Wayne's Dalek build

[wayne venomous]

Right, haven't had a lot of build time as I'm not only really busy with work but there was that minor thing of getting free tickets to the new Doctor Who Experience in London!  

However, I've managed to get hold of some more bits.
Firstly, a friend has very kindly loaned me a dome mould:


Secondly, the dome lights; Moflash beacon lenses (the ones used on the actual Daleks by the BBC) have had a recent design change and although "group buys" are allowing Moflash to continue producing the old style, they're becoming more difficult to get hold of and thus more expensive.
Was walking through Poundland and first of all, spotted some solar garden lights:



Unfortunately they were just slightly too narrow. Perfect height though.
Few weeks later I'm in Poundland again and spot something else:





The diameter is perfect! Slightly longer than needed but that's easily sorted.

So, if I put the narrower lens inside this and shine a torch into it, this is what it looks like:


That should do it!  

And this Sunday a friend of a friend is donating an electric wheelchair too!  

[wayne venomous]

I now have an electric wheelchair which was very kindly donated by a friend of a friend.

I've no idea how old it is, but it certainly wouldn't look out of place in the film Carry On Doctor!


This thing weighs an absolute tonne! Even though I'm not exactly a 7 stone weakling, it took two of us to lift it into my car and as I was by myself when I got it home it took me nearly 10 minutes to get it out of the car and into the back room. It did work when we put it in the car but it's now stopped working.

So, today I start dismantling it (plus my Daughter keeps asking me to "build our Dalek" and wanted to help!) so I started by removing the seat and having a look at what is powering it:

Yes, that is two car batteries! None of your modern lightweight batteries here.
They show a manufacture date of December 1997 but a quick test reveals they're actually fully charged and in good condition. Also, I can see one of the connectors has come loose, so I reconnect it and it starts working again.

Although it is working, it's too big for the Dalek base and far too heavy. So a size and weight loss program is in order here. First of all I've decided to make a custom chassis for it which will allow the drive wheels to be centrally mounted for a better turning circle and probably have castors front and rear for stability. The idea will be to make everything fit below the seat as compact as possible.

The car batteries have to go as the whole wheelchair is a fraction of the weight without them. This is where I'm curious as to what sort of power to weight ratio they gave. Okay they've got a reasonable capacity of 36Ah but I do wonder how much of this power was used up by just moving the weight of the batteries around in the first place.



You can't really see in the photos above but the tyres are flat and have pretty much had it. After talking to a friend about his Dalek, he recommends solid tyres anyway so new wheels and tyres will be installed. Incidently, the rear wheels have a manufacturing date of 1987 on them. However, they're clearly a later addition.

I'm very impressed with the motor/gear units as they seem way over-engineered for the purpose. Some good solid aluminium hubs too, which again look like a later addition.

[chinandler]

Looks like the wheelchair from Castravalva with the newly regenerated peter davidson Doctor

[wayne venomous]

Yes, it's very possible:


Different wheels at the back but I know the wheels on mine are a later addition and judging by the extra holes drilled around the frame, the motors have beem moved further upwards to compensate for larger wheels.

[wayne venomous]

Blimey! Been a long time since an update.  

Regarding my voice modulator, here's Nicholas Briggs testing it out at Dimensions 2011:

(Yes, I had a fanboy moment!   )

I've finally gotten round to doing the skirt properly:

Few gaps inbetween a couple of the panels but nothing a bit of fettling and filling can't solve.

[wayne venomous]

Cut the wood for the main part of the fender and shoulders today.

I'm kinda cheating with these sections as all I've done is borrow the parts from a friend's Dalek and draw around them! 

[wayne venomous]

I've been putting it off for ages but I've finally had to do it:

I absolutely hate fibreglass - there's a reason I became a welder.

Front of the skirt now done (this skirt is in two halves otherwise I won't be able to fit it through the doorways in my house)


Rear of the skirt done also:


Managed to get hold of a load of 100mm polystyrene balls for £10 so I thought I'd give them a try for the hemis:

Not sure if they'll work but what the hey. Cheap enough.

[Rassilons Rod]

Great start!

Nice to see your daughter helping out again too

[wayne venomous]

Thanks!

Yes, she does like to help/supervise. Actually, the main reason she was there is because she wants me to finish the Dalek is so I can build her "her own mini Dalek and a K-9". This is the first I've heard of this... 

[galacticprobe]

Actually, the main reason she was there is because she wants me to finish the Dalek is so I can build her "her own mini Dalek and a K-9". This is the first I've heard of this...  

That's how it starts. She makes her plans on her own, and then springs them on you. The next thing you know, just like with mine, she's become "The Evil One"!

Beware!

And by the way, I'm loving this build! Looking fantastic, Wayne!

Dino.

[wayne venomous]

My Father in-law is an ex-technology teacher and absolute whiz when it comes to electronics and he's been improving the sound of the voice mod somewhat. Basically, I've now got an idea as to how Ron Grainer must've felt when he heard Delia Derbyshire's work on the theme tune of Doctor Who and thought, "was that mine?!"

He's redesigned the oscillator and pre-amplifier and added a noise cancellation system in so there's no oscillator bleedthrough or rumble as normally associated with this type of ring modulator.

This is him demonstrating what it sounds like now:

[atomicgraph]

that sounds pretty good, it has a nice rich sound

[wayne venomous]

Thanks! 
Still needs a bit of tweaking, mainly just a bit more bass/low range to it.

You could just hear my Mother in-law telling him off (again!) about making too much noise. Apparently he was up most of the previous night trying it out and modifying it. It's an old Victorian house they live in so it really echos around the house! 

[Rassilons Rod]

It has just a hint of 60's Dalek in it too, I like it

[wayne venomous]

We've tried to make it as close as possible to the type of ring modulator that the BBC Radiophonic Workshop would have originally used - not easy considering there's only Dick Mills's description to go from.

When you do the loud angry part of Dalek dialogue the distortion comes in very smoothly and gives it the extra anger effect. Bit difficult to describe but the very last speech the Dalek gives at the end of Genesis Of The Daleks has this distinctive "anger distortion".