In The Shed: Top Tips For Building Your Own Dalek
Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.
Doctor Who has for many years fed on itself. Since the late stages of the Tom Baker era, fans have been involved with the creation of the show and their involvement took on a new meaning with the New Adventures books from Virgin in the 1990s. Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat were both big long-term fans of Doctor Who, and the majority of the show’s writers have affection for the travels of the mad man with the box.
But there is more to it than that. Since that policeman first wandered through the fog in 1963, Doctor Who has caught the imaginations of millions of children and adults. Some have scrawled Daleks, TARDISes and scarves in the back of exercise books while others have aimed higher with far more ambitious and impressive creations. In the Shed hopes to find the most accomplished fan creators out there, whose immense dedication to the craft of building, stitching, recording, painting and making artefacts that demonstrate their love and inspiration for Doctor Who will hopefully spur our readers onto follow them – with a few useful tips to get started.
Gareth Mugridge is one such fan, obsessed by the design and detail of Daleks he has built his own; in fact he did such a good job that it has been used on screen in the show!
Dalek Addiction
Gareth recalls that “initially I was looking for something to do as a creative thing. Doctor Who had not long returned to our screens and the studio moved from Newport to half a mile from my house so I think that played a part, initially I was going to build a TARDIS, but didn’t know where to start.”
“While working for a bookstore chain as events co-ordinator, we were always looking for ways to engage kids, particularly with reading. We thought a Doctor Who day would be a good plan given our close proximity to the studios and the popularity of the show.” Naturally this was the last piece of the jigsaw for Gareth, who then decided to take the plunge. Fortunately the Internet played a part and Gareth was able to find a website crucial to his development as a Dalek Builder. “I discovered a website, www.projectdalek.com, where I saw what I can only describe as works of unparalleled genius. I couldn’t believe that “fans” had built these things, they looked utterly amazing! I guess from that point I was hooked.”
Doctor Who fans have of course been building Daleks and other props for years, and Gareth had stumbled upon a fantastic community of guys who were happy to share information and help him work out just how hard it might be to build one. “I have that website and in particular, Mark Dando, John Darley and Alan Clark to thank for dragging me into the murky world of Dalek creation.”
Rob asked if I would be prepared to take my Dalek to the Mardi Gras and be on stage with Russell. You can imagine the answer!
In my previous experience of speaking to Dalek builders, I’ve regularly got the impression that they’re Dalek fans more than Doctor Who fans. This isn’t unusual. In the 1960s, the Daleks had a life of their own in comic strips and failed TV serials, and were often considered as popular – if not more popular – than the Doctor himself. Gareth, however, is clearly a Doctor Who fan, for whom “Tom Baker borders on godhood. I can’t begin to imagine how many hours I ran around our street, with my dad’s tyre pressure gauge as a stand-in sonic screwdriver! I kind of fell out of love with the show once Tom Baker left, but when the show returned in 2005 I was hooked again.”
But how magical are the Daleks to Gareth? “Lots of people will talk about the Nazi stylings and parallels but ultimately if you come up with such a great villain, as with most fiction, they frequently end up as popular, sometimes more than the hero of the tale.”
After all, who (other than Sidney Newman) can imagine Doctor Who without Daleks? Due to space requirements, Gareth’s Dalek (“my Dalek has a name, ’Bernard’!”) could only be constructed outdoors, with his dining room regularly resembling “Davros’ Lab on more than one occasion.”
Thanks to the website and the other builders, Gareth has learned a lot about the different Dalek designs and of course how to construct one. His favourite is the “tank” look of the 2005 model. “It’s a close thing between the Destiny of the Daleks version and the 2005 version… Actually, it’s got to be the 2005 version; you really can believe they are indestructible killing machines!”
Dalek for 15 Minutes
Now, Doctor Who has a funny way of thrusting fans into strange situations. Gareth Mugridge is no different. After building his Dalek, it wasn’t long before he was rubbing shoulders with the show’s producers… “I had built the Dalek and took it into work for the book event. Little did I know that one of the guys that worked there, Rob Keech, worked on the committee for the Cardiff Pride Event, one of the patrons of which was Russell T Davies. Rob asked if I would be prepared to take my Dalek to the Mardi Gras and be on stage with Russell. You can imagine the answer!”
“That day arrived, Russell was very complementary about Bernard and we acted out a skit on the main stage, an amazing experience!”
It wasn’t long before Gareth found himself meeting Russell again while working short-term with the BBC Wales Drama Dept Branding team – working on Doctor Who and Torchwood!
Building a wood, MDF and fibre glass construct of any size is not for the faint of heart.
“Shortly after my contract had ended I received a call from the Branding team asking if I still had my Dalek and if so, could they borrow it for an upcoming episode as they wanted as many physical props on set as possible, Russell had remembered my Dalek and suggested they call me!! So Bernard was collected, and taken to the studio and consequently appeared on Newsround on CBBC and if you look closely and are quick with the pause button you may just catch sight of him in the Series 4 finale two-parter The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End.”
The fascinating thing about Gareth is not only that he is one of many Doctor Who fans to have been inspired by the beauty of the post-2005 series, but that he keyed into his desire to build a Dalek and got on with the job of doing it.
Let’s be under no illusions here: building a wood, MDF and fibre glass construct of any size is not for the faint of heart. We wouldn’t recommend that you down this copy of Kasterborous Magazine and head out to your own shed without at least considering Gareth’s tips for getting through the process.
Top Tips for Building Your Own Dalek



Before you get started, make sure you have visited c and downloaded some plans and read the build diaries where you can learn from others how to obtain parts. Having someone who can help out physically from time to time is also useful.
As Gareth advises, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what you need but for the most part, you will need:
· Patience
· Plasters
· A sharper saw!
· MDF board in a few different sizes
· World Cup candy floss balls
· Fibre Glass
· Basic wiring kit and switches / bulbs
· Swimming pool matting
· Wood glue
· Plastic pipe
· Aluminium pipe



Beyond that it’s pretty much up to the type of Dalek you’re building and the designs you’re using.
One last word from Gareth on building Daleks. “There are so many different variations of Dalek out there; certainly in the classic series they pretty much changed in some way every time you saw them. Realistically you just need to find something that works for you, even down to the paint job you give the Dalek.”
“You’ll find some amazing custom builds out there. Alan Clark’s ‘Storm’ for example, is a monster!”
What are you doing still reading? Head out to the shed and get building…
(This article first appeared in Kasterborous Magazine #1. Photos thanks to Gareth Mugridge)
The post In The Shed: Top Tips For Building Your Own Dalek appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
Christian Cawley's Blog
- Christian Cawley's profile
- 4 followers
