The components.
Batman and Robin's torsos glued and puttied.
Robin's cart from the top. What isn't apparent is that the top and bottom have been glued and puttied.
The chrome wheels. The small wheels are a single piece, shown with the rubber tires added. The larger wheels are for the Batcycle and are each two pieces carefully glued together. The rubber will be added after the glue has set.
Batman and Robin's arms and legs glued and puttied.
A first coat of gloss white on parts of the Batcycle. The fact that the Batcycle is a combination of white and dark blue makes for a difficult time of getting the paint job to look good, since the white tends to look streaky when painted over the black plastic. It would have been MUCH better if the model company had made the plastic white.
The "BatCart" is actually Robin's (it even has his symbol on it) so I deviated from the schematic by painting it in Robin's colours instead of Batman's. A first coat of gloss green.
Yellow on the seat. Like the white on the Batcycle, the yellow looks quite streaky over the black plastic and requires many coats to even out.
Another coat of white.
And yellow. I've also added the "R" (Robin's symbol) decal.
Robin, glued and puttied.
Here is Robin's cart, complete except for the wheels. I painted the bottom gloss red, but it's tough to see.
Wheels on. Several views.
Another coat of white and a coat of gloss blue on the Batcycle bits. As you can see, I've glued the faring (I think that's how you spell that?) together as well.
A closer look at the faring.
The basic frame of the cycle glued together.
A first coat of brown (and a bit of orange on the collar) on Robin.
Orange on Robin's cape.
Another coat of white and dark blue on the faring.
Steel drybrushed on parts of the cycle body. I also deviated from the schematic by adding the white touch on what will eventually be the gas tank.
Steel on parts of the cycle frame.
A first coat of grey on Batman's bits. I am leaving him unassembled until I can fit him on the finished Batcycle, since his hands are supposed to grasp the handlebars and the pieces don't exactly snap into place. It would be very easy to glue him together incorrectly and have his hands nowhere near the handlebars.
In fact, I had to readjust Robin a bit for similar reasons. See how closely his hands sit together? I had to break open the glued bits at his elbows and reset them further apart than they appear here. Here you see some red on his tunic and another coat of orange on his cape.
More grey on Bats.
The outside wall of the sidecar, glued.
Whoops! I forgot the "rocket exhausts" on Robin's cart. It's also still missing it's handlebars, but they won't go on until Robin is ready to be glued in place.
Handlebars glued in place.
Exhaust pipes.
The headlight. The Batcycle is upside down, allowing gravity to hold the light in place while the glue sets.
The body of the Batcycle in place. Notice the gas tank. I slopped several extra layers of white paint on it to mask the seam. Normally I use putty, but because of the way this model goes together, this time I went with a lower tech approach.
The "Lightning" decal in place.
The schematic had the third "Bat" decal on the dark blue part of the sidecar, but I thought it would look better on the gas tank.
"Bat" decals on either side of the faring.
The Batcycle, complete except for the front fender, the back of the sidecar and the faring.
A close up of the gas cap. It's a very minor thing, but kudos to the model makers for going the extra mile to give the kit a chrome gas cap.
Ditto on the kudos, vis a vis the headlight. Most kits at this scale just make headlights a one piece deal of the chrome variety, but this kit included a clear plastic headlight lens.
The front fender. I had a helluva time painting this, since it offers nothing to hold onto while it's being painted. Tweezers are no good for the same reason that my fingers didn't work, since you have no choice but to hold it on the "up" side at some point. I eventually settled on holding it by the very end, painting it and then balancing it on a paint bottle and giving the bare spot where I'd been holding it a final swipe with the brush.
The BatSeat. Gloss black and glued in place.
The nearly complete unit.
The showroom shot...
Batman's legs glued to his lower body.
The back of the sidecar.
The Batcycle with the faring, complete but for the windscreen..
Gluing clear plastic windscreens into models is about the most nerve wracking part of the build. Unlike the opaque plastic which can be filed flush, the clear plastic will be PERMANENTLY damaged by any stray glob of model glue. And yet, you still have to glue the clear plastic in place.
Several views of the complete Batcycle.
Dark grey on Batman's upper body.
The same again on his legs.
A coat of orange on Batman's utility belt, along with a coat of blue on his cowl, gloves and boots.
From the front.
A coat of blue on Batman's cape and a coat of green on Robin's boots, pants and gloves. A coat of orange/brown on Robin's arms, legs and face.
And that's where I'm at now. It'll take a little more painting and gluing to get Batman and Robin onto the vehicle, but not much. Once I'm done, expect a video to detail the build soon after.
No comments:
Post a Comment