26 replies to this topic

[KielDaMan]

To celebrate my Knighthood in Eurobricks, I would like to present to you my latest project: a recreation of Batman’s The Tumbler. Ever since I have always wanted to have the official LEGO Batman Tumbler, but nowadays the 7888 Joker’s Ice Cream Surprise is pretty rare and expensive. It was through ebay when I chanced upon the amazing custom Batman’s Tumbler made by ArtiFex Creations, which is the source of inspiration of this project. Through the power of reverse engineering, I created my own Batman Tumbler (from scratch without any instructions) using majority of ArtiFex’s external design (which I would like to respectfully give credit to) and some modifications/enhancements on my part.





Comparison with the real Tumbler:










Reference Pics of Batman's Tumbler: (courtesy of ArtiFex's Creations)

Official Batman's Tumbler


TLG's Batman's Tumbler (from 7888 - Joker's Ice Cream Surprise)


ArtiFex Creations' Batman's Tumbler


KielDaMan's Batman's Tumbler



Well I hoped you like my Batman Tumbler. If you would like to have your own Batman Tumbler you could check out ArtiFex Creations ebay store. I believe they have several units left and they also have other amazing custom Batman Lego items there.

Comments and criticisms are welcome!

Edited by KielDaMan, 10 July 2010 - 01:24 AM.

[Special K]

Very cool!
Does it fit MFs?

[KielDaMan]

Special K, on 09 July 2010 - 09:02 AM, said:

Very cool!
Does it fit MFs?

Yes it does, it actually has an interior, I just forgot to take pics. It's in the same scale as the TLG Tumbler, though we all know how that Tumbler is way off-minifig-scale.

[Special K]

Yeah.
Lego should make sets for AFOLs for the Christopher Nolan Movies.
That would be nice

[SirWacky]

Very nice and very accurate!
Great job I love the bulkiness!

[KielDaMan]

SirWacky, on 09 July 2010 - 10:55 AM, said:

Very nice and very accurate!
Great job I love the bulkiness!

Thanks SirWacky! It's bulkiness really gives it the 'muscular' look.

[lightningtiger]

Nice recreation theee 'KielDaMan' - Holly Tumbler's, Batman !
Keep on bricking !

[prateek]

Oh la la! This is probably the best minifig scaled Tumbler I've seen

[Joey Lock]

That is Sweet!

Perfect, And the rear wheels look's incredible! Great job! Guessing its too fragile for playability though?

[KielDaMan]

lightningtiger, on 09 July 2010 - 02:36 PM, said:

Nice recreation theee 'KielDaMan' - Holly Tumbler's, Batman !
Keep on bricking !

Thanks 'lightningtiger'!

prateek, on 09 July 2010 - 11:05 PM, said:

Oh la la! This is probably the best minifig scaled Tumbler I've seen

It's in the same scale as the TLG Tumbler so it's still slightly large for minifig-scale. But I guess that's the compromise to achieve the most realistic design as possible.

[KielDaMan]

Joey Lock, on 09 July 2010 - 11:40 PM, said:

That is Sweet!

Perfect, And the rear wheels look's incredible! Great job! Guessing its too fragile for playability though?

Yeah the rear wheels are quite massive, but it's not really new since it's just from the original TLG tumbler. During my first versions it was quite fragile, but I already fixed it so it's now sturdy to be played with.

[Henchmen4Hire]

KielDaMan, on 10 July 2010 - 02:35 AM, said:

Yeah the rear wheels are quite massive, but it's not really new since it's just from the original TLG tumbler. During my first versions it was quite fragile, but I already fixed it so it's now sturdy to be played with.

Very cool, man! I imagine I went through the same problems you did when building my current project, trying to make it look good and sturdy to play with.

This thing is badass! Do you have any building instructions for it? It'd be a shame if this thing was accidentally dismantled and you had to start from scratch, or worse, we'd never get to see anything else like it again!

[KielDaMan]

DrNightmare, on 11 July 2010 - 11:27 AM, said:

Very cool, man! I imagine I went through the same problems you did when building my current project, trying to make it look good and sturdy to play with.

This thing is badass! Do you have any building instructions for it? It'd be a shame if this thing was accidentally dismantled and you had to start from scratch, or worse, we'd never get to see anything else like it again!

Thanks DrNightmare. I was quite happy it turned out looking pretty realistic and at the same time sturdy to be played with.

Unfortunately, I don't document any instructions of my MOCs, especially the complex ones (I'm too lazy and busy to make them). Good thing I have a reliable memory so I just keep the instructions 'in my head'.

[Henchmen4Hire]

KielDaMan, on 12 July 2010 - 01:50 AM, said:

Thanks DrNightmare. I was quite happy it turned out looking pretty realistic and at the same time sturdy to be played with.

Unfortunately, I don't document any instructions of my MOCs, especially the complex ones (I'm too lazy and busy to make them). Good thing I have a reliable memory so I just keep the instructions 'in my head'.

Awwww! How about you ship it to me, and I'll build the instructions for you, then ship it back to you when I'm done? :D

(I was trying to reverse-engineer it today with zero luck! haha)

[KielDaMan]

DrNightmare, on 12 July 2010 - 02:29 AM, said:

Awwww! How about you ship it to me, and I'll build the instructions for you, then ship it back to you when I'm done? :D

(I was trying to reverse-engineer it today with zero luck! haha)

Haha, nice one DrNightmare. To be fair it took me significant amount of time and effort just to identify the parts needed by closely analyzing the reference photos from Artifex. I also used the instructions of the 7888 LEGO tumbler for the base. From there I purchased the necessary parts from BL and started to build and continuously modify until I got to the final product. It took me more than a month to finish this one so I think you really have to invest some time, effort, and $$$ if you really want to build this one.

[Batbrick]

Brilliant redesign of the Tumbler there, and a major kudos to Artifex as well for such a brilliant design. Your little modifications and their's really makes the TLG one seem far more ugly!

Batbrick Away!  

[LegoDad42]

Lovely model. I have TLG version but man, this is much improved. I believe I saw the Artifex version with a Bat Pod that comes out the front? Does your version have it as well? Or maybe I'm thinking of another builder who incorporate it?
Great piece...!

[KielDaMan]

Batbrick, on 13 July 2010 - 12:54 PM, said:

Brilliant redesign of the Tumbler there, and a major kudos to Artifex as well for such a brilliant design. Your little modifications and their's really makes the TLG one seem far more ugly!

Batbrick Away!  

At first I thought TLG's Tumbler was pretty ok, until I saw Artifex's Tumbler which is very realistic compared to the real Tumbler. I really don't know why TLG's design is very far off from the real Tumbler. Thanks for the comments Batbrick!

[KielDaMan]

LegoDad42, on 13 July 2010 - 11:47 PM, said:

Lovely model. I have TLG version but man, this is much improved. I believe I saw the Artifex version with a Bat Pod that comes out the front? Does your version have it as well? Or maybe I'm thinking of another builder who incorporate it?
Great piece...!

Thanks Legodad42. Yes it is Artifex's Tumbler that transforms into a Bat Pod. I didn't pursue with that since my Tumbler is purely for display purposes only. Incorporating such Bat Pod transformation will require dismantling the front section, and I won't play with it anyway so there won't be any use for that.

[Strand]

I think it's a definite improvement to the official TLG Tumbler. Unfortunately because of the overlap in pieces/design, I'll still have the same problem I had with the original design: The Tumbler is too big! In the films, it's a little bit larger than a sedan, and can definitely drive within road lanes. Hell, Batman the minifig is the same height as the rear wheels, meaning the Tumbler would be the size of a small house. Nonetheless, I love the individual design of this MOC.

[KielDaMan]

Strand, on 21 July 2010 - 12:05 PM, said:

I think it's a definite improvement to the official TLG Tumbler. Unfortunately because of the overlap in pieces/design, I'll still have the same problem I had with the original design: The Tumbler is too big! In the films, it's a little bit larger than a sedan, and can definitely drive within road lanes. Hell, Batman the minifig is the same height as the rear wheels, meaning the Tumbler would be the size of a small house. Nonetheless, I love the individual design of this MOC.

I gotta admit the Tumbler will always be too big for a regular minifig. It's quite impossible to make a minifig-scale one due to the limited parts selection. I think this will be the smallest scale a Tumbler can approximate the look of the real vehicle based on existing available parts. That's why I intended this MOC to be a model only and did not put the Batman fig there, as he'll look like a midget beside the Tumbler. Thanks for the comments anyway.

[Pellaeon]

KielDaMan, on 22 July 2010 - 08:12 AM, said:

I gotta admit the Tumbler will always be too big for a regular minifig. It's quite impossible to make a minifig-scale one due to the limited parts selection. I think this will be the smallest scale a Tumbler can approximate the look of the real vehicle based on existing available parts.

"Impossible" is a bit of a stretch, but anything smaller than your model (or TLG's model) is going to make sacrifices in the accuracy department. Rick Theroux and Brent Waller have both tried their hands at minifig-scaled versions, with good results:


I'm working on one myself, but it's still very much work-in-progress at this point. I should also note that all of these are really pushing the definition of "minifig-scaled": they are 10-11 studs wide, making them almost twice the width of a regular (6-wide) car.

And btw: nice work, KielDaMan! I especially like the angles and slopes on the front, I think you really nailed them.  

[KielDaMan]

Pellaeon, on 22 July 2010 - 09:09 AM, said:

"Impossible" is a bit of a stretch, but anything smaller than your model (or TLG's model) is going to make sacrifices in the accuracy department. Rick Theroux and Brent Waller have both tried their hands at minifig-scaled versions, with good results:

I'm working on one myself, but it's still very much work-in-progress at this point. I should also note that all of these are really pushing the definition of "minifig-scaled": they are 10-11 studs wide, making them almost twice the width of a regular (6-wide) car.

And btw: nice work, KielDaMan! I especially like the angles and slopes on the front, I think you really nailed them.  

Thanks for clarifying that 'Pellaeon', pardon my lack of awareness of the existence of minifig-scaled Tumbler MOCs. Now that I've seen them, I stand corrected. Those are indeed nice MF-scaled Tumblers, but just like what you said, the accuracy to the real Tumbler was a bit compromised when scaled down to MF size (though it's completely understandable).

I would love to see your MF-scaled Tumbler MOC one of these days. And thanks for the kind comments.

[SilentMode]

I definitely like your version the best, not least because it's in slick black.

[KielDaMan]

SilentMode, on 08 August 2010 - 11:36 AM, said:

I definitely like your version the best, not least because it's in slick black.

Thanks, but all of the other versions are in 'slick' black as well.