Mars Alpha Pattern Warlord Battle Titan!

A few posts ago i hinted at 'an exciting purchase' that prompted the repainting of the Reaver Titan. That purchase is now here, and its a shiny new Warlord Titan!!

For me (and many others i suspect) this is a dream-come-true model! As soon  as i saw the first pictures, i started saving up the cash for this massive purchase! 

On the day it arrived, i immediately started getting the pieces together, starting with the legs. 78 pieces later, this is what i had in front of me.

I needed a bucket to get this lot washed and prepped!

A few Gin's and a worn out toothbrush later, it's ready nearly for assembly.

So it goes without saying that a model of this size requires a bit of forward planing, so before any gluing was done, the pieces were layed out to check the positioning. I started from the ground up!

Next up i glued the 'knees' to the 'shins', the column like section that attaches to the foot. I used the foot just to keep it all upright here.

Now to glue the legs into position. For this i actually started from the top and worked my way down. This would make it easier to pose and i could get assistance from gravity to apply pressure to the joints.

Before that though, i lined up the hips with the pelvis and marked where i wanted the pieces to be. This would make it easier when i glued them in place. I'll be using Araldite for these larger pieces.

I wanted the Warlord to have a striding pose, so one leg is positioned in front of the other.

After the Araldite had dried, i drilled a hole into each hip to add a pin. I know this seems like I've done this the wrong way around, but trust me, this is a much easier way to add support to a large joint like this.

A length of 3mm brass rod was inserted and Araldite used to secure it in place. The hole will later be covered up with the Titans gyro's which sit in the centre most recess.

After that it was on to the knees. These were much easier, as they were a straight forward articulated joint that only goes forwards or backwards. Another 3mm hole was drilled and brass rod added BEFORE gluing this time to ensure i got the pose right. Once happy, i added more Araldite and let it set.

I happened to have a bottle of airbrush cleaner that was exactly the right height to have the pelvis rest on top of it, making it very easy to pose and let dry! So easy in fact i glued the ankles while i was at it!

You can better see the position of the legs that i went with here. The rear most foot is also slightly off the ground as if its about to take a stride. That bit of wood under the back foot is there to help keep the pose while the Araldite dries.

After all that was done i was looking at what I'd done, feeling rather impressed with myself, when i spotted 2 stray parts...these piston rings were meant to go on over the hip joints! As they were now firmly pinned and Araldited in place, i was stuck! I had to cut away a section, place the rings, then glue it back on again! Never mind, I'll have to pay more attention going forward!

I imagine this project will dominate most of my time so expect more updates soon!

The GunGrave