Fully Articulated Scratchbuilt Titans, Lucius Pattern Warhound and Warlord

I use Ambroid ProWeld when I can get it. I keep it in a Tamiya bottle because it's less prone to tipping and the fine tipped brush wastes a lot less solvent (Its really not a glue so much as a plastic melter.)

For really large surfaces I use Testors red or blue tubed styrene cement. I see little difference between the two other than the toxicity of the red but I've never ben afacked bi iet myslef.


Hmmm.......... I seem to have experienced a flurry of activity this weekend completing the basic upper leg structure and adding a bit of detail.

Time to take stock and see where I've gone wrong.

One step forward and two steps back seems to be my mantra.....................


http://i.imgur.com/QrumW.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/Ldi0k.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/wCBgI.jpg

The Blackadder is in his glory. I relish doing the fine detail. Well this project is fraught with minute detail some of which is smaller than the pixel resolution in the images I have.

You're going to have to look close (If you're so inclined I won't presume my work is worth more than a causal glance.) to see where the changes are in the detail. I'm particularly pleased with the piping on the edge of the hip plate reinforcement which is literally a thread of styrene 0.4 MM by 0.75 MM. Strips so fine as to be ephemeral when full strength ProWeld is applied. I used de-volatilized Proweld to keep it from disappearing. The cog components on the ankle quadrant (sic) are a gimmee.
Note that the strips on either side of the Bow-tie like trim which I presume serve some utilitarian function.

The Knee plate reinforcements are in progress at the moment............

http://i.imgur.com/Y61a8.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/YDhLP.jpg

A poor showing this week I'm afraid, my real job workload was staggering but I did manage to rebuild the front of the knee joint (Why does it look like a marshmallow Easter peep?) and add a lot of basic detail.

God this will be detail heavy I'm up over a pound for each leg and half the detail isn't installed.

I'm taking a crash course on fiber optics and will be incorporating it in this and the Thunderhawk


http://i.imgur.com/GLg6l.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/EcUce.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/lFLrX.jpg

It's time to address the most baffling component of this project, namely what the outrageously long hydraulic cylinder is for running down the calf of the leg?

It appears in the epic model as well as the DS construct but I can fathom no applicable purpose. The quadrant gear in the ankle provides the step motion and that is supplemented by the small cylinders attached to the heel which mimic the function of the Achilles tendon. Were the cylinder attached upper leg behind the knee it would serve as the calf muscle but it doesn't attach there anyway it looks very interesting so I am including it in my construct complete with superfluous safety guard rails so people twenty feet off the ground don't lose an arm in the massive hydraulic piston.

As it is right now each of these legs are as complex as anything I have built with the exception of Lucie's pedal appendages and they are about only half detailed. Surprisingly my enthusiasm has not flagged.

http://i.imgur.com/ySHyN.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/opJp9.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/OBj8D.jpg

Just another bit before I put this aside for the weekend. The detail is progressing nicely although what these devices actually do is a mystery. but they do look intricate and that is the look I am going for.

http://i.imgur.com/TSHHq.jpg


Tomorrow the main lower leg cylinders; that should be fun.

First let me apologize for such a tawdry post but I figured there are those that might benefit from an image from the beginning of the construction. The waist block is probably the most important structure in the whole model. Not only must it bear the weight of the structure above but it must transfer that weight to the movable legs and sustain that transfer for the conceivable future (At least until The Blackadder has shuffled off this mortal coil.)

You will note that the structure is grossly undersized as it is about 5 cm square. This is intentional. You can always add girth, subtracting is more difficult. tomorrow I shall apply my solution to the articulation problem; i.e. a workable material that will sustain the pressure of the upper works and still be small enough to remain within scale.

In addition the thigh detail is coming along nicely (IMHO)

http://i.imgur.com/ndbbS.jpg

I found these marvelous 'Tee' fittings that are just perfect to supply the fore to aft swing of the hip joint. They take a nice 1/4 -20 thread and are strong enough to support the weight of the model without being too cumbersome. I was going to go with copper tube 'Tee' fittings filled with epoxy and drilled and tapped but these are better as they are machined perfect and the tap self centers when cutting the thread.

Now some readers of this may baulk at the employment of these tools but they are easy to use and readily available at the local 'Home Depot' or 'Lowes' and a cheap 'T' handle and tap set is adequate for modeling purposes. I happen to have a fairly good machinist set but that quality is not necessary.

http://i.imgur.com/X28BG.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/823ZR.jpg

Today I worked on the pelvic mechanism which needs a bit of revising. Even though it works just as I wanted the sphere halves need to be undercut to fit the 'Tee' fittings thereby retreating further into the pelvic block. Therefore I need to mount the 'Tees' further outboard so they will be visible and allow for a great range of motion.

http://i.imgur.com/kiq1U.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/LjIlP.jpg

Wow this thing is amazing! Such great detail and its coming along pretty quick it seems. Keep it up!

It strikes me that this model is insufficiently complex.

Just kidding but over the weekend I received a query on another forum as to whether I was going to include an interior to the cockpit. I had alway intended to make the cockpit interior but it got me to thinking about my regrets when building the Lucie Warhound; namely no interior whatsoever. So...........

I threw together a front view of the compartments this weekend just so I could get a feel for how the various areas might be arranged.

Surprisingly it all fits and each compartment has about an 11 ft ceiling.

My dementia is serving me well.

Naturally the cockpit will be forward of the bridge and is not represented in this diagram.

http://i.imgur.com/eJxy0.jpg

I'm toying with the idea of stacking the decks like a child's stacking toy about the center pivot post:

http://images.landofnod.com/is/image/LandO...?$FP$

This should afford ease in viewing the internal detail.

There are so many interlocking armour plates that alignment should be relatively easy to maintain plus there is the added bonus of modular construction which should facilitate modification and repair not to mention adding lighting at a later date as opposed to wiring it as I build.

I just finished reinforcing the top and bottom of the block with 3mm scrap plastic which will give plenty of strength to this all important area as small as it is it must take all the weight and movement from the above structure and also the legs.

Theres a 10 inch 3/8 ths diameter inch bolt threaded through 'Tee' nuts top and bottom and the for to aft hip gimbals are mounted with 10-32 screws through 'Tee' nuts as well. There is a 7/16 dia. inch tube inside of a 1/2 dia. inch tube as a compression spacer that the pivot rod runs through and the whole is strong enough to stand on if you don't weigh 18 stone.

Now that I've taken the pictures I can seal the gimbals in under their cap plates and the pelvis will be completed.

http://i.imgur.com/EloLM.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/Gl1GE.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/JZ9tO.jpg

Okay let's recap for the week to establish where we stand. The pelvic block is basically done and the legs are basically done except for the detail.

Now the cross 'Tees' are temporarily in place to establish the width of the hips and allow for the splaying of the legs ala the 'classic Reaver pose'.



I figure I should get this in before the weekend as I will be working on the 'hip articulation' whilst everyone is off having a life for the next few days.

I can see already that my greatest fear has been allayed and the pelvic block is not too big and that I actually have to increase the width of the hip joints once the hip gimbals are installed.

For that I shall have to employ a couple of PVC fittings to house the spheres and fill them with resin so they will take a thread much in the manner of the Lucie hip joints but this much larger model gives me the luxury of two articulation points instead of one that the limited space in Lucie provided.

http://i.imgur.com/QrSyc.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/GXt6s.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/kj875.jpg

Now we will further address the manufacture of the pelvis/hip attachment.

I found some ideal PVC 1 inch pipe nipple to PVC tubing adapters that fill the bill for the hip joint ideally. There is even an internal shoulder ridge after the threaded portion is cut off to act as the race flange for the gimbal sphere to be retained by.

The remaining sleeve is drilled, tapped, and countersunk to receive the 1/4 inch axle screws............ (I apologize for the American Standard measures but there isn't the diversity in metric hardware available on this side of the pond for me to render this in metric components.

There may very well be metric items that equal or exceed the materials used but they are not available to me .).............

As I was saying, using only 1/2 the hip sphere it leaves ample room for the epoxy plug in the end of the sleeve to be threaded and hold the leg attachment screw.

I hope to achieve this later today.

http://i.imgur.com/noiY9.jpg



http://i.imgur.com/pFMWZ.jpg


Note the degree of flexibility that can be achieved with this setup. Stops will have to be added to cut down on this amount.

when i was scratchbuilding my Warhound Titan, the hip was the only thing that gave me real trouble. Maybe because i did everything on the fly. So i think it's good that you take your time and do it professionally. The whole thing is looking better day by day.

The hips and pelvis are an inherently weak point in these vehicles and the hydraulic steering and positioning cylinders are woefully inadequate for a construct this size.

Time for the weekly recap along with a pic in pic comparison with the DS model.

I have to admit waiting for the resin to dry consumed a lot of the production time but I worked my butt off to get to this stage and it's a testament to the durability of this thing that nothing snapped as I slapped the components together.

Now I know the legs look a bit thin but if you look at the comparison shot and mentally remove the armour and spurious hydraulics there is a reasonable case for verisimilitude.

The images are self-explanatory when taken in conjunction with the recent WIP posts but I can explain any area that anyone might be unclear about.

http://i.imgur.com/CQ1BA.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/uQF8B.jpg

This is a very bad pose but it does demonstrate the flexibility of the design.

http://i.imgur.com/NVgrW.jpg

A pose reminiscent of the classic Reaver stance.

http://i.imgur.com/I8lZN.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/Mkwk0.jpg

A pic-in-pic comparison with the DS model.

http://i.imgur.com/pUzzc.jpg

As you may know I post on a lot of fora and the question/criticism I get most often is that the legs look too thin. When I was building Lucie that was the most frequent observation and I appreciated the kind intent to warn me of impending mistakes. It turns out that I kept increasing the cross section of Lucie's legs until I realized a reference namely the banners on the knee segment.

It turns out that Lucie's appendages are much more robust than the FW model and the latter looks anorexic vis-à-vis Lucie.

Now the same concern is being voiced regarding this model and I do appreciate the critique; I'm also a bit anxious about it so I 'shopped the DS leg from the back removing all the front armour and if anything the legs actually look thinner than my titan's. I couldn't remove the hydraulics.

http://i.imgur.com/Kgq0Z.jpg


There are a few inconsistencies as my ankle discs is thicker than his but I needed that to make the ankle flex. and I have one more dart in the zipper-like design running over the front and back of the upper leg but thats just a matter of artistic interpretation as there are only five or six on the epic model.

So to paraphrase the line of 'The Black Adder' in the Infanta's Beard episode, "So Percy, what you are telling me is something you've never seen is slightly less thick than something else you've never seen."

I appreciate the candor,

The incorrigible Blackadder

Back to more basic structures I should learn to accept Monsieur DS's plan and not make a fool of myself (at least not in print). I had to thicken the greaves armour another 3 millimeters as mine looked too thin. But I did manage to clean up the slope of the 'flying' greave segment so all the facets have a clean line. I should have the basic greaves done this evening. Then all that needs be accomplished is the detail which will make this rather plain structure more impressive.

http://i.imgur.com/mEx0q.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/hLEpn.jpg

Each greave has two large search lights on the flying portion both on the DS model and the Invictus rendering. I thought it would be nice to have them light up. I plan to do a lot of wiring on this model because I feel it will be worth it.

http://i.imgur.com/wuHfF.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/zuKHc.jpg

Well, it's only fair to see where you're stepping, no?


If you're giving it the gatling blaster weapon, will it sport the small hatch at the end and the railed scaffolding running around it?

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/110...isTitanicus.jpg

I love little stuff like that which is perfectly reasonable and just makes things that more real, you know. Little details, like maintenance hatches, ladders, etc.

Hmmm, have not posted for a week this will never do.

I got caught up in building the greaves and rather than post a half a--ed response I waited until I actually had something to show.

First the diagonal toes, I was wondering how I would mount them that they could be movable. They needed to twist when the front and back toes were flexed so they could maintain contact with the ground as the foot lifts during the step.

I woke up Wednesday with an epiphany* the solution was simplicity in itself; no wonder I couldn't think of it (I never do anything the easy way.) Anyway drilling 7/16 holes in the diagonal toe mounts and drilling 3/8 holes in the toes themselves, gluing in the respective tubes and letting the dry overnight I trimmed and sanded them today and walla the toes are mounted. Now for the kick in the a-- from the great equalizer in the sky, they can only twist a couple of degrees! HA!

Oh well it's the exercise that counts.

*Is that what they're calling it nowadays?

http://i.imgur.com/1XR3O.jpg



On to the greaves:

As they were when last presented they were too boxy looking IMHO and I thought the DS model looked a bit overly large and clumsy with those wide straight sided panels. I still will make the panels but slightly smaller and the flying portion is at a tighter angle to the leg.

http://i.imgur.com/knCRu.jpg



The greave base section is what is pictured today and I built battery boxes into them for 9 volt batteries. I'm not sure a switch will be necessary as the whole greave is easily removable and uncapping the battery requires but a few seconds. I can still install a switch if I find one small enough.

http://i.imgur.com/CJKTy.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/ylmzp.jpg


The greave on the left is clamped because the battery compartment is glued in place and drying. Once assembled the box will slide on rails into the compartment and help center the leg to the greave along with rare earth magnets to hold the greave in place.

Ah summer when young men's thoughts turn to something other than tiny anthropomorphic figurines...................

meanwhile the Blackadder blunders on. This has been a very productive weekend having come close to completing the detail on the inner surface of the greaves replicating as closely as I could (because I changed the shape of the greaves a bit to suit my aesthetic sensibilities) the DS model.

First the DS model for reference:

http://i.imgur.com/lZOma.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/ARboG.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/6Rawd.jpg


I have a feeling I won't be seeing any more critiques on the legs being too thin; quite the reverse in fact considering that the hydraulics haven't been installed yet.

I don't have any idea why so much electric conduit is needed for such basic structures; there must be a lot more than just armour plating going on in these greaves. Considering that these titans are millennia old I guess a lot of additional retrofitting has taken place as technology changes. Finding space for wiring and the like inside the structure isn't always practicable so running it outside may be the expedient way to go.

Anyway the detail on the toes is next because if I don't do it now I may not after the superstructure is completed.

Loving your work. I always wanted to make a titan or even buy one but i know as soon as i do ill go crazy on it and will take me months to convert it to NURGLE and then i will have to rework my guard plans or should that be renegades hmm so much to do so little time

The bloom is off the Tudor rose it would appear. The Blackadder has lost a lot of momentum judging by a cursory glance at the last few days effort but a closer examination will reveal a plethora of tiny detail on the toes all of which is time consuming.

On the basic structure front I began the upper leg armour and was very surprised how small the actual size was. Granted they represent armour on the order of more than a meter thick and twelve th fifteen feet long but they do look small even to me. I was use to looking at the top image on my screen which made the part look huge. I was actually concerned I had enough plastic to construct them. As it turned out I constructed them out of the scrap box.

http://i.imgur.com/ejWUT.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/fo1TS.jpg

Once again the devil is in the details. I spent this weekend producing what amounts to about twelve square inches of armour for a model that will have I figure about 500 to 600 square inches of highly detailed surface. And thats not counting the framework or interior detail plus the lighting and the fiber optics.

It is highly satisfying to work on a model in this manner though. Were I to complete the basic structure and then attempt the intricate work I might be tempted to skimp on the finishing up; this way if I get lazy toward the end the huge blank surfaces will be readily apparent and that will never do so I shall be committed to keeping up the intensity of the intricacies.

Perhaps "committed" applies in more ways than one.

Anyway the thigh armour is more or less complete except for the bitz and the moss-like fuzzy that abounds on the DS model. I cannot figure out what that material is.

http://i.imgur.com/kF0R7.jpg


I it has a nurgle like quality to it that conveys great age and decay; could it be dryer lint? I must remember to save the lint the next time I do my underwear.

http://i.imgur.com/GocUY.jp


http://i.imgur.com/fryYx.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/PVNmV.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/NPpvn.jpg


This is my favorite picture so far, It really conveys the scale of this thing.