Is there a size limit on the term 'miniature'?

[Stroganoff]

Hi everyone!

I've been on a 40k hiatus for quite a while now, busy finishing off my apprenticeship, then starting a bachelor of engineering while working full-time. My work has taught me Autodesk Inventor for engineering 3d modelling so I've spent a couple of years mastering that, and as any university student knows procrastination is an integral part of the learning process so for the last semester I've been working on a special project to pass the time; a 40k scale Emperor Titan.

Obviously my design is considerably different from the old GW model. Frankly I'm not a fan of the cathedral spires, spindly legs, and massive boots so I tried to keep only the most primary features and rebuild everything else. As a budding mechanical engineer I want to make sure that the design actually looks plausible, so I'm adding gear and hydraulic systems (not functional at the moment, but I'm thinking version 3 will be fully mobile - maybe that'll be my 4th year thesis project )

I did a lot of research on the issue of scale. It seems to be hotly debated, but from what I can tell there's been so many conflicting 'official' sources - either printed or illustrated- over the years that it's all a moot point. My titan stands at just over 1 metre, or a bit taller depending on the leg position which is big enough to dominate anything on the battlefield and small enough to transport.

The design isn't quite finished - you may notice it's missing a head, arms, and 2 carapace weapons, and I plan on adding deeper details as I go (such as a landing pad for the valkyrie) - but I'm at a point where I can start manufacturing the main components. Luckily my work gives me access to lots of fun toys, such as CNC mills, lathes, router, and an SLS machine, not to mention all the hand tools, work space that I could possibly need! The material that I'm using is called Nema Board by my supplier, it's an expanded PVC sheet material which can be bought in large sheets relatively cheaply with lots of benefits for the hobbyist. The 3mm and 1mm that I'll be using for the bodywork is about as dense and strong as pine timber but without the annoying grain structure so it can be sawn, cut, machined, glued, sanded, filed very easily. Either plumber's PVC cement or superglue works exceptionally well at holding it together, and spray paint sticks perfectly.

Here's the start of the assembly process; I converted the surface geometry of my solid model to 2d shapes and used my CNC timber router to cut them out to size. The painful part is then bevelling all the edges by hand to ensure that each panel lines up with a nice crisp edge. I used masking tape to hold the panels together, and then dropped superglue into the join line from the back so it would wick down the length of the join.

Thanks for reading, I'm trying to make a solid effort during my semester break so hopefully I should keep this log updated regularly and answer any questions/give any advice for any other hobbyist who feel inspired to follow my lead!

[Lord Abyssous]

I can't wait to see this unfold. It's epic.

[Montuhotep]

Wouldn't we instead call it a 'Big-ature'?

[Teetengee]

Yeas, the bigature, yeas.

[Morningshadow]

 Well as far as the scale question goes I think anyone looking at this will be too dumbfounded by how awesome that looks to worry about if it's not the right scale or not, lol! Can't wait to see where this goes!

[depthcharge12]

By the Emperor's codpiece...it's...beautiful

[Hellios]

The big boots have a purpose, troop transport. :'( If you haven't I'd suggest finding the Epic rules/fluff (or whatever game) to see all the features that the Imperator, and the Warmonger had.

[Stroganoff]

Thanks guys!

@Paladin & Teetengee - I think Bigature was coined by the miniature team at Weta Workshop during their work on the LOTR models... Now those were some truly beautiful miniatures!

@Hellios - I had indeed planned for the transport capacity, I'm pretty sure it's 50 troops per foot and I modelled up some simple blocks to represent them early on to make sure the feet were big enough to accommodate them. It's a pretty cramped fit, but loyal soldiers of the Imperium won't mind!

As for an update, I managed to sneak one of my parts into an official SLS build and tested the position last night...

It came out really well, except a little bit grainy. The most depressing part was that after looking at it, the only part that truly felt like it belonged in WH40K was the part with the rivets! I was really hoping to avoid rivetting this beast, but now I think it's unavoidable

Stay tuned!

[Olis]

That's a humdinger of an addition, brother. Very nice indeed. Did you create that yourself? (I'm unfamiliar with what SLS means... ^_^ )

[David Ravel]

This is gonna be massivly epic. I will definitivly come back to see this ! I must say that I'm a big fan of the Cathedral Titan, but your improvement are still very cool ! I'm pretty sure anyway that fluffwise, there most be old STC with Titan more ''streamlined'' than the one we see in 40k since they were made before the Imperium. 

 

Anyway, great work, I'm impressed and will come back in the future ! 

[Son of Carnelian]

You're completely insane. Can't wait to see it progress!

[Stroganoff]

@Olisredan - Yep, it's all my work so far. SLS stands for Selective Laser Sinter which is an additive manufacturing technique where fine powder (in this case nylon plastic) is fused by heat (using the laser) one layer at a time into a solid object. It's not a cheap method by any means, but the quality and strength is much better than any other additive manufacturing processes - except maybe for stereolithography

@David Ravel - Interesting, I hadn't considered the timeline of when this thing would have been manufactured. So if it's a pre-imperium titan would it have lots of skulls and double-headed eagle details like all the 'modern' vehicles? I'm planning on putting a lot of roman/gothic architecture details, such as arches, flying buttresses, and maybe gargoyles and relief sculptures, depending on how they look

@Marshal Sampson - No I'm not, my mother had me tested!

Here's a couple of shots of the titan's current state. The central members and base were cut from 12mm thick expanded PVC. The left side seems to be a couple of millimeters out, but the right side fits nicely. I might have to cut a few more support pieces to hold together the parts that don't fit quite right...

[Stroganoff]

Hi everyone!

Well it's been a couple of weeks... First the girlfriend required attention, then my internet connection died... But work has been progressing.

 

As you can see, the body shell is pretty much done. I'll leave off the shoulder turrets until I fiddle with the design some more. The sections aren't all glued together yet either, but I'll finish it off when I detail it all.

 

I also had some more details printed up. Hopefully you can see the rivets I added to the right generator which I think make it look like a million bucks, and some pipework and vent that are just some of the bits that I've modelled to populate the armpits. I plan on casting the vent since I need a few identical ones.

 

I've also had a few sleepless nights tweaking the design of the hips and legs, trying to figure out how to make them functional and machinable.

 

Thanks for reading, I'll try to post another update soon!

[reckoning]

[Stroganoff]

Hi everyone!

No, I'm not dead and neither is this project. Just got sidelined during semester, and while I was distracted with a secondary project (see below). Most of my work on the Emperor lately has been tweaking the waist design and detailing in preparation for fabrication. But I think 3d renders might be a bit too boring, so for now I'll show the completed exhaust elements that have now been fitted;

I've also managed to route out the frames for the feet;

As for my side project, I'll include it here because it is also titan-related. I don't know about you guys but I was pretty unimpressed with the fixed stance of the new Knight titan. I don't see why GW couldn't have put in just a little more effort to allow adjustable leg joints so I decided to make a conversion kit to allow a full range of motion. Also influenced by the range of FW Knights, I added an extra leg component to give it a swifter gait, and a new CCW as the range of motion of that chainsword is woeful

Once I'm satisfied with the conversion parts I'll upload them to thingiverse.com so anyone that wants to can print the parts (or get them printed) for themselves. It will only be a conversion kit, not a complete model so you'll still have to buy the Knight from GW!

[Argent aquila]

i literally gave you my last like on your post before this one....

anyways, it's EXTEREMLY COOL!

i work in Rhino 3d and my highschool architecture class is doing AutoCad for mostly 2d drawing projects, so i sorta know just how time consuming CAD designing is, wish i could do THAT on my own. Props to you.

i also envy your shop, from what i hear, you have quite the collection of cool tools. a 3D printer is something i've always wanted....

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on an unrelated note

I am working on a non GW related model that required some CAD work, and it's only, 6-7 feet long.

i got some pics on other threads if ya'd like.i could use the tips and such if you have any.

my old one: (studio scale sotrmwalker from the book series Leviathan)

http://www.therpf.com/f11/sneak-peek-16-yr-olds-wonferfest-model-214389/

-i handmade a ton of rivets for that thing, i bet you can do some punched card plates at least

newer one: (no idea what i was thinking when i made the drawings for it, inspired by the book series, got some really cool drawings from Kieth Thompson for machines that are quite inspiring for any gear head)

http://www.therpf.com/f11/2015-wonderfest-sneak-peek-16yr-olds-start-next-year-225612/#post3500036

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hope to see more. you have another follower.