Orne Montgomery’s Batura

from 1999:

This is a pair of photos of the prototype 1/12 scale”Batura” that my kits were originally molded from in 1988 (despite the permission I have from George Barris to manufacture the kits, it was rechristened “Batura” by a friend, Scott Brodeen, when it was decided to avoid the hassle ERTL went through with that contest ten years ago). It was built up from a ’57 Chevy with plastic sheet and strips (and a lot of superglue), most of the bodywork is laminated sheet, with hardly any putty used. The vacform canopy-mold was made up from two 6” R/C aircraft canopies bonded together with sheet plastic. Rocket tubes are aluminum, and screen door mesh was used for the grilles. The paint was spray-painted flat black with a clear gloss overcoat. The red trim was laid on with Carl Goldberg red 1/16″ trim-tape (very flexible) and touched up here and there with with some mixed Testors bottle-paint. All that remains stock from the Chevy were the side-mirror, wheels (bats added)and tires. The model measures 18″ in length.

The Batman figure (the inspiration was one of Bob Kane’s original comic-book covers from the thirties) is a converted Tamiya bike-rider kit. The wings were nylon mesh cloth glued to a brass wire framework; the cloth was basted with a really foul-smelling concoction bought at a craft store (can’t remember the brand-name or what it was) which set like casting resin but remained flexible enough to hand-shape the wing-panels. Everything was handpainted and detailed with a Sharpie pen

Lewin Jones shot the photos a few weeks after I finished up the model. Still have the Batura model (the Batman figure was stolen from a model show the first time it was put on display) but the years and a lot of traveling to shows took their toll. With some reference material from Steve Silvia (he built the 1/16 scale Batmobile model that was in the October ’88 issue of FSM), I’m currently retooling the kit (fifth generation) and the molds, which will combine the interior tub, body, and chassis into a front/rear casting.

Orne Montgomery