Making "The Bat" Better

[Dree64]

I've been working on turning The Dark Knight Rises "The Bat" into a new Anti Gravity Pod for Cobra Commander. I've removed the handle that was on top of the ship, added extra armor to the fuselage, painted the turbines, guns and now I need to instal the new control panel. I still have a few more things to touch up here and there and add a few stickers. I should have the finished pics up tomorrow.

[Cdt Weasel]

Sounds neat, would love to see a pic of the whole ship.

[khill926]

Sounds neat, would love to see a pic of the whole ship.

Me too.

[Jacklefttown]

Yeah, I third this!

[ndb]

I fourth this! I saw a Bat in Kmart that launched a Batman out of the cockpit. Is this the same one?

[Dree64]

Sounds neat, would love to see a pic of the whole ship.

I'll do my best to get the finished pics up today.

I fourth this! I saw a Bat in Kmart that launched a Batman out of the cockpit. Is this the same one?

Yep that's the same toy I'm working on. Here's a pic of the parts I removed for the vehicle when I took it apart: The top handle, 2 propellers, two internal pieces of the launching mechanism and the launching Batman figure (which is still in the plastic shell). Once the handle and 2 propeller were removed, the vehicle began to look a lot better and closer to actual prop used in the movie. The toy actually has way more bulk, then the prop from the film which is fine by me; because the the prop from the film needs a rig to rest on in order to stay upright and toy doesn't.

[Dree64]

OK the finished pics are up.

When I first saw this vehicle last year on TMZ (The TV show not the website) it screamed GI Joe. To me, it looked like a modern take on the Iron Grenadiers Anti Gravity Pod. I told myself, "as soon as I see that vehicle in stores its bought". However when I saw pics of the actual toy from Toy fair 2012, I wasn't happy with it. It had a large handle on top of it and two propellers under the fuselage. It didn't look as seek as the movie prop, but more like a toy; however, I was still going to buy it and I knew I was going to have to make modifications to it.

When I finally saw The Bat at Target last month, I picked up the box and studied it for a good 15 mins; to see if it was possible to remove the handle without destroying the whole vehicle. I didn't think it was possible, so I put it back on the shelf and left the store. Four weeks ago when I went back to that same Target, I found the variant Black Cobra Commander. I grabbed him with thinking about it. Then I thought if I'm buying the black Cobra Commander, I might as well pick up The Bat; if they had it stock. Sure enough they did have it stock.

When I got home, I quickly took The Bat out of its package and took it apart. After unscrewing the five screws under the aircraft, I learned that the handle was held in place with four screws. Once the four screws were remove the handle was easily removed from the toy, but two large hole were now visible on the top of the craft. I quickly put The Bat back together, got out the Styrene sheet I bought from the art; anticipating I would have to cover up some type of visible holes. This was my first time working with Styrene and I need more practice, but I was able to cover up the holes with the Styrene and Greenstuff. I use the rest of the Styrene to make addition armor for the fuselage. Lastly I insulted a custom
control panel.

Aside from adding more armor I removed the two propellers from under the craft, painted the two guns on both sides of the intakes, cut and glued the missiles in place, and epoxied the launch door shut ( it kept flapping open and made the cockpit unlock each time). Now nothing shoots out of this toy. The only feature I keep in place was the battle sound; when you press the left button on the left engine.

The back story for this new heavy armored Anti Gravity Pod is as follows. It was a by product of Mars Industries' Night Raven program. It has all the tech found in the Night Raven 2 (The Rise of Cobra Night Raven) but its more maneuverable, easier to control and has more advance surveillance equipment, then that found in the Night Raven 2. Cobra Commander uses it has his personal assault craft, when he wanted to lead the charge on the battlefield.

[CobraOfficer999]

Neat, dude.

[redx24]

whered u get the control panel? oh and damn u now i need another so i can attempt this

[rglass2]

Oh I was hoping someone would do something like this...looks great

[Dree64]

Neat, dude.

Thanks

whered u get the control panel? oh and damn u now i need another so i can attempt this

The control panel is a piece of armor I got from the Zoid Buster Eagle kit off Ebay back in Feb. Sorry about that, but it had to be done. Its a nice vehicle once you make the modifications and like I said, "it screams GIJoe" more than Batman.

Oh I was hoping someone would do something like this...looks great

Thanks it was a royal pain get the styrene armor attached to the fuselage. Is there some brand of glue I can buy to attach styrene to GIJoe vehicles? I used Greenstuff, but that took forever to set and a few of the armor parts would slide out of place. I kept thinking there has to be something better to use. I tried Crazy Glue and that only worked on attaching styrene to styrene, but it didn't work when I tried to attach the styrene to the vehicle itself.

[pyro678]

Bad ass great idea!

[redx24]

honestly i agree it has more of a joe feel to it. but i also love the batman missle feature

[nighthawk]

Nice! I saw it once in the wild but didn't really pay attention to it cause it was so expensive. Wish I looked more closely now that I've seen what you did.

[Dree64]

Nice! I saw it once in the wild but didn't really pay attention to it cause it was so expensive. Wish I looked more closely now that I've seen what you did.

Yeah it's about $10.00 over price, but I really wanted to add this vehicle to my collection. I have a feeling once the Dark Knight Rises hits theaters, The Bat will be pretty hard to find and the Ebay price will likely double; that's why I went ahead and shelled out the $35.99 for it. Coincidentally, yesterday I went back to the same Target I picked up The Bat and they were all sold out, so it looks like its already becoming pretty popular vehicle for Batman fans.