WOOLWORTH'S BALLS

     With the most minimal of materials and money, I made my first attempt at a full size, workable DALEK. I had recently seen the DALEKS on stage in London (SEVEN KEYS TO DOOMSDAY), and the show had been quite spectacular, so I now wanted to build one of my own.

     It seemed there were two basic aspects to making this robot prop for the first time. There were the manageable bits (the flat parts), and the very difficult bits (all the curved surfaces and domes). So, I made my first DALEK dome like a giant TERRY'S CHOCOLATE ORANGE- in lots of triangular cardboard sections, curved over and Sellotaped together!

     But how would I do all of those 'spots'? By chance, when in WOOLWORTHS one day, I happened to see a load of correct-size plastic balls, in the toy section. I gathered up armfuls of them and took them to the cash desk.

    "What do you want all of those for?", asked the assistant serving me.

     "I'm making a DALEK", I replied, like it happened everyday.

      When eventually cutting them all in half with scissors, they released a revolting plasticy smell. And when painting them all black they fought back by flexing too much, so that the paint didn't stick that well.

     I had my first lessons in trying to find better solutions to practical problems.
Picture
Julian's first fibreglass Cyberman mask
Picture
Julian's second attempt at a full size dalek