60s Batman, Batmobile, Villains, etc.

[pjam]

Well, it was time for this. The 60s Batman TV series revitalized a sagging franchise, boosted sales of comic Books and completely rejuvenated the Dark Knight. Yes, it was Campy, and goofy but it also became Pop Icon Legend, landing on the Front Cover of Time magazine and many others, so this thread is a Tribute to that Series, its Villains and all things Batman 60s.

To kick it off, I am revealing for the very first time a project over 2 years in the making. A Custom 1966 TV Batmobile complete with Dynamic Duo figs. The figs themselves were purchased over 2 years ago. The West Batman is a Rojas, the Robin was an AOT with FML repaint. I bought these soley to display with a Batmobile I commissioned the incomparable Giink, a Pro Modeler, to do.

The car itself took over a year and a half to build, mostly because of delays finding wheels that would look right. We finally settled on an RC PT Cruiser. The hubs are not Radir rims as we know of from the Barris Batmobile but were close enough for this project.

The kit itself was a JoeMobile, a heavy vinyl resin kit which is also not 100% accurate to the Barris Batmobile (most likely due to licensing issues) and measures over 29 inches long. The major areas that are not accurate are the canopies, which connected, the front hood V design overhang and grille which was not as open mouthed as this. Also the headlight area of the front hood extended further over the headlights but that was impossible to do correctly. But the interior is an amazing dead on representation, complete with Batphone, Bat Fire Extinguisher, working dash compass, etc and it displays great as you will see...

Here is what we started with... the Joemobile.

Stay tuned, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel for more of this story and many new pics... a bit later tonight.

 

[galactiboy]

Arrrgh!!! You are a terrible cocktease Paul!!!

But, from the other picture you posted I'm watching this with rapt attention

 

[DarkArtist81]

Arrrgh!!! You are a terrible cocktease Paul!!!

But, from the other picture you posted I'm watching this with rapt attention

Same here... you got me hooked Paul! Must see more!!

 

[MaulFan]

I want to, but I don't need to see the rest, holy **** man. To go from this to what you have now, this was a work of dedication and committment, good for you seeing this thing through to the end, and congrats on having such an amazing and unique piece in your collection.

 

[pixletwin]

Well? .............

 

[pjam]

Okay, I'm back. Pjam was hungry and had to have dinner, and there was a conference call, and... moving on...

Geez guys, I had to wait 2 years for this, can't you guys hold out for a few friggin' minutes?

So, where were we? Right, the Joemobile. You who don't care for the process bs can skip this but I want to tell the whole story... then we'll get straight to the pics.

So anyway, I wanted Giink to make an RC Batmobile, he had made another and I wanted working lights and the whole shebang so I sent him a Donor RC car (Jesse James Ford) but we soon learned an RC wouldn't work because it wouldn't hold figures. The motor would preclude the feet/legs from using the available space under the hood and we would have to cut out and replace the underchassis so that was quickly scrapped. Then I wanted to at least use the electronic functions for working headlights and taillights but that again was scrapped because we couldn't separate the motor from those electronics so I decided we'll just do a display car.

Next came three different sets of donor wheels to replace the cheap ass Barbie kit wheels. I wanted rubber wheels, love mixed media, so we went through three different RC Donor car wheels. Which all didn't work! They were either out of scale, or the rims were too far off... this is what held the project up the most. Finally I found a Joemobile conversion Board and saw a guy who used these OOP PT Cruiser Wheels. I found a car on Ebay and we were back in business...

So on to the build. There is so much work Giink had to do, he had to basically do major body work, sanding, shaping, scraping, refining to get it to look right, almost like an a 1/6 Body Shop would do. He also had to cut out sections for the figures under the dash and I asked him to cut out the headlights and install glass lenses for headlights. I also asked him to use wire wesh on the headlights and grilles. We chose to use real metal chrome tubes for the rocket tubes, rubber wheels with close enough rims and I wanted the canopy edges to wrap around the exposed plastic edges so we used metal foil for that. The edges are a bit thicker but they look better...

Then 10 coats of paint!

So, finally, after a year and a half, Giink finished the car and sent me some pics. I am posting a few here now so you can see the detail of the interior without the figs... it includes everything on the original Barris Batmobile, including working dash compass which wobbles and actually works! Also Bat Extinguisher, Batphone, all the pulls and levers, Batscope, Batscreen, etc...

 

[DarkArtist81]

It's such a magnificent piece for the collection, really amazing workmanship to get it to that point. As many have said Paul, you have got to be the biggest supporter of custom artwork that I have met. Your collection is full of amazing figures that people would kill for. I think you have something in your collection from damn near every 1:6th scale customizer I know or have heard of!

Anyway, I'm just happy to have been a part of it. But this Batmobile is like the Mona Lisa, just bad ass on soooo many levels.

 

[pixletwin]

I have a feeling that, like Jabba, pictures just don't do it any justice as to scale.

 

[pjam]

It's such a magnificent piece for the collection, really amazing workmanship to get it to that point. As many have said Paul, you have got to be the biggest supporter of custom artwork that I have met. Your collection is full of amazing figures that people would kill for. I think you have something in your collection from damn near every 1:6th scale customizer I know or have heard of!

Anyway, I'm just happy to have been a part of it. But this Batmobile is like the Mona Lisa, just bad ass on soooo many levels.

Thanks Bro, this one is THE grail piece now for me. The 66Batmobile is probably the most famous car in the world, up there with the Bond Aston Martin DB5 and the Bullitt '68GT Mustang.

So on with the show... First, Scale. It is hard to imagine the size of this thing. As mentioned it measures over 29 inches long but is actually closer to 1/7 scale than 1/6. My biggest concern was that my figs wouldn't fit inside or wouldn't look right. I knew they would be maybe a half scale off but you will see they display just fine.

So scale. Here is a pic of one of the wheels. Yes, that is a dime.

And here is one last pic Giink snapped then I will get on to my pics with the Dynamic Duo Figs. And bear in mind I am NO Maulfan. God, I wish he were here to photograph this thing because he would really show it well.

 

[pjam]

Okay, so on to some Shots with the Figs. They fit okay, tough getting them in without breaking anything and they need to be futzed but we'll start out with some cockpit shots then move to full screen shots. These were taken in different light, some flash, and different angles. I hope I captured the essence of this, I'll let you guys be the Judge.

In this shot you can see Giink made a 1/6 photo-etched pic of Julie Newmar as Catwoman on the PhotoScope Dash and if you look closely you can see the image of Cesar Romero as the Joker on the Batscreen, center Console.

Here you can see some of the amazing Body work Giink had to do on the hood. The reflections tell the story.

 

[Wor-Gar]

BAD ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or.... Bat Ass!!!

That doesn't sound right. How about...

Bat-tastic!!!!!!!

 

[pixletwin]

Now you need to send it to Hurricane so he can put working lights on it.

 

[pjam]

Reposting this so no-one misses the pics... :blackbat

Okay, so on to some Shots with the Figs. They fit okay, tough getting them in without breaking anything and they need to be futzed but we'll start out with some close in cockpit shots then move on to full screen shots. These were taken in different light, some flash, and many different angles. I hope I captured the essence of this. I'll let you guys be the Judge.

In this shot you can see Giink made a 1/6 photo-etched pic of Julie Newmar as Catwoman on the PhotoScope Dash and if you look closely you can see the image of Cesar Romero as the Joker on the Batscreen, center Console.

Here you can see some of the amazing Body work Giink had to do on the hood. The reflections tell the story.

 

[Batty]

That is simply beautiful! I am jealous beyond words!



It stinks that we'll probably never see the series on DVD.

 

[pjam]

Here are a couple overhead shots taken in darker light... I wanted to imagine them cruising in the night. :blackbat

Giink custom molded the Batchutes as well as the Iconic Batbeacon.

 

[pjam]

And here are some Daylight Sideviews from various angles...

I actually shot this pic from this angle...

 

[pjam]

And finally, some front and rear grille shots... you can see here how Giink cut out the kit headlight mold and installed inset glass lenses with metal grille covers. I had him paint the metal mesh grilles a darker flat grey to offset the kit grilles which he painted a flat black for effect.

I don't know why I'm including this shot, it's not a great pic but I guess I liked how the glass headlights reflected the flash.

The Lincoln Futura is a design phenomena in its own right, using it to adapt into a Batmobile was pure genius. It's so much fun photographing it because it has so much flair. The tail fins are the most fun of all.

This shot was enhanced just a wee bit. LOL. But you can see the car has a complete under chassis. The antennae has a spring base and the Bat Radar on the hood is made of some kind of metal. Oh, and the wheels roll.

All from this...

 

[Grange Wallis]

That's...
:eek :eek :eek :eek :eek :eek :eek
AMAZING!!!! ​

 

[Wor-Gar]

That's...
:eek :eek :eek :eek :eek :eek AMAZING!!!! ​

What he said!




Had to flip this for ya, P. It's too damn cool:

 

[gdb]

:eek :eek :eek OMG!!!!!

Seriously, pjam, between the Aliens Marines and all your repaints and now this gorgeous piece, you could open a museum.