Custom Figure: 'The Curse of Fatal Death' Silver Dalek

The problem with any sort of toy collecting or customising is that it’s hard to stop at one. The Curse of Fatal Death Black Dalek had been near the top of my Dalek customs wish-list for years, but until I’d finished it I’d never even considered making the rest of the props that appeared in that 1999 Comic Relief Special. Now I want to make all of these weird and wonderful Daleks, and with all the necessary Character Options figures being readily available for once it’s time to strike whilst the iron is hot. The next variant that hit the list was the Curse of Fatal Death Silver Dalek - a lurker among the group but equally interesting when it comes to colour scheme and differences to the “proper” Doctor Who Dalek models.

This silver Dalek is one of the various physical props seen in The Curse of Fatal Death, but honestly is probably the least memorable. The silver Daleks don’t have any lines in the special, and are mostly seen skulking around in the background. The only time one is really on display is when the Daleks first make their entrance on Terserus. They’re an interesting breed though, because despite essentially having classic 60s livery there are some obvious differences. The hemispheres are a considerably darker blue, and the eyestalk, dome lamps and gun-stick have all been updated to the “current” 80s version used on the Renegade Daleks in Remembrance of the Daleks.

This Dalek is actually a complete reworking of a previous custom - namely my 1965 Supreme Dalek from all the way back in 2012. It was a great piece to have at the time, but with an official version now in my collection I felt there were much better uses for it and so completely stripped the paint off it using the Dettol soak technique. The original base was an Evil of the Daleks Emperor Guard Dalek, with the dome and gun stick replaced with ones from an Imperial Dalek (leftover from my Curse of Fatal Death Black Dalek custom). The dome lamps and eyestalk were removed, and replaced with custom 80s versions printed by Custom Dalek Creations (HIGHLY recommend checking them out on eBay). The Dalek was primed using Tamiya light grey primer, and then sprayed silver using Tamiya silver. The blue hemispheres (and eyestalk discs) were hand-painted using Revell ultramarine blue. The finishing touch was the eyepiece, hand-painted with a mix of Citadel chaos black and Revell white.

It might look like an extremely basic custom that’s not all that different to existing figures, but I had an absolute blast making this one. Not just because it gave me valuable experience in stripping paint off of older customs and reworking them entirely, but also because it’s just such an oddity. This colour scheme is the epitome of Doctor Who’s wilderness years - the kind of Dalek you’d see wheeled out for every special, event, cameo or advert you could imagine. For someone who grew up during that time, it’s rather special. All the little differences are what makes it so interesting as well - the eyestalk and dome lamps particularly.

Other than needing to source the alternate parts (and even that wasn’t difficult) this was an incredibly easy custom to do, and with how striking it looks alongside the other silver and blue Daleks that have appeared over the years it’s one I’d definitely recommend others having a go at. That’s two Fatal Death Daleks down, and two main ones (I’m not sure if I want to do the off-model dark grey one that appears in the cliffhanger yet) left to do! And with the rate I’m going on custom Daleks at the moment, those might be finished sooner than you’d think.