Friday 17 July 2020

Custom Figure: Destroyed Dalek

Custom Destroyed Dalek 01

When I did my Dalek Time Controller custom figure all the way back in 2013, I needed to take parts from a second Character Options Doctor Who Dalek in order to do the additional neck rings the Time Controller's casing has. Seven years later and I STILL had that Dalek that was gutted for additional parts, albeit minus a few other bits it gave away to various other customs. I thought it was about time that I put that hunk of plastic to good use, and given there was only about two thirds of it left a destroyed Dalek was the most suitable course of action.

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This custom started life as a Saucer Pilot Dalek with no dome, neck rings or appendages. The larger base had also been swapped out for a smaller one from another 60s Dalek. I didn't really have any specific plans going in other than to do a destroyed Dalek, going as far as I didn't even know what colour I wanted it to be. In the end I decided to go for a metallic grey body, gold shoulder bands and darker blue hemispheres ñ similar to the colours of the movie Daleks/Guard Daleks from The Chase but a little darker overall. The finished colour scheme worked so well that I might just have to do a proper Dalek in these colours one day just to see how it looks. The colours also aren't a far cry to the ones seen in the TV21 comics, which is perfect considering I plan to do some more TV21 Dalek customs once the new B&M sets have been released.

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After disassembling the toy I began by removing the entire top section of the Dalek, not attempting to be particularly neat when cutting as I knew I was going to smooth the whole thing out with clay later. I coated the parts with Tamiya primer and then Citadel Lead Belcher spray for the body colour. The blue hemispheres were hand painted with Citadel Kantor Blue and the shoulder bands with Tamiya gold. 

After all that, it was time to get to work on the battle damage! I simply used a pair of model kit nippers to scratch the casing up and destroy some of the hemispheres, drybrushing a mix of black and silver to bring out all the scratched detailing. I removed one of the ball joint appendages entirely to give it a more disjointed look, and painted the panel that holds them in place behind it black so it wasnít immediately obvious. For the scorched metal around the rim at the top I simply covered it in air-drying model clay, painted it black and then drybrushed some silver on top for the metallic effect. I then also added a bit of green drybrushing so it looked as though the mutant inside didn't have a particularly good time either. Finally the whole figure was given a wash of Citadel Typhus Corrosion, an excellent paint for grime detailing as it also leaves texture as well. I mostly drybrushed it on but then did it wetter and thicker in areas that I wanted to look like proper mud splashes. Nothing too technical overall, but it was good to practice all these different forms of battle damage and detailing.

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Initially I only did this custom as a way to make good use of my spare parts but I had a lot of fun with it in the end. Not only was it a great way to learn how to use new materials and paint techniques for future customs, but it's a great display piece that'll seriously spruce up multi-Dalek action photos. Previously I've turned my nose up at Dalek figures on eBay with broken and/or missing parts, but going forwards I'll definitely be paying a lot more attention to them. A few more corpses and those battlefield shots will REALLY begin to pop.

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