Blackadder Proposes a Warmonger Titan of the Emperor Class

I've decided to attempt to try to make both a Lucius Warmonger which I believe is the smaller and a Mars Imperator of the Emperor Titans. I will be just adding switchable components to make my Warlord an Warmonger at my whim by just switching out the parts.

Something like this:



IPB Image

The Mars pattern will be a total build but again the parts that make it a Mars will be detachable so the Lucius parts will also fit, again at my whim. That way I can have a Lucius Warlord and a Lucius or Mars Imperator or I can have a Lucius and a Mars Imperator. How 'bout that?






As for the size my rule of thumb is each progressively larger Titan is 1.5 times taller than the previous so a FW Warhound is 10.5 inches and a FW Reaver is 16.5 inches actually so ballparking that I came up with 25 -26 inches for my scratch Warlord unfortunately the scale of the few bitz I used required the Warlord to be slightly larger so it ultimately came in at 28 inches. That would put the figures you quoted right in my average for the Emperor class titan of 42 inches where the Imperator would be around 36 and the Emperor around 48 inches tall. Lots of fudge factoring going on there but I do not want my Warlord too outclassed.

And no; I categorically, absolutely, positively will not! not! not! be making the big Emperor titan..........

probably.........

Now I only have to figure how to live for another century so I can finish all these projects.

xXClaret-PaulXx said:

I honestly think you're nuts...but consider me subscribed!

Click to expand...

You're not alone in that opinion..............

You're other project logs are fantastic reading and your modeling skills and patience are something else!

Paul

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply............

The squeaky axle gets the lube........ I have a few replies ready to post when I get responses.......

Walking Cathedrals, Some Thoughts on the Construction:

Never having taken any courses in art or design I probably have no business making this compilation of what I perceive to be construction errors that seem prevalent in many of the Emperor Titans 'Imperators'.

First of all regarding size there is a limit of practicality where while a two meter tall Emperor Titan may be impressive it is hardly a playable piece unless the titan itself is the game board. Rather it will be relegated to the store window of your local Gamesworkshop where when that one is closed will subsequently be consigned to the dumpster behind the soon to be renovated store.

Because who has the room for such an out-sized monstrosity?

So I set my limit at 33 to 36 inches (0,83820 to 0,91440 meters).

Next problem is the slab sided blockiness of the greaves, hull, carapace, and cathedral appurtenances; with out being specific by showing images of others work I will demonstrate with a minor area of my own construction.

Back in the days of my initial Warlord build I happened to make the rear bulkhead of my Engineering compartment too square.

http://i.imgur.com/nZH84.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/hN7XM.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/o9kIR.jpg


The subtle tapering of the lower rear panel and the angling of the lower edge of the carapace rear differs from the square lower edge and panel of DS's exceptionally fine 'miniature' and to me is much more aesthetically pleasing.

Next post please............

Thanks for all the replies to this false start, I apologize for failing to acknowledge your interest in this thread.

Lucius Patten Imperator Titan 'Invictus'

So with the blurb ten months ago about my proposal to begin an Imperator Titan I kinda fell flat on my face.

First, finishing up the Thunderhawk monopolized a good deal of my time and learning how to best incorporate lighting in said Thunderhawk and my Warlord engaged yet more time. Then the Presidential election captured my attention almost to the exclusion of all things else. Finally I have returned to normalcy with what I consider a fabulous idea to make a hip and lower torso mount commensurate with an automaton of this magnitude.

So we shall begin with the 'pelvis' which I found ready made on my local Lowes Building center where I purchased about six bucks worth of PVC pipe fittings A compression fitting Tee, a threaded coupling for the connection to the upper torso and two more for the hips connections.

http://i.imgur.com/u2Jmn7x.jpg


Naturally all this is quite utilitarian and looks exactly what it is, some pipe fittings and there are many titans that follow this procedure and leave the fittings as is. I intend to flesh out the assembly in styrene so as to hide all the piping that will only serve as an armature or skeleton for the model.

In the image below you will get an idea of how much more robust this construct will be compared to the pelvis and hips of my Warlord.

http://i.imgur.com/ZnV8V8v.jpg


Where as Luteus Vexant has hips trunnions about an inch in diameter 'Invictus' shall have 1.5 inch axles.

The beauty of this ready made construction technique is I shall be able pivot the waist and separate the model easily and hopefully allow the legs to be posed in a walking position as well as the spraddle-legged pose.

http://i.imgur.com/4KsMObK.jpg

Pelvis Engineering Compartment Floor:


This time I'm going to do it right.


Since I already have an idea of how large this titan will be and the fact that I do want a full interior I will be able to plan the layout as I build. None of the hit or miss second guessing I ran into on the Warlord titan


Below are the two pieces of the Engineering base and Pelvis 82 MM square with two center holes for the waist shaft 21 MM diameter. The pieces are 2 MM thick styrene, one of the few time I work with such thick styrene because of the difficulty forming it and the danger of a knife blade slipping and cutting your hand. Extreme care should be exercised when cutting 2,0 MM styrene


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



The plates slip over the Tee shaft and have a clearance of 1MM on either side to install the 1 MM side walls.


http://i.imgur.com/N0buMb6.jpg



Eventually there will be nothing showing of the Tee but the compression fittings that will serve as the hip joint housing and also allow the legs to be removed to re-position for posing.


You might want to try building along with this thread because I intend to offer a step by step tutorial at least for the basic structure. How you detail the model is up to you but I'll show what I consider an Lucius Pattern Emperor titan should look like and you can build your walking turreted cathedral if you wish.

Okay so I had some 3/8 inch box beams (Plastruct) laying about so I used them as spacers to thicken the construction and give it strength to boot. Then if I need to modify it later it will be easier to sand down instead of a solid block.


http://i.imgur.com/a8Qgxh0.jpg





http://i.imgur.com/FIQUh3s.jpg





http://i.imgur.com/RwtL7aC.jpg



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



This all seems pretty boring and I hope to get into the fancy stuff soon. Right now giving this heavy model (My warlord upper body weighs seven pounds) a strong basic structure is paramount.

Thanks for the reply, these Emperor Titans must be popular.


Basic Pelvis Block Complete:


With this post the basic pelvis is complete. All that is left is applying the detail. I may bevel the corners and edges to add more pizzazz as I did on the Thunderhawk but all that is cosmetic.


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



The Epic Imperator is very plain and you can let your imangination run wild with the amount of detail a 3 foot tall model requires. I have a good stock of City of Dead panels left over from my Warlord and I have a Fortress of Redemption to decorate the greaves if needs be.


http://i.imgur.com/2oMX14M.jpg



I used 0.040 thousandths styrene to sheath the pelvis and sanded the edges smooth; there's not really much to say about the step except to take great pains to make your angles square and true. Good enough is never "Good Enough"; that's my motto.


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



A few extra pains taken now will save you a lot of grief later.


http://i.imgur.com/Jp3YsLu.jpg

Thanks for the reply,

Two Steps Back:

Found these dynomite compression couplings that are just made for this construct so scrap the rods and the sleeve for the nonce and work on cropping the length of the assembly.

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


By cutting off the octagons I managed to crop the length by about 30 MM which makes the extreme width of the hips 12.5 inches (31.75 CM) compared to my Warlord's 10.5 inches (26.67 CM) which should be just right for a scale:180 to 200 ft (54 to 61 meter) tall Emperor Titan.

http://i.imgur.com/bLFeR7p.jpg

If you thought the Warlord was inspiration wait til you get a load of this.


Oh God I'm In Love:


Look what I just found! Before I started this I had so-so enthusiasm for this project thinking it's worth a shot making a easy to build Emperor Titan that my readers might attempt along with me but that stops now!


I am totally jazzed about this project since I found this head. Back when I began my Warlord finding Dave Smith's Epic rendering committed me to the project. That is what finding this image has done.


http://i.imgur.com/Y2qZ5Cv.png



Starting now I'm going to build this part full sized (as it prints out on Landscape 8.5 X 11 paper) and build the rest of the titan in proportion.


The overall size is just about an inch bigger than my Warlord's head overall so it is in keeping with my projected height for my Emperor.


This is going to be 'dynomite!' if I can accomplish it.

Simple As Falling Off A Log:


When I started this thread I said to myself, "I'm going to make this model as simply as I can just to see what can be done with off the shelf items readily available to the judicious builder.


I planned this so anyone can make one of these along with me.


http://i.imgur.com/57b5tEn.jpg



Here we have about $25 bucks worth of plastic pipe fittings, and model styrene. A $3.50 bottle of conditioner (We just need the bottle and a bit of imagination (Supplied by your's truly ) and a fantastic head image to work off of, all you need is a cheap printer........


So with these parts gathered there should be no problem making the head and hip components.


http://i.imgur.com/UM5Uizc.jpg



The next part is a bit of a lark on my part; you're going to need an old beach chair. We've all seen them usually tossed in the rubbish with a broken hinge mechanism but usually two or three still functioning and all we need is two.


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



These will form working knee joints, I hope, with a bit of ingenuity.


http://i.imgur.com/f5Z1vAb.jpg



Of course it's not necessary to have flexing knees but since I have the chair I might as well go for the gusto. ;-)

Neck:

The coupling being PVC is not compatible with styrene so I applied a veneer of 0.015 sheet styrene so parts and detail can be added.

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


I then roughed in the cutout coordinates for the head to neck connection.

http://i.imgur.com/fI28OOL.jpg


The large round cylinder just below the helmet where the ears would be I am assuming is the neck/skull joint to allow the head to tilt down. Likewise the flexible conduits on either side of the chin.

Why not call these by their anatomical names. The so-called "Command Bridge is very skull-like.

Jaw Cut Out:

Using my vibrating saw it was a simple matter cutting out the jaw recess in the coupling.

http://i.imgur.com/V33rgGl.jpg


The neck is now ready for shaping and detailing.

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


Incidentally my Chicago Electric vibrating saw is a must have tool for hobbying;

Variable Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool

This cut would be really difficult with virtually any other device other than a hand tool and my $25 dollar saw was a tremendous time saver. It took about five minutes to make this cut including the blade swap.

Snow Bound:

So to while away the weather front I did some work on the neck which I have to admit is coming out better than expected. I sheathed the coupling on 0.040 thousandths styrene to three layers and then proceeded to bevel the rear edges 45° as in the drawing.
http://i.imgur.com/Z9duybo.jpg


As you can see below there is quite a bit of cutting to get the 45° bevel in the front edge ............


http://i.imgur.com/gZQcNh6.jpg



but my 'Farmers file' was up to the task.

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


The forward bevel needs to be refined but is okay for the moment while I make the inner neck mechanism so the head can be tilted down. My previous Warlord has this capability but the mechanism is very clunky and I am hoping to refine it on this model.

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


Finally I found this collar that will work very well in the scheme I have in mind for the side to side movement of the head and fits into the Emperor design quite well.

http://i.imgur.com/Ofba1Op.jpg


Can anyone guess the source of this wondeous bit of sculpting?

2D vs 3D

I'm getting way ahead of myself with this head assembly so I put the brakes on to pitch an update. After scraping my initial idea of how the head assembly can tip forward on the neck I came up with this solution which will give me a lot more cockpit room for the crew. There also is a poetic license taken by the artist who drew the front and side reliefs of the Command Bridge. The huge ear discs that contain the head tilting mechanism cannot function as drawn and are of different sizes in the drawing. Never mind though, I have a solution.

I'll start with cutting the forward neck ring to allow the discs to mount flat to the sides of the neck.

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


Carving out an outer race for the gimbal head mount pad and gluing on the gimbal bases is what is shown here. The two 0.040th inch discs are 71 MM apart and 56 MM in diameter.

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


The bridge truss maintains the distance and keeps the gimbals square to each other and stabilizes the bases

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


Bottom view showing the forward ring carved out to accommodate the gimbal bases.

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


Next, the manufacture of the gimbals mounts. (The area left black in the 2D drawing.)

Gimbals:

Or Trunnions whatever, These truncated discs will support the head on the neck to allow it to look down in a purely theatrical way as a downward pointing camera would be just as effective but the menace of this skull staring down at it's victim is too good to pass up.

http://i.imgur.com/TxBpE0G.jpg


Above; the disc is a simple truncated construct featuring two circles 45,0 and 54,0 MM separated by 2,0 MM by 4,8 MM styrene spacers.

http://i.imgur.com/fIfj5Yf.jpg


Unfortunately I got the angle wrong so I have to re-sheath the bevel but that's not a big deal.

http://i.imgur.com/J7JtoOQ.jpg


Tomorrow I hope to be working on the cockpit.

The Visor:

Allowing for the helmet I mounted the gimbals with extended visor mounts made of 0.015 thousandths sheet styrene. As I don't really have a plan for the cockpit, chin or gullet piece all this is subject to change but at least now I understand how the cheek pieces work with the gimbals.

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


I suppose the best thing is to cut the helmet to see where it falls in relation to the ears (gimbals) and the amount of clearance required to allow the head to lower and raise.

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


Somehow I managed to guess right which moving part eclipses which and for that I am grateful.

http://i.imgur.com/a8ra21q.jpg


Later on this evening I'll cut the helmet but I need to relax a bit after this thoroughly draining exercise in design. Martini Time!!!!!

Well thanks to your inquiry I just received a saw blade cut................ but to answer your question; rarely.

Helmet:

My initial thought was to use a suitably shaped bottle to form the helmet but after experimentation I found that was unsatisfactory for my obsessive compulsive mindset. I opted instead for building up the helmet out of stratified layers of styrene and cutting the helmet out of the resulting block in much the same manner as I did for my Warlord Titan

http://i.imgur.com/gxEB51B.jpg


This also relieves me of the necessity of finding a suitable glue for mating the different sources of plastic......

http://i.imgur.com/uAIDHK3l.jpg


It's bad enough that I had already go through the identical thought processes in making my Warlord but to have not learned for my previous effort defies logic.

Ready To Begin Shaping:

The layering is complete and all needs be done is the shaping

http://i.imgur.com/aK44D0O.jpg


I made the helmet about an eighth inch over sized per inch to allow for carving and sanding

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


Tomorrow I should be well along on the paring down to the rough dimensions.

http://i.imgur.com/l0WOVlJ.jpg

First and Second Contour Cuts:

Most of which are done on a stationary belt sander.

http://i.imgur.com/7RO8KiC.jpg


One more preliminary contour cut to make.....

http://i.imgur.com/SVQpT3F.jpg


The sides have to be rough sanded at about 45° before the finishing contour sanding.

http://i.imgur.com/VYPbiO9.jpg