2020 – The Year of Papa Nurgle – Part 5

…the F**k Did I Get Myself Into?!

It’s almost October. And now the 3rd season of Covid. Somehow, still hard to believe. 

For us, not much has changed at home. My wife was working from home. I was still working an alternate schedule. And the scope of my Titan project was also about to get much larger.

After just about finishing the lower half of the Titan, it was time to move on to the meat and potatoes of the model. The torso and head. I had to make a decision, though. Do I take the easy road, and skip painting the innards of the model? Or do I paint the insides, just like any other model. 

I chose the latter. The inside of this kit is awesome. I would be doing it a disservice if I skipped it. The carapace armor can be removed anytime. So you can see inside if you want. The head armor as well. 

Have you figured out that I like purple yet?

I went with a purple theme for the tentacle-like wiring snaking through the titan. My titan had a Slaanesh corruption. So, now my Iron Warriors, Knights, Slaanesh Deamons, and Titan are all connected under one chaos god. 

It took a little time to finish the inside compartments and the cockpit. It’s not quite so easy to get a paintbrush into some of the corners of those pieces. As they are single pieces of resin. But I really like the final product.

Full disclosure. I had no idea there was a face on the wall until I was drybrushing the purples.  The opposite wall has one too

From Static Model to Storyteller

This is where my project gets even heavier. The plan for this model was always to have it attached to a base for added stability. I chose an oval shaped wooden plaque that was the perfect size to be the base for this model. It kind of mimics the oval bases used for knights. Just on a much larger scale, of course. I also found some terrain pieces on eBay to put on there. But that wouldn’t be enough for me.

Something, or a lot of things are not quite right

I would sit and stare at the above scene for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Over the course of a few days. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. It was that the base wasn’t enough. I needed to change it. 

That’s pretty much when it all clicked. Diorama. I wanted to create a scene with a story. 

Earlier in the summer I had picked up a 3D printer to play around with. I wondered if I could print something to use. So I started scouring sites for terrain. And I also had to think about a story. What would this diorama be about? All while continuing my work on the model itself.

I found some great designs on Thingiverse for ruined walls and stone floors. They would be perfect for the scene I was creating. I had to take measurements and adjust the height of the floor prints, because my titans pose was of it stomping on something.

The scene I decided to create was of the titan stomping on an imperial church.

So I would need an altar and some other things to make it church-like.

Warmer

The next issue is kind of obvious if you look at the above picture. The base is now way too small. So I had to find a larger plaque. That was not hard at all. But I was coming to realize that this project was getting bigger and bigger by the day. 

I found a rectangular wood plaque with almost the same dimensions as the oval one. Just one inch wider. The obvious difference is that I would gain usable space that is not there now with the oval. In the corners. 

My next dilemma is just that. I have more space. So I will need more terrain pieces. That means more searching. More printing.

I found some stone wall pieces for the yard outside the church. It was coming together. But still not quite what I wanted.

Fire

While I am printing all these pieces, I’m still working on the titan itself. The innards, and the carapace are just about done. And the weapon arms are as well. It’s almost time to start assembling everything. 

Multi-Sun launcher and dual exploding oil-barrel gatling guns

During this time I realized what I was missing. Models. I needed a squad of Chaos Marines patrolling beneath the titan. So I dug out 5 of my unused marines from the Shadowspear box, and knocked them out in a day and a half, or so. 

Shadowspear Chaos Marines getting a new lease on life

I also came to the conclusion that I needed someone to occupy the church. I needed a preacher. But I was not really happy with any of the options Games Workshop offered. I once more returned to the 3D printing sites and found a perfect model. There was a problem, however. I don’t have a resin printer. So I had to contract out the job to Tyson.

Special delivery. The final piece

Now all the pieces were in place. Including the extra stuff that I had been diligently printing over the course of a week or so. I could now start to prepare the base. It helped that I was finishing up the final jobs on the titan itself, all that was left was to join the top and bottom sections. With the end in sight, I was pouring everything into finishing this.

It took forever for that texture paint and the shade oil to dry. About 2 days total

I would end up using about 4 bottles of texture paint, almost a whole bottle of Agrax Earthshade, and 2.5 packages of Army Painter tufts. The bricks were printed and painted separately too. All that was left now is the characters and to place the titan into position. 

So happy with everything here. The titan is magnetized and removable from the scene. 

The title of the diorama is Prayers Unheard. And the titans name is Hammers Ruin. Warhound Titan of Traitor Legio Krytos. At his feet, a sweeper squad of Iron Warriors.

I specifically chose these 5 chaos models for their poses. To be used in specific situations here

In the church, a lone preacher at the frayed ends of sanity flailing wildly at the looming god machine before him. As he realizes that the emperor, in fact, does not protect. He would soon meet his end by a bolt pistol round to the back of his head.

I had reservations about if this preacher would work after painting it or not. I think it does

I am beyond ecstatic at how this came out. My seemingly ever evolving vision has come to fruition. 

Nice caboose. Mmm, rusty
More purple
This was a bit tricky to paint. Really close quarters in there

And there it is. Hammers Ruin. Started on or about June 25th, 2020. Finished on November 16th, 2020. Almost 5 months of building, painting, 3D printing, research, thinking, etc. There were a few days, particularly in the lead up to the final push, that I was getting frustrated with the progress. I was second guessing my decisions. 

Why make it bigger? Is it too big? Do I need to keep adding more? Is it too busy? What am I doing?! Stuff like that. 

But I am glad that I was able to stick with it and trusted my gut. This is the greatest achievement I have ever felt in almost 35 years or so of building/hobbying.

The moment I finished it, I just stared at it and quietly said to myself, “I did it” in Japanese. I often talk to myself in Japanese. Anyway, I then snapped pictures and distributed them everywhere. Starting with Tyson.

I kind of want to build another one. But I also kind of don’t… 

At least not anytime soon. I do have a name set aside for a partner Warhound. 

Maybe the next pandemic, eh?

There is now a month and a half left in 2020. I still had some stuff I wanted to do. Even after this project was finished, I have a drive now. Probably more of one than I had in January. 

The final push of 2020 was coming. What could I produce in a month and change?

To be concluded…

[This post was originally published at Otherverse Games & Hobbies]



Robert

All of these are true except for one:

Robert is: a Hobbyist, a Music Lover, an RPG Gamer, a Mustard Lover, Chaotic Neutral, a Japanese Speaker, a Veteran, an Otaku, a Table Tennis Player, an Anime Fan, an Aviation Professional, a New York Rangers Fan, a Chaos Lover With Loyalist Tendencies.

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