Turning my Batman Returns: Power Wheels Batmobile into an R/C

[agliarept]

I recently came into a vintage 1992 Batmobile power wheels style (actually called power drivers) that I'm currently turning into a large scaled r/c.

The finished project will have:

1. a enclosed canopy
2. working front/read lights
3. Automative black paint job
4. Working jet engine thruster f/x
5. Playing the theme song or audio clips
6. not sure what other cool extras I can make it do

I've already done the above as a proof of concept on a vintage 1/10 89 Batmobile. I'm just now engineering parts to first tackle the r/c functionality as the first hurdle.

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7358227943082020138

Apologies in advance for the quality, I'm not a youtuber, but realizing there's some value in showing off the car since I haven't seen or read any documentation of it's existence (outside ebay lol)

Here's a video of me briefly talking about the car itself before any work was actually done.

I'm currently finalizing the R/C movement testing right now. So should have some tangible to share this week* Fingers crossed.

 

[drusselmeyer]

Looks like you will need a 1/4 scale Basinger and Keaton soon.

 

[agliarept]

Looks like you will need a 1/4 scale Basinger and Keaton soon.

lol one of the first things I did was put the Neca 1/4 89 batman figure inside.

 

[agliarept]

After several revisions, the r/c part's done and the Batmobile can be controlled wirelessly.

Installed a 1/10 racing motor and it's very very fast now. Here's a video showing it driving at 70% power and working with a steering mechanism i installed.

Next few weeks I'm going to prep 3d files to print and prototype a canopy and maybe design an opening slide mechanism for it. Once that's done, I can focus on the custom fx/lights/cosmetics.

 

[barrie]

I look forward very much to seeing this Batmobile go get the bad guys, what a project keep the images and videos coming, I did have a go at a bigger batmobile for a friend who did not want the car once I hade made it but that happens now and again.

keep safe and well
regards Barrie ( the old batman fan guy )

 

[agliarept]

Thank you!

And what an incredible build! Who wouldn't want that beauty. That's very very well made.

 

[barrie]

Thank you Mr agliarept,
some people just do not want to pay for things, quite a few people who I have made models for expect you to work for free and then give them the model, I do charge for my work but keep things down as much as possible, better to many at a low price then one at a high price. At the moment I build for the sci fi and fim museum in Milton keyenes england, they have about 5 of m y models and opne more to go soon. Just keep that batmobile moving it is going to look fantastic when you get it blasting down the raod.

regards Barrie ( the old guy ) now this was a model

 

[agliarept]

New update:

Ordered a Bambu P1s to start prototyping a canopy and rear. With the intention to have the canopy slide forward to allow for easy access of the batteries and random switches I'd need to enable things.

the P1s is painfully fast compared to my resin printer, so it's highly likely I will have a finished prototype soon.

My only concern is having to decide if I want to Dremel out a portion of the existing plastic "window" off the Batmobile. It's pretty thick and prevents the 3d printed parts to sit flushed (Even though the scale i've printed it at is slightly to wide and tall)

 

[agliarept]

Mini update.

After several several prints at different scales, I finally have a canopy I'm happy with. I'm currently printing the back hood/vent piece so I expect that to take just as long until I nail down the scale.

These are in PLA and will get further prepped for paint before any semi-permanent mounting's done

 

[agliarept]

I do have a question for anyone that' has some knowledge on bodywork (I have none yet).

There's a gap between the canopy and the batmobile shell, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of space.

What's the best way for me to go about building up a smooth flat surface for the canopy to rest on? Bondo? expoxy?

The sapce I need to build up is on the left side of the "black negative" gap (that's the original semi canopy i cut off).

 

[JamesM242]

I'm not an expert by any means, but my first thought was a combo of styrene (of some sort) then bondo. I bet barrie has a better suggestion.

 

[agliarept]

Thanks for that feedback, I hadn't thought about styrene yet.


Update:

I've got the rear vent printed and everything together looks good. I will have to sand down and bondo the rear vent so it flows naturally to the body (there's some overlap that sticks out).

the height difference between the printed part and body. Hoping sanding it down some will help harmonize both parts. Might have to build up both parts and sand them smooth.

Thinking of using this as an in-between filler and sand it down. Anyone use this before?

 

[Rogviler]

What type of plastic is the car body made out of? If it's ABS you're golden, but if it's one of the waxy plastics, that's going to be a bother.

I used that exact JB Weld on a plastic car bumper and it didn't hold. I'm not quite sure what type of plastic it was, but it was the type that's fuzzy when you try to sand it. I ended up having to use a plastic welding iron, which might be one option to explore.

 

[ZeroSum]

Got the old canopy still? Plastic weld that to the body.

 

[agliarept]

Thanks all!

The plastic i'm using is basic PLA (when i sand it, it starts to get super soft and mushy and fuzzy) so might have to do this again in ABS.

I got some milliput epoxy putty coming this weekend so going to focus on building a smooth platform for these pieces to rest on. the more I think about it, I don't think I want to permanently attach these pieces to the shell yet (debating it).

More to come

 

[drusselmeyer]

These bodies are usually PE/PP. You should expect bonding issues joining the PLA to it.

An ABS or metal collar bolted/screwed/rivited to the body could solve your problem of joining the canopy to the body. Once mounted, the canopy can then slide freely open and closed.

 

[agliarept]

I'm back after a long hiatus.

Took me a long time to iterate on the right approach to get the canopy to slide ( i got pretty frustrated). I've had every sliding mechanism ever produced in my amazon wish list, lol. However, the height/thickness/length tolerances wouldn't have been right for what was needed/allowable on the car.

Then one day, randomly, it hit me, I could just design my own sliding mechanism custom tailored to the car. I couldn't believe how rudimentary it turned out to be.

• Designed a bracket to mount to the car, with a drop in system so the canopy can come off whenever I wanted. In addition to a sliding arm with two round joints to smoothly travel and stop where I needed it to. Now I have ample space to get into the electronics whenever I want.
  • There's a slight gap between the canopy and the body that's gonna get covered with a foam/rubber trim.
    
• Also made tail lights and headlights. (that I have to reduce in size a smidge).
  
  
• Attached the rear canopy vent so It connects to the canopy with magnets firmly.
  
  
• Next is designing a neat housing for all the electronics, speakers, lights and FX.
  
  Once I'm happy with all that, I can disassemble the car and get it painted.

 

[agliarept]

making some serious headway on the car and hope to have an update out in a week or so. Currently designing a custom cage for the atomizer/afterburner effect.

In the meantime, I don't think I've shared this. But filmed the progress for youtube (for posterity sake lol). Heres part 1 of the some of the work i've done, sorry for the quality in advance:

 

[agliarept]

Small update, big progress, The car's 90% done.

Decided i'm basically making a giant Kenner style Batmobile toy, so figured I'd fully commit and make seats and 90s style kenner Returns figure.

Have a few small electronic upgrades waiting to arrive from Japan, but did manage to get a custom throttle controlled smoke generator.

And lastly, the engine simulator speaker system now also plays a modified version of the Batman Theme. (had to buy an old PC laptop to run the software to customize its sounds lol)

Hope you're all enjoying this build, it's been challenging but fun.

 

[agliarept]

Couldn't resist doing a test fit.

The final figure's going to print with better details but this gets my scale down to about 13.5". was hoping for bigger but there's no more headroom.