Welcome to my showcase of custom Daleks created in homage to various Doctor Who audios created by Big Finish. How each individual listener interprets the appearance of a particular Dalek will change depending on the individual. Even the front covers of the audios that depict particular types of Daleks, as excellent as they are, can only be a guide to how one interprets an audio. As such, there is a lot of creative freedom when creating custom Daleks inspired by audios, as it is a chance to make your own interpretations of the audio Daleks real and tangible.
Many of these Dalek customs are at odds with other depictions of the same Daleks – but creating things from your own imagination is always better than copying something else. All of these Dalek figures are totally unique, and each one has been lovingly crafted over the course of several months. Although it may not look like much, painting a Dalek figure requires precision and dedication – after all, each individual hemisphere has to be painted carefully and consistently to ensure that the entire surface is covered with paint but not a single drop goes onto the rest of the figure.
Custom Blue Dalek Supreme
Big Finish Audio – Daleks Among Us
Though it might be the lighting, I have always interpreted the Dalek on the front cover of Daleks Among Us as being deep blue, and though I imagined it was simply supposed to be a black Dalek from The Daleks’ Master Plan, I wanted to create something different and eye-catching, and so this blue Dalek Supreme was born. The figure itself is – surprise, surprise – an Emperor’s Guard figure from the Dalek Collectors Set #2, the go-to base for making late-1960s-era inspired Daleks. I painted the figure using blue Citadel paint and then painted over the hemispheres with silver Citadel paint. Interestingly, I have noticed some confusion over exactly what Dalek the cover of Daleks Among Us is trying to depict, as the silver hemispheres coupled with the ‘black’ base coat implies that it is a Remembrance of the Daleks-era Supreme Dalek, which makes sense given that its a Seventh Doctor audio, and yet its eyestalk – arguably the most prominent part of this Dalek on the cover – is that of a 1960s-era Dalek.
Custom Damaged Dalek Drone
Big Finish Audio – Plague of the Daleks
Depicted on the front cover of Plague of the Daleks is a pair of badly damaged Dalek drones, who have been hiding underground for decades and as such have accumulated a lot of scoring and corrosion. This figure was a Gold Dalek Supreme from Day of the Daleks, although I have covered up much of the gold with bronze Citadel paint or black Citadel washes, although some of the gold is still visible to add to the rusted effect. These Daleks have been isolated for a long time, and during that period it would make sense that they would attempt some rudimentary repairs to their casing, hence my use of fake eyestalks and appendages with this figure – the eyestalk was made using the broken pieces of an old lighter, and the plunger and gunstick were created using plastic pieces, some of which were recycled from an old disposable biro pen.
Custom Red Dalek Drone / Supreme
Big Finish Audio – The Dalek Wars Series
This Dalek was inspired by the ‘Dalek Wars’ series of audios that Big Finish created as one of their early Doctor Who spinoffs. I haven’t listened to all of Dalek War yet, but I have listened to enough of it to know significant spoilers, which I will not reveal here, but needless to say that over the course of the Dalek Wars series we see (or rather, hear) a fair amount of Dalek variants. This is excellent for me, as it means I get to create more customs showcasing my interpretations of these Daleks, and this one in particular is supposed to represent one of the Drones and / or the Supremes of the ‘alternate Daleks’, which appear at the end of the first series of the Dalek Wars. I used red Citadel paint for the skirt, slats and dome, black Citadel paint for the base, hemispheres and middle band, and grey Citadel paint for the midsection. The neck rings I left gold, as this Dalek was originally a Day of the Daleks Supreme.
Custom Blue Dalek Drone / Supreme
Big Finish Audio – The Dalek Wars Series
Another potential representation of a Drone or Supreme Dalek from the Dalek Wars Series, this blue Dalek uses a design based off a blue Dalek from the ‘War of the Daleks’ role-playing game, which is now somewhat obscure. The design for this Dalek was apparently based off the early ideas for the TV sequel to Remembrance of the Daleks that was created when Doctor Who was still on the air, and allegedly two new Dalek factions would join the Dalek Civil War, including a faction of blue Daleks led by a Dalek with this design, or one a lot like it. I painted this Dalek using blue Citadel paint for the dome, midsection and skirt, black Citadel paint for the slats, middle band, hemispheres and base, and grey Citadel paint for the neck rings and gunstick.
Dalek Time Controller
Big Finish Audio – Patient Zero / The Monster of Montmartre
Big Finish’s Dalek Time Controller has become almost as ubiquitous as the Dalek Emperor himself thanks to several appearances in both the Monthly Adventures and the Eighth Doctor Box Sets, and no bad thing – the unique design of this Dalek coupled with the incredible performance given by Nicholas Briggs makes this particular class of Dalek Supreme a great addition to any story. As such, it seemed only fitting to create a custom based on this design, and I went for a specific point in the Dalek Time Controller’s timeline – after Patient Zero and before, or during, the events of The Monster of Montmartre. The Dalek Time Controller was severely damaged and sent hurtling through time by the Sixth Doctor, and would later encounter the Eighth Doctor in 1920s France.
I created this custom using a regular Dalek with a third ear light added to the back of the dome, the front panel modified to include two extra neck rings, and two larger neck rings forming a criss-cross above the gunboxes in the classic Time Controller design. I used blue Citadel paint for the skirt, midsection and dome, gold Citadel paint for the neck rings, slats and some of the hemispheres, and black Citadel paint for the base and hemispheres. The front section also opens up, revealing the hideous Dalek mutant inside complete with its ‘Dark Eye’!
Sacred Icon 