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23
May/2008
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Banelord - Khorne Warlord Titan Project - Part 0
The Banelord Project - The Prequel
Ok so that I can actually put my money where my mouth is I'm am officially starting the Banelord Project. Since I don't have all the components in my possession I'm calling this Part 0. Think of this as an immersion into the pre-build process of how I come up with the Titans.
First of all I like to crank my stereo up to the 16 to 20 volume range and just blast GWAR. The bleeding ears really opens up the mind to new ideas and concepts. Next I like to see what others have built for inspiration. It also helps with answering how certain construction problems are approached. Here are some pictures of 28mm Warlords other have built.
Warlord Titan 1
Warlord Titan 2
Warlord Titan 3
Warlord Titan 4
Warlord Titan 5
What to use?
When building a Titan materials are key. I can build a very tough yet plain titan for around $30. That would cover wood (Masonite), a few plastic plumbing pieces and the hardware to hold it together. Anything else I add would be from my cyclopean vaults of spare parts that would decorate the Titan. On average though I tend to go for an extra level of detail. I pick up a Manufactorium from GW for all the great techno parts that I can add. With one set you can added a nice level of detail with more you can go nuts and really detail the hell out if it.
I have heard people talk of using poster board. My opinion is, "Great if you don't want it to last". True, I could probably build an entire Warlord in a day and have it painted the next. The problem is in the size. Posterboard is not a load bearing material unless you really double up with it. Which you would have to do with a model that is 24-30" high. Titans tend to be bigger on top adding even more weight that the material has to support. Also it takes dings and dents like shit. Cuts, dents and tears in the material drastically reduce the rigid strength of posterboard. But if you are just looking to build one for shits-n-grins, go for it. I'd love to see one just to see how it would come out.
Something that really helped me build the Biledriver was using 1/4 inch graph paper to draw the plans of. When I started drawing, I looked at the Titan in the Apocalypse book (pg 124) and saw it was basically a bunch of different size boxes that make it up. So the graph paper really helped me crank out the design quickly and neatly.
I have seen people use everything from Pine wood to plasticard to build a Titan and depending on your budget you can use many different materials. My friend Dave built his Titan using basically "junk". Except for one thing on the Titan everything is either toy parts, discarded stuff from his work place or food packaging material. The upper superstructure of his Titan uses some Gothic style buildings to make the shoulder units which he bought. I like to use Masonite. It is strong, cheap (a 4'x4' sheet is less then $9) and corners can be rounded on a table grinder. Masonite takes paint well and doesn't have a visible wood grain. This is important when trying to convey that it is a giant metal monstrosity instead of a wood toy.
I remember when first discussing how to build one many people struggled with what to use to represent the guns of a Warlord. I'm lucky I have a picture memory for objects. I've been down a plumbing isle a number of times. Even before ever thinking of building a Titan I noticed how many of the plastic parts would lend well to massive gun emplacements. The average I paid for the plumbing parts was about $10 and that was for the two arm cannons and a pipe connector for the Titan's neck. The upper carapace weapons came out of my parts bins.
The hardware for pinning the joins and attaching sections of the body together was about $7. I needed a number of 3' bolts and nuts with regular and lock washers. A few lengths of piano wire helped pin the knees and ankles. Depending on how quickly you want to craft your Titan will determine adhesives. I used the standard Ace Hardware 5 minute two-part epoxy. It holds so well that when I dropped a leg the wood split but the joints held together. But if you are going at a more sedate speed I recommend Gorilla Glue.
The build process retooled
While I am very happy with how the Biledriver came out in the end it was a very  skinny Titan. Having since seen Dave's I want to "chunk-up" the legs. This is the biggest war machine of both the Loyalists and Traitors in 40K and it should be represented in all its beefy glory! Again I'm glad I used graph paper because the tweaking will be very easy as I enlarge certain templates to thicken the legs and increase the frontal armor plates. I am also going to widen the pelvis to give the Banelord a wider stance. Not that the Biledriver needed it, she stood up well and wasn't tipsy at all.
For the armor plates on the legs I want to go a different route instead of plasticard framing. This time I'm going to do raised skulls for each plate. I want the Khorne-ness of this Titan to be visible from orbit.
This one will include something that I haven't really been thinking about much, a Titan Close Combat Weapon. This does give me some pause as I haven't built a hand of this size before. On the original Epic scale model it has a three fingered hand with a chainsaw under it and what looks like two melta barrels extending forward from the back of the hand. Most of this I can fabricate but till the main body is done I will wait, that way the hand size will match the rest of it. You know what they say about Titans with big hands? They wear big gloves.
I can paint any Warlord Titan for just $99.95!
Prime it with the good spray primer, but to save some money and sanity I learned quickly that you need to buy the cheap craft paint to cover this sucker. "Cheap craft paint covers like crap" you say? That is true. Craft paint often has a very low pigment load. In other words it's thinner than shit. So how do you get around that? Mottling! Give the whole Titan a single coat of a dark base color. For example when I paint the Banelord I will give it a coat of brown, preferably a ruddy brown. If there isn't one I will mix one up.
Then going into my drawer of GW sponges... wait you say GW doesn't sell sponges? What do you do with all the gray spongy foam they put in their blisters, throw it away? You fools!
...Ok let's stop while you guys go out and buy a GW blister and get some nice spongy foam...I'll wait...O.K. you're back? Great let's move on...
On top of the base we are going to dab different colors to add some depth to the color scheme of the Titan. I like mottling for four reasons.
- It makes thin paint work better.
- It's super easy to do and requires little skill.
- Ever notice that really large objects like buildings and vehicles aren't 100% one shade even when painted with one color? That's because there are always slight variances and mottling can help represent that.
- Titans are GI-NORMOUS, ancient war machines that travel from one conflict to another continuously and are thousands of years old. Their paint jobs are going to suffer and mottling also helps to show this.
For this scheme you will want three colors, Two medium shades and one light shade. Taking an old ceramic tile or a junk CD pour out a little of one medium shade onto it. This will be your palette. Old CD it's great as the hole makes for a good place to put a finger for a better grip. Now simply dab the sponge into the paint. Wipe off a little so it isn't goopy with paint. Now simply go nuts randomly dabbing at the surfaces you want to mottle. Next repeat with your other medium color and then lastly follow up with the light shade. For the light shade reduce the concentration of dabs as you don't want to obliterate the medium shades underneath.
I stuck to all the flat surfaces on the Biledriver, but it will work equally well on detail parts. Click here for close ups of my mottling on the Biledriver. There I used two shades of Green (Shamrock and Olive) and a Sun Yellow. The Copper/Bronze was a bottle of good quality paint as I wanted the trim to have strong coverage.
What the hell do you call something like that?
Now it may not seem as important as what materials you use, what color scheme to paint it or even where you are going to store it. But a Titan needs a great name! It's important cause when you put your army on the table it WILL BE the first thing people notice. You can have whole squads of custom troops on the table but they will literally be standing in the shadow of your Titan. Besides fluff references in all the numerous 40K books, there are plenty of other places to look.
- Heavy metal music song titles and band names.
- Dig out from the library (Yes, I still go to these, you should too) a book on Latin and see what cool names you can find.
- I'm sure there are plenty of comic book superheroes and villains that would make great Titan names.
- Historical military people or exotic places.
- Many war machines are named after fierce animals.
For mine I am using GWAR song titles and I paint different song lyrics from their albums onto it as battle slogans.
So there's a little insight into how I build a Titan. Hopefully if you were on the fence about making one, maybe I have changed your mind. Constructing a Warlord isn't terribly difficult. Though it definitely isn't as easy as grabbing a model kit off the shelf and putting it together. If you are still afraid to take on the project alone, get a friend in on it. If you belong to a gaming club make a day out of it.
Tags: Banelord Warlord Titan DIY Apocalypse
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