Brian Jones from Sycamore, Illinois!

Congratulations Brian!

Brian has been contacted and says he never wins anything and is very excited.

As an added surprise bonus – You’re ALL Winners!  That’s right, we have decided to award a $5 coupon to anyone who entered the giveaway good toward any purchase over $60.00 at PMB! (good toward any new $60.00 or more purchase from this date forward, not an older purchase or preorder that hasn’t been shipped yet) If you are in this category (and yes, we have the list) and are buying something in the future – just let us know so we can apply your coupon. Or just wait until we send a real coupon code out later.

Thanks again for participating. We are working on preorder items and should be updating this page with parts info soon.

_____________________________________________________________________________________Our great  friends at REPLICARZ have made it possible for us to give away a FANTASTIC set of Batmobile goodies worth over $400.00 that some lucky person will be thrilled to get. Here’s the rundown:

• 1 Hot Wheels 1/18 Super Elite Batmobile, MIB! Graciously supplied by REPLICARZ!
• 1 Hot Wheels SDCC Edition 1/50 Batgirl Cycle gift set MIB
• 1 Hot Wheels 1/50 Batboat MOC
• 1 PMB! 1/18 Crimefighter Figure Set (unpainted)
• 1 PMB! T-shirt (sizes are limited)

How it works. This NOT a raffle or a sweepstakes. We are giving these items away completely free. However, we will be picking numbers from our new database. We will collect names to draw, (completely at random based on a numbered system and a true random draw) and pick a recipient on April 15th.

• This isn’t a raffle or sweepstakes, technically no purchase is necessary.
• Shipping of the items will be free to all continental US states. If an international  donor is drawn, you will need to pay the actual shipping costs.
• We will close the list on April 15th at which time we will then pick the recipient and announce on April 16th.

These items and more are now open to the public in the Custom Shop. Introductory and Sale prices will last until 4/15.

1. Membership has it’s privileges. Well our super secret holiday sale is now over. It went for a week and did very well. Lots of registered PMB! users were able to take advantage of the savings and get some items they were eyeing up all year. If you want to get on the list for the next one, make sure you register here and/or sign up for the newsletter in the sidebar to the right. (form going up soon) Prices have reverted to normal for the time being. If for some reason you were registered and didn’t get the links to the sale – please let me know.

2. Gen 2 Figures. We’ve had a phenomenal response to our Gen 2 figure sets. Like a knucklehead though, I miscounted the unfinished sets I had on hand. This was not entirely my fault as the manufacturer packed those figures with one figure in each box instead of two to a box like the painted ones. So I thought I had twice as many as I actually had. BUT the good news is that there are some more due here any day and we’ll get those orders out as soon as possible.

3. Upgrade Parts Sets. Yes, we know we’re very late on these. Good thing nobody has paid for any preorders yet. Since we’re small, we have to do things as fast as we can manage and that sometimes seems pretty slow to folks anxioulsy awaiting new stuff. The good news is that our team of developers kicks butt. Boy are we glad we waited on a few of these things. All new Detect-A-Scope. All new Ansen T-Handles. And the big 2009 news is almost too good to keep to ourselves. (Almost, heh heh) Anyway, we are moving forward on these things and have been gearing up with new mold-making supplies etc. to do some parts making over the holiday. So stay patient and you will be rewarded.

4. We now have Super Elites! So if you’ve been wanting to get one of these highest-end of all the Hot Wheels Batmobiles  – we’ve got them. And at $225.00 they’re priced to sell. Treat yourself  to a Christmas bonus, whether you’ve been naughty or nice.

We at PimpMyBatmobile hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas this year. We’ll be updating more and sharing some more progress shots over the next few weeks so keep stopping in.

-Scot

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”…)

Overall – lots of nice upgrades. Sadly – most of them just make the model look more accurate to the #1 car IN ITS CURRENT STATE, in Barris’ garage. Not how the car looked on screen or in 1966. Here are some interesting hard to see new differences from the standard model to watch for:

• Flocked carpeting
• New detectoscope with inner decal (not accurate at all)
• Aluminum painted rocker panels and door-wells (no texture detail)
• Chrome, UN-segmented dash with open Futura radio(?) and other odd guage
• Parachute pull ring (black plastic)
• Resized batphone with cord
• Chromed inner door trim
• Light lenses under front and rear gills
• Compass decal
• Steering wheel chrome inner struts and center decal
• Photo-etched door handles
• Photo-etched bat radar
• Full fire extinguisher
• Clear red antler lenses
• Routed and painted chassis
• Seatbelts and bat buckles

But since we are issuing a parts upgrade set I am getting to play with and tweak and modify a bunch of small parts. So I thought I’d show some of that work. This is the Futura wheel I am currently working on.

I am constantly checking products for usable components and I found this beveled eyelet at Michael’s and thought it would fit the new wheel barrel I had made from a pen.

I wanted the center speedo and instrument cluster to be able to be ‘gently’ back-lit so the empty center area is going to work well for backlighting. The first thing I did was file down the back of this bevel a bit to have a flatter base to mount to the barrel I was working with. (tiny item up in the right is an early sculpt of the Futura turn signal torpedo that sits under the wheel struts)

Next I punched out a clear disc from a toy packaging bubble to mount to the bottom of the bevel so when I mount the decal to the bevel, it will have a bottom to stick to.

I then used a pipecutter tool to cleanly slice a chunk from a cheap black rollerball pen.

Note – this pen has a matte finish and the Batmobile/Futura wheel column was glossy. I will use a glossy pen barrel or a blank white styrene round stock in the next one I do. This one could be repainted or gloss-coated as well.

The next step was the inner wheel struts. I carefully trimmed the inner struts from our replacement wheel part and attached them to the sides of the pen barrel segment.

NOTE: The barrel was intentionally left longer than I need for more careful placement and fit later. Better to be able to cut it down than have it too short.

The ensuing gaps had to be smoothed out and filled a bit. (A good reason to stick to the stock replacement part we’re putting out. LOL)

The next step is a little tricky – mounting the rounded wheel section to the 2 struts. We are still modifying this section for our parts kit, so that it includes the two rubber stoppers Barris plugged the ends with after he hacked the one-of-a-kind Futura wheel apart at 10 and 2. But for now – the wheel section is as pictured.

Here it is painted and set aside to dry. (Yes, the rear of the wheel section does feature the contrasting square nubs)

Now it sits waiting for our new decal set to come in so I can mount it in the middle of the bevel and light it from inside.

Tim handwired tiny model railroad lights inside the hood and is powering them with a regular 9V battery. Lighted parts: Batphone, Detectoscope, 5 colored dash lights, bat-ray (front turn signals) and the beacon! Other new details – this car is sporting a set of our new accurately shaped resin antlers and take a look at the tiny barris “saturn” emblem on the front quarter-panels. This detail will be available freshly sized, in our decal and photo-etched sets. For those of you who aren’t modelers and have been asking about our build-up/upgrade services  – now’s your chance – get to eBay!

Well I finally have some answers:

1. The release dates are still sketchy but it seems like we’re looking at May or June for the Elite and September or so for the Super Elite.

2. Don’t listen to most of what you read on ebay.

3. For a few weeks now, we’ve been looking for an affiliate partner to direct our members to for batmobile purchases and now –  PMB! is proud to welcome Replicarz.com to our growing list of development partners and featured vendors. Replicarz is an online dealer specializing in fine scale models for automotive enthusiasts. In a few days you’ll be able to click right on their banner ad to go check out their phenomenal selection of diecast scale models. And Brian from Replicarz is a great guy. When the Elite and Super Elite Batmobile are available, PMB! members will be the first to know about it.

ALSO: PMB! and Replicarz will be working up a special perk for registered PMB! members very soon. So stay tuned and get registered!