66 Miata Batmobile Build

Grill shape - any opinions?

Nice snapshot - is that you?

I'm working on refining the shape of the grill opening.

I made a gallery of different shapes from different sources.
If anyone has a preference for what they'd like to see me use, please chime in!

View attachment 45354

After we get some opinions, I'll share where I got the different shapes from :)
 
Looks like this replica did one of each. :)

1966-batmobile-dragster-car-1024x680.jpg


Nick
 
Second one from the bottom wins it!
(It was you and my wife that voted.)
I got the patterns from:

1. Rough mouth opening in the foam frame.
2. 66 Bat-Manga #1
3. 66 Bat-Manga #2
4. 66 Number 1 TV car
5. 1:18 66 Hot Wheels

I made a template for the new mouth shape:

View attachment 45519

I marked where to cut:

View attachment 45520

I used popsicle sticks to mark the cuts:

View attachment 45523

Cutting the mouth:

View attachment 45524

New side pieces to match the template:

View attachment 45525

I went to a classic car junkyard in Belton last weekend and got the front turn signals off a 1962 Thunderbird:

View attachment 45521

They fit!

View attachment 45522
 
More work on the front sides:

I made connector pieces for the lower front:

View attachment 45526

I needed a bunch of pieces for the side ridge and the wheel well.
I cut wood blocks to the shapes I needed:

View attachment 45527

I covered the blocks with aluminum tape so the hot wire wouldn't dig into the wood, then hot glued then to my clamps so I could make as many identical pieces as I want:

View attachment 45528
View attachment 45529

The side of the front with all the ribs I made today:

View attachment 45530
 
I had to trim little tabs off the ends of the parking lights.

View attachment 46077

I reworked and cleaned up the bottom edge of the front.

View attachment 46078

I built truss supports to reinforce the headlight platforms.

View attachment 46079

On the miata:

View attachment 46080

View attachment 46081

The headlights I got are 5 3/4" motorcycle lamps with H4 bulbs and diamond faceted reflectors. I got these because the small size will fit in the headlight pockets with enough clearance to adjust them in any direction, and also because they'll be easy to mount and adjust.

View attachment 46082
 
'Fit' is a relative term.
I tore down and rebuilt the parking lamp areas so that both sides fit really close with a reinforced mounting platform. It was hard to get both sides sort of symmetrical.
I love these T-Bird lamps. I knew when I saw them in the junkyard that they were what I needed. The original 66 Batmobile has flush mount orange lenses, but I'm a sucker for brightwork.

View attachment 46083

View attachment 46084

View attachment 46085


It seems that now I'm in the stage of the sculpt where 8 hours of work goes in and overall the thing doesn't look much different.
 
When I put the final connectors in the sides, it showed me that I had a zig-zag pattern with some ribs too high and some too low. Also, the bulge of the wheel well was too extreme. (The original 66 Bat has no wheel well bulge, but I had to include one to clear the Miata body.)
Here's a high rib marked for trimming:

View attachment 46088

I tore out the connectors and turned my hot wire tool into a 'cheese cutter'. This allowed me to shave off controlled amounts from the high side ribs.
Hot wire cheese cutter in action:
View attachment 46089

I tamed all the wild side ribs and sanded smooth. I think this will give a straight enough side contour:

View attachment 46090

I did the other side too, of course.
 
What a fun project!
I am really looking forward to seeing it completed.
You have to make fiberglass kits for this, it's just too cool!
 
I've been working at a slower pace the last month or so - I had to get some actual work work done, if you can imagine that :) (Including the gig poster I made for last night's DEVO concert here in Austin!)

But back to the bat:

I used strips of Balsa to bring the skeleton back to the door seam:
View attachment 49171

I also used balsa to give a bat-scallop where the skeleton crosses the hood:
View attachment 49176

I made a special trimming tool to trim the door seam:
View attachment 49172
Which was great except that the body was mounted a little off when I did the trimming! So I glued on some more balsa and trimmed to fit.
View attachment 49173
The other side trimmed:
View attachment 49174
 
I got started on the door ridges - the big problem there is that the door folds inwards, so there's four inches or so where I can't have a ridge.
First I tried giving them a taper:

View attachment 49182

That didn't look so good so I reworked them to have a simple hard angle where the door folds inwards:

View attachment 49183

Nice and tight!
View attachment 49184

View attachment 49186

View attachment 49185

I cut a sample fin section for the door. It's exciting to get the first glimpse of fin!

View attachment 49187

Fin, sweet fin. . . . . .

View attachment 49188
 
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