The Challenges of Building a Dalek: Part 1
When building a life-size dalek, you can come across many problems; such as where can you build it, where can you store it, what materials you’re going to use, and what blueprint to use as there are many blueprints you can base your dalek off of. You also need to make the decision if you want to be able to remote drive it or be able to climb inside to drive it. If you are building outside be sure to be courteous of your surroundings and neighbors; just because you’re ready for the dalek invasion doesn’t mean that they are. Always be sure to have a first aid kit on standby as accidents happen; we personally have lost count but not fingers.
Why a Dalek
My father and I decided a few years ago that we wanted to build a dalek from his childhood and my obsession show, Doctor Who. Why did we choose a dalek? There are already way too many R2D2s, and as dad says “Cyber Men are too hard”. We first decided to build the dalek head with plaster then eventually we would fiberglass it, but the dome of a head kept cracking week after week. It got to the point where we got seriously discouraged and dropped the whole project for a while and would pick it back up later. Well, life got in the way as it usually does and it had been a few years since our last attempt. We decided in mid of 2021 that we wanted to pick the project back up as a distraction from the nightmarish year.
The Biggest Challenge
The biggest challenge and problem that we have encountered that is constant is the unit of measure; as the daleks original blueprint is in metric and I am currently in America. You can keep it in metric, but you constantly have to remind yourself that everything you buy and add needs to be measured in metric.
The Main Problem
One of our biggest problems when we first started building our dalek was that we’re building it on a covered porch and to bring it inside to where we are going to store it, the base needed to be 34 inches wide (to fit into a basic doorway) but the original blueprint is huge as in 38.2 inches wide. So, what we decided to do was take the base completely apart and redo all the math; we had to somehow change all our dimensions to make it smaller (it now became the runt of the family). Now we know that the biggest enemy to the dalek is not the Doctor, but a standard doorway.
Stage 1: Bottom Base of the Dalek
We started the process on October 30, 2021; our first step was acquiring a motorized scooter; it needed 4 wheels and fully worked. We could have bought a brand new one but we were lucky to have donated by a family friend. From there we needed to work on our dimensions, as I stated earlier, we had the mess of the conversion. For the longest time, we struggled with the math; so, we explored every possible blueprint, but our original design is based on the original Dalek from 1964. When we thought we finally had it figured we then had the hiccup of the door issue. So, all our math had to change again and lucky for us from the beginning we decided to use foam board just in case and to make and replicas.
On December 18, 2021; we finally had the base and inner ribs completed and painted. And by December 31, 2021, the outer side panels were added and painted as well. We shortly discovered that the front was not cosmetically pleasing, as the front four panels were not slanted enough. Luckily, we did not have to take much apart only the four panels, and recut the framework to make it so the panels were slanted. We also noticed that the front panels are also very thin and have a tendency to move and cause cracks. So, help reinforce we are going to fiberglass the inside.
All of this is just the bottom base of the dalek. Once this is completed, we will be able to start work on our next section. The next section will be the gun mounts and utility armor.
Current Design
We currently have a base that’s 34 inches wide and when it’s finished it should stand at 6 feet. So, it’s still a big boy; yes, it’s a boy and we have named it Derek the Dalek. We only work on this project during the weekend, and during the week we are going over the blueprints and our measurements. At the moment we are not sure what the color scheme will be. The goal is to finish this before May so that we can bring this to MegaCon Orlando.
