Attitude Adjustor the Dalek - Is Now Finished

[hendie]

This is definitely entertaining, and nice to see the kit go together piece by piece. Judging by the attention to detail you paid the Natter, I am sure this is going to be another stunner.

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks Chaps,

I am so pleased you are enjoying my build. Here is the final installment of todays progress. I retrieved this piece of plywood from my modelling material storage facility and will use this to reinforce the braces. I also popped out and bought this cheap filler to mix in with the resin to bulk it out:

I glued these in position using yet more tube glue (have a spare tube so no danger of running out - its nice to use it up), note slipper clad foot creeping into shot:

I decided this was a good opportunity to use up some of my vast store of grey sprue, again it feels nice to get some use out of it:

Strangely the box feels just as full after I have finished. The resin I have has quite a low viscosity but I am not sure how much it will stiffen up when I mix in the filler so as a precaution I decided to drill out some more resin ingress holes, with a pilot hole drilled with my motor tool first and finished with a 3.2mm drill which is at the maximum capacity of my pin vice:

This is my resin set up, with all the things I am going to add to it. This is the biggest disposable tub that I have, it once held 250g of ricotta:

I decided to mix up 200ml of resin, and marked out my tub accordingly:

I could not remember the mix ratio of my resin but after a quick check of the instructions find it is two parts resin to one part hardener, so I marked a 133ml position on the tub:

I added the resin and hardener plus as much filler as I thought was safe for the tub to hold. I also added a little black weathering powder, past experience has shown me that the large amount of white filler will be easily coloured black by this small amount:

Now this process has the potential to make vast amounts of mess so I had wisely moved onto the floor and laid down a small sheet of news paper. I started with the braces to get the measure of it. From this I learn that polystyrene and wood happily float on resin and yes there is a lot of mess (I had cut out two more bits of plywood):

For the main event I enlist the aid of a small funnel to better direct the resin where I want it:

This is what I have after using up all the resin, not too bad and only a couple of spots on the carpet - result!:

After a bit of a clean up here in the result. This is clearly a good place to stop for the day. This resin takes 24 hours to cure so it can harden up overnight, no doubt I will be eagerly checking on its progress in the morning:

Well I don't ever remember having so much good clean (and messy) modelling fun. The base could hold a little more resin but I think it will be fine as is. That bacon sandwich has kept me going all day but I'm starving now so will have one of those rolls with salmon spread - old fashioned I know but I do like it.

Bye for now,

Nigel

Edited September 4, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[prowler0000]

See, Retro build: Matchbox Puma in the background, & stains on the carpet! (ummm....)

Just need LWR on the radio, "Top Gun" on VHS & A ZX-Spectrum & it'll be a clean sweep!

I hope the resin don't melt the skirt, good thing you made templates of the originals, eh???

We have a pork loin casserole here, with apple, sweet potato & marrow slung in , errr, hand selected & cut, with garlic & ginger.

(but would trade it for a bacon & egg sandwich.... don't tell 'er tho!)

[Nigel Heath]

I am surprised you didn't mention the salmon spread but that's more off of the 1950's that the 1980's I suppose.

Also the little glass jars are very usefull for lots of modelling applications - just look around my workbench and you will observe loads.

Nigel

Edited October 10, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[Nigel Heath]

I just checked the resin and it has now achieved the viscosiy of thick treacle - stop potching Nigel - it will cure.

Edited September 2, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[hendie]

I may have to pick your brain regarding the resin - if my plans come to fruition!

[Nigel Heath]

This morning the resin was solid but still tacky.

I have been thinking about my scheme and I have decided I do preffer the red and silver one rather than gold. I hope the die hard Dalek building community will forgive me for this transgression, the last thing I want is them setting the Dalek police on me. I suspect there would be no trial - only EXTERMINATE!!

I have also been thinking that perhaps it would be nice to do some of the silver highlights in Alclad "Chromium", it could look really good.

[hendie]

There is a PDF out there called "Recognise Your Enemy" which is a guide to all the different variants and their color schemes. The guide also goes into some detail about the differences in eye stalks, guns, claws etc.

I wish this site allowed file storage so I could upload the PDF. The website I found it on ( http://www.hippy.demon.co.uk/Daleks/Dalek_Designs.pdf ) appears not to be working, not sure if it's just a temporary thing or not.

Let me know if you want a copy and we can sort something out

[Nigel Heath]

This site is not working for me either, you could always e-mail it to me. I will PM you.

Cheers,

Nigel

[hendie]

on it's way...

[Nigel Heath]

Today was lovely and sunny in Aberdeen so I finished work early and got a little more modelling done, here is the progress from tonight. This is what I have now the resin has solidified:

I did some prelimenary clean up on the brace blocks (they are now nice sturdy blocks of course). The resin is still a bit gummy as evidenced by the little rolls of sanding debris:

I have decided that as the imperfections in the base are somewhat inconsistent I should aim for universe conquering perfection and they receive an application of filler:

While that is setting I mark up the skirt sections according to the instructions. I also applied more filler round the "race track" featue in which these secions will sit - using the other end of my filling tool which turns out to be ideal for the job:

The instructions propose separating the skirt segments using a sharp knife and a straight edge on the outer face. My much easier alternative is to use one of my scribing tools on the inner face. It just takes three passes from both ends and they separate easily and I have gone some way towards creating a chamfer for the joints:

I do a preliminary sand round the periphery with one of my MDC sanding sticks and identify a few new areas requiring a second pass of filler:

During this filling and sanding process I discover that there is a small area where the plastic has gone soft, a bit like stiff chewing gum, I will try to demonstrate here:

It does sort of recover but is definitely a small worry bead:

A most peculiar effect. You would think that either the whole base would have turned to jelly or there would be nothing. Perhaps the plastic was particularly thin here but it seems unlikely, maybe there is a patch of poorly mixed resin behind here but I mixed very thoroughly and again this seem improbable. Hopefully as the resin continues to cure the area will harden up.

Well that's about it for today.

Bye,

Nigel

Edited September 3, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[roymattblack]

WOW - AWESOME - FANTASTIC -

and the Dalek looks good too......

Want a bacon buttie now!!!

Roy.

[Nigel Heath]

Hi Roy,

You know I could eat a bacon buttie at almost anytime.

[Nigel Heath]

It was another lovey sunny day here in Aberdeen so I finished work a little early and made some more modelling progress. The race track feature round the skirt recieved some more filler. The sticky resin was quite effective at clogging my sanding sticks:

During the clean up process I have come to realize its not the resin softening the plastic but the tube glue:

I discover a few more areas with issues, here is has caused the plastic to bulge:

I think the resin sealed in some of the volatile solvent in the polysyrene cement and this is now plasticising the plastic as it slowly diffuses out. It should harden up but apparently it can take a couple of weeks so I will have to concentrate on other areas, there are still plenty of jobs to be done.

For my dinner I made caramelised red onion and apple with walnut and gorgonzola on toast with baby sage leaves, the (semi) raw:

And the cooked:

Now you may consider that a little bit charred in places and I would put up no argument but it still ate very nicely.

Bye for now,

Nigel

Edited October 29, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[Nick Belbin]

Well, what a coincidence - building a brace of the Comet Daleks myself at the moment for Telford!!

Nick

[Nigel Heath]

Hi Nick,

I look forward to seeing those. "A brace" - is there a theme in there?

Edited September 4, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[Jockster]

As I do not have the popcorn smiley on my tablet I have sat here reading your post with a real bag of popcorn. Very enjoyable watching your Dalek take shape. Why separate the panels though? I thought you were scribing a fold line on the backs. Curiosity only Nigel, I've never built one so I'm totally ignorant of how it goes together. :-)

[Nigel Heath]

I must admit I never even thought about trying to fold the skirt panels, it might have worked. The Instructions say to separate them so that's what I did. I suppose it should allow exact edge trimming and alignment.

I also remember reading in the instructions that some of the front panels have a slight curvature to them so they do need to be separated.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[Jockster]

Thanks Nigel, going to be a nightmare painting all those spheres mate, great build to follow though! Kev.

[Nigel Heath]

I have been giving the spheres a little thought and I have a cunning plan on how I'm going to paint them but that is far in the future at the moment.

I could not leave work too early tonight and I made a little side excursion to Maplins to pick up some goodies for my ideas on how I am going to install lights in my Dalek. As a result there was not much progress. I did do a quick check fit on the brace blocks:



Here are all the electronic components I picked up from Maplins. My ideas are to have two red flashing dome lights and a blue eyestalk light, LEDs seem to be the obvious answer. You can get LEDs that inherently flash but I wanted something that flashed every 4 to 5 seconds or so and these LEDs can't be controlled so after a long discussion with a very knowledgeable and helpful shop assistant I was directed to this little kit that comes with two red LEDs and the ability to vary the flash rate - its amazing what you can get these days. The other thing was a blue LED for the eyestalk. This requires about 3V so some value of resistor will be required with the 9V battery to avoid having to have a separate power supply.

I haven't built any electronic stuff for years so I am looking forward to this task. Following the clearly printed instructions and preinstalled biro marks (yes really) on the part I free hand trimmed the edges, there will need some finessing with my baking tray / wet n'dry combo tool:

Thankfully the plastic does now appear to be hardening up in those glue affected areas. I try to push back some distorted areas in the race track:

But they just ooze back into their distorted shape. Hopefully when the plastic has rehardened I will be able to sand them into their correct profile:



Before I made my dinner, as is my normal habbit, I made my lunch box for tomorrow. I have not yet exposed you to this phenomena but now feel confident enough to do so. Tomorrow, for the main part, I will be having grilled king prawns with quinoa, avocado, spinach, basil and spearmint:

I kept the leaves separate so that they are not ruined by the dressing and will mix them at work at luchtime for immediate consumption. Here is the rest:

That should get me through the day. For my dinner I cooked an Aberdeen Angus burger (not home made) with pancetta, blue cheese (gorgonzola), avocado and English lettuce served in a cheesy roll (also not home made) with a smear of Dijon mustard:

It was very nice.

Bye for now,

Nigel

Edited October 30, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[hendie]

Nice idea with the lights Nigel. I may well follow you with that one.

I am also considering how easy/difficult it would be to add some kind of sound control - no Dalek is complete without the Exterminate, destroy, you will obey commands!

[Nigel Heath]

That would be clever but I think I am happy just with the lights.

[colin]

Handy little site for working out the resistor values for your led's Nigel
http://electronicsclub.info/leds.htm
Colin

[hendie]

c'mon Nigel - where's our daily Dalek installment?

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks for that Colin.

Hi hendie,

Thanks for the interest, because I had finished work early at the start of the week I had to put in a few extra hours this afternoon so I am sorry to report there has been no Dalek progress tonight, it may be the same story tomorrow but I will try to do a bit.

I did however manage to cook my dinner which was chilli beef with home made tacos and an avocado, red oinon, red chilli, tomato and coriander salsa:

And that is not some fancy CGI effect but real steam. Jolly nice too.

Bye,

Nigel