35 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

Coming soon!

There is no place for a scale slot car that is not associated with the term "racing". Makes you go hmmmm...

[team burrito]

Is that the glue or snap-together kit?

[Jairus]

Both, Russ! I picked up both kits for this project because I liked the clean paintwork on the pre-painted snap kit and wanted the extra detail found in the glue-together kit.



The first decision to make was... "inline" or "sidewinder"?





Clearly a sidewinder would provide the necessary room for a full interior so...

... the next step was laying out the necessary wheelbase and track width.

[slotbaker]

I've been wanting to build one of these things since they came out.

Let the show begin.

[Jairus]

Indeed, Steve, but there are three kits available. Two of them have figures, the snap and the Deluxe. The Deluxe version also has photo-etched detail parts and variations to build all versions of this car. Well worth the asking price I figured.

Anyway, with a hot iron I hacked out this chassis center section.



Wheels are Russkit re-pops and the rear tires silicone so they won't dry out. Guide Jet Flag and the gear Cox. Rear axle spins on ball bearings.



And final chassis.

[team burrito]

Not to brag, but I did a batmobile for Frank at SCR.



The body is a NOS Lancer with a scratchbuilt inline chassis. I forget what wheels I used, but the motor was a Slick 7 Mini-Brute.



I drew up an interior in Autocad; too bad I didn't have the figures to put in. If I can find a picture of the chassis, I'll post it.

Burrito out.

[Champion 507]

JW and Russ,

I did one too, about eight years ago.

The Batmobile!

Except for motor size and orientation, it's amazing how our chassis are similar.

Build on, Jairus, it looks great so far!

[Jairus]

They look great, guys!

Batmobiles are definitely unique but not an unknown as a subject. Feel free to post more!



Chassis assembled and now it's time to figure out how to mount the hardbody.

Motor is a Champion 517 with a REHco #24 single wind and Mura magnets. Strong and smooth but not a killer motor thankfully. I thought it might be too much for this project, but seems perfect for the heavy weight car. Stays cool and turns out to be one of the best motors I have ever built.



Two kits went into making this as I mentioned earlier.

The pre-painted snap kit has a beautiful body and since I hate body work and painting hard bodies. Using the pre-painted was a perfect choice to this project.

But... some work needs to be done to the underside to get it to fit down where it looks... "Batcool"!





After a lot of grinding on the inside of the front wheel arches the front wheels fit but the rear still don't... yet.



We are getting there.

But every now and then I like to fool around and one morning I ground all the kit wheels down to inserts. Then after polishing up the Russkit wheels... I think these look pretty great!

The front tires are the kit tires un-modified. They just slip on with a little warm water and soap.



Stay tuned to this same Bat-channel!

[Big Durl]

Looks well.

Adam West would be proud.

[team burrito]

the mag wheels with the bat knockoffs makes the car complete.

[A. J. Hoyt]

There is no place for a scale slot car that is not associated with the term "racing". Makes you go hmmmm...

I beg to differ! We once did an IROC race with the new HO JL T-jet Batmobiles for a six lane track. Each car, of course, got it's own paint job for it's lane (a Batmobile rainbow!).

It was a supremely surreal experience but the cars were very fast and very raceworthy! Yeah, racing Batmobiles! My life is complete!

Keep it in the slot,

AJ

[Michael Rigsby]

Beautiful work, Jairus. I love the old Batmobile kits.

[Champion 507]

Wow, Lancer sure moved the dimensions and proportions around to make their body fit the BZ chassis of the time. Personally, I like the long sleek lines of the one JW is building. But hey, the Lancer was good for the times and it has survived ...46 years. Not bad at all.

Here is the website for the real one. Great for model referrence:

http://1966batmobile.com/

[Jairus]

wow, great reference material Doug!

Thanks Michael.

AJ, I was talking about the forum. But now that I think about it, this thread should go to the Scratch-building section. (maybe?)

[Pablo]

Holy Cow ! That is so beautiful

[Jairus]

The interior!

Being that this is an open car and came with two figures, I designed the chassis to afford a complete and unmodified (cut down) interior bucket.
The way that started out is by cutting up the glue kits chassis to get the floor pan.



Then the molded in frame rails were ground off to leave room for the brass rod rails.


And the complete mocked up interior.


But....
The customer was very clear about who he wanted driving and who he wanted in the passenger seat.
So Robin was kicked to the curb and a "Batgirl" figure constructed.


Batgirl was played in the TV series by the beautiful Yvonne Craig.
I had to do a lot of research to get her outfit and hair correct of course...





(hog tied? Must have missed that episode...)



Anyway...In order to piece together Batgirl I first had to find a good head that represented her features under that cowl. Lips, cheek structure and eye shapes were very important as those were the only thing visible.
I found this in my box of Resin figures, and she's a resin cast figure sold by Scale Equipment Ltd.

I think her name is "Izabella" if you are looking for her.


At any rate, the carving begins...


And many weeks later.... a mocked up Batgirl!
a




And now painted and installed in the interior for all time.

[Jairus]

Continued....

And then Batman was installed for all time.


The dash is detailed with the addition of a photo-etched panel. If you have ever seen the real car or pictures of the show car it was built from... those ribbed panels are like little garage doors sliding open to reveal various controls. Features like heater, radio and glove box are all concealed under those sectional panels and the delux kit does a beautiful job of replicating this aspect of the Batmobile.








And now the cross bar is popped up there to make sure everything clears.




Stay tuned to this same Bat-channel!

[Joe Mig]

Continued....

And then Batman was installed for all time.


Stay tuned to this same Bat-channel!

No, Boy Wonder. I'm Batgirl! You're no longer alone, Caped Crusaders.

[Gator Bob]

Bet'cha... Some parts were more fun to sand then others.

Keep your hands to yourself ... Batman

[Pablo]

Super job on the breast reduction, Sir, you are the Master

[Maximo]

Great work as always Mr. Arteest!

-MaX

[Jairus]

Electrical.

The customer asked if it was possible to have any lighting on the car. Specifically... a flicker light in the exhaust nozzle like the TV show. He even sent a couple of battery powered Diode lit candles if it would help. I went through a few of the candles till I found the right "flicker" and promply burned it out by connecting the positive to the negative.
But, live and learn.

This is a couple of the important components. The candle is obvious, but the Voltage Regulator was a little out of my knowledge circle till I asked Jim at Norvac electronics how and what would I need. He ordered the Regulator and helped me with an electrical diagram.


The regulator allows bleeding off a little power from the lead wires with-out the need to carry on-board batteries. The regulator only allows 3 volts of power to go to the lighting.
The flasher on the roof bar has a switch installed in-line to allow turning it on or off if desired.


The first thing I did was to install the flicker light in the rear of the car and hot wire it with batteries to make sure it worked.


Then the chassis had to be wired solid and cleanly.



In order to be able to remove the chassis I installed a quick connect between the body and chassis. Note the connector is soldered directly to the lead wire polls on the motor.
Also note the small slide switch which pokes up between the center rails and easily accessible.


The roof bar was next on the hit list....
The kit light is solid plastic and had to be hollowed out to fit a red Flashing LED.


The wires run under the photo-etched panel.


And that's it!


Next the final pics of the fully assembled car.

[Slot_Grasshopper]

Wow ! beautiful project, I'm sure your customer will be thrilled with it ! Is Robin on the the Batcycle next ?

[Pablo]

Can you hook up a flamer light up to some of my IRRA cars ?

[Jairus]

Good morning!
*yawn*
Coffee is not working yet but I can answer both of you quite clearly.... NO!
This project took me 3 months and because of it a lot of other work got held up. Looking forward to working on nothing but some simply lexan body paints for a while.


At any rate, the Batmobile is DONE!



Canopies are cast with the chrome/stainless steel moldings attached. So they were detailed with "Bare Metal" Chrome foil.
The rocket tubes are cut from 1/8" aluminum tubing.
Radio antenna is kit supplied steel wire and the radar antenna on the cowl is photoetched from the kit.
All grill screens front and rear are photoetched and kit supplied. In fact, the photoetched sheet in the Deluxe kit makes this model well worth purchasing!











The arrow points to the shut off switch for the roof flasher.
This pic also demonstrates how tight this car really is room wise. Clearances are very tight everywhere and the only lament I have is the motor placement. If I had it to do over again I would have got with a front motor and drive shaft. But then like the Ferrari 250 GTO I build for Chris, the shaft tunnel would have to be raised up to clear the prop-shaft.
The primary reason for the rear motor was I had planned on making the hood open to show off the turbine engine. But the customer wasn't interested in that sort of detail so it was scratched after the chassis finished. And... yes, the Deluxe kit has both options of building the TV Show prop with the 390 V8 engine and the fantasy turbine engine and chassis.




Packing the car up today and posting it!
Oh... and I added a nice new Lindberg display case too in order to keep dust off the car while it sits on the shelf between trips to the track.


This little detail was also on the photo-etch sheet.


Onward to the next project!