Small update, the claw is sanded and primed... ready for paint.

I've done a bit more work on the claw this morning... I had some thin MDF sat in the kitchen that I was going to cut down to make the hinges but something caught my eye in the recycling pile... we have a Nescafe coffee machine that uses little plastic pods to make the drink, and the bottom of the pod is round with a hole in the middle and by coincidence the right size to make the hinges at the base of each claw. So I've trimmed them down and stuck them on and feeling a bit pleased with this find. I've also glued in the clear tubing, and glued a milk bottle top and some 30mm clear acrylic tube to the back that will form the bit that fits to the main Dalek arm, and also provide a base for the clear tubes - along with some plastic caps I found to add detail to the surface of the hemi that the tubes fit into. It's drying now, and then a sand before paint.

The gun & arm ball joints are now painted, two coats of primer and about four coats of satin black car paint - I used the same on the NSD which haven't scratched as yet... and I covered the gun with chrome stick back plastic leaving the tip clear. Plan is to light this later on... just need to paint the collars and glue the rods in place.

I'd been toying with making a POTW claw for a while now for my NSD but not gotten round to it, and I have a plunger in the garage for this Dalek but I really like the Movie Dalek claws... so a quandary & an answer...

I can use the plunger if this Dalek ever goes out to play, it's rubber and can take the bumps... but for home, I first thought I'd make a Movie claw. After a chat with another builder, he said to me why I don't I make a NSD-Movie hybrid claw to go with the overall concept... great idea.

So... I got one my broken hemi's out and drilled a 8mm hole for a bolt to hold it to the arm. Filled this hemi about halfway with P40 making sure there was loads around the bolt, and strengthened both hemis with some more.

Once it was dry, I cut three slots across the joint to hold three 6mm MDF claw 'halves' I jigsaw'd out, stuck the claw sections in using more P40 and then glued the two halves of the hemi together. Once it had set, I drilled a hole in the front centre, and three more behind each claw. I then filled it with expanding foam and its now sat upstairs drying with foam dribbling from the holes as it expands.

I've also cut some car window washer tubing which will be glued into the holes behind the claws with some nuts, with the other end fixed into some kind of collar around the main bolt - and the hole at the front may get a broken drill bit fixed in when the hole is filled. I'll add some detail around each claw as well so they look hinged, mirroring the POTW claw.

I'll probably paint the ball the same grey that I'm using for the Dalek body, with silver claws and detail...

Having drilled out some 100mm clear acrylic balls, just like I did with the NSD I've filled the gun & arm 'balls' with P40 filler - which firstly sticks them to the tubing, and secondly gives them the strength to be fixed nice and tight in the clamps. Why two arms? ...the arm on the NSD was not the right diameter so I've made a new one to replace it...

Whilst searching for some 38mm tubing, I found an off-cut of 38mm aluminium tube, with a 3.2mm wall, on eBay. The section of 32mm tubing left over from the NSD fits perfectly into this and the 25mm tube will slide into this with a bush to keep it smooth.

Not sure yet if it will be a claw or a sucker...

4th April 2009

A 50cm length of 30mm clear acrylic tubing, a clear acrylic 100mm ball, a 32mm plumbers elbow joint and 3 meters of 4mm aluminium rod... an hour later and a Dalek gun is born...

The plan is to have a 30cm section of chrome tube inside the clear tube so it will retain its bulk, but allow me to have some high output LEDs in the ball section to light the outside and end of the clear pipe when exterminating...!

The white collars will be painted with Humbrol metallic enamel paints that can be polished to look like metal, and the ball filled with P40 and painted black as per the NSD.