Pimp My Batmobile!

Archive for the ‘Other Scales’ Category

So the “news” isn’t really new anymore. Serves us right for going on vacation. But while we were out soaking up the sun in Chicago, both the 2011 “Magic” Hallmark ’66 Batmobile Ornament (“magic” because it plays the TV theme. See video below, posted by Ken Netzel) and the Hot Wheels 1:18 RC Batmobile came out. We had heard about the RC car months ago, but not being even remotely interested in RC toys, AND surmising that Hot Wheels was just repackaging up another Standard 1:18 in a new way, (much like the “Foundation” version, which we DID warn you all about) we really didn’t do much evangelizing about it. So – until our versions come in, here are some web-shots of the two items.

2011 Hallmark 1966 Batmobile Ornament

2011 Hot Wheels RC 1966 Batmobile

The ornament looks pretty cool. There seems to be a bumper crop of little scale Batmobiles right now. Certainly the fact that it plays the theme is great. But it loses a bit of accuracy to house those electric components. As does the RC car, if the photos are correct. I guess I’m not over-eager to spend full retail on LESS accurate Batmobiles, even if they “do stuff” right now. But I can appreciate that these are the answers to someone’s prayers.

As has recently been reported by Leonard, the scale has been stretched a bit larger than 1:18 – closer to 1:16, which at the very least, makes it a must-have for some people’s “gotta have every size” bat-garage. An interesting side note – it was showing up as $40 on Amazon until a couple dealers raised their prices to $49 (first wave buyers) Here’s a place that allegedly still has them for $40 (until they don’t)

Yes, we’ll be grabbing a few of those audio chips and inserting it into our full-on, super-DUPER-Elite Batmobiles that we’re working on in multiple scales. But not right away.

No, we will not be making any of our models into RC driven cars. Mit already did that a year ago and it blew flame too. (video below by Mit and RHD) So – been there, seen that. Will show better pics of these when they find their lackluster way into our hands.

So by now the new 1:25 Batmobile model from Polar Lights/Round II has been all over eBay and many places are selling them for between $20 and $30. You can also order them at the manufacturer’s website HERE. As I mentioned earlier in the video first look, this is is an exceptionally well-done kit, especially for a snap version. You can conceivably put this kit together, with or without your kid (I recommend WITH), in an evening. If you want to apply a massive amount of detailing, you can stretch it into a weekend.

I’m not going to go crazy on this one, as I’ll hold that back for the promised, upcoming glue-kit because of the opening trunk and hood aspects of that version. But I will do a middle of the road build/paint with my son and report about the assembly.

As far as the parts and accuracy of the details go – everything here is excellent. With two, fairly important (but not insurmountable) exceptions:

1. The Beacon*

1:25 Bat-Mo-Beacons L-R: Original PL, Aluminum upgrade, Resin upgrade (unassembled)

As far as the beacon goes, it’s fairly crudely detailed and even stripping the chrome won’t make it that much less toy-like. Not as bad as we had anticipated, but not as nice as the rest of the parts for sure.  I’ve got access to some amazingly nice and highly detailed beacons in the correct scale designed by our good friend Mit in Australia. I’ve got it in machined aluminum and in resin versions. It’s a 3-piece part that includes the inner red beacon and the top. As you can see, it can totally change the realism level of the model.

2. The Figures*

In an ironic, probably unintentional nod to the original Aurora 1966 Batmobile model kit, The figures are very comic-booky and unrealistic. I think the guys at PL were bummed about how they turned out. But including them will make loads of kid builders ecstatic. They aren’t acceptable for our use and so we’re working on a set of much more realistic figures modified from 2 separate original sculpts by Scott Kapellusch. Here they are in their current state, awaiting some custom arm-poses and fitting to the PL model specs.

1:25 custom figures for the 1966 Batmobile

So we’re going to be putting the snap kit together this weekend and will take shots and hopefully video as we go. Stay tuned for the report here.

(*As we’ve mentioned before, we won’t be selling parts through PMB! anymore. For more information about anything we show or feature here: 1) Subscribe to our mailing list (above in the nav bar) and/or 2) Contact us and we’ll let you know if and when they’ll be available and from who.)

The Polar Lights 1966 TV Batmobile 1:25 scale SNAP kit arrived on my desk a little while ago from the folks at Round 2/Polar Lights. Thumbs up all around. Full review shortly. For now, groove on this hastily shot and cobbled video. (NOTE: I mistakenly mention that the slot car set is available from “AutoArt”, it should be “AutoWorld”. Will fix later.)