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