Tumbler

Having seen The Dark Night a couple of weeks ago and batman begins tonight (wrong order, I know) I've got a sudden urge to build a Tumbler to match the one in the film. Its not exactly a study in beauty and elegance, but it ticks all the right boxes - healthy V8 rumble, big Hoosiers and a matt black paint job.

Bandai makes a 1/35 kit of this model, which I first saw in Scale Auto a few months back, and a little digging found a whole bunch of beautiful builds of the kit in this thread. My usual stop at Wikipedia to find out more revealed that the whole design of the Tumbler owes more than a little to scale modelling techniques:

"Nathan Crowley, one of the production designers for Batman Begins, started the process of designing the Tumbler for the film by model bashing. One of the parts that Crowley used to create the vehicle was the nose cone of aP-38 Lightening model to serve as the chassis for the Tumbler's jet engine. Six models of the Tumbler were built to 1:12 scale in the course of four months. Following the scale model creation, a crew of over 30 people, including Crowley and engineers Chris Culvert and Annie Smith, carved a full-size replica of the Tumbler out of a large block of Styrofoam, which was a process that lasted two months.^"

Cool huh? Anyway, bit more inspiration here, if this has whetted your appetite. Chicks love the car.

JB

Note To Self

Note to self: must write a blog on the history of belly tanks. In the meantime, check out this cool WIP, found on SA's forum back in the summer of '07. Wish I knew where to get one of those tanks from, though rumour has it there's a resin belly tank kit out there now...

JB

Brown Primer and Louvrers

This there any more perfect combination? Possibly, but it's hard to beat on a Deuce three window...

JB

Rod AND Kustom

Who says ya can't have both? Photographer unknown.

JB

Speaking of The Odd Rod...

...here's another from the same builder (I suspect) of another classic hot rod. Most gorgeous build I've seen all year, just perfect.

JB

The Odd Rod

I saved this picture over a year ago, presumably because I thought it was cool. Flattie in the rear? Far out man. Only last week however, did I discover the history of the 1:1 - its a good read, as always, by the best hot-rod historian in the world today, Ryan from The Jalopy Journal. Peep it.

JB

Snoopy And His Bugatti

I definitely got some ties to Snoopy. As a kid at primary school, the first books I remember reading were Snoopy books. I didnt always get it, but those little paperback books are a fond memory for sure. Well, those and Choose Your Own Adventure, anyway.

Later in life, I met my wonderful girlfriend Sue (7 years and counting!) and she couldn't be any more obsessed with Snoopy I dont think. Well, except for her inexplicable attractions to helicopters, border collies and pinball. But she got the lot - Snoopy make -up bag, Snoopy figures on the windowsill, Snoopy snowcone maker...even Snoopy Monopoly.

Shortly after meeting Sue I met one of the coolest guys I know, and one whom I respect more than any other, Mr Dan Ball. He lives near the Mall Of America, which if I remember correctly has got all kinds of bigger-than-lifesize models of Snoopy and Friends scattered around the place in tribute to former-local Charles Schultz. Dan sent me some awesome pics of human-sized Charlie Browns and Linuses which I suspect Sue hid away somewhere in her collection, as I havent seen them for a while.

Anyway, luckily for me (to keep this blog very loosely on track) there exists the above 'Snoopy And His Bugatti' kit, which I'm, gonna hunt hard for until I have one for my collection. Also desirable is this surfing Snoopy, which actually bobs up and down with the waves. Leads much appreciated.

Watch out for the Red Baron!

JB

Deucerrari?

Looks like a perfect blend of American Iron and Italian Soul to me.

JB

Little Indy

Just found another snap to compliment the fortune teller in the post below. This stuff blows me away, so I had to post it...enjoy!

JB

Cross My Palm

Not immediately on topic, but I believe I snagged this pic from Sale Auto's forum so it's close enough for me...besides, these pair of miniature vintage arcade machines are TOO COOL not to feature here.

As I recall, the builder had made literally a whole arcade's worth of these beautiful old machines, and I regret not making a note of who the builder/photographer was so I could feature them properly here.

If you're inspired as I am to build a mini arade of one's own, check out these 1:1 vintage arcade games I snapped some pics of last summer.

JB

Not Your Father's Oldsmobile

Green Hornet frame, Beverley Hillbillies body and a "custom engine". Tom Geiger, please stand up and show us what happened to this cool Olds kitbash?

JB

Canary

Without a doubt the pic above, entitled 'canary-v1.jpg' and downloaded from some unknown source, is my favourite model photo ever. A gorgeously presented and executed display of how modelling used to look, I could look at this pic all day. In fact, I look at it a couple of times a week and it always makes me think nostalgic thoughts of brush painting kits as a kit, getting sticky smelly enamel fingerprints everywhere and not achieving anything as beautiful as the rod in the picture.

I'd love to know who took it - any leads anyone?

JB

Postscript: This blog was inspired by ANOTHER great Bob Black post on Automod. Thanks (again!) Bob!

Beautiful Brake

This should probably be a 'Junkyard Jewels' post, given that this beautiful finned drum came in a big parts lot, but this bit's Deuce-bound and ready for primer and Alclad as we speak. Yeah, drums arent as hot as discs when it comes to stopping and longevity, but you gotta admit there's something pretty gorgeous about this finned example. Not got a full set, anyone know what they're from?

JB

Sepia Styrene

Thetre's something perfect about hot ros, Mexican blankets and sepia. Bob Black captured a whole folder to demonstrate the point beautifully. Check it out.

JB

Tank Girl

In WW2, American and British pilots used to write messages on the bombs that they were about to drop on the enemy, in chalk and enamel. Getting your name painted on a tank, however, is a whole different matter. Thanks to Katie and Neil, both AutoMod regulars - you guys rock!

JB