Dreadtober 2024 - Cerastus Knight Progresses

Hello Dreadtober-teers, progress is happening with the Cerastus Knight Lancer, base is finished and endo-skeleton is basecoated, needs more details finishing.

I actually am waiting on three Taro Modelmaker solid in-fill shields for the three Lancers I have but for now I tired my hand at a little blue energy glow on the Lancer's shield, came out quite good! Just drybrushed from dark to light and large patch to smaller.

The base has a fallen enemy Knight arm from House Malinax, decals from AT boxset. The gubbins inside the torn off arm are from a Ad Mech Torsion Cannon.

Dreadtober is an annual event held over the month of October where hobbyists pledge to do a dreadnought-sized model from the to-do pile and get it finished, starting 1st Oct and completing 31st Oct (Halloween/All Hallows Eve) with lots of progress shots and encouragement along the way :) and I like to partake in Dreadtober, and have done for a few years, check out the link in the sidebar >>>>

Cheers, Siph

Dreadtober 2024 - Cerastus Knight Lancer - Rites of Construction

Hello Dreadtober-teers, a good week of building and clean up and even some base work too, as I needed it for posing the legs. I have even included a tacticool rock! 

The pose will be a braced stance with shield up and lance thrust forward. The above image shows the main pose. Onward to the Rites of Colour!

Dreadtober is an annual event held over the month of October where hobbyists pledge to do a dreadnought-sized model from the to-do pile and get it finished, starting 1st Oct and completing 31st Oct (Halloween/All Hallows Eve) with lots of progress shots and encouragement along the way :) and I like to partake in Dreadtober, and have done for a few years, check out the link in the sidebar >>>>

Cheers, Siph

WeeMen at the London Grand Tournament Titan Walk

Titan Owners Club UK held a demonstration game at the London Grand Tournament, held at Lea Valley Athletics Centre, north London, last weekend. Myself (Siph) and a few other UK Princeps had the opportunity to bring their Titans to pitch battle ahead of the Titan Owners Club UK Main Walk in two week's time. It was a great weekend of gaming and victory to the Loyalists on Day 1 and Day 2 - using the Adeptus Titanicus (scaled up to AT28mm) ruleset and objectives (hidden). Here are some pictures - 

Traitor Engines line up with Xenos allies - TOC Member Richard A's Legio Mortis Engines

TOC Member Laura A's Legio Tempestus traitor heavy engines form the centre of the traitor force

On the left traitor flank traitor (for the weekend) TOC Member James C's Legio Astraman

The Loyalist lines, left flank TOC Member Rob W's Legio Solaria

And TOC Member's Aaron P. and TOC Admin Lee M's Legio Astorum and Ignatum

The centre left held by my own Legio Astorum

And the loyalist left flank anchored by TOC Admin Engine Phil's Legio Metalica

Warhounds from Legio Astorum stalk the ruins

Supported by Legio Metalica Warhounds making good use of the terrain

Here comes the Audax pain-train Full Stride and Power to Locomotives straight toward the larger guns of the Astorum Engines - will they get their giant killer prize

Battle plans changed, the Audax outflanked by Astorum, outflanked by traitor-Astraman, outflanked by Metalica! Much hilarity!

Day two saw traitor Legio Astraman facing loyalist Legio Astorum

A massive crane started its life as a toy crane

A gorgeous centre piece painted by Eyecron74 (IG).

Thanks to all attending, I had a blast, Cheers, Siph

Dreadtober 2024 Commences - WeeMen Participating for the 8th Year

Hello Dreadtober-teers! My favourite hobby event of the calendar year is back again for another instalment. This year is yet again being run by Marc (Old School Gaming) so a massive thanks to him for keeping the hobby event alive for another year! And thanks to the founder Greggles, and Joe B and Todd (Sincain40K) and Joel (Mordian7th) for their contributions through the years too.

Dreadtober is an annual event held over the month of October where hobbyists pledge to do a dreadnought-sized model from the to-do pile and get it finished, starting 1st Oct and hopefully completing 31st Oct (Halloween/All Hallows Eve) with lots of progress shots and encouragement along the way :) and I like to partake in Dreadtober, and have done for a few years, you can see the fruits of this labour in the picture below, a veteran of 8yrs with a sum of six Dreads, one Imperial Knight and a Necron Construct!

Work took me away in 2023 but in the preceeding months I completed a number of Dreadnoughts in honour of Dreadtober, so they could be schedule posted alongside the participants efforts, I may have been absent but was still there in spirit. These Redemptor's were featured along with another Imperial Knight and a Castraferrum Dreadnought too!

So that brings me to this year's pledge: Another Imperial Knight, but this time a little bigger, a Forge World resin Cerastus Knight Lancer! Long overdue - they make these in plastic and I have two more to make a Knight Banner of three, but for Dreadtober the long overdue resin one will be my test piece.

(GW Plastic one looking mean)

Box o'resin joy!

I look forward to participating and getting this overdue project smashed. I look forward to seeing the other participants projects progress and off the to-do pile! Check out or even join in the sidebar Dreadtober >>>>>>

Cheers, Siph

Legio Astorum Forge World Warbringer Nemesis Titan - WIP #5 - Torso

Hello Titanseers, I have done quite a lot during the week so the Warbringer has jumped a lot more through the construction process. Above I am gluing the supports to the front armour glacis in-situ so it is in the correct alignment and concurrently gluing the shoulder armour.

The fiddliest bits in the titan progress are the handrails and the telescopic sights for the observation deck. The Master of Ordnance will be sited here on the observation deck.

From the rear, the gubbins can be seen, the generators for the carapace main gun Belicosa Volcano Cannon with the green cables as power to the main gun. The other cog motifs you can see are for the arm weapons. They look great all together.

Here is a better view of the main weapon power modules. I magnetized the cables so the main gun can be removed for storage. The power modules are also magnetised so the whole main gun and power modules can be swapped with the Mori-Quake Cannon and Magazine Hoppers.

There is actually a LOT of magnets in the Warbringer Titan, the power modules have 5 in each side plus securing to 5 in each - so:

    -    Waist x2 (Rod 10mm dia x 20mm)
    -    Main gun elevation x12, (Four Disc 20mm dia x5mm; six 6mm dia x 2mm)

    -    Head and Neck x8, (6mm x 2mm disc)
    -    Groin Banner x2 (2mm x 2 mm rod)
    -    Weapon Banner x4 (2mm x 2mm)
    -    Weapon Power Gens x20 (6mm x 2mm disc)
    -    Arms x4 (20mm x5mm disc; 8mm dia x 20mm rod)
    -    Power cables to Arm weapon x8 (2mm x 2mm)
    -    AA Mounts (rotation and elevation) x 12 (6mm x 2mm disc)

The Legio Astorum Engines traditionally decorate their titans with starfield maps of noteable events and battles the Titan has been involved with. I am adding starfield maps to the front armour of the Warbringer Titan.

Here is the completed armour plate for the right hand front glacis, just awaiting the Heraldic Shield (fixing points are the two bare squares).

Getting there with the build. The neck magnets can be seen.

Tomorrow starts my annual hobby event Dreadtober, so the Warbringer will have a short interlude before blog progress continues. I have a project or two for Dreadtober planned, check out and join in, details in sidebar >>>>

Cheers, Princeps Seniores Siph

Legio Astorum Forge World Warbringer Nemesis Titan - WIP #4 - Base

Welcome Titanseers, thanks for dropping by. Now bases for Forge World titans are not essential however they do form the third leg of a triangle making the legs as a whole stronger, less likely to splay in heat, more stable for game play at Titan Owners Club events, and a chance to add more detail. On the underside I use teflon sliders for furniture to allow for easy movement at such Events - they slide easily rather than having to lift and shift the titan. 

The Base is 6mm MDF cut and shaped around the feet, I use a side plate as a stencil and then a jigsaw and sander. The underside where I will screw into the titan feet has two recesses for a wide screw head created by a forstner bit. The original rescue titan came with a huge elaborate base with a lot of ruins, too much for me and the base was quite heavy and thick - so to match my other titans, the MDF was used again.

I used slate chips from the garden and modelling sand (blend of fine sand and coarse sand). The ruins were placed around the feet in a suitable manner and glued to the base with superglue. They will be reinforced with PVA glue when the sand is added around them. I used the coarse stones around the ruins and finer sand elsewhere.

Sand in place then sealed with watered down PVA. The titan was placed on the base whilst the water mix dried so the MDF doesn't warp.

The base was then painted my usual basing colours, Mornfang Brown, Karak Stone and Ushabti Bone. Some grass tufts were applied and some flock. The surface where the titan will be glued is scored with a craft knife to help the epoxy glue bond. The left foot (right above) is raised off the ground and a resin plug glued to the underside of the foot so I can glue and screw up from underneath and the weight will be through the foot and ankle onto the resin plug and not resting on the toes which may get stressed and break otherwise.

More by luck than plan, there was enough room for the inbetween toe armour and the ruins!

Here is the finished Legs and the base ready for gluing and screwing.

Cheers, main body construction and progress soon (progress can be seen in rear of above photo). Thanks, Princeps Seniores Siph.

Legio Astorum Forge World Warbringer Nemesis Titan - WIP #3 - Banners

Hello Titanseers, welcome and thanks for reading. The re-paint of the Warbringer rescue continues, but a few new additions. The spare banners from the new(ish) Cerastus Knight Lancer makes a great weapon kill banner. I used two small 2mm x 2mm diameter magnets recessed into the gun assembly and two mounted on the banner chains.

This means it is removeable for transport as it will be quite exposed and easy to snap off.

The Kill Markings on the banner denote crossed-axes for Warlord kills and the double-headed axe for Battle Titan kills. 

Whilst I was doing banners I thought I'd progress with the titan groin banner, these were printed off by Drake Seta (Battle Bunnies Blog) and adapted from the Reaver banner, name blanked out and a few markings blanked out to be different from the other banners. The finials were from the plastic skulls set and the chain is steel so they stick to the magnets on the groin of the titan. The banner was finished off with some washes at the bottom to show wear and tear. The paper was wrapped around a rivet pin and glued with watered down PVA which also stiffens the paper and keeps the fold.

Thanks for stopping by, cheers, Princeps Seniores Siph

Legio Astorum Forge World Warbringer Nemesis Titan - WIP #2 - Legs

Welcome Titanseers, I progress with the Warbringer Nemesis Titan build, from the bottom up, I have completed the eight toes and toe pistons re-paint, now prepared all the joining surfaces and started the construction proper. Here the thigh is being set to the lower leg, its pinned at the knee, the thigh piston to hip socket and knee gears into to the lower leg. The pose is a slight lifting of the foot so more dynamic than a simple stand.

The elastic bands keep the seal whilst the two part epoxy dries, I am using JB Plastic Weld again, its superb. The pin to the knee gears can be seen above. The slot is where the knee armour gets placed.

The shin armour is also glued, the surface is small and is supplemented with a brass rod pin.

A lot of weight and forces go through the hips. The hip socket has been prepared, bare resin exposed and roughened and the addition of two pins will strengthen and prevent twisting. The opposite hip was still attached and not able to be broken apart so its fairly strong, so I added two pins into it (seen above) in the socket to make sure, also the two pins in the hip flex coupling were marked with paint and then I knew where to start drilling (the black and grey spots above).

Now drilled, when glued and clamped the hip will be a strong solid piece. I then have to pin the legs to the other end of the flex-coupling, and pin twice to prevent rotation - this is where Reaver Honorum build failed after several car journeys. Now repaired with pins and stronger epoxy, its a solid Reaver.

I preserved the flames from one thigh armour plate, but painted blue - this echoes the flames on the toe piston armour and one of my vassal Imperial Knights. I like to preserve and adapt the previous history of my rescue Titans.

Here is the lower leg assembled, just the armour plates to glue and clamp in place once the thigh and hip socket part is attached and dried.

Some of the prepared armour plates and knees.

Here's a mock up of the standing pose, one leg is starting to lift, the heel of which has a plastic spacer so the weight of the titan is not on the toes but through the foot into the base (to come). This way the titan can be screwed to the base without stressing the toes joints and makes a more stable and solid build.

Cheers for dropping by, Princeps Seniores Siph