Mendi Warrior's Adeptus Titanicus project log

[Mendi Warrior]

Hi everyone,

Inspired by the many project logs flourishing since Adeptus Titanicus was launched, I am starting this humble project log.

To give a little bit of context, I am more into model building than actual gaming and my experience with painting is not huge (for now). A long, long time ago, while at university, I was introduced to wargames by a friend who played Epic. Titan Legions was my first big box. I loved the scale. I still do, and when I saw Adeptus Titanicus would be revived I was immediately hooked. The models are simply gorgeous and I simply couldn't resist.

Here is a "family" picture of the big boys. I am working with sub-assemblies: roughly divided into legs, torsos, weapons. Armour plates are so far left on the sprues, except for one used for dry fitting on the legs when positioning them (legs can be quite tricky as many have already found out).

In the centre you find a wip conversion for a warped warhound, on hold until the actual model is released so I get a better feel of the dimensions and see what I can kitbash. There are 2 reavers and 4 warlords (I was fortunate enough to be able to order 2 GME boxes, one being my wife's present for my birthday and upcoming Christmas).

Here are a few shots of the first 2 warlords I built. None is glued to the base yet. The one on the left is walking, the leg on the ground necessitating the ground to be slightly elevated on the back to ensure better stability (it is a mock-up so far). The one on the right has his right foot firmly on a rock. The rock is pine bark, it costs about €6 to get 30 liters of the stuff, excellent for basing, you just need to have some space like a terrace to clean them and let them dry a bit before using them.

Edited September 22, 2018 by Mendi Warrior

[Mendi Warrior]

I then built 2 reavers. I built them in parallel, chain work style. As for the warlord, the legs can be tricky, the front piston is the longest one and allows you to determine the "minimum" angle you can have. Look at the one on the right, the lower part of the leg is leaning forward and the foot is oriented upward. Use the front piston for dry fitting, it can help. Also the front, lateral and back pistons can be identified by the different styles of their armour plates. I didn't glued the lateral pistons to have better access for painting the legs. None is glued to the base yet. The one on the right is resting is foot on a mock-up elevation so far. The way the cables are designed to be attached is very clever as it allows for maximum flexibility, this said I advice the use of pliers to glue them in place. Also beware not to drop the very tiny components when cutting them from the sprue.

[Mendi Warrior]

Two more warlords. Again none is glued to the base. The one on the left is crushing a small building. I used a small civitas imperialis connector and a roof tile with foamboard and plastic parts from a Q-tip to build the ruined building, surrounded by debris. For the one on the right, I used Epic ruins and foamboard as well as a Cities of Death floor tile to elevate the warlord. The left foot is not glued yet as I first need to finish the ruin. That way I can slightly adapt the position if need be.

[Mendi Warrior]

What to do with a bottle of milk and a Cities of Death component?

Well, mix them with some civitas imperialis components, foamboard, cardboard, plastic sprues and you get an industrial building (work-in-progress). I still need to add some pipes, chimneys, a stair, …

Edited September 22, 2018 by Mendi Warrior

[Captain Idaho]

Now that is just class. The terrain alone is amazing and your Legio looks great.

 

So what paint schemes are we looking at?

[Mendi Warrior]

Honestly, that is something I still need to sort out. I am currently thinking along the lines of black, red, gold but it is too early, I am not up-to-date on the HH fluff and not much of a painter (the last miniature I painted was 15+ years ago if I remember correctly, priming black aside).

[Captain Idaho]

You'll surprise yourself what you can achieve as an adult painter. I only paint my stuff table top standard but it looks great on a table against an opposing army etc.

[Mendi Warrior]

There is definitely a lot of inspiration and good tips and tricks all around, so many great projects, it can be intimidating sometimes but I definitely want to improve my painting skills, so it will be a good opportunity (but don't hold your breath, I can be quite slow).

[Parweke]

great poses on your titans

 

and dont worry about the painting, just keep it simple and it will look good (and thin your paints)

[Achinadav]

That's a lot of warlords! Now the 'hounds are out, have you got any more plans for the warped one?

[Mendi Warrior]

Expecting my warhounds to be delivered in the coming days, then I'll see what can be done. Pretty slow progress over the last days/weeks, quite busy with other non-hobby related stuff until the end of the month.

This said I played a little bit with magnets.

For my very first foray into magnetizing models, I decided to go for the knights. After ordering and receiving various things, including 1x1mm magnets as well as some tiny 2mm, 3mm and 4mm steel balls, I proceeded with the weapons and "arms", then with the heads (still in progress). As you can see in the first pic, some weapons are pointing towards the ground, others will stay positioned upward, I think it depends on slight variations in the depth at which I fixed the magnets.

First attempt using an old Vampire Counts Skeleton head (I saw this somewhere on the web and thought it was a nice and easy conversion). I can change it with a knight's head if needed.

And a quick picture showing what I used. Very important to mark the point where you'll be drilling so it is well centered and of course to make sure your magnets are all aligned the same. I used steel balls for the "shoulders" but magnets would be absolutely fine, maybe even better.

For the head, I used 1x1mm magnets, the carapace already has a nice place where to put one, you just need to drill a bit deeper so it fits completely inside. For the head, remove the plastic pin and drill exactly where it was.

For heavier weapons (litterally heavier), I would recommend 3x1 magnets, they will stick better.

I also tried magnetizing the torso to the legs but this ended with some awkward positioning so I retrieved the magnets and went for simply gluing torso and legs together.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Mendi Warrior

[Burni]

Amazing magnet work! Will be watching this with interest!

[Mendi Warrior]

Similar exercise with my 2 reavers, I primarily used 3x1mm magnets and a couple of 5x1mm magnets and 3mm steel balls. Quite pleased with the result but this can still be improved.

A couple of observations:

Legs - torso joint: I used a 3x1mm magnet as it perfectly fits into the round hole situated at the "pelvis". I drilled a 3mm diameter hole into the torso and I glued there a 3mm steel ball. Adherence is ok-ish but another magnet would have been better (either a stronger one or using 2 magnets instead of one and a steel ball). If my reaver shakes its booty the legs will fall apart I am considering adding a couple of 1x1mm magnets on the "ring" to reinforce adherence, not sure I will. An alternative would be to use a metallic rod (beware of its length as the pelvis is hollow and you don't want to push the cables out). There is some room into the torso (requiring some drilling), much less into the pelvis.

Head - torso: I drilled a 3mm hole in the torso to insert a 3x1mm magnet. Easier if you do that before actually assembling the torso. You can then also glue some plasticard or sprue part behind the magnet to better maintain it into position (I encountered no problem but it would be tricky to retrieve the magnet from the inside of the torso if you push it too deep into it). I then drilled a 3mm hole into the head, roughly aligned to the one in the torso. I inserted there a 3mm steel ball. Adherence is fine. As the back of the head is hollow I initially tried putting the steel ball into the cavity but resulting adherence was zero, hence I switched to direct contact between the magnet and the steel ball. Another magnet would do the trick as well, probably giving less flexibility in the positioning of the head.

Carapace weapon: by far the easiest, insert a 5x1mm magnet into the carapace. You can do the same into the missile launcher. I opted instead for a 3mm steel ball, it requires a little bit of drilling but saves me a magnet (and as the weapon comes above the carapace there is absolutely no downside doing it, not quite the same for the arms …).

Torso weapon points: quite easy as well, 3x1mm magnets and some drilling. Drilling through would allow to add 1x1mm magnets to the armor plates coming on top of the "shoulders" and have direct contact between the magnets (maybe I'll do that).

"Arms": the lower part ("elbow") is quite easy, remove the little plastic pin and drill a hole for your magnet, here again I used 3x1mm magnets. The upper part, with the ball, is trickier. Best to mark the point where you want to drill and be sure you are drilling vertically (with the lower part flat on your desk). If not, you'll end up with a potentially awkward positioning of the arm. I tried with a 3mm steel ball but this is only ok-ish for the lighter (in weight) weapons, otherwise too much weight and your weapon will point towards the ground. Hence I reverted to my use of 3x1mm magnets.

Weapons: again 3x1mm magnets and some drilling. The weapons, some of them, are hollow, beware of not pushing the magnet too deep.

A general remark: drilling and sometimes gluing magnets in place can be easier before the various parts are fully assembled. Dry fit to ensure it is ok.

Very important is to make sure your magnets are attracted one toward the other and not repelled. My choice is to have the ones in the torso attract all the other other ones. I then use a magnetized arm and a magnetized weapon from my knights to position them correctly. To position one magnet into the torso, I grab it with the knight's magnetized weapon. To position it into the weapon, I grab it with the knight's magnetized arm.

I haven't tried magnetizing the fists yet.

On another note, I received my warhounds yesterday and have started building them, already putting magnets as well. They are absolutely cute. And quite bigger and larger than the warped warhound I attempted while waiting for AT to be released. I'll see how I can adapt this.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Mendi Warrior

[Mendi Warrior]

And a first warhound (wip), already magnetized

I used 4x1mm and 3x1mm magnets as well as 2mm diameter steel balls.

Legs - torso joint: I used 2 4x1mm magnets, no drilling needed as you have about 2mm depth available. You can fit a 5x1mm magnet but then it must be precisely centered on the torso side. I preferred having some room around the magnet.

Head - torso: as for the reavers, I drilled a 3mm diameter hole into the torso and glued a 3x1mm magnet. I then drilled a 2mm diameter hole in the head and inserted a 2mm diameter steel ball. It is ok and gives some flexibility to orient the head left or right. I'll give a try with another magnet (1x1mm probably). Adherence is fine.

Weapon points: as you glue the "arm" into the weapon socket you only have to magnetize the lower part of the arm (not like with the reaver). It is a bit tricky as you are drilling into a ball and the angle at which you drill will likely not be perfectly vertical. This plus the way you glue your magnet will result in your weapon pointing slightly up or down. Not too much of a problem in my opinion as it makes the positioning kind of dynamic. I initially tried with a steel ball instead of a magnet but this resulted in a weapon pointing downward and to the rear of the warhound (gravity matters) … Hence I reverted to using 3x1mm magnets.

Weapons: not a lot of depth for drilling, I did drilled about 1mm so the 3x1mm magnets I used fit nicely into the weapons (I still need to do the inferno gun and multi laser laser destructor).

As the magnet is at the bottom of the socket, if I want to use the warhound's weapons on the reaver's carapace, I'll have to had a connector between the magnet glued in the reaver's carapace and the one in the warhound's weapon.

A couple of pictures of the warhound standing next to the wip kitbashed warped warhound I made while waiting for AT to be released. The kitbashed one is definitely smaller. I'll see how to adapt it.

[Captain Semper]

You are officially Magneto! :lol:

 

This is really informative and helpful - a great reference to anyone aspiring to fully magnetize their Titans. Impressive stuff...

 

Edit: I was ninja’ed by the Warhound post... wow...

 

Maybe we should pin this...

[Mendi Warrior]

Lol Thanks 

 

I am quite pleased with the results, especially as these are my first times magnetizing models.

 

And as I read a lot here and elsewhere to feed my imagination and improve my skills it is only natural to give a little bit back.

 

For the warlord I am holding back as I really would like to have an idea about what weapons are coming and exactly which parts are included.

[Mendi Warrior]

I also did some work on terrain, breaking from the overly square/rectangular shapes of the brilliant civitas imperialis stuff. Still wip, completely modular.

[Parweke]

nice looking building

[Mendi Warrior]

Thanks.

The roofs are simply cardboard, cut into the desired shapes, taped together. The pointy roof's top is from an old Cities of Death component. I need to add some plasticard to finish the edges.

The intermediate broadening level is built upside down, starting with a 51x51mm base that fits into a 2x2 civitas imperialis module, then a structure which is 29x29mm, height sufficient to accomodate one civitas imperialis wall and the corners are simply cardboard. I need to add a base slightly smaller than 29x29 so that it would fit into the interior of a 1x1 module.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Mendi Warrior

[Parweke]

I shall call it, Warp Needle! :)

[Achinadav]

Good breakdown of magnetisation, thanks for posting.

[Chaeron]

Thanks for the guides Mendi Warrior - interesting to see how different people are doing it! Really liking all the buildings too - great to see their potential being maximised.

[Mendi Warrior]

Thanks a lot. Absolutely agreeing, it is very emulating to see the different approaches.

For the buildings, the variations can be endless, just a little bit of cardboard, foamboard, plasticard, a few cities of death components here and there, I am even using wooden coffee stirrers

Since the warhounds are coming with 4 heads but only two are complete (you get only 2 B20 components, the "bottom" of the head), I added some plasticard. I still need to improve the look a little bit.

[Mendi Warrior]

"One morning, the third day of Makefuel, the seventh month of the Orestean calendar, twenty-nine days before Daric Goland fused bones were scattered into the rain, slow bells began to peal across Orestes Principal. It was barely dawn. [...]" (Source: Sample Chapter Titanicus, by Dan Abnett)

This led to the following

Later completed with some plasticard and skulls (because you can never have enough skulls, can you? )

Modular as always, the roof footprint is 4x2 (in terms of civitas imperialis components).

[Fajita Fan]

Wow, those look fantastic! Of all my modeling skills cutting plastic straight to make buildings ain’t one of them.