And the fourth of my Husky 66 toys, a Batmobile that was in pretty good shape apart from missing it's drivers.
1) I love the fluoro red bat symbols on the doors, so I'll save them for later by removing them gently with lighter fluid.
2) I've cleaned up the paint chips with steel wool and I've masked off everything else with Play D... "Looey, we're on Blue Peter, you can't use brand names here!" Um, that Dough... that you... play with. By the way, where's Peter Purvis? I met him at one of my dad's Sunday morning coffee soirees... "Yeah, he left in 1978, why are you still stuck in the 60's?"
3) After spray painting with gloss black enamel that P... stuff removes quite nicely, but you have to be careful of cleaning yp any fragments left behind.
I next tried adding some very thin strips of red vinyl sheet for pinstripes, but I gave it up as a bad idea.
4) Next up it's time to tackle the occupant situation. I found photos of Husky figures and sculpted and scanned Robin, then broadened his shoulders and turned him into Batman. I'd learnt by this time that I could be fairly broad because these figures end up so ridiculously small.
5) I revisited the pinstripes by painting them on by brush, which because they were all on sharp edges turned out to be easier than I thought! Painting the Dynamic Duo was a real headache. I had one of those head mounted magnifiers Dr. Smith used in Lost in Space, but I still nearly went blind painting in Batman's white eyes! A 3D modelled steering wheel and they boys were almost ready to roll.
I love the fluoro red beacon on the larger Corgi version, but this one was moulded in clear blue plastic, so as expected it didn't look particularly cool when I painted it clear Orange. Biting the bullet, I painted it flat white with a clear pink topcoat which is as good as it's ever going to be. Then a bit of chrome work on the canopy and the hubcaps, restuck the door stickers and more P... that stuff, so I could tie it all together with another clear overcoat. I printed Robin just a bit smaller and he almost looks like he needs a seat booster, but then he is the BOY wonder!
By the way, after that recent Moonbase post about the Matchbox Muir Hill Hiway Site Dumper, I think those knobbly tyres were copied for the Husky range and ended up being fitted to 007's and Batman's cars! Some chrome hubcap work smartened them up a bit, but they are nowhere near as classy as the Monkeemobile and the Piranha!
Hope you like it.
Now to celebrate my own 66, maybe with a faux Husky Gift set header card!
Thats a lovely job Looey! You need the little plastic Batboat and trailer now! It actually looks more like the large version now, which is pretty cool! Bill
ReplyDeleteAnother great restoration job. Excellent work on the figures, well beyond my skills. The trick to painting eyes is to paint the whites of the eyes first (off white is less stark than actual white), and then paint around them with the flesh colour. This is a lot easier than trying to add a tiny dot of white, and have both sides match.
ReplyDeleteThat's some pretty sharp work, Looey. Lovely to see the Batmobile back on the road.
ReplyDelete