In the beginning...

Dalek build report

So the Harrisons have been building a Dalek through 2013. You may wonder why, after relocating to the USA for work, packing away all my tools after a busy year working on our house in Queanbeyan, and generally looking forward to cruising around the US in a convertible Mustang, one would decide to commit to such a significant build project with equivalent of a screwdriver and a roll of duct tape (and when I say 'equivalent' I mean...I had a screwdriver and a roll of duct tape). Not to undermine the crucial role that duct tape plays in modern Western Civilization, but you haven't seen Mythbusters build a dalek out of it. Hmm... perhaps next year...

Anyhoo, back to the project. Partially the result of needing a father-daughter project to keep her off the couch, and partially the half-drunken ramblings of a middle-aged fool (who, if I remember rightly, was sunk into the samesuch couch at the time), the decision was made to embark on a new and exciting challenge.

First off, which version to build? An interesting question, one which I rapidly found ill-prepared for, even for someone who considers themselves addicted to the show. OK, I knew that the Daleks had changed colour over time, but really – did you know that the fenders gradually shrank during the 80's? Or that the domes changed curvature? Perhaps it is a male thing, and we really don't notice what shoes a girl is wearing, but a dalek is a dalek is a dalek, right? Apparently not. Then again, perhaps in my most attentive phase of life (the self-same 80's, as a pubescent male), I was paying more attention to the female cast, rather than the pepper-pots... … … sorry, back again, drifted off again... visions of Ace and a baseball bat kind of tuned me out for a moment...

Anyhoo, once again back on track. As said daughter is a child of the modern era (seasons 28 onwards – why haven't we won that fight yet???), it was logical to follow the New Series Dalek (of NSD for those in the building know). Many thanks to the denizens of the interweb (Specifically the contributors to Project Dalek), and their attention to detail in building the plans we used.

Next, what material to build with? OK, realism (!) would dictate fibreglass and vacuum-formed parts. However a) our permanent workspace would be approximately 6 x 15 feet in size (the space between the two cars already in our garage, and b) something about me bringing volatile chemicals into the house with an untrained assistant didn't capture the imagination of OC Home Command. So, wood it was to be. And so began our intimate and enduring relationship with the good people at the Home Depot!

Fender bender

Now before I started I didn't know Daleks had fenders – if pushed I would have called it the 'bit at the bottom'. But suddenly when something becomes the foundation for every other piece of your creation, you start to pay an awful lot of attention! So, with a sheet of 3/4” ply, we commenced at the base in late March, and by April had the fender base cut out, and the support braces for the fender sides cut out and glued into place. All things being equal, I would normally have used more screws and nails, but in the interests of time, and minimize my Home Depot bills, we found construction adhesive to be more than adequate, as the fender sides don't support any weight (aside from themselves). A set of eBay castors provided the support from the floor (we ended up with 5, to minimize the flex of the baseplate. One lesson leant, though (and this may be more of a lesson observed, because we re-learnt it throughout the build), is the law of unintended consequences from trying to minimize wastage of wood. In this case, I saw that I could cut two fender supports from the one square of wood, if I cut diagonally across them to create the angle profile. While economical with materials, this meant that each support only touched the ground at a single point, and the surface where you would normally nail or screw into was angled. This led to some irregularities with the alignment of the supports, requiring a little more filler between the joins as should have been necessary.