The Definitive Dalek Building Resource

Project Dalek: Latest News

• John's Genesis Dalek

  Having pottered around for what has turned out to be several years, making experimental moulds, tinkering with alternative materials and practicing GRP work, I've decided it's about time I put some effort into building another complete Dalek. My Dalek of choice is going to be based on the grey Genesis style. My main aims, with this build are:To make it as light as possible, with the sections being easy to disassemble and (maybe) nest, if possible. I'd like the disassembled Dalek to be able to fit into an average sized car, with room for a driver, a passenger and an optional small dog.To make as much as possible from fibreglass. This will involve some experimental building techniques as I want to make both the neck cage and neck bin from fibreglass, along with some other unexpected bits and pieces. My intention is to have only the supporting base top, seat and probably the neck struts made from wood.To have the finished fibreglass sections unpainted, using only the pigment of the gel coat as the finished colour.To have the finished Dalek Flintstone powered, with no motorisation, (this being part of the light and easily transported brief). My colour of choice is a pigment called 'Dark Admiralty Grey', which is available from CFS. For those who are curious, it's among their pigment pastes, here. I'm not certain exactly how close to true Genesis grey this is, but it has one distinct advantage, in that I already have a big tin of it in the garage. Having used this pigment before, I'm happy with the shade, which should work out reasonably well. It has that weird, green in one light, blue in another quality that you seen in Genesis Dalek photos. How a complete Dalek will look in this shade remains to be seen. It feels odd starting with a decision which normally comes towards the end of a build, but there you go. I also have a tin of black pigment (no link to the colour fob, for an approximate match, shut your eyes.... now...). This will be used to colour the hemispheres (no vending capsules here, just GRP push throughs) and the base section. Yes, the base will be made as a fibreglass 'drop over', covering a flat wooden frame. There will be no wooden sides, just the fibreglass around the edge. I intend to add some 'faux' Genesis style details to 'drop over' base. Probably a fine rubberised matting texture that looks screwed or nailed on... but which is really all part of the lay-up. I've started somewhere in the middle, by doing the shoulders. During the bleak mid (UK) winter I made a shoulder mould, which I'm using here to create the Genesis shoulders. The gun boxes are of the Movie Dalek type, but that's fine and fits into the design of one of the Genesis props, so no worries. Being reasonably paranoid, I used wax and release agent to prep the mould. The gun box corners are quite sharp and I didn't really want to lose any lumps out of the mould... which can happen on those types of sharp, nasty corners. Here's the prepped and assembled mould, with a nice thick layer of gel-coat added.. And finally, after a small pause for gel-coat curing,  the lay-up. The lay-up resin is through-pigmented. This has the advantage of adding density to the colour, hiding any thin spots in the gel-coat. However, it makes it much more difficult to spot and eliminate air bubbles, so much time and careful attention is required, when rollering the matting down. Three layers of matting along the top and bottom edges/returns... and on the gun/arm boxes. Two layers of mat for the bare sides. That should give me something light, but strong enough to stand on... if it comes out of the mould. Tune in next time to find out if pops out... or needs to be pulled out!

• Linkx's Nsd

  Well Here is the start of my build. I am doing the dome first, because it is a smaller section and I can start learning the fiberglass process also. Ok, drew out my pattern for the former, transferred to some 1/2 plywood and cut it out, sanded it  and used some copper pipe hangers for the attachment to the center pivot. also  found a partial sheet of pink foam  to make the basic shape before adding the plaster. I am not comepletely happy on the shape, might have to redo because the lower part thats straight, doesn't have the sharp line, Maybe I can add a piece of metal to give the crisper line. So any tips, or suggestions?

• Colonel Barker's Pair Of Renegades

  Hello everyone. I thought, I have started a new build, so there should be a new thread to go with it. Basically, I am building a pair of Renegade Daleks, the black Supreme and a grey 'drone' Dalek. I officially started today after a week away from any building.  Today was mainly sanding the moulds however, so I won't be posting any images of that until there is something more interesting to show. So, a breakdown of my plans. Grey Eye - GRP mould, *hopefully* a cast from a good source, rather than my 'home built' one. Dome- GRP, white lights. Neck - 18mm MDF rings, rather than 'correct' 12mm MDF. Round 12mm neck struts. Shoulders - GRP, foam padding. Using off-black rather than gloss this time to get it more screen accurate. Gun- Alu with metal spokes, as per screen used. Arm - Plunger and Alu tube, as per screen Skirt - GRP pull, 100mm bolt on hemis.  (96mm being too hard to locate..) Base - Built into GRP skirt, but with 18mm MDF base with casters and seat GRPed into the skirt. Black Eye -  In a 'classic' style, with a much smaller eye and discs than normal. Dome- GRP, orange lights Neck - 18mm MDF rings,  these are a unique set of sizes, I will need to work them out, especially the lowermost, smaller than regular  . Trifoil style 4mm neck struts. Shoulders - GRP, metal mesh and probably hardboard upper collar, covered in reflective tape- as per subsusiac Gun- Alu with metal spokes, as per screen used. Arm - Plunger and Alu tube, as per screen Skirt - GRP pull, 100mm bolt on hemis. Base - Built into GRP skirt, but with 18mm MDF base with casters and seat GRPed into the skirt. In terms of moulds, I have a working dome mould, I have a skirt mould about 80% ready (working on it today), I need to make a new shoulder plug and take a mould from that, as I am not completely happy with the ones I  made for my other renegade. Thanks to some help from other members, I should be able to sort out some funny angle issues I was having, and should be able to mould without a problem. I also have an eyestalk mould about.  Once I get some more funding I can pickup the hemispheres, neck ring material and casters. On the whole these should be much easier builds.  I am hoping to get the skirt mould filled and sanded by the end of the week and cast the skirt/ dome / eyes by the end of next week. Cheers, Aaron

• Tardisdrwho2007's Black Supreme Dalek

  Hi, i bought this dalek recently, from a guy in Birmingham, and now in the process of making some adjustments to it,due to wear and tear. The dalek has been made from a mixture of materials,chipboard,plastic,wood and metal. Looking at it,i may have to strip it all right back and replace most of the materials that were used,however keeping to the same size as it looks right. The main problem is the dome and get it to sit right and firm at the top. The inner drum which moves the dome around had to be replaced as it was broken and made of chipboard.It had black plastic wrapped around it....this was replaced with fine square wire mesh as the diamond mesh is hard to find and only come in a4 size sheets for car repairs. The eye stalk was made of some plastic pot which was cracked but glued with a plastic bag inside to fill it out. I have repaired the crack with araldite,sanded down and painted with black hammerite shiny paint.Mesh will be glued inside the pot to give it some strength. Then i will use a perspex iris and stick that back to the other half of the eyestick. The rings were loose and had slipped down,these were glued back up with araldite. The black plunger was painted black and had an over lip on it............so the paint was stripped off,the lip sanded back then sprayed black and then wooden bent dowel removed,but replaced with white plastic gas pipe tube which will be sprayed silver. There will be alot more to do.............progress report 2 coming soon.

• Hello From Indiana/Texas

  I am currently a senior at Purdue University in Indiana and when I am done here I will be moving back to the Dallas area in Texas.  I am currently working on two Dalek plans.   One will be for a toy design class I am taking at Purdue.  We plan to have it be approximately 8 feet tall and will have the entire design done in Pro/E.   I will also be working on a side project to make a Dalek that can have an adult tricycle or something similar so it can be used as a costume for AKON (an anime convention) in Dallas in June. Texas*  It was bothering me that it was not capitalized

• 5000Award's Storm Dalek

  I want to build a STORM dalek this summer, maybe with some modifications ... right now I'm trying to get some people to help. Let's see where this goes... allons-y!