How to assemble a Chaos Warhound Titan - A one stop content guide

I wish my titan looked like the one on the left.  Before this weekend it was in pieces.  I want to share how I got mine looking a lot closer to the this one. That is a Chaos Warhound owned by Carl of The Independent Characters, who used it in Big Jim's game at Celisticon this year, which inspired me to pull the trigger on my titan.  

I had seen it in person earlier but it wasn't painted or assembled, so it didn't have the same "effect" on me.  These models look great in pictures, but in person they are amazing models.  When I spoke to Carl he told me that he didn't have the time to assemble the model and was a bit concerned at the complexity of the model.  He had a local game store/commissioning outfit Frontline Gaming, assemble it for him.

I was on the fence about to take this path or not.  It is a very complicated model, though it's not as many pieces at I thought.  I have heard the feet/legs are difficult, and while they ended up being a challenge, they were not as bad as some make it out to be. I did learn a lot about resin models and I wanted to share with others what I learned. 

I thought about doing a general guide on how to do it, but I don't think that's needed.  This model isn't that hard to put together, what is knowing what to use to put it together.  What I mean, is what tools, products, and steps you need to assemble. I am going to share the resources I found that spelled it out better than I ever could.

The first step, is cleaning the titan.   The best thing I found, and already shared, was a video by a painter from the website Ichiban Painting.

I used the above guide and it worked like a charm.  Well worth the investment in time to wash and tools to make the job easier.

I found a few places with good information about assembling the titan.

Forum post with original instructions, in case you got one second hand, like mine. 

Blog about assembly, one of the better and more detailed guides out there.

Dakka Dakka Project Blog on a WIP Warhound, great details on the feet (I didn't do as much as this poster, but this is how complicated the feet can be if you go that far.)

As far as tools, I can't recommend the below two products enough.

J-B Weld, the Quickweld variety.  I am not a fan of pinning, so I wanted an alternative.  I found this product through recommendations and several articles and I am very happy with it.  It takes a few minutes to set, but when it does is almost like concrete.  I can't recommend this stuff enough.  Use it for any large resin model that has load bearing joints. 

Clamps, specifically I used Irwin clamps.  I bought a set of 6 that had some various sizes.  These were a huge help for holding large pieces together firmly, while the J-B Weld was drying.  There were several pieces that were slightly warped, but using a clamp with the J-B Weld held the piece where it was supposed to be and didn't move.  Take a look at the below pics to see how I used them.

This project has been a lot of fun so far.  I am really glad I decided to do it myself.  It has been a lot of work, I've got about 10 hours into it so far for cleaning and assembly.  I don't have much left to do and I'm about ready to go full swing into painting. 

I was able to get some painting done.  The vent/machinery below the carapace top piece.