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Dad can you build me a dalek ?
my son thought it best to keep me busy with a new project.
we started on the skirt panels.


luckily my son Connor (10 yrs) is great at math's etc.
We decided early on that we would make as much as possible out of odds and ends but would need to acquire other bits .
and so the search began,we are keeping a diary of costs and where we got everything from.
we were now into full dalek build mode,everywhere we went it was Ah that looks a bit daleky and i wonder if that would do for an eye etc.
I would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped us this far.
especially all the project dalek members
I have fixed the panels to the skirt , i firstly pinned them on but added some no nails to the back where they meet the top and bottom of the skirt.(as other builders have said before be careful with no nails stuff as its a devil to sand down and doesn't like being painted).
after they were pinned i put pieces of fibre glass over the inside joins to add some strength.
i left this for a few days to set ,i then marked up where the hemi holes needed to be by plotting lines onto the panels.I also got a compass and marked the rings onto the panels this was just to see what it would look like.as im using push through hemis some needed trimming at the front two sections to clear the front support.
i retro fitted some just to get the daleky feel.
after all the holes are cut its a coat of mdf sealer and then primer.
think thats today taken care off.
the picture with just 2 hemis on shows 2 different types of hemi surrounds i have .
one is from Liam / steve ( thanks mate),the other are home made ones.Not sure which to go with yet.
I also found that the skirt is an ideal place to store all the tools etc,wifes not to happy as i have had to move into the conservatory due to leaking roof in shed....

The Eye.
after hunting down some 100mm orbs (ebay),we started on the eye.
we tried several types from lamp bases to mystic orbs.We went for the mystic ones.
It was cut and drained and lightly sanded.(careful as the stuff inside stains)
we only used the back half of the orb , the middle was a old extractor vent (see pic)
for the front the top of a storage container was cut and glued into position
the stepped eye rings were cut from 3mm mdf using a circle cutter (ebay)
to keep the eye together we found that gluing an inner ring to the back (orb) part ,that fitted tightly into the vent part.
filler was added to the front slope and all lightly sanded.
The Len's was made with a piece of perspex heated the formed into a dome.(wife not too impressed when i forgot about some and melted it in her new cooker).
just need to finish off the eye stalk discs.

The neck
I have never ever used a router in my life and wasn't looking forward to this bit at all.
so in all honesty i acquired some.
i then found i needed another 2 rings for my planned dome and rotation piece so i tried my luck.
and to my amazement managed to remake all the rings and the others i needed,its allot easier with a template of 3 other rings.the acquired ones will be for KIM mk2...lol
I found the neck block very easy to make,Wooden ball via ebay again.
Instead of running the router over the wood though i fastened the router to my bench and ran the wood past the router,i also used this to make the holes in the rings for the struts.
To do the rings i didn't place a scrap piece of wood under the ring sheet instead i placed a few scrap blocks under the sheet and as it was cut it lifted away from the bench.
I have 2 disc's that sit onto the top of the neck struts (long at moment ,need trimming when i manage to get a dome  ) One holds the motor and the other is fastened to the motor drive (bearings will be fitted to stop any wobble).

managed too get the rear drives fitted .
need to fit the Castor or castor's now.
had to chop loads off the frame of the wheel chair.
im going to fit the castor's on bearing flanges by means of a shaft so the front height can be adjusted.

managed to get the light cages done as well.
used both the circle cutter and the hole saw for them.
when using the circle cutter i just cut the outer circle the clamped the piece back down and cut the inner circle.
for the bottom ring i used the hole saw,cut the middle out but made sure the drill bit went into my bench as a guide/keeper for the outer circle .
i then just cut half way down to make the step and removed the unwanted bit with a craft knife.
i shaped the uprights with a belt sander.
Both sets of plans for these were great to have and made life a lot easier.
there sealed and primed ready for some shiny silver now.

As the Project is starting to look more Daleky Connor is showing more interest in helping me.
The first job he wanted to do was paint the wheel trims,these were originally ripped off the wheel chair but he wants to use them.
Connor finished his wheel trims,don't look bad for a 10yr old and this is what its about for me .something to get us working together ,give him an interest other than his psp-ps2-xbox-football(chelsea).he will learns stuff as im am as well.
I ripped out the motors again and reworked the attachment and bracing of them,a lot more sturdy and straight now.
we also fixed the front Castor , opted for one as it was sturdy enough when tested.we replaced the nylon wheel with a rubber one as there was some trundle noise then it moved around. We thought about seating for the first time,We have a carbon fibre bucket seat left over from another project and are toying with fitting that,it will need cutting a bit to fit but would look cool my son said.
Shoulders
not been looking forward to this bit.
but after allot of head scratching figured it out with the help of other builders progress.
i have been using a level ruler (bricklayers) for drawing my circles,been drilling holes into it at various length's throughout the build and has worked great(just need to remember to add 1cm as pivot hole drilled at 1cm).
i placed my bottom plate onto the skirt and pencilled around it i then cut it with jigsaw the bottom plate needed to be smaller by the thickness of the layers of bendy mdf (b&q depot)i then made a device out of 2 scrap bits of wood to take the measurement in by the with of the bendy mdf layers.
it simply ran around the outside and made a mark on the plate 35mm in.
ofter this i cut some wood to the correct height and temp screwed them to the top and bottom plates.
4 outer supports were then made fixed with screws and no nails.
while this set it was neck time.
all the blocks were screwed and no nailed into position and sealed and primed,needs bottom struts trimming when dry.

Spent a week filling the shoulders and sanding down.
then filling and re sanding.
going to take some time to get it smooth and looking good.
thank god for cordless delta sanders 
shoulders have now been filled /sanded /filled and sanded and sealed and primed.
its now onto slats.
im following other builders on these by cutting out and adding the inner slant with an extra piece of mdf then sanding down flat, im halfway through the 13 large ones.
All slats have now been made,primed and fitted .
Remote control dome rotation etc
i managed to get a secondhand rc transmitter,speed controller and a receiver (6 channel) from ebay.
i have now decided to go full rc with it,but also be able to control the dalek from inside.
im also fitting an iris and having that controlled by a mini servo.
the eye stalk was the first i tackled,simple control arm direct to eye stalk did the trick.
i need a high torque servo now as the weight of the eye and iris etc stalls the standard servo i have,but it works and its a simple job to replace the servo.
the dome rotation will be via a motor and gearbox controlled by a esc (electronic speed controller).
on the transmitter it has 4 more channels left so im going to use 2 to control servos that will move the original joystick from the wheelchair.
the rest will be for the iris and one for lights.
probably added myself another month and some extra £££'s but think it worth it in the long run.
purchased a higher torque servo and this does the trick.
need to setup the movement a little and adjust the trim on the transmitter but happy for now.
Motor arrived to power dome rotation,had to make a coupler to connect the drive wheel
gave the top and bottom disc's a coat of mdf sealer and primed and painted them.
i had a problem with putting pressure onto the drive wheel( to stop wheel spin).when i did this the plate leaned to one side so leveling wheels were needed.
i got a pair of Castor's from wilkos and fixed them onto the top part of the dome plate.

i did have to drill out and remove the top plate on them and make a better plate.
Have finished my eye and iris.
originally i was using a 75mm iris from an old projector.But after its weight (brass) and need for a massive servo were taken into account it was scrapped if favor of a small 35mm camera iris.
this enabled me to keep the weight down and use a micro servo to power/move the iris.
now experimenting with paints,god there allot of shades of gold isn't there.
just looking for that .Thats the one moment.

some small detail sanding and maybe some minor filler needed ,but just wanted to nail the colour .
also i find that the top coat brings out any imperfections that need addressing

had about 4 coats up to yet.
found a nice shade of gold i like and it was only £1.40 per 400mm can.
goes on nice as well.
Decided the shoulders needed a bit more work,so sanded down again and gave it some filler.

spend a few days sanding and now finished off with a coat of gold and a few coats of lacquer.
a dome (now sprayed up)
Other electronics , details , seating
a gun (fitted with the must have cathode light)
a long while back a brought a carbon seat for the dalek and today it was finally fitted.
but it was too big,
too tight at top of skirt.
to tight in the shoulders.
only one thing for it.
jigsaw a bit from the top of the skirt and

hack some off the side and front of the chair.
I took the adjusters off the bottom as well as i didn't think we will need them.
perfect fit.
its very light being carbon,and i thought it looked good.
im not planning on being in it much as its full remote control.
it states crash tested to 170 mph and has a motor sport federation sticker on it,so at least i know when it goes out i will be safe.
the son likes it but needs the extra cushion (supplied).

Finishing off
all parts not fixed together yet (thats why there sitting a bit uneven ).
getting close to a finished dalek.




Halloween 2007


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