DALEK TURNING POINT
That museum exhibition was to be a real foundation stone in my life. I can still remember being there now. Every model I've ever made since, has it roots in that exciting TV display.
And I had clearly made an impression myself, as a kind BBC chap who we had got talking to about the exhibition, soon sent me a great big colour photo of the DALEKS, as a present! My enthusiasm for DALEKS had made an impact, and receiving that picture clinched it- I now wanted to make my own DALEKS. My model making life had begun! My thank you letter, plus one question I asked, led to years of me getting replies from the likes of special effects man, BERNARD WILKIE, sound effects man, DICK MILLS, and model maker, MAT IRVINE. All from the days when people actually replied to such enquiries with genuine, helpful answers! DICK MILLS gave me advice on how to do a decent DALEK voice. BERNARD WILKIE sent me information, and even tried to find a spare DALEK dome for me (without success). And not long after K9 first appeared, MAT IRVINE filled in some measurements on my hand-drawn blueprint, so that I could work out the rest of it myself. I had to do this by watching the episodes each week on TV. There was no video or DVD to freeze-frame back then and very few photos to look at either, so not the easiest thing to do. But all of this work resulted in me making the first ever accurate, full size K9, outside of the original! While people were still making their robot dogs from cornflake packets, my one was being used for an amateur DOCTOR WHO film, in London. |
The letter from Bernard Wilkie
The letter from Dick Mills
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