1:9 scale batcave begins!

[darklord1967]

As part of my ongoing LEGENDS OF GOTHAM CITY collection of 1:9 scale custom characters and dioramas, I have officially begun-mock ups of the various items that will feature in my upcoming 1:9 Scale COMIC BOOK BATCAVE diorama.

This is the first time that my planning development of a diorama will depend upon the sizes of the final large “set dressing” items.

For this reason, I have made it a point to FIRST gather the necessary assets for the construction of the famous BATCAVE TROPHIES.

THEN, based on the completed large trophies, It is my intention to build the diorama’s surrounding cave walls structure to an appropriate corresponding size.

Looks like this sucker’s gonna be BIG!

[darklord1967]

MECHANICAL T-REX

The origins of the famous mechanical T-Rex Trophy in my comic book- style BATCAVE diorama have come from Mattel’s Jurassic Park World Dominion Super-Colossal Tyrannosaurus Rex Dinosaur figure.




As far as I know, this is the largest T-Rex toy figure ever produced, measuring just over 40 inches in length (from tip of tail to tip of nose), and roughly 21” in height (from ground to top of head).

[darklord1967]

The posing of this beast’s legs is very limited, so he tends to have a somewhat “hunched over”stance. Since the T-Rex trophy in the BATCAVE is mostly always depicted standing upright, I plan to perform some surgery shortly:




In the coming days, I will be re-posing the figure’s legs and long tail to give it a taller stance than its current, stock 21-inch height measurement. I’m confident that my leg pose modifications will bring his new upright stance height to 24 inches… which should look nicely sized next to a 1:9 scale, 8” tall action figure.

[darklord1967]

GIANT PENNY TROPHY

Of course, the other signature artifact from the comic book BATCAVE’s Trophy area is the giant 1947 wheat Penny.

[darklord1967]

Initially, I tried to purchase this as an existing prop. But I mostly only found inadequate 3-inch diameter novelty items (with incorrect face year date and incorrect back details for my needs).

[darklord1967]

One very large penny prop DID turn up on Esty, available as a 3D-printed item. But upon careful examination of the photos in the ad, I was not impressed with the soft details of the Abraham Lincoln portrait or the lettering of this prop. And I was less than thrilled by the written reviews of some of the item’s previous purchasers, describing the prop’s print quality unfavorably.

[darklord1967]

Once again, this was going to have to be a prop that I would need to fabricate from scratch myself:

I knew I needed to design a CRADLE STAND of some sort to allow the big penny ‘s upright display.

I gathered some simple “found items” to kit-bash the coin’s full base stand configuration. Among these items was a textured, circular HO-scale water tower foundation…

[darklord1967]

… and several laser-cut plexiglass circles, all pulled from my parts bin.

[darklord1967]

I combined these parts with a 3D cradle model that I rendered and 3D printed in tough MJF resin… and the giant penny’s base came together pretty quickly.

[darklord1967]

It has been depicted in a variety of sizes in the comics, but by my calculations, the 1:9 scale giant penny BATCAVE Trophy prop would need to be sized with a diameter just short of the height of two men.

I reached out to an industrial plastics retailer in my area and ordered a 3/4” thick sheet of clear plexiglass to be cut into a 14.5” diameter circle.

[darklord1967]

A pair of 1/8” thick, 14.5” diameter flat rings would serve nicely as the raised border on both sides of the penny’s circumference!

[darklord1967]

it was a forgone conclusion for me that creating the big penny’s surface details as a flat printed paper graphic, would NOT be a satisfactory approach for my standards.


I created all of the lettering and graphics for both sides of the giant coin’s surface as 3D printed sculpted objects.

In keeping with my LEGENDS OF GOTHAM CITY Collection’s faithful depiction of the Golden Age - Modern Age comic book details, my big coin would be built as a 1947 “wheat” penny.

I did elect to take some liberties with the Abraham Lincoln portrait (on the penny face) and the curved wheat stalks (on the penny rear) by 3D rendering the sculpt details to be much sharper than what would actually be seen on a penny that is expanded to this size. I was quite pleased with the quality of the final 3D prints.

[darklord1967]

I’ve now begun my preliminary layouts for this giant penny trophy prop.

[monitor_ep]

Wow this is going to be a very interesting look and cannot wait to see how this turns out.

[darklord1967]

Giant Penny rear layout…