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"He has much time for books. He studies them from morn to night and often through the night as well. And all he reads oppresses him... fills him with indignation at man's murderous ways toward man. And he conceives the strangest
project ever imagined... to become a knight..."

For my job I do a good amount of 3D modeling, mostly for rocket design. Through my work I found it is becoming cheaper and cheaper to get digital models prototyped and turned into physical models. I thought that it would be cool to try out for some 40k stuff. So I created a number of custom components for my Leman Russ and a number of City of Death models and had them rapid prototyped. Going from this:

To this:

I generated a good number of other parts with the goal of seeing how different sorts of details turnout, so as to get a sense of the limits I could take things. I was quite satisfied with the results. That done I wasn't satisfied with just making bits I really wanted to try a whole model. It then became a matter of finding the appropriate project. I wanted a project that deserved the gravitas and was worth the time effort and money I would have to commit to the project. After a couple of weeks of thought I decided the only project that I would care enough about to spend the hours of digital modeling on was that of a Knight class titan. I chose the paladin as a basis for how I wanted mine to look. I set about doing some concept art and some drawings to establish scale.


All the other models I had done, I did at work during lunch or after work. For a project as big as this I needed to be able to work for longer stretches of time. So I purchased a copy of the program I use for modeling at work, Pro/Engineer. This is a very good program. It is a parametric modeling program, this allows me to create constraints across multiple parts tying the dimensions of different components to each other.

So finally yesterday I found myself some free time and I started modeling. (Yay). I started on every ones favorite part, "where the love comes from," the groin. It was simply a matter that this section does a lot to establish the models proportions while being only minimally effected by changes to the other parts. The results of 2 hours:


This was only a rough model, it still needs detail. I will return to this model once the other components are also built. I will then add the details like rivets and symbols. I hope to keep this updated as often as possible.

Next up the torso!

OK, this looks pretty cool. What is the Rapidprototype material. It looks copperish in your picture but I would think it is some sort of polymer resin.

I am currently investigating the world of resin casting for my own Titan building project. I guess if you could combine this modeling, rapid prototyping, silicone mold making and resin casting you could become your own forge world.

Looking forward to updates.

Very interesting, any additional information you can provide (i.e. if anybody could get something 'printed' and the cost-would be nice). I'll be interested to see how far you can get.

The rapid prototyping for the above part was originally jewelers wax, but I had it investment cast in bronze to make it more robust. Chances are I will be going with a laser sintering, which would be a photo reactive polymer resin, this is just more cost effective for the size.

On some level I want to show how easy it can be for someone who sets their mind to it to accomplish what Forgeworld and GW do. GW has moved away from sculpting in a traditional medium, to sculpting by digital means. I want to show that we as hobbyists can do anything GW does.

This looks awesome, I have some questions though
1.) What program are you using to make the plans?
2.) What company did the casting?
3.) Approximately how much did that part you showed us cost?

I've been designing digital 3d for many years, it would be quite a dream to find a reasonable cost output model.

That is very very very cool.

sweet!

The swivel turret looks really good.
Looking forward to what comes next

Where exactly do you work? I am out on redstone and also work in 3d modeling.

We have been trying to get our company to invest in a RP machine for years, even though it has no real application to our work. =)

Irdiumstern wrote:This looks awesome, I have some questions though
1.) What program are you using to make the plans?
2.) What company did the casting?
3.) Approximately how much did that part you showed us cost?

1) Pro/Engineer Wildfire 4.0

2) Ninja Magic did the prototyping for the ball sponson, subcontracting out the investment casting.

3) The ball sponson and the gun came to $60ish. It was done with some other parts and those brought the total up. This sort of prototyping only makes sense if you plan on making multiple copies. The ball sponson was made symmetrically so I could use it on both sides of my leman russ. In totally I cast about 20 of them after I got the masters, at $3 a copy worth of resin casting supplies.

Clay Williams wrote:Where exactly do you work? I am out on redstone and also work in 3d modeling.

We have been trying to get our company to invest in a RP machine for years, even though it has no real application to our work. =)

I work in the Philadelphia region, for a subcontractor that works alot with Lockhead and General Dynamics. I design the timing mechanisms for warheads.

Rapid prototyping is very cool to see done. My university had one and I got to play with it some. Mostly I just pay companies to prototype for me. There are a decent number of companies that do it for a decent price now. The biggest investments for the machines are with the companies that have these clandestine costs, such as required service agreements or really high costs for the prototyping medium.

This is seriously next level.
Holy feth.
I can't even comprehend the coolness of this.

Thanks, for all the words of encouragement. I really appreciate it. As I go along feel free to make constructive criticism, I'd really like to hear input on this.

I managed to do a little more work last night. 3 Hours on the torso, 1 hour on the crotch. I added more detail on the torso, mostly rivets, but I adjusted the rear engine exhaust (akin to a leman russ'). I still need to add the mesh wire type detail but that is going to be quite time consuming.


The torso was the next on the agenda. It is very complicated. I'm 3 hours in and I probably have another 7+ to go on it. I changed up the design to make its arm mounts more similar to the reaver titan (or big brother). At this point the rear has no work at all and I'm struggling to make it look less flat.

Next I will be working on the side and the large twin reactors on the back, drawing from the Warhound titan for inspiration.

See ya,

Good grief what a project, good luck!

Thank you

wish you the best of luck on this one.

You should go head over to warseer, we have a bit of a developing community of digital model makers. I'm currently halfway through the design of a "generic sci-fi tank", another member has already finished his "generic sci-fi tank/ not mini-macharius" and is already working on his "generic sci-fi tank/not destroyer tank hunter", and a third member is at work on a 54mm scale Dreadnought.

chaos0xomega:

That sounds really cool. Links?

Amazing amazing!

I have Inventor 2008 on my comp for college work, and this makes me want to try this!!

Ahhh I wish I could have caught on to modeling earlier. Bout 4 years ago, the career center I went to allowed us to RP anything we really wanted for free. had a Plastic machine and a resin/powder one.

Nurglitch, I try to avoid posting links to other forums, since I consider it to be rude, butsince you asked here you go:

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207928
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209923
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147552

chaos0xomega:

Hey, I actually saw this thread before and linked to it in a discussion thread about the new Demolisher kit as an example of what I would have preferred in a remodeled Leman Russ. Kudos!

really? nice, thanks for the compliment!
and sorry to threadjack

Wow, this is just too awesome! I like the way that you would be able to super detail it as you are not restricted to how many bitz you have or your modelling skills but on your 3d design skills.

Just wondering how much do you estimate that this titan will cost you?

I've never done a blog or put up pictures online really, but my conversions and scratch builds are better than my digital skills. I could build this guy from scratch I just think this way will produce better and more consistent results for less time and effort.

Cost about $30-$40 per mold. So sprue-ing it up to keep it at 4 or 5 molds is necessary. About $50 worth of resin per model. The prototyping probably close to $200 for all the parts. The mold is guaranteed for 50 castings, but can potentially last up to 70 castings. So I don't have too much worry about wearing out the molds, and I'd always be able to have them do more later on.

Another update...

I did some work along the side and rear.


I think I've broken up the flat look of it pretty well, I just need to bring out more detail to transition the sides into the front and rear. I want to start developing the legs a bit, as well as working on the shoulder pad. The shoulder pad, I'm not sure yet how I want to adjust the design for it. Now that I've changed the shoulder joint, the type of shoulder pad I had doesn't make as much sense. I'm going to need to think on this.

Hy mythos, have you got any pics of the other stuff you've made? You mentioned CoD bitz, and I'd be interested in seeing those.

Very nice! I approve!

yeah, i wouldnt mind seeing some of the other stuff you've made either!

I don't really have a digital camera or anything, so all I can offer are the screen shots of the digital model. This is an assembly drawing to show the parts assembled en mass:


I never cast any up, just have the masters. Saving it for when I move into a bigger place and can dedicate time to a gaming table. There were some other little pieces but I can't find pics of those.

I also have a shotgun and las-carbine for my Skitarri. I did a Autocannon arm for my servitors, which I will have followed by low level tech priests for heavy weapon teams. Now redundant with the updated kit, I did a new exhaust for the leman russ. I do have pictures of those, but I don't have access to them here.

Your Knight is looking great! A few Knights are on my To Do list, but only after I have finished my Warhound and Thunderbolt.

I think that it's great that you are stepping away from the traditional way of scratch-building and going digital. I have tried a few times to create in 3D and seem to lack the fundemental skills... I am better with my hands, though still only average.

Looking forward to seeing this completed!

Please keep me on the 'waiting list' if this project ever ends up generating one!

So far, so good.

I can't wait to see the 'complete' Knight!

Are you planning to produce copies for sale?