Legio Astorum Warhound Titan "Canis Victrix" - WIP #1 - Basecoat and Arms

Hello Titanseers, hot on the completion of my Reaver Titan "Aquila Oculus" before Christmas, I dived into my next Titan project, a second hand Warhound Titan. This came with the certificate and spare Carapace, Shins and Head armour and a massive round plinth base - all of which I sold and bought an Inferno Gun arm and custom eyepiece inserts shown above, offsetting the cost considerably so a win win bargain!

This is Mars Pattern Warhound Titan No.4 for me, and Certificate No.3615, so a fairly aged Titan now, I think Forge World are now in the region of 6500 sold. "Canis Victrix" or 'Victorious Hound' will join it's Brother Engines' No.10 "Canis Bellum"; No.2974 "Canis Praetor" and No.4189 "Lupus Regent".

The Titan came constructed but I have partially deconstructed it for painting and strengthening with JB Weld and pins, and a slight rebuild of toes as they were designed to the custom base I removed it from.

The first Arm to get painted was the Turbolaser Destructor, a favourite weapon for me, all my Warhounds thus far have one. Its decent strength, range and damage output make it a great choice if coupled with something multi-shot or lower strength for void stripping and anti-heavy infantry (if playing 40K). I heat stained the barrels my usual method of black drybrush, Nuln Oil, Drakenhof Nightshade blue, Leviathan Purple, Seraphim Sepia over the Leadbelcher/Nuln/Agrax metal. The missing Power Couplings resin hoses have been replaced with flexible hoses (rubber skipping rope) for ease of arm swaps.

The alternative weapon arm is a Vulcan Mega Bolter, or the above mentioned Inferno Cannon, I've painted the Vulcan Mega Bolter to match my existing weapons on Canis Bellum, and above you can see the heat stained barrels. This too will have a power coupling of flexible hose up into the 'armpit' area, seen below.

The weapon received some verdigris after seeing the same on my mate John H's own Astorum Warhound, and I kept the armour clean and ready for battle honours etc.  All the arms have been magnetised to allow swap outs in the future, the weapon arm has a washer glued in place, the arm socket itself a rod magnet inside the upper arm for a strong bond. As this was second hand I removed the weak disc magnets used as they were only just capable of bonding - replaced with 20mm x 8mm diameter Neodymium rods - with about 2.5 kg pulling power. 

The carapace was repainted, the original owner had a blue scheme but too light and heavily weathered, so a fresh coat of Kantor Blue was laid down and then masked off for some stripe work characteristic of my Maniple. The above image show the step before the trim is painted gold, The blue has been edged with Night Lords Blue in the recesses.

The previous owner had a Legio Gryphonicus banner made so I repurposed it using some existing Legio Astorum banners Drake at Titan Owners Club / Battle Bunnies had made for me. Cheers mate, the back of the banner proudly displays the TOC coat-of-arms too. I added a few of the FW resin Purity Seals that come with Titan kits too and the finials from an Imperial Knight kit.

I am pleased with my progress, this will be Titan No.7 for the Emperor's Halo Maniple of the Legio Astorum. Oh dear... I think I have a problem (a great one to have!!)

Cheers, Princeps Seniores Siph.