Wednesday 6 October 2021

Custom Figure: 2015 Skaro Dalek (1965 Variant)

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New History of the Daleks releases means a whole new set of custom Dalek projects lined up, the first of which is the perfect compliment to an earlier project from last year. We're still quite a way off from these B&M exclusive sets from reaching the modern era (let alone the Twelfth Doctor), so unless Character Options have any more surprise releases from the story up their sleeves Daleks from The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar won't be appearing any time soon. But with 60s Daleks back on the market, this is the perfect opportunity to make another of these 2015 Skaro Daleks – this time based on the later 60s design seen in both The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks. Much like its brethren based on the original 1963 casing, these Daleks were seen inhabiting the Daleks' home planet of Skaro after the Doctor (with Clara and Missy in tow) was summoned to meet the dying Davros.

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As described in Gavin Rymill's excellent "Weekly Dalek" articles for Hero Collector, these "reboot" Daleks that appeared in The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar were originally 60s-style props which resided at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. When a more diverse Dalek society (made up of variants from across Doctor Who's long history) was required for the two-part series nine premiere, the Daleks were refurbished – most notably being given light blue mid-sections and illuminated blue eyepieces that matched their modern counterparts. Though perhaps not as prominent as the 1963 Daleks done in this style, this 1966/67 variant can be seen throughout the story as well as in the promotional images alongside twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi.

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This custom was made using a Dalek from the recent History of the Daleks #5 set, specifically the one with the standard manipulator arm as opposed to the mutant scoop. Particularly I wanted this custom to have the extended eyestalk piece that's present on this figure, and even though it has a moulded iris the blue paint used for the lens easily covers that up. The painting process is pretty similar as it is for a 1963-style Dalek from this story, namely painting up that mid-section a beautiful light blue. After removing the slat section by heating up the plastic and popping it off, it was painted using Citadel Lothern Blue and coated with a layer of Revell matte varnish for extra protection. However the extra step with this particular variant is that the hemispheres are a darker blue than all the other 60s style Daleks that appear in the story, so those were painted over using Citadel Enchanted Blue (now known as Caledor Sky). This is the same shade of blue I used on my Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150AD Pincer Dalek, and though perhaps not a perfect match to the prop is certainly pretty damn close. Finally to round the custom off, the eyepiece lens was painted using the same Mr Hobby metallic blue used on my previous Witch's Familiar custom.

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Much like the 1963-style Daleks from this story, this is a relatively simple custom to do so a great project for beginners to build up their skills from. Admittedly it does require a few extra steps (such as popping off the slats and painting the hemispheres), but they're key things to learn when disassembling and repainting a Dalek. Using Citadel paints is a particularly good idea as it's easy to scratch/rub away any excess blue you get on the silver without damaging the factory paint job. At first I was hesitant to do this custom with a Power of the Daleks drone due to the darker hemispheres, but now that History of the Daleks #6 has been revealed (based on The Evil of the Daleks) we can see that Character haven't changed the paint on those figures anyway so either way it would have needed to be done manually. Plus I have plans for another custom using a Power Dalek as the base model, so it was a quick and easy custom to do with a spare.

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The Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar Daleks quickly became fan favourites despite their limited appearances, and for good reason. After so many years of modern Daleks it was great to see the classics back in the full glory, and with new liveries that were both visually appealing AND potentially expanded on the Dalek hierarchy in-show. Hopefully when the History of the Daleks sets reach these stories in a few years' time they'll get official figures, but in the meantime these customs are an excellent alternative. With a black-domed 1963 Dalek and a strange classic/modern hybrid Dalek also present in the story, this two-parter is full of inspiration when it comes to custom Dalek figures.

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