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Polar Lights Kit Number 6902 1/60 The BatPlane |
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Reviewed By Mark McGovern, #34707 |
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MSRP: $17.99 USD The 1960’s were a heady time to be a kid. I’m sure that most of us of a “certain age” will fondly remember the ABC-TV series, Batman. As was their custom at the time, the Aurora Plastics Corporation produced several tie-in kits for the show. Fast-forward almost forty years: Polar Lights, which has been filling the nostalgic niche for Aurora models fans, reissues the Batplane. It’s still available at most hobby and toy stores now, with a suggested retail price of $17.99. This particular weapon of the Caped Crusader’s arsenal against crime never appeared on the TV series. The model’s design was based on various comic book renderings of the machine. (This makes it a perfect companion piece to Polar Light’s Batmobile kit, which is also based on comic book designs from the 1960’s). The fuselage is 11-15/16” long, with a 10-1/2” wingspan. The model kit consists of 21 parts, cleanly molded in black and clear styrene (photo 1). A friend at Polar Lights told me that the original Aurora molds had been destroyed long ago. But it has become possible to back engineer the reissue from an existing kit, using laser scanning and computer technologies to tool new molds. The original box art, instructions, and decal sheet have also been reproduced. Thus, in their own way the folks at Polar Lights have created a kind of time travel for those of us who were kids in the 1960s. The cockpit has only the busts of the Dynamic Duo and a few angular bumps representing the interior, which was typical of early aircraft offerings. The landing gear is keyed to positions on the underside of the machine and is pretty simplistic, though there are truly fantastic “batwing” gear doors attached to them. Beyond some basic indications for the control surfaces, there aren’t any panel lines on the fuselage or wings. However, the overall design is sleek and impressive. I chose to build this kit straight out of the box. Although I’m not an aircraft modeler myself, I can imagine that it would be fun to make the Batplane look more realistic by adding detail to the cockpit and scratchbuilding wheel wells. Even the scale of the model could be altered - at 1/60 scale, the Batplane is smack dab in between 1/48 and 1/72 scales. A modeler could go with either, depending on what scale aftermarket details and figures were used, to make the Batplane a larger or smaller scale model. That’s part of the fun of Sci-Fi/Fantasy modeling! |
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| The Batplane’s assembly was straightforward, except for the seams between the wing halves. They’re so deep I wondered whether I they might be meant to represent panel lines or something. It took me a lot of time, filler (I used Squadron Green Putty and gap-filling super glue), and sanding to make the seams disappear (photo 2). On the plus side, the wings had industrial-strength locators help mount them to the fuselage. |
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Another challenge was the cleanup of the mold-parting line that runs the length of the cockpit interior, part 3. After I removed the
line, I used a tiny engraving bit in a Dremel tool to define the features of the 1/60-scale figures. With a little puttying and
sanding, I was able to make what details there were on the figures stand out (photo 3). The construction of the fuselage went better. Liquid cement welded the parts so that the seams between the fuselage halves were much easier to eliminate. The gaps between the wings and stabilizers to the fuselage were fairly easy to fill with Milliput two-part epoxy putty. I left the landing gear off my model to represent the Batplane in flight. I finished the model using Testors oil-based paints, using the box illustration for my inspiration. Over a flat dark True Blue base coat, I airbrushed flat black to enhance the Batplane’s contours. A little back-and-forth airbrushing with the two colors defined the details, such as the “batwing” ribbing on the wings and stabilizers. Future Acrylic Floor Polish was applied over the flat paints to gloss them for the decals. The classic two-piece Aurora aircraft stand has been included with this kit by Polar Lights. To reinforce the attachment of the Batplane to the stand I add a small piece of acrylic rod behind the mounting tab. The stand leg and base were cemented with 5-minute epoxy for strength and to avoid clouding the clear plastic. Hats (or more appropriately, cowls) off to Polar Lights for taking us on yet another trip into the past! My thanks to them and the incredibly patient John Noack for providing me this kit to review. |
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