Modelling: Building the LEGO Warhound *New Update*

[Brother-Captain Sharp]

This is a tutorial that i am in the process of making for 40k Forums. I thought i'd share with you. Seeing as how the Warhound is a model usuable by all members of the Imperium, i thought it would fit the SM oriented nature of the forums. If i'm wrong, sorry. The original WIP thread can be found here: WIP Warhound

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Due to some demand, I've decided to do a How-to on my Lego Warhound. It will be a pretty long process, but i'll try to go as quick as I can. Here's to hoping i stay focused long enough to finish it. :P

 

Some disclaimers:

1. This Warhound, while able to stand, and designed as well i could get it, is still very much fragile. It will break into several large pieces if you are not careful with it, and break in some places even if you are. It is made mostly for show, though it can be played with. Moving it on a table is much harder than a regular Warhound, and as a result, i usually just play with the legs on the table and the body nearby for reference, LOS purposes.

 

2. I did not use wholly LEGO pieces in the constuction of the Warhound. I raided my lego box for any pieces that were suitable for the Warhound, and as a result used some Megablox pieces from the battleship set. In the stages of building were i encounter Megablox pieces, i will try to show alternate configurations using LEGOs that can take their place. This alterante configurations are not garuanteed to work. I apologize for any difficulty.

 

3. This is a work that is meant to be shared with anyone interested, including those on other forums you might frequent. I only ask that any reposting of this tutorial and work be attributed to my name. If I find any postings of this tutorials under any other name, i.e. someone else taking credit, I will regrettably be forced to remove this tutorial, as this is a very personal project, and i would be offended if someone did not respect that.

 

4. Despite the above, i did not make this for personal gain nor recognition. It was simply a result of my love for LEGOs. If you do go through the labor required to construct a LEGO warhound, be proud. It is a daunting task, and i respect anyone who undertakes it. Also, i am very open to any suggestions on to modify the plans. If you have a configuration that you feel would work better, especially in the areas where i am trying to replace Megablox, submit it to me as a PM with all required pictures, and i will build and test it. If i agree that it is a better solution, i will replace the relevant area of the tutorial with your design, and make note of your contribution here in the first post and also in the area of the tutorial in which you assisted.

 

5. Any questions on construction can be posted in this thread or PM'ed to me directly.

 

Now that we have those out of the way, lets get started. For those of you who did not see the orignal Warhound thread, here is the desired final product:

 

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2009.jpg

 

I will attempt to make all the instructions as clear as i can and also provide all the necessary pictures to build it in an attempt to guide you through the process. Here we go

 

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Step one: The feet

 

We wil begin with the very bottom and start our way up. To begin you will need these pieces:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2011.jpg

1 6x6 flat piece

4 small cylinders

1 1x2 piece

2 rotating flat pieces

2 2x2 slanted pieces

 

Assemble the cylinders, 6x6 flat piece and the 1x2 piece in the following configuration:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2012.jpg

 

Now take the rotating flat pieces and slanted pieces and place them like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2013.jpg

 

This will be your foot pad. Moving onto the toes, starting with the front middle toe. You will need:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2014.jpg

1 4x8 flat piece

1 4x4 flat piece (one got thrown in on accident)

2 1x8 pieces or 1 2x8 piece

2 4x1 pieces

Enough 3 long slanted pieces to make a 4x3 slanted piece.

 

Assemble the 4x8 flat piece, slanted pieces, 1x8s, and 1x4s into this:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2015.jpg

This is the beginnings of your toe.

 

Then take the 4x4 flat and add it to the top to give your toe more structural durability.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2017.jpg

This will help your toe from falling apart.

 

Add to toe to the foot pad like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2020.jpg

 

Make sure you leave a gap between the end of the spar and the 1x2 in the middle. This will be important in the next step.

 

Now for the side toes and rear toe.

The rear toe is an exact copy of the front toe. Assemble it using the instructions above, then attach it to the foot pad like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2021.jpg

The spar on this toe should be placed against the 1x2 in the center.

 

Now for the side toes. Begin with these pieces:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2026.jpg

These pieces should look familiar. They are the same pieces as the middle toe with the addition of:

2 1x2 flat smooth pieces or 1 2x2 flat smooth pieces.

 

Assemble the toe to look like this:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2048.jpg

 

Do this again for the other side toe. Now for a more tricky part. These toes are put onto the rotating pieces to make them sideways. The cylinders are there to prevent any rotation from the desired angle. However, they also make assembly quite trying. The goal is to get the toe positioned like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2027.jpg

 

You might be finding it difficult to get the pieces onto the rotating pieces. I usually remove one of the cylinders and a slanted piece and put the toe on, so it looks like this:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2028.jpg

 

Then rotate the toe into position, replace the slanted piece first, then shove the cylinder in and secure it. The toes will put a lot of pressure onto the cylinders, but the 1x2 piece ans slanted pieces are there to hold them in place.

 

Your footpad after adding both toes should look like this:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2029.jpg

 

You might notice that because of their contruction, the toes do not rest against the ground with the front and rear toes. To alleviate this problem, i add flat pieces to the ends of the bottoms of the toes to give them purchase. Like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2030.jpg

 

Now you are ready to construct the ankle, the last step of this post. You will first need these pieces:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2033.jpg

1 4x8 flat piece

2 2x4 flat pieces

2 2x2 flat pieces

 

Add one of the 2x4 and 2x2 flat pieces to the foot like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2032.jpg

 

Then add the second 2x2 and 2x4 pieces onto the first.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2034.jpg

 

Now, add the 4x8 flat piece onto the foot, witht he edges lined up witht he edges of the 2x2 and 2x4 flat pieces. The flat smooth pieces on the two side toes will be in contact with the flat piece, giving them pressure and holding the toes on and because they are smooth it is a non issure that the studs are oriented the wrong way. Your foot should look like this:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2035.jpg

 

Now you are ready for the next part of the ankle. You will need:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2036.jpg

You might notice the megablox pieces. I will first show you how to assemble the ankle with these, then with the LEGO alternative.

In this picture are:

1 2x4 flat pice

1 2x4 piece

1 2x4 slanted piece, or enough slanted pieces to make it

1 1x4 flat smooth piece

2 LEGO 1x2 altitude pieces

2 Mageblox altitude pieces

1 4x4 flat piece (not pictured)

 

Tutorial continued next post, but i ran out of picture allotment...

[Zeller]

Being a lego mecha fan myself I must say this is pretty awesome! I've got a reaver that has trouble standing up with its weight and current knee/hip joints so I was wondering what could you recommend? (I can pm pictures if it helps)

 

Great design with the toes. Would the brick that is 2 studs on one end and tapers out to 6 studs that is sorta shaped like triangle with the tip cut off have fit over the AT-AT screens and 4 cylinders?

[metcalfedan]

What's the next update?

 

WHAT'S THE NEXT UPDATE!!!???

[mitchell93]

looks cool

[NealSmith]

If you plan on keeping this as a built model, then could you glue the pieces to keep it from being quite so fragile?

 

Just throwing that out there... :D

 

 

Fantastic work!

[metcalfedan]

Here's my LEGO warhound so far:

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f139/metcalfedan/IMG_9453.jpg

 

Just need the instructions for the rest now!!!

[Contaminus]

I assume you'll paint it after it's finished so it's not so umm... technicolour? Metcalfedan and his technicolour warhound. ^_^

[metcalfedan]

Yeah ill finish building it, try to de-legoise it a bit (make it more real looking, by clipping of the studs, filling the gaps on the leg armour etc.), then paint it.

[Brother-Captain Sharp]

Well, sorry to leave you guys hanging. Life went out and slapped me in the face, so it's been a while. I can see that metcalfedan has been following my thread on 40kforums, but here's the next update. Well really the second part of the first post:

 

Assemble the 2x4 flat piece, 2x4 piece, and 2x4 slanted piece into this:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2039.jpg

 

Then take the 2 1x4 flat pieces and 1x4 smooth flat piece and assemble into this:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2041.jpg

 

Now add those and the Megablox altitude pieces to the foot pad like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2042.jpg

 

Add a 4x4 flat piece and the two LEGO altitiude pieces onto the Megablox altitude pieces to make this:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2043.jpg

 

You are now done with the ankle.

To make this ankle without the Megablox pieces, simply replace them with these:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2044.jpg

1 2x4 flat

1 1x4 flat

2 LEGO altitude pieces

 

Assemble them like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2046.jpg

and you have effectively replaced the Megablox. The Megablox pieces or Lego altitude pieces with a 2x2 top flap instead of a 1x2 top flap would be more stable.

 

Well that's it for this post. Just do the instructions again for your second foot. Here's our Warhound so far:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2049.jpg

 

Note: You might notice me adding pieces not covered in the tutorial. These are purely aesthetic, and non-essential.

 

And here's the beginnings of the next.

 

Section II: The Legs

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First start with these:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2057.jpg

1 4x10 flat piece

enough inverted slanted pieces to make a 4x8 section

 

Assemble the slanted peices like so:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/DSCN2058.jpg

leaving a 4x1 wide line on either side. Attach this piece to the altitude pieces on the ankle by either one of the 4x1 lines you left uncovered.

[Moonstalker]

Inspired by this thread, I dragged out my old Legos and took a stab at building my own Lego Warhound. I followed the instructions for the feet for the most part, though I used additional little spinny things (instead of flat/smooth pieces) on the tops of the secondary toes for added strength in the feet. I modeled mine after one of the Lucius Pattern Warhounds, rather than the Mars Pattern. Here's a picture with some of my partially painted Wolves. I'm really sorry about the atrocious picture quality, but my camera is broken and I had to borrow a friends (and their camera is absolutely terrible).

 

http://www.digitalagestudios.com/imgs/wolvesarmy/lolhound.JPG

 

I think I built it slightly too tall. It came out to about 13 inches high, which is almost big enough to be a Reaver.

[mk6marine]

What is the total cost of this. I do not have a large collection of legos so I would have to purchace the individual pieces. I think it may be cheaper just to buy the forgeworld.

[Focslain]

I am watching this and I might have to bring up my LEGO collection from home this holiday. The ability to build te large Forgeworld models with LEGOs is an awesome idea and great for us old timer builders that have a large collection of them.

 

Please continue your tutorial, I need as much info as possible so I can start on the Reaver design mod.

[Brother Daeger Helsir]

What is the total cost of this. I do not have a large collection of legos so I would have to purchace the individual pieces. I think it may be cheaper just to buy the forgeworld.

 

 

You're joking, right? The absolute biggest lego sets only run you about US$ 100, not counting the insane Death Star and 3 foot Star Destroyer sets. And most are much cheaper. Forgeworld on the other hand is like... US$ 100 for a small tank.

[Zeller]

How tall is your titan?

[Lord_Caldera]

It's hard to put a price tag on scratch-build LEGO things unless it's made from a collection of a few kits because most people just have a load of LEGOs lying around to build junk with. Try to get a list of pieces as the tutorial comes along and find kits with those needed blocks.

[AngryJohnny]

Well, now it's time to dig out my Lego bitz boxes...

[Shortsonfire79]

What is the total cost of this. I do not have a large collection of legos so I would have to purchace the individual pieces. I think it may be cheaper just to buy the forgeworld.

 

 

It's hard to put a price tag on scratch-build LEGO things unless it's made from a collection of a few kits because most people just have a load of LEGOs lying around to build junk with. Try to get a list of pieces as the tutorial comes along and find kits with those needed blocks.

 

 

Your best bet, is probably to go out and buy 2-4 LEGO X-Wing sets. I think they run at about $35 each..so...

[cathar the great]

Actually, I think that if you don't already have a large collection of Lego pieces at home, this kind of titan is not really a good alternative. You will spend truckloads of money on lego boxes or, worse, you'll order every piece seperately, which will cost even more.

[AngryJohnny]

The FW Warhound Titan is about $439.85. You most likely wouldn't spend quite that much on the Lego sets that you would need for this. Most likely wouldn't need more than about 4 X-Wing kits & a basic starter set which would be quite a bit cheaper than the FW Warhound. I'm just "guestimating" based on my own collection of Legos & what parts I believe would be needed to build this from the final result pictures. Once he finishes showing us all how to build it from the ground up it may turn out to need more than those sets.

 

On the flip side however, as cool as this Lego project is, that FW Warhound model is beautiful & if you had the money to spare would be worth the purchase.

 

There's my $0.02.

[_Si_]

My lego stormtrooper (about 16inches tall) cost me about £30 in parts from, erm, bricklink I think (the online bits shop). That's got a lot of pieces in it, albeit generic ones, but I can't see this costing masses more.

 

Kudos on the build by the way, looks spot on.

[chapter master 454]

i've seen people build guns out of lego (with elastic bands and such) and even myself made some of the strong models that me and my brother fought with (he went for style AV10, i went with durable block AV14, lets just say the only damage he did was a ram under my wheels with his rear tail pipe!) but this is madness! (anyone wish to jump on that reference?). however i like the idea and goes to show the adaptability of lego, my question is how come forgeworld models cost more than lego, i mean wouldn't it be logical to just switch to plastic which is cheaper?

[Bish]

Lego dred here

 

anyone think a lego counts as would just be wrong

 

 

lego dred

[metcalfedan]

Come on Brother-Captain Sharp, please update. You might have given up, but I haven't.

 

Have you got any further than the waist??? That's where I am.

 

Until then I will be glueing the bricks together and de lego-ifying the legs, feet and waist. :wub:

 

Oh and for the rest of you, here's where I'm up too: (the end of this tutorial on page 2)

 

http://www.40kforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic....p;sk=t&sd=a

[Shortsonfire79]

Watchout for the De-Legofying it. Each stud (on most pieces) are hollow, so you'll have to clip them off, smooth out the piece, then cover the holes ( best bet, plasticard). I had started a titan a while back (experimenting here and there) and I started clipping off the studs..and was shocked and saddened.

 

It'll be more work than you expect it to be. Take caution

[metcalfedan]

Oh I know all about the large fat areas:

I used some rectangular pieces for the floor of a ruined building, and got rid of the studs by sanding it with a belt sander. this time, I plan to get some epoxy putty and poke it through the holes once smoothed then flattening it. (kinda hard to explain but I know what to do :D)