Reincarnating the God-Machine - Warlord Titan Redesign

[hushrong]

Nice, the titan is beefing up! Love the added turrets!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I rarely give likes to incomplete projects or their individual components, but that reactor looks gorgeous.

[Augustus b'Raass]

 

What's strange is that these appear to be the only weapons in the game with fixed arcs of fire - they can only target models behind the Warlord.  In an Edition where line of sight for every other weapon is drawn from any point on the firing model to any point on the target, RAW it makes more sense to always have the Titan facing backwards so it can fire at the enemy with everything.  

This is so funny and so sad at the same time!

[Brother Lunkhead]

Once again Brother Commodus, BRAVO to your fine work and generosity in taking the time to share it with us. While not as elegant as the GW Mars pattern Warlord  your Lucius pattern is raw and powerful.... I'll take that any day over the stooped old man that is the GW Warlord

[CommodusXIII]

What was supposed to be a quick lens paintjob ended with another milestone.

 

 

 

I found that I had finished enough parts to assemble the torso.  After about an hour of second-guessing everything, I finally bit the bullet.  This required about... 12 subassemblies to be epoxied together at the same time to minimize the gaps.  That's well beyond the capacity of my Horus Heresy books, so I upgraded to ratchet straps.

 

 

 

A quick test-fit of the rest of the shoulder parts demonstrated that everything is still aligning well.  I set to work with a bulk roll of greenstuff and, after prolonged torture, even the most obstinate of gaps eventually yielded.  I'll go over it again with a fresh basecoat tomorrow, but for tonight this was a success.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Wow! Stellar progress!! This beast looks fantastic. Wow

[hushrong]

Hello gorgeous!

 

I love how this went from a paint job to assembly! It was all for the best!

[Grotsmasha]

:tu: Awesome....

[CommodusXIII]

I bore down on painting the remaining shoulder parts, and today they were to the point that I could permanently mount them to the torso.  Assembly is now complete, save for the banners and a few other minor odds and ends.

 

 

I have a few minor details to finish, along with some gap-filling and a final pass with the basecoat to tidy things up.  Then, on to the final washing and detailing!

[hushrong]

B-A-Utiful!

[CommodusXIII]

After putzing around on a few minor items, I realized that I was procrastinating.  Washing/weathering the torso would be a long and involved process and I was doing my best to avoid it.  Well, admitting that you have a problem is a first step and a few days later...

 

 

 

Apologies for the quality of the pictures - I'll try to get my photographer to help me with some better images this week.  Not taking them in a dimly-lit basement with a camera made from a potato would probably be a good start.

 

The banners continue to be a work in progress, so I'm not quite done yet.  However, this is the first time that Lux Aeterna has been assembled with all of its fiddly little magnetized bits.  Now that assembly is more-or-less finished, it's time for some design validation.

 

 

After some sweat and obscenities, I relocated the previous incarnation to my gaming table for a comparison.  The old model stands 29.75" tall, while the new model is a more modest 24.5".  That's much closer to the Forge World model at ~23.5".

 

Proportions are one thing, though.  The death knell for the old model came when I actually wanted to use it for something more than terrain.  The problem being...

 

 

It's really damned heavy.  Lifting 60 lbs at waist-height with no handholds is no easy task.  Doing it without destroying everything around it is impossible.  How does the new model compare?

 

 

Ah, now that's more like it.  Being constructed of hollow plastic parts instead of solid wood and resin blocks is a huge help.  The new model is happily manageable for both AdeptiCon Titanicus and 40K Apocalypse.  I'm calling it a success!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I thought I must learn welding and metalworking to build something like this. The fact you managed to do so TWICE- once with mere wood and resin, a second time with plastic- is commendable.

 

Well done.

[hushrong]

The god machine stands mighty!

[CommodusXIII]

The fact you managed to do so TWICE- once with mere wood and resin, a second time with plastic- is commendable.

 

Only once, I have to admit.  The first model was a rescue - it was passed around a bit before I started my work on it.  A small outfit named Engen Studios, based out of Michigan, used to build them on commission.  This was long before Forge World's model, and they were designed as stationary models for Apocalypse.

 

(As an aside, the original model came with a few more weapon options and I've been giving serious thought to using one as the basis for an Ordinatus.  That's a project for another year.)

 

So, things have been rather hectic as of late and I haven't had the chance to get better pictures.  Yesterday I did have time to start work on the last remaining subassembly - the banners.  For Titans, few things are as iconic as their pagentry.  The honor banner and kill pennants for the previous incarnation were glue-sealed printer paper, mostly hand-painted with some transfers for the more intricate details.  In keeping with the general upgrade, I've made actual cloth banners this time.

 

 

The raw files were designed by a fellow on the Titan Owners Club group on Facebook, though I tweaked them slightly to aid printing and assembly.  These updated versions are mostly faithful to the original designs.  I did change the battle honors on the main banner - originally I repurposed designs from my collection of unused transfer sheets, but this time around I wanted something a little more meaningful.  The new design includes:

• Conventions in which I've won awards,
• My friends' personal armies - Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Tyranids (Mechanicus-style symbol sourced from Reddit with permission) for my high school gaming buddies that got me into this mess to start with; Cadia for a friend at my FLGS who was one of the few to request games against my Imperial Knights in 6th/7th Edition; and the Kingbreakers homebrew Chapter for a good friend that runs my yearly Apocalypse game,
• My first army from way back in 3rd Edition (Black Templars),
• A few other icons of personal importance,
• And, of course, the B&C.  I tried to find the design from the 3rd Edition Eye of Terror campaign - B&C had a campaign badge that I added to my models at the time - but few records from that era remain.

 

I printed them to Avery printable fabric sheets and sealed them with Krylon Workable Fixatif spray.  I cut out the banners in large rectangles and stained them with repeated immersions in cold coffee, hanging them to dry partially for about an hour.  I then wrapped each around a length of brass rod and ironed the two halves together up to (but not including) the rod.  After removing the rod, I cut the excess material, as well as the holes for the chain, and touched up the edges with a black marker.  A final coat of Fixatif sealed in the coffee and marker.

 

 

This was an amalgamation of several sources of instruction and advice, and it seems to have worked well.  In particular, giving the banners a light coat of Fixatiff prior to staining yielded a very subtle foxing to the stain - unfortunately, it's not very noticeable at this resolution.

 

The banner poles will conclude this project.  I'll be using hollow plasticard tubing (seen above), brass eye pins for mount points, and resin aquila heads for the endcaps.  When finished, they'll be attached to the already-completed suspension bars, which in turn hang from the pelvis and volcano cannon barrels by magnetic jewelry clasps mated to magnets inset into the model.  I might go back and readjust the chain lengths, particularly for the honor banner, to make sure that everything is hanging at a proper height.

 

Meanwhile, work is already starting on the next project - a massive terrain piece for next year's Adepticon Titanicus events.  That will probably warrant its own thread once I have enough results to show.

[hushrong]

Nice! Looking forward to these extra touches being added to the engine!

[CommodusXIII]

It seems like the first thing I try to tackle in a new project is always the last one I finish...

 

 

I've spent the last few months trying to find a suitable endcap for Lux Aeterna's new banners.  The previous incarnation simply had a pair of spike nuts, but this time around I wanted something a little more glamorous.  Aquila heads of this size are not easy to find, and the ones that I did come across - like the vents of the Space Marine Commander backpack - just didn't quite seem to have the right look.  I finally settled on these, cut from Forge World's now-OOP seismic hammers for the MkIV Ironclad Dreadnought.

 

 

 

Attaching the jump rings to mount the banner poles to the suspension bars was the most miserable task that I've inflicted on myself in a long time.  So much time and so many obscenities spent on such a small thing...

 

But it's done.  It's finally done.  Now I just need a good, sunny day to take some halfway-decent pictures.

Edited August 6, 2018 by CommodusXIII

[Mechanist]

Just read through the whole thread and this thing looks stunning.

Great work

[Augustus b'Raass]

Wow. Those banners look fantastic. WELL DONE!!
 

Also: seismic hammerS... plural. You cut up six of those just for the banners. Now that is dedication!

[CommodusXIII]

Hey, look at that!  Void shield discharge!  Not exactly the way I'd pictured it, but close enough!

 

 

Adeptus Titanicus and The Horus Heresy

[Pearson73]

This has been a truly fantastic build, the banners look great. I'm amazed at the sacrifice of dreads that was made to finish them, but it's really worked.

[CommodusXIII]

Well, don't be amazed.  I found a hammer on eBay and recast six to be carved up.  I wasn't going to mention it because I know that's not a popular topic around here, but it's a lesser evil than cannibalizing an OOP part.

[Elzender]

Well, don't be amazed. I found a hammer on eBay and recast six to be carved up. I wasn't going to mention it because I know that's not a popular topic around here, but it's a lesser evil than cannibalizing an OOP part.

I actually hoped that would be the case, chopping up 6 original OOP FW weapons would have been madness.

 

Back to the topic, that is one amazing titan build, brother, and a fast one at that! Your attention to detail and the reproduction of the details on the previous incarnation are really characterful!

[Mechanist]

Well, don't be amazed.  I found a hammer on eBay and recast six to be carved up.  I wasn't going to mention it because I know that's not a popular topic around here, but it's a lesser evil than cannibalizing an OOP part.

Casting whole models is one thing but bits for amazing conversions used to be actively encouraged. There is a press mould Tutorial in an old White Dwarf, I think it was around the time that Green stuff was released to the shops. 

I have spent a fair bit of time around studio staff and they hate recast sellers as thieves of thier personal work but bit for cool conversions they are fine with and my Mate is a big fan of my Knight which uses the technique a fair bit. 

 

 

 

But it's done.  It's finally done.  Now I just need a good, sunny day to take some halfway-decent pictures.

 You must be living in the only part of the world without an abundance of sunny days right now really excited to see the full thing finished. 

[CommodusXIII]

Tell me about it.  

 

[hushrong]

Yeah, nothing wrong with casting bits for your own use. I think it's an issue when you do it to sell for profit and make sweet monetary gains like a ton of ebay sellers.

 

And know I am envious of your current weather! I'll take 80-60 degree temps with a chance of rain any day!