Queen tribute band tickets (2000)

I designed these tickets in 2000 (bloody hell, that 7 years ago) for a Queen tribute band that played in Aberdare, South Wales (I worked near there once upon a time). They are business-card size and I based the design of the first one on the colour scheme for Queen's Greatest Hits 2. The second one is is pretty much the same design but with a different colour scheme and diffrerent effects. I used CorelDraw8 and Corel PhotoPaint8 for these. These days I am using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop CS2 (far superior!)

Hi-fis, Daleks and smoke alarms - 3D modelling (1996)

Here are two images that I created in 1996 on 3D Studio version 3. The first two images are based the hi-fi that I owned at the time. It was a nice easy one to do as the geometry was relatively simple to model. The third image is of some Daleks. They are slightly inaccurate because I modelled them completely from memory without a visual reference. More recently (about 2 years ago) I modelled a much more accurate Dalek using a 3D package called Autodesk Inventor 9. I used the Dalek Builder's Guild plans for reference so the new model is faithful to the original props. I never completed the model (it is about 80% finished), but I will shortly post some images of my "virtual Dalek build". The final image is a wireframe of a a smoke alarm moulding that I modelled for some reason.

SF Fantasy Cardiff (SFFC)

SF Fantasy Cardiff (SFFC) was a Cardiff-based group that evolved from the DWAS (Doctor Who Appreciation Society) Cardiff Local Group (CLG). I was a member in the early days and even helped to organise it a bit before I finally lost interest in about 1992! I designed a logo and poster (pictured) which was used to advertise the group locally. They were primarily displayed in Cardiff's central library and in the Forbidden Planet shop.

The Cardiff Local Group became the SFFC in an attempt to boost membership. Interest in Doctor Who had waned considerably following the cancellation of the series in 1989, and it was decided that we should "branch out" into general Science Fiction and fantasy in order to survive. Most members already liked Star Trek: The Next Generation and Blakes 7 so why not? Personally I wasn't so passionate about much apart from Doctor Who, but the idea made sense. And so the Cardiff Local Group was reborn as the SFFC. Admittedly it was a wasn't a great name, and it made us sound like some kind or regulatory authority rather than than a a group of teenage sci-fi enthusiasts, but for some reason it stuck, and I believe that it continued for a few years after my departure from the group. Eventually the SFFC transformed into a group called Timeless, that is still running to this day. A much better name I think!

SF Fantasy Cardiff publications

The SFFC had two regular publications when I was a member. Firstly, it had its own fanzine called CSO, named after the usually dodgy Colour Separation Overlay effect used in many episodes of Doctor Who for back-projection (by the way, CSO was refered to as Chromakey by the entire world apart from the BBC for some strange reason). I put together the first issue of CSO myself (pictured) with the aid of contributiors from the group, I don't know who designed/edited the second issue. I'm pretty certain that there was a second one, but it was after I left the group and I never saw it. If anyone one has a copy, please email me some .jpegs and I'll update this post.

The second publication was simply called The Newsletter (pictured), this was simply a continuation of the CLG's former publication of the same name. As with CSO, I put together the first SFFC one (issue 13) - a really simple 2 pager, and somebody else handled the more substantial future issues after me. The cover of issues 16 and 17 are also pictured below as examples.

Above: "The Newsletter". L-R: Issue 13 (my issue), issue 16 and issue 17.

Sontaran drawing (done in 1990)

This is a drawing I did in 1990 that I thought I'd scan in and post just for the hell of it. It's a Doctor Who related one featuring some bad dudes called Sontarans.

I drew this because I intended it to be the front cover of a Doctor Who fanzine, Cybernetix, I was doing as a teenager back in the late '80s / early '90s (pictured below). I'll post more about the fanzine at a later date, but basically I was a member of the Cardiff DWAS Local Group (or the CLG) and several members contributed articles and it ran for 3 issues and one "special issue" (which wasn't actually that "special" really - more of an attempt to use up the remaining material). This artwork was intended to be the cover of a 4th issue that I never got around to doing for some reason - probably because I was in sixth-form and had discovered pubs etc.

I remember that the "in" technique at the time with "Who" fan artists was to make up drawings from thousands of tiny ink dots. I suppose the main reason for this is that the artwork photocopies extremely well if it is drawn in this way (pencil drawings once photocopied always look rubbish). The other reason is this technique is quite forgiving in that you can conceal errors easily by increasing dot-density in dodgy areas. This drawing was one of my numerous attempts at the "Whofan multi-dot" style. I must admit that to draw things in this way is a bitch to do - it takes absolutely forever and it makes your hand go numb. I do however think that the results are quite nice.

Some Doctor Who fanzines I made during the late '80s/early '90s - 4 issue of "Cybernetix" and issue 1 of "CSO"

SEVANS Dalek models - readers' Daleks.

Here's some SEVANS models pics sent in by Outpost Gallifreyan, Ben Flay.

The Dalek is a hybrid of three separate kits! - A MK1, Mk2 and MK3. The dome and shoulers are from an original Mk1 kit, the neck is from a Mk2, and the skirt from a MK3. Ben has had it for about 10 years. The reason why it's made from three kits is because Ben found that the quality of the plastic was poor and only managed to get one decent Dalek by combining all three kits together (this is another great example of how damn difficult the things were to put together!). The Dalek is a generic '70s Dalek rather than an episode specific one. It is due for a refit soon as the glue has dried out and the paint has suffered. It looks damn good if you ask me, though. I think the battle scarred look works pretty well.

Below are some photos of Ben's MK1 Davros. This was also a hard kit to make. It is the Micheal Wisher version. Ben added lights and extra deals to the interior panels. The kit is even older than the Dalek (from around '87), and the skirt needs repainting (a bit faded because it was kept on the bedroom windowsill for a bit).


Do you have a Sevans Dalek you'd like to share? Go on send in a pic! You know you want to.

All images in this post are copyright Ben Flay ©2007.

Photo of the day: The joys of commuting 2

Here's a few more pics that I took the other day that I thought I'd post (click to enlarge). I guess they capture some snippets of the "excitement" of commuting from Cambridge to London on a daily basis. The first shot is the sun coming up over the railway at Cambridge train station at 7:15am. The other two shots are of the entrance to the tube at Kings Cross in the morning, and the platform at Kings Cross on the way back home in the evening. I was thinking that maybe one day I might record some "sounds of the day" and compile them into a song or something - something weird like a kind of audio commuter's nightmare. I imagine that it will probably come out like Pink Floyd's "On the Run" off "Dark Side of the Moon"!

Photo of the day: The joys of commuting

For some reason I felt compelled to take my camera to capture anything on my commute to London that might be interesting. I don't know how this amazing idea popped into my head when I awoke at 6:30am because I am usually incapable of rational thought for at least 3 hours after I get out of bed.

I took this photo at King's Cross just as I was about to enter the underground at 8:15am. Actually its a bit quieter than usual this week. I think that many people are on holiday.

Photo of the day: Train sunset

There was a pretty amazing sunset this evening. I took this photo on the train coming back to Cambridge from London. Looking at it now on the PC, I wish I didn't cut off the ground as much as I did. I guess I was too distracted by the clouds at the time to notice.

Sevans Dalek models - videos!

Here's two videos that I made just before I flogged my grey Sevans Dalek on eBay last year. The first one I did just for a laugh, the second is one that did specifically for the auction in the hope that it would help to sell it better.

My Sevans Dalek before I eBayed it last year!

Here's a few pics of my Sevans Dalek before it was flogged on eBay in November 2006! As you can see, it was a bit of a wreck compared to how it looked when it started off life in the mid '80s (click here and here to see how it used to look).









It was repainted and modified many times, and dropped a few times! The cat knocked it off a window sill a couple of years ago, almost destroying it completely! He also enjoyed pulling out the sink-plunger! These thumbnails link to some pretty big images. I have a video of this Dalek floating about somewhere that I might upload at a later date...

TARDIS console model

I came across a couple of photos of this cardboard model I made in the mid '80s. I think I made it when I was 13 or 14 years old (click to enlarge). It's the late Tom Baker / early Peter Davison TARDIS console. I believe I scaled it from the "Doctor Who Technical Manual". I remember that it didn't take too long to build.

Sevans Dalek models: More photos

As a follow-up to my original post about my old Sevans Daleks I have dug out a few more photos of them (click to enlarge). I took these when I was about 12 years old in the mid '80s. I have to say that these pics make me feel terribly nostalgic. I built the grey one with my father. I will post some more pics soon of the grey one. That one survived until last year when I sold it on eBay. It was in a terrible state.

Just to clarify, I had two Sevans Daleks. One was painted up as a "Resurrection" model, and the other was gold and silver. It was later repainted silver/blue (an "Evil of the Daleks" version. One of the photos below shows before/after this happened.