Classic Series Dalek Customs Collection Tour – 1970s era Daleks

Welcome to the next instalment in this tour through my collection of custom-painted Classic Series Daleks. The previous instalment featured the 1960s Dalek Customs, so this one includes a tour of my collection of 1970s-era Dalek customs. All of these customs are made by me unless stated otherwise in the description.

Day of the Daleks Custom Figures:

Since the original version of Day of the Daleks only ever used three Dalek props, I never felt it was necessary to make more than three customs for this episode, although the fantastic re-release of this story features some incredible remastering to add more Daleks to the battle. The Gold Dalek Supreme came in the Dalek Collector’s Set #2, which I bought several of in order to repaint them to use for other Daleks. Other than being a slightly different shade of grey, these Daleks do not differ much from Planet of the Daleks or Genesis of the Daleks figures, and they can be used interchangeably for the most part. However, there are several subtle differences that distinguish 1970s Dalek props from each other based on the episode in which they appeared due to the BBC’s constant repairing and repainting of the props.

Planet of the Daleks Custom Figures:

The best thing about Planet of the Daleks is this Supreme Dalek, which has a genuine figure but the set in which it appears is so popular and rare that the prices have skyrocketed. This was not an easy custom to make, as I had to be very precise with the black and gold paint, as painting over black with gold paint requires many re-coats in order to make the colour even and stand out properly. The lights also proved a challenge, but I was able to use broken blue LED lights painted with a see-through purple coat to recreate the Supreme Dalek’s iconic oversized lights that would later become a staple of all Daleks by 2005. The Supreme Dalek in this story has the telltale larger lights and taller fender that the movie Daleks had, and that’s because Terry Nation himself loaned a Dalek from his personal collection of movie props to serve as the Supreme in this story. The partially transparent Dalek I have also slightly customised, adding the white around the end of the eyestalk that the original figure lacked.

Death to the Daleks! Custom Figures:

Of all the 1970s-era Dalek designs, the colour scheme from Death to the Daleks is definitely my favourite. As a result, I actually made four of these customs, although one would become the Asylum variant featured in my previous Dalek Asylum Collection tour. Of the customs I made that weren’t for the Asylum, there are two standard silver Daleks and one Commander, who can be distinguished from the others by his orange lights. These Daleks all started out as Gold Daleks that I spray painted silver and then painted the detail in black, then again using Humbrol silver. Unfortunately, due to the nature of spray paint and the slight differences in the colour of Humbrol paint, these Daleks did turn out quite rough, although that does match the poor condition of the Dalek props of the era.

Genesis of the Daleks Custom Figures:

Although none of these are painted, one in particular still stands out as a custom, of sorts. Whilst two of the Daleks came in the Genesis of the Daleks Collector Set, one of these Daleks came to me broken, and it was only after painstaking reconstruction using spare parts from other broken Daleks that I was able to restore it to its former glory. The Daleks seen in Genesis are perhaps the highest quality Dalek props of the 1970s, which is fitting considering the episode is regarded by many as the best Dalek story of all time.

Destiny of the Daleks Collector Set Review

Even though none of these are customs, it seems odd to not include them here since they form part of my 1970s-era Dalek collection. One thing I will say about this set is that it appears whoever decided on the paint detail of these figures was watching Destiny of the Daleks on a television with the Gamma turned all the way up, since the colours on both the Daleks and Davros himself seem far too light to me. Although the Destiny Daleks are noticeably lighter than other Daleks of the era, it is not to the same extent as presented in this set. However, for me, that is hardly a downside – in fact, I bought this set specifically because I adore the colour scheme that they have used here. Light grey and black works really well on these Daleks, and Davros with a grey chair is odd but not unwelcome. So, overall, although this set gets 1/10 for accuracy, it stands out to me as one of the best sets in the Doctor Who range and is definitely worth picking up.

Next – Classic Series Dalek Customs Collection Tour – 1980s era Daleks

Bonus – Genesis of the Daleks Complete Collection

Thanks to the fact that the Day of the Daleks, Planet of the Daleks and Genesis of the Daleks figures are all so similar, it may be hard to differentiate between them. I have included this image here at the end to prove that they are separate figures and not just the same two or three Daleks repeated several times, but this has the added bonus of making all of these Daleks fit to all of the episodes in question, so if I wanted I could have a diorama of the Special Edition version of the final battle from Day of the Daleks, a recreation of the Spiridon Jungle from Planet of the Daleks or, my personal favourite, a fully-bolstered Dalek army as seen in Genesis of the Daleks, with six Dalek props and Davros completing the look.