Welcome to the latest post in a series of showcases of my Custom Dalek collection! During lockdown making Custom Daleks was one of the few things keeping me sane, and I am proud to present the latest in a series of posts showcasing the newest additions to my ever-growing collection. These Daleks are based on several ideas I had for potential Dalek ranks existing during the Time War and post-Time War era of Dalek history, combined with several experiments with alternate Dalek colour palettes using the updated Time War Dalek figure sculpt. Although the TV Series itself has been reluctant to include colourful variations of the New Series Dalek design, Big Finish have been including some interesting designs on the cover art of their Time War audios and some of these have inspired the basic colour layouts on these Daleks, to see more Custom Daleks that are directly inspired by Big Finish cover art, check out the previous instalment of my Custom Dalek Collection Showcase.
Time War Dalek Strategist
During the Time War, hundreds of Daleks were enhanced with temporal genetic engineering that allowed them to better understand the intricate subtleties of the Time Vortex and its infinite potential, and many as a result developed severe God Complexes. Uniquely for individual Daleks, Time War Strategists were known to make extensive modifications to their casings for purely aesthetic reasons – in some cases violating the most ancient of Dalek ranking convention to adorn themselves in elaborate casings. Human researchers who study Dalek ‘culture’ admit that these are perhaps the closest thing the Daleks have to ‘artists’.
This custom was created using one of the Dalek Interrogator Prime figures from the B&M Doctor and Dalek 2-packs sets, painted with bronze paint on the midsection slats, middle band and a selective number of hemispheres, and white paint on the dome with the detailing highlighted with thin black permanent marker.
Dalek Davros Guard
The Time War saw Davros propelled to a unique position of power among the Dalek hierarchy. Whilst they had previously shunned his attempts to modify or ‘improve’ the Dalek genome, dire straits during the darkest days of the war led to the Daleks taking extensive measures to ensure their own survival and they eventually turned to their ancient, long-estranged creator for help. As a result, Davros not only allowed to continue his experiments, he was even given his own Command Ship complete with devoted guards who altered their casings to emulate their creator. Unfortunately for Davros, this arrangement was short-lived, as his ship would be devoured by the Nightmare Child in the first year of the War, though unlike his guards he would be saved at the last moment by an insane Dalek Caan, leaving his devotees to meet their fiery end.
This custom was painted using black and silver Citadel paint applied using a regular sized brush, though a smaller brush was used for touching up the details. The dome was painted black initially and then covered with many coats of silver dry-brushing, giving it the look of scuffed metal.
Dalek Justiciar
Despite extensive propaganda suggesting otherwise, internal dissent within the Dalek Empire is a semi-regular problem for the Daleks, particularly on their production-plant worlds. In some facilities tens of millions of Daleks are grown and fused with their casings in a single day, and every once in a while Daleks are born with a tiny seed of conspiratory dissent that, if left unchecked, eventually germinates into fully-fledged treachery. As such, each Dalek planet has at least one active Justiciar, who is given full authority to exterminate any Daleks that show any signs of dangerous thinking before they reach maturity. Sporting striking red livery and capable of accessing any level of a Dalek production facility with unlimited access, Justiciars are ruthless and are known to exterminate other Daleks on a whim for the most minor of transgressions. As a result they are shunned by their own kind, and often isolate themselves leading many to develop unusual personality traits that ironically resemble the very quirks that they were assigned to root out.
This custom was created using an Axis Strike Squad Dalek with the black dome and hemispheres repainted with red Citadel paint, and then touched over with flecks of black and silver to give the impression that this Dalek is ancient. The custom was also given a grey wash to enhance this effect by adding a weathered effect.
Dalek Platoon Leader
Moving away from the more unorthodox Dalek ranks that have been showcased in this post thus far, the Dalek Platoon Leader is a somewhat more common rank of Dalek, as usually hundreds are involved in the process of a planetary invasion, though they are often spread out to co-ordinate Dalek attacks on important military targets. Distinguished by the black highlights to an otherwise standard Dalek casing with a silver dome, Platoon Leaders have advanced command processing units and can receive tactical information from and relay orders to several Dalek Assault Squads at once in real-time, all while personally participating in ground assaults as a front-line unit. A Platoon Leader would have been responsible for each of the Dalek attacks on important Human military installations during the Medusa Cascade incident, and thousands of these Daleks were said to have been destroyed leading their brethren into battle against the Doctor at the Siege of Trenzalore.
This custom was created using another Axis Strike Squad Dalek, this time with more black detailing added covering the midsection slats and middle band. The dome was dry-brushed with silver paint to add a metallic effect, and the entire custom was given a wash with grey paint to add a grime effect to the casing.
Sacred Icon 