Post Your Bat Costumes

ya, you might be right about those rings. have to ask Bob C. bout' all that to be sure. I wasn't there when he built it.

Rex's costume is cool. neat pattern on the bodysuit part. great pic/pose.

Those are some great costumes guys.

Doug

The Bobs' Begins closet has an impact on me. It's what inspired me to build mine. Mine is nowhere near the level of polish that theirs is, and it's a bit smaller too, but I'm not complaining. General rule I've noticed with both the Bobs' closet and the real one is that the torso is at actual height if someone were standing there. Whereas, in my closet, there's not room enough for legs.

Bob Dullam made my cowl and torso, and the other stuff came from various other people. Bronze Armory belt, Herowares boots, fiberglass gauntlets (for now ), and the batarangs are solid steel, laser cut, from synasp here at the RPF.

Closet building... woo. That was all me. I took design cues from both the Bobs' closet and the real thing (see below). I sketched it out on paper a thousand times before buying any wood. When I did start buying wood, I went cheap. Just plain old soft white pine from the hardware store, which was only a pain in the ass because it's not perfectly straight. Just picked out the wood, the stain, and did the sawing and hammering and screwing and everything myself. The most suck ass part of the whole project were those MOTHER F*)KING brass ring drawer pulls in the back. OH MY GOD I hate those things. Not only did I have to buy 38 of them at $5 each (and even then I got the cheaper, undersized ones), but I had to chisel out the divots for them to go into on each of the 22 faux drawers in the back. That's right, CHISEL. I don't have any really big professional power tools, so it was just me, my hammer, and my chisel, knocking out 38 1"x2" divots in wood by hand. Took weeks and my hands got so raw and blistered. I had a little party when I finished the last one.

Other than that, it was pretty easy just putting it all together. The main thing to remember is so put lots of support on your back wall. Your suit and cowl holder are going to be pulling it forward a lot, so you'll want something really sturdy back there.

The suit and cowl holder I made totally from scratch, and even those took a few months to get my ideas juuust right. Bob is right in saying it's tricky getting the cowl properly supported in a way that won't leave any hardware fixtures showing, but also won't deform the cowl's rubber. Tip: Make a "Y" shape in your fixture where the cowl holder meets the wall, and let the cowl tail fall through it.

My shelves are steel, custom fabricated by a company in WA called K & K Industries. Google for info on them. I told them what I was doing and they were happy to make them and it only cost me about $120 for all 4 brackets plus shelf tops.

Other things, unlike the Bobs' closet which is (for now) an open diorama type display, mine is a fully furniture style armoire with rolling casters and a ceiling, floor, and double doors with brass and pewter handles and a working lock. I also made the batarang mounts on the inside of the doors using some brass brick hangers and N40 magnets. The batarangs stay in place perfectly as you open and close the doors, even with a lot of force, but they can easily be plucked down from their hangers for quick throwing...

Oh, and my utility belt hanging up in the back, is actually hanging on a fancy toilet paper holder from Lowe's, painted to match the other closet hardware. No one ever realizes that

I've also installed the dual overhead light you see, which is wired into the doors so the lights come on when you open the doors. I can't wait to see what they do with their closet doors when they finish it. It's gonna make mine look like cheap crap.

Here's some more of mine:

















And here's the real one, side by side compared to mine. It really shows how much smaller mine is than it should be.

But you did a good job Greg. I will tell ya that this whole closet thing really suprised me when I went over to Bob C's and saw it the first time. I mean it was like all your attention got drawn right into that box like nothing else in the room mattered. Really a strange sort of subtle phenom this closet thing is. All this stuff is tough to do. My respect to anyone who ever attempts this and does a decent job. it's tough. Not just a hobby. a way of life. People who jump into this suddenly, and expect to throw together a masterpiece need to understand that it isn't easy. it's a growing process.

doody said:

But you did a good job Greg. I will tell ya that this whole closet thing really suprised me when I went over to Bob C's and saw it the first time. I mean it was like all your attention got drawn right into that box like nothing else in the room mattered. Really a strange sort of subtle phenom this closet thing is. All this stuff is tough to do. My respect to anyone who ever attempts this and does a decent job. it's tough. Not just a hobby. a way of life. People who jump into this suddenly, and expect to throw together a masterpiece need to understand that it isn't easy. it's a growing process.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

And getting away from closets now and back onto bat suits, I should have these in a couple of weeks. Bronze, with sharp blades and a working hinge. They were forged by Antoni Feldon, and I've been waiting on these custom commissioned gauntlets for 9 months. Right now Tony Swatton is holding them for me. The price? A LOT. By far the most expensive piece in my collection.
















Yep, suede lining on the inside...

Awesome!, ya metal stuff ain't cheap.

here's a pic of Bob C'.s new BB display.

doody said:

Awesome!, ya metal stuff ain't cheap.

here's a pic of Bob C'.s new BB display.

Click to expand...

Are those cape clips attached the "real" way, through rings attached to the cowl and then through holes in the torso? I need to install the cape clip stuff into my torso but I just cannot bring myself to make holes in that beautiful piece.

Yup, they go all the way through. And it is nerve racking because you get one shot at it. punch it in the wrong spot, and there is nothing you can do about it. Even worse is when it is foam latex like this one because the foam sort of shifts around, and you're never sure you got it in the right spot until it's done. I just punched nose holes in a new foam cowl this morning, and I clenched my teeth the whole time. came out good though. trimming a foam piece is another teeth knashing affair. In fact you can mess any of this up totally right up until you are totally done. Most of the time there is no way to really "fix" a goof.

gregday said:

Are those cape clips attached the "real" way, through rings attached to the cowl and then through holes in the torso? I need to install the cape clip stuff into my torso but I just cannot bring myself to make holes in that beautiful piece.

Click to expand...

But there weren't any holes on the display torso in the film (which bugged the hell out of me) and it's no longer a wearable piece, so... :confused

gregday said:

The Bobs' Begins closet has an impact on me. It's what inspired me to build mine. Mine is nowhere near the level of polish that theirs is, and it's a bit smaller too, but I'm not complaining. General rule I've noticed with both the Bobs' closet and the real one is that the torso is at actual height if someone were standing there. Whereas, in my closet, there's not room enough for legs.

Bob Dullam made my cowl and torso, and the other stuff came from various other people. Bronze Armory belt, Herowares boots, fiberglass gauntlets (for now ), and the batarangs are solid steel, laser cut, from synasp here at the RPF.

Closet building... woo. That was all me. I took design cues from both the Bobs' closet and the real thing (see below). I sketched it out on paper a thousand times before buying any wood. When I did start buying wood, I went cheap. Just plain old soft white pine from the hardware store, which was only a pain in the ass because it's not perfectly straight. Just picked out the wood, the stain, and did the sawing and hammering and screwing and everything myself. The most suck ass part of the whole project were those MOTHER F*)KING brass ring drawer pulls in the back. OH MY GOD I hate those things. Not only did I have to buy 38 of them at $5 each (and even then I got the cheaper, undersized ones), but I had to chisel out the divots for them to go into on each of the 22 faux drawers in the back. That's right, CHISEL. I don't have any really big professional power tools, so it was just me, my hammer, and my chisel, knocking out 38 1"x2" divots in wood by hand. Took weeks and my hands got so raw and blistered. I had a little party when I finished the last one.

Other than that, it was pretty easy just putting it all together. The main thing to remember is so put lots of support on your back wall. Your suit and cowl holder are going to be pulling it forward a lot, so you'll want something really sturdy back there.

The suit and cowl holder I made totally from scratch, and even those took a few months to get my ideas juuust right. Bob is right in saying it's tricky getting the cowl properly supported in a way that won't leave any hardware fixtures showing, but also won't deform the cowl's rubber. Tip: Make a "Y" shape in your fixture where the cowl holder meets the wall, and let the cowl tail fall through it.

My shelves are steel, custom fabricated by a company in WA called K & K Industries. Google for info on them. I told them what I was doing and they were happy to make them and it only cost me about $120 for all 4 brackets plus shelf tops.

Other things, unlike the Bobs' closet which is (for now) an open diorama type display, mine is a fully furniture style armoire with rolling casters and a ceiling, floor, and double doors with brass and pewter handles and a working lock. I also made the batarang mounts on the inside of the doors using some brass brick hangers and N40 magnets. The batarangs stay in place perfectly as you open and close the doors, even with a lot of force, but they can easily be plucked down from their hangers for quick throwing...

Oh, and my utility belt hanging up in the back, is actually hanging on a fancy toilet paper holder from Lowe's, painted to match the other closet hardware. No one ever realizes that

I've also installed the dual overhead light you see, which is wired into the doors so the lights come on when you open the doors. I can't wait to see what they do with their closet doors when they finish it. It's gonna make mine look like cheap crap.

Here's some more of mine:

















And here's the real one, side by side compared to mine. It really shows how much smaller mine is than it should be.

Click to expand...

wow that looks ridiculously awesome

you are right in the CLOSET scene there are no holes. pop in your BB SE DVD and goto the "cape and cowl" section, scan through a bit till you see a foam torso on a half bodycast, in shop, then hit pause you will see the holes. screen cap anyone?

Just did this:

wow!:eek

Definitely love the begins belt!

awesome belt man..

couple more pics:

more belt pics on newly finished suit. several new changes to suit.

:eek That is the best Beings suit i have seen!

This is the 38FF cleavage of the Batman Begins suit world. :love

well i started this tread, and i got my suit finished friday and out to our sci fi con saturday....