Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

i have been looking into and asking around about building titans on the cheap or from scratch.
i have found some patterns for warhounds and that looks fun. now i need some know how about building the thing.
any ideas about materials???

my other thought was converting another model into a titan. spend ballpark $80 on a model/toy and convert it into a reaver or warhound.

has anyone done this type of thing and willing to share advice??

thanks in advance

Emperor protects

-Kane

If you have a template buy some card and get cutting! I would strongly recommend against buying a whole bunch of plasticard/plastic kits before you have attempted building it with card first. And remember those templates do not account for integrity! You will need to reinforce it on the inside. Plus the card model is a blank slate for all kinds of customisation with bits and plasticard plating.

so you would recommend a card stock base with plasticard plating and spare bits for decoration.
also thanks for the tip on reinforcing.


Emperor protects

-Kane

do you have a link to the templates , be good to take a look see how good they are

They a good templates, really wuite good. I built mine with 1mm plasticard (styrene sheets, plasticard is just a brand)
It costs about £1.20 a sheet, so you could build a titan (with room for error) for under £16, as oppossed to severl hundred for a FW one


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And yes, I forgot to say, bracing is a VERY good idea, as it maganzing weapons and possibly the joints, for transport

I know the patterns you speak of. They were designed for a paper model that you cut and fold, but work well for card and plastic.
Definately build one out of card first. It will help you get the idea of how the thing goes together and where you need to add strength to the joints. Especially the first leg joint...its a bit clumsy and i ended up modifying mine to so the leg joined along the curved section rather than butted up to the end of the section:


After you get it built in card and modified the way you want, go back and make a set of card templates (assuming you want to go with plastic next) that you can trim down to account for the thickness of the plastic-card you intend to use.
Rather thean the expensive plasticard, I went to the Home Despot and bought some plastic "for sale" signs of appropriate thickness and flexibility. Less than $1 each.
Using the template, trace the pieces directly onto the sign and cut out (I used a set of "Fiskars" scissors...really sharp and durable). Testors model glue worked great in putting the pieces together into sections.
After you've built sub-assemblies you can start putting them together in to major assemblies. I left my legs and body seperate for ease of transportation.
It took 2 of the "for sale" signs to make 1 Warhound:

For a scale of size, the Titan is standing on a ream of 8.5x11 inch copy paper.

Total cost was under $10...not counting time of course. I built this guy as a basic tabletop model, hence the lack of uber-detail and the rough buildup. But once you have the construction down (and tour playing models built) their is no reason this can't be built as a basic frame that can be detailed and painted/based to a higher standard.
The good thing is once you have the design you like and that works, you have a set of templates. Then you can build 2 or 3 at a time and have a full legion.
Note the slightly different body design between #1 and #2:

so i could use the template to cut out pieces of plastic. glue them together into small chunks then put the wole thing together. hmmm.

the paper mock up worries me though. i dont know if it will be able to stand. i got some heavy card stock and even that does not seem sturdy enough.

any suggestions on the mock up ie. what to use to put it together.

thanks again

Emperor protects

-Kane

For the paper mockup just use cereal box type cardboard and white glue. The intent isn't to create a playable model (although some people have), but to test fit the pieces, get a handle on construction sequence, and determine any changes you want to make for apearance/size/stability etc.

On the pics I've shown you can see how each leg section is a seperate construct (essentialy a box with 2 edges cut out). The joints are simple plastic tubes about 3/4" in diameter capped off with card. The hip-joint is 1" tube that goes all the way through holes cut into the lower body block (that gives a stable mounting point to keep both legs strait). For the main hull of the body (the unequal octagon shape) I cut out 3 identical pieces as a skeleton, then layed the card over that. Once dry and stable I merely capped off the ends. The wings are just a shell with no bottom. The weapons are just glued to the underside of the top plate.
For the head you could either scratch build something OR do something along the lines of taking an old junk "O" scale locomotive and chopping that up. I built a couple of "Knight class titans using HO scale locomotives and they worked out pretty good.

thanks all for the info.
now off to build

any final advice before i get to it???


thanks so much again

Emperor protects

-Kane

Final advice? From someone with a cardboard Warhound that's been sitting half-built for months now, I'd say the best piece of advice is this: don't be afraid to dry-fit, trim, fiddle, etc. but then scrap parts and start over when it's not working out. It's a lot more work trying to go back and fix your mistakes when they've been glued on solidly, then covered with five other pieces. I bodged on a crooked hull piece I thought wouldn't be an issue and... well, it'll sit half built until I find a day where I'm feeling really patient.

ok so i have started my build and i do have a few questions.
firstly how do you glue the edges of the folded paper together??
with what glue and how do you get it to stay.
how do you hold them together until it is dry??

thanks again

Emperor protects

-Kane