A Dumfries man with a passion for building life size Daleks is retiring from his hobby after more than 20 years.
Gordon Hepburn, 65, says he has built his last enemy of TV hero Dr Who and will be selling it off to a good home in the next few weeks.
He said: “I retired to Dumfries recently after working managing estates in England and also as an engineer, so there’s not enough room to keep building them.
“Working as a private estates manager for the last 15 or 16 years I had access to a big shed to use for my passion to build Daleks as my hobby.
“I never worked on the TV studio sets or anything like that. It is a labour of love.
“I started building them after my daughters gave me a model for my Christmas back in 2000 so I have been building them ever since and selling them. But it is not a business and I only sell them to the right person.”
Mr Hepburn’s Daleks are 5ft 3in tall and 4ft wide at the base and made out of fibreglass and aluminium . They come complete with flashing lights to accompany the voice modules which will repeat the owners’ commands complete with robotic commands such as the infamous trademark orders of “exterminate” and “destroy”.
He added: “I have built eight or nine over the years and sold them from £2,300 to £2,400. But there was a young guy about 20 who wanted to buy one and was starting out on a film directing career and he was the right guy for it. I sold it to him for just £1,700 so I lost £700 on the deal but it was more important that it went to the right person.
“So now I am bringing the curtain down on the hobby and I have built my last one which is a Mark I Dalek and it will go the right person.
“It will be sad to see it go and I will miss him when he goes. But it is taking up too much room in the house. I don’t know if I will sell it to someone local, but it has to be the right person who likes Daleks.
“It all started when my three daughters; Elaine, Emma and Rachel bought a small model for me which was 12” high.
“My long-suffering wife, Jackie, has put up with my hobby for years in England and eventually she used to decorate our houses according to the colour of the Daleks in the home.
“I have made other things such as a Mark I 15” spitfire plane but the Daleks are my favourite.”
