37 replies to this topic

[Pellaeon]

"The Tumbler" Batmobile
From Batman Begins and The Dark Knight
MOC by Pellaeon
flickr set



At last, my second MOC in the Licensed Forum: The Tumbler from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight! I had hoped to finish it last weekend, but I had some trouble getting "Black Wheel 30.4 x 14 with Pin Hole, Fake Bolts and Shallow Spokes" from a seller on Bricklink...

A minifigure-scaled Tumbler is a serious challenge. It's a very strange vehicle, and it would be impossible to recreate every sharp angle and plate in a vehicle that's 10-12 studs wide. So it's all about compromise, and getting the overall look and feel as close as possible. I'm not the first to try; it's certainly a fun challenge!







Of course Batman fits in the cockpit... why would you even ask that?  

I think this turned out pretty well... the front is very angular, the sides are complex, and the rear tires are ridiculous. As always, more pictures can be seen on flickr, including a couple shots of The Tumbler next to my B:TAS Batmobile.



Comments and criticisms are welcome, thanks for looking!

[Svelte]

Wow, great work!

The Tumbler is a difficult shape to capture with any accuracy, and as KielDaMan's pics showed, LEGO got the shape right but the detail was pretty gappy. A minifig scaled Tumbler is even more impressive in capturing the angular madness of the original with a limited parts palette!

Thanks for sharing, Pellaeon!

[prateek]

Awesomeness, in black

Great job, I love how compacted this is compared to other Tumbler MOCs.

[Fires-storm]

Well done, you truly capture the essence of this stunning vehicle

[KielDaMan]

So this is the MF-scaled Tumbler you were working on... It certainly is a very impressive work Pellaeon! I must say you really did a very good job getting the right look while getting it down to MF-scale, you definitely disproved my point in our previous discussion before.   You pretty much got all the 'necessary' elements right  - the front and rear wheels, triple rear flap wings and the side and front wedges and slopes. Just curious though, I observed in the last shot, the Tumbler looks a bit small compared to the batmobile, is that the right relative size of both vehicles compared to each other? (Sorry, I'm just used to seeing my own Tumbler as a massive vehicle )

Edited by KielDaMan, 13 August 2010 - 05:23 AM.

[dr_spock]

Awesome job.  

[Pellaeon]

Ooh, front-paged!  Thanks!!  

KielDaMan, on 13 August 2010 - 05:20 AM, said:

Just curious though, I observed in the last shot, the Tumbler looks a bit small compared to the batmobile, is that the right relative size of both vehicles compared to each other? (Sorry, I'm just used to seeing my own Tumbler as a massive vehicle )

I'm not sure how the two would measure up, but I agree the B:TAS Batmobile shouldn't be nearly that large in comparison. I think it's a side effect of so-called "minifig scale": because of the odd dimensions of minifigs, their vehicles also have odd proportions. To get the overall width/length ratio right for the B:TAS Batmobile while still enabling it to fit a minifig, I had to make the car very, very big; the Tumbler, though also oversized, fared much better in this regard.

Thanks for the compliments, everyone!

Edited by Pellaeon, 13 August 2010 - 07:37 AM.

[Flare]

This is extremely impressive! I am quite awed by all of those difficult angles you included in here, and still leaving room for Batman inside! Great job, Pellaeon.  

[AFOL12v]

Have you also a building instruction or something of that kind? I would like build this one too. It looks fantastic.

[Pellaeon]

AFOL12v, on 13 August 2010 - 07:12 AM, said:

Have you also a building instruction or something of that kind? I would like build this one too. It looks fantastic.

Sorry, no building instructions.  I design and build in real Lego (and redesign and rebuild, redesign and rebuild, ... ).  I can try disassembling it a bit and taking some "in progress" shots to make reverse engineering it easier... I'll see if I can do that sometime in the next week or so.

Pellaeon, on 13 August 2010 - 05:36 AM, said:

I'm not sure how the two would measure up, but I agree the B:TAS Batmobile shouldn't be nearly that large in comparison. I think it's a side effect of so-called "minifig scale": because of the odd dimensions of minifigs, their vehicles also have odd proportions. To get the overall width/length ratio right for the B:TAS Batmobile while still enabling it to fit a minifig, I had to make the car very, very big; the Tumbler, though also oversized, fared much better in this regard.

Or maybe my excuse should be... The Tumbler, though massive, is a real vehicle from Chris Nolan's "realistic" take on Batman. The B:TAS Batmobile, on the other hand, is cartoonishly big.  

Edited by Pellaeon, 13 August 2010 - 07:42 AM.

[lightningtiger]

AWESOME 'Pellaeon' - congrats on being front paged too !
As Robin would say 'Holy brick-built wonder, Batman' !
Keep on bricking !

[SilentMode]

I want one of those! In lime :)

Excellent work recreating the model in miniature. Is it able to be played with, or is it fragile?

[Rick]

That's slopes madness. Excellent work Pallaeon.

[GIR 3691]

Very nice work. I'm impressed with your approach to those tricky angles along the back of the Tumbler. Those gave me quite a headache when building mine.

[WetWired]

This makes me want to go back and revisit mine and see if I can improve it, it was the first thing I ever built coming out of my dark ages and I have more pieces now.

Yours looks a lot more compact and I think my rear tires are too small in retrospect

[Allos]

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!!!!

Looking forward to the building instructions :)

[Milan]

Awesome recreation of the Tumbler!
It is extremely sharp-shaped vehicle and you managed to build it correctly!

[SWMAN]

Wow that is great. I have always loved the tumbler more than the traditional batmobile. Great job.

[Pellaeon]

SilentMode, on 13 August 2010 - 10:04 AM, said:

Excellent work recreating the model in miniature. Is it able to be played with, or is it fragile?

Thanks! It's quite sturdy, but the front wheels would probably pop off if you played with it too much.  

WetWired, on 14 August 2010 - 01:04 AM, said:

This makes me want to go back and revisit mine and see if I can improve it, it was the first thing I ever built coming out of my dark ages and I have more pieces now.

Yours looks a lot more compact and I think my rear tires are too small in retrospect

Glad you liked it!  I really like your version (especially the camo one), and I used your instructions as a starting point.  I think your version and mine are almost the same size, but those giant rear tires do make a difference. I'm excited to see what you do if you revisit it.  

And thanks for the kind words, everyone!  The Tumbler isn't my favorite Batmobile -- I actually hated it at first -- but it's grown on me over the years, especially after we saw it in action.

Edited by Pellaeon, 16 August 2010 - 02:18 AM.

[earthnite]

Pellaeon, on 16 August 2010 - 02:16 AM, said:

Glad you liked it!  I really like your version (especially the camo one), and I used your instructions as a starting point.  I think your version and mine are almost the same size, but those giant rear tires do make a difference. I'm excited to see what you do if you revisit it.  

The smaller tires are more to scale, the bigger tires are just too big,there as tall as minifig, which doesn't look right. however the model looks great with the bigger wheels, so it depends on what you want, scale or looks.

[Special K]

EPIC!
I wish they had made dark night sets.

[Solscud007]

Special K, on 17 August 2010 - 07:20 AM, said:

EPIC!
I wish they had made dark night sets.

I just have the official DK tumbler set. But this looks WAY better. I like the smaller size.

What sets have those wheels that you used? Do you think the 7888 Tumbler has the required pieced to make this? other than the wheels.

[Pellaeon]

earthnite, on 16 August 2010 - 11:48 PM, said:

The smaller tires are more to scale, the bigger tires are just too big,there as tall as minifig, which doesn't look right. however the model looks great with the bigger wheels, so it depends on what you want, scale or looks.

You are correct. I did try making the whole thing smaller (8-9 studs wide, with the smaller tires), but it wasn't working out.  Since the whole vehicle is a bit oversized, the bigger tires seemed like the way to go.  

Special K, on 17 August 2010 - 07:20 AM, said:

EPIC!
I wish they had made dark night sets.

Thanks!  TLG did make one Dark Knight set, 7888 The Tumbler: Joker's Ice Cream Surprise.  I only have a couple of the official Batman sets, and sadly that isn't one of them.

Solscud007, on 17 August 2010 - 10:08 PM, said:

What sets have those wheels that you used? Do you think the 7888 Tumbler has the required pieced to make this? other than the wheels.

Interesting question! 7888 would get you a lot of the pieces, particularly a bunch of black plates, bricks, and slopes. You'd need more 1x3 wedge plates, and some of those new Brick, Modified 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side in black or dark bley. The tires I used are pretty easy to find, but the wheels are a bit tricky to find in black... of course, gray or pearl gold wheels would look just fine. Here are links to the "wheel & tire assemblies" (though it's probably easier to find the wheels and tires separately):

• Wheel 30.4 x 14 with Pin Hole, with Black Tire 24 x 14 Shallow Tread
  
• Wheel 30.4 x 14 with Axle Hole, with Black Tire 37 x 18R

[indyman09]

That's a good Tumbler. Lego's size was way to big, it was more something for the Toy Story line

[dindon]

Great Job there Pellaeon !
Your Tumbler is fantastic...Oh and i love your B:TAS Batmobile, Brilliant !