[MOD] 76139 1989 Batmobile - Motorized with all functions

[recklessGlitch]

Hey folks, another Motorization: all Functions of the 1989 Batmobile (LEGO 76139) RC controlled - yep the Batman again...



Without sacrificing any of the nice details:
Cockpit is still there, steering wheel works, just all motor driven and I motorized the guns and the roof and even made a tailored sbrick profile.

Building instructions: Motorized LEGO 1989 Batmobile on rebrickable

• Driven by 2 LEGO Power Functions L-Motors (1:1 transmission)
• steered by a LEGO Power Functions Servo Motor
• guns engaged/disengaged by Motor
• roof opened/closed by Motor
• special Sbrick profile with programmig and grafics included
• a lot of space for up to 2 battery boxes/control hubs easily reachable under the trunk hatch (details on my rebrickable MOC page)

Watch a Review of my motorized 1989 Batmobile on youtube:

The Batmobile from Tim Burton's Batman 1989 with Michael Keaton is definitely one of the coolest, it's not as funky as the 1960s TV version and not as tank as the Nolan version but in my opinion it's simply a beaute!

The 1989 Batmobile is using over 3,300 pieces, and over 60cm long. I added a few hundred bricks, mainly LEGO Technic and reused some others. So I ended up with over 3500 parts and (batteries included) almost 3.5 kg. That's heavy! So I needed a powerfull drive. I was thinking about the buggy motors but these are large and I wanted to put the batteries into the trunk. So i went for a pair of LEGO Power Functions L-Motors. These are some of the strongest LEGO motors and very small and efficient for their power and speed. The 1989 Batmobile is sleak and lies very deep on the road so it is geometrically impossible to move up any small hills (or even carpets). It will get stuck with its floor height of less then a brick. So it will only drive on a flat surface anyway. So it can be build for speed instead of torque power which the 1:1 transmission of the two L-Motors will do: It's a speed build, literally.

One reason to put the batteries into the trunk was, to reach it easily for changing/recharging or simply switching on. Another reason was, to not put them into the beautifull cockpit with its nice self opening windshield - self opening? Yes, now it is motor driven ofcourse. And you hardly see the mechanics on the floor. Okay, the Batman minifigure included is way too small for the car but I found a Batman LEGO LED light, that fits into the car. Just be carefull when closing the cockpit to not get stuck. Slide-open is no problem. The car’s turbine exhaust by the way does not drive the machine guns anymore (it does in the original) because now a motor engages them. So I could make the jet exhaust it look like a real jet engine - the only exterior I changed. To make the two machine guns hidden, under the hood pop up, just press a button now.

The Batmobile comes with nice little Bat emblems printed on the wheel rim - try not to lose them while driving, they are rare parts. The set of specially designed tyres for the front wheels is steered in a very specific geometry. I took care to keep that working the exact same way because it works very well for steering. The Build was complicated, took me weeks to get it right. I didnt want to change the exterior and as few as possible from the cockpit. You shouldnt see the opening mechanics. And I wanted to have all the features working, even the steering wheel (though steering is handled by a servo motor now) Every time I thought I got it, something else made problems, untill finally it all worked out.

You can skip the trial and error (and breaking old LEGO gears) part: I made instructions and made them easily readable, so you can have it speed build in no time. I believe everyone should be able to build a LEGO set and try to make my instructions like that.

Now it's hard to say, which one is the best batmobile motorization I ever made: The Lego 76139 1989 UCS Batmobile has more functions: motor driven MGs and a motor driven roof, the remote controlled motorized Lego 76023 UCS Tumbler I modded however has a full steerable front suspension for the independen wheels.

my special Sbrick profile with some automated scripts is included


I even made a cable layout for the power functions cables and extentions


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Edited July 16, 2021 by recklessGlitch

[Clone OPatra]

You've done a fantastic job on the modifications and power functions for this! The model already looked great, but now it's epic! It looks like a lot of fun to control and play around with.

A word of advice, I think your choice of Topic heading might put people off. Your modifications deserve more views and engagement, but your very long topic heading with so many things in it comes across as a bit spammy. Something simple like "[MOD] 76139 1989 Batmobile - Motorized with Added Functions" is more in line with what people expect from a topic title, and would grab their interest.

[recklessGlitch]

I see what you mean, Thanks a lot

Edited July 16, 2021 by recklessGlitch