Day 124 - The stack shot of stack shots

Remember this?  This was my first stack shot, featuring the first part to be completed—the skirt—along with the two objects that set the bar for me on this build: actual Heronrib matting, and actual Moflash lens covers.  If I was going to build a Dalek, by damned I was going to make an accurate one.

Well, before I get to all of that, I'll talk a bit about some final touch-up stuff I worked on.  I had a can of black spray liner that ChristmasDalek gave me quite awhile back, and I used this to dab onto the bare grooves that I cut into the fender.  I sprayed a glob onto some paper, and used a sponge brush to tap the liner onto the groove.  It worked pretty good!

Once that was dried, I focused on attaching the socket head cap screws I bought specially for the fender panels.  I searched and failed to find an official measurement for these bolts, so I just looked at photos and eyeballed it.  Basically I just measured 1cm in from the groove line and the top, and 1cm from the groove and 1.5cm from the bottom.  Then I pre-drilled a hole slightly smaller than the screw, and twisted the screw in.

My first foray into gunbox felt lining wasn't too successful, so I tried a different method this time.  I bought little adhesive felt pads and attached eight of them to the interior of the gunbox and the retention plate.  I was going to use contact cement for those, but their own adhesive backing with seemed to work fine; plus, they will be compressed together when they surround the gazing globes.

I also applied weatherstripping to the fender and the skirt.  Even though I cleaned the surfaces, it lifted up in places.  The compression of Rainier's separate components against each other should be enough pressure, but I can always go back and try reinforcing the bond with contact cement.

Oh, speaking of contact cement, I did have to use some for one of my plungers.  Somehow, the rubber split in the stem, right at the point where the bolt head is imbedded.  Apparently, that's a weak spot, and the rubber is rigid enough to "break".  I re-attached it by coating both ends with contact cement, letting them dry for about 15 minutes, and then sticking them together.  The bond seems sound.

And I finally got to attach the gunbox details!  These were beautifully cut aluminum pieces traded from gregg.nowling, far better than the laser-cut baltic birch ones that I originally intended to use.  The latter split slightly when I was trying to widen the bolt holes.  To attach the metal ones to the gunboxes, I did the same thing as I did for the fender details; pre-drilling holes and then attaching the screws.

Then, I re-attached the plunger and gun arms, screwed on the shoulder slats, and covered the screws with chrome plastic caps.  I attached all the bumps and oil seals.  I re-attached the rotation plates and lazy suzan to the now-painted neck section, screwed in the pivot mounts and pivot onto the top plate, put the dome on, attached the eyestalk ...

... and with that, Rainier was externally complete.  And I wasn't prepared for that.  All of a sudden, I had a complete Dalek standing before me!

But before I get to that glorious stack shot, here are some up-close photos:

I only really have minor quibbles:

• the neck blocks wound up being a bit fuzzy from PVA-sealing, and I didn't do a great job sanding them back
• the slat edges are a lot more noticeable than I thought they would be, should have cut rabbets (rebates) into a wider faceplate
• there's a gap between the skirt and the fender (the weatherstripping hides this a bit), but the skirt bottom is ever-so-slightly warped like a rocking chair
• some missed pockmarks in the dome cowl front
• the dome is sitting a little too high (likely due to fiberglass reinforcement on the inner plate mounts)

But overall, damn.  He looks good:

Next up: mostly just invisible stuff.  Weatherstripping and attaching the shoulders to the neck; building a bench (although a standard aluminum folding chair fits nicely inside); cut access holes into the dome rotation plates; somehow getting the dome to sit a little lower, maybe by sanding back the resin on the inner dome inserts.

Oh, and also all the lighting and electronics.