So, back in 2003, I picked up Johnny Lightning/Polar Lights’ 1/25 Batmobile kits. Based specifically on the Batman comic books, these kits of the 1950s (the Dick Sprang design) and 1960s (the Frank Springer design, riffing on the 1966 TV series’ famous car) Batmobiles were very impressive, with pre-painted, diecast metal bodies, and good interior detailing.
I built them both up at that time, but, due to my novice skills, they weren’t great. Little paint detailing, etc.
Flash-forward to now. I dug those battered old models out of storage, and thought, “I can do SO much better, now”. I proceeded to rebuy the kits on eBay, and went to work.
First up, the 1950s version. As a fan of Dick Sprang’s art, I knew the stock kit could use some accurizing. The car’s first appearance, in DETECTIVE COMICS # 156 (1950), even featured blueprints of the car on the cover, which would make for great reference. The stock bat-wing fin on the kit is lovely, but not accurate to the comics in regards to shape and detailing. The kit’s fin has a much steeper sweep to it, and also has raised ribbing to simulate to look of a real bat’s wing. Sprang’s art, however, has a sleeker, more swept-back fin, and is consistently depicted as flat and featureless. This was clearly an artistic choice, since he could easily have drawn dimensional ribbing on the fin, had he so desired.
Also, the car usually featured both front and rear fender skirts covering the tires. After gathering up reference art from the comics of the era, the fender skirts proved wildly inconsistent, sometimes appearing then disappearing within the same stories. The stock kit only features rear fender skirts, and, since the Johnny Lightning kit has served as inspiration for subsequent models of this particular Batmobile (such as the Eaglemoss version), that is a feature which has become standardized. However, I wanted to stay true to Sprang’s art, which, more often than not, covered all four tires with fender skirts.
The other big issue was the bat’s head battering ram on the front of the car. The stock part features painted, triangular yellow eyes and a matte finish on the face. The matte section echoes the traditional “shadow” effect on Batman’s cowl during that era, a feature which was literalized as painted detail on the cowl from the 1966 TV series). However, in-universe, Batman’s costume was always intended to be black and gray, and, over time, artists got lazy about adding in the black, allowing the blue highlight color to become dominant. So, in other words, the “shadow” should not be a distinct detail on the battering ram.
To rectify these issues, I first reshaped the stock bat fin with a Dremel to match the DETECTIVE COMICS blueprint, but the result was too small to match the comic art. So, instead, I cut a sheet of flat aluminum stock to size and shape. MUCH better!
For the battering ram, I stripped the paint off (as I did with the rest of the diecast parts, after carefully disassembling them and setting the chrome and clear parts aside). I then filled in the scribed “ shadow” line, repainted the part, and added white half-moon decals for the eyes. Those big, white eyes are a hallmark of Golden Age Batman (and Dick Sprang’s art, in particular), and they really make the model come to life in a way which evokes those classic comics. BIG difference.
Front fender skirts were made from sheet aluminum, cut and bent to blend with the lines of the car body. Vinyl whitewall decals were also added to the rubber tires for an extra touch of 1950s authenticity.
I spent a great deal of time on the interior, despite it being largely obscured when installed in the car body. I simulated a wood grain pattern by painting the portable crime lab’s desk and cabinets a wood color, drew on the texture with a brown Gundam marker, then lightly misted the base wood color over that to blend it in. The result is very effective.
The kit was modeled specifically after panels from that introductory story in DETECTIVE COMICS # 156, where Robin is working at the portable crime lab with a partial map, a ruler, and other tools. The kit simulates the map with a molded and engraved styrene part, but the scale effect doesn’t really work. For a more subtle look, I sanded the map piece down to eliminate the molded detail, then overlaid it with a decal based on Elliot R. Brown’s official map of Gotham City, as created for the NO MAN’S LAND event in the Batman’s comics of the 1990s.
After repainting all of the metal parts, I assembled the whole thing. BIG improvement over my original attempt at this kit (which I ended up having to salvage a few parts from for the new build, such as the plastic windshield, which I accidentally cracked).
I built them both up at that time, but, due to my novice skills, they weren’t great. Little paint detailing, etc.
Flash-forward to now. I dug those battered old models out of storage, and thought, “I can do SO much better, now”. I proceeded to rebuy the kits on eBay, and went to work.
First up, the 1950s version. As a fan of Dick Sprang’s art, I knew the stock kit could use some accurizing. The car’s first appearance, in DETECTIVE COMICS # 156 (1950), even featured blueprints of the car on the cover, which would make for great reference. The stock bat-wing fin on the kit is lovely, but not accurate to the comics in regards to shape and detailing. The kit’s fin has a much steeper sweep to it, and also has raised ribbing to simulate to look of a real bat’s wing. Sprang’s art, however, has a sleeker, more swept-back fin, and is consistently depicted as flat and featureless. This was clearly an artistic choice, since he could easily have drawn dimensional ribbing on the fin, had he so desired.
Also, the car usually featured both front and rear fender skirts covering the tires. After gathering up reference art from the comics of the era, the fender skirts proved wildly inconsistent, sometimes appearing then disappearing within the same stories. The stock kit only features rear fender skirts, and, since the Johnny Lightning kit has served as inspiration for subsequent models of this particular Batmobile (such as the Eaglemoss version), that is a feature which has become standardized. However, I wanted to stay true to Sprang’s art, which, more often than not, covered all four tires with fender skirts.
The other big issue was the bat’s head battering ram on the front of the car. The stock part features painted, triangular yellow eyes and a matte finish on the face. The matte section echoes the traditional “shadow” effect on Batman’s cowl during that era, a feature which was literalized as painted detail on the cowl from the 1966 TV series). However, in-universe, Batman’s costume was always intended to be black and gray, and, over time, artists got lazy about adding in the black, allowing the blue highlight color to become dominant. So, in other words, the “shadow” should not be a distinct detail on the battering ram.
To rectify these issues, I first reshaped the stock bat fin with a Dremel to match the DETECTIVE COMICS blueprint, but the result was too small to match the comic art. So, instead, I cut a sheet of flat aluminum stock to size and shape. MUCH better!
For the battering ram, I stripped the paint off (as I did with the rest of the diecast parts, after carefully disassembling them and setting the chrome and clear parts aside). I then filled in the scribed “ shadow” line, repainted the part, and added white half-moon decals for the eyes. Those big, white eyes are a hallmark of Golden Age Batman (and Dick Sprang’s art, in particular), and they really make the model come to life in a way which evokes those classic comics. BIG difference.
Front fender skirts were made from sheet aluminum, cut and bent to blend with the lines of the car body. Vinyl whitewall decals were also added to the rubber tires for an extra touch of 1950s authenticity.
I spent a great deal of time on the interior, despite it being largely obscured when installed in the car body. I simulated a wood grain pattern by painting the portable crime lab’s desk and cabinets a wood color, drew on the texture with a brown Gundam marker, then lightly misted the base wood color over that to blend it in. The result is very effective.
The kit was modeled specifically after panels from that introductory story in DETECTIVE COMICS # 156, where Robin is working at the portable crime lab with a partial map, a ruler, and other tools. The kit simulates the map with a molded and engraved styrene part, but the scale effect doesn’t really work. For a more subtle look, I sanded the map piece down to eliminate the molded detail, then overlaid it with a decal based on Elliot R. Brown’s official map of Gotham City, as created for the NO MAN’S LAND event in the Batman’s comics of the 1990s.
After repainting all of the metal parts, I assembled the whole thing. BIG improvement over my original attempt at this kit (which I ended up having to salvage a few parts from for the new build, such as the plastic windshield, which I accidentally cracked).
