The Inner Geek

The Inner Geek state of the Union Address

2012-05-17T12:42:00.000-05:00

First update of the new year, and only in May! Sad.

So what have I been up to? I've been going to school, working, and enjoying the family life with my wife and kids. Hasn't left a lot of free time to be honest. My school schedule is picking up signficantly till this coming December (CCNA here I come), so I'll probably have even less time till then. Damn education. But, it's what's best for my family and myself and I'm happy.

So now you know what I've been up to, but why am I writing a post now? Well, what time I have had has been spent introspectively (don't get to use that word often). I've decided that I'm really just about finished with Games Workshop. It's been a great ride the last (shudder) 24 years or so, but I'm not getting out of the hobby what I used to. Maybe the mood will hit me again in the future, but for now it's not there.

I think part of my problem is the fact that I try to build and paint as though I'm going to play the game... and lets face it, I'm not. So, I speed through stuff in a hurry to finish so that I can be ready for a game I'm not really that interested in playing. I think I'd be just as happy to drink a beer and watch someone else play... though that may just be because of the beer?

So will I dissappear in a poof of ninja smoke? I rather thought I already had? No, I'll always hobby in some way. When I have time again I imagine I'll work on one off type models. I have some lovely resin monstrocities I'd like to build around here... and a couple I'd like to see gone (more on that in a bit). I've recently been enamoured with my first (hobby) love, giant robots. As a kid I probably built about a million robot model kits. Now that I'm a big kid, I think it would be nice to do some and finish them nicely with paint and all that fancy stuff I neglected as a child.

What will happen to my blog? I'm not sure? Maybe it will be overhauled into a different themed blog? Maybe I'll move to a new blog? I haven't really thought that far ahead. It will definitely stay up in some form because I need the blog roll to check on all my friends... though I guess RSS feeds would accomplish the same thing.

In the meantime, I'll be letting some stuff go. Not all my GW stuff, but some of it. I've already put the WarHound1 and Warhound2 on ebay, as well the Macharius Vulcan. More will go up soon(ish), maybe even the Reaver Titan. And yes, this paragraph is a shameless plug for my ebay auctions. Spread the word!

So, I'll be around. I'm always available by email if anyone needs me. I encourage all my fellow bloggers to keep posting good blogs, I'll be lurking... *POOF! ninja smoke*

Need Some WHFB Empire Advice

2011-12-12T10:07:00.000-06:00

I'd like to get something out of the way right off the top. I'm not asking for advice because I'm too lazy to research, I've done that. It's more a matter of incompetence.

On to the blog...

Being a well rounded Geek I dabble in a wide variety of Geeky things. One thing I've always wanted is an Empire army for fantasy. While I technically have one, it is mostly in boxes... packed safely in bigger boxes. Having some precious free time recently I decided to take an inventory and see if I had enough Empire junk to make an army. When I was done I looked at the list and realized, I have no idea what it takes to have a decent Empire army? So, I would like to show to you the Grand List of Empire minis and solicit advice as to the following; is there enough for an army here, how should I build some troops (still on sprues you know), and what will popular in 13^th edition as that is how long it would take me to get this all together.

On to the list!

2x General/Standard sprues
4x wizards (two boxes)
1x Empire Champ w/mace
1x Empire Captain w/sword & shield
1x Freelance Knight on foot & mounted (from Mordheim but cool looking)
1x Warrior Priest w/2 hammers
1x Warrior Priest w/hammer & Shield
2x Champion w/pistol & hammer
1x Marius Leitdorf
1x Kurt Helborg
1x Pirate Ogre (I was going to use him as "filler" in a state troops unit or a pirate themed free company unit)
24x Knights
25x Pistoliers/Outriders (still on sprue can go either way)
40x Militia/free company
40x Flagellants (20 assembled)
87x State Troops (37 assembled with swords, the rest on sprues)
60x Handgunners/Crossbowmen (20 partly assembled as handgunners)
20x Greatswords (10 finished)
1x Cannon/Mortar sprue
2x Hellgun/Rocket sprues

I also have some old loose metal minis from long ago...

12x metal Flagellants
3x metal Engineers w/repeater musket (outrider equivalent)
2x metal Pistoliers
5x metal knights of the white wolf (two missing legs, all missing horses)
1x metal volley gun with crew

Behold the Empire in all its glory...
I know it is a lot of stuff, I just don't know if it can be carved down to a decent Empire army? For State Troops, Sword, Halberd, shield? The interwebs can't seem to decide. HandGunners or crossbowmen, what are the cool kids doing? Pistoliers or OutRiders, they both look cool but which typically sucks less?

So, if you have any knowledge of Fantasy or Empire, I'd love to get your thoughts. If you don't but you have a friend who does, send'em over!

So, What Ever Happened to The Inner Geek?

2011-11-10T09:23:00.003-06:00

Blogs come and go. This one hasn't gone, but it is on pause. Here is to the whys..

It's hard to say where I lost my GW Hobby oomph exactly. I know I had it before Games Day in Chicago. I got to meet some awesome bloggers there and hang out with all the coolest folks. Really, I think that was the high point and the Games Day was just kind of going on at the same time. Whatever the reason, interest waned. I started thinking about other things I could do with my time, and going back to school seemed a likely candidate.

I signed up for a couple of classes at the local College and away I went. Between school, working full time (until recently), and family, I've had very little time for distraction (and that tiny bit has been squandered on Battle Field3).

I've tried to keep up with at least a few blogs and comment now and again. I really do enjoy the antics of my fellow bloggers. I just haven't felt too bloggy myself of late. Maybe this post will break the ice? I was recently laid off work so you'd think I'd have more time, but seeking work and a newly expanded honey-do list has left me about the same amount of free time as before! Even as I write this I'm looking at a pile of stuff I need to mail off to people (Drax I need your address again).

I have been looking longingly at the Scratch Built Titan and thinking I need to put some detail on it. Not to mention some other projects I'd like to find a little time to mess with. When I do, I'll be sure to share it here on the rusty old blog. While the lack of hobby time has me looking longingly at some projects, it has me feeling like letting some of them go. I have too many armies, too many minis, and not enough time. Maybe there is some ebay in my future? Some of these thoughts, no doubt, come from the fact that I recently reorganized the closet where the game stuff lives. Holy crap you can accumulate a lot of stuff over twenty years in a hobby!

Anyway, I pegged out the ramble-meter some time ago, so I'm going to close for now. There will be more posts, there will be more hobby, but it may be slow. So be patient... or go away. Till next time!

Painting Across the Pond Inner Geek Edition Pt III

2011-08-20T12:01:00.002-05:00

I don't have much money, but if I did, I'd spend it buying some time. Since I can't buy time, this will be a post short on words.

Drax and I engaged in a project some time back. The idea was to each send the other a mini to paint then send back. Basically painting a mini for each other. I sent him an Ogryn, as I'd never seen him paint one and I have a cruel streak. He sent me a ForgeWorld Cadian IG Colonel!

Here are the results...

Not being one to leave well enough alone, I decided to fabricate a little extra work for myself. He is painting a rather larger model for me after all.

I decided that every great commander needs that certain special someone in their life. For this commander, that person is his personal body guard Major Payne. Being a trusted member of the Colonels inner circle, he has access to exotic weapons like his antique las pistol. I meticulously cut, greenstuffed, and stretched my modeling abilities to give this guy a bigger chest and beef him up a bit. After all my trouble I noticed that there is a plastic Catachan torso with flak armor available. It's technically better than what I made, but mine has that home made look... kinda like your kids macaroni art. Anyway, here is the Major.

And finally a group shot. I think this photo, even with the flash on, most closely represents the colors of the models.

While taking these photos it occurred to me that I forgot to paint the bodyguards las pistol... or maybe it's just really dark... no I forgot. Anyway, I'll leave this for Drax. That way he can say he worked on the pair too! Now, to say that these look a hundred times better in person would be an exaggeration. But two to three times better would be accurate. I've purposely given the bodyguard a pretty generic load out so he can be used a sergeant if preferred. I hope Drax enjoys them and they bring him lots of luck on the table.

That's all for now folks. Be sure to check out the Admiral Drax blog
as he should be posting his edition of Painting Across the Pond about the same time this one hits the blog rolls!

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 10 (Build Complete... ish)

2011-07-26T08:05:00.003-05:00

Finally! The building of the Titan is complete! This blog will conclude the build process of the Scratch Built Titan Project. There is still more to to with detailing and such, but this is the point at which you can call this build done.

If you've been following along, you know the work that's been put in, but not the cost. I'm going to lay that out for you briefly, then on to the pics!

3 x sheets of matte board on sale at $4.00 each
1 x bottle of Gorilla brand Superglue at $5.00 each
3 x Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue at $2.77 each
3 x Excel #11 exacto blades package of five at $1.99 each
1 x package of assorted rubber bands at $0.99 each
1 x Krylon Easy-Tack adhesive spray at $7.59 each
1 x brass rod at approximately $2.00 each
1 x package of six ping pong balls at $1.99 each
1 x Gorilla Glue at $7.00 each
2 x pvc pipe pieces from DIY store at approximately $1.75 each
Several sheets of printing paper (if you have a printer, you likely have this already)
Several recycled Cereal Boxes at $0.00 each

So the entire project up to this point has cost about $54.35 US. Getting to this point should not require a top hat... Decorating and details will cost additional. But, as I've mentioned before, the point of this part of the project is to show what you can build for the bare minimum. Will it look better after detailing... yep. But I think it already looks pretty cool as it is! On to the pics!

First is a shot with some IG and a Leman Russ for scale...

A shot of the side...

The rear angle...

The other side...

Here is a picture showing the Titan broken down into its parts...

Strangely, I also noticed there is a baby in the gun???

A couple more pictures for scale purposes. A shot with the Reaver Titan...

And a shot with Godzilla... why not...

I don't think the Godzilla is 28mm Heroic scale, but he's still cool...

A quick note on the building materials. I'm very happy with how the matte board is holding up. It wasn't the easiest to cut, but it is very solid. As an example; I'd been trying to ignore the fact that the front balcony was slightly crooked. I couldn't take it anymore and decided to remove and straighten it. It took some serious doing to get that one piece to come lose. It is now replaced in a straighter position since these pics and I'm quite happy with it. There is, in fact, only one place that I think is a little weak which brings me to the next paragraph...

While the Titan is perfectly fine the way it is, I'm going to put it on a base due to the nature of how the lower toes are attached and their inherent weakness. The base will be just big enough to set the feet on with a small 'bridge' in the middle to prevent the legs from trying to splay at the hips. This is a lesson I learned with the Reaver. This Titan stands very well on it's own and this will simply be an insurance policy against toe breakage in the future.

One last note. In the title it says, "Complete... ish". The ish is because there are more weapons available in the plans. There is a large chain sword type of close combat weapon, and a giant belt fed cannon. I will likely build these in the future, but they aren't coming anytime particularly soon.

I hope you've enjoyed watching this project move forward, I know I've enjoyed working on it. While it's probably a project for an advanced modeler, the great thing is you can always try again if you mess up a part. So even a novice can make this work if they have a bit of patience!

Comments, questions, and witty insults are welcome as always!

Forge World Has a Chick on a Dragon!

2011-07-22T12:34:00.004-05:00

On a freakin dragon!

It's a little known fact that the Inner Geek has an Empire army for Fantasy Battle. Mostly in boxes. But man, this is a super cool mini. I wonder if it will be in Chicago next week? I wonder what time I'll have to line up outside to get to the Forge World booth in time to buy anything?

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 9 (Legs Assembly)

2011-07-20T08:05:00.001-05:00

This week brings us to the legs. Getting this titan to stand on it's own two feet takes some doing.

In the interest of making the pose... er... interesting, I played around with the legs a good amount before gluing anything. Because of the way the legs go together I realized that you can adjust them from the hips to the knees and if the hips and knees still line up, you're set. In the picture below you can see that the hips are level with each other and the part that will attach to the lower leg are both on the same plane but the legs are angled differently...

There are some random pieces holding the parts in position by resting the knee caps on them...

Confident that I had two legs in slightly different positions, but still able to line up, I moved on to another area that needed some help.

The lower legs are modified from the original plans and this causes the 'shin' to be very thin where it comes down between the front toes. To correct this I glued brass rods inside the shins running from the thin points to the top. When I say glued I mean I tacked them on with superglue then drenched them in regular tacky glue for a solid hold...

There was some fun times gluing the legs to the hips. The trick there is to set the legs on the ball joint ankles, but don't glue them down. Once they were firmly attached to the hips using Gorilla Glue, patience, and prayers then you can glue the ankles at their ball joints. I didn't get any pics of this, because it would just look like the pictures at the end of this blog but with various items propping things up.

At this point I realized that the ankles were going to be a weak point. While securely attached, they had a lot of 'flex' to them. So I made some homemade braces. First I cut some strips out of matte board...

Then, for the sake of speed, I superglued them into shape...

Then I trimmed them to fit between the inner shin piece and the actual foot. Once installed, I slopped a good bit of glue around them to secure them and help hold them together. Below you can see a couple of them in place...

This only left the toes to add! The lower toes were simply glued on using tacky glue, then reinforced with more tacky glue. Here you can see them added...

This brings us to the final leg piece, the upper toe thingies. These I tacked on with super glue, then I used an old brush and a q-tip to apply glue to the areas where the pieces made contact... which weren't always large areas. I'm happy to report they feel reasonably solid though! Here are a couple shots of the legs in all their glory...

The tiny object at his feet is an Imperial Guardsman...

So what's left? Not much really. There is finishing the fist by way of gluing the fingers on. Finishing the weapon arm and... that's about it. Next post on this project should see a completed titan ready to be detailed. I'll also try to put together a materials list and prices to show about how much this project costs. I'm doing this before detailing because the point is to show what you can do with a minimum expenditure and any detailing would be to the builders taste, budget, and discretion. Some folks have asked and I'll be putting up pics with more objects to demonstrate scale, including the Reaver. I may even make you suffer through some Inner Geek fiction and write some fluff about this titan... lucky you!

As always, thanks for stopping by. I know you have a choice of rambling blogs, and we appreciate you choosing The Inner Geek blog!

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 8 (The Weight of the World)

2011-07-14T08:05:00.002-05:00

It's on your shoulders! Well, ok, maybe not the weight of the world... but the weight of a 40k Cathedral.

Work continues on the Titan. I've had to move around and work different parts at different times, but I'm going to try to keep blog posts focused on one area at a time. This week that area is the shoulders.

Not a lot of pictures this week. The shoulder amounted a lot of pieces that really didn't do much interesting until they started coming together. I would like to make mention of materials in this post though. I've been using a lot of "cereal box" cardboard for parts. It's lighter and easier to work than the matte board but sacrifices strength. I was concerned at first about obtaining this material as you usually have to invest in cereal to get it. However, I spread the word with my family and friends that I was looking for that type of material and it started flowing in. But I also wanted to note that it's not just cereal boxes. For example, this...

While odd shaped you can still find enough flat spots that are clear of glue or creases to make all of these...

These are each two parts put together, top and bottom.

My point is, don't get caught up in names, ie; "cereal box", there may be other sources of the same material. Also, just because you don't see a lot of potential in a material doesn't mean that it isn't there.

Here is a quick mock up of how the roof line of one shoulder goes together...

The instructions assume you are building the "Crusader" titan then adding the "Blockhead" bits so they put the large center spire on first then add the smaller spires. Since I'm moving straight to the "Blockhead" design I found it easier to glue the small spires onto the larger one, then add the whole fixture to the Titans shoulder.

Here is a picture of one shoulder completed...

And a shot of the entire upper body so far...

That's all I have to show this post. There is a lot more work done though, and the end of the actual build is coming soon. There will be a ton of detailing to do as well as other loose ends to tie up along the way though.

Thanks for stopping by. I will add in parting that it may be time to start thinking of names for this Titan. I think Ferrus Pontifex "The Iron Priest" has a ring to it! Feel free to drop a comment if you have any thoughts on suitable titan names.

Oh yes! And google+... anyone up for starting a geeky circle of friends? As a geek I felt it my duty to get in on the ground floor of what ever the hell it is.

Break Time Cometh!

2011-07-07T08:45:00.000-05:00

So I've droned on between the lines for a couple months about how I could really use a break/vacation. Just a couple days to get away. I finally decided to pull the trigger and make a decision. The Inner Geek will be attending Games Day 2011 in Chicago!

Why Games Day? Well, despite my ire with GW's recent corporate activities I'm still a fan of the hobby. I'd like to go once before they run the company completely into the ground... joke... sort of. Also, I've never been to Chicago or even Illinois for that matter, so it sounds like an adventure. I'm all about adventure as long as it's reasonably safe and free of any real danger. On top of all that I think it might be fun to meet other bloggers or even blog readers who may be attending.

Thus, I'll be flying to O'Hare early Friday morning the 29^th of July. Enjoying the scenery Friday day, some cold adult beverages Friday night, Games Day Saturday Day, some cold adult beverages Saturday night, and flying out Sunday around noon. I'll also try to mix in some Chicago style pizza at some point.

I'll be there, will you be there? As I mentioned above, I'd really like to get a chance to meet some of the folks I know only from their blogs. If you're reading this and you plan to be there, drop me a comment. Maybe we could enjoy a cold refreshing adult beverage (that's beer if you haven't picked up on it yet). If you see me at Games Day, stop and say hi. You'll know me because I'll be dressed as an albino polar bear wearing a space suit and scuba gear. Or I'll have a t-shirt on that says who I am. I'll decide which one morning of.

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 7 (A Big Hand for the Titan, Ladies and Gentlemen)

2011-07-04T14:37:00.004-05:00

As work continues on the shoulders. I wanted to get an arm done to get some confidence up about my magnetized shoulders working. So I printed out the plans for the hands and got to cutting and gluing.

Here is a shot of the hand parts laid out. I've gone and glued one piece before photographing again... it may become my signature...

The finger tips were difficult to cut, fold, and glue. They are a pretty complex shape. I've done most of the arm in lighter "cereal box" cardboard to save weight.

Here is a shot with everything assembled except the fingers and thumb...

I put a lot of thought into how I might dry fit the fingers. I don't have any blu-tac handy but my wife does have some scrap booking supplies. So I scavenged some sort of little double sticky tape picture attachment thingies and decided to give them a shot.

How do you feel about Chaos Titans Mr. Scratch Built?

The sticky stuff was not as sticky as I would have liked and the fingers fell off/apart several times before I could get the above shot. So, I may be looking for something more like blu-tac after all. The cereal box material is paying off in the weight department. This arm weighs in at only 3.1oz including the upper arm with magnets (I finally found my scale)!

Finish the shoulders, one to three more weapon arms, and then it will be time to start decorating this beast with all sorts of bits. Well... not all sorts.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next time!

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 6 (Titans are Disarming)

2011-06-30T08:05:00.000-05:00

As I began work on the shoulders of the Titan, it occurred to me that being able to remove the arms would serve a couple of purposes. First, any dis-assembly should improve transport-ability. Second, there are a total of Four weapon arms on offer from the plans I'm working off, so being able to swap arms down the road may be cool as well. But how to accomplish such a feat of magic? With magnets!

I've had some decent size rare earth magnets left over from another project and by sheer luck, I had just the right amount (after one broke in half). Most of this process will be explained in the following pictures. A couple of bits O'knowledge for reference; the shoulder is a large octagon. The arm bit is intended to be glued straight to the bottom of this octagon. The upper arm is different for guns vs fist. Only the upper arm for guns is shown in the pictures. Ok, lets go!

The plan is to put to magnets in each shoulder that will be mirrored in the removable upper arm pieces. After some measuring I found that these magnets can be placed about 1" apart and still fit nicely. I cut some pieces of scrap matte board to 1" to help line up the magnets while they are glued...

Here are the magnets lined up on the shoulder piece. You may notice they are not lined up with the geometry of the shoulder octagon. This is because I don't want the eventual pose to be arms straight at sides. Hopefully this slight angle will allow the arm to have a slight outward twist. How do I keep the magnets in place? With more magnets on the outside (not pictured)!

The next step is to liberally coat the whole inside of the piece with a mess of glue. I make sure to get a lot in the joins of the inside of the shoulder too, for extra strength...

After a few hours it dries strong and clear...

The great thing about this is, I used this first shoulder to line up the magnets in the upper arm, then used that arm to line up the magnets in the other shoulder, then used a shoulder to line up the magnet in the other upper arm.

Here is a shot of a shoulder and upper arm magnetized and in position...

One last thing worth mentioning. I had intended to set the magnets so that both in the shoulder were the same polarity up then both magnets in the upper arms have the opposite polarity up. I messed this up on the first shoulder and one magnet is "north" up and the other is "south" up. However, I decided that this was a happy mistake. My plan for arm removal is to twist the arms moving the magnets away from each other laterally. The poles being opposite doesn't change the holding power but does mean that if I twist too far they will repel instead of locking back together with the arm backwards. Does any of that make sense in words?

As of now I have the shoulders and upper arms magnetized and assembled. There are several more pieces to do on the shoulders so there will be a proper shoulder update later. I may decide to build an arm first to test the magnet strength... not that I can do much about it if it's too weak. Also, leg assembly has begun, or at least leg sub-assembly. I'll have to post an update on that soon too. It starts to look Titan-y when you start putting legs together!

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment, question, or haiku.

HiTech Miniatures Product Review "Six Nil Six Factor"

2011-06-26T09:00:00.004-05:00

This is a quick(ish) product review I did for a miniature from HiTech Miniatures out of Poland. The miniature is their 28mm ArchFather Six Nil Six Factor. The bulk of the review is a video review as I'm still trying to get better at using my camera. It's really not the camera that needs much improvement though, it's me! You can see some detailed pics of the mini on the HiTech website I've linked to above. You all have the Table Top Fix blog to blame for this review. That blog catches just about every mini from every company known to man and shares it with the blogosphere. After the video I'll post some thoughts, some of which aren't included in the video.

Enjoy!

Pros:
Fast shipping from Europe, less than a week!
Quality sculpt
They included metal pins needed to complete mini
The subject is appealing and reasonably original (my opinion)

Cons:
The checkout process on their website is not user friendly
A few more pin holes than I'd like to see for the price

Overall, I'd say that if you see something on the HiTech website you really like, give them a shot. Just understand that you may be filling a couple pin holes when you get the mini. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Back to work on the Scratch Build Titan. The shoulders are in the works right now.

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 5 (That's Church)

2011-06-23T07:45:00.001-05:00

Part five of the Scratch Built Titan project brings us to the body of the titan. The body, in this case, being a church. Need help bringing the faith of the Imperium to a backwater planet? Drop a walking church on'em!

There was the printing, the sticking, the cutting, and the pasting. But when it was all done we end up with a collection of parts assembled as shown below...

You may note that there are two pieces in the upper left corner already assembled with a "roof" between them... I got a little ahead of the camera...

The different colored bits you see are made from cereal box material. It's a little thinner and easier to work with than the matte board so it's a great choice for the really fiddly tower bits. After some sub-assembly we end up with a group of three main pieces. The church itself on the top of the body of the titan in the middle of the shot below, the front balcony in the left of the shot, and the rear chapel & balcony on the right...

The above pieces then go together to form the overall structure of the titans body/church. This is not an exact science and much referring to the instructions and a finished example over at Tanks and Trolls was needed before I felt confident enough to glue the pieces together. This step also includes the addition of the head. I'm really not sure it was necessary to add the head at this time, but I went along with the instructions and did so. There is not much in the way of pose-ability with the head, so I don't feel like waiting for the final pose (as I do with man sized minis) would have changed the head's final position. Here are some assorted shots of the titan from the hips up so far...

I'm not sure why I didn't take any shots of the titan from the rear? Maybe the head seemed too pretty? Anyway, that's the progress so far. As I'm building this I'm really tempted to go ahead and assemble the legs. The left to right should balance themselves out reasonably well and I now have pretty much all the front to back assembly done. Which balances itself out nicely as you can see from the shots above, a little front heavy, but only slightly. Details and decoration may change the balance a little, but I can't imagine it will change drastically from where it is now. Besides all that I'm excited to see the legs under this thing!

Please feel free to leave a comment if you like. I'm happy to answer questions, ignore complaints, and hear your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by!

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 4 (Waist not, transport not)

2011-06-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

In the comments of my last blog entry, Mordian 7^th of Mordian 7^th fame suggested an awesome idea. So awesome in fact, that for the next week he shall be known as Mordian 7^th the freaking genius. I've even added a holiday to my Imperial Calendar in the left sidebar in his honor. The suggestion was in regards to a way to make it so that the Scratch Built Titan would be able to be separated at the waist.

The items needed for this bit of the project were picked up at my local DIY store for about $3.50 US. They consist of a piece of pvc pipe and some sort of fitting I found that slips over it nicely. And of course the parts of the titan to be modified...

The first job was to carefully trace the holes that would need to be cut in the titan using the actual pvc pieces as a guide. Then of course, cutting those holes out. This one was a pain as it is two parts glued together, so three layers of matte board to go through...

Next I inserted the female part of this joint into it's titan piece and traced a line around where the cut needs to be for it to be flush. I've raised it up a bit so you can see the line in this pic...

Once that was cut, I placed the male part of the joint inside and traced around the edge where it needed to be cut off. I then subtracted just a bit for good measure and cut it to length. The results can be seen below...

Being extra careful and using Gorilla Glue (hence the extra caution) I glued each piece into its respective titan part...

Then I realized I needed some way to keep the waist from spinning around, which would cause imbalance I theorize. To do this was a little extra work, but I think it was worth it in the end.

I got a spare piece of the pvc pipe I bought and cut a small section out of it...

Then I cut a corresponding section out of the male part attached to the titan piece. You can see the beginning of this in the photo above. I cut vertical lines in the piece over and over until it was easy to snap the thin pieces off and clean it up with a hobby knife. This leaves a bit that will fit like this...

Next I cut an access hole in the top of the body. This will be covered by the Church part of the titan so no worries about the hole...

After roughing up the surfaces to be glued, I put the two titan parts in the position I wanted them to "lock" into. I glued the piece in place with Gorilla Glue using the access hole and a small clamp (sorry I didn't get a pic of that) to hold the piece while it dried. Resulting in a waist that no longer spins!

Here is a finished shot. It's straighter than it looks, but there is some sort of optical illusion going on in this pic...

Remember, this whole idea was sparked by a comment on my last blog. Your fellow bloggers can, and will, often think of things that you never considered. We are our best source of ideas for each other to tap.

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave comments, criticisms, and witticisms in the comments area. Especially if you have any awesome ideas, I love to steal those!

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 3 (It takes hard work to get a head)

2011-06-15T07:50:00.002-05:00

I've decided to head for the... um... head for the next part of the scratch built titan project. No, not the restroom/water closet, the actual head. Bear with me, the blog gets better though the jokes stay bad.

The head of the BlockHead titan, which is the one I'm working from, is a nice conglomeration of fiddly bits. Once built, the fiddly bits go together to make bigger fiddly bits before finally being assembled into a head of sorts. But on to some pictures, I'll add more wordy bits at the end.

Here is a shot of the sub-assemblies...

Since some areas will be particularly hard to access once assembled, I went ahead and sprayed some black primer on them. I made sure to mask areas that I wasn't ready to have paint on yet...

A little glue and patience and we have a completed head (minus detailing)!

An ancient Space Marine has volunteered for scale showing duty

Some items of note...

1) I've decided that the pieces will never be perfect. While the plans are awesome, they do not take into account the thickness of the material so you will never have perfect pieces.

2) Number one above doesn't really matter. In the big picture with detailing and paint, the imperfections will be less noticeable. I've looked online at a lot of scratch built items and I've noticed that if you look long enough you start to see the little imperfections in them all.

3) Klaus over at DEI GRECI is the exception to rule number two.

4) While not completely necessary, a coat of slightly watered down pva glue (white glue) brushed on seals the surface nicely, hides some surface flaws after priming, and is too easy a step not to do.

5) If you get Gorilla Glue on your skin after it becomes tacky, you must submerge the affected area in warm soapy water or acetone for about five full minutes. No amount of scrubbing will substitute.

Now, for all you folks who actually made it this far, I have one more head conversion to share with you. I present a peek into the Inner Geek's real world. Think of it as a reward... or possibly a punishment. I give you... The Hair Cut...

Here we have a common variety Hairy Geek...

Yes, hide your wives and daughters...

Next we come to the awkward "Mohawk" phase...

The Mrs Geek really digs mohawks...

And finally we come to the full on summer do!

I've never had a shaved head before!

A big thank you to my awesome wife for the haircut!

Why? I guess curiosity overcame vanity?

Comments and pointing and laughing are welcome... as always.

Scratch Built Titan Pt. 2 (Legs and Hips)

2011-06-02T07:30:00.000-05:00

While I've not updated on the scratch built titan, it isn't from lack of work. It is, however, very slow going. That's a lot of matte board to cut and paste! I know it won't look like it, but the update today is actually many (many) hours of work. Let's get on with it, but first a look at a mock up of a shin and toes... basically everything below the knee...

Getting there took a ton of cutting out and building toes though...

Sixteen pieces to make eight toes in total...

Next is a shot of the toes all assembled and the feet with their ping-pong ball joints. The small circles are homemade washers as I could find no one that sells a washer with a 1" inside diameter...

The more middle-y bits, from bottom to top; feet, shin armor, inner shin, lower knee, middle knee, knee cap, and upper knee...

A quick look at the upper leg and hip area. From the bottom up we have; thigh, ping-pong ball hip joint parts, hip to body connector (yes out of order for visibility sake), hips, and body base...

Finally we have a group shot of all the parts up to this point...

There are some parts that have a definite placement and others that can be adjusted to pose/balance. I'll glue the pieces with no adjustability next, but the final leg assembly will probably have to wait till near the end to ensure proper positioning and balance.

Things I've learned so far;

Ping-pong balls come in two sizes 38mm and 40mm. (I used 38mm)
You can cut a ping-ball in half, but it isn't necessarily easy.
Paper can/will dull an exacto blade faster than you ever imagined.
The legs of this model will use more than 6 exacto blades and 5 oz of Tacky Glue.
I'm a ninja at cutting a straight line with a hobby knife. No really, I am.
The legs and hips have used about 1.5 sheets of 32x40" matte board.

That's going to wrap up Pt. 2 of the Scratch Built Titan project. Work continues and is fun enough to keep me chugging away. However, if you want to watch another scratch built project come to life, I'd recommend checking out Admiral Drax's "decidedly blocky 'landing craft'-type assault vehicle". Must be something in the air making folks want to scratchbuild... or something missing from our wallets!

Thanks for stopping by. Comments and witticisms are welcome as always!

Metal vs Finecast Quality Showdown!

2011-05-28T13:27:00.004-05:00

There has been a lot of back and forth about how much better, worse, or the same Finecast would be compared to metal minis. So I thought I'd try to post my findings in a side by side comparison with two of the same model, one metal, the other Finecast. Having a bunch of stuff still unopened finally came in handy! I also grabbed a mini that, while I don't have the exact same mini in metal, I do have a similar type mini. You'll have to watch the video to see how that one went though.

One thing I found, it is hard to compare a metal and Finecast mini. The two materials mean that they don't show up the same under a camera (or a light bulb for that matter). But I've done my best to compare the two and will give you my thoughts.

The pictures below are the Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol. I dig the epic beards on the Empire guys.

The front side of both...

Feel free to click for a larger version...

And a shot of the backs of both...

Feel free to click for a larger version...

I'm also going to subject you to another video so you can enjoy me rambling in full audio as well in the written word...

If you have bandwidth to burn, I'd recommend the 720 version...

Over all the quality of both is great. I have no complaints on the cast quality of the new Finecast. However, I'm just not seeing the superiority of detail that others have mentioned. Could be just this sculpt though? I will say there was a guy in my GW store this morning droning on about the Finecast and how you can now see so much more detail. He pointed out that you can now see the rivets on the armor of the Emperors Champion... I've always seen the rivits on the Emperors Champion mini though, so I'm not impressed. My biggest complaint is the price increase on these. In my opinion we are getting a lighter mini and paying more. I'd like a heavier mini and my other six bucks back. Thanks.

Till next time folks, enjoy the Finecast and keep out of trouble!

New Space Marine Video Game Vid

2011-05-26T14:45:00.003-05:00

Or as I like to call it, my September is spoken for...

There is so much cool stuff happening on this vid I want to spit. Pre-orders from the right vendor will get you Space Wolf, Black Templar, Emperors Children, or Iron Warriors multiplayer skins. Or some vendors will give you blinged out weapons... meh.

Work on the Scratchbuild Titan is coming along. Not a lot to share as it's cutting and pasting pieces of paper. Should be an update in the next few days though.

A Project For Those Without Top Hats

2011-05-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

A recent commenter mentioned that he would like to buy a certain resin kit if he were rich like me, and inquired as to whether or not I wear a top hat? It was all good natured poking and I responded that, no, I had to pawn my top hat to buy the Crusader from Dream-Forge Games.

It will be missed...

It did get me thinking though. I'm very blessed to have the things I have and even luckier to have an understanding Mrs Geek. Not everyone has the chance to build some of the things I build on my blog. But, maybe I should build something more within the means of the community at large? I had been considering just such a project and this clinched it!

Thus is born, The Scratchbuild Titan project. Will it be free of cost? No, but it will utilize easily attainable bits and hopefully easily attainable skills. There will still be materials cost, but nothing close to a full blown resin monstrosity. At it's very simplest I could see this project done with a few dollars worth of exacto blades, some glue, some paper to print on, and about twenty to thirty dollars of building materials. I plan to add a good bit of detail which will up the price in bits and materials. However, I plan to show how you can have something basic, but awesome, on the cheap and you can add details as your budget/bits box allows.

First off, I have to give credit to those who made the project possible. I found the inspiration for this project on the Tanks and Trolls website. Shaun, or Bulldog, is an amazing scratch builder. Some of his stuff I thought was ForgeWorld until I read the description. The particular Titan I'm going to be trying to emulate/copy is his Brother Humungous. I can't stress enough how awesome his website is for inspiration and reference. I stalked his page so much working on my Reaver that I actually sent him a paypal donation to offset the bandwidth I sucked up (I had my Top Hat on). Another person who deserves some credit here, is Mark Mondragon of Dream-Forge Games. The build is based on a Titan he designed that was snuffed out by an IP happy company who will remain nameless but whose initials are GW. He also created the plans for the Titan that I'm working from.

So to begin, let me tell you that there is a lot of trial and error in this project. For each thing I share with you, there are many attempts that didn't make the cut (pun). I'm going to be starting on the lower parts, legs etc, and working my way up. I've got paper, building material, parts, parts on the way, and even some casting materials to replicate a few parts. To give you a basic idea about how this all goes together I've collected some WIP pictures of a bit of leg coming together.

While the material recommended is "Cardstock" I couldn't find any that I found suitably sturdy enough. I did find Matt Board, as used in framing pictures, for $4 for a 32"x40" sheet at my local Hobby Lobby. By printing out the plans and cutting them down from the 8.5"x11" paper I can get a lot of parts out of each sheet of Matt Board. I used a spray on adhesive to stick the plans onto the Matt Board... and then found I did it wrong! I sprayed the adhesive to the Matt Board then attached the paper plans. The adhesive never really loses it's tackyness. What I will do in the future is spray the adhesive to the back of the paper and attach it to the Matt Board. The 'attacher' gets and stays tacky, the 'attachee' does not!

First we have a shot of the plans put to material.

Since the 'Toes' on the original plans are a little sad, I've drawn some extra cutting lines to accommodate some cooler toes, ala Shaun style. I've also added some 'tabs' to the twelve sided circle to use as attachment points. The plans do not have glue tabs included, but it's easy enough to add your own with a little planning.

Note the darker lines I 'sharpied' onto the plans

Cutting the Matt Board requires a sharp blade and a bit of pressure behind it. There are also score lines on many pieces. These are cut only part way through to allow the piece to be shaped. After some careful cutting it was time to glue. I'm using something called 'Tacky Glue' which seems to be very similar to plain old white glue. I first glued one half of the lower leg, the back half, to the circle using the glue tabs I'd added.

Then I worked the front lower leg piece around the circle the same way. I also added a couple of long very thin pieces of card to the join between the two shin pieces as trying to glue the pieces edge to edge would have been weak and difficult.

Because of my adhesive problem I'll probably have to do all this work over again. But, it's all part of the learning process.

A couple of quick answers to question you may or may not have. No, the Warhounds are not on the back burner... they are on the side burner. I plan to alternate between these projects as the sea of grey resin was threatening my sanity and this project makes me feel a little more creative. Will I post the plans that I'm using? I'm not sure what the legal ramifications could be by doing so? I would certainly be willing to share them, but I'm not sure about posting them for download.

So I hope you enjoyed this first post on the Scratch Build Titan project. If you have any questions, comments, critiques, or interesting commentary; please feel free to leave a comment!

WHx2 Pt 6 (Torso, Back, and Turbo Lasers)

2011-05-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

I'm combing the torso and back bag of parts with the Turbo Lasers bag. Both are pretty sparse in parts so there is no need to give them each their own blog.

First a couple of shot's of all the parts.

Here is the torso and back parts bag...

I have it on good authority that if you miss the strainer when rinsing this bag of parts, the small bit int he middle of the above photo will go down the drain. I can do a tutorial on how to retrieve a small bit that has gone down the drain from a "p-trap" under your sink if there is any need for it expressed by my readers...

Next up are the Turbo Laser parts. Pictured below is enough parts to make two Warhound arms...

You may have noticed that these parts contain some of the largest channels in the entire kit. Notably on the back pieces...

And the backs of the Turbo Lasers...

I'd like to share how I handle channels this large. Though my method is not an option for everyone, it does demonstrate how some extra tools can speed up a process.

Low Bandwith version:

High bandwith version:
(warning, you will hear my voice and the sound of my bandsaw in this video. Try not to fall in love with either, we will only break your heart)

There was a short follow up on the belt/disk sander and the results are below...

The back pieces still look a little rough, but the parts where the channels were are covered by the rear exhaust vents anyway. Good planning on that one Forgeworld!

If you watched the video and found it at all useful or entertaining, please feel free to leave some feedback in the comments. I'm playing around with video but I'm not yet sure how large a part it will play in future blogs.

Other news on the horizon. Have you heard of DreamForge Games? Did you know that the pre orders are up for the Mortis and Crusader kits?

I don't know about you, but that Crusader screams 'Knight Titan' to me, though it's a work of art with it's own merit. Expect a product review up once they ship. I'm pretty freaking excited myself. DreamForge has the assembly instructions posted on their website. I suggest anyone interested in these kits look those instructions over. They show a lot of the detail and planning that went into these kits that the webpages' photos don't quite do justice to.

Till next time, enjoy yourself... or if you can't enjoy yourself, enjoy someone else!

Off Topic, News, and Distractions

2011-04-18T07:55:00.003-05:00

I've pretty much decided in the last week or so that I have adult ADD. The first clue came while listening to the audio book of Prospero Burns in the car on the commute to work and back. It's good and I should do a review in the coming days... should do. Anyway, while listening the narrator might mention a mountain (complete with descriptives) 20 seconds or so later I realize I haven't really heard anything since then because my mind has wandered to thinking about some mountain I saw once... or would like to see... or might want to almost get to see. So, rewind and continue. Maybe I'm just distracted and having trouble concentrating?

So I've spoken to the lovely Mrs. Inner Geek and secured a weekend break. Now I have to decide how to spend it and exactly when. Two things are on the forefront of possibilities. I live in North Texas and several years ago while staying a while just outside Austin, Texas I got to go float a section of the Guadalupe River in an inner tube and drink beer. Water, beer, floating... what else could you ask for? Austin also has a hopping night life, so a nice dinner and refreshing adult beverages wouldn't be out of the question. Another bonus, it's three hours drive by car. The problem I'm running into is finding a friend who can go and wants to. I don't mind going to a movie, bar, or dinner by myself, but I'm not sure I care to do a whole weekend adventure alone. Sad, eh? My second option I've considered is flying up to Chicago for Games Day. More of a money sink, but it might be fun? I've never been to Chicago or a Games Day. For some reason going alone doesn't bother me so much on this one, I'm just not sure what I'd do at a Games Day? Thoughts and suggestions welcome in the comments section.

On to distractions...

Have you ever heard of MineCraft? Well, if you haven't, run for the hills... the awesome, blocky, 8 bit graphic hills. I can't stop. It's the most addictive game I've played in recent memory. Seriously people, I'm losing sleep. And when I do lay down to sleep, all I can think about is the next mine I'm going to dig and what I'm going to build with the rocks I excavate. House, castle, palace? I really can't do it justice with a description, so check out some youtube videos when you have minute or twelve. I'll link you to one to get you started...

So I apologize for not posting a Warhound update, but I really needed to get some of this out there. I appreciate it if you've made it this far. If you are playing MineCraft or want to go on Vacation with The Inner Geek, be sure to let me know. I welcome all comments... well... pretty much all.

WHx2 Pt 5 (Head, Shoulders, Armor & Pilots)

2011-04-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

The next bag of parts is done. This one includes head, shoulder, Princeps, Moderati, some armor parts, and cable mounts. I've got big plans for the cable mounts, but that story will have to wait till a ways into build time.

Here is a family shot of the parts from this bag...

Of the two Warhounds, one had a parts fitting problem that the other didn't. I'm guessing that either they have multiple molds, or perhaps these Warhounds were just cast at times far enough apart that the mold started having issues. Since only one has the problem, I'd say it's a hit and miss issue that you may or may not see when building one of these.

The issue comes down to the way the armor cover fits on the cockpit (head). In the pic below you can see where I've marked the head piece to be trimmed so that it will fit inside the armor piece which is inverted over it for easier viewing...

I used my hobby knife and carefully cut the piece to fit. Unfortunately, careful is not always good enough! There was a weak spot in the resin and I wound up losing more material that I had marked off due to splitting!

(Note the extra material missing on the viewers left side)

I'm not going to fret about it too much though, as the armor now fits beautifully and the bad spot is covered up when the armor is in place.

Just for fun I've thrown in a couple more detail shots.

The shoulder, complete with integrated servitor to assist with gun calculations...

The Princeps, sitting proudly on his command throne.

And, finally, the cable mounts I mentioned earlier...

(In the way of a hint, I'll tell you these are part of a plan that is going to make weapons magnetizing a cinch!)

This leaves us with just one more bag of part for the Warhound itself. Thank goodness! I'm so ready to start putting these together I could spit.

Comments, critiques, and riddles are welcome in the comments as always. Thanks for stopping by!

WHx2 Pt 4 (Hips & Guts)

2011-04-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

Another bag of parts down! This time it's the hips and some internal pieces.

I'm afraid this will be a short post as there is not a lot to say about this bag O'parts. They cleaned up pretty easy and, except for some largish channels, were pretty quick going.

One item of note, I'm trying out a new camera. It's technically a video camera that also does still shots. I think the still shots have come out pretty well. I may have to try my hand at a video clip to drop in the blog. I wonder if that's something my readers would be interested in seeing? If you have an opinion, feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think. I've also invested in a tiny desktop tripod which I failed to use at all.

Here is a shot of the parts for this installment.

The good news is, with this post being so small, the next is already well on the way. And it promises to be slightly more exciting as I've run into a part that actually needs a little fixing!

Thanks for stopping by for this quick post. They will get longer and more detailed I assure you! Comments, questions, and words that rhyme with Geek are welcome as always.

WHx2 Pt 3 (The Rest of the Legs)

2011-04-10T08:00:00.003-05:00

The final bits of legs are cleaned and trimmed! Hoo-frikkin-ray!

Yes the next bag of Warhounds parts through the wash & cut^TM treatment is the last of the leg bits. This bag has the toes, thigh armor, mid-leg, cooling vents (not a leg bit, but yay for bits style ADD), and the large shin armor pieces.

These parts are also done quite well across both kits with very little needed in the way of trimming. Though that is not to say that some of these parts aren't full of mystery or in need of some work...

The shin armor in both Warhound sets includes two blank and two adorned with Imperial iconography, for a total of four per kit. When they pack these I believe they stack them... maybe even straight out of the mold? I believe this because in all cases one is wider and one is narrow. Enough so that one can fit inside the other.

This isn't too big a deal as I can easily reshape them using some very hot water. However, I'm not sure if the narrow one needs to be the size of the wide one, or if they need to meet in the middle? I'll figure it out when assembly starts.

Another mystery has surfaced as well. Ironically it has surfaced on the surface of a part. After soaking in Simple Green, rinsing well, and allowed to dry I find one part that looks almost oxidized? Here is a shot of the strange toe with a more normal one on either side...

If you click for a larger pic you can see that it almost looks powdery, though it's not. This bit was treated identically to the other two in all respects so I have to assume it is something to do with manufacturing? I'll see how the part takes primer before I get too worried though.

Here is a shot of all the parts cleaned, trimmed, and laid out.

That wraps up this installment. Just three more bags of parts (per Warhound) to go, then we can start the fun stuff! Truthfully, it's five bags if you count weapons, but those will clean super fast and all at once.

Thanks for stopping by. If you like, you can leave a comment. If you know anything about resin parts turning albino I'd especially like to hear from you!

WHx2 Pt 2 (More Leggy Bits)

2011-04-06T08:00:00.004-05:00

For the sake of time and simplicity, I'm only photographing one set of parts during cleaning. Unless of course there is a worthwhile reason to show both sets of parts.

The next bag o'bits is another bunch of leg parts. Well, primarily leg parts. There also some detail bits included, likely to cushion the heavy leg parts. These parts have been pretty easy to trim as there is not too much in the way of molding defects. This goes for both Warhounds.

As you can see I've left some of the detail bits on the sprue. This keeps them together and also gives them a bit of survivability when being tossed around. Safety in numbers! The only bits I'm finding a bit fiddly are the servo skull bits...

They are super small, barely attached, and many of the parts are prone to wandering off! Honestly, they are likely to go in the bits box for a while anyway. Servo skulls are pretty far down on the priority list right now!

Not the most exciting update, I know. But we're taking baby steps here. Painfully slow ones, and for that I apologize. I've been a bit distracted lately. Besides having a completely awesome wife and two beautiful babies I've been gaming on the pc a bit... and if anyone needs help hacking their Epic 4G phone I'm now competent in that art too. I've even tried my hand at photo editing. But it's back to 40k now, back to resin, and back to blogging!

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any and all comments.