Batman Begins/The Dark Knight linked belt project *NEW DIRECTION AND PICS PAGE 3*

McBaine

Any more news with this? And how much do you expect they'll be?

gregday

As someone who owned a Bronze Armory belt where the C-link kept breaking, I support this decision to make it all one piece. There's no way to make it stronger unless the belt is all metal.

coofunkcurly

I promise I will start a Junkyard thread as soon as we're ready. This is a project we only want to do once. So as such we want it to be perfect right out of the gates. No upgrading of parts after the fact.

Thanks for hanging in there and let's not post sales related questions in this thread. Not the venue for it and too early for me to answer them anyway.

Endoskeleton

Thanks Kev! And guys, I am on this. Have tried casting with 3 different powders and none turned out the way I want. So I have not shown any pics and tossed them. More powders coming next week.

Also, I was a bit concerned that some may object to the arms and buckle being one piece. I'm glad to see some positive reinforcement about it.

DIStudios

Damn this looks amazing guys! Well done for having the motivation to carry this on and make it the PERFECT piece! I will be interested to find out the price when ready. Good luck guys awesome!

GiovanniDekkers

Great attention to detail, please take your time to get this right , keep up the good work!

Looking forward to the outcome.

eko2184

Awesome. You'll have to let me know when it's done. Can't wait to see updates.

bates82

Bump. Any news?

Endoskeleton

I'm making belts for Kev and Rich and wanted to finish first to make it a bit of a surprise... Kev likes surprises But I do think an update is overdue.

With any project, I always have a vision of the end result. Same goes for this one... and the whole idea from the beginning was to replicate the belt as accurate to the movie belt as possible. That means the finish and how it looks at the end is very important to me. It was really tough trying to find the color but I think I've come pretty close. As we know, the movie belt was metal and how we see it differs onscreen and from pic to pic because the tones shift depending on lighting. It's virtually impossible to duplicate this effect with regular paint because paint naturally produces a solid finish... even metallic ones. I ran a test piece recently and you guys can see the results so far and compare them to the promo pics of the actual prop. Keep in mind that the rang and belt were made and finished the same way... again, just how light falls on them makes them look a different color. The finish on the test piece is still very rough and requires a bit more of polishing... just like real metal when it's not prepped. Once polished, it then needs to be stressed to get the matte finish like the movie belt. There's a lot more involved with this process and it's all very nasty stuff I have to deal with, which I'm not set up to do at home. Weather condition is a huge factor as well.

I know some people have been curious about where this projects stands and sorry for the lack of updates and delays. I think the color is pretty close and it'll look very nice once it's matted. Would love to hear what you guys think

wrcromu

What i think ? When will the first run come ??

Awesome job !!!

imdocjoe

Looks very nice. Can't wait!
Joe

mbmcfarland

Very nice work! It looks great so far.

BatmanBeyond

Looks good, color looks pretty good hard to tell, lighting is a pain when trying to get color accurate photos. Same response as wrcromu, when is first run

Endoskeleton

Thanks guys. Wanted to also mention that the gradient shift is very subtle and natural. It's kinda hard to photograph but I wanted to show the different scale and value of the colors... which btw is for Begins. The finish for TDK is different.

Judge Spartan

OMG!!! Looks great...

DIStudios

Looks awesome man, may I ask how the finish is diff for the tdk? Will you be doing a run of tdk style?

BATMANN

Looks very sharp.

Endoskeleton

IMO the TDK belt is more towards one solid tone, which can be achieved simply with a metallic paint or a dense combination of metallic powder and liquid. Of all the pics I've seen, there's really no sharp contrast or variation in color. Other differences include inverted links, spring loaded clasps that hold the accessories to the belt, and the backplate. I have enough reference to do the backplate... and as a matter of fact, the hardware you see in the part I've shown serves a duo purpose - and also attaches to the backplate. I do not know when I will do the clasps for the accessories as I have not really looked into them. But yes, the TDK style is possible.

And to answer people's questions about when this will be available and how much...

When - now that I'm happy with the color (which took me a long time to find), I'm gonna get several castings done this month... provided the weather is in my favor to work with some of these materials. I will only be making 5 in this manner for a couple friends including myself. That is where this project ends for me. They are a lot of work and I do not even like the idea of using some of these chemicals around the house.

How much - I don't know... that will be up to Kev and how time consuming he determines running them will be. There are indeed a whole bunch of pieces... but I have ensured that they will come out super clean out of the molds and assembly a snap

coofunkcurly

Endo is at one with this belt. He knows more about it than he knows about himself.

As he said, it's still too early to answer sales questions (and this is definitely the wrong thread to do so). When the time comes there will be a thread in the Junkyard. The RPF will be the first to know.

eko2184

Any updates?

BATMANN

Well is it soup yet?

BATMANN

Hey Kev,
Whats up bro. update please....

Endoskeleton

I guess you're looking for an update from me... and I'm sorry I don't have much of one. I have not had the time to work on this.

BATMANN

Maybe it something Kevin can finish up, any chance in that?

Endoskeleton

I really appreciate that people are still interested in this project. Let me just say that I've never been in a hurry to finish it and also that Kev is the only person I trust with carrying it on when I'm done. And if not for him, I would not have any plans to offer any runs of it.