Order Special Weapons Dalek into position!
A Quick How-to Article for Would-Be Dalek Converters
Welcome to the second instalment of Dominion of the Daleks! This time, I thought I’d let you in on how I customise my Skaroene skirmishers to add some variety to my army.
As you saw last time, a lot of different Daleks can be distinguished with nothing more taxing than a new paint job. That is, after all, how the BBC did it, so why shouldn’t wargamers follow suit?
However, as versatile as Daleks may be at eliminating their enemies with little more than a ball-mounted egg-whisk, from time to time they need to trundle out the big guns for those big exterminatings. At the tactical level, this extra firepower is usually entrusted (unwisely) to Special Weapons Daleks.
Hi, I'm Martin, and... I Glue Lego Bricks Together
Introduction over, let’s get to work. We’ll start with a collection of bits from the Daleks themselves and some Lego parts that will need gluing together. (Horror!)
I should probably clarify something here regarding my construction techniques, and the style I’m aiming for. Firstly, the chorus of Lego purists collapsing to the floor, screaming, at the use of ‘glue’ shouldn’t surprise many. But the fact is, I am not attempting what AFOLs* call a ‘legal’ build, which means the parts connect by friction alone. This causes amusingly apoplectic accusations from brick-building purists, who don’t appreciate my apostolic assemblies.
In my defence, when Lego actually did produce a Dalek of their own, which is built brick-on-brick, by friction connection only, it looked like... well... this:
Dear sweet merciful Davros, what travesty is that thing??? Even when at the mercy of the BBC's harshest budget cuts, the Daleks never looked that bad. No amount of gaffer tape is going to fix this dodgy job.
But there’s a limit to the ways Lego and not-Lego bricks can be combined, even through the apostasy of glue. That means some compromises must be accepted, (just not as much as Lego themselves accepted!) so my goal is to make a recognisable likeness of the Special Weapons Dalek we see on screen, rather than a perfect reproduction. To my thinking, that’s appropriate, because part of the appeal of these Character Building Daleks is their ‘toyness’.
Right then, now all that silly ‘Dalsplaining’ is out of the way, let’s crack on!
Here’s the parts that will build a single Spec — look, I’ll just abbreviate it to ‘SWD’ from here on — a single SWD. The skirt, fender and shoulder section of a Paradigm Dalek are used, with only the connecting ‘studs’ on the skirt clipped off and sanded flat.
The Dalek’s black midsection (where the sucker and gun arms attach) is glued to a second, inverted midsection, which has had its single stud sanded off. I added two gunsticks to help brace the main gun.
The gun itself is a Lego “Hinge Cylinder 1x3 with Round Hole and Friction Ridges” for those of you playing along at home. The hinge end is cut flat to glue to the front of the midsection.
Lastly, two Lego 2x2 round parts — a flat Tile and a “Boat Stud” — will made this Dalek’s distinct cupola-like dome. These are glued with a gap between the mating faces, to provide the holes through which the Dalek can glower.
One other part that I chose to modify after I took this photo was the fender. The angular ones the Paradigm Daleks come with are not at all accurate, and I think my inner Whovian took over, and insisted I make them right!
Hey, Big Fender
I added some sliced-off studs to the tops, which allows the fender to connect neatly to any skirt. I whipped up a quick silicone mould, and cast up a bunch in resin. I made two sizes; One for the Paradigm Daleks and another for their predecessors from the 1960's Dalek movies (with Peter Cushing proving vampires and Alderaan are not the only things that should fear him!)
Now I can sleep at night.
No comments:
Post a Comment