'66 Batphone WIP

[PropReplicator2]

So after starting a build on another '66 BatRadio, I've been viciously bitten by the Bat-Bug, and when I saw this old red phone in a box in the garage I knew it was time to finish this properly. Here is what I'm starting with:

As far as I can tell, these were cast in fiberglass resin so it is my full intention to modify this phone heavily until I have a properly lit fiberglass BatPhone sitting on my desk. There are two versions as far as I can tell: The shorter phone on Bruce's desk and the taller one seen primarily in Gordons office under a decorative glass cover sitting atop a black wooden pedestal. Both seem to be made from the same material (the fiberglass resin mentioned earlier) and look to be virtually the same with the exception of the noticeable height difference.

 

[PropReplicator2]

Took this apart last night and fiddled with it for a few hours..

Removed and glued the rotary number disk section into the phone body, and after some viscous sanding, with 4 drops of superglue on top to hold it in the correct position and then sealed it with gorilla glue from the inside. There is a noticeable gap between the rotary disk and the rest of the phone body so that will have to be Bondo and sanded later to look like a smooth transition between the two parts. Then cut out a 1.5" disk from some 1/8" sintra plastic and centered a whole so i dont lose the middle for mounting the button later.

And after looking closer at reference images, you will notice that the phones backside doesn't feature the recessed area in the back like mine does, so that will have to be filled in. On my model all I did was remove a single screw from the inside that held in the curved panel that makes up that recessed area and I will install a piece of sintra there later to fill in the open hole.

 

[PropReplicator2]

Some more filling and sanding progress before I prime this..

 

[PropReplicator2]

After two coats of filler primer...

 

[PropReplicator2]

Now that the smaller details have been taken care of, it looks like roughly 22mm needs to be added to the height of the phone to match the height of the one on Bruce's desk. Will update here once the height is added!

 

[PropReplicator2]

After the 22mm was added this is where I'm at...

Now to work on the phone..

 

[PropReplicator2]

Posted a interest thread for these in the project runs section if anyone would be interested in these after I perfect the casting for these.

 

[blacknova84]

I'm sitting here marathoning this and I literally came here to see if anyone made one of these! This is awesome!

 

[PropReplicator2]

I'm sitting here marathoning this and I literally came here to see if anyone made one of these! This is awesome!

Thanks! Not as much interest in this as I thought there would be in these, so thats slowed me down some. Should be back at this again soon!

 

[PropReplicator2]

Whew! It's been forever but I'm back onto this bat-tastic build. Got this thing primed, sanded, smoothed, and ready for silicone. Putting it under today and hoping to start casting later this week!

 

[LtPinkerton]

She is a beauty

 

[PropReplicator2]

Well that took forever. Between work and family I've been taken over completely with no time for anything. The mold is finished now, so gonna do some cleanup on the mother mold to make it look a little more tidy, got some resins I wanna do test castings in so that starts tomorrow!

 

[PropReplicator2]

Okay first up was the red epoxacoat from smooth on... had high hopes for this but it's definitely not the right one for this build.. no light shows through because its not translucent at all, but it does show off a cool color when applied to the right mold surface. Looks almost like an actual rotory phones plastic haha.

Going to try some clear cast resins with opaque dyes next.. Will post results as I go.

 

[Funky]

I was always under the impression the the phones were vacuformed in a translucent red, that’s why the look bigger than the average phone.

 

[PropReplicator2]

I was always under the impression the the phones were vacuformed in a translucent red, that’s why the look bigger than the average phone.

That's what I think too about some of them in the first season, and also there are what look like distortions at the bases where the plastic was cut with shears (look at the 3rd image I posted). But when Gordon's phone is lit up, you you can visibly make out the fiberglass strands on the inside. And the phones got sharper and sharper in areas that the details would be almost impossible to catch with a vac former, such as the base of the "towers" on which the phone rests. Just looks like maybe they had issues with the vac formed phones cracking or getting otherwise damaged so they resorted to castings in the later episodes

 

[PropReplicator2]

So it's a thin casting and yes you can see the fiberglass cloths in the resin, but why waste a ton of resin since we are still color testing right? Found a color balance I like a lot finally. This is getting me more and more excited!

 

[Jack2155]

This looks BAT-tastic! can't wait for the color and lights

 

[Aku]

Look forward to your next update

Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel

 

[enterprise0216]

Ditto its really coming along.

 

[Funky]

Alex, I am still totally down for one once you get a few done. Heck, I already have a handset and cord.