| AMT: Batmissile: Build Diary |
I have a pretty standard set of procedure when prepping the
parts. Whatever chrome there is I usually strip off and substitute
with a layer of S 'n J spray Metallizer. The finish is very realistic
and can take handling very well, unlike Testor's Metallizers.
Regular plastic parts are soaked in Castrol Super Clean for about half an hour
and then scrubbed with hot water and dishwashing detergent. I think alcohol works just
as well. A couple of bucks gets you a good sized jug at the local pharmacy. I periodically wipe down the parts with the alcohal as I work to keep them free of finger grease.
After that the methodology varies a bit. some parts are easier
to prime on the tree and others need to be cut off before priming.
All parts are primed with Alclad Grey Primer and allowed a day
to cure. All paints used are Tamiya Acrylic paints thinned with
denatured alcohol. Base coats and shading are done with a Paasche Millenium airbrush
hooked up to a Cheap-O Badger compressor. Detail painting and washes
are handled with various sized watercolor brushes and a few stiffer
bristled, acrylic paint brushes are used for drybrushing. |
| Prep Work |
 |
The Chromed parts spent the night sprayed with a
liberal amount of Easy-Off oven cleaner (the lemoney-fresh kind) and
placed in a plastic box. The next morning, most of the chrome is gone.
I ran the parts under water and scrubbed the lacquer undercoat off
with a stiff bristled brush. |
| The Suspension |
 |
This is a 2 part treatment. The first part is a
spray-on lacquer. You need to do this with an airbrush! After the
parts are coated, allow a few minutes for it to set up. Then apply
the second component. This is an aluminum-colored powder. I don't
know if it's real aluminum, but it's very fine and can get on everything
without much effort. I apply it with a Q-tip. The kit comes with a
polishing cloth. Really rub the powder in and the kit parts will start
to look like burnished metal. |
 |
Shiney!
|
 |
This treatment worked particularly well with the suspension parts. |
 |
I used various shades of Tamiya metallic colors and small fine
point brush to pick out various details. I didn't have any real
reference pictures, so I winged it. The only thing to keep in mind
is to be consistent with how you color each component. It should
make sense
|
 |
Finally, I washed the suspension parts with "The
Detailer". This is a pre-made wash that's meant for highlighting
chrome trim, like the grille of a car model. |
 |
Here's the finished suspension pieces. |
| Body Work |
 |
Here's where we are at so far. The suspension and wheels are done, and the compartment is done. I've again dry-fitted the parts together just to get a sense of how it's coming together, plus it's a little bit of a rush seeing it all together! |
 |
I started dressing the body here. Using flat files and sanding sticks, I knock down some of the inevitable irregularities in the body. The process of producing styrene kits often give rise to "wobbly" or soft features. Knocking down the high points and smoothing out the side panels help to give the batmissile a more "machined" look. I'll re-prime and rub it down before the final base coat is applied. |
| The Interior |
 |
The dash board looks pretty nicely detailed, but the rest of the compartment is quite plain. |
 |
That's better. I spent an evening cutting and sanding teeny pieces of styrene sheet. LOTS of pieces of styrene sheet! (Mostly they were .020 and .010 thickness Evergreen styrene sheets). |
 |
Plus I raided the spare photo-etch box for little detail pieces that would make the compartment look more functional and added some bass strings for power conduits. |
 |
I thinned out the back of the dashboard with needle files and sanding sticks and drilled out holes for the gauges. |
 |
To diffuse the light, I cut up some pieces of acrylic, scrounged from an old candy box, roughly to shape, scuffed up with a medium grit sanding stick for diffusion and glued onto the back of the dash. solvent glue, super glue or epoxy will work here. |
 |
Here's how it looks with a white LED behind it. The driver's compartment is quite deep and very dark with the canopy in place, so I expect this lighting will help to show off the interior pretty well.. |
 |
Anything looks good with a fresh coat of paint!
I base coated everything with Tamiya paints. 20 parts German Grey to 1 part Flat Black. The bottom of the compartment I sprayed with 20 parts German Grey to 5 parts Flat Black to add a greater sense of depth. After that, I dry brushed combinations of Flat Aluminum and Neutral Grey. Then I sealed it up with a coat of Future Floor Polish. When that had cured for a day, I went back in with a wash of 1 part Flat Black to 20 parts distilled water. I usually make a pint of black wash at a time. To this I add about 2-3 drops of dishwashing detergent to help break the surface tension. |
| The Canopy |
| Okay, I saw the Furst/Keaton Batmobile at a car show in Boston last year and took some pics! but I also saw how the canopy worked. So I'm gonna try to make it happen. A good deal of detail is in the driving compartment, so why not try to show it off? Famous last words. Here we go! |
 |
First off, the roof behind the canopy didn't meet with the canopy edge very well. I think it should be smoothly faired in. So I reshaped this area with needle files, sanding sticks, and, finally, Micromesh sanding clothes. I also opened up the aperture above the roof to a better scale thickness. I believe this shot out bat-disks in "Batman Returns". |
 |
With a razor saw, I opened up the slot in front of the canopy. This is the canopy track that the canopy glides over when it's opened. |
 |
I had to continue the slot into the front edge of the dashboard so the canopy's retaining pin can have some clearance in it's closed position. |
 |
Here's the mechanism I devised for the canopy rod. It's just a blunt syringe needle from a small Plastruct solvent syringe, with the smallest diameter brass rod that I could find run through it. |
 |
Another view, with the body in place. |
 |
I made the guide that fits into the canopy track out of brass. Brass is quite easy to work with and has a lot of strength versus the amount of material used. This piece is nearly paper thin by the time I was done with it, but it's still quite rugged. |
 |
I'm not much of a soldering nut (re: No fancy brass locomotives in the collection) so I used Zap-A-gap to tack the piece into the inside of the canopy. |
 |
Here's what it looks like assembled. |
| Lighting |
Okay, I know jack squat about electronics but this isn't too complicated. I wanted the lighting to be simple and to function in two specific ways: to illuminate a pretty detailed but dark cockpit, and to highlight the rocket nozzle in the back. I'm going to use LEDs as they are long lasting and create little heat. I figured on 2 white LEDs for the cockpit and a big 10mm orange LED for the rocket nozzle.
Each LED requires a resistor to step down the power coming from the battery. This will extend the life of the LEDs significantly. I never want to open up a kit after I'm done with it! You'll need to determine the proper resistor value for each LED. There's a simple formula for that. All the needed information is also in Radio Shack book #62-5032 "Engineer's Notebook: Timer, Op Amp & Optpelectronic Circuits & Projects" There's even a 555 timer circuit for making little "blinkies" for those starship modelers out there.
I also decided to put everything together on a circuit board to keep everything neat and organized. Normally I'd just twist everything together and tape it down, but if something went wrong, at least this way, I'll know where to look! So I'll start with the circuit board. |
 |
I sketched the circuit a few times just to figure out the best way to orientate the resistors, power leads and leads to the LEDs. Then I got out the circuit board kit. This can be had from Radio Shack or online from Jameco. It consists of a couple of copper-clad circuit boards, and some means of indicating the circuit paths. this can be a marker pen or, in my case, a series of dry-transfer shapes that make up the circuit paths and contact pads for various components. |
 |
First clean the surface of the board by scrubbing it with a powdered cleanser like Ajax or Comet and a Scotchbrite pad, then create your circuit design. Here's my little circuit board, cut to size with a Dremel Moto-Tool with the cut-off disk attachment. The circuit design defined by the dry-transfer shapes. |
 |
You will also need to get a glass dish or tray with walls several inches deep and a bottle of etchant. This is feric chloride. It's an acid. It's corrosive. So use with proper care and follow the directions! Wear rubber gloves and use only in a well ventilated area.
Put the circuit board in the glass tray, and pour the etchant over it until there's about a quarter inch of etchant over the board. Start agitating the tray a little by rocking the tray. I usually just slightly pick up and putting down a corner of the tray.
After about 20-30 minutes, the excess copper cladding will have dissolved, leaving the circuit. Now just flush the board with water and clean off the dry transfer by scrubbing it with more cleanser and a Scotchbrite Pad. |
 |
Here's what the completed circuit board looks like. The leads are from the resistors I've placed into the circuit board. I will then solder the resistors and trim off the excess leads. |
 |
Here's the top side of the board. |
 |
I've laid out the circuit components for the base. The switch will be set into a hole in the back of the base, the battery holder will be screwed into the inside wall of the base, and a hole is drilled into the surface to accept the 1/8 inch phono jack that will hold the Batmissile in place and send power to the LEDs. To get the right height of the jack, I will plug it into the Batmissile sitting in place on the base, then I'll pack 2-part epoxy around the jack from underneath the base. I've already roughened up the area around the hole in the base and the surface of the jack with a Dremel Moto-tool in anticipation of this. |
 |
I've "plugged" the Batmissile in to determine its position on the base and to find out the necessary height of the phono jack. |
 |
Here's the circuit board, all wired up and mounted to the chassis with a small machine screw and a couple of nuts to serve as a stand-off. |
 |
The power connection is the socket of a 1/8 inch phono jack. I just drilled a whole into the bottom of the chassis, screwed in the socket (with the leads already soldered on) and fixed it in position with a drop of Zap-A-Gap. |
 |
2 white LEDs illuminate the dashboard. They are soldered to leads and epoxied into notches I had cut out of the cockpit tub's front wall. |
 |
This is a large (10mm) superbright, orange LED. I have it in an LED mount, which I cut down to fit into the model. The whole thing is set into the rear chassis with 2-part epoxy putty. this gives it support and helps in positioning the LED squarely behind the rocket nozzle. |
 |
A view of the lit dashboard. I had cut out some photolith gauges from a cockpit detail set and set them into the holes drilled into the kit's dashboard, then a drop of epoxy glue applied with a sharpened toothpick over the photolith gauges holds them in place and creates the impression that the gauges are behind glass. |
 |
Turbines up to speed ! |
| The Base |
 |
My base ideas usually start with sketches. I really need to see it work on paper before I start cutting plastic. |
 |
The base will be built up on top of a 9 X 12 inch acrylic picture box frame. It's conveniently sized and has room underneath for the battery and other electronics. |
|
|