Pimp My Batmobile!

Archive for the ‘History’ Category

If you were having trouble finding Polar Light’s original Batboat release from 2003 (they’re still pretty available on ebay etc) or you were just looking for another box version to put on your display shelf – here’s an option for you.

Re-Released without too much hoopla or fanfare for 2010 – the Polar Lights Batboat kit in 1/25 is out now. “Based” on the original Aurora Batboat kit from 1967  it differs in some significant ways. First, they scaled it up from the 60’s 1/32 to 1/25 so it’s a much bigger Batboat. Also, the interior cabin and dash details have been tweaked to reflect a better level of detail.

No news yet what differs about this 2010 release compared to the 2003 version. But for sure, the box is a different format. Instead of the long, retro box that came out in 2003, it looks to be more like the AMT squareish box. And tere are subtle changes to the printing and art as well.

Full review when we snag one!

Okay, I know I drove speculation and intrigue a bit past the level of “fun” with this. Oh well. It’s my nature. :) The model in these photos (and the ones that showed up in earlier photos) is a 1:25 garage kit that was completely modded with unique details like a machined aluminum dash, a 16-part beacon, rear-mounted camera, custom decals and many other screen-accurate (season 3) details. It was built and finished almost a decade ago and I purchased it after many months of begging,  and at great personal expense, from master-modeler Jim Apitz. (I couldn’t pry his season 01 version away from him) So, NO these are not shots of a new built-up RII Batmobile model kit. To be fair – I DID make the statement that the photos weren’t from any toy company and I did not lie, these photos WERE just taken a  few weeks ago. Yes, I teased. No, I didn’t make any untrue statements or claims.

To answer some other questions, NO it would never have been a Blackstar and NEVER the Lunar models as a base car as both of those were about as inaccurate as you could find. I owned every single 1:25 Batmobile kit that was released back in the day, no matter how briefly, and was a distributor for several of them. There are not many things I consider myself an expert on, but the garage 1:25 Batmobile kits (and conversion kits) of the 80’s and 90’s and 00’s are one of them. I can tell you what each of them was based on (a couple of them, including the Blackstar, were just recast from earlier garage kits, while some were cast from modified Revell Futuras and still others were scratch-built) So no, no true modeler worth his salt chose a Blackstar or a Lunar kit to make a Batmobile back then, and if you did, you eventually upgraded to a better kit. I owned and built all of them, usually for customers. I had the Lunar because it was the first and there were no other options in 1988!

This model however, was started on a version 2.0 Caped Custom (designed by David Creigh under the Phantom name) and then heavily modified to become the thing of beauty you see here. I was lucky enough to purchase it from Jim Apitz in 2004 and I always compare it to other high end Batmobiles and it STILL smokes them all.  In person, it is even better.  There are a couple small areas that I’d have changed. Probably a couple others you might change too. But overall – this is the nicest Batmobile model I’ve ever seen. The dozens of hand-made custom details are all icing on a tasty, tasty cake. I have had the pleasure of working with some great modelers. Jim is the at the top of that list for Batmobiles, simply because this entire model is just all-around breathtaking.  If you ever get to see this in person, you will be flat-out amazed.  I was also lucky enough to buy his Batboat from him, which I’ll feature in a future post. In the past 7  years, Jim has retreated from the Bat-modeling-world. With the new Round II coming out with a much more accurate body, it would be a dream of mine to see what he could do with that kit.

I set these posts up to stir interest and elicit speculation because I believe that if a 90’s era resin garage kit can be made to look this good, then a new, mass-produced 1:25 Batmobile model with the resources we have in 2010 should have the potential to surpass it. And I hope that RII comes close. Clearly, what we builders do with it afterward is up to us. but lets hope for an accuracy level to allow us to do our best without having to fabricate so many parts from scratch as this one has. This is also the first in a series where I will try to spotlight legendary Batmobile customs by master-modelers. Up next is Scott Kappellusch and his “Milwaukee Winner”.

Yet another wannabe replica of the most iconic and distinctive film cars of all time, the 1960s era Batmobile, is going up for sale at the inaugural Historics at Brooklands auction in Surrey on June 2.

This particular example is based on a 1973 Lincoln Continental chassis and was completed in 1988, following input from well-known custom coachbuilder, Bill Chaplin.

But even though the 1966 Batmobile replica incorporates all the styling cues and Batman paraphernalia including an in-dashboard television, rear parachute pod, boot mounted exhaust pipes and Batphone, it’s obvious that the car isn’t a faithful replica of the original George Barris car that stared in the 1960s Batman and Robin TV series.

(Read Full Article)

Well I got mine in today from China. Very nice, even with all the mistakes. Here are some comparison shots with the 1966 Corgi car.

We roll out another one of our hopefully regular features as we cover custom batmobiles (and other bat-vehicles) as well as the strange, kooky and unique. In this first effort we have a little of all of those.

Some of you may have heard me discuss modeler/artist/designer Mike Stutelberg in the past. Mike is a huge bat-fan and has worked for some major model companies behind the scenes on many projects we’ve all come to love over the years including the Polar Lights comic-version Batmobile kits and the re-releases of the Aurora bat-models. Mike designed the masters for the Horizon 1:25 Whirly Bats and did most of the instructions and artwork for the packaging.

Over the years, I’ve talked with Mike extensively about his work with these companies and there’s a single thread that runs through the stories. Every time Mike has gotten in with one of these projects he’s tried to bring us real bat-modeling fans some new thing that would make our hobby more exciting or easier. And always, he gets really close with some small victories – only to have something big and great get yanked at the last minute like Lucy and the football. I’ve got stories and artwork and photos you wouldn’t believe.

One of the great “almost made it” stories is the subject of this week’s photo and feature. I am a die-hard 1:25 scale fanatic. I am very reluctantly forced to embrace this 1:18 world simply because I’ve been outvoted and outgunned but my heart lies in 1:25 scale. It’s one of Mike’s scales of choice as well. There have been great 1:25 Bat-models offered over the years. But you had to dig for them. In the 90’s we had some very nice 1:25 Batmobile kits and conversions by T&T, Magnetic Models, Skyhook etc. as well as the king of them all – The Caped Custom. I have built and sold scores of 1:25 Batmobiles and decided early on that it was the best scale for a Batcave diorama. Then someone (ahem) convinced Polar Lights to reissue their Aurora Batboat in 1:24 scale instead of its original 1:32 size. Hooray! The next obvious vehicle would be the TV Batcycle.

I remember telling Mike how long I’d been looking for parts for a 1:25 Batcycle and he said “Well, I’ve got something to show you I think you’re going to like.” Mike shared photos with me of this beautiful 1:25 TV Batcycle prototype master model complete with parts broken down for sprue-casting. Shown below is the original master:

As with many of Mike’s labor of love projects, the top dogs at the modeling company at the time took a look at it and said. Nahh. We’ve already got the Aurora Batcycle molds. People like bigger models. You can’t sell a 1:25 motorcycle kit. And so on.

As you can see from the photo of the prototype – it would have been a gorgeous model. But it gets worse. I begged Mike to send me the kit, convinced that I would be able to get enough garage interest in it to justify making a short run of the thing in resin for a select group of modelers.

But I received it right before a lot of things in my life hit the fan and it sat for a couple years. And a lot of things changed in the hobby during those years.

Many people got their hands smacked for selling garage bat-kits thanks to at least one malicious, misguided manufacturer. People stopped making and selling resin Batmobiles. I had a fairly nice big Mego-scale1:8 TV Batmobile kit (that will be featured later) that we just plain could not sell to anyone. It never made its molding and casting money back. Two modelers tried making 1:16 Batmobiles and the longest-drawn-out garage kit in history- a 1:18 batmobile kit – was eeked out by the ones and twos and nearly bankrupted the designer. In all – the garage bat-hobby suffered a major economic and interest-level downturn.

I could not get anyone interested in the idea of a 1:25 Batcycle kit. “Boy that’s small.” people would say. “Yes, but it will match your car and boat!” I’d say. And they looked at me like I was crazy. So I came to realize that nobody would be buying this kit if I were to make it and if I wanted the one-off just for myself it would cost upwards of $1000 for all the parts and decals to be done right. Well. I’m a scale stickler but – hey for that money I thought maybe I’d just scrounge one together on my own. Then Hot wheels came out with their beautiful 1:32 Batcycle (NOT 1:50, say it with me loud – NOT 1:50) and I almost cried. here was a diecast, beautifully done (the best of all their efforts in my opinion) TV Batcycle and it was TOO. F*&#ING. SMALL. But – not too small that we can’t put it in front of a 1:25 Batmobile and hope for some forced perspective action! So – here we are. I reluctantly shipped the Batcycle prototype back to Mike the other day. Maybe someone will turn it into a model someday. But for now – I will be breaking the cardinal scale adherence rule and hoping nobody notices.

So that’s the story of the Batcycle model that nobody wanted. Here below is a scale shot that compares the different Batcycle models mentioned above.