lethyry
Active Member
Given the current weather here in Canada is not ideal for most things I do (painting, fibre glassing, casting or molding) I thought I'd take some time to do some personal builds I've been wanting to do for a while but never got around till now. The 66' show and movie has always had a special place in my heart, given its how I was introduced to batman as a child. While its considered extremely goofy in its dialogue and story lines, I've always felt it had a certain elegance to it.
I've been wanting to do the Bat Radio for probably a couple years now.
There is a couple 3d files I found online but since the original was made from wood I thought I'd take a stab at doing it out of wood as well.
I started with trying to find some templates or available measurements but came up unsuccessful aside from the very basic measurements Heritage Auctions had on their site. So I found a pretty decent straight on shot of the radio (see below left) and used the Heritage measurements as a starting guide and went from there. I used photos of Adam West holding the radio to gauge sizing in relation to how the template was in my own hands. While this may have made the sizing differ from the screen used I'm very happy with how it came out.
I then traced that template onto some 1" wood I had and cut it out with a Jig saw
If I ever do another I will definitely used a harder wood, the wood I used (knotty pine board) wasn't terrible but made a few things a bit more tricky
After the radio was cut out I went to town with the sanding and shaping. For the most part it was pretty straight forward; refining contours, shaping the ears and sharpening the bottom details. While the original had the back hollowed out for electronics I had never planned on doing electronics so I didn't hollow it out (the softer wood also played a factor in this decision). I did hollow out the front area that is behind the frosted plastic so the red plate sat a bit more flush to the radio.
I wish I had taken more in progress photos as there is a significant warp between photos but I wasn't thinking about photos while doing this lol.
The main body was painted a standard gloss black. I did give it a semi gloss clear coat after everything was finished to seal it all in. The Red piece was traced from the template I made onto some ABS. It was cut out, sanded and painted with some red acrylic paint. The "Frosted plastic" was some thin translucent plastic packaging I found and painted the back side of it white. I gave it a subtle black wash since I wanted this thing to look a bit used. The "speaker mesh" was done with some more spare ABS with the holes drilled, the edge rounded and some small picture hanging nails used to mimic the original. The antennae are done using some 1/8" aluminum rod and funny enough some necklace beads as the tops. I personally think the beads are a touch big, but I wasn't able to find any alternatives that were local to me, so these will do the trick. The bottom button piece was tough, I really wanted to source an original part but was never able to find something that looked correct and was the right size. I looked at old jean rivets and other vintage parts that had the thread at the back but never found anything I liked. So ended up making it from scratch, I used a small piece of abs plastic, heated it up and placed it over a block of wood with a tiny hole in it. I used the end of a small file to push the middle of the heated plastic into the hole and after a few attempts I got one I was happy with, little bit of filling, paint and adding a screw to the back and it was done.
The last thing to do was add the metal handle. I used some .025" aluminum, cut out the 5/8" x 14" piece, bent it, drilled the holes and painted it.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the radio, There are a couple things If i were to do another I'd change shape and detail wise but for a prop that sits on a shelf in my shop I'm happy with it.
The next thing I wanted to tackle was the Shark Repellent seen in the movie.
I do intend on doing all 4 cans but I only got to this one before the weather got even worse.
From looking at the still from the movie I found that the Rustoleum Quick Color cans are very close shape wise to what was used.
I was lucky I had some close to empty cans of it i had used on various other projects. So I emptied the can, removed the wrap that is on the can, gave it a quick sand and wipe down with some wax and grease remover and did a couple coats of etch primer.
When looking over the stills from the movie it was pretty tough to nail down exactly what color the cans were, Its almost a sort of slightly metallic, navy blue with a hint of purple in there. So i went down to my local paint store and went through probably 10-15 different shades and hues of blues and purples I could find until I was happy with one.
I landed on the Dupli-color Deep Sapphire Blue Metallic, from the examples I saw it looked quite nice and the metallic wasn't super noticeable.
Next came painting, I gave it two even coats of the blue and one coat of semi gloss clear given in the helicopter scene it looks to have a slight sheen but not gloss, so depending on how I felt i could always polish it up slightly to have a slightly more glossy sheen.
Then came finding the Red letters, there's an old thread on here about the letters and the correct font/sizing but all the links associated with it are really old and useless now. So I began searching online for the right size, color and font, I was able to find the bigger font but no luck on the smaller font.
Then as luck would have it I found an old Etsy listing that was selling the letters in a bundle for like 15 bucks. I messaged the seller and ordered a set. A couple weeks later they arrived and I got the first set done.
The stickers were pretty easy to apply and I wasn't totally worried on getting them exactly straight as the originals weren't.
While I've found everything I need to complete the other three I'm still missing the Yellow caps, I have yet to find the true correct ones but I'll come back to that when i do the other cans.
I've been working on, and am still in the middle of the utility belt. I'm doing the version with the non functional pouches and have gotten most of the leg work done. The tricky part is finding a match for the belt paint.
So if anybody knows of a spray paint or any other type of paint that matches Angelus yellow paint I'd really appreciate it!! lol
I've been wanting to do the Bat Radio for probably a couple years now.
There is a couple 3d files I found online but since the original was made from wood I thought I'd take a stab at doing it out of wood as well.
I started with trying to find some templates or available measurements but came up unsuccessful aside from the very basic measurements Heritage Auctions had on their site. So I found a pretty decent straight on shot of the radio (see below left) and used the Heritage measurements as a starting guide and went from there. I used photos of Adam West holding the radio to gauge sizing in relation to how the template was in my own hands. While this may have made the sizing differ from the screen used I'm very happy with how it came out.
I then traced that template onto some 1" wood I had and cut it out with a Jig saw
If I ever do another I will definitely used a harder wood, the wood I used (knotty pine board) wasn't terrible but made a few things a bit more tricky
After the radio was cut out I went to town with the sanding and shaping. For the most part it was pretty straight forward; refining contours, shaping the ears and sharpening the bottom details. While the original had the back hollowed out for electronics I had never planned on doing electronics so I didn't hollow it out (the softer wood also played a factor in this decision). I did hollow out the front area that is behind the frosted plastic so the red plate sat a bit more flush to the radio.
I wish I had taken more in progress photos as there is a significant warp between photos but I wasn't thinking about photos while doing this lol.
The main body was painted a standard gloss black. I did give it a semi gloss clear coat after everything was finished to seal it all in. The Red piece was traced from the template I made onto some ABS. It was cut out, sanded and painted with some red acrylic paint. The "Frosted plastic" was some thin translucent plastic packaging I found and painted the back side of it white. I gave it a subtle black wash since I wanted this thing to look a bit used. The "speaker mesh" was done with some more spare ABS with the holes drilled, the edge rounded and some small picture hanging nails used to mimic the original. The antennae are done using some 1/8" aluminum rod and funny enough some necklace beads as the tops. I personally think the beads are a touch big, but I wasn't able to find any alternatives that were local to me, so these will do the trick. The bottom button piece was tough, I really wanted to source an original part but was never able to find something that looked correct and was the right size. I looked at old jean rivets and other vintage parts that had the thread at the back but never found anything I liked. So ended up making it from scratch, I used a small piece of abs plastic, heated it up and placed it over a block of wood with a tiny hole in it. I used the end of a small file to push the middle of the heated plastic into the hole and after a few attempts I got one I was happy with, little bit of filling, paint and adding a screw to the back and it was done.
The last thing to do was add the metal handle. I used some .025" aluminum, cut out the 5/8" x 14" piece, bent it, drilled the holes and painted it.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the radio, There are a couple things If i were to do another I'd change shape and detail wise but for a prop that sits on a shelf in my shop I'm happy with it.
The next thing I wanted to tackle was the Shark Repellent seen in the movie.
I do intend on doing all 4 cans but I only got to this one before the weather got even worse.
From looking at the still from the movie I found that the Rustoleum Quick Color cans are very close shape wise to what was used.
I was lucky I had some close to empty cans of it i had used on various other projects. So I emptied the can, removed the wrap that is on the can, gave it a quick sand and wipe down with some wax and grease remover and did a couple coats of etch primer.
When looking over the stills from the movie it was pretty tough to nail down exactly what color the cans were, Its almost a sort of slightly metallic, navy blue with a hint of purple in there. So i went down to my local paint store and went through probably 10-15 different shades and hues of blues and purples I could find until I was happy with one.
I landed on the Dupli-color Deep Sapphire Blue Metallic, from the examples I saw it looked quite nice and the metallic wasn't super noticeable.
Next came painting, I gave it two even coats of the blue and one coat of semi gloss clear given in the helicopter scene it looks to have a slight sheen but not gloss, so depending on how I felt i could always polish it up slightly to have a slightly more glossy sheen.
Then came finding the Red letters, there's an old thread on here about the letters and the correct font/sizing but all the links associated with it are really old and useless now. So I began searching online for the right size, color and font, I was able to find the bigger font but no luck on the smaller font.
Then as luck would have it I found an old Etsy listing that was selling the letters in a bundle for like 15 bucks. I messaged the seller and ordered a set. A couple weeks later they arrived and I got the first set done.
The stickers were pretty easy to apply and I wasn't totally worried on getting them exactly straight as the originals weren't.
While I've found everything I need to complete the other three I'm still missing the Yellow caps, I have yet to find the true correct ones but I'll come back to that when i do the other cans.
I've been working on, and am still in the middle of the utility belt. I'm doing the version with the non functional pouches and have gotten most of the leg work done. The tricky part is finding a match for the belt paint.
So if anybody knows of a spray paint or any other type of paint that matches Angelus yellow paint I'd really appreciate it!! lol
