She walks, my 3D-Printed Legio Ignatum Warlord Titan!

The miniature painting hobby has many faces. There are projects that get stuck in the 'I'll do it one day'-phase, others end up on the pile of shame and - once in a blue moon - plans actually come to fruition. Then there are the projects you finish that make you wonder: should I have started this one? I think this 3D-printed Warlord Titan firmly falls in the last category. But to be honest I already know the answer: Yes I should have! Because it is one hell of a sight to behold (and 'miniature' to hold).

My full (32mm) scale Warlord Titan walks, in proud Legio Ignatum colors of course.

I started printing this monstrosity last year in April, in part to commemorate my dead Warhound Titan and in part to celebrate getting a printer with a larger build volume. Printing all the parts took a lot of time. I finished the entire printing project last year in May. You'd think all it takes to print a model is pushing the 'print' button (and a lot of patience as the printer needs anywhere between five and seventeen hours to spew out parts). You'd be wrong though. It actually takes quite a bit of time, skill and effort to properly prepare 3D-files for printing in a so called slicer program. I really should update my '3D-printing for Wargaming FAQ' and incorporate my progressing insights* into the whole process.

* couldn't resist going for a way too literal Dutch to English translation there ;).

It is hard to convey the sheer size of a model like this in pictures.

Printing a model is half (maybe a quarter) of the job, actually modelling it and slapping paint on the parts is quite a bit more involved. For starters I had to make a successful Terror (1) test (yes a Warhammer 4th joke there) to actually conquer my fear of a model of this size. In the end I decided to just get it done. It seemed sensible to start from a metallic basecoat as painting titans on a normal (new epic) scale taught me the damn machines are mostly metal anyway. I ordered a couple of Vallejo metallic rattlecans as I didn't want to risk a DIY-store variant with the risk of killing al detail on the model. 

The first assembly had a creaking leg problem.

I finally got around to placing the assorted assemblies I needed to paint in a cardboard box in the garden (while it was still summer and sort-of sunny out) and primed the titan. At this point I discovered a major problem with my print. One of the resin legs had snapped of at the foot during construction (printed resin is a bit more brittle than the poured variant). This flaw, combined with the way a titan is a rather top heavy thing with oddly shaped chicken legs, caused too much stress on the legs. On the assembled picture above the entire titan is leaning against the bookcase to keep the weight of the legs. I tried stabilizing this with 5mm (hollow) brass rods, but in the end the creaking and moaning got worse and worse and I had to go back to the drawing board. 

Carbon fiber titan parts to the rescue!

As luck would have it, my brother just got a new PLA printer from Bambu Lab. This wonderful machine can print rather good looking parts despite the layers that come with PLA. What's more: this printer can print with carbon fiber. I had the feet, lower and upper legs, hips and hip joints (pictured above) printed in this heavy duty material. The downside of PLA, especially carbon fiber, is that you either have a flat side or an ugly side (the side that faces the printing plate). Luckily a Warlord Titan has rather a lot of armor plates and doodads to cover most of the ugliness. 

Add resin bobs and bits for detail.

The armor plates survived the leg malfunction so all I had to do was reprint the toes, ankle joint thingies and toe-webbing armor. 

A quick action shot of the new leg assembly in it's metal primer. 

At that point I drilled a 5mm hole from the left hip joint all the way through to the right so I could use a 5mm brass rod to connect both legs to the hips. If this titan collapses under its own weight, it is not because I was negligent when it came to supporting it. My biggest challenge to painting at this point was the ghastly weather (downpours mixed with heavy downpours) combined with my unwillingness to use rattlecans indoors. During the one day without rain just before Christmas I had the chance to get the legs primed. 

Good looking yellow starts with a pre-shaded pink undercoat, the hardest part is resisting the temptation to keep it pink.

A whole lot of airbrushing and hours spent masking followed. Here's a quick 'montage'.

A pink undercoat only requires one or two thin airbrushed coats to get a good looking yellow.

Applying masking takes a lot of time.

Applying masking to paint hazard stripes requires a triangle ruler, a pencil stripe, a lot of masking tape and time...

...a lot of time. I spent most of an afternoon applying bands of masking tape to armor panels.

Spraying color on the parts takes minutes with the airbrush.

Compared to the time it takes to mask the panels, the time taken to paint feels unfairly short. 

Luckily there an eon of painting #$^$%@#$ trim to compensate for the short time airbrushing takes. 

And there is the rather satisfying feel you get pulling of the masking tape (assuming you've used masking tape for modeling, if you use the cheaper stuff this stage mostly consists of grieving for pulled off layers of paint). 

With all the armor panels painted I could finally assemble the full titan. 

She walks (with her arms in a sling)! The accidental shot of Peachy from The Painting Phase proudly looking at my titan is too funny not to mention.

I used 2-component glue to attach the guns to the arm joints I added a few drops of superglue to the sides to help stabilize the parts to give the serious glue a chance to set. 2-component glue is a godawful glue to work with as you get about 20 minutes (or 6 in quick-set variants) to work with it, but (never believe the packaging) it takes about 24 hours to properly set. Ignore this caveat at your own peril (my left gun started drooping before I decided to add extra support with masking tape. If 2-component glue gets a chance to set, you get a very good and solid connection. With a big model like this it is definitely worth the trouble of applying it. 

It's hard to describe the 'I removed the supports and tape and the arms haven't dropped off'-feeling you get when you remove the supports and tape and the arms don't drop off.

With the entire titan constructed and painted in a basic scheme all that was left to do was applying a lot of weathering. I had to improvise on the shields as my planned 'paper semi-transfers' didn't fit. I used a mix of semi-appropriate transfers and freehands to make up for the deficit. I also had a bit of trouble with the two main guns as I tried (and failed) at going for orange glowing hot barrels. I decided to just go for metals and weather them on the final assembly with blue, yellow and purple heat warping. With all that said, let's go back to the finished model.

The literal 'ass end' of the titan was the hardest bit to paint as this was the 'gnarly' bit of this particular carbon fiber part.

 The balcony on the back is one of my favorite details on the Warlord Titan. I freehanded the striping on the door as applying masking wasn't feasible in the constrained space. I used a bit of creative weathering with contrast paints to cover my shaky paint work (mostly). 

I'm rather chuffed with how the alternate red and striped panels on the gun armor came out.

One of the fun parts was adding colors to the metals. I used purple and blue metallics for a base, later adding thinned down purples and blues to enrich the colors in spaces. I also applied splotches of this color anywhere I felt like on the metal surfaces, just to break up the monotony. Another wonderful go-to set of paints - especially with large metal surfaces - are contrast paints (or competitor's variants of them). I blasted thinned down Garaghak's Sewer (and a few other browns) through the airbrush to add shadows (and cover up a few mistakes). Another contrast that turned out to be wonderful for a job like this is Wyldwood. I used it for panel lining. Contrast paints dry a bit slower and leave almost no marking if you remove them quickly enough (from a varnished surface). That gives you all the advantages of an oil based panel liner without the long drying times. 

Oh dear, I've already used this picture above. Lets ignore that and mention the shields I mostly filled with decals around a freehand titan-t and some flames (to distract from the messy looking decals).

The head of the titan is one of the happy little accidents that occurred during this paint job. I painted it first (and much sooner than the rest of the model). Through some compounded forgetfulness (and more enthusiasm at the start of a project) I applied extra highlights using three (or four) layers of white as opposed to two on the rest of the panels. This gives the head a lighter shade of red. I've decided to call it 'drawing attention to the cool part' as one should do (according to the experts). 

"I'll krump dat bigboy good, you'll see! Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!"

One of the last steps I took consisted of a few quick blasts with thinned down Vallejo Model Color Dirt and Dark Earth to make the lower legs dusty. I also applied a sloppy AK Dirt Splatter Effect on the edges of the toes to give the impression my titan has actually touched the ground. The Ork Mad Boy appeared out of nowhere to take on this worthy foe. I suspect this fight will not end well (for the titan as it's freshly painted). GW (or an enthusiastic STL sculptor) should bring back the Mad Boys. I miss them.

Look at that little knight fellow in the back. Who's a cute litte suit of battle armor? You are! 

I had to take this obligatory picture to give an impression of scale. The Tech-Priest Dominus sits on a 40mm base. The Knight in the back is not epic scale (the first question a friend asked on seeing this picture). To think I thought that a big model once has become slightly funny now that I've held this titan. 

At this point I should mention the bloody thing was too big for even my biggest backdrop. I couldn't even Photoshop the furniture and floor off most of the pictures.

With that, the Legion Ignatum Warlord Titan is finished. I don't think I'll ever use this model on the tabletop, but it will get a nice place (not on a rickety shelf!) in my home office. Considering I don't really have space for a 60cm (almost 24inch) high model I still have to wonder: should I have started this project to begin with? The answer is very much yes. To begin with, it feels like one of those computer game achievements that only a handful of people get. I get the wonderful feeling of having conquered a really niche and challenging project. More importantly this project feels like a real milestone on my hobby journey. I remember seeing John Blanche's Titans for the first time on the cover of my brand new White Dwarf magazine. It captured my imagination and is one of those seminal images that has kept me happily puttering around the hobby over the decades. It seems only fitting to put a brush to a gigantic model inspired by that painting now. With that I'll leave off this post, for the coming year I have more 3D-printing plans, a lot of painting projects to finish and - above all - hobby time to enjoy. Happy new year to all of you reading this close to publication date. To add a New Year's  resolution: I'll try to blast out more updates next year.