Imperator, a micro Siegebreaker & the Blowfish

This week's progress update is very much a mixed bag which I hope you'll enjoy, including a long overdue update on the Imperator build, & a couple of teeny weeny Knights.  But first, a quick photo of what's on my painting table...

The Blowfish... now in glorious colour (sort of)!

I've now painted the crew of the Blowfish and have given it a lovely coat of my patented rusty coastal weathering recipe.  I always do this layer for all members of the Court of The Fisher King as it helps tie them all together regardless of the specific paint patterns I use.  I also took some time over painting and sealing the underside of the watery resin base to add some depth and colour variation to the waves.  I still need to build up the wave patterns and spray with heavy medium and some surf texture, but for now, I think it's coming along nicely! 

The old rust bucket so far!

Imperator Build Update

It's been a while since I posted an update on the Imperator build.  It's not because I haven't been busy working on it, but more because it's such a large project, I could write a post after every weekend spent measuring, designing, drawing to scale, cutting, fitting then filling the various components, but it would be dull for you my dear reader!

So, I have decided to only post when I feel that I have reached a milestone of interest.  The most recent milestone was the assembly of a foot, some torso detailing and the completion of the neck socket.

Neck socket

Although it's not the most interesting element visually, making a neck socket which could hold the weight of the head with only magnets and still allow me to make something aesthetically pleasing was a tricky prospect.  It has taken me a lot of fiddling and testing to come up with a solution!

I started by gluing some large steel washers into the neck socket to give my magnets something to grip.  I didn't use magnets on the receiver as I didn't want polarity or repositioning issues later on 

Next I filled the socket with Milliput and smoothed it to a nice rounded finish.  This was my plan all along, so I had intentionally left a depth of approximately 5mm of space to make sure I had room to fit an attaching mechanism 

Once the putty had cured, I drilled into the surface to the depth of the washers using a dremmel bit the same width as the magnets I'd be using

Closer up, you can see the surface of the embedded washers peeking through! 

I used an old slow cooker lid handle which I had squirrelled away for the base of my next coupling.  I used a very strong, viscous glue to set the magnets into the right position.  This picture cannot even begin to convey the frustration of mounting five magnets which just want to hold hands...

Once the glue had fully set, I used more Milliput to set them in place.  This will be sanded a little more cleanly once it's cured, but it fits perfectly!

And there we have it - the neck coupling sitting nicely within the neck socket with a pull strength of around 2kg.  This give me a nice solid plastic disc  to work with and a pre-set screw in bolt which I will use to help make a solid mechanical join on the head

It may seem a bit dull, but the socket assembly is vital in terms of set up for the head sculpt.  Below is a draft floor plan of the head interior.  I've decided that the head will house only the Princeps who will be suspended from the ceiling on a large mechanical arm where she can easily see all of the view screens at the front of the cabin.

A small platform extends from the command module door at the back of the head cavity. View screens behind the titan's optics are arrayed before the Princeps

As this is a scale drawing, I've been using the Princeps miniature to ensure that there is sufficient room for her to be suspended from the top plate

Torso Progress

As the torso is one of the main components and certainly have the largest surface area, I'm taking my time in constructing it. Now that I'm happy with the practical structure, I'm moving on to some detailing and reinforcing the structure where necessary.  The sub assemblies will be 1) the carapace, 2) the torso, 3) the head, 4) & 5) left and right arms and finally, 6) the legs and pelvis.  The miniature will need to be broken down into these parts for storage and transport, so the design process needs to incorporate practical mechanisms to allow this.

Since the last update, I have magnetised the carapace plate and made a large waist section which the carapace now plugs into.  I have also added the belly section to the front of the torso

As well as the magnets, I've also added guide rails to the underside of the carapace section to make sure that everything locks into place properly.

This is the underside of the carapace showing the bar magnets and guide rails as well as the underside of the macro cannon tower power plant

The rear of the titan torso now houses a dual reactor, an observation / maintenance platform and an external hatch for access.  I'm really pleased with how this stage is coming along as it's already starting to look more like a real titan!

I've started detailing the underside of the carapace platform now, leaving a gap to incorporate the base of the rear mounted macro cannon tower which extends over the edge of the platform

A close up of the carapace ceiling vent

These exhaust vents were hand crafted to sit the end of the largest rear facing support struts

Here they are in position.  The two smaller outer struts will also have vents while the ends of the forward facing struts will have Legio designs and optics built into them 

Feet

The other main structural elements which I'm keen not to underestimate is the feet and legs.  I've previously shown the underlying structure of the feet, but today I wanted to show the components which have gone into cladding just one of the foot assemblies and the process I used to get there.

First I drew up the patterns - this is just what I needed to cut to clad one of the outward facing toes!

I cut all of the toe components at the same time so that I could make sure they were all matched

This is the side cladding for one of the toe sections

Test fitting the parts

And now all glued in place!

Once both side facing toes were clad, I moved on to the front facing toe and the stairway to the entry hatch

The basic foot assembly - solid as a rock!  Once the legs and pelvis are completed, I will affix these permanently to the gigantic 80cm MDF base

Further detailing added to the forward toe.  A lot of filling is still needed on the feet, but I'm holding off on that until all of the structural elements are complete

And now for something a bit smaller!

AT Scale Porphyrions

I recently completed my 40k scale House Raven Knight Porphyrion Siegebreaker and have been dying to recreate him in Adeptus Titanicus scale the same way I did for my Reaver titan Ferrum Dominus.  Well, I finally got round to doing it and I also made him a friend! Enjoy the pictures and I'll post an update on these little beasts soon!

Mini AT scale Siegebreaker!

40k scale on the left and AT scale on the right

He even has a friend to accompany him in Adeptus Titanicus battles!

Acastus Knight Porphyrion 'Siegebreaker'

Siegebreaker Walks!

House Raven Knight designation: Siegebreaker.  Engage locomotors..

I completed my House Raven Acastus Knight Porphyrion 'Siegebreaker' at the weekend and I'm really happy with how he turned out.  It was a nice kit to work on although I did have to replace some of the elements which I wasn't too keen on (see my previous post for more detail).

I tried to keep Siegebreaker close to the original House Raven Questoris colour scheme as I have a real soft spot for the yellow chevrons and red armour plating.  As House Raven famously work closely with my Titan Legion Metalica, I've tried to make sure that they complement each other.  The large metal skull on the rim of the carapace is a nod towards Metalica's Iron skull symbol.

From the side, you can see the kill markings on the black / red armour plating typical of House Raven Knights

Another common feature of House Raven and the Mechanicum in general is the black and white helmet, which also helps tie in with the Legio Metalica colour scheme as well

You can see in the re-levelled gun barrels from the side.  I much prefer this to the staggered layout.  I went all in on the heat staining as well - I normally keep it more subtle, but the length of the barrels just demanded more!

The reactor housing on the Knight is just visible through the additional rear plating.  There's a reason these machines are incredibly hard to bring down...

In this image, you can better see the protruding head and reworked carapace railings.  I like that the head is smaller and less integrated than the original version.  It makes him look even stockier

Proudly displaying the House Raven colours!

The maker's stamp is just visible between the hatch hinges

A top view of the carapace which took longer than any other surface to paint because of the chevron pattern.  I started seeing black and yellow stripes in my sleep...

A nice view of the rocket hatch open.

You get a better idea of how much larger and bulkier an Acastus chassis is when stood next to a Questoris Knight!

And finally, a picture of Siegebreaker and Quake Hydra together as I don't think I've ever seen the two kits compared before.  The two Acastus variants look very different - the Asterius is wider with a more rounded silhouette whereas the Porphyrion is blockier and more static like a siege engine

I'm glad to have finished another kit on my list - next on the table is Excidium Rex, my second Warhound Titan who just needs finishing touches.  After that... more House Raven Knights!

What's that coming over the hill? A Porphyrion.

Stupid Virus...

I decided that I would take a break from working on The Court of the Fisher King.   With the current lockdown in the UK due to the Corona Virus outbreak, my planned Warhammer World exhibition has been postponed reducing the the urgency to complete the Court.

The other big driving force for me was the Titan Owner's Club Walk 2020 in June which has also sadly been postponed for the same reason.  I have decided that this is an opportunity rather than a curse in a bid to stay positive in these trying times!  As the Walk has been pushed back, I now have more time to add to my force before it's rescheduled - yay!

House Raven Bolstered

Even naked, he looks like a bruiser...

First up on the table is a Porphyrion.  I had reservations about this guy for some time as I wasn't a fan of the original gorget nor the staggered gun barrels on the arms.  I know other people love this model as it is, but I felt I had to alter them to fit my particular sensibilities!

Having worked on and fallen in love with the Asterius kit (which as an Acastus knight, shares many of the components with its forerunner the Porphyrion), I decided that simply ignoring a great model because of a few niggles was silly.

When I start a project like this one, I first sit down with the components and decide whether there's anything I have to replace or alter prior to starting the build.  In this case, I was lucky that the head and gorget could be left off as they aren't integrated into the chest.

I quite liked the look of the huge body with a regular Questoris knight head as it makes him look extremely bulky - a bit like the incredible hulk of knights!  In order to fill the larger neck cavity, I also used the Questoris knight armour cowl - this also gave the head a legitimate pivot point. 

Adding the new head did leave a large gap where the gorget used to be, but that was easily filled with putty to create a new armour section under the chin.

I assembled the rest of the hull and legs normally with the exception of the railings on the carapace.  I found that they were very thin and prone to both warping and snapping.  In order to avoid this, I simply built new rails from styrene dowel and tubing which allowed me to make the bars a little chunkier and less likely to snap off.

I left the missile launcher compartment separate as I wanted to be able to open and close it on the final miniature.  I assembled the launcher with the pneumatic struts in a position where they could hold it open while still popping back inside when I wanted the carapace closed.

I sprayed all of the components silver and started painting the armour plating for the legs.  I went for a really nice clean look as it was a nice contrast to my filthy Asterius!

I decided to paint most of his armour plating separately prior to the final assembly

I am keeping the scheme as close to the traditional House Raven colours as possible

I'm currently working on a block to even the magna lascannon barrel length.  In my opinion, this will look much more satisfying than the original staggered layout.  I guess we'll have to see once it's finished!

In other news, I am also looking to finish 5 other Questoris class House Raven knights in advance of the walk.  If I get time, I may also add in a couple more Cerastus knights to bolster my forces, but I need to finish the paint work on Excidium Rex (my second Warhound) as I can't take him to the walk only partially finished again - I'd be disgraced!!

So, my 2020 Walk progress looks like this so far:

Venator Light Titan Maniple:

Reaver Titan - 100% complete

Warhound Titan - 100% complete

Warhound Titan - 90% complete

Acastus Knight banner:

Asterius - 100% complete

Porphyrion - 50% complete

Cerastus Knight Banner:

Lancer - 100% complete

Lancer - 100% complete

Lancer - 0% complete (Optional)

Acheron - 0% complete (Optional)

Questoris Knight Banner:

Knight Errant - 100% complete

Knight Paladin - 50% complete

Knight Gallant - 50% complete

Knight Crusader - 50% complete

Knight Warden - 50% complete

Knight Preceptor - 50% complete

I'll post my progress in the coming days - fingers crossed, I'll have two completed Knight houses by the end of the lockdown!

I hope you all stay safe, positive and hobby productive!  See you on the flip-side!