Wednesday, February 26, 2014

1950's Batmobile & The Silver Knight 1956

Johnny Lightning issued several Batmobile kits including the one featured here today.  This kit is 1/24 scale and features a pre-painted die cast body.  The modeler need only paint the interior and the details.  Aurora made a 1/32 scale Batmobile in the 1960's to go with their Batplane as can be seen in the comic advertisement below.  I don't remember the scale of the Batplane. 
Model car scales go hand in hand with slot car (electric race car) scales.  1/24 was primarily for club and commercial racing, 1/32 was for "full size" home tracks (if you had the room) and later they came up with "HO" size for home, but the cars are actually closer to 1/64 (approximate scale of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars) than 1/87 (HO model railroading).  Many of the car kits from the 1950's and 60's are designed to be put on the shelf with the included bottom, but you could remove the bottom of the car (undercarriage and wheels) and snap in a slot car chassis, mechanism and wheels to race.  Many of the model cars designed like this were bought simply because a slot car in the desired design was not being manufactured.  The manufacturer could sell the car kit to two markets instead of just one.  I have a couple of cars built on this format.  I will have to dig one out and photograph it in the near future.
I really prefer my car models in 1/25. Revell and Monogram both used 1/24 scale but 1/25 was used by AMT (love those old 3 in 1 kits!) and MPC, but I am willing to make exceptions for certain vehicles for my collection.  That being said, I am not all gaga over the 1950's Batmobile per se.  I really just do not understand a supposedly fast, sleek prowl/patrol/pursuit car which doubles as an RV.  Desk, lab equipment, spinny seat, file cabinets attached to the back of the driver's and passenger's seats...just sayin'.  If the car companies did not have the idea for an SUV yet, they surely found the inspiration right here in The Batmobile of 1950.  
Johnny Lightning did a great job, imho, of reproducing the car from this comic book, right down to the microscope and test tubes.  Everything went together well and it looks good on the shelf with all my other vehicles.  First is a picture of the model box and below that is the model I built.




For our Aurora moment today, we start with a bit of history.  The company was founded in 1950 and began making model kits in 1952.  Initially they made airplanes, later adding tanks, cars, ships, etc.   They didn't actually start making figure kits until 1956.  Their first was the Silver Knight.  This is the kit that started the figure kit line and the figure kits were what made Aurora one of the big three in model kits in the 1960's.  
 I do not have one of these in my collection.  (UPDATE!  I just got one and am working on building and painting it as of 1/19/2015)  (FURTHER UPDATE!  It is posted below)  It is the only one of the five knights I don't have, and one of only 9 Aurora kits still on my want list, so I really need to work on that.  
The first box shown below is the original issue.  The second is the one with which I am most familiar and the third is the 1968 kit when the mold for the Silver Knight was issued as King Arthur from the Knights of Camelot.  I really don't know much about the Camelot series of knight issues because I do not recall seeing them in stores and have never owned any.  As for seeing kits in stores, the Silver, Blue and Black Knights were the last Aurora kits I saw for retail price in a hobby shop.  They were in stock (about 3 of each) in a bicycle shop in Indiana in 1985.  Owner said he ordered them from Aurora Canada.


My built up



I unpacked the Master Box Checkpoint tonight and primed the contents.  These are planned for the 1/35 diorama I am working on.  Below is an image of the box contents.  







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