Batcave Southeast Restructure

[TGB]

The title of the thread is borrowed from the final minutes of Batman Begins between Alfred and Bruce. A lot of my progress on my build has been recorded in another thread found here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=86363&st=25#entry1995899, but that thread has laid dormant for almost a year now and rather than resurface it, I felt as if there was enough work done to warrant a new thread. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It'll bring you up to speed.

So where I left off was a cave that sits on a 4 foot by 4 foot base and I was quickly running out of room to add bigger and better features, so I tore down the southeast wall coincidentally, added an extra table, some more wood for support and bought three more 48x48 baseplates to get things under way.

And then it sat...

For months...

Untouched by human hands...

It looked like this until mid-June...

I added in an aqua duct, mainly to support and brace the other and inner walls. I briefly covered this in my other thread...

But I hated it. It was functional but not aesthetic and even using Lego physics, I couldn't even begin to justify its existence... So I tore it down and started over and came up with this design.

My plans are to tile the sides and the center of the 8x8 grille plates, but I'm waiting on a ton of BL orders to come in and unfortunately, they're all in there.

As you can see in the bottom left of that photo, I added a new platform. I was inspired by one of the comics where the cave features a similarly tiered structure, so I went for it.

There are going to be three tiers total, with columns supporting each level, eventually. I'm trying to design a stairwell that will reach each tier, that's structurally sound and visibly appealing but I'm not quite there yet. I've got a few ideas up my sleeve, if anybody has any feedback or ideas, I'd greatly appreciate it!

I had enough plates in my inventory to completely finish off the second tier to the structure.

After a lot of back and forth, I picked up Man-Bat Attack #76011, I liked the helicopter a lot more than my original 2006 model but wasn't entirely sold on the new Nightwing but decided to grab it anyway, so I needed to add in a landing pad somewhere. So I finished off my columns, spanned the gap and added a pad on the top.

I think the best feature that I've added so far is something that's not as mainstream with Batman and the Batcave but still an important part of the mythos none the less, access the the subway system of Gotham City, so I built a subway tunnel.

The tunnel serves two purposes, one being it looks pretty cool if you ask me. The second is when I was laying out the expansion, to match my existing footprints, things weren't lining up 100% because of the indentations on the cave side walls on the other half whereas this section goes straight all the way down and doesn't indent. It's going to make things look less uniform, as you'll see later on but I'll do my best to blend it in or incorporate something into it so it looks as if it belongs.

The tunnel features a manual sliding transfer section, that can join two storage track sections, that will be enclosed at a later time.

Storage Position #1.

Storage Position 2.

I have it designed so when the transfer track is completely over into the second track, the edge of the platform stops on the side buffers. I will eventually incorporate a locking pin to add another level of detail to it.

I've got a few ideas with what I want to do with this area, none of which I think will actually work with the space that I have, so I'm going to come up with a happy medium but it will be vehicle storage. I wanted to house a carousel that was featured in A Long Halloween but I don't think I'm going to go down that road. When I come to a final decision with what I'm going with, I'll enclose the tunnel accordingly. It's either going to be a stand alone cave enclosure or somehow built into this open half of the cave.

Also, under the PF Battery Box, I blew a section of the wall out and created an entrance way into this half of the cave. Eventually it will be tied into the rest of this expansion using a catwalk system.

One final thing I'm working on at the moment is a rotating suit chamber, similar in style to the one seen in the DoJ trailer...

My hope is that they will release the battle suit shown in the trailer and I will keep it housed in here. It rotates manually and I'm going to try and hide the mechanism as best as I can. I could throw a motor on it but it seems like a lot of work for a small effect.

Anyway, that's it for now. A lot of it is still underway and unfinished but I wanted to get these pictures out so I could post final product images as they're taken. I don't have a desktop at home so my updates and activity on the forums aren't a daily thing.

Hope you guys enjoy the work so far, I've put a lot of time into it these last couple of months. The frustrating part is having an idea, executing it, running out of parts and waiting for bricklink orders.

Any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas are welcome and greatly appreciated.

Enjoy,

TGB

[Bricky Dee Williams]

Jaw hits floor...stays there. Wow! This is absolutely amazing! The subway is the best part, but just wow! The space, the bricks, the amount of the same piece needed and used. This is truly an amazing feat! Well done, and I look forward to following your progress!

[sander1992]

It is huge. The last time I saw the pictures, I had the same thought.

The detail at the subway is very nice.

[Jay_Em]

This is seriously impressive.

I'd love to see an overview shot to get an idea of where everything is and just how big it is.

[TGB]

Jaw hits floor...stays there. Wow! This is absolutely amazing! The subway is the best part, but just wow! The space, the bricks, the amount of the same piece needed and used. This is truly an amazing feat! Well done, and I look forward to following your progress!

Thanks! I'm in a bit of a stall at the moment. I'm waiting on a huge bricklink order I placed mid to late last month and it still hasn't shipped. Not quite thrilled about it but I don't want to double order at the same time.

It is huge. The last time I saw the pictures, I had the same thought.

The detail at the subway is very nice.

Thank you! It's easily the most advanced technique I've used so far and it's really worked out, it's also my first time using it. I can't wait until I've got it finished off completely.

This is seriously impressive.

I'd love to see an overview shot to get an idea of where everything is and just how big it is.

Thanks! I don't have a current overview shot but I can take one tonight and have it posted tomorrow at some point. Things will be moving around a bit soon as I get the bricklink order that I'm waiting on. I'm moving the trophy room to the new area and I'm going to rework the suit display cases with LED lighting eventually.

But for reference, it's 6 feet by 4 feet (2 meter by 1 meter).

[TGB]

As promised, here's the picture:

Also picked up this behemoth yesterday, I'm 4.5 hours into it and about halfway done.

[qoob]

I cannot find words to describe it...i'm crying with happins watching this beauty

[TGB]

I cannot find words to describe it...i'm crying with happins watching this beauty

Don't cry too hard! I've been putting time between the cave and the Tumbler. I finally got my BL order in, so I was able to get some more work done, redesigned some stuff, tore a bunch of stuff down and rebuilt it. I'll have some pictures posted tomorrow of different things. Put in a bunch of orders these last two days so things should really start shaping up next week and I can start moving things around to their new homes.

[Jay_Em]

Thanks for that picture, TGB. Really shows the scale of this beast.

[TGB]

Thanks for that picture, TGB. Really shows the scale of this beast.

Most welcome!\

I got some of my light bley parts in, so I started with the columns for my new levels.

I didn't realize when I was designing it that a double convex corner in light bley was next to impossible to obtain so I ordered some light grey. I'll have to live with the color difference when those come in.

I added in another level above the subway storage tracks for the suit chamber. I had this massive chamber built and then I decided to go with something a little more streamlined and basic. To add the platform in securely, I had to tear down the elevator and the top two layers of cave walls to get everything in place. I decided to go with a PF motor to drive the mechanism, I routed the cable through the cave sidewall and through the motor housing for the elevator shaft.

The two voids on the left hand side will be pull out storage for batarangs and such. I'm also planning on a smaller computer terminal to the right hand side. Waiting on more bricklink orders to finish this area off.

You can see the remnants for the suit chamber that I had put together in the bottom right just hanging out there. I think my final design is what may be closer to what's in the BVS film, judging from the trailer.

Upcoming additions:

The trophy room will be relocated to the new section.

The gym will be relocated to the trophy room area, with added equipment.

A Rogues Gallery set of display cases will be put in.

A cellphone sonar computer display will be implemented.

A catwalk will span from the elevator platform to the Bat pad, with a catwalk down to the Batwing pad.

[Actor Builder]

I really like the way this is growing, I'm not a huge fan of Batman, but watching these threads has been quite entertaining.

Are you planning to cover the "Big Ugly Rock Pieces" A.K.A. BURPS with brick built rock formations, to make it look a bit more natural?

Also, do you plan to have a "roof" on this? Perhaps removable? Or maybe even...Wayne Manor?

Godspeed

[TGB]

I really like the way this is growing, I'm not a huge fan of Batman™, but watching these threads has been quite entertaining.

Are you planning to cover the "Big Ugly Rock Pieces" A.K.A. BURPS with brick built rock formations, to make it look a bit more natural?

Also, do you plan to have a "roof" on this? Perhaps removable? Or maybe even...Wayne Manor?

Godspeed

It's definitely a plan of mine, will it happen, I hope so. Right now it's so far down my list, I want to get everything into place first this way I can blend everything in and make it as if the cave walls were modified to accept the structures. I'd like to eventually tile the floor and put in stalactites and stalagmites in areas as well.

I've been working on this on and off since 2009 or so, didn't really go anywhere until I discovered Bricklink in 2012. It sat dormant for the last year or so, for multiple reasons.

No roof and as of right now no Wayne Manor for this build, I'd finish by the time I'm 50 if that was the case. My fascination has always been with the cave itself and the different incarnations of it. While the Manor would be cool, to make it in scale with the cave, I'd have to do a lot of structural additions to hold the weight of it, it would be massive. I definitely have the footprint for a good sized Manor though. I won't say never, but right now it's not even on my radar.

This all started in 2006 after I bought the initial Batman wave and had all the vehicles and nowhere to put them. It wasn't until 2008 or 2009 I actually began to mentally plan this. Originally it was a lot smaller.

I only had planned on going two layers high. Two turned into three, into four, then finally I decided on 6. If I do another expansion down the line, I definitely need a bigger dock area so I may blow out the face of the cave and add on another section.

I was able to knock this out last night, I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I got lucky that everything lined up pretty well and was able to keep with the look of the other major catwalks and didn't have to improvise at all.

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

This is one of my favorite bat caves.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Too many details!!!

Absolutely outstanding MOC!

I love the rails and the complex architecture!

[TGB]

This is one of my favorite bat caves.

Thank you! I had 3 days off of work this weekend, most of the time was spent with the cave. I'm not even mad about it.

Too many details!!!

Absolutely outstanding MOC!

I love the rails and the complex architecture!

Thank you! I was going to go with the RC rails but then I decided on a transfer system similar to what they use on roller coasters, so I brick built them. I haven't built an actual subway car yet though.

Here's a few more pictures,

I added lights to the suit display, took out the second Batman suit and added Batgirl.

I finished off the suit chamber.

I also started working on the Rogues Gallery.

Each case will be lit up, I built in a spot for the battery box to mount, now I just need to get my hands on 7 powe function LED sets.

Still waiting on parts to finish it off, plus the lights. It's going to be elevated by one or two bricks when she goes into place.

The Rogues I used are:

The Red Hood (purist)

Batzarro

Deathstroke

Scarecrow

Killer Croc

Harley Quinn

Joker

Penguin

Catwoman

Two Face

The Riddler

Mr Freeze

Poison Ivy

Bane

I'd love to incorperate a Gray Ghost display somewhere in the cave as well. Does anyone have any suggestions for a purist body that would work out?

[Actor Builder]

I'm not familiar enough with Batman to know this...

Why are all the villains in boxes? Are they just like wax figures?

I love the lighting though.

[Kez]

Wow! Now that is a project... This looks brilliant and I look forward to seeing the final piece; also if you get a chance TGB, it may be nice to make a video showing what some of those motors and functions look like when put to use.

[TGB]

I'm not familiar enough with Batman to know this...

Why are all the villains in boxes? Are they just like wax figures?

I love the lighting though.

In some incarnations, notably the Batman Beyond series (I just watched a few episodes the other day so it's fresh in my mind) there are suit and costume displays scattered amongst the cave as part of his "trophy" collection. Usually it's the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn and the Gray Ghost. I didn't want to do a bunch of individual displays as they'd be difficult to light and place and keep the overall flow of the cave undisturbed so I consolidated them and put them all in one case. In my case, they're simulating wax figures as a reminder of his Rogues Gallery.

The display with the Batman/Robin/Nightwing/Batgirl suits was inspired by Batman Beyond as well, where the suits are there as a shrine if you will, to the people who wore the mantle of their respective costumes.

I never really had Robin in mind when I started the cave, I've honestly never really been a huge fan of the character. That's why there isn't much associated with him throughout the cave with the exceptions of his water craft and the suit display/Jason Todd memorial. Just a few traces to say, "Yeah, he was here but not anymore."

Wow! Now that is a project... This looks brilliant and I look forward to seeing the final piece; also if you get a chance TGB, it may be nice to make a video showing what some of those motors and functions look like when put to use.

Thank you! I've taken video in the past but nothing really ever good. I'll see if I can grab some better footage at some point and get it uploaded.

I'm contemplating making an Instagram account and just uploading pictures from its early stages to now. If I do, I can post the link and have people follow the progress of the build off of the forums.