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Post by phantom11 on Jun 29, 2006 23:27:20 GMT -5
So, this kit was bought and built for me by my Dad, way back when it was originally issued in the 60's. It was my prized possession, and amazingly enough, survived completely intact over all the ensuing decades. Then, about 7 years ago, I decided I wanted to refinish it. The kit was completely disassembled, stripped of paint, rebuilt, repainted, and this is the result. It's STILL one of my prized possessions... Hope you like.         |
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Post by radioscooter on Jun 29, 2006 23:39:22 GMT -5
Man what a great job! I have the same thing - my own original one of these that my Dad helped me paint in 1966! I redid mine as well and decided to paint it in the cheap testor's gloss paints that were out in the day.
I was told that flat paints didn't come in until a few years later.
This is the nicest job on this figure I think I've ever seen, LOVE the tree lettering.
-S
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Post by phantom11 on Jun 29, 2006 23:50:08 GMT -5
Cool, Scot! Man, good old Testors gloss paint in the little glass bottles... you know, I STILL keep some in my model box, just because they've got such good memories associated with 'em. And yeah, my Dad had painted the kit originally in all Testors gloss paints, too. Glad to hear you've still got yours. And cool idea to paint it using "period" paints. Man, I'm really liking this board; ya'll have some great ideas!  |
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Post by faithfulbutler on Jun 30, 2006 0:26:15 GMT -5
Smoooth and very moody Paintjob on this Kit.Really enjoy the dark tones captured here and i do agree that it's probably the best i've ever seen this kit look.You've brought the Base to life too which is a tough ask on such a basically sculpted Model.
I can't believe it's managed to survive all this time,i am impressed!
I guess we all started off with Gloss Paints in the early days,that's funny.
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Post by Wild Willy on Jun 30, 2006 9:15:11 GMT -5
What stands out for me here first of all is the drybrush details on the belt, Great effect! and as FB pointed out, very "moody" & tre' cool color choice for Batman. The owl on the tree is just spectacular, never have I seen so much attention to detail go into that part of this model. Awesome job!  I have an original set built & painted by someone back in the 60's. They opted for just regular blue & gray colors for Bats and typical colors for Robin. No shading or techniques just very neat & (shiney) paintjobs. I decided to keep them as is because they came from the 60's, were built & painted in the 60's & that adds to the nastalgia for me. I also have the original batman MIB as well as 3 Aurora batmobiles 2 MIB & 1 which needs rebuilding. Ah! fun stuff. Will |
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Post by martingb on Jun 30, 2006 9:41:32 GMT -5
Yep! An exceptional paint job on a truly classic kit. Rarely do you see a better one than this. I had it as a kid in the early 1970s in the square box and painted it terribly. This was always what I dreamt mine should look like although maybe a little more bright looking. To more mature eyes however this totally nails it. Fantastic stuff.
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Post by Figuremaster Les on Jun 30, 2006 9:53:42 GMT -5
Nice looking job there mate!
I like the darker colors for a change (always have liked my Batmen darker as opposed to light colors), and you even managed to get some contrast in with the grey and blue in spite of the darkness. Also, I like the way you did the hand painted belt so it looks like a comic, and I especially like the emblem. I like it round like that instead of oval. Very cool. Nice subtle touches of color in the blues too. Good, complimentary colors on the base as well.
[glow=red,2,300]Very nice work![/glow]
Got a good hand on ya there!
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Post by phantom11 on Jun 30, 2006 11:15:37 GMT -5
Faithfulbutler, Will, Martin, Les: thanks a lot you guys! It's nice to get some feedback from other craftsmen such as yourselves. I gotta tell you: working on this kit was a case of true obsession, from choosing the color scheme to days of sanding and puttying to remove the seam lines. The owl's an example of that obssession; I treated it like a separate figure kit itself, once I realized how nice some of the sculptural detail was on it. Overall, I love the sculpt of this kit; I think the artist really tried to capture the comic book look of Batman, especially the headsculpt. And it was a chance to try and make that blue and grey color scheme work in dark tones to suit what I felt the mood of the kit was. I've got the Robin kit on standby, and will be giving it a similar treatment, but getting that red, yellow, and green uniform to work in a kit with darker colors will be a real trick... Hey Will, that sounds like a fantastic collection of MIB kits! How is that Aurora Batmobile kit? I barely remember the one my Dad had; that one we played with 'til it broke, unfortunately. Are you working on yours now? I'd love to see it. |
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Post by Wild Willy on Jun 30, 2006 16:18:40 GMT -5
The mib kits I have will always reamin as such. The Batmobile which need rebuilding was just something i grabbed off ebay for $30.00 a few years ago. It was built but had glue all over the wind screens and pretty much looked like a 5 year old built it so instead of sacrificing one of my complete kits for a display model, I'll rebuild that one some day..... some day  There was a guy selling resin dupictaes of the 66 Aurora batmobile model. I dont know much about his work but i've heard some putty and retrofitting is required but still its an inexpensive way to add one to your collection. I think Scot may know the dude from Eric's Batmobile site. Will |
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Post by radioscooter on Jun 30, 2006 23:08:16 GMT -5
Will said: "I think Scot may know the dude from Eric's Batmobile site." I used to distribute the Massachusetts based T&T recasts of all the Aurora bat vehicle models. I was the East Coast distributor and John Green was the West Coast distributor. And the company sold a few directly as well. This was YEARS before ebay and YEARS before any hint of the Polar Lights recasts. (By the way, I call the PL stuff "recasts" instead of "reissues" because they never got the molds, they actually did what all recasters do, got nice copies of the original models, then recasted them from the models themselves, albeit using metal molds instead of rubber. Just some trivia. They are not as crisp as the originals because they are a full generation removed from them.) Anyway, T&T had the batmobile, batboat and batcycle as resin recasts. They sold for $125 each back in 1991! Back then, I remember paying $250 for an out of box, built up Aurora Batmobile! A boxed one would have been about $450 and either the boat or cycle went for $800 each on John Green's catalogs regularly. So the resin recasts were truly an affordable answer to our prayers. Since the advent of ebay you can find $30 original Aurora Batmobiles (like Will did) pretty regularly so the market has dried up for the resin recasts. And PL recast the cycle and a version of the boat. However, upon Mike Stutelberg's urging, PL issued the boat in 1:25 scale instead of the original 1:32 scale that matched the batmobile. So the original batboat is now the most coveted of them all since it was never reissued in the same size. I still own my resin recast of the boat in its orginal small 1:32 scale. (though this was a pretty rough job done a long time ago)  -S |
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Post by radioscooter on Jun 30, 2006 23:14:01 GMT -5
I've got the Robin kit on standby, and will be giving it a similar treatment, but getting that red, yellow, and green uniform to work in a kit with darker colors will be a real trick... Now THAT one I did in flats. I have these Ward conversion parts available if you want a set. Let me know. I prefer the original goofy comics look. But they're both nice.  |
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Post by phantom11 on Jul 1, 2006 9:27:02 GMT -5
Cool kits, Scot! "Rough job on the boat"?!? Man, it looks great! I've got the PL recast, and am nervous about starting in on it because of all the detail painting. I'm okay doing figures, but detailing vehicles? Hoo boy, I usually white knuckle it through that process. And that Ward Robin kit looks great, too! THAT'S the color scheme I'm talkin' about. You made it work very nicely. Thanks for the offer of the Ward custom parts, but I want to go with the original sculpts to match my Batman, although I had to buy resin recasts of the head and chest to give it that look. And Will, I'm glad to hear those MIB kits are going to stay that way. Those are like small time capsules; worth their weight in gold, in my opinion. |
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Post by Wild Willy on Jul 1, 2006 13:06:31 GMT -5
Sorry Scot, The recast resin kit I was refering too was from user name Stumps on Eric's board. Here's a link to the thread with pictures of the casting. As I said, looks like it needs a bit of work but still an inexpensive way to get into a 1:32 scale aurora Batmobile. [glow=red,2,300]CHECK IT OUT![/glow] p218.ezboard.com/f1966batvehiclesfrm13.showMessage?topicID=25.topicWill |
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Post by timmeyer on Jul 1, 2006 17:55:03 GMT -5
Will,
Thumps is a good guy. From the looks of the casting, this piece would be more trouble than it's worth. I forsee quite a bit of work for mediocre results. If you search "flEBay" long enough, you can usually fine an original Aurora in a state of disrepair for a fair price. Just my unsoliceted two cents.
timmeyer
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Post by radioscooter on Jul 1, 2006 21:35:59 GMT -5
Yeah, Bill (thumps) is a nice guy. But Tim is right - I would rather buy blocks of solid chalk and a carving knife than spend a dime or a minute on any of his castings. Every mold he owns, he bought from the guy that T&T (the company I talked about above) sold the molds to over 12 years ago. Those molds were falling apart 10 years ago.
he uses the same beat old molds and his stuff is the worst. I should take a photo of the batgirl cycle model that he sold me. You'll be sanding and trimming and resculpting every part for weeks. Read what Andy G. says in that thread: "You're going to need LOTS of putty!"
Plus that recast is $15 more than Will paid for an original! Be patient and you'll find a similar deal on ebay.
-S
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