Customizing the McFarlane Batcave

[Ben Bentley]

As soon as I saw the McFarlane cave images I knew there was a few basic tweaks I would love to make to take this really fun playset to another level.

Can you spot them?

Thanks to RSaffle for the unknowing assist!

[antman67]

Forgive me but what's the before and after photo?

[mwilbury]

Signs and railing color on the pile… amazing how much difference the paint color makes on the rails! Great work.

[zarm106]

hello all. This is still a work in progress. These pictures include pieces of the Mezco 5 points set in the diorama. I like Ben's idea of painting the guard rails. I will need to go back to the blurays to get a better look of the details of the batcave.

[Ben Bentley]

Signs and railing color on the pile… amazing how much difference the paint color makes on the rails! Great work.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

It makes ALL the difference, IMHO. I was stoked with the turquoise paint I found for the railings, it really sets off that whole "comic book" color palette that the show's production designer nailed for the TV Cave.

For the signage, I printed my repros onto gloss photo paper after some trial and error with sizing (there's no real scale here to work to here, so I just went with what felt right for this playset) and then mounted the new signs with double sided tape. Thanks again to, Randy!
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8124&p=77096#p77096

hello all. This is still a work in progress. These pictures include pieces of the Mezco 5 points set in the diorama. I like Ben's idea of painting the guard rails. I will need to go back to the blurays to get a better look of the details of the batcave.

I love where you're going with your McF/Mezco mash-up cave! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[rsaffle]

Awesome work to you both. Very inspiring too. Love seeing people get all crafty. Glad to be a small part if it too.

I started work on the lucite map and if it looks good at this scale maybe I can add it to both of your caves.

[rsaffle]

hello all. This is still a work in progress. These pictures include pieces of the Mezco 5 points set in the diorama. I like Ben's idea of painting the guard rails. I will need to go back to the blurays to get a better look of the details of the batcave.

I'm very interested in learning how you made the cave walls look so great!

[zarm106]

Thank you Ben and Randy for the positive feedback. I am striving towards making the batcave as accurate to the tv show as possible (within reason...lol). Randy, I used a 3 sided poster board that you find at the dollar store for school projects for the frame. The cave walls come from paper I found at Hobby Lobby: The Paper Studio brand # 1935626 Brown Rock. I cut and glued the sheets onto the poster board for effect.

[Ben Bentley]

Thank you Ben and Randy for the positive feedback. I am striving towards making the batcave as accurate to the tv show as possible (within reason...lol). Randy, I used a 3 sided poster board that you find at the dollar store for school projects for the frame. The cave walls come from paper I found at Hobby Lobby: The Paper Studio brand # 1935626 Brown Rock. I cut and glued the sheets onto the poster board for effect.

Love it! Thanks for the lead on the brown rock paper. I'm toying with the idea of making a studio-floor inspired base for it to sit on. Currently trying to decide between floor tiles or vinyl sheet flooring, either of which would be painted.

[zarm106]

Hey, Ben. I would lean towards the vinyl sheet flooring since it will be easier to remove and replace. I am always building and rebuilding my dioramas when I see an opportunity to improve. I am on a budget so I work a lot of my magic (lol) with cardboard, foam board, and packing Styrofoam.

[Barnabas Collins]

I've thought about buying two Batcaves to create a "two-sided" atomic pile, but not sure if it would work. I love seeing your Batcave customs. Keep us posted, please, both of you.

Barnabas Collins

[Lou Szabo]

Thank you Ben and Randy for the positive feedback. I am striving towards making the batcave as accurate to the tv show as possible (within reason...lol). Randy, I used a 3 sided poster board that you find at the dollar store for school projects for the frame. The cave walls come from paper I found at Hobby Lobby: The Paper Studio brand # 1935626 Brown Rock. I cut and glued the sheets onto the poster board for effect.

Love it! Thanks for the lead on the brown rock paper. I'm toying with the idea of making a studio-floor inspired base for it to sit on. Currently trying to decide between floor tiles or vinyl sheet flooring, either of which would be painted.

Another option is the foam filler. This is usually the color of the cave walls.

You may purchase this as a spray can, or like this tool with different foams. Our company used this as packaging material. How do I know it works? i posted pictures a long time ago. 28"x28", carboard backing materials

[Lou Szabo]

For reference, these are parts of the TV Batcave wall sold on ebay in 2009 or so.

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[zarm106]

Thank you Ben and Randy for the positive feedback. I am striving towards making the batcave as accurate to the tv show as possible (within reason...lol). Randy, I used a 3 sided poster board that you find at the dollar store for school projects for the frame. The cave walls come from paper I found at Hobby Lobby: The Paper Studio brand # 1935626 Brown Rock. I cut and glued the sheets onto the poster board for effect.

Love it! Thanks for the lead on the brown rock paper. I'm toying with the idea of making a studio-floor inspired base for it to sit on. Currently trying to decide between floor tiles or vinyl sheet flooring, either of which would be painted.

Another option is the foam filler. This is usually the color of the cave walls.

You may purchase this as a spray can, or like this tool with different foams. Our company used this as packaging material. How do I know it works? i posted pictures a long time ago. 28"x28", carboard backing materials

9bc36444339c3bc2acd8d0bac99c8fc0d66f9ab4.jpg16b264931732baafd76cd98e62eafb9308c0e5b2.jpg38f360e537743b10ab8bd364cecf8b6a729bcebc.jpg828264c31c328aaad3cc788d30c79fd84b46e1ce.jpgb0726a137a3f6acfdd0c6887c83b260094b73ecb.jpg

Thanks Lou for sharing the video and the information. I'm not quite that adventurous to try the foam spray just yet. I get too many visions of Tim Allen and what can go wrong....lol. Still dangerous to myself with spray adhesive and exacto blades....

[Lou Szabo]

I know what you mean. I’m down to 7 digits left undamaged, and power tools are forbidden.

However, the pictures show you the color compared to the real cave. Then the lighting gives it different hues, including gray. It was just too big to display at 1/18 scale. The Factory Entertainment piece is small enough to display over a corner fireplace. Plus a normal playing card Joker scales well with it, as does the old oversized Penny and T-Rex. Just kicking myself as I got rid of the larger T-Rex that would scale to 1/18 and 1/12. Also have a giant Penny to go with this scale.

To me, the 4th wall might be the location of the Batman trophies, or behind the reactor. In that case, the older cars and Bat cycle could be the 4th wall. By 4th wall, I mean where you see the inside of the cave.

Anyway, I’m thrilled to see all this creativity and sharing of ideas. I’m waiting for the McCave to be discounted. You can then enlarge it, and make a true stand alone Atomic Pile.