Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Costume making, prop building and other '66 Bat-related arts and crafts.

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JimmyVale
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by JimmyVale »

Larry A. wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:10 pm I look forward to see how it turns out for You.
Thanks!

Something is driving me to make this kit as it was originally intended to make it look and as a kid would make it. Only this time, NO BRUSH MARKS! NO SLOPPY PAINTING! NO glue globs with fingerprints embedded in them! Lol!!!

I guess I want to pay respect to the Aurora model guys and other artists who created this awesome character that we are still enjoying today. It’s dedicated to those artists and entrepreneurs who are probably no longer with us.

I have a plan! I’ll keep you guys posted.
JimmyVale
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by JimmyVale »

Oh yeah - I started on this several weeks ago. Not Batman-related, but related to the Aurora Batman Model Kit Build project:
4DE10AFD-3DE5-4640-B40A-8E0B3EA78B6E.jpeg
I feel obligated to finish it so I can devote my full attention to Batman!!!
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Scott Sebring
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by Scott Sebring »

JimmyVale wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:34 pm Oh yeah - I started on this several weeks ago. Not Batman-related, but related to the Aurora Batman Model Kit Build project

I feel obligated to finish it so I can devote my full attention to Batman!!!
Cool!
Image
JimmyVale
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by JimmyVale »

My Aurora kit and all the tools are here. My spring break “vacation” with the wife is over….whew! Now….must get motivated to do this kit right. So far, all I have accomplished is getting everything together and creation of a build plan.

I did some further research and am pretty sure the Batman head and face of the Aurora kit was inspired by the Ben Cooper Halloween mask. The colors of the 1965 mask and the example completed model are the same….all the way down to the forward facing ears with black paint on the inside.

Image

Work, family, exercise, model building…. I’ll get it done soon, I hope!
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Lou Szabo
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by Lou Szabo »

Jimmy,
The model released in 1964. The playsuit had a Domino mask and head piece then. The mask you posted was released later, like 1966 or 1967. They also changed the body suit material to that flame retardant plasticky material.
Some days you just can't get rid of a ... SHARK!
JimmyVale
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by JimmyVale »

Lou Szabo wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 3:24 am Jimmy,
The model released in 1964. The playsuit had a Domino mask and head piece then. The mask you posted was released later, like 1966 or 1967. They also changed the body suit material to that flame retardant plasticky material.
Oh yeah, that’s right - that blows that theory….maybe the Ben Cooper people were influenced by the model, not the other way around.

I can’t help but notice the similarities.
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Lou Szabo
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by Lou Szabo »

These timelines are not well documented. Even the chest bat had a round yellow circle with a bat in the middle, until it evolved into an oval. But in 64 it was a yellow circle, as on the model, and on the costume…
Some days you just can't get rid of a ... SHARK!
JimmyVale
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by JimmyVale »

I’m still finishing up a different model build before I begin on Batman. It’s helping me hone my skills. I think the hardest part of the Aurora kit is going to be painting it the right colors.

I’m also building and rebuilding it in my head. The overall setting of this kit (for me) is dusk, in the woods, spooky creatures (owl, real bats), with a superhero dominating the scene.

Observations:

1. Someone reported that the bats in the Aurora Batman kit are recycled from the Aurora Dracula model - I find that very easy to believe. Dracula = scary. Real bats = scary.

2. Batman’s head looks similar to the Ben Cooper Halloween mask. I am going to try for that color scheme as close as I can get with rattle cans. I wish I had an airbrush and could mix paint and get exactly the right tint, but that’s too much for me right now.

3. Batman is in the woods swinging around a dead tree! I am beginning to think the sculptors at Aurora might have thought Batman was a Halloween character - I may be wrong, but it’s an interesting, different take on the character of Batman if that were the case.

4. The original box has an orange yellow background that could be interpreted as sundown. I’m going with a Halloween - pre Adam West, 1964 “new look” for this build. I think that’s what they were going for at Aurora - Halloween. Spooky. Woods. This is an assumption on my part but that’s the direction I’m going with the kit. Pics coming soon!
BiffPow
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by BiffPow »

Very Vincent Price-like interpretation. Can see that with an appropriately spooky diorama background.
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Lou Szabo
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by Lou Szabo »

4. Low hanging Full moon? In the cemetery or back of Arkham grounds?
Some days you just can't get rid of a ... SHARK!
BiffPow
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by BiffPow »

Lou Szabo wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:57 am 4. Low hanging Full moon? In the cemetery or back of Arkham grounds?
Yes. Exactly. All of those came to mind.
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hisyouthfulward
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by hisyouthfulward »

I get the whole "Batman in the city" schtick but some of his best stories were nowhere near a city. When Batman meets the vampiric Monk, it's in a remote Hungarian castle. And, "A Vow From the Grave" takes place in a lonely house outside the limits of Gotham. Hey, look! Batman's holding onto a tree branch!
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BATWINGED HORNET
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

JimmyVale wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:04 am
3. Batman is in the woods swinging around a dead tree! I am beginning to think the sculptors at Aurora might have thought Batman was a Halloween character - I may be wrong, but it’s an interesting, different take on the character of Batman if that were the case.
I believe they knew who Batman was; the New Look era had taken off when it made its May 1964 debut, and it appears obvious the model with the yellow oval was a result of / reaction to that.
Beneath Wayne Manor
BiffPow
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by BiffPow »

Just saw this 1966 TV Batman take on the Aurora model kit. It was a Pinterest photo. I don’t know who built it, but WOW!!
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BatToys
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Re: Aurora Batman Repro Model Kit?

Post by BatToys »

Here's my Aurora Batman that was professionally built and the Aurora factory built up that was on display in hobby stores. If a store ordered a dozen kits, Aurora would send them a factory built up.
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Aurora Batman Factory Built Up 002 (1).jpg
Craft Batman mine 1.jpg
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