Custom Figure: 'Dr Who & the Daleks' Movie Black Dalek

Continuing what seems to be a big year for getting back into custom Dalek figures, I turn my attention away from The Curse of Fatal Death for a moment and back to something everyone has wanted to see in Character Options' toy line for some time now - movie Daleks. While it was obvious that Character's licensing didn't extend to the two Dalek movies (Dr Who & the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth - 2150AD) of the 1960s, the wonderful loophole that was the props appearing in The Chase did lead to the Jungles of Mechanus collector set release last year. Of course you can't have Dalek drones without a proper chain of command, so having bought multiples of the set for exactly this in mind it was time to get to work on the black Dalek itself.

As the first time the Daleks would ever be appearing on screen in colour, the Dr. Who & the Daleks production staff made sure that the props that were featured in the film looked as dazzling as possible. And "dazzling" is certainly I'd describe the leader of the Dalek city - the Black Dalek. Decked out in a glossy black finish with the neck rings and hemispheres alternating between gold and silver, this is one lavish Dalek the likes of which had never been seen before (and arguably hasn't afterward either). Official movie Dalek toys are fairly rare, with the most notable one this variant received being a remote controlled version from Product Enterprise in the early 2000s. Sadly said toy had one glaring inaccuracy - a claw arm instead of the standard plunger/manipulator arm. This is likely because they only produced the one arm for the three variants they produced in the line, but it's inaccurate nonetheless.

This custom was done using a "Jungles of Mechanus" movie-style Dalek as the base, which was disassembled and then the parts primed using Citadel Grey Seer. The black was all spray painted using Tamiya black, whilst the neck rings, shoulder bands, appendages and fender were all spray painted with Tamiya gold. The hemispheres were the only part that was hand-painted, using gold and silver leaf Tamiya paints. In certain light the two Tamiya golds aren't quite the same shade, but sticking to the same brand seemed like the best way of keeping things as consistent as possible. Although originally the dome lights were masked when I sprayed the dome, one of them broke off when I removed the masking tape. So alternatively I removed both lights, cleaned off any excess black spray that managed to get on them during the painting and then glued them back on at the end.

I previously attempted the Dr. Who & the Daleks Black Dalek this time last year, but all manner of things went wrong with that and I was considerably out of practice doing it. The end result wasn't bad (apart from the dome that is, which was terrible), but I knew I could do better. The "Jungles of Mechanus" release provided the opportunity to do the variant all over again (slightly) more screen accurate this time, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. The spray painting is much so much smoother on this version. I think I've still go a bit to learn about masking the skirt so that I can spray the hemispheres rather than hand paint them, but didn't think a Dalek with alternating colours was perhaps the best choice to practice on.

The "Jungles of Mechanus" release was an amazing way for Doctor Who fans to pick up 5" scale movie Daleks without having to purchase replacement parts for existing figures, and although they only did the drone variant it's been fun doing one up into this lavish black livery. This time last year I was begging Character Options to start putting out classic Dalek figures again, and look where we are now. Regular History of the Dalek sets at B&M, website exclusive releases of variants we all thought would never happen - it's a good time to be a Dalek collector. This little platoon of movie Daleks is already looking far better, but there's still one important thing missing. I've still got one figure left to customise, so it's time to go shopping for some suitable red paint...