Building the Shoulders

Building the shoulders started with the construction of a basic support frame in "plasticard" (a plastic styrene sheet available from some model shops, and that can be easily cut with a Stanley knife and cemented with a plastic solvent). As shown in the first picture (top left) this included a slanted box with two holes through which the Dalek's gun and sucker would (eventually) protrude. An outer plasticard sheet was then cut and bent to fit over the front of the support frame (as in picture 2), with another then fitted over the back. Two rings of plastic were then added, together with the front eliptical disk, and all edges filled with Humbrol model filler and sanded (as in picture 3, top right). The basic lower half of the shoulder section completed, three rings were made, each out of two 1.5mm plasticard disks of slightly different sizes. These were then filled and sanded to give the disks the characteristic angled cross-section. The disks were then drilled to accept eight 2mm brass rods, and the whole "bin" assembled with superglue (not an easy thing to do I assure you!). Finally an inner mesh and top plastic disk were added (again, not easy), together with an inner "cylinder" of plastic as the mesh ended up looking brilliant but being too transparent (the mesh existing to permit a "real" Dalek operator to see out through this section). As shown in the middle row of pictures above, this whole contruction stage is not easy, and probably the most difficult part of the whole build (making the dome seem like a breeze!). Oh, and the top disk had a central hole drilled to accept the axel that protrudes from the dome. For some light relief, the lower and upper shoulder sections were cemented together, filled and painted to look rather like half a Dalek (picture 7, lower left). Five small and eleven longer slats were then finally cut and drilled (picture 8), before being used to secure a mesh (to be left unpainted) around the upper plastic ring. These were all then initially held in place with bluetack and tape, before being drilled and secured with M2 nuts and bolts (and yes, getting the 32 nuts on and tightened inside shoulder section is not easy to say the least!).

CONTINUE TO BUILDING THE GUN AND PLUNGER


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All images on this site are produced by and (c) Christopher Barnatt. RETURN TO HOMEPAGE