Part 2
In Part 1 I started my Warhound Titan project and brought the lower half of the body to just about 90% finished. I was now ready to start working on the meat and potatoes of this model. The torso, head, and weapon arms. This is where the most details are found. I also was ready to start working on the base. However, In doing so, I would run into a bit of a creative roadblock. In resolving that I would end up making this project much larger than originally intended.
The make-up of the upper portion of the Warhound body differs pretty significantly from the lower. The upper half is mostly composed of large detailed sections. As opposed to the smaller detailed pieces of the lower half. It would prove to be much easier to paint each chunk of the upper sections separately. That said, there really was nothing to build before jumping right into the painting job.
Painting: Upper Body: Armor, Weapons, and Internal Compartments
Citadel Spray: Grey Seer | Citadel Layer: Ushabti Bone |
Citadel Air: Sybarite Green | Army Painter: Cultist Robe |
CItadel Air: Ulthuan Grey | Citadel Shade: Reikland Fleshshade |
Citadel Air: Leadbelcher | Citadel Shade: Nuln Oil |
Vallejo Air: Sea Grey | Citadel Shade: Biel-Tan Green |
Citadel Base: Mephiston Red | Citadel Shade: Druchii Violet |
Citadel Base: Khorne Red | Citadel Shade: Agrax Earthshade |
Citadel Base: Iron Warriors | Citadel Shade: Carroburg Crimson |
Citadel Base: Phoenician Purple | Army Painter Quickshade: Dark Tone |
Citadel Base: Corvus Black | Citadel Contrast: Shyish Purple |
Citadel Layer: Sybarite Green | Citadel Contrast: Blood Angels Red |
Citadel Layer: Ulthuan Grey | Citadel Contrast: Black Templar |
Citadel Layer: Liberator Gold | Citadel Dry: Wrack White |
Citadel Layer: Evil Sunz Scarlet | Citadel Dry: Necron Compound |
Citadel Layer: Brass Scorpion | Citadel Dry: Golden Griffon |
CItadel Layer: Pallid Wych Flesh | Citadel Dry: Nurgling Green |
Citadel Layer: Kakaphoni Purple | Citadel Dry: Ryza Rust |
Citadel Layer: Screaming Skull | Citadel Technical: Typhus Corrosion |
Before I started painting, I needed to make a decision. Would I take the easy route, and skip painting the inner compartments of the titan? Sealing it all in by gluing the carapace armor in place. Or would I paint everything, without gluing the carapace armor, so I could occasionally look inside?
I know. I know. I know what you’re thinking, the answer was obvious. Of course I was going to paint the inside. But I still had to query myself about it. I mean If you think long enough about it, like overthinking it(as I tend to do about most things in life), why would I paint the inside? It’s going to be hidden from view almost 100% of the time. After a short internal debate on the subject, I came to the conclusion that I would be doing this model an incredible disservice by not painting the internal compartments. They are so beautifully detailed. In a completely chaos-ey way. (Beautiful chaos?)
The crew of this Warhound had long since succumbed to the influence of chaos(like it or not, by the looks of it), and were entombed in this God-engine for eternity(or until the engines go nova[kaboom]). The details modeled into these pieces are intense. You clearly understand the story being presented here. I began to wonder how would I do them justice, as I do not have the best brush control. I stared at them trying to work out what colors I would use, but couldn’t really nail down anything. So, I really didn’t have a plan when I started painting. I kind of just started reaching for random paints. The Tech Priest would have a red robe. Ok. The Moderati would probably have colors similar to the titans. Ok. Then it all kind of fell into place.
I painted the internal walls using Vallejo Air: Sea Grey. I had recently found out that I had a hobby shop near my home. An actual traditional hobby shop. Like from my childhood. They do not sell Games Workshop stuff, but had a pretty decent selection of just about everything else model-hobby related. Models, trains, RC cars/planes/boats, etc. They have a fair amount of paints too, including a large selection from the Vallejo Air line. I picked up a few greys to play around with. I liked this one, but I found that no two bottles of this color were the same. I had three bottles of this Grey, with the same catalog number and everything, and one was visibly darker than the other. Even after mixing them really well with my mixer. Odd. I bought them during separate trips to the shop. Had I noticed in the store, I definitely wouldn’t have bought them.
Once I got an image in my head of how I would paint the compartments, I decided that I would paint the snaking tentacles and cabling using purples. My chaos armies are Slaanesh influenced. With purple as a central color[excluding my Iron Warriors. They are painted relatively normally]. So I decided that I would tie my Titan in to this theme as well using a good deal of purple. I’ve really liked purple for some time. I am not sure if I have a favorite color. But, if I had to chose, a darker shade of purple may just be it.
I shaded the purple multiple times with Druchii Violet. The last time was watered down, following dry brushing some lighter colors. I washed the Tech Priests robes with Agrax Earthshade and then blotched on some watered down Army Painter: Cultist Robe. Then once more with the shade. Nice and dirty. The whole compartment got a Nuln Oil and Typhus Corrosion treatment. With a Ryza Rust dry brush over that. And then some Army Painter Quickshade in some places.
The next compartment was not quite as large and detailed as the one above. But it is actually my favorite individual piece on this whole model. This compartment sits opposite the Tech Priests station. Separated by a bulkhead door. The lone deceased Moderatus is so well designed. And I love the pose. The tentacle cabling at the bottom actually runs from the engineering consoles behind the Moderatus, through the bulkhead door, through the Tech Priest, and into the cockpit behind that.
I followed the same pattern in terms of painting this compartment as I had the previous. The only difference was that the Moderatus bears the colors of Legio Krytos. Stained by time. Again, watered down Cultist Robe and Agrax Earthshade layers worked wonders. I may use that color combination I came up with for some jungle themed miniatures at some point down the road. There has been some thoughts of Bolt Action’s Konflikt’47 in the future. Though the base green would be darker than this titan’s green. Eh, these are all notes for the future.
The cockpit is a tiny compartment compared to the previous two, with a jumbled mass of tentacles. The Princeps has been torn in half, and the Moderatii have rotted in their chairs. Looks like they got off easy, when compared to the rest of the crew. It was tricky painting in this tight space. And there was a lot of detailed stuff I could not get too. Generally a model like this would have individual parts you put in piece by piece. Like the pilots, they would be glued into place by the builder. But that is not the case. This whole section is one complete piece. So there are spots down in the corners that I just could not get to. But that is fine
This would wrap up the internal compartments here, with the exception of the Servitor compartments. Those I would paint when I got around to the weapon arms. Seeing as those compartments are part of the arms. Well, they are the shoulders really. Looking back, I am glad I took the time to paint these compartments, and not take the cheap way out. I’m not sure I would have let myself live that one down.
The upper armor plating was up next, and I followed the same pattern that I had established for the lower body. I chose to not use the masking paint this time though. It would have taken forever. It is a great tool, for sure. Just labor intensive. Again, you cannot argue with the results. But, the surface area on these pieces, particularly the carapace armor, would have taken a long time. And the clock starts as soon as you apply the “paint”.
On the head armor, I ran into a snag. It was the eyes. Included with this kit was a sheet of clear acetate that you are supposed to cut to fit in the eye sockets. So you can see inside. That’s cool. The problem was, I misplaced that sheet. I looked all over for it, but it’s gone. It probably flew onto the floor somewhere and my cat ate it. He loves clear plastic for some reason. He doesn’t love the vomiting that follows, though. Seriously, he has destroyed my shower curtains for years.
Anyway, I had to improvise. Out of the box, the eye sockets are closed by thin resin flash. The kind of stuff you’re supposed to trim off with a blade. I decided to leave that as is and paint them red. One of the pieces was loose, so I reinforced the backs of both sockets with masking tape, then painted over all of that. I think it worked out well enough. Another option would have been to cut the flash out and just not have windows. But I liked the red eyes better. In hindsight though, purple may have been a better choice. Seeing as I had used purple a lot.
With the internal compartments finished, and the external pieces in process, it was time to put the bulky pieces together. I epoxied the two compartments and engine blocks together, holding everything together with multiple clamps. They fit together a little awkwardly, so the clamps helped nicely. After all the epoxy dried, I wanted to dry fit the upper and lower sections together to see where I was at.
I was feeling great that the whole thing can still stand under its own weight. And I was loving how the partially painted upper matched the lower. But something was off. Like, really off. I spent quite a bit of time staring at the above scene. Trying to work out what was troubling me. A couple of times my wife asked me if I was okay. I was just sitting there staring.
In a roundabout way, this was always my idea for this model. I would use this oval wooden base, some terrain that I had bought from eBay(repainted of course), and that would be it. But then I screwed up the pose. And because of that, I now had to add something for it to stand on. I could model and paint the cork as stone or a building foundation. But I was totally not feeling any of this. I spent quite a bit of time going over options for the base. But kept returning to the above scene. I was in a loop.
And then I heard, from behind me, my 3D printer kick into a higher gear. If I were in a cartoon, I would have had one of those light bulbs pop up above my head as an enlightened look flashed across my face. An idea!
I could totally print something to put under the titans foot! And then another idea… and another. Those ideas would bloom. Occasionally too much. But I will get into that in Part 3. In the interest of not jumping around in this story, which(in realtime) I was doing like mad at this point, I’ll continue with the painting process.
So, with my mental image of this project refreshed, I jumped back into the upper armor panels. I needed to do the battle damage, corruption, ventilation system, and the weapon arms. First up was continuing the head armor. The corruption here had to stand out a bit more than the gold everywhere else. The top of the head is covered in ripples. So I blended some brass color in and then washed it all with Agrax Earthshade. Eventually highlighting with the original gold.
I actually spent a good amount of time on the ventilation system. This kit came with a nice metal grate that fits into the carapace armor above the fans. The problem was that it was way too clean. Too perfect. Not very millennia old chaos-ey. So I bust out the Dremel and made some subtle holes. Then I taped it to some cardboard, using Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust to age it. Followed by a wash of oil. The fan section beneath got the same treatment that the internal compartments received.
The finished product fit perfectly into the carapace armor. I got the battle damage and corruption done there as well. Opting for purple once again on the spikes and tentacles. They are, of course, snaking throughout the innards of this war machine.
It was time to add the weapon arm mounts, and the control compartments. I went simple here. One compartment contains a corrupted servitor that had been absorbed into the metallic components. The other a pulsating tentacle node.
Properly mounting these two pieces is very important. As they support the heavy resin weapon arms. The contact points, however, are kind of thin. So I made sure to use epoxy here as well, vice superglue. Most parts on this model are very dependent on the other parts fitting properly for good structural integrity. Makes sense to me.
I used Druchii Violet shade over the Ledbelcher on the shield generators, to give them a purple hue. Then a little Necron Compound dry brushed on the sides. The larger spikes were done in a similar style as the smaller ones, just more pronounced. I apparently glued a couple on backwards, as they kept falling off. It took a few times before I figured it out.
It was finally time to get the weapons painted and installed. Not much changed here in terms of how I painted these. I followed the same pattern as the armor. For the Plasma Cannon, I used a lot of red for the plasma coils. Starting with Mephiston Red and eventually some Contrast Blood Angels Red, before adding some Carroburg Crimson shade to darken portions up. Lastly a couple streaks of a lighter red.
The ball joints were fidgety so i had to get a little creative when I epoxied them. Using random stuff to hold them in place. I had originally decided on magnetizing these arms. That way I could swap them out or change the pose later on. But when I bought the model, Forgeworld only had these two options for the chaos Warhound. So i figured I would just glue them. There were other weapons available. But they were for the imperial model. The chaos ones had damage and heretical markings. I didn’t want a chaos body with imperial arms. That would have been kind of silly.
With the completion of the weapons, it was just about time to mount them. But first, I had some cosmetic things to add. Much earlier in the year I bought some 3D printed chains from PopGoesTheMonkey. I’ve bought bits from here many times before during my Iron Warriors builds. This chain was printed in one three foot long string. I had plans to add these chains all over this titan. But first I needed to paint, weather and cut the long string of links. I made sure to save the pieces of the links that I had cut off so I can use them to mount the chain to the titan. And boy, was that not so fun…
I would attach these chains to the underside of the model at various points using the cut links. I had to use tweezers to get the to sit right. I defintley ended up gluing plastic chain bits to the tweezers a couple times. My image was that as the titan is walking, along with the thunderous pounding of the footfalls, there is the sound of heavy chains clanking around.
I also had to bend, cut, and paint the cabling that attaches the weapons and the head to the body. To do this I had to do the old boiling water trick to make the straight resin cabling flexible. I have an incredibly bad history with bending resin using the boiling water trick. And I was already prepared for this to be a spectacular failure too. Luckily, it was not. I did make a mistake here and there that caused me to have one cable that was too short. But I would end up modeling that error as a snapped cable.
It was finally time to mount the arms to the body. That was accomplished using a good amount of epoxy, some strategic placement of foam blocks, and a full can of spray primer. I always keep those packing foam blocks you find inside of boxes for electronics and whatnot. They come in handy more often than not.
With the arms solidly in place, it was time for the top of the Warhound to be permanently joined to the bottom. Culminating months of work. I added the rust effect all over the models top and bottom. As well as added some green dry brushing here and there. Mostly on the feet and near the battle damage.
When the epoxy had dried, I was staring at a completed model standing under its own weight. With a little help of some cork under the left foot, of course… I felt really good with what I was looking at.
Actually, the model will stand fine without the cork. Which I found surprising. But when doing that it stands at an odd angle. One that puts a lot of stress on the toes. And I would rather not risk it. I do have a plan to paint a piece of that cork like a base. That way if I ever plan on tabling this model for a game, it can move freely around. With stability. But that is a project for another day. As I have zero plans on playing games with this model any time soon.
So, all that was left in this project was now the diorama base. Which, at the time of me finishing the titan itself, too was almost done. As I had been working on it concurrently.
In part 3, I will go in depth into the diorama’s build and details, the Titan’s name, and the backstory that I created for the whole scene.
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.