WarriorFish's AdMech and Knight House Blog

[WarriorFish]

Making some progress on the lighting plans today:

It is working, but proving to be a lot of effort. Plenty of pauses to plan, not going to be easy to get all ten in but I'll give it a shot. The lights are quite bright but I'd rather use them all but we'll see how it goes.

[WarriorFish]

I basically dived right into this and while it has been a lot of work I've come up with a result that should work:

As you can see all the fibres go through, including the two little lenses. Now I've wired it up and played a bit I'm not sure if I want to colour any of them as the white is cool but plenty of time before I have to decide. The task has been somewhat arduous but the only compromise I made in the end was restricting the head so it can't pivot up and down but given the movement was only slight there I don't think that'll matter

My plan is to assemble the rest of the model, including magnetising the arms, and then paint her up. The head will be separate of course, the plan is to glue the face along with the fibres at the end. The theory is that once all glued and set in place I can clip the fibres flush with the face and we're done. The kit has two black sleeves which I've used to divide them into five and this should also neatly cover them through the gap behind the head (you can see some glow in the picture).

I'm not going to do this again, but on reflection I doubt I'd ever field two Knights so I'm hoping I can get the extra sprue somewhere so I can add the weapons and face plates and have a complete Knight Looks like I need to start putting more serious thought into colour schemes :D

[JeffTibbetts]

Wow. That looks super creepy. I bet it would be awesome to leave them like this on a Chaos Knight. :D 

 

Looking forward to seeing it all lit up. 

[WarriorFish]

It'd probably be a bit cumbersome for it :P I really hope this works, otherwise I buggered up a gift :lol: I've talked it through with my brother and he recommended using a heated knife to cut the fibres - it'll be easier and give a cleaner cut as well as melting them together a little bit. Got plenty spare to practice on as you can see ;)

 

In case anyone is wondering the head aside from the face is basically hollow. While this is partly due to attempts to retain the vertical movement it works easier that way with more space for the fibres to find their spot. The fit on the angles has them a little displeased so I'll need a strong glue for when the face goes on so it stays orientated ok. As I'll be doing the fibres at the same time I may as well "upgrade" to super glue for that, get it all done easily and securely.

 

Thinking about just priming the head before glueing now. Less chance of messing up my painting if something goes awry and will make it easier t correct anything too, for example some light might escape from the side join of the face so I can easily GS that and prime it ready for painting. I'll work on the base and legs next, might try making a simple GS crater to spice it up a little.

[Jolemai]

Commissar, have you any more to report on the Knight project?

 

Basically, I am considering lighting my Knight up and whilst opting for LEDs in the eyes is the easy route, I kind of want the other scanning bits to glow too. Are you still finding the fibre optics tricky and where do you plan on housing the power supply and on/off switch?

[WarriorFish]

I do have her back on my list again as my current "big project" and with the ETL coming up I figured that might be a good excuse. I don't have many Guard models to vow so this would keep me busy

 

The fibre optics are pretty good now I'm used to them, they are quite flexible but the small size of the head means there's a bit of "fighting" between the various cables getting them into position. Four in each large eye and one in the small ones is a bit of a tight fit but with a strong glue and careful application of force for setting it will be fine. There's a little play inside the carapace for the cables to help out which is where the rest of the lighting kit will be housed. I was planning on having the pilot's hatch be removable for battery and switch affairs but I've not given that any practical thought as it feels a long way off. Maybe I can use a bit of magnetising to give it secure positioning, I'm not sure.

[Jolemai]

Do you plan on lighting up any of the targetters on the primary weapon? For example, the battlecannon has one on it's "shield". Would the cable reach down the arm?

[WarriorFish]

No, that's too much work for me especially for my first time. Plus I plan on magnetising the arms! I think the cables might be long enough, but that's all down to the kit you have.

[WarriorFish]

Doing a bit more work today, aim is to get some priming done on the head so I can sort the lighting out. I'm also sorting more of the model for assembly as I may as well prime some more while I'm at it.

The plan to magnetise the arm is to chop the top/upper bit down to allow for the magnet join:

Though I'm thinking that it might be a better idea to cut the lip of the upper shoulder so the magnet can be recessed into the lower/weapon part. I was also wondering that as the upper arm/shoulder has a twist and lock sort of fitting:

With the weapon bit detachable might there be room to allow this to be removed too? Would there be much benefit to this though, other than not gluing allowing for some alteration to the pose?

[WarriorFish]

A bit of drill work as planned, removed the lip on the upper shoulder and creating the recess for the magnet. My largest 1/4 x 1/16th magnets are a perfect fit, hopefully they're strong enough to hold the arm after all this work :P

[WarriorFish]

What do you know, it worked. I mean just as planned:

Behold as gravity is rendered powerless before the might of the Omnissiah:

Ok, so it took a little while to essentially excavate the entire upper bit but removing the lip to allow for a snugger and closer fit was worth it. I'll widen the lower shoulder hole a little bit to allow for a smoother fit once a little paint is on but a success all round :)

[WarriorFish]

A productive day, the weapon arm is now fully magnetised! Apologies for the poor pictures but it is late so all decent light has faded (and I'm too tired to take any pictures again!).

Quick dry assembly (sans face plate and shoulder bits):

I didn't quite realise the gun arm had a different seating for the "upper shoulder" bit, but with some very careful excavation it went well. As you can see the magnet is actually offset from the upper magnet, but thanks to the depth of the fitting it's not a problem:

Here's the fully magnetised cannon. I couldn't get over how odd it looked without anything to fill the back space, but since I was planning on magnetising both it wasn't a difficult choice to fill it. The only compromise was snipping the cable from the cannon ammo box which is hardly an issue (why does it need one anyway?):

Here's the connections, as simple job mostly down to creating some braces. Easy enough once you make sure they're small enough not to get in the way of any joins:

Thermal cannon configuration:

Here's the ammo feed bits, just a quick and dirty recess and platform build:

Last but not least we can't forget the heavy stubber ammo feed:

I'm very pleased with progress, I didn't expect to get so much done today. All that's left assembly wise now is to sort out a few extra bits and pieces (probably mostly purity seal stuff) and then I can get the primer on. From there I'll concentrate on the head and torso area so I can do the most important thing of all: the fibre optics!

[Beardbattered]

Can't wait to see some paint on this guy.  It's going to look nuts when all lit up!

[WarriorFish]

Thanks battered, I got a better picture:

Unfortunately I can't seem to find the Imperial aquila :confused:

[Vel'Cona]

 

Unfortunately I can't seem to find the Imperial aquila

 

Just paint it on there!  Or use a transfer

 

Super psyched to see the lighting . . .

[WarriorFish]

It's not essential for me to start work, so I'll sort that out later. First thing on the cards is to paint the head and torso so I can do the optics. Hopefully the lighting goes off without a hitch, in theory I've got it all figured out... :P

[Arkaniss]

That's some tidy magnet work! The biggest magnetisation project I've done is my Storm Raven and it's a lot more rough and ready than your Titan. Very nice work indeed! Next to see some paint on her :)

[WarriorFish]

Work has progressed at a steady pace. The model is as assembled as it can be and I've started with some priming and the metal. I do have a colour scheme in mind but need some help to get the right paints:

It's not quite white, but not cream either - I might just go with white. The brown should be Steel Legion Drab or Baneblade Brown ok. The old Fortress Grey should do the grey nicely if it still exists, and I don't think the old blue Space Wolves Grey paint exists any more? Red I have no clue about, maybe the old Mechanicum Red paint is similar... Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I should have some progress worth showing tomorrow (also hoping for some decent daylight...), perhaps even enough to start experimenting with the fibre optics.

[Grand Master Laertes]

For the almost-white, you might use Pallid Wych Flesh

 

The old Fortress Grey doesn't exist anymore. The closest colour in GW's current range is Administratum Grey, I think. As for the Space Wolves Grey, now it should be called Russ Grey or Fenrsisian Grey (I don't know which one because I can't remember if Space Wolves Grey was lighter or darker than Shadow Grey).

 

As for the Mechanicum Red... I don't think I can remember it. Are you talking about the old Base colour?

[WarriorFish]

Hmm, yes that's not the right name it was Mechrite Red. Doombull Brown could be a good reddish colour, not sure what that Flesh tone is, but could you mean Rakarth Flesh? I think that might be perfect!

 

There's a few blues to pick from, I might be better of nosing through the range in person there. Lorthern or Teclis maybe? Shadow Grey was definitely darker so I reckon Fenrisian Grey (as the "new" SW Grey).

[RADU LYKAN]

Aged white and hull red from Vallejo air might be worth a look?

[HLVW]

For the white I would suggest screaming skull, you could try the fang for a blue grey and mephiston red for your red colour.

[WarriorFish]

Thanks guys, I'll add them to the list I think I've got a handle on the colours now so I'm confident I can get the ones I want - just a matter of when :tu:

Here's my work for the day with a quick dry run:

Pleased with progress, after so long it's great to finally get some paint on her. It has all be worth it as she's super posable too even down to the shield and shoulder stubber :D

[elmo]

Work has progressed at a steady pace. The model is as assembled as it can be and I've started with some priming and the metal. I do have a colour scheme in mind but need some help to get the right paints:

It's not quite white, but not cream either - I might just go with white. The brown should be Steel Legion Drab or Baneblade Brown ok. The old Fortress Grey should do the grey nicely if it still exists, and I don't think the old blue Space Wolves Grey paint exists any more? Red I have no clue about, maybe the old Mechanicum Red paint is similar... Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I would recommend Vallejo as they produce replacements for the older GW paints... Conversion Chart

Vallejo Model Color 918 Ivory is a white with a small amount of cream shade

Vallejo Game Color 65 Terracotta for the red/brown

Vallejo Model Color 988 Khaki looks like the brown

Vallejo Game Color 47 Wolf grey is the Space wolves grey

Vallejo Game Color 49 Stonewall grey

You can get them from Element games ;)

[WarriorFish]

Thanks commissar looks like they have some good colours, maybe the Tan for the red perhaps? I was thinking of putting an order in so must be the Emperor at work here ;)