Bat cave Atomic Pile

[STP Swallowthispill]

Gotta love the good ole Getty archives.

You know we'd love to see you take on the whole the whole cave buddy

That's the plan but I have to get the biggest thing in the cave looking correct first.
If I am satisfied with that I will move forward it is in my opinion the most difficult thing so far to build in the Bat cave.


Charles

[Lurky Mclurkson]

Thanks for the pictures, they are superb!
I am really worried about if this thing turns out like I am planning I am going to try to make the entire cave and the Bat machines with all those buttons and lights I don't know if I can make those.

I've no doubt your AP will be fantastic, as will the 'cave, should you tackle it.
Myself, I can barely cut a straight line using safety scissors.

[STP Swallowthispill]

I made a little more progress on the project.
Here you see the tape I ordered to wrap the legs with it is 6mm masking tape.
I must say the rolls looked much bigger on Amazon than they actually were!


I may have to order more to complete the legs I already have one leg wrapped not sure I like it as there are a lot of wrinkles in the tape but the legs of the AP had wrinkles so it may work out!
I will post a pic of the legs next time after they are painted.

I worked some more on the top catwalk just cleanup work filing and so forth I also added some detail to the underside.



Here you can see how the legs will fit into the catwalk pardon my junky work table .




Here I am checking to see what paint will work the Turquoise on the railings is showing darker in the pic than it actually is. I don't like the catwalk color and am trying gray.
It is tough to find colors that look right any help on that would be greatly appreciated as all money wasted on paint that does not work is money I can spend to finish this thing.
So please comment with any ideas on paint you may have.



Well that's all for this week.

Charles

[burkestudio]

looks great! thanks for the update!!

-Jeremy

[svl]

Glad you're still at it.

[STP Swallowthispill]

looks great! thanks for the update!!

-Jeremy

I am trying to work on it every Saturday and some during the week if I feel like it.
I goofed up big time Sunday when I tried to work on it.
Someone and I am not mentioning any names left the lid on the glue not screwed on and I knocked it over!
What a mess I cleaned it up and will continue luckily it did not get on anything I was working on.

Case you have not guessed it...............It was Me! (that left the glue lid not tightened)

Charles

[STP Swallowthispill]

Glad you're still at it.

Still slaving away hey I was watching the return to the bat cave documentary and noticed something I had not before. They had a mockup of the atomic pile not exact but close and there was a scene where the actor playing the part of Burt Ward had to kiss a girl and his wife does not like it so he takes her aside and guess where they go to talk. Behind the Atomic Pile! There you can see three panels like the ones on the front that have the buttons gauges and knife switches but these panels have absolutely nothing on them!
Makes me wonder if the real AP was like that it's as close to seeing the back of the AP as we ever will see.
Check it out it is interesting.

Charles

[STP Swallowthispill]

Just small post to update you on my progress.
I finally found the correct color paint for the railings and the beams of the lower half of the AP.
Also I think I have found a color that will work for the silver part of the legs I am still torn on what color to use for the stripes around the legs. I tested black ,metallic gray, and dark gray still undecided on what to use.
I have some pictures of the tests but not much on the build has progressed it's mainly figuring out what to do and what order to do them in. This is totally different than the AP 1.0 and 2.0 I have to paint it this time which is proving to be a challenge. I will post the pictures in my next post I hope to have more done by then.

Charles

[Chazbat]

Keep up the great work!

[STP Swallowthispill]

Keep up the great work!

Thanks man I have hit a stag with painting the legs. When I cover the stripes to paint the main part of the legs The tape on the stripes peels the paint off when removed.
I have come up with a work around that I will post a picture of when I attempt this again next week maybe if I don't go somewhere it is after all Labor day weekend.
Actually all the Saturdays have been Labor days for me I labor on the build.

Charles

[STP Swallowthispill]

Here are some pictures of my recent progress as you can see below I now have all four legs wrapped with 6mm masking tape! Talk about tedious I did not think I was ever going to get those things wrapped. Still not sure the effect will look good but you have to try something until it either works or it doesn't.

Here are two of the legs one is wrapped to paint the stripes the other is not.



Here is a close up view of the leg and the striped effect I am trying to achieve.



Here you can see all four legs wrapped with another layer of masking tape to paint the stripes at the bottom and just above the second catwalk.





Here is one of the legs with the stripes painted I chose a dark gray color.



Here is a test picture of the catwalk underside color I chose the same dark gray as the stripes on the legs I thought they would complement each other. There is no way to replicate the exact color we see in pictures due to the lighting they used, All we can hope for is to get as close as we can.



Here is a test picture of the top of the catwalk and the railings. The colors show darker than they actually are.



Here is the railing test on the first color I chose for the top catwalk it was silver.



Well that is all for this weekend I have ran into a problem I need some advice on.
When I chose to make the bottom half of the AP out of wood I did not think of how it would look painted.
It looks terrible I did a test piece and the wood grain shows through no matter how many times I paint it.
Is there something I can coat the would with that would make it as smooth as the styrene so it does not look so bad?

I need all the help I can get and any comments or tips are always welcomed.
Charles

[burkestudio]

Charles, what kind of wood are you using for the base? Does it have a heavy grain?
If it does, paint alone won't help. Even if you use a filler primer.

You may want to consider a wood with less grain and a more smooth surface.

How thick is the wood? A better alternative might be MDF. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium-density_fibreboard)

I've been in the woodworking industry for over 20 years. Whenever I have a project that requires paint, I use MDF.
You still need to prime it, but it will come out much better that wood. Plus it's very strong yet easy to work with.

If you've seen my Hot Toys display I'm building in the Bat Crafts section, you'll see I made that entirely out of 1/4" thk MDF. But it does come thicker (and thinner) as per your requirements.

Hope this helps. It's looking great!!
This is a very special project that a lot of us are anticipating it's finish. No pressure

-Jeremy

[STP Swallowthispill]

Charles, what kind of wood are you using for the base? Does it have a heavy grain?
If it does, paint alone won't help. Even if you use a filler primer.

You may want to consider a wood with less grain and a more smooth surface.

How thick is the wood? A better alternative might be MDF. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium-density_fibreboard)

I've been in the woodworking industry for over 20 years. Whenever I have a project that requires paint, I use MDF.
You still need to prime it, but it will come out much better that wood. Plus it's very strong yet easy to work with.

If you've seen my Hot Toys display I'm building in the Bat Crafts section, you'll see I made that entirely out of 1/4" thk MDF. But it does come thicker (and thinner) as per your requirements.

Hope this helps. It's looking great!!
This is a very special project that a lot of us are anticipating it's finish. No pressure

-Jeremy

The wood is 3/8 in birch one side is smooth the other side not so smooth.
I was thinking of coating the wood with Kilz hard cover type do you think it will work?
My only other option and I dread doing it is skinning the beams with thin styrene sheets.
I really don't want to make these over as they were very difficult to make I thought about MDF but was afraid I would not be able to drill holes in it without it leaving frayed edges I guess I should have tried a test peice.

Charles

[burkestudio]

Charles, you could try the Kilz. It may fill in the grooves of the grain.
You might have to lay a thick coat, let dry then sand.
Try it out on a test piece first.
You can also sand the mdf if you think it will fray.

-Jeremy

[STP Swallowthispill]

Charles, you could try the Kilz. It may fill in the grooves of the grain.
You might have to lay a thick coat, let dry then sand.
Try it out on a test piece first.
You can also sand the mdf if you think it will fray.

-Jeremy

Thanks Jeremy I will try that on a test piece.

Charles