Monday, October 22, 2007

Making home made Titans

Q asked me a question about making homemade titans and so I thought I'd put this advice up because it's pretty sound:

Something tells me I'm going to have to answer this in my own gaming group pretty soon. You guys starting Apocalypse as well? Anyway, this might be extraordinarilly optimistic, but the truth is, a Titan really isn't THAT big. It's, what, 2' tall? Two things: go hit a Big Lots and go find yourself some little robot things that look like they could be hacked apart for Titan parts. A cheapie store toy aisle is your friend in this project. Because the titan is big, you don't have to worry as much about the detail that you'd have to worry about for little minis. I would say, make sculpi your friend for things like bas relief. Do parts at a time so you're not doing all the detail all at once. As for gears, struts, and hydraulic looking stuff, Three things: Lego Bionacle, there's another lego looking set that's all "gear" looking and never lose the power of a dry wall anchor cut in half. Nearly half of my mechanical shit is drywall junk.

As for weapons, big sized army men (12" tall) will probably help here, but in any case, keep a look at for cheap plastic toys. Try to look past the color. You're going to paint this stuff so what you want is the shape.

Of course, you're going to need a dremel. Get solid cut off wheels and the little sanding drums. They're indespensible. I do recommend that you try testing out the dremel on similiar kinds of plastic before you hit the titan. You never know how quickly something will melt or cut until you're melting or cutting it. Also, do this with ventilation. Burning plastic lets off some nasty fumes. Also, don't put plastic in with the sculpi to dry. Plastic melts.

For spikes on something that big, I'd hit a Hot Topic and try to find the spikes they sell for bracelets. Lastly, I'd find yourself a Michaels and a Home Depot, take a picture from Forgeworld, and walk the aisles for a couple of hours. You wouldn't believe the crap they have that you can use. Unfortuantely, you can't just ask for the Titan Head. The guy in the vest won't know what you're talking about.