The Warlord: Build Post 1 of 2

There'll only be one or two build posts. It's an epic undertaking building this beast but there are so many sites out there that document it I'll only be doing this for the sake of people doing their own big projects and as an idea of scale.

Step one, Jigsaw and stanly knife and scalpul the hell out of the 6 carrier bags of excess resin that was clinging to the warlord. I would usually use this time to clean mold lines and sand down but this sculpt was practically perfect. Really could not have asked for a better mold. Sharp and clean, what few mold lines were hidden inside the model. This still took me about 16hours to sand, cut, clean and test. 

Next... The romantic bath.

 You gotta treat your warlord right. Although there didnt look like there was any mold release on the parts, you can never be too careful. Imagaine half way through painting you realise that no paint sticks to a big section. or a huge bit of freehand just peels off when you touch it. That is the stuff of nightmares. So put the lot in a fairy liquid, washing up liquid and medium hot water bath for a few hours and scrub the hell out of every piece with a soft nail brush.

Starting at the top, this is where the build really begins. Wireless Dremel with multiple drill bits, super-glue, thick wire for pins, screws of various sizes, paperclips for stability pins, quick-grip clamps, green-stuff, and JB weld epoxy steel to set things in stone.

I test every pin to make sure it lines up and doesn't look wonky before adding the JB weld to the model. Might add some brittle superglue to test fit then snap off if the pin doesn't hold. Then once the JB weld is mixed and applied to the surface, clamp in place and leave over night.

To see where I need to drill for each pin, ill drill and glue one end, then dip the other exposed end in bright orange paint. lining up and pushing the two pieces together will give me an orange dot where the next hole needs to go.

 once the upper body is set I pushed 3 large rods all the way through the sholder sections to make doubly sure nothing would move. And to allow the sholders to rest on the pins rather than rely on the glue to hold it. Each weapons system weights an absolute ton so NO risks were taken.

 The Warlord takes first blood...

Clamps arnt going to work for every part of this project, every part of these sholders are curved or too delicate to clamp. So a spare bit of rope to  tie it together until the JB weld is set worked perfectly.

 As you can see no matter how careful you are, there may well be gaps. (Top left piston housing), not too worried about this, greenstuff will be added and sculpted once its 100% dried. (This will be detailed in part 2)

 And there it was, the upper structure is done! Time for my Titan princepter lord to chill out on his balcony. Notice no armor plates are even attempted in this stage. I wont be glueing them on until they are painted and sealed. Even then I may well just magnetise them for ease of transport.

The next part is the legs. God damn this was hard enough with the Forgeworld knights to get a dynamic pose, let alone something big enough to be a child in a costume!

Deciding on the angle of the hips is the start of any dynamic pose, and suspending the hips from a bit of rope that I could tilt while keeping it level was the easiest way to do it. I needed to keep the pose quite wide to support the upper half and weapons, while at the same time, keep the feet at angled to let it stand comfortably.

Setting the screws and pins in the leg is mind bendingly difficult. There aren't enough hands in the world. My lovely wife spent longer than she wanted holding parts in place while I pinned and sanded. Find a partner that both hates and supports your hobby.

 As you can see once the pose was decided I painted little lines of orange to allow me to quickly see where it needs to line up to achive the same pose. By keeping these lines straight the same pose is easy to achieve again.

In theory. Best laid plans etc. 

 

 You can see all the pins that went into this sticking out while it drys, I've lost count of the total so far. But it must be getting to about 60-100 now. There are a total of 6 large screws in the legs as well. To allow me a little wiggle room to lock the pose before I put the final stability pins in coated with JB weld. The actual sections of the legs arnt glued at all just the pins.

And there you have it. Two sections solid as a rock. Still not quite sure how im going to secure the upper half yet but magnets, horizontal and virtical pins and faith will be involved somehow.

Thank you for reading! Part two will be the magnets and greenstuff.

Happy painting!
Henry