I would really love a legitimate Warhound Titan from Forgeworld. But those guys are damn expensive and I could not afford it without a second mortgage and putting my marriage at risk. Currently the price for a Warhound is $376.40 without any weapon arms. Not only that, but there’s additional cost of shipping from England, etc. I’ve often heard the complaint about “Pricehammer”, the person with the most cash can afford the best army and models, and thus has an advantage.
So I’ve set out to build my own titan using a combination of plans found on the internet and a little “Mainer Ingenuity”. Side story; that New England phrase can sometimes also apply to doing something radically stupid under the pretense that it should work. Case in point, my parents ran out of filters for the cat water dish. Rather than go buy more, they used a scrap of spare fiberglass insulation they had. The cat’s dead, luckily thanks to old age and not drinking from fiberglass filtered water.
As mentioned I was using a paper template. First step was to cut out the template with scissors and then trace the template on a piece of cheap plasticard in the form of a “for sale” sign with a permanent marker. When it’s all traced out, using a ruler you add the lines from the template that will be used to fold. I recommend that when done, doing a sample fold with the paper template to double check which sides attach where. There are a few templates that folded in a different direction.
You will then cut out the plasticard template. I started to find that for the best fit, you really want to make sure you cut out inside of the line, rather than just along the middle. After that is done, score the fold lines with an exacto, staying strait as possible.
With it all scored, fold the plasticard slowly and gently to prevent it from snapping. It may help to use a bit of painters tape to keep the edges together when super gluing the folded template edges. You will also want to apply superglue to the folds as they will eventually snap and maybe even in the process of folding.
I deviated from the paper template a bit to create joints closer to the forge world model and to allow some level of posability. So here you can see the foot pieces. I added some tubing and closed up any gaps with greenstuff. I added just a little embellishment in the way of edging and rivets, seen best on the toe.
Molds
Since I knew it was going to be a big pain in the ass to make these fancy toes and knuckles for each foot, I decided to cast them. I used Amazing Putty, bought at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and places. You can buy Resin there, it’s a bit more expensive, but if you want a cheap suitably equivalent you can buy fiberglass resin at Home Depot or Lowes. Anyway, you roll the putty into a ball and press it around the edges. It’s probably easier to build a frame out of Lego’s or something but I didn’t think of it at the time. Below is a cast of the toe and knuckle and then a completed foot.
Back to the leg
So I’ve got a couple feet now. There are only three main parts to the leg, so I continued to make them out of plasticard rather than mold it. To add the posability I mentioned, I also utilized 1/25 inch wooden knob balls. A value pack of like 10 pieces for $5 at Michaels. They are the ankle and hip joints.
When building the leg, I also added some pistons in the form of a couple plastic tubes that slide within each other. The other joints use the suggested PVC tubes mentioned in the paper templates. I switched to a really thick plasticard when creating the leg armor. All the armor pieces will use that. To ensure stability I filled each leg with foam to prevent any cracking at the seams as I can imaging the top of the titan will add a bit of weight.
The lower leg joint doesn’t exactly sit within the round piece as you would think. So I decided to pin it to the joint before putting it on. Also the pistons will serve as a stabilizer when it’s together.
The finished product. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but one leg is stepping forwards in front of the other one. Something that could not be done just by going by the directions of the paper template online. You can also see I switched resins mid way through after running out of the old can I had. That’s when I found the cheaper stuff at Lowes. It actually seems to be harder and leave less of that residue that you have to wash off in order to paint.
