Project Log: Chaos Warhound Titan

[BlueRonin]

That sounds cool - my only caution is that blue and gold schemes typically seem to be too clean and toy-like, or simply gaudy (and I don't think you want your Warhound to be nicknamed "Lady Gaga"). Seems to be the colors people associate with The Suns of Damnation.

There was a graphic novel done on the Black Templars (I forget the title, but I have it in French somewhere- and I know Kenetten on BBN also has it) where they were excavating a Titan in Tzeenetch colors (although I don't think they named the Legion of origin).

I'm stuck on the subject of paint schemes because I personally highly dislike crisp schemes - there must be some weathering to give me that suspension of disbelief and actually see what I'm looking at as a model and not just a large shiny toy. This seems harder to acheive the larger the model is, and even more difficult the brighter the colors. That's why I figure getting some thoughts and advice on painting it already now, perhaps so you can practice on something and see if you like it (heck, gold is really challenging to represent on a normal sized model!)

[Moonfog]

I agree, I have been planning on getting FW's weathering set and also experiment a bit with adding wear and tear on models. My AL suffers from what you're saying, in that they are painted in clean, crisp colours and look more like they have been driven straight out of the factory than being possibly 10 000 year old machines of war. I am planning to rebase the entire army (not necessarily technically changing bases, but painting it and moving away from snow) and add some of those effects also to my vehicles. I plan to learn how to do chipping this year

Currently I am looking to using Regal Blue as the base blue and add weathering on top of that (UM blue as highlight). I think that Ultramarines or Enchanted blue will become too bright, I have a Fantasy Tzeentch sorceror where I did use EB and I'm not happy with the look. Like you say, it looks like a toy not a solider, I find Regal Blue to be a bit better in that regard given that it's darker.

Afaict both Tzeentch Legios have similar colours, although I'm wondering if some are just labelled one or the other depending on which Legion the current Tzeentch player knew about at the time. I did see one with lightning on it, but it kind of looked like a gigantic Night Lord instead.. I also need to plan a bit further ahead with regards to table and the weathering needs to be consistent with the rest of the Chaos force.

A concern is off course how these colours look when magnified, one thing is a Marine model, it's something completely different when the marine is just the size of the Titan's toe..

Also, a thought I had was to use a more "dark" or bronzed kind of gold colour instead of using "Shining Gold". Anyone that have done anything similar? In short, I am thinking about this and I plan to experiment a bit on a Rhino or something that I have laying around.

[Arkangel]

Not a problem I'll break down the titan tonight showing you step by step, it'll at least give you an idea of where you can and can't pin it and some ideas of where you want to go with it.

[Moonfog]

Don't you go breaking a Titan apart on my account I fear the modelling gods would not take lightly to such an action!

[Arkangel]

Ok firstly sorry I didn't post this sooner but I 'piggy back' my wireless from my neighbor and it dropped last night so there was nothing I could do
I did however take the necessary pics for you

Warhound Above shot Engineering Cover removed


Warhound Above shot Head and Engineering Cover removed


Warhound Neck with head removed


Warhound Head with Shield removed


Warhound Head, Cockpit Shield and Leg Armour removed


Warhound Torso removed


Warhound Torso Seperated


Warhound Torso Right


Warhound Torso Left


Warhound Engineering Right


Warhound Engineering Left


As you can see I have some final detailing and the Cockpit/crew to finish then she's done!

Really hope this helps. As an aside the torso is pinned to the waist centrally at the rear by drilling through the mount into the waist. And using a big F£$%-off paper clip

[Munkey Joe]

I like what i see!!! Very cool man!

[Moonfog]

Man, that's awesome Arkangel, thank you! Really gives a good view and I'm happy to see that I've already drilled some pinning holes in places where you've also placed yours, means I wasn't far off

I'm going to have to find bigger pins for the heads though, just got those small paper-clips that fit with the joints right now.

Don't worry about posting late, I simply do not have the time to sit down every day and work on the model unfortunately, so there's no rush.

[Moonfog]

Man, it's been a while since I updated this. "Real life is what happens when you've made other plans" can probably sum up a couple of months of my life at this point. My youngest son decided that sleeping was an unnecessary luxury.. I have spent a lot of time redoing the bases of my army and painting things up to get ready for the Apoc game we had this weekend, but now I'm working on the Warhound again!

One strange thing happened to me while I was working on it a couple of months or so back. I had drilled and pinned and drilled and pinned and dry-fitted everything about a thousand times and I had started to paint parts of the interior. What happened was that I realized that to move on meant to actually start assembling it. I literally went two - three weeks just sitting down looking at the thing, not advancing one bit because I was petrified that if I actually tried to assemble I would break it and that would be that.. A couple of weeks ago I decided that this was just silly, so I took the toes on the right foot, glued them and also glued the pistons into place. Suddenly, it wasn't so "scary" anymore (wow does this sound silly ) and yesterday I glued a couple of joints together. Now I'm really looking at how to assemble this beast. I did look up some other advice on how to move on and wanted to pose the question as to whether or not this would be a way to go forward:

* One guy I read said that assembling one leg in full would go faster as long as you weren't aiming for any fancy poses. This is due to the fact that you can use the rotary joints to correct on the other foot. This seems to me to be a pretty good way for me to go about it, but I wanted to hear a bit what you more experienced folks had to say about this.

* Can you actually mess up the assembly to an uncorrectable (is that even a word?) level? I feel like every time I dryfit things end up being slightly different, yet when I do end up pinning and gluing it turns out okay and I think part of me being hesitant moving forward has been due to not really being experienced enough to picture how to get to the end result.

[mangozac]

[Arkangel]

Hey guys I'm back!! Kinda Anyway, I concur with the whole 'Real Life' thing, it's still ongoing for me but I'm battling through and there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel now. Hey I'm posting on here aren't I!!!

Also I definately believe in the, 'Build one and the other will follow' line. HOWEVER, word to the wise make sure your feet are sorted first and DON'T fit the supporting pistons until the feet and lower legs etc are all set. Because once you've cut those lttle so-and-so's your pretty much up 'The Creek' with without a GO stick!

Don't forget to make sure you get yourself a little spirit level and makes sure your waist/groin is level before fitting the upper torso. It will help MASSIVELY with your Centre of Gravity (C of G) issues. Dont forget either that the weight will shift forward with the head fitted as it sits proud of the natural C of G so be prepared for that.

I'm very lucky I had Warhound to help me pose mine, and he'd had a fair bit of experience considering he'd done 95% of the Forgeworld ones by this point Plus now I've also built and pinned a Reaver, which was ten times EASIER, no lie! I know where I'm going with my next two Warhounds

If you need any more help or pictures for reference mate, drop me a PM

Arkangel

[Lane]

The Titan looks great.

Just a quick question: how big are the pistons on the legs?
I'm planing on making some for scratch building and need a reference on size.

[Moonfog]

Thanks for the input guys! My main worry so far really has been the COG and whether or not it will tip over, but I think I have aligned it (with pins so far) okay. I am almost done assembling one of the legs, will finish that this weekend.

Another question.. I'm painting some of the "cobweb" in the interior parts, but I'm struggling to find a suitable color for it. How did you guys paint yours?

@Lane:I'll try to remember to measure them and post some pictures for you tomorrow (busy playing 40K tonight )

[Moonfog]

Another update. It´s been a slow month for many reasons, but I´m really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I´ve done quite a bit of painting on the interior, nothing fancy, but I wanted it to look okay if the top was taken off.

I´m also nearly done assembling the weapons, and right now I need to start gluing everything together and also start working on the tiny bits and bobs that attach to the Warhound in various ways .. that I´m certain will be a challenge

It looks like I will assemble the two main pieces apart, then glue them together afterwards. The head can go on any time really, doesn't look like much of a problem other than getting it pinned correctly. Enough blabber, on to the pictures:
ill be
The two main pieces fully assembled:


Shot from the side:


This part has not been fully assembled before, with the separation door and the two gun holders:


Main body assembled:


Side shot (and yes, I was watching Yankees @ Rangers while assembling ):


"Roof" is on:






I´m pretty psyched at this point, it´s finally starting to look like a Titan. I guess I will soon have to start the tricky part, gluing everything together and see if it actually looks descent enough

[mangozac]

Great to see an update! Painting interiors can be a frustrating step - you want to do it right but you want to get it done quickly so you can finish assembly! I will say that the interior is looking a little too bland as is - I would paint some of the cables in yellow (or ideally yellow/black stripes) just to add a little more interest...

Keep up the progress!