Doctor Who was revived in 2005, and one time honored staple of the show…the Dalek…was given a complete makeover. They turned them into gleaming gold magnificent maniacal machines. I had to have one for myself.
The gold Dalek is possibly the finest thing I have done. A lot of mental gymnastics and extra extra time and effort was put into every section of this beautiful monstrosity. It took six months and was finished in the fall of 2008. It would have been impossible to have done without the people at “Project Dalek.” They are a bunch of super braniacs that first figured out the dimensions of the Dalek in every possible detail and then members proceeded to build them to look better than the actual props used for the show. I obtained the plans from them and from their blog was able to re-figure out in my head how the hell they did some of the things they did. This was a project that was endless fun because it forced me to think out all kinds of ways to use the resources I had to create it. It is perfect in every detail (even if I do say so myself) and is an inspiration to me now as proof of what I can do…just in case I forget.
It weighs over 300 pounds. A great deal of it is made out of MDF (medium density fiberboard) which is a kind of wood product that is very malleable and has some of the same strength as wood, and it is very dense and heavy stuff. It cost about $ 2,000 to make in all. The materials used range from wood to 35 cans of different metallic spray paint, three sheets of plywood, 88 half balls, a lot of nuts and bolts, 5 gallons of Bondo, give or take, and a lot of wood glue.
At an average of 2.5 hours a day on weekdays and 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday gives you 20.5 hours a week for 25 weeks is 512.50 hours. I probably gave it close to that again in thinking things out and discovering how to do the maneuvers and machinations necessary to achieve this goal. …it also takes an hour to properly clean when it starts to get too dusty which it does fairly quickly in my house.
It IS hollow inside and it does roll on heavy duty casters. I would love to take it to Comic Con some day.
