A TRIO of avid Dr Who fans have built their own dalek.
Richard Clark, from Pinehurst, has been a follower of the series since he was a child and built his first dalek out of paper and cardboard, when he was 14 and went to Ferndale School in Swindon.
Today he is the main carer for his son Chris, 16, who suffers from ASD and Asperger’s syndrome, and for the last five months they have been creating their own mobile dalek that Chris can ride in and operate.
“I am a bit of an inventor,’’ said Richard.
“We went to Cardiff’s Dr Who exhibition and to the International Air Tattoo last year with the Dalek Building Guild where Chris drove around in one for most of the day. He loves the dalek.’’
Richard, Chris and his eldest son Steve created their dalek with a head that rotates, an eye that moves up and down and a body that is propelled by wheelchair motors.
And Richard found an electronic buffer at a scrap yard, spiining it to polish the dalek’s head to a high gloss.
Creating the voice box was rather tricky as they had to research it on the internet and then build it from scratch, including inventing the tools they needed to build it.
Chris says that it is his grandmother, Mary Clark, who had made it all possible by putting money into the project to help them buy the soldering iron and wire and even the nuts and bolts.
Richard is a bit of a wizard at creating and has built many things in the back garden including an extended bike for Chris to ride that was 9ft long.
Even mum Joanne was roped in to the Dr Who world of her men folk as she had to knit Tom Baker-style scarves when they were little.
Richard is planning to take the dalek along to charity fundraising events particularly if they are for children.
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