Haha.  I made my first Dalek after playing around with Wings for a couple of weeks.  It was pretty bad and subsequent versions have been complete rebuilds.

As for the box and steps, if you're serious about needing help, bevel all the edges and split the verts.  Belt and braces approach but it does make the model look cleaner and render much better, IMO. 

Coppula eam se non posit acceptera jocularum.

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