Pimp My Batmobile!

Archive for September, 2008

  Well we had to do it. What started out as a quick, minimal disassembly of an Elite Batmobile to grab the batphone for molding for the upgrade kits turned into a full exploratory session. And we uncovered some interesting finds in the process.

First off –   All the sonic welds are MUCH easier to rip through for parts removal than on the Standards I’ve tried. All these parts popped out with some simple scraping of their weld divots.(note the detect-a-scope inner round screen remains as part of the dash and the housing around it pops off. Good to know for our new scope upgrade)

Next, as you can see in the upper left corner of the photo below – the turbine engine is part of the front wheel assembly. Easy to remove but interesting physics going on there. I know it’s a fictional engine but  – yeesh. The sooner I get a Ford 390 in there the better.

Next, we had heard this but hadn’t experienced it until now – the Elite seat-tops are rubber and removable. And the silver trim bottoms come off easily as well. All the better to try some of Futurabat’s new seat designs out on them.

After removing several of the soft rubber pieces, we find that many items are much different than the ones on the Standard. Here you can see the subtle differences between the Elite center console and the one we cut out of the Standard. (you can see evidence of the trouble the older phone gave me)

Probably the most interesting thing we discovered was that the 2-piece chrome dash pops right off. This will make installing the photo-etched dash panels that much easier.

I’ve got to say – I’ve ragged on Mattel a bit but they really optimized this model for upgrades! They should put all the parts in a box and call it the “Custom Batmobile” edition.

No offense to the memory of General Eisenhower, but we’re not a fan of the Ike.

The other day we inadvertently left a window open in the PMB! offices and just like we were Tina Turner, Ike smacked us down. Now, being this far inland and away from the Gulf, we didn’t get much more than big winds and rain (and power out for 7 hours) But we got rain all over a few folders of artwork and – yup  – Batmobile decal sheets.

We are all out riht now. The remaining sheets all got ruined. We have put out an emergency call to our decal guru and are hoping for a quick fix but please – if you’ve placed orders – either ask for a refund or hang tight. We’re working on it.

 Saw some preliminary shots of the new figures which look great.

Working with a new vendor on lighting kits (and more)

Got some great stuff coming in soon from Falcon Designs and Futurabat etc. so we’re trying not to let our serotonin levels get too affected by some silly rain.

Okay.

We waited for the Elite.
Then we waited for the Super Elite.

Clown time is over.

People have been asking about the new upgrade parts and when were we going to show any of these parts/tips in action for months. We were waiting to see if maybe,  juuuust maybe Hot Wheels would pull an eleventh hour sneak, surprising all of us and defying all of their past performance. And we now know that was crazy nutty dream thinking. Like planning to win the lottery with your new “system” that uses a laser, a clothespin and tidal schedules.

But we now know better.

Now we dig in. Look for our upcoming new parts and tutorial videos and posts effective immediately.

Gentlemen – start your engines.

(wait, I think there’s a few more cliches I didn’t tap into, how about “Let’s Do This Thing” or “It’s On”…)

Just wanted to announce that we are now a community of 500 strong Batmobile collectors/modelers/enthusiasts! Now, that doesn’t mean we only have 500 viewers. We have thousands upon thousands of viewers to this blog, the forum etc. But as far as registered, card-carrying users go – we just turned 500 last night. I know this because I had to go on to our rolls to try to see if someone was there. This brought me to a point I’ve been lax in discussing – that of the log-in issues to the Products Page. So here is a quick FAQ to hopefully deal with all this. I’ve posted this info elsewhere before but the problem is that people just expect stuff to instantly work in this web 2.5 world and I am right there with you on that. However – we have some valid reasons for what we do and once you complete everything correctly – you can set it and forget it, so bear with us. Here are the facts, jack:

1.
Q. “What’s the difference between the ‘Products Page’ and the ‘Custom Shop’?”
A.  There is no difference! It’s just two ways to refer to the same section.

2.
Q. “I got my username and password but I still can’t get into the products page. What’s up? Help!”
A.  You missed the little memo on the security pop up that told you you’d be getting a first set of UN/PW for The Site and a second set of UN/PW a little later for the Products Page/Custom Shop.

3.
Q. “Okay, but it’s been an hour and I still haven’t received that second set of info!!?”
A. That’s correct. I actually screen every single registration and send out the second set of UN/PW myself, by hand. that means it might take me a little while to do so. Please hold tight and be patient. I have never gone more than 48 hours without responding.
- Also, please check your spam folders – we have heard that our replies have sometimes gone there.
- Also – sometimes people discard the second email, thinking they’ve already got the log-in info and that it’s a duplicate email. It isn’t. They’re different.

4.
Q. “Okay but that sounds like super overkill. Why do you do it like this?”
A. There are several reasons. To make sure we don’t get spambots flooding us and that everyone is a real person is one. But the main reason is due to some of the sensitive licensing zones that some of our products veer into. As we phase some of the more uh…contentious stuff out and feature all original artwork, that issue may go away.

5.
Q. “Okay, I understand the need for security but then why are there TWO sets of UN/PW’s? That’s a pain!”
A. Well, actually there are THREE.  Don’t forget the forum/message board. The reason for this is that we wanted to go cheap and easy on the message board and shopping cart to keep costs down so we grabbed what was out there instead of custom coding things that take time and money. And so the makers of these things all need you to buy into their systems. So we end up with multiple log-ins. We set up the Message Board log-in so that folks coming from the 1966 Batmobile site wouldn’t have to re-register for another message board. 

6.
Q. “I can log-in to the forums, but I can’t get into the other areas.”
A. Right. There are THREE different log-in scenarios. If you like - set-up the same username and password for all of them. That should help. Also – use autocomplete or have IE remember your passwords so you never have to type them again.

7.
Q. “AaaaarrrggHHH! It’s frustrating!”
A. I know. Sorry. We can spend all our time streamlining and revising the way the site works, or we can work on new modeling ideas, customizing batmobiles, and parts.

Hopefully we’ll be able to fix some of these issues some time in the future when we don’t have as many projects going on and products in development.

-S
    

It’s fair to say that I think Joe kelly Jr.’s The Car Room Magazine and Playing With Cars website are the best diecast car resources in the world by a longshot. I think Joe’s delivery style and attitude are a breath of fresh air, and as far as his videos go  – I’d like to be him when I grow up.  After reviewing the Hot Wheels Elite Batmobile 2 months ago, he’s back with another video review for the Super Elite Batmobile. Joe and I agree almost 100% about the value of this car. He also points out one aspect that I forgot to mention: the PE grillwork under the hood nose pierced vents. Take a look: