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Librarian-bot β A Dalek Cutaway
Published: 2013-12-20 07:53:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 14449; Favourites: 191; Downloads: 142
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And a Merry Christmas to all of you at home!Here's my Christmas present to all you Dalek aficionados out there - this is what the new version of the model was all about: creating something I could slice open. That said, this is very much a first pass and given my inexperience with Blender's sculpt tool, as far as the creature is concerned, a fairly primitive attempt. But I set myself a firm deadline of today to get this finished and I'm pretty pleased with what I've managed to cram in in the meantime.
Inspiration acknowledgements must go to Peter McKinstry for his wonderful cross-section of a Dead Planet original, which you can find on his website: www.petermckinstry.com/page5.hβ¦
And, as usual, I own everything in this image except the rights to Doctor Who and the Daleks.
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Comments: 54
Hi - sorry for not responding much sooner; this dropped to the bottom of my messages more quickly than I expected.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no. At the moment, I'm focusing on my writing so I don't really have the capacity spare to do that idea justice. Sorry about that.
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That's OK. Thanks, though 
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It is largely based on official art of one kind or another. As I noted in the blurb, I was heavily inspired by Peter McKinstry's cutaway that was properly published in 'A History of the Universe in 100 Objects', but I did incorporate other cross-sections from various sources and made a few things up entirely!
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I've got "A History of the Universe in 100 Objects"
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Yes- interesting combonation of new and old characteristics in this Dalek variant. Very cool.
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This is really amazing work. I'm not a 3D model maker myself, so I can't imagine how hard it was to create all that detail. And I like how these Daleks are halfway between the original props and the modern Dalek props, so they look authentic AND realistic, like a metal machine of death that they couldn't be in the episodes.
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there is a moment in into the dalek where it shows the inside of a dalek theyre very simmilar!
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I guess the set designers must have looked at the same cutaways I did when I was putting this together
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Your welcome. Wonderful cutaway, by the way.Β
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-and interestingly, if you look at some of those NPD toys, they deviate again from the onscreen-thing and revert back to a more shawcraft styled base, e.g., s286.photobucket.com/user/dacaβ¦
Its one tiny step to improving the thing.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing what you eventually throw up! (onto this site, I mean, not in a "I forgot to put the chicken back in the freezer" way).
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-heyup; keeping well?
Just wondering when you were going to post some of your new-fangled new-and-improved New Paradigm Daleks you said were in the works? You've been honing that model for so long and every new iteration looks better and better (though, it must be said, every new iteration seems to bring the silhouette closer to the Shawcraft and away from the McKinstry...)
Actually - having really studied the McKinstry for a while (since their 2010 debut I guess), and having considered it... I just find them incredibly frustrating in their attempt to alter the classic geometry in a bid that was paradoxically so, so close to success, yet so, so far off the mark and dashed by an ultimately ungainly and warped real-life build. To this end, I've sort of come up with a theory; while the shoulders are constantly lamented for being too compacted and humped, and the base too tall, as if the two were designed independently of each other (as I think they were in the actual build), I'd actually go so far as to say what really ruined it was none of these.
The base itself is conical, and I think this is actually what buggers the whole thing. Yet while the effect is obvious, the cause - that circular base - is not so obvious from any photo profile except the bird's-eye view in the concept art and some from-the-back high angled photos. I'd actually wager that if the base were more like a Shawcraft or Imperial base where the sides are parallel to each other, the front panels angle in sharply while theΒ back is quite straight at a right angle to the sides, then the whole design would have been so, so much closer to actually working. I have no idea why they went for that circle base; I am wondering if McKinstry's art style is somewhat toΒ blame - when he draws actual Daleks, he seems to draw them fromΒ memory and the results are interestingly inconsistent. I am wondering if some in the BBC art dept. interpreted that loose style as aΒ fully rounded base when McKinstry didn't actually intend that?Β Its an interesting ponder anyway, I think.
As much as I ultimately dislike the silhouette of the New Paradigm Daleks, I am rather fond of the actual trimmings and features on the casing themselves, and its a mixed blessing that its given the Dalek fans something interesting to think about and ultimately try to fix (Mechmaster comes close with the True Paradigm, but that base is still circular and for me that dashes it).
All of which, I guess, is a longwinded way of saying I am looking forward to seeing what you throw up next, in terms of any Daleks (or Cybermen!)
Best,
Eddy
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Hi there!
Having spent a little time studying the birds-eye view myself - something I've never done much before now, weirdly - I think you've hit the nail on the head. One of the wonderful things about the Cusick original is that, purely out of the necessity of giving the operator some leg room, it ended up as an aggressive wedge, jabbing forward rather like the prow of a ship. It's actually a fairly subtle effect but it does help create the impression this is a weapon of war COMING RIGHT AT YOU. The NDP and the Imperial Daleks don't have that so much. They're more upright and lose that swept forward, hunched down menace. The NDP, as you say, compounds this by being smoothed off around both front and back. It blunts them and makes them look, well, less Daleky.
The original concept definitely has more of a slant to it and has a far more oblong base, rounded but definitely not ovoid. Who knows why it was changed, but it does seem to have been a mistake.
I'm working on some Daleks at the moment, hope to have them done by the end of the week. The improved NDP model is mostly fixed - it's all 'internal' changes so no visual difference but a cleaner model - and will come in handy. I've been trying to focus on writing lately, which is why I haven't been posting much, but I really should finish some of my WIPs!
All the best,
L-B
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I find your terminology horrible.
There is no "birds-eye view"-
The Dalek would exterminate the bird.
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Hmmm.. so how does this work? Does the mutant operate all of the casing's functions (mobility, sight, appendages, head, etc.) through that neural interface?
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The way I built it, the neural interface links the mutant into the sensory and computer systems, but the arm and gun are operated directly with tentacles. The limbs that go into the sockets behind the arms are meant to have claws on them ala The Dead Planet/Remembrance of the Daleks, but I ran out of time and didn't model those in the end. The idea is the mutant has two truly functional limbs (the remnants of arms) with everything else as vestigial and capable of little more than flapping a bit.
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The only problem I have with these cutaways is that in the first movie and the TV show (Planet of the Daleks), we are shown a person climbing into the casing and having room inside.
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Yeah, I thought about that but eventually decided not to try and accommodate that. Maybe when I do a version for the Dead Planet variant I'll try and build it so someone could get in but for this, I took inspiration from versions of the interior that did not leave space for that.
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Very nice, indeed. And I know a dalek inside and out, having built a 2005 NSD.
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amazing render! you never disappoint 
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As I replied to your note, I use Blender (just posting here in case anyone's curious!)
Thanks for your comment!
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My pleasure! Did you buy the DVD tutorials or are you self taught?
Jeremy
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I've used a few online tutorials and I do have a book about it, although I haven't really started using it yet!
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Online meaning the youtube ones? I guess it's all about having a play around? i want to learn as much as I can but want to avoid buying anything
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A few on youtube, a few on BlenderCookie or BlenderGuru. There's plenty of stuff out there - given that the software's free, you can find a lot of the tutorials for free as well
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-so, you have some *new* NDP Daleks on the backburner? You do modify your model a lot, but I love all the variations you invent there! You always improve yourself.
Β
I was rather curious - to that end, I've actually sketched up a 2d model myself, which is heavily influenced by your work, but a bit tweaked (its basically your model with an imperial-style skirt, and the gunboxes follow the angle of the skirt so they still extend out from the less steep midsection, but not in a way where a jarring angle breaks the flow of the whole). I was wondering if you'd like to see? Its SIMPLY pen-on-paper and a Very Simple diagram, but it makes sense and I think you'd like it... if I should upload or not..?
Β
Anyway, looking forward to what you throw up next!
Β
E
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Heh. The new NDP is a new model rather than a new design - I'm just tidying up the geometry of the mesh - a bit boring but something I need to do!
And definitely upload the design - I always like seeing new takes on Daleks!
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Wow this looks awesome, great job. Is this something you might do to other Dalek models sometime down the road?Β
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A few of them. Probably not all of them though!
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I agree- I look forward to seeing more of these!
This has the right combo of detail v. simplicity, so it looks very advanced!
Are you going to do more of these, perhaps even have a stab at one of your New Paradigm Daleks?
E
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Certainly! The NDP is top of the list to get this treatment next. I actually started with that model before realising it would be smarter to tackle this version first (if only because of this being the far more common skirt type!)
As I've said to another commenter, though, I'll probably not be doing it for all of the variants. Although, thinking about it, I should probably do the Imperial Dalek due to that being internally distinct as well as externally....
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Also, since DA is stupid and won't let me edit or delete comments, what's the purpose of the thing between the gun and the sucker?
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I'm not sure if I'll do it for *all* my versions. Maybe the Dead Planet style and possibly the Time War, although the New Paradigm is the next one I plan on tackling (I've already started the modelling for it and it plays into another set of planned models...)
The thing between the arms is designed to mimic the oval on the outside and is the vocaliser - I figure that's as good an explanation for the oval panel as anything!
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Are you going to do this for ALL the Daleks, or just the one?
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I very much look forward to seeing how the internal structure of your Daleks evolves over time along with their exteriors.
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Fantastic, amazing work.
It's great to see all the connections going on within the Dalek from its top into the brain and all the balls on the outside.
Just as it was described...somewhere that currently escapes me. The Doctor Who Technical Manual maybe?
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This design is based on a combination of Peter McKinstry's cutaway from 'A History of the Universe in 100 Objects' and this image: 1.bp.blogspot.com/-o-iMUMiuGFgβ¦
I am not entirely sure where the latter comes from but the art makes me suspect it's from the 1960s Dalek Book.
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Are we having an anatomy lesson on how these new revamped daleks work?
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Oh, definitely. But it'll have to wait until the new year when I'm back with my main rendering computer!
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Now that's just brilliant. And a first pass? Looking forward to how this evolves.
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Finally! A detailed and actually good looking dalek cross section! Amazing!
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