Surrounded!

     I have been hard at work for the past couple of weeks on some of the small pieces that will all be needed as Gan's main body begins to take shape. Of particular interest this week, as I mentioned briefly in the last post, is the casting of the surrounds for the hemispheres which cover the skirt, along with the trim blocks that adorn the neck struts of the new series Daleks.

     The best thing about this work, is that I am finally making actual Dalek parts! The trouble with fabricating a TV monster out of thin air is that many of the pieces require special tools that you can't walk into Lowe's or Home Depot and buy. And so, first you have to make the tools. But wait! In order to make that tool, first you have to make the tool to make the tool! This is a common 'making' process. And so, I've been working on the plug, to make the mold, to make the dome. And I poured the mold, to make the surrounds and neck blocks. Fortunately, the examples provided to me by a generous builder have saved me a great deal of sculpting and crafting. I have already posted a picture of the poured silicone, but here is a shot of the RP-40 liquid plastic as it is curing in the now finished molds.

     I needed to make 56 surrounds and 24 neck blocks. The plastic I ordered was precisely enough to make that, plus 1 extra of each. I was pleasantly surprised to find that RP-40 has a very quick curing time. 15 minutes! And so, I was able to cast all of these parts in about 2 days time. The process was fairly dull, as you might imagine, but fascinating as the plastic hardened right in front of me and it was cool to watch. All I did was level my molds, mix the two parts of the plastic together, pour, and wait a couple of minutes for the reaction to start. It was during that window of time that I inserted my bolts for the surrounds. I was even able to video the curing plastic once. Here's a video that will show you exactly how fast this stuff sets up:

     I'll be using quite a bit more of the RP-40, carried by Dascar Plastics, by the way. The same guy who sent me the parts, also turned me on to them. If it's alright with him, I'll link over to a video or two of his Dalek, which is quite impressive.

     So, after all of that leveling, mixing, pouring and waiting, here is the result:

     You can see all of the surrounds, the blocks, and my two panels and gun bosses in this shot. I decided, for cost reasons, not to mold the panels and bosses. I have to save where I can, because I had to buy way too many hole saws just the other day so I could complete another part of Gan. I am currently working on finding acceptable parts for the eyeball, but I do have this so far...

     That isn't the actual eye I'm going to use. Just a piece I was playing with using a toilet float. Not too shabby for $3, but I can do better. Anyway, the part I wanted to show is the rest of the stalk with the rings finished. I cut them from a sheet of plexiglass with the hole saws and thermoformed them around a bowling ball to get the curvature, then sanded them to a frosted appearance. I'm quite pleased with them, even if I did have to buy some fairly specialized and expensive tools to make them happen.

     So, what's coming up? I have ordered my gelcoat, having exhaused all of my local options. No shops I could find actually carry it. I checked marine, auto body, and pool. No dice. So I ordered a gallon and bought my resin and a chemical mask, which I will later turn into the housing for my microphone while piloting. (That sounds way cooler than driving, or puttering) I hope to be able to lay up my dome mold this weekend. If the gelcoat arrives in time, that's my plan. And so, maybe we'll see a dome by the end of next week? Along with the dome, I'll be working on finishing the surrounds, and beginning to plan the neck. The project is really moving and shaking now. My confidence is high, and my productivity is good. It's looking like a GenCon premiere for Gan! Just remember, you knew him when he was a pile of wood, metal and plastic in my utility room and my friend's garage.

-Scionic

How to Get A Head - The Dome: Part 1

     The Dome. This process has been just as unfamiliar to me in terms of skills, as the voice modulator. I have been feeling my way along with it just as I did there, consulting the Project Dalek website, and various more experienced people. I decided this would be a good opportunity to catch you up on how the process is developing.

We begin here:

     This is a shot of the beginning materials for the construction of the dome plug. In order to make the finished dome, you have to make two other things first. You have to make the plug, which should be an exact copy of the finished product (at least in its dimensions, some detailing is added later). Then, you have to make a fiberglass mold of the plug. Once that's finished, you can finally create the cast of the mold, which produces your usable Dalek cranium.
     To begin the plug, you have to build the jig to form the correctly shaped profile. As such:

     It's simple a base, an upright post, and a forming block. I rotated this former around the post a great many times. I used plaster, as a lot of people do, to build up the surface over a core. I used 3" blue foam, since I already had a lot of it on hand in the basement.

     

     Once the foam core was created, it was just a matter of layer upon layer of plaster. Mix, apply and wait. I applied about 15 layers of plaster of paris, and then about 5 more coats of patching plaster, which allowed me to work the surface longer. (I am terrible with plaster so I needed the extra time to get it right!) Fast forward about 15-17 hours and weeks of waiting.

     I ended up with a believable facsimile of a Dalek dome after what my former pottery instructor would call "excessive cat-licking".  I applied a layer of pond sealer to waterproof the dome, and was a little dismayed at the roughness of it, so I sanded it down and took the advice of another building by applying a nice hard polyurethane shell. About 12 coats. Apply, Wait, Sand, Apply....etc...

     And here we have it! This is the finished plug. I'll be fiberglassing it to make my mold as soon as I manage to get all of the materials I need. I'm also moving the dome to a garage for that part. The plaster was messy enough, but I absolutely don't want to risk getting fiberglass resin on my utility room floor. That will be part 2 of the Dome blog.

     Finally, I have also been working on some of the small parts. Little bits here and there that I'll need when the body is finished. Another builder I met on the forums was kind enough to help me out with some parts to mold and cast from, which has saved me a lot of time and effort. There will be more specifics on that as we go, but here's a shot of some poured silicone molds of said parts, just to keep you interested. The suspense is killing you, right? ;)

That's it for now. Coming soon, Dome Part 2, as well as another trip to Columbus to work with Aaron on the main stack of the body. Stay tuned, constant reader!

-Scionic