Duke builds a man barbie (phantom titan) pt 1

A while back I got this idea, a wonderful, crazy idea.  This idea consisted of me buying a Phantom Titan and using it as the centerpiece for the Feast of Blades Narrative campaign.  Well, after much begging and pleading with my wife I was given the reluctant green light. Follow on to see the project log pt 1.

Look at the size of that dread!

When I first ordered this bad boy I was so excited that I didn't even want to tell my wargaming buddies.  If you know me the you understand how hard that was to pull off. Mostly I didn't want to say anything because I wanted to have it in my hands before talking about having a Phantom Titan.

Eventually it came in the mail and the box was beat to hell, luckily the Forgeworld people put it in enough bubble wrap to keep my little baby safe.  I then took out the pieces and laid them on the floor and placed a dread at the feet for scale.  This thing is freaking huge!

I have put together my share of titans and superheavies and one thing I can say for sure (especially on Eldar titans) is LEARN HOW TO PIN! In the pic above you can see a pin from the knee to the upper thigh.  Almost every single joint on this titan was pinned.  No sense in spending this much for a model only to have it fall apart when you sneeze.  While Im speaking of pinning let me remined you all that you really must wear something to protect your nose and mouth.  On big projects like this there will be resin dust everywhere! If you get it into your throat it hurts for days and you can't swallow...Or at least that is what I heard.

In the crotch assembly there is a very long pin holding the two sections together.  This is one of the most vital pinning locations as it hols up the two sections.  Also for transportation you want to be able to have your titan break in half, so this pin needs to be long enough that you can see what you are doing while pinning it before a game.  If it is too short you will be guessing for 10 minutes before you find the hole (Remind you of anything?)

To help me see where I am going to drill into the receiving end of a pinning assembly I dip one end of the rod into paint.  I then act as though I am putting the receiving end into place and the pin will mark the spot with paint.  I then go back and drill the receiving hole based on where the paint dot is.  It isn't a perfect solution, but it works for me.

Here are the legs and crotch assembled and almost ready to go, at this stage I still didn't have it on a base, and it was leaning back so that it looked like it was taking a mid air poop... Not good so I had to go in and fix that.  As a tip, it is better to have your legs a little forward than a little backwards.

I had to drill a hole completely through the crotch assembly and send a pin through both hup joints to connect the legs together.  This worked out pretty well and is holding with remarkable strength.

Here is the end of stage one with my Revenant for scale. 

Well, that is it for now.  Ill give an update in a week or two on how the bad boy is coming along.  Until then come to Feast of Blades and register for the all-weekend narrative battle so you can blow this bad boy to little bits.

Does anyone else out there have experience building titans and working with resin?  If so what are your tips and tricks/ horror stories?

Duke