still some scary areas of the Dalek build which I hope I will overcome, (there will be blood and tears!) but as with all projects it’s a learning experience. I’ve also pulled in a few favours for help on sections which I can’t take care of at home. So within a few months, ‘Bruce’, named after the shark in Jaws, the mechanical monstrosity will be taking shape.
I fully intend to document the whole process in photo and video diary (not so much of the video diary once it comes to the final crunch) on YouTube. The last few weeks I have been doing lots of research and finding the materials I need for the job and I thought I’d post here so there is no turning back. Here goes…. photos very soon.
This entry clearly showed I wasn’t prepared. Eventually the build went over it’s original £350 budget that we set. This was due to buying all of the wood materials as new from B&Q and other DIY stores instead of getting cheaper recycled materials. As well as new tools.
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Posted 24th September 2009
Hello All,
Thought I’d let you know that I’ve posted my first series of video diaries on Youtube.
Initially I thought I could produce a long winded video where viewers would turn off after the first 4 minutes so I’ve split my first diary into topics.
This all felt very dry and I was pretty boring in front of the camera. That’s why my usual videos are behind the camera.
I fully intend to link each video up to a main diary video menu so you can pick what you might be interested in. (That didn’t really happen)
My actual build videos will contain links so you can see the detail in the process. i.e. Fitting the eyestalk to the dome… click on the eyestalk will take you to the build diary for the eyestalk. All clever stuff thanks to YouTube. (Again… this didn’t happen. When you get into building to a tight schedule it gets more about the building and less about the documentation around the building)
Hope you find them interesting. I think I’m going to get my hair cut… 😉
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Posted 26th September 2009
Dalek Manual – I’ve downloaded the latest plans, but as I said I do have the older workshop manual.
The Dalek manual is available for free through the Project Dalek website. Don’t ever buy a Dalek build manual on ebay as they will just be making money from all the hard work that is freely available. There is also a Workshop manual that discusses the physical building from making the dome, tools and construction compared to the Dalek manual which gives you dimensions dependant on the style of Dalek you choose.
It’s great.
Really great.
Without it you’ll flail helplessly with tools and measurements.
Join Us!
I will get around to getting a printed one. Pink Dalek – I would never have believed it. The yellow really sets off it’s eye…..
As my three year old daughter keeps telling me she wants a pink Dalek, I’m going to buy either a 12″ or a 6″ Dalek and paint one up for her. (NOPE. Never happened) I’m even going to add the wings. The pics will be here. I’ll save it for a rainy day, when I’m not working on Bruce.
8 Balls – I did see the Hanna Montana ones but I got the cheaper non-branded “Date Ball” by Mattel. I picked them up from B&M for £2.99. I’m going to have to get another because I’m going to use them for the gun joints and the eye. Eventually one of the gun/plunger joints was replaced with a metal gazing ball.
Sorry for the blurry images. Wait til you see the even blurrier images later on.
But it gives you an idea. I will be breaking out the juice on camera and probably covering myself in the process.
Posted October 5th 2009
Just to update. I’m currently in the process of gathering the various tools required for the job. I’ve got drills, but I wanted to drill a few holes straight rather than at haphazard angles, so I’ve got a drill mount thingy (bery technical terms here) …. not sure what it’s called but father-in-law helped out.
I also managed to borrow a 102mm hole saw… At some point I’m going to have to get some plywood.
I’ve also had some ideas as to the construction. It’s going to have a split skirt for easy storage and the base will be one piece but detachable. (The split skirt idea never came to pass. I found it was easier to transport and put the skirt i.e. the bit with the baubles, in as one piece. With experience of split skirts they do get bashed around more)
It’s slow, but it’s moving, in a time progression rather than mobility sense.
I’ve also decided that the gun and plunger arms are going to be black. I can mix plastic and metal as required.
Oh, and I got my hair cut…
Posted October 10th 2009
Another quick update.
I ordered a couple of Land Rover defender Front Side Lenses this week at a very reasonable £2.99 including postage and packing. Unfortunately due to a slight post office delay of, erm, one week, they still have no idea where the parcel has gone.
Grrr! Argh!!! Anyway apart from that I’ve been doing a little more research on the Destiny Dalek…. sheesh! I didn’t really believe the differences when reading through the excellent Evolution manual and watching the DVD the number of differences in the Daleks in those episodes. I had to try and figure out which of the Destiny’s I was going for. One thing you will notice when you start building are the subtle differences between each type of Dalek.
So I think I’ve come up with the colour scheme and style.
Gun – grey joint and black Gun
Plunger Arm – Grey Joint, two part with silver secondary rod and black primary.
Skirt – Gloss black hemis.
Shoulders – Black slats
Eyestalk – Four disks
Dome – Defender lenses
Collars – Black
If I went all grey it would end up being a Genesis, don’t you think? I’m not sure. Overall I didn’t really see the difference in colours of the main body between the Genesis and Destiny Daleks, but maybe that is just the lighting. Genesis and Destiny Dalek colours are different. But these were early days.
My two orbs are going to be my gun and plunger arm joints. I’m still hunting for another mystic orb which will end up being the eye. I was looking at Fenris’s (another Dalek builder) technique using a compass when drawing the lines on the orb for the eyestalk. I’ve come up with a slightly modified version which involved a small piece of wood with two holes drilled into it the same diameter as a couple of pencils.
These pencils are then placed in the holes and voila I could pencil as many eyeballs as I need. I’ll detail it later in the videos. As I mentioned in my last post I’m currently gathering tools and dalek parts so that the video builds will run smoothly without having to dissappear off to B&Q to grab something I’d forgotten.
Take care all. I’ll be back soon.
Posted October 19th 2009
Realised it’s been just over a week since I posted and I intend to say at least something once a week or so. Anyway, got my Landrover Defender lights… finally, looking great. So I’ve put them aside for later. I’ve also been looking at the parts required for the weapons and eyeball. As I’ve mentioned before I’m trying to get all of the parts for one part or another to do a complete build video on a particular item. I’ve also been scoping out the price of plywood and MDF and working out the amount I’m going to need.
Interesting story when it came to buying the Landrover reverse lights. I was asked in the parts department which type of Defender I had. I told him it was for a Dalek. Suprisingly no one had ever bought the light fittings for a Dalek before. At the time the Defender lights were the closest thing as the original lights were no longer available unless you paid a lot of money.
Here’s one of the original dome lights from the series. Courtesy of ProjectDalek.co.uk. Original on the left Defender on the right.
One slight problem I had at the weekend was that my tried and trusted Black and Decker Quattro has finally burnt out, well actually the charger so I used the last of the charge on the battery to sand off my kids railway board and put a new coat hook up in the lobby.
Gargh!
My next video will be concerning the dismantling of the liquid contents section of the mystic balls…. that’s when I get another drill.
Gargh! Lots of Garghs given!
Posted November 1st 2009
Still haven’t got around to buying a new drill but decided to put pen to paper and work our the cost and cut sizes for the skirt. This was based on http://www.wickes.co.uk prices and their current online stock. Anyway, the total works out at about £51.39 excluding the hemis. Here’s how I worked it out, if anyone else can figure a better way that would be great.
5 x 1829x607mm (164524) @ £5.28 each = £26.40
1 x ply 2440×1220 (110116) @ £24.99 each = £24.99
Total = £51.39
From my calculations on 1 1829x607mm MDF sheet I can fit…
Sheet 1 (1 required) = 2 x Panel 1 and 2 Panel 3
Sheet 2 & 3 (2 required) = 2 x Panel 2 and 2 x Panel 5
Sheet 4 (1 required) = 1x Panel 4 and 1 x Panel 6
Sheet 5 (1 required) = 1x Panel 4 Sheet 5 gives me extra MDF I can use for various parts plus spares.
I can fit a top, bottom and a base from the ply with some extra for structure. I’m hoping to provide a graphical view of this little lot at some point.
This was the time when B&Q and Focus DIY were still around in the UK and it was easier to get wood cut to particular sizes.
Posted November 20th 2009
There’s been a lot of secret planning and purchasing going on. I’ve filmed a couple more segments which I’ll be putting up in the next couple of days. Small item dealing with the plunger arm, in fact just the plunger. I hope it’s as short and sweet as I’m trying to keep them so you won’t get bored. I’ve also built in some of the interactivity I will be building into the rest of the project as I go.
For example the next video will be the sphere for the plunger arm. When you see the plunger itself, you’ll be able to click on it and see how the plunger is put together. Further down the line you’ll be able to see me put the plunger arm in the gun box, hence click on the plunger arm and see how it was made, click on the plunger and see how that was made and so on. I hope that makes sense as it does to me. By the end it’ll all interconnect and you’ll be able to build anything from the full dalek back to the individual components. I had so many plans to make an interactive instruction video through the useful linking (at the time and no longer available on YouTube) of videos.
I’ve got my mystic balls for the plunger arm, gun arm and eyeball so expect the next few videos to deal with the plunger, gun and eye. I’ve also got all parts for the gun set up so that’ll come soon. I’ve also got the skirt planned and then the gun box.
Phew! I hope you follow my unique way of presenting the build diary, and I’m hoping for suggestions as I go along so I can improve things for the community.
Catchalater Splik
Posted November 21st 2009
Anyway after battling Youtube to get the videos up here they are :-
Check it out, let me know what you think.
All very Blue Peter
I’m going to break it down into as many short videos as possible to explain the overall construction. Hope you like it and I hope you like my little input into a different way of constructing the end. I found it was very neat.
I do like to use the whole buffalo…. This is a reference to a documentary about Pixar which refered to the native american use of the Buffalo, using meat to eat, hide to wear, bones for other uses. Using the whole buffalo and not letting anything go to waste.
Posted December 29th 2009
Although the Dalek bits have been put aside for the holidays I have gathered the gear for the gun, so I plan to produce a few more videos including the drilling of the Mystic Orbs and the bending/fixing of the gun parts. After that I’ll probably work on the eye and then it’s skirt time just as we start getting better weather and I can start to produce some stuff outside. Hopefully by Easter I plan to have the main Dalek body completed so by the summer Bruce will be looking all spruce and trundly…. If trundly is not a real word I declare it now, right here. If you own a Dalek you should understand what trundly means.
See you soon.
Wow! I Didn’t realise I had that much of a plan.
Posted January 21st 2010
Okay,
So the plunger wasn’t going to work without an arm and ball joint to go with it, so now that Xmas is out of the way I’ve dug out my bits and I’m now completed some parts of the plunger arm. I’m going to back up my video construction with a quick build diary here so expect a video soon at the Bruce Youtube site. The Mystic Ball or Magic 8 Ball as it is also known required the liquid draining from it and then the hole straight through it. So first things first, the balls I bought not only have the blue liquid inside but they also have glitter… I hate glitter… I have a three year old who loves to bring me home glitter pictures that end up being sucked up in the vacuum cleaner… I HATE IT!... Anyway… To stop the liquid spinning around and splashing out of the holes I placed some kitchen towel over the drill bit and covering the transparent plastic side. I also placed it on a suitable roll of tape and placed it on a metal tray to stop the drips.
I then proceeded, in an orderly manner, to punch some holes through the plastic. Mopping up drips as I went. After about three attempts I managed to release enough pressure to get the majority of the water out. * NOTE – I have no idea what this liquid actually contains, so I suggest you dispose of it in the correct manner * Environmental Warning Over.
Some of the liquid tends to escape and leak out of the various joints so I suggest you give it a rinse out a few times. Now at this point I realised how a dremel or some such tool would have come in handy, unfortunatly I haven’t got one at the moment so I took a pair of pliers and broke off the plastic at the top until the whole was big enough to extract the multisided dice thing (I’m sure there is a name for it!). Don’t take out all of the transparent cyclinder as I discovered it makes a nice grip on the arm tubing. It can always be tidied up later and filled. This part is going to be on the inside of the arm assembly anyway.
After a few more rinses turn the ball over and locate the centre of the bottom of the ball. My tubing is exactly 1 1/4 inch so I just happened to have a 1 1/4 inch hole saw drill attachment. But first start with a smaller hole to make sure it’s centred. Drill through the outer skin. Pop on the hole saw and drill through the top skin revealing the drain underneath. Drill slowly so as not the crack the ball. The ball I had contains the drain for the liquid on this underside and once you taken the outer skin out you should see three screws. Undo these and take the plug out. You should now be able to drill though this inner core. You should be able to drill into the liquid compartment and pull out the drilled part leaving you with a nice hole.
This was a dangerous bit. Have you ever tried to drill a 1 1/4 inch hole in a ball? It’s not fun and it took ages.
You may note that the internal cylinder acts as a nice straight guide and support for the arm. I’ve marked up the 18 inches from the hole. You should be now able to place the ball over you 1 1/4 inch tubing using the transparent edging as a grip and the inner cylinder as a guide. It’s a fairly tight and secure fit which will still need fixing with appropriate glue, but that will come later.
I’m not exactly sure as yet how much I should leave on the inner side of the ball as yet, so I’m open to suggestions. Test fit of the plunger works fine.
Next up I need to sand the ball and fill the seam around the edge. Until next time, happy building.
Posted February 3rd 2010
Hey guys and gals,
I’ve put up my Mystic Ball appendage joint tutorial on YouTube…
The Hanna Montana mystic ball is still Bruce the Dalek’s main eye.
I’m hoping you can see how it is coming together. The next tutorial will be plunger arm construction, that way there are links to the plunger and the ball joint as part of the whole scheme of things. Once I get to the gun box that will link to the plunger arm and the gun arm and so link to the separate component construction. I’ve also got the gun arm to put together and then I’m starting on the eye stalk and then the skirt. I’m separating the construction from the painting aspect of things so that will come along later.
Catchalater
Splik
Posted February 5th 2010
The more and more I’m looking into this, the more and more I’m going towards the Genesis Dalek and away from the Destiny. Yay! You finally settled on a Dalek. There are some differences though as I decided to to have a gloss finish and keep it to the Rover Tempest Grey colour. The number of cans of Rover Tempest to touch up paintwork is astounding. Halfords around the North East probably wonder why the keep running out of RTG.
So I guess I’m giving in and joining the mass of Genesis Daleks. I initially decided on a Destiny because it was slightly different and random, but now a more mature Dalek builder with a whole bunch of research under my belt, I’d rather keep within a comfort zone and go with the hoards.
I think we’ll now need to change the topic to ‘Splik’s Genesis Dalek’ if that is possible.
What was that colour again? 😉 Rover Tempest Grey
Posted February 12th 2010
Just thought I’d drop by and let you know I’ve just published a plunger assembly video on YouTube. Hope you find it useful.
Hope you find it useful.
Posted February 14th 2010
I’ve bought myself a detail sander, a big tub of P38, various glass and sanding bits of paper, a small vice and a few other bits and bobs.
One thing I’ve been having trouble with is the collars for the gun assembly. It’s either 22mm, 28mm, 19mm copper piping and curtain rail stuff. I’ve been looking for that perfect fit, not a filler jobby as I feel the thickness will be distracting for my gun.
I managed to pick up a pack of 2 x 25mm mains trunking couplers. They fit snuggly. I’ve also got some 3mm welding rod for the, erm, rods. I’m hoping that if I accurately drill the eight holes in the plastic couplers once I’ve cut them to the right length, I can then pop them on the barrel and drill and stick them through, but not so far as they appear up the barrel. Also with the incoming weather the catalogues are starting to sell super soakers which may come in handy for effect. I don’t think I actually built water squirting, though I did have flashing lights.
This is all theoretical, but hopefully i should get the gun completed in the coming weeks ready for the sunshine and the skirt build and the eye stalk if it’s a bit rainy. But we’ve all heard about the best laid plans and all that…
The bushes are sticky but will probably fall out after a while of wear and tear, but they are easily replaced. I did mention that they probably need a trim as I feel they are a little too deep and although they hold the arm I’m not sure whether they are too tight for the hose idea to push the arm in and out. If they are they’ll need a little trim to loosen things up without losing the grip.
Posted February 15th 2010
Hey all,
Been busy tonight. I got a little caught up with the gun arm… well….
Suprisingly the whole thing is just clipped together with no glue. But obviously later I’ll be sticking the whole thing together. I measure the lengths of 3mm welding rod to about 12.75″ (hope you don’t mind the metric/imperial mix). I then drilled a hole in a piece of wood to a depth of 0.75″. Pop the cut rod into the hole, slight hammer to make sure it’s at the bottom and eventually bend both ends for all eight rods.
Using the 25mm mains couplers I cut them into four pieces. Two to use and two spare. One is a tight fit on the end and the other is placed about 12 inches down the 1″ aerial tubing
To mark the eight holes to fit the rods into, I used a piece of masking tape and wrapped it around the end. I put a pin through the tape into the plastic coupler and also marked it with a pen. Unwrapping the tape reveals two holes with pen marks. The same hole.
Divide the space between by two then two again until you’ve got 9 marks or more if you’ve got more overlap.
Wrap it back around, matching up the first and last holes and you’ve got your marks for all the holes through the coupler into the aerial tubing.
I knocked a nail in at each point giving me the points to drill. Using a 3mm drill, I carefully drilled the holes around the outside. I used the same piece of masking tape for the other coupler. Amazingly all the holes line up perfectly. Now all the rods fit neatly into the holes at both ends. Voila, one gun.
I’ve still got to wirewool the copper coating on the rods ready for painting and adjust the rods. I think the rod bends are a little too square but I think I’m happy for the moment, I could always replace them later. Never replaced them, they are the same from the beginning. There have been a few scares when kids have grabbed and broken bits of the gun arm, but I have managed to get them back. I also over estimated the length of the rods as I’ve had to move the joint down a little, but not enough to notice. Once it’s all stuck together it’ll be ready for painting.
Posted February 18th 2010
Well, tonight I’ve been building an eye from my remaining Mystic Ball.
I’ve used Fenris’s cutting idea from Fenris’s Build Diary to cut the ball into sections. Ever tried cutting a hard plastic ball in two without some sort of deviation? It’s a nightmare.
For the first cut I used a a hacksaw instead of the hole saw which meant there was more to trim away to get the can in the end as I was cutting across instead of down into the plastic. With some slicing and dicing with a scalpel I’ve managed to get the tin can inside.
I’ve used a hammer on the sharp end of the can so I don’t cut myself. Speaking of can, I thought I’d try it with a can with a ring pull. Reason being they have a handy lip around the edge which I’m hoping will fit the iris and cover. Initially the iris was mounted flat on the outside, but I’ve since used plastic gravy tub lids to mount the eye inside the can. Did you know that Bistro gravy granule lids can be fit purfectly into cans once you’d opened them? Really handy.
Sorry I didn’t have any fairies, but I’m hoping the guest will do….. My Brain of Mobius figure from an original Tom Baker episode that scared the wits out of me. I think it was the Frankenstein human arm that scared me the most.
I’ve been filming the lot for YouTube, so these build diaries will be up for the gun and eye when I’ve completed enough to make them self contained. Keep watching.
I’m having a few problems with the eyestalk, I’ve tried hacksaw and also a hacksaw machine at work (which was too heavy and snapped rather than sawing the final bit of the tubing leaving a gaping maw). I couldn’t for the life of me get both ends of each part good anough. So having read through a few forums tonight I’ll be heading down the pipe cutter route and hoping for the best. Frustrating, I don’t want a wonky eyestalk!
I’ve also discovered that I’m getting a little obsessed with the whole build. I’m watching TV with a tray on my knee and I’m sanding the edges off my eyeball parts. I’m tinkering constantly with some part of the Dalek within arms reach of wherever I’m sitting. Tools are left lying around and my wife keeps telling me to shift them… nicely of course. My Dalek plans are next to my right elbow whenever I sit down. I’ve got a stinking cold but bits must be made. What’s happening to me? You are crazy and obsessed with getting the Dalek finished, that’s what.
I’ve also started to build a 3D model of my Dalek in 3DS Max basing the model on the plans so it’s got all the internals as well as the outside appearance. I’m sure it’ll turn up soon in here or on the virtual Dalek forum. Nope.
Cheerio for now.
Posted February 25th 2010
I’m actually using SIF 3.2mm brazing rods. I know I said welding rods, but they are actually brazing rods. I’ll add an annotation to the video.
http://www.cromwell.co.uk/SIF8916132T for example, by weight.
But if you search around a bit you may be able to buy them individually. I believe Farnell, now CPC sell them individually. But I’m not sure about the length or diameter.
They actually came in a pack by weight rather than length. The code stamped on the top of one is EN12536 but that looks like a european standard mark.
Get the angles right and the are pretty solid with a bit of flex.
I did try the hacksaw method and I found that if I go one side straight I couldn’t for the life of me get the other edge in line. But suprisingly for the aerial tube the pipe cutter works a treat.
A healthy obsession…. hmmm…. I’ll have to think about that… whilst I sand down another piece of kit.
Posted March 2nd 2010
I was suprised how big the eyestalk looks when it’s put together. It’s also suprisingly heavy. My disks are made from perspex and as the 8mm hole I drilled through them matched the rod they sit quite well next to each other with nuts and washers but I think that has added to the weight issue.
I look at this and all the parts are totally out of whack.
My disks are 4.5mm width so they are a little thicker than usual but they work well. But my impression of the scale of the whole thing is a little different than I’d imagined.
You do get to a certain point in a Dalek build when you realise that the whole Dalek is bigger than you expected it to be. Don’t expect to just push a Dalek around the house unless all you doors are double.
I haven’t stripped away the plastic protection on the perspex as yet. I’m still thinking about the rod between the end of the disks and the pivot point. I can’t decide if it’s going to be wood, but then I’d have to drill all the way down, or more aerial pole, but then I’d lose out on the taper. Has anyone got any suggestions? Does it look too big to anyone else?
Posted 3rd March 2010
I thought it looked too close. But the Mk 3 plans show an overall distance of 4 inches with .75 between them, obviously working out from the centres.
It shows an overall 9.5 inches from the eye to the pivot. Is this the same on your dalek? So you’ve got 3.5 inches from the last disk to the pivot?
Has anyone else got spacing issues between the eye and the centre of the first disk? Or are everyones eyestalks differing lengths?
I may go for this look..
Posted March 3rd 2010
Okay, that makes sense, deadplanet. Another Dalek builder. But if you line up a few Genesis Daleks side by side you could imagine the stalk. What does look better? Shorter? Longer? Eyestalk envy anyone? 😉 I’m curious as I’m balancing the weight distribution with the length.
Anyway, okay I think I’ve got the length sorted now. What’s your ideal diameter for the eyestalk? From the reference photos it looks like I can get away with a 1″ or 1 1/4″ as I’ve got some spare tube.
What’s your diameter for your 10 inches jonnymb?
It looks like it’s a straight eyestalk… I must use the reference photos more often.
Oh, yes. This IS useful. This whole forum is useful. You betcha. Signup now at projectdalek.co.uk
I just love the whole metric imperial conundrum it adds so much fun to the project. 😉
Daleks are originally British made and some there were differences between measuring in inches and milimetres. Most of my build was in inches as it seemed the closest. Some components were bought and sold in milimetres so you had to adjust and work with both measuring standards side by side.
I’m probably looking at a longer distance between the eye and the disks but it’s solved a few issues with the single run of tube after the disks. It’ll probably run around the 12-13 inches from the front of the eyeball to the pivot. With a 2.5 inch distance from the back of the eye to the first disk.
I’ll pop a couple of photos up when I adjust it.
Posted March 6th 2010
Just a quickie to post a few photos of my rejigged eyestalk. I’m now happy with the distances.
Overall it’s about 9 inches to the pivot with a straight pole. Now all I need to do is take the eye off and fill it properly.
Posted March 16th 2010
Well, I’ve put down the tools temporary so I can do a little painting. Mack, Dalek_Khan’s Dalek was at the Maker Faire in Newcastle so I spent last week painting up the gun, and plunger, ready for their first public display. Good old Halfords. For the ball joints I bought some Unibond Repair Express. It’s a bit like Milliput putty. Mix it and it can be drilled and filled. I filled in the joints around the middle of the Magic Eight Balls. Filled and sanded back.
Gun – Halfords Grey Primer, Halfords Satin Black. Once painted the gun looked a little too much like it was made from plastic so I then bought some dark brown car spray to give it a little shine. Worked a treat. Plunger – I only needed to paint the ball joint once filled and primed. Bought some nice chrome paint. After the first coat it decided to roll off my bit of wood in the garden and gather muck as it rolled down the sloped patio. Cleaned it and added a couple more coats of chrome. I have a sneaking feeling that it’s not going to be very hard wearing but I’m probably going to coat it in Halford Clear Lacquer to toughen it up and hopefully not lose the chrome effect. We’ll see.
The eye stalk still needs filling with P38, it’s been too cold to start working on smelly stuff outside so I’ve left it for a bit. I’m currently working out the ply and mdf needed for the skirt and shoulders so I can get it cut to the nearest size and then shape and sand as necessary. I’d rather work from their straight edge than mine. So I expect I’m going to start posting some pictures of some big stuff pretty soon. I’ll post some photos of the appendages when I get them back from Rob (Dalek_Khan).
I’ve also used the Faire to see how sturdy the paint job is. I’ll be touching them up when they come back. Catchalater Splik
Whilst Dalek Mack appeared in full at the Maker Faire, Bruce was simply in pieces. He wouldn’t appear in full until 2011. More videos later.
Posted March 20th 2010
Well, today I got my plywood for the skirt and the shoulders. Thankfully B&Q can cut their wood to size which really helps with the right angles. I managed to get all four sections worked out on one 2440×1220 12mm ply.
I was originally going for 9mm but I couldn’t find any straight boards and as my skirt will be split It never would be. I just didn’t want to cut the nicely completed skirt in two. I could do with the extra support. I’m going to be using 3mm mdf for the skirt sections so I did remember to deduct the 6mm from each dimension. I’ve marked up the skirt base and waist and I’m just about ready to get the jigsaw out to cut them. Meanwhile I’ve finally dug out the P38.
Masked up and headed outside, I filled the edges around the eye. I now know that I should pop the lid back on the tin when I get the quantity I need. Saves on the fumes. P38 filler is horrible car hole filling stuff. The fumes are poisnous and you should always make sure you have the protective filter system which I had.
Posted March 22nd 2010
Excuse me…..
GGggggggggrrrrrrrargh!!!!! Nightmare. Will someone please help. Am I being too picky? I’ve filled the sides of my eyepiece, sanded, picked out imperfections, filled ’em, sanded them, found more imperfections and bumps caused by the last filling, sanded, tried some primer, found more lumps and bump, sanded, filled, found more….. and so on. It’s only a little eye.
Am I being too picky? How much can I cover with paint or am I going to go on forever unless I run out of filler and/or grind my eyepiece down to nothing.
Any help would be appreciated.
If you ever fill and sand something you will ALWAYS have this problem, you just have to knuckle down and get through it.
Posted March 25th 2010
Well a couple of days of sanding, filling, sanding, filling, losing the eye for a short time (…you don’t need to know! 
), getting it back and continuing I think I’ve got it at a fairly decent stage.
It’s fairly smooth and I think for the moment I’m going to reapply primer and see how it stands up to scrutiny. Whether it’s tapered or not? Well, it’s not perfectly straight and it’s kind of a happy medium for me.
Posted March 25th 2010
Just in case anyone might find this useful.
This is a JPG image of my Dalek iris. It fits perfectly in the lip of a pull can and you can print it out as much as you like. May be of temporary use for some but I’m planning on seeing if it will stand up to a few layers of clear laquer after being glued onto the end of the eyeball.
Enjoy
Posted March 29th 2010
Well, here is the eyestalk as it stands. Painted with a temporary eye. I’ll be laminating my eyeball and permanently fixing it soon. There is permanent and there is having to replace the eye on multiple occasions for example when it falls off, or when it becomes cloudy due to the lamination or because it looks bad in photos. It took 9 years to get the eye to where I amd happy. Depending on what kind of glue I use I may be able to swap expressions on occasion.
The problem I have with the eye is the fact that the eye itself is mounted on the end and shows it’s edges and is also prone to peeling off. Or seeing the edge of the printed section where it was cut.
I’ll be putting this aside for the moment to work on the skirt sections.
Yey me. 
More soon…. oh and I picked up my first fibre glass kit. ooooooh! I hate fibre glass… I hate it.
Scary!
Posted April 6th 2010
Okeydokey…. big stuff. Lots of jigsaw work.
So, I’ve cut the two upper and lower skirt sections with a slight angle on the base to help fit the sides when I get them cut properly to size. I’ve also put together a frame to fit in the centre to I can put the sides on. I’ve also got the 3mm MDF for the skirt sections which are cut square so I only need to trim them to size. It’s great fun trying to work out the three dimentional position of the upper skirt when it’s hovering over 25 inches above the base. I realise now I prefer to work on the smaller aspects of the Dalek. this big stuff is not so fun. But we’ve got to get through it. I’m planning to put on one panel at a time and work around the outside.
It’s going to be a wonderful split skirt, so that’s going to be fun. No split skirt. It’s all going to be one piece. I’ve got my base and also the 100mm rubber tired/bearing wheels which I picked off ebay, for that smoooooth ride. So if I get that skirt together I’ll be able to trundle around and get the seat sorted. I haven’t decided how I’m going to do the hemis yet so I’ll mark the centre holes and leave it at that for the moment.
Here’s to the next few days.
Posted April 7th 2010
Well, I double checked my measurements last night and they were right…. doesn’t help that I had marked up the base using the new Mk III plans but checked my measurements afterwards using an old Dalek Workshop Manual. That difference between 7.4″ and 7.1″ on panel 2 makes all the difference.
That manual has now ended up in the recycling. At least I’ve got the new manual as well.
Always make sure you are always working with the same plans as measurements can be updated frequently.
So I marked up the panels, checked them against the base and top and now they are ready for cutting. 
Posted April 8th 2010
Last night I decided it was time to cut up the skirt panels, and guess what I did? Cut them up. Some of them work straight off the bat, others will need a bit of adjustment to get them to sit on the side. As you can see from the pictures, I’ve test fit the rear three panels just to see. 6, both 5’s and both 4’s seem to fit. These are the panel;s refered to in the plans. From the plans I got the 4’s inside out as I’ve put a bit of an edge on them, but no matter filler and some time heals holes.
I cut the main base tonight to match the skirt base. As the skirt base was firly accurate I just simply attached to the skirt base to the wheel base and ran the jigsaw around the edge. The edge based on the edge of the jigsaw plate and the blade seemed to work fine, so the wheel base matches the skirt base perfectly. The pictures above are just the back panels leaning up against the top with no nails or glue as yet. I realise that once I start attaching the sides I’m committed to following it through and being stuck with the base until I split it.
All seems to be going swimmingly. Fitting the side panels was so easy. I measured, marked and cut them surprisingly accurately.
So I’m making a little room for it to sit whilst I work on it. I’ve also got to put some struts in it which I’ll do next week. Plus I’ve got to fibreglass the joins and then fill the outside. Actually quick question, is it better to fibreglass the inside and then apply the filler on the outside or vice versa?
Posted April 10th 2010
So, there I was minding my own business and what do you know, the sun was out. Shuffle off the wife and kids to grandparents and headed out into the garden for some building. I took a little u-turn since my last photos and looking at other skirt builds in the forum decided to build the skirt, thus, with some flat planks on the side and a wedge on the front. I figure These struts are fairly easy to remove so I’ll see if I decide to move them later for additional support but I hear that once fibreglassed it’s a fairly stirdy structure. I didn’t remove these struts and they are still part of Bruce’s build.
As I wasn’t using the box, it meant I could cut out the top and bottom of the main skirt section.
I late last night I also drilled some randomly placed holes through the wheel base and the skirt base to attach them together. Some M6 Roofing bolts through and now they’ve got wing nuts so I can take it off easily.
I was determined to try and get the wheel base cut out today, so I could do my first trundle, but alas I haven’t decided where I’m going to mount the seat yet. I’ve acquired the base off an old office computer chair which I’ve now cut in two so I’d be sitting on the front of it. I’ll figure out how to get this thing in. I was really suprised how light the whole shirt section is once the holes were cut in them. Since the pictures I put a rear strut in, just in case but I suspect this will be coming out once the skirt panels are fitted. Oh, I also fitted the wheels to the base where it seems fairly stable. It’s a high base but with some recessed black skirting around the side you won’t know the difference. It has saved my £18 if I don’t drop it that extra 18mm with the cost of the metal plating I ended up taking back for a better respirator. I figure I need a better one for the fibreglassing. Anyway, I’m thrilled with the result so far, I figure I’d do something productive as I expect to be swearing at the panels very soon.
Posted April 12th 2010
Okay, last night I put the skirt panels together. I tried with “No More Nails” and pins but it got a little messy so I decided to just pin the panels on with, erm, panel pins. Next up I put masking tape up the edges. Suprisingly most of the panels went together, edge to edge quite well. There was a slight overlap on the front two panels but I trimmed them enough to tape and sand them later. The panel pins have been a major problem going forward. Because they are at the top and the bottom, with a lot of moving the skirt the panel pins have worn away parts of the top of the skirt particularly, and I’m always having to fix them up with lots of filler.
I concentrated getting the front line straight rather than have a wonky front edge. Checking tonight, so of the masking tape has become a little unstuck so before I head outside in the beautiful weather to do some glassing, I’ll have to patch them up again. As you can see from the test photos I put a little seat inside. But I’m curious. With the skirt, where am I expecting to sit. Am I too high? Too low? I don’t want to cut out the bottom without some sort of idea. What do you think?
Posted April 16th 2010
Well the last couple of nights I’ve filled all the holes in the skirt with P38. They still need sanding but my hands are still vibrating from sanding the MDF 
I’ve also started on the shoulder section. The base has been marked and cut. To get the curves I printed up one half of a 1:1 drawing from the plans and spread them across a few A4 sheets. Selotaping them together I pencilled the line in. Turned the paper over and placed it on the plywood. Then went over with pencil again and it transfered onto the wood. Flipped it and did the other side. It worked well. I just needed to make the line a bit more visible with pencil and take out the jigsaw. Sanded it and voila a nice neat base that’s even on both edges.
I also cut the vertical struts for the shoulder as well but I’ve still to make the top. I’ve got some 6 mm wooden pegs and glue to connect everything together. I’ve left the bottom of the struts quite deep until I can figure out the shoulder base depth.
I’m still unsure as to the amount to leave around the edge of the shoulder base. I figure 1.5″ but I’m not sure if this is too little. What is the ideal width for stability?
I was also visited by fairies yesterday who left me a dome. Whoah! Thanks fairies. It’s pre-cut too. After my first experience with fibreglass I don’t think I would have been able to complete Bruce without a dome. So now I can start making the mechanism and disks for the eyestalk functionality. 
The dome I picked up from ebay. Poor soul I bought it from was splitting up with girlfriend/wife, couldn’t finish his Dalek and needed cash. The dome is one solid piece of plastic. It’s tough and very durable. I couldn’t have imagined making the dome.
By the way, if you are wondering, I haven’t stopped producing the YouTube videos, it’s just that I’m trying to produce videos for the start to finish of a section. Yeah, yeah, yeah… I’ve heard that one. I’m currently running at about 3 hours of footage to edit. If I get the eyestalk pivot completed that’ll be the first up. I expect the shoulders to be next as the skirt needs it’s hemis… which reminds me… if there are any hemi fairies out there.. hehe!
Posted April 18th 2010
Well I’ve been looking for 100mm hemis…. hmmm…. well I found a supplier, in China… at 2p each…. minimum order 100,000.
So, that £2000 to supply 1785 Daleks with their hemis…. well.. no.
Just a little update, I’ve put the shoulder frame together, put an additional 18mm round the wheel base and cut a hole in the middle.
Photos to follow. Next up, the gun box. Finally somewhere to put my plunger and gun. 
Posted April 20th 2010
Well here’s the photo update. I’ve edged the skirt with some 18mm wood which still needs sanding and filling in places. I’ve also cut out the hole in the base for my feet. I’ll have to build a seat before I can trundle properly though.
I’m planning to put a black skirt of sorts around the base. I’ve been looking at painting the base black and attaching Damp Proof Membrane around the edge as an alternative to rubber. I’ve also put the skeleton of the shoulders together, not quite the full stack shot yet, but it’s coming along nicely.
I’m going to concentrate on the shoulders for a while until I can get some hemis sorted out one way or another. Come on weather sort yourself out!!!
I’ve also found Ballkit they do a two part 10 pack clear plastic ball for 13 euros, or about £11. Plus postage and packaging.
Posted April 24th 2010
Thanks for the help with the hemis. PPB sounds like the ideal place.
PPB is the Precision Plastic Ball company. It makes balls, lots of different size balls. If you ever need a good pair or more balls I highly recommend them. They’ve provided many Dalek balls over the years.
Wanna see some balls? www.theppb.co.uk
Make sure they are 4 inches in diameter or closest!
I’ve been sanding my seams, making out the positions of my hemis; which I’ve still to buy and getting the gunbox started. I also put together a gun box with cardboard, now need to translate it into wood. Is it easy to hide the wood grain in plywood? I’m planning on building the front the same size as the plans and work out the sides, top and bottom minus the depth of the ply from my cardboard version. I’d have to cover the edge but it would be strong.
I was also thinking of making it even smaller by 3mm all round and cladding it with hardboard. What do you reckon?
It does actually fit better when it’s in position so the plunger and gun arn’t going to be embedded in the shoulders. I would highly recommend the cardboard method of building the gunbox starting with the base dimensions, it’s dead easy to put extra card or cut it off before building. Mine looks like some strange cardboard patchwork. I’m dying to get the jigsaw out but I had other work on today. I’m now starting to call the weather “Dalek Building Weather” rather than sunny. Also telling folks that if I wasn’t “here” I’m be putting the gunbox together. Poor people. <img srcset=” I’ve also got my MDF primer, so I’ll start to paint the skirt when I’m happier with the seams.
Posted April 25th 2010
Well there was a slight change of plan today. Managed to drop the kids off and headed out back whilst I still had the borrowed router. Thanks to my Darth Vader mask and goggles managed not to breath in the amount of sawdust that those things generate.
Guess what I left on the bench whilst I was between routes?
Routers put a heck of a lot of dust out as they are not just cutting through wood, they are shredding it!
Thankfully I had some ply left over from the various parts I’ve already cut out out so it was time to get the neck bin cut. Rob I think I’ll need two pairs of hands for the 18mm neck rings.
Anyway I managed to cut out three rings for the neck bin and one ring for the dome. Three rings for the neck bin? I hear you ask…. Well, let’s say I got rather carried away with the various tools and cut off the dome support in the middle from my top neck ring. I ended up using my ply I’d set aside for the gunbox on a replacement ring.
I found it was easier to router the outside of the rings properly and then do one pass of the holes in the middle and follow the indentation with the jigsaw. It saves on the sawdust and it a little quicker. I also cut the struts and pinned and glued them to the neck bin. At one point it did start raining for two minutes, in which time I managed to get all the electrical stuff in ready for it to stop. So, dragged the whole kit and kaboodle back outside again. Whilst that drying I started on the dome ring. Measured the inside of the dome and cut out a disk with the good old router. I then marked up the four segments in the centre making sure I had enough space for my socket mount and cut them out with the jigsaw. It was at 4:37pm that my last jigsaw blade broke…. and hour earlier and I would have been able to pop out for a replacement. I found a spare blade, not as neat as the previous clean cut blades, but good enough to finish the holes. Next up I slapped in a bolt and worked out the height for my dome rotation wheels and I popped the whole thing together.
Bruce now stands at his full height, with a temporary rotating dome until I get some wheels. I’ve also cut out the pivot attachments for the dome disk. This is when you realise it’s one heck of a size and it ain’t getting any smaller.
So from about 6 hours work I’ve now got my first full stack shot. Ain’t I a stinker?! Just realised looking back it’s been 17 days from flat pack to full stack shot.
Posted May 3rd 2010
Well, it was a busy day today… but more of that later. 
The last couple of nights I spent refining the eyestalk pivot.
I shortened the threaded rod and put a couple of springs in place to centre the eye when at rest. The intention is to disconnect the spring when I’m trundling so I’ve got more control. I’ve also put some temporary string in place to test the weight. I’ve still got to get the wheels on the rim of the neck to support the dome ring.
Eventually this spring was removed completely. With everything put together it was hard to reach it and pull it apart
To help rotate the dome I used a chair leg. Dirt cheap at only £1.49 from Wickes compared to some chrome rod and fixtures. Seems to fit well with a hole in the top for the wire/string to control the movement of the eye it works well. Still needs a better slot to allow better up and down movement though. Anyway, chatted with Dalek_Khan on Saturday at South Shields we came around to the help he offered when it came to routing my neck rings, so we were happily spreading the MDF dust around his back yard for four hours and produced three marvelous looking neck rings. This is definitely a two person job if you want to maintain your sanity. Just make sure you’ve hidden away anything you don’t want MDF dust in. It gets everywhere. Goggles and breathing apparatus highly recommended and required fashion accessories. I can’t thank Rob enough for his help. Thanks Rob.
So, once we’d completed this necessary task I spent the evening getting the neck rings in the right place on the bin. It’s only in place temporarily as I’ve got the neck bin to cover and the struts to put in. Voila!
Now, I asked my wife for the first time I never thought I’d ask…. “Can you help me into the Dalek?”… I’m sure it won’t be the last time. Oh… how I laughed…. I’ve lost count of the number of times. Now the dome is not yet fixed into the dome ring as yet, but I wanted to see how much room I’ve actually got inside the neck and whether the dome control isn’t going to knock my block off. Surprisingly it works without too much trouble. I’ve discovered I may take some off the back of the shoulder strut as it is parked in the middle of my back or simply clad it. I used a piece of black pipe cladding to protect my back. We’ll see once I get a fixed seat in place.
I think it’s looking fine so far, but looks a little strange without the dome lights. They’ll soon be fitted once I get the dome ring in place, so it’s not wobbling around the place.
Posted May 4th 2010
He’s been sanded to take the edge off… you should have seen his face, he was very disappointed.
I may be taking some more off the dome ring as it still seems to be running a little high compared to reference photos.
Posted May 8th 2010
I’ve been filling in some details across in one of the other parts of the forum to do with my height conundrum. I was thinking of cutting the neckbin down to create the Genesis upper ring/dome smaller gap. In the end I’ve gone for spacing out the gap bottom to top 7″ 6″ and 5″. Looks good, until I decided it was time for the trefoil struts…. boy… what a job. The gap between the rim of the dome and the top neck ring has changed over the years with the many types of rotation method.
I tried cutting out the three holes separately but I ended up making a bigger mess than expected and having to get the angle a nats hairs width depending on the height I decided the easiest to fit and adjust would be a single hole which is the diameter of the widest part of the trefoil and when it comes around to it some filler in the holes when the neck is fixed. Basically there is an added detail to the outside that is made up of three wooden rods like a leaf, unfortunately I couldn’t get the leaf in place for all three levels. So it ended up with one big hole per level and filler.
I do hope Fenris’s plans work out well for his trefoils I await with antici…pation. I’m sure he’s more skilled than me when it comes to drilling all those tiny holes at the correct angle for the height. Cos I couldn’t do it. I’m having fun at the moment wrestling with the struts/neckbin combination. It’s not as easy as it looks…. haven’t I heard that one before? I also managed to pick up a box of Lego wheels which have rubber tyres. These have fitted well on the dome support.
This lasted a couple of years. Rubber is silent but they wore out after a few years.
Various sizes, thicknesses with lots to choose from. I’ve passed the unused ones to the kids. But I’ll be keeping my eye on them just in case.
Posted May 9th 2010
Another day of shuffling the kids off to the grandparents, dads building the Dalek, very important. So I spent the day adjusting and working on the trefoils. I’d already drilled the holes in the neck rings so it was time to file them down in places and make them all fit.
I also got my lego wheels in place and they work very quietly.
The the holes were a bit messy in places because the ply was splitting, but a bit of gluing and filling will put them to rights. The wheels are supported by the neck struts so I’m not reliant on the ply. Will probably reenforce the underside once I get the dome in place. I also got around to fixing the dome into the dome ring. Boy that was fun.
Spent my time levelling the dome plus the ring, and an hour later I knocked the whole thing and had to start again. I just used “No More Nails” as temporary support so I can take the ring out and leave the support. I then plan to buy some more fibre glass and strengthen the joint between the supports and the dome. I PLAN to do that, if it works, HURRAY!, if not, start again…. So I’ve now got another stack shot. I never actually used any fibreglass the No More nails has kept the wood against the plastic for a decade….. damn I jinxed it now.
I’ve also got a seat made from an old office chair rescued from a skip.
<img srcset=” I also did a little trundling today. Boy, does the base sound noisy, lots of rumbling, hopefully when it’s enclosed it’ll sound less like a drum. I ain’t doing cobble stones though….
Posted May 9th 2010
Initially I was planning to work on the shoulders first but when Rob (Dalek_Khan) offered to help with the neck rings, I jumped at the chance and I’ve ended up concentrating on getting the dome and neck finished first.
My dome isn’t actually fibreglass. It’s plastic that has been vacuformed, so I’m hoping the No More Nails method will work too.
Hopefully will see your stack soon.
I’ll tell you something, the neck is THE most complicated piece of wood I’ve ever made. The most complex thing built previous to this is probably a simple Go-Kart. But that neck is a doozy.
Posted May 10th 2010
Well, tonight I’ve been cutting and readjusting the struts to fit the dome which was happily sitting on them without shifting. It does have a meaner look now and it does now have a bit of a classic genesis strut point.
Two inner dowels are under the dome and the third is sitting low on the outside. The thickness of the dome has added to the lack of gap, but I’m going with it. It adds character. What do you think? Am I being too critical?
Posted May 18th 2010
It’s been a few days but I have been busy. Following on from a previous post I got myself four mesh bins from home bargains and some black voile type material.
You can buy expensive metal sheeting or you can buy a couple of cheap metal bins. But with this method blood was spilled. Very sharp when cutting.
I first wrapped and stapled the material to the neck bin frame. After lots of fun wrapping and stretching the material it was time to pull the bins apart. I also spent some time spraying some satin black on the silver bins. It’s highly recommended that if you do this you should use some protective gloves…. just like I didn’t. I used a good pair of scissors to cut the top and bottom off the painted bins and split them near the join. After a few scratches and a couple of plasters I had three bins split. The bins aren’t the full height of the neck bin so they were stapled at the bottom and on the internal neckbin supports.
If I ever decide to make a new neckbin I think it’ll probably have support struts that line up with the external struts on the neck rings. On the evening when the rain stopped I undercoated the neck rings with some MDF primer.
Next day I sanded the rings ready for the next coat and checked how everthing looked.
Last couple of nights I’ve been cutting my gunbox out of 6mm mdf. I was thinking of using ply which would probably have been easier to put together but, anyway after a bit of fibreglass it’ll be stronger. I’ve cut out the gun holes with a holesaw and carefully chamfering the edge with the jigsaw. No more fibreglass. I hated it. It was filler and No More Nails
So, now all the major components and now in place and it’s looking rather Daleky!
I think my gun box holes are too small (just under 3.5″ rather than 3.8″) I did try a smaller holesaw thinking I might get away with it but it makes the shoulders look a little wide.
Hmmm….
The insides are chamfered which I did from the outside. If that makes sense.
I had to make sure I didn’t mess up the visible hole. I still think I’m going to widen them a bit.
Posted May 21st 2010
Well I’ve been doing a bit of filling, sanding, painting and undercoating…. Always remember, when you’ve painted your dome and put it out of the way, don’t undercoat anything near it…. I had to clean the dome and then respray.
I’ve also mounted the sanded and filled gun box. I also made the gun/plunger holes slightly bigger with a plantpot and sandpaper. Thanks for that brilliant idea.
So, not really any interesting photos to publish.
Next up I’m going to get the gun and plunger grips for the gunbox done. I’m also going to pick up a few cans of Rover Tempest Grey tomorrow and get that dome and neckbin finished.
Posted May 22nd 2010
First things first, as they say. Well I spent the having filled, sanded, primed, sanded, filled, primed, sanded, filled, primed my neck rings, I got down to the fun stuff.
Well I sprayed the dome again and whilst that was waiting for a new coat I worked on the eyestalk mechanism again.
I’ve rebuilt part of my eyestalk which has reduced the size of the dome pivot part down to one inch. Next I’ll be sanding a spraying the chrome stuff because it looks out of place compared to some of the Genesis photos. So I may go some some basic grey primer colours between the disks. I’ve added a wooden brush handle to the furniture leg and put a slot and screw to support the various eye positions. At the moment I’m using basic picture hanging wire to pull the eyestalk up and down but I expect after a few days and pulls it’ll snap so I will be replacing it. Probably with some brake cable or something like that. Next up I got out my tins of Rover Tempest Grey and started on the coats. It certainly makes a difference with paint on. Once it had dried, I just had to get the bits together late this evening. Look it’s a Dalek.
Cameras and closeups of domes and necks really aren’t good for a Genesis, the curvature of the lens makes some of the angles look bizarre. The various components need a touch up and then a coat of lacquer for the shine. Once Bruce was in one piece and I looked at the shiny Daleks I decided he would stay Satin. Less camera flash reflection. Bruce looks naked…..
Posted May 23rd 2010
After all the family stuff during the day I managed to catch a few hours until the sun descended over the horizon. I decided to get back on the base and primed the MDF.
Fitting a six blocks so the base always lines up when I drop the skirt into place. I also dragged out the diminishing P38 to fill in various gaps in the base where the trim is attached to the base, plus fill in a few random gaps before the P38 hardened. I then checked the markings I made on the skirt for the hemis. I dared not prime the skirt until the holes were drilled otherwise I would lose my markings. So once I double checked, I drilled pilot holes around the skirt at the hemi centres.
Before mounting hemis (from http://www.theppb.co.uk) I need the MDF disks to go inside. So I cut a couple with a hole saw and tested the fit. Out comes the No More Nails a dab or two in the hemi, mount the bolt, fix with putty and fix the nut in place on the disk and voila. I really should have fixed the bolt heads on the other side as they are always coming loose and you can’t get the screwdriver on the other side to tighten it once it’s sealed in.
So what was next? Test the hemi on the skirt of course.
My first hemi, I’m so proud. Only 55 to go.
Posted May 24th 2010
Tonight I cut out 40 disks for my hemis until the battery ran out on the drill.
Sanded and painted the base edges and side matt black and then spent some time sanding the fillings from the other night on the skirt.
Then it started to rain. 
I’m still trying to decide the colour finish on Bruce. Looking at some of the Genesis pictures the dome and neck rings tend to be gloss but some parts of the shoulders look to me like a mixture of gloss and basic Rover Tempest. Basic RTG was the way it went. I realised that there will be plenty of bumps and scratches along the way, if I had to touch up the body (oooerrr!) I would have to paint Rover TG and then lacquer on top.
From a suggestion in one of the other messages I’m going to paint a test bit of MDF to see the difference between the basic RTG and gloss with a Clear Lacquer. My hemis are going to be gloss black and the skirt looks gloss.
I’m trying for a metallic gloss rather than a plastic gloss. A very fine line it seems.
Posted May 30th 2010
Well it’s been a few days and I haven’t been sitting on my bum contemplating my navel. I’ve been painting and putting the hemis together and here’s the proof. I mentioned I’d cut the disks out. Well I finished the batch of disks required for the hemis and I got the two kids involved putting the nuts and bolts on the disks… even my three year old can help make a Dalek.
Next stage was fitting the disks to the hemis with a mix of No More Nails and bog standard tubey fixy thing.
I did discover during the fixing and painting that it was easier to paint the hemis before fixing them. So for the last thirty I painted them before fixing. Coat of Halford Grey Primer and two coats of Super Black Gloss Black Plasti-kote. They didn’t come out as shiny as I would have expected but nice enough for my liking.
As usual I forgot to cover them up whilst cutting wood. At least they were dry. So, to today. The shoulders are definitely a two person job, so as the wife didn’t want to get involved with the whole building malarky, Rob (Dalek_Khan) kindly offered his services again. This time he finally met Bruce and got used to my random screw holes, bent nails and not being able to follow a straight line… I’m sure he’ll be in here soon to point out my failings.
But thankfully he gave his approval to my progress so far. Good to know. I had previously botched together a template made from paper and brown tape which gave me an idea of the general shape of the shoulders and the size of the hardboard needed. I bought three 2x4ft 3mm hardboard, this included a spare in case of a botch…. it came in useful.
Out came the shoulders and using the template I cut out the rear section with some overhang.
Discovered that working with paper is all fine, but it is important to make sure there is plenty of overhang on the sides… the first piece didn’t have enough overhang even with an inch or so at the edges. So if you are new to cutting out the shoulders from a template make sure there is plenty of overhang, at least two inches. Once the correct size was cut and checked Rob had fun wetting the hardboard to make it keep the shape when it dried…. or so Rob said, but I think he was just having fun with my hose.
Rear section was pinned into place and clamped and the edge cut to match the side verticals.
I am still amazed on how strong the wood glue is and the wet hardboard I wouldn’t have guessed how to bend it around. Lots if overhand so it can be cut with a jigsaw.
The same was done to the front. Initially I was planning to cut out the gun box holes but decided to leave the whole assembly to dry overnight before cutting holes into the thing. I added a few screws in the places underneath the shoulder bands just for belt and braces.
So once it’s all dried, filled and I’m happy with it, I’ll be working out the holes and utilising my random jigsaw use hole cutting method until they fit. Once that’s done I dig out my P38 and fill in my gaping holes.
Thanks to Rob for today.
Posted May 31st 2010
Well so far I’ve managed to take all the clamps off without the sides flicking into my face thankfully and I’ve trimmed the the top and bottom and still had time for a little BBQ with the kids… Mind you that was after the wife reminded me we were having a BBQ for dinner rather than tea. Mind you I did get mixed up between the difference between dinner and lunch. Semantics… sheesh! Plus I was in the middle of trying to figure out the position with the gun holes. 
Now I’ve got to take them all out for some seaside arcade time? Bank Holidays…. don’t the family realise I’ve got work to do?
Anyway back from the seafront and winning 300 tickets on one machine… yay me Back to the Dalek.
So I kinda figured out the position for the gunbox… at least it was central… and the holes can be filled…. and I took so much care as well…. oh well. The gun box was also fitted with the restraining bolts for the gun and plunger but realised the bolts I thought I could use were too short and I only had a handful of the longer M6s. Anyway I tried the gun and it works. Will need to strip it down again and pop in the springs and velvet to soften the stress on the ball joint paint, but at least it fits.
There were huge gaps as I didn’t take into account of the curvature, but if you look at Bruce’s shoulders you’d think it was all one piece due to the….
Filling, bolts, filling, springs, filling, painting and the rest. My brain is shutting dow…..
Posted June 3rd 2010
I’ve had a few hours the last couple of nights to get some of the boring things sorted.
Like filling the top, front and sides of the gun box, leaving the bottom till later.
Also I finished painting the hemis and mounting the bolts, some of them need a touch up but for the moment I’m putting them aside whilst I do the main work on the skirt and the shoulders.
I also fitted my springs and wing to the new gun box assembly. I’ve got some felt to cut down on the scratches to the gun and plunger spheres, I’ve got both black and charcoal grey, I think the charcoal would work better with the rover tempest if any of it ends up popping out of the gunbox holes. The felt didn’t last that long. Now I just paint over any scratches as needed.
Finally I managed to have a little trundle in the house.
Sorry about the mess. As you can see the head needs fitting and the dome has a squeak, other than that. It seems to be working. I also discovered that I need a higher seat, as I can’t see where I’m sticking my gun and plunger.
Oooh err missus!
Posted June 4th 2010
Most of the gaps have been filled, just need a teeny bit of filler to go over the little chips. Paint does wonders to hide holes. I’ve only got the bigger holes under the box to fill.
I’m trying to get the skirt and shoulders at the same stage so I can paint them at the same time. Mind you I’ll have to paint the shoulders in stages what with the mesh and slats to put on over the top. I’ve already got my paper template printed for the collars printed.
Quick question for everyone, what’s the usual depth of the spacers between the shoulders and the collars?
Also, currently I’ve got some bolts to keep the shoulders/skirt in place, what’s the easiest quick release method I should use for the neck/shoulders/skirt? I’d be happy to put wingnuts on to keep everything in place but I’d like to get out quick if I need to.
Posted June 5th 2010
Than’ you very much….. I’ll keep your suggestions in mind so I don’t get myself stuck inside. So the last couple of nights was spent painting the skirt. I used MDF primer… two coats and found it’s pretty tough stuff. I spent most of today sanding, grey priming, sanding, sanding, sanding, grey priming. To try and get rid of the brush marks from the primer.
I think in the end it’s pretty good, but if you look about 15 cm away from the skirt or have a camera with a high flash you can still see a hint of the brush marks in places.
If only Bruce’s skirt looked like this today. More filling behind the seams would have made it more robust.
I’m happy with the look. It ended up being about 3/4 can of Rover Tempest Grey per coat and I put about four light coats on it. Maybe a few more would do but I’m not made of money. Maybe somewhere down the line I’ll get him sprayed in a car body shop. HEHEHEHEHEH! Nope! But for this moment in time my six year old son thinks it’s cool. So I’m happy. I think. Anyway, Bruce does look cool in a stack shot if you were standing the right distance away, tipping you head to one side and standing on one foot….. No, I jest.
I may use a foam roller for the shoulders to take away the possibility of the brush marks, it’ll save the majority of the sanding. I also need to take all the hemis off again and give them another coat or two in decent weather. But the skirt for the moment is the safest place to keep them.
Posted June 15th 2010
With rainy season hitting our region…. okay, a little bit of rain, maybe not so much but it’s frustrating. Anyway, with a little bit of inclement weather in the location of my dwelling I didn’t manage to get outside and get the necessary bits cut up, so I’ve had to manage with a few smaller jobs. I did manage to get a bit of sanding done, inside and outside the house when it wasn’t raining so I managed to get the rest of the shoulders filled and sanded. I also cut out and mounted my spacers waiting for the collars which have been marked but not cut out as yet.
As I’m not using aluminium for the collars, primarily for health and safety with kids, I decided I’d also produce some safe collar slats out of some spare plasticard I had left over from another project. Should be very funky looking before I paint them up.
I ended up with steel for the lower collar as it was getting trashed with constant putting together and pulling apart.
Tonight I managed to get enough dry weather the finally give my hemis another coat of high gloss plastikote and they’ve finally come up shiny. Another addition is the skirt surround. This is made from a five inch strip of pond liner which I managed to scrounge. It’s actually stapled on and the staples have been touched up with some black gloss so it looks fine.
I was always unsure whether I wanted an internal or an external skirt, but I quite like it as it stands. In the TV series the base has a more stepped approach but I wanted to go for the sleeker look. The pond liner means it’s flexible and hides the wheels. I did end up replacing the pond liner with black damp proof course as it was stronger.
I’ll see how it goes and probably replace it with some damp proof coarse at some point. I was planning to undercoat the shoulders with some watered down PVA until I realised I’d totally forgotten about the oval in the middle of the shoulders. So I suppose that’ll be next, then grey primer then a coating or two of Rover Tempest.
I’ll then mount the shoulders once they’ve been primed and then another coat or two of RT. Mesh then slats and that’ll be V1 completed. I do plan to change update things further down the line. I also did an experiment with the Rover Tempest and some clear lacquer.
I think I’m staying with the current colour scheme as the lacquer shows up every groove, bump and lump in the paintwork. I’m not that confident with my paint job to risk it. Though a proper car spray maybe in it’s future.
Posted June 19th 2010
When it wasn’t raining a couple of days ago I managed to get the front oval cut to size 8″ by 5″, produced using Microsoft Word to the right dimensions. I also used watered down PVA as a base primer this time, I didn’t want to spend another day sanding down fourteen layers of brush marks.
Today I managed to visit the father in laws and cut the collars out whilst the rain and wind took over outside.
The first upper shoulder went on quite well. Then it went downhill from there.
Mounting flat board onto a curved surface it no my strong suit it seems. I cheated in the end and put a plastic piece over the back to cover the mismatched join.
Well, it wasn’t that bad. I started putting the second upper collar on from the back. The first few holes went well, until I realised that the part of the collar that goes from the four inches down to two didn’t match with the gun box. Something might be out of alignment but I decided to remove the collar and start from the point next to the gun box. Drilled each hole as I went around and redrilled the three holes next to the first set. I figured a bit of filler would work for the upper collars as they are hidden by the slats.
As a sideline I realised that quite a lot of members on here take great care filling all holes covering all nails etc. which is great, but my methods mean that I don’t bother about the pin heads at the top of the skirt as they are covered by the collars and the screws I’ve used at the bottom of the shoulders are fully visible until I also cover them with the collars. It’s easy to hide all the duff work with the top layer of hardboard, paint and filler. It’s a shortcut which works for me. Doesn’t stop me thinking about replacing parts further down the line though. Anyway back to the duff work.
I put the second upper collar bolts round the outside and noticed that the back was short. So I had to put another couple of spacers at the back to have something to bolt/screw into. Thankfully this will be patched and covered with the slats. Lucky me. Once I’d got all the holes in the right place and the front and back tested, time to take the collars off ready for painting tomorrow, fingers crossed no rain. I broke my first lower collar when I tried to bend it around. So I did what I should have done in the first place and got the hose out and watered it down. Fixed and mounted in the right place.
Thankfully it all fit on the shoulders quite well.
I’m still debating as to what I’ll use to cover the join at the front. I cut a square of hardboard but it looks too thick so I might see if I can get some aluminium to bend over the join or use the same plasticard I’ll be using for the slats. I think that’s enough info for my little adventure today. The end looks in sight, but if I screw up, who knows.
Posted June 20th 2010
Another day another 7 ish hours of work thanks to the wife and kids…. staying out of the way. Gotta love ’em. So thankfully the rain stayed away and I got down to the shoulders again. A few more botch jobs hidden by some well placed plasticard saved the day. I spent most of the early afternoon concentrating on painting the collars, PVA, grey primer, Rover Tempest and time between coats. Meanwhile I built a little scrappy hole-lining-up-thingy so that all the holes in the slats are all in the same place.
I’ve gone through soooo many slats over the years. The plastic means it’s not sharp for prying hands but also people can pull them off and snap them. I’ve also snapped a few when loading and unloading. I still use this device for getting the same size of slat and drill the holes in the same place every time.
So using the hole-lining-up-thingy I drilled all the holes on the slats, which was simple enough with my hole-…. Once the paint on the collars dried enough to mount them on the shoulders I started on the lower collar. This was okay, except for the continuation of the botch job from yesterday. But due to a few spare bits of plasticard I heated the up an appropriate portion and created a clip to cover the botches.
Note lower collar with botch cover and upper with botch in place… isn’t it lovely.? You may also note the slats in place, pegs at the ready. That’s what I did after the botchiness was initiated.
So I pegged the slats in place and once settled I drilled the holes in the collars ready for the rivets which will be in place once the slats are sanded and painted. The mesh I plan to use is some modelling mesh. Very lightweight but sharp when you cut it in the wrong place.
The sides won’t matter as they are under the slats but I cut and bent over the top and bottom to prevent hands from being sliced up should anyone lay their hands on Bruce (the Dalek, for those who haven’t been following the whole story). I also put felt in the gun and plunger boxes, grey for the plunger and black for the gun. Hides the softiness but blends in. With a few bends this has lasted and sharp bits removed.
In the end the Dalek is currently waiting for sanded, painted and riveted slats, extra botch covers and a general Rover Tempest spraydown to cover up the crappy bits. Gentlemen, and ladies, the end is finally in sight.
Posted June 21st 2010
Well… tonight everything is filled and painted. I’ll give them a night to harden up.
The only thing I’ve got to do tomorrow is rivet the mesh and slats into place and that’s it for the moment.
I could maybe paint the inside and, erm, well, make sure the neck locks into place on the shoulders and maybe take a few pictures.
Posted June 23rd 2010
Tah-Dah!!! A few wonky slats but nothing a pair of pliers can’t fix.
Essentially, Bruce is complete. I’ve just got some internal tweaking to do, but from the outside he’s just about done.
I was planning to post these last night when I finished but I had a snooze. 
He needs some showcase photos in sunlight so I’ll be taking him for a trundle at the weekend.
Posted June 23rd 2010
He’s alright. I spend an hour before going to sleep thinking about all the things I could improve, remove, or start all over again. But reactions from freinds and family have put aside the little problems and they seem to like it. I’ll probably forget about the problems soon…. maybe…. who knows?
Nathan – Stunning amount of time? I probably would have taken a year or two if I spent two hours a night. But thankfully the wife has given me some space so I can get it finished for my sons school fair. In the last month or two I’ve been spending 7 hours over two days to get it done. Sometimes lunchtime to 10pm. I couldn’t count the hours I’ve worked on it.
Fenris – Thanks. I’d really like a working voice mod not a pile of printed circuit boards and a ball of solder and components. Take your time and get healed properly. Fenris provided Bruce with his first version of his voice.
The rest – Thanks for the thanks.
Speaking of thanks…..
Thanks to my family and freinds who have put up with my constant, “I haven’t got time, I’m building THE Dalek”
B&Q – Thank you for you cutting service, even though sometimes I’d be waiting 45 minutes for someone to come off their lunch to tell me that the blade is not working.
Homebase – Thank you for your cutting service, even though they can’t keep the numbers in their heads between looking at the piece of paper and the actual cut.
Wickes – Thank you for your M6 bolts, nuts, wingnuts and tools. Without whom “Bruce” would fall apart.
My Work – Thanks for the building advice and the freebies.
Halfords – Thanks for the expensive spray tins of Rover Tempest Grey. It could have been black, but no, I had to go for the RTG. Also thanks for your P38, rubber gloves and smearing tools.
My Architect – If I hadn’t decided on double doors out into the garden, it would have been a split skirt. You see, no split skirt. From now on I had to figure out how to but him together to fit into a few cars over the years.
Project Dalek – Thanks for the plans, the pushes, and the advice. Otherwise Bruce would be a pile of scrap.
Tony and Jeannie – If it wasn’t for these two at “Who Wars” I wouldn’t have even thought about building a Dalek. “It’s dead easy” – “Yeah, right.” Who Wars was a Doctor Who/Star Wars convention in Newcastle Upon Tyne England. It had Dave Prowser (Darth), Kenny Baker (R2), Peter Davison (Doctor Who), and David Gooderson (Davros).
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/dr-who-fans-flock-see-1459141
My Youtube visitors and subscribers. Thank you for your patience. Now that I’ve finished, I’ve got time to update Bruce’s Youtube channel. Bruce the Dalek on Youtube.
I love you all……. 
Maker Faire Videos
Bruce made his first full walking and talking appearance with Dalek Mack and the 2011 Maker Faire in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
The addition of the bow tie was based on the Matt Smith Doctor at the time. I didn’t want to scare the kids and a talking point of a bow tie distracted them. He’s worn several different bow ties including a 40cm one that was made for him when he spent a week in Pantomime.
Some of the Dalek parts here were from a second Dalek I planned to build. I eventually decided that Chuck/Quint was not to be.
Bruce spent a lot of time handing out high fives and keeping the queues and 40,000 visitors amused.
Some Time Later Posted January 3rd 2013
Well, since I last posted Bruce has had a few bits and bobs replaced. After a couple of years of hard knocks, smashes, fills, paints, cracks, more fills I finally dumped the hardboard shoulder band and replaced it with steel… I think, I had some help from a fellow local Dalek builder and it definitely looks better. I’m vert conscious of sharp edges to it was dulled down with the help of a hammer and a file. The shoulder belt was a mess.
I gave him a respray and paint for Tenth Planet’s Dimensions at the beginning of December including the addition of a dome tattoo. I always thought Bruce was a little insane, now there is proof. It’s amazing how many people don’t actually know what it’s for. I’m not sure. I’ll wait until I next have to paint his dome.
I think he’s looking rather splendid for a, ooh, coming up to three year old Dalek. Bruce is currently living with my parents in their garage on his own suprising the Asda food delivery man on occasion.
One last thing, after a couple of years of raising funds for Woodhorn. The Accessible carriage the NCD helped raise funds for is now in full operation and Bruce was one of the first to ride it down the track with plenty of suprised looks from the passing walkers.
One curious thing that happened was the 190,000 views on Bruce’s ice bucket challenge.
…and singing.
I couldn’t read the first line.
The Splik 