The Challenges of Building a Dalek: Part 6
Be sure to read the previous parts of The Challenges of Building a Dalek. Picking up from where I last left off; all the outside panels have been added and fiberglassed, and we are now adding the gun and arm mounts.
Gun and Arm Mounts
Like with every section that we have built, we started the build by using white foam boards. That way if we make a mistake, we can easily fix it before making the design out of wood, and oh we’ve made plenty of mistakes. After making the gun boxes and making sure to adjust anything we see wrong, we then moved the design to plywood. Even after building, we made sure all the measurements were correct before creating holes in Derek the Dalek. As dad says, measure twice, cut once.
In order for the gun and arm mounts to fit correctly, we have to cut out two internal supports as well as notch two more internal supports. This way the gun and arm mounts will sit smoothly and comfortably. They will be sticking out from the siding at about an inch and a half; they are about 5 inches wide and about 6 inches high. Again, with converting the measurements. Once the gun is in place, we will be adding fiberglass to the insides to give it extra strength. We are planning to make multiple gun attachments as we cannot decide.
Weather Delays
As I mentioned in part 1 when you decide to build a dalek you need to figure out where you are going to build it. We are building ours on our back deck in the backyard. But because we are building it outside with limited outdoor covering, we come across weather issues. For the last few weekends, we have been having some very rainy or chilly weather; which has caused us to be delayed as we have to use certain power equipment, such as a table saw. Since we live in Florida, hurricane season is fast approaching; so that is something we have to take into consideration with future dalek builds.
Current Design
Currently, the shoulders are standing at about 16.5 inches; and 24 inches wide and with a slight incline that goes in at the top and meets at 22 inches wide. When you add it to the base it stands at 52.5 inches, 500 millimeters, which includes the wheels. We are still waiting for our new batteries for the motor, which has caused us to have another delay. We still have no idea what the color scheme will be. Though we now are holding discussions of the color scheme. We are now starting to collect styrofoam balls that are needed for the base design.
