The Challenges of Building a Dalek: Part 7
Be sure to read the previous parts of The Challenges of Building a Dalek. About a month has passed since part 6; we’ve had some technical difficulties. Although the gun mounts have been completed and installed, the guns have not yet been made. We have also completed the neck with styrofoam and have started the process of making it out of plywood.
After we installed the gun mounts into place, we fiberglassed the inside so that it would have no open areas. We then primed and painted the inside black so that you really wouldn’t see the inside as it would be obscured.
The Neck
Just like with every step, we made the neck with styrofoam first and then proceeded to construct it out of plywood. We had to redo the inside ledge as we originally opened it from the shoulders was too big, and dad says it wasn’t because the driver’s head was too big. One of the problems with the neck is that there is a slight incline of about an inch; something we did not take into thought while making it out of styrofoam. So, dad had to whip out the jigsaw to cut the incline on about four disks.
The neck is not fully solid or has panels like the other sections. The neck is hollowed discs that are held together by four struts, dowel roads, and screening. The screening is 200 holes per square inch; we have to paint it black as it only comes in grey. Once we get the screening on, we then can start the other two middle rings. We are now back at zero with days without accidents; as dad was installing the metal screening, he received a metal paper cut on his right index finger. We were doing so well too, just about 2 months without any injury.
More Delays
With May quickly approaching and with a number of delays; weather, family, supplies, and cost; we’ve had to push back our finish date. We had originally planned to be finished by MegaCon Orlando, which begins on May 19th, but due to the delays we have been experiencing, we will not be done by then. As we are finishing the neck off, we will soon start the dome and from there we have to add all the cosmetics as well as all the electronics. The next goal is to have it finished hopefully by August.
Current Design
Currently, the neck is about 10 inches in height; and about 16 inches in diameter. When you add it to the base it stands at 62.5 inches, 1587.5 millimeters, which includes the wheels. We still have no idea what the color scheme will be. Though we now are holding discussions of the color scheme. We are now collecting the Styrofoam balls we’ll need for the base design; it will be about 52 balls.
