1/6 Batman 1989: Batmobile Collectible Vehicle - Specs & Pics

[maniac cop 5]

I'd just mask off the tires and rest of the car and paint them mounted. Should work fine.

 

[Rondesmo]

Paint with a spray or a brush?

 

[maniac cop 5]

Spray absolutely unless you want brush marks.

 

[Bruce Kent]

I just got this beast through a local trade, I have NO ROOM to display it yet. I plan to display once we buy our home. My question is do you guys think the can be stored in the box standing on its back end? Its sitting in our bedroom right now because its the only place out of the way I can lay it flat in the box. My only other option is to store it in the garage out of it's bix and store the bix on its end. It looks to be very well protected and attached to the base securely, so I'm guessing it would be fine all packed up standing on it's end, but any advice would he greatly appreciated!

 

[chris rankin]

I just got this beast through a local trade, I have NO ROOM to display it yet. I plan to display once we buy our home. My question is do you guys think the can be stored in the box standing on its back end? Its sitting in our bedroom right now because its the only place out of the way I can lay it flat in the box. My only other option is to store it in the garage out of it's bix and store the bix on its end. It looks to be very well protected and attached to the base securely, so I'm guessing it would be fine all packed up standing on it's end, but any advice would he greatly appreciated!

It is probably better to store it standing up on its end as I am sure it was laying it flat that was the cause of the scratching between the cocoon and the car unless you have the plastic in-between then it shouldn't be a problem, just don't put anything on top of it if you lay it flat.

 

[DarkMagic]

Rondesmo you are very welcome!

DarkMagic, your footwell mod was one of the things that inspired me to take on this project.

I'm sorry to say but your initial findings were correct. The wheel hubs are glued on and will be damaged upon removal. They could probably be removed and repaired but that is a call you'll have to make. Luckily for me I like the look of the wheels and had not planned on repainting them so removal was not an issue.

I have totally stripped the body of all ornamentation such as windshield, opera windows, fuel doors and caps, and all side plumbing. This was in prep for a total repaint since I was never happy with the factory finish and had some scratches on mine also. Some of the smaller items had to be slightly damaged in removal. Repair should not be too hard followed by minor paint touch ups. This was very nerve racking and a project I have been working on for several weeks. I dont reccomend it to anyone else unless they are really willing to take a chance messing this thing up. I have proceeded VERY slowly and have been pretty lucky so far. The car is a combination of screws, press fittings, and about 3 different types of glues.

The first mod I made was to add additional pulsing LEDs to the afterburner as the factory ones were a little understated. The new ones are much more realistic for a jet turbine and actually have movement to them.

I have added footwell and overhead LED interior lights controlled by a hidden switch and am in the process of adding gauge lights to the 12 gauges. This called for a total dissassembly of the dash and LED light chambers. Once again, they were screwed AND glued together. The interior has been a lot of fun and I am still waiting for parts to arrive to finish it.

That's the truth! Glad I partly inspired you. I confess that I did the footwell mod because it was practical and "safe"--if I screwed it up, it would be completely invisible to me anyway once I put the car back together.

I can't wait to see some pics of your more courageous mods, especially the fully repainted look. I repainted one of my two Tumblers desert camo colors to look like the clean prototype BB version (before HT announced the dirty/weathered TDKR version), but I'm nervous of fully repainting my only 89 Batmobile.

Bunch of questions for you:
What pulsing LEDs did you use for the afterburner? How did you do the overhead LED additions to the canopy, and still maintain the ability to slide open and shut? Where did you tuck the wire? Is it still easy to completely disconnect the canopy?

I hope you took plenty of photos documenting the steps / recipe.

 

[DiFabio]

Man, I never thought of pulsing LEDs for the after burner, that would actually be pretty damn cool.

If I were to mod mine, that's what I'd do. Those are the only lights that I wasn't too impressed with. They never seem to glow enough.

 

[maniac cop 5]

That's the truth! Glad I partly inspired you. I confess that I did the footwell mod because it was practical and "safe"--if I screwed it up, it would be completely invisible to me anyway once I put the car back together.

I can't wait to see some pics of your more courageous mods, especially the fully repainted look. I repainted one of my two Tumblers desert camo colors to look like the clean prototype BB version (before HT announced the dirty/weathered TDKR version), but I'm nervous of fully repainting my only 89 Batmobile.

Bunch of questions for you:
What pulsing LEDs did you use for the afterburner? How did you do the overhead LED additions to the canopy, and still maintain the ability to slide open and shut? Where did you tuck the wire? Is it still easy to completely disconnect the canopy?

I hope you took plenty of photos documenting the steps / recipe.

Honestly I haven't been photographing this because it started as a simple 3 LED upgrade to the afterburner and now has morphed into this monster project. Some of the add ons are so tiny that my basic camera and skills wont be able to make them visible. For instance the work I'm doing adding gauge lights requires using a magnifying visor to accomplish it.

The pulsing LEDs I installed were blue and white and run off a 9v battery concealed in the trunk. I got these from Model Train Software. I have experimented by adding additional red and orange lights to the blue and white and cant quite make up my mind which combo I like best.

The overhead light is actually not in the canopy but under the rear bracket the optional canopy rod mounts to. It is set up to shine down on the controls behind and between the seats. It's wired so that it comes on when the footwell lights come and is controlled by a switch hidden under the passenger side dash. It was run by a 3V battery but I'm about to switch it over to a larger battery source hidden behind the passenger seat since I'm hooking the 12 gauge lights up to it also.

I did have an idea to mount roof/ canopy lights with a micro switch and 3v battery (ie: to shine in Vicky Vale's eyes). This setup would be small enought to mount in the inside canopy with double side tape and yet be invisible from the outside. This is an easy one to do but with everything else I'm not sure if it wouldn't be overkill at this point!

The thing I'm most nervous about is repainting this sucker. Right now the body sits completely stripped and loose on top of the chassis. The interior is dissassembled and sitting on my desk and I have about 30 plastic bags conataining parts which are labeled with their contents. Oh, and I have a large chart with a drawing of the underside of the car and have taped the screws to their corresponding locations on the chart. I think I'm just a little bit nuts but luckily I have a VERY understanding and supportive wife!

 

[weltmaster]

I already had my Batmobile since the 30thh of November, but only today I found some time to upload my (very bad quality) cellphone pictures:

 

[lunaticcrazy]

custom case Batmobile recieved!

 

[DarkMagic]

Weltmaster and lunaticcrazy, those are great shots. W, I really like the simple shelf design and how cool the figure looks with his cape draped over his shoulders like that. Also there's something about the warmer tone yellow symbol and belt contrasting against the cooler blue background that makes it really visually interesting to me.

L, that case looks great. Again, really digging the lighting giving it the appearance blue background against the car. How much did the case run you? The base is slightly reflective at some angles.... nice touch for making the undercarriage detail a little more visible and appreciated.

 

[jye4ever]

The blue background really does make the yellow pop.

Blue is good

 

[wilsonc55]

hard to find a nice display for the batmobile or the tumbler.

 

[lunaticcrazy]

Weltmaster and lunaticcrazy, those are great shots. W, I really like the simple shelf design and how cool the figure looks with his cape draped over his shoulders like that. Also there's something about the warmer tone yellow symbol and belt contrasting against the cooler blue background that makes it really visually interesting to me.

L, that case looks great. Again, really digging the lighting giving it the appearance blue background against the car. How much did the case run you? The base is slightly reflective at some angles.... nice touch for making the undercarriage detail a little more visible and appreciated.

thanks mate have a look at the webstore located in germany where i buy my cases from. there's an easy way to know how much you'll have to pay for the size you want your cases to be made, just fill in the sizes and it calculates how much it will cost. https://www.sora-shop.com/

this case costs me 137gbp / 160euro / 219dollar.

 

[jye318]

thanks mate have a look at the webstore located in germany where i buy my cases from. there's an easy way to know how much you'll have to pay for the size you want your cases to be made, just fill in the sizes and it calculates how much it will cost. https://www.sora-shop.com/

this case costs me 137gbp / 160euro / 219dollar.

$219usd is not too bad for this case, I thought they don't want to delievy to us? Is that price include shipping ?

 

[lunaticcrazy]

$219usd is not too bad for this case, I thought they don't want to delievy to us? Is that price include shipping ?

shippingcosts not included. don't know about shipping to the usa. i live in belgium so i only have to pay 12dollar shipping...

 

[Uzero1]

Great displays. Saving up to get this bad boy! Can't wait

 

[lava206]

Hey lunatic how thick is your display cases glass/acrylic/plastic? I'm thinking of making mine out of acrylic and don't want it to sag because its going to have to be a pretty long sheet of material

 

[jye4ever]

Hey lunatic how thick is your display cases glass/acrylic/plastic? I'm thinking of making mine out of acrylic and don't want it to sag because its going to have to be a pretty long sheet of material

 

[sdabbs]

Got my batmobile today - and sweet JESUS is it amazing!!

I took a pic with him and catwoman in (and added a quick background for fun)