Doctor Who 1963-64 (Completed)

[Michka]

These are terrific! I like your present Doctor Who thread, but this original series stuff is where it's at for me. Great compromise between black and white and color. 

[anevilgiraffe]

superb stuff... your swamp creature is perfect

[shadowking1957]

brilliant all of it..........

[Steve F]

Thanks, folks.

Now the obligatory "sources" post (boring, I know, but it helps me to keep track).

There are lots of on-set colour photos of Daleks and Thals from this story, which are what I have used unless otherwise noted.  There seems only to have been one colour photo taken of a Thal cloak, and it looks a different shade of grey-blue in each of the 4 or 5 different reproductions I've seen; I've gone for something at the bluer end.  The photos show that the ground in the petrified forest was the studio floor scattered with brown fuller's earth: I've disregarded this for something more appropriately ashen.

Picture 1; Daleks.  These are Harlequin DW303 Daleks, with the side-slats on the "shoulder section" filed and filled away and a new horizontal band puttied on.  I've also sanded the base section a little thinner.

Picture 2  The Dalek casing on the left has also had its sucker arm replaced by a cutting tool made of brass rod and putty.  The Thal cape wrapping the Dalek creature is made from putty embossed with a home-made stamp.  The hand is made from two Citadel Lizardmen skink claws.  There is no colour photo of this.  Designer Ray Cusick was asked by a newspaper shortly afterwards to provide an illustration of what was inside a Dalek.  He painted it a fleshy orange colour.  But I have opted instead to follow a number of cues from the description in David Whitaker's book Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks through to the 7th Doctor's reference in "Remembrance of the Daleks" to "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour".  The decisive factor may have been the strong instruction from Terrance Dicks: "Gween!  The colour for monsters is gween!"

Picture 3 Alydon is Harelquin DW118 "Alydon the Thal" with just a few corrections: a change to the tunic pattern (the quilted section should not extend to the waist), fastenings, anklets, sandals and a wristband.  Ganatus is DW118 with its head turned and a coil of rope from the Citadel Mordheim accessory sprue.  Temmosus is probably the worst conversion I've done in years, using a Wargames Factory Zulu body (the tubby one) as a dummy and a Hasslefree spare head.  No blame should attach to either company!

Picture 4  Dyoni is a Hasslefree concubine, plus putty and a fuse-wire head-dress.  The male Thal in a cloak is another repositioned DW118 with added putty wrap.  The female Thal in a cloak is a redressed Copplestone cavewoman.  The head-dress this time is made from thin brass rod - easier to do and more robust, but a bit clunky.

Picture 5  The Magneton (which seems to be the BBC's preferred spelling these days) was build over the dog on the Citadel plastic Brettonian command sprue.  Ray Cusick's design drawing specifies a pewter colour.  The bug creature was actually an inserted piece of stock footage of a caterpillar.  I made mine from putty and painted it in the colours of a swallowtail caterpillar I found pictured on the net, just because I liked them.  I guessed its size from the facts that (a) it had to be large enough to scare Barbara; but (b) it had to be small enough for Ian to stomp on it.  Colour footage of the swamp creature (which I scratchbuilt) can be found in a documentary included as an extra on the DVD of "The Chase", about Shawcraft, the company subcontracted by the BBC to make many of the early Doctor Who props.  The foliage was cut from aquarium plants and old toothbrush bristles.

[Steve F]

The Edge of Destruction / The Brink of Disaster

This story used only the regular cast and was set entirely inside the TARDIS, so this seems like a good point to post a TARDIS console.

[Colonel Tubby]

Somehow I've managed to miss this thread! 

A great collection you're building up there and the 'source' notes your including are a great idea!

Can't wait to follow series (yes series not seasons!) 1 through to the end.

[Michka]

I'm impressed you got the details of the time rotor so accurate. Very good color choices too. Most excellent.

[carrma]

Nice work on the rotor!  Is that clear acrylic or resin?

[uti long smile]

A nice addition.

[Chairface]

Great stuff SteveF. I'm really enjoying this thread.

[Dezmond]

Do you have any suggestions on painting British policemen?

I have been having trouble getting my blue dark enough.

[Steve F]

Thanks, folks.

The console and its plinth come from the Harlequin DW1004 TARDIS box set.  As it comes, the console has no underside, so I added one using a conveniently-sized "glow in the dark shape" hexagon from the front of Doctor Who Adventures comic (this doesn't show in the photos).  I added support struts to the console above and below with plastruct rods, and a low raised guard around the central column from slivers of plasticard.  I had to widen the hole in the middle of the console to make room for the tube I used.

The central column was cut from the protective tube from a paint brush, topped by a circle cut from a blister pack.  The instruments inside were made from the same bit of blister pack, some partially painted, and some transparent plastic rod clustered round a brass wire core painted silver.

This is intended to be the version of the console used from An Unearthly Child in 1963 through to Inferno Episode 7 in 1970, so in its last year it appeared in colour on TV, and I have used the colours seen then (although when it was painted pale green in 1963, it was intended to represent white, but avoiding excessive reflection from the studio lights).  The sculpted controls don't match the actual layout, but I think that they catch the right spirit.

Do you have any suggestions on painting British policemen?

I have been having trouble getting my blue dark enough.

I find that the trick is to paint British police uniforms black, and just add a little blue to the highlighting mix.

Go and stare at a policeman, and you'll see that the only reason the uniform looks blue at all is by contrast to the pure black of the nylon cover of the stab-proof vest. 

[Steve F]

“Marco Polo”

The Roof of the World / The Singing Sands / Five Hundred Eyes / The Wall of Lies / Rider from Shang-Tu / Mighty Kublai Khan / Assassin at Peking.


You know, it occurs to me that, just maybe, not everyone reading this has perfect recall of of old TV serials broadcast almost 50 years ago (and which, in many cases, exist only in fragmentary sources).  So perhaps I’d better explain who’s who as I go along.

So, our heroes find themselves on a journey across Cathay in 1289.




Tegana, envoy from the Mongol warlord Noghai to the court of Kublai Khan.  He’s up to no good.

Marco Polo, in the service of Kublai Khan, but hoping to persuade the emperor to allow him to return to Venice by bribing him with the gift of the Doctor’s “flying caravan”.

Ping-Cho, being taken by Marco to her arranged marriage to an elderly court official.




Bearers and pack animals from Marco’s caravan.




Acomat, agent of Noghai in Tun-Huang, with Mongol bandits, who attack Marco’s caravan.




More Mongol bandits and guards.




At Tun-Huang: Chenchu, way station attendant, and Malik, Acomat’s elderly henchman.




Ling-Tau, dispatch rider from the emperor.  At Cheng-Ting: Wang Lo, manager of the way station and Kuiju, a crook who defrauds Ping-Cho and assists Tegana.




At the imperial court: a vizier and palace guards.




Kublai Khan, war lord of war lords, mighty and fearful in his strength, ruler of Asia, India, Cathay and other territories, Master of the World, martyr to rheumatism and gout.

Dwarf, holding the backgammon board on which the Doctor and Kublai Khan gamble for possession of the TARDIS.

The Empress, who has some bad news for Ping-Cho.

[Timotl]

Fantastic! Great miniatures all around. I especially like the Thalls and the Marco Polo stuff. What a great idea, such fun!

[oxiana]

Steve – the mind boggles at the scope of this project, and your enthusiasm in carrying it off!

Marco Polo is particularly great – you've got Mark Eden nailed! Lovely work on Ping-Cho and Kublai Khan too. You could push these around a table in time lapse and do your own recon... 

Looking forward to Marinus!