Building the Batmobile Tumbler [Hachette Partworks: Issues 77 – 88]

Dan’s The Dark Knight Tumbler build continues…

You’ve returned to my build for the Hachette Partworks 1:8 scale model of the Batman Tumbler! And it’s starting to feel like we’re getting towards the latter stages – even though there’s no specific shape as a whole – yet! But you’ll see from my images below that there’s certainly the elements to make out roughly what it’ll look like. The whole structure is going to be a heavy one, but at least that feels like you’ve been putting something impressive together -and the thought of where (and how!) to display it certainly come to mind.

And so, as we hit 2025, it’s time for 12 more issues taking us through #77 to #88 – which are a good selection of small and big, and it’s less likely you’ll be getting single, smaller things or – if we do – it’ll link into something bigger almost immediately. While, as ever, some issues are split across putting together the same sections but on opposite sides, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to putting the beast together into one! And here we are in our second year of the build, let us return….

Issue 77

While the magazine hits the realms of Batman & Robin, and it’s place in the commercial chaos that followed the box office of Batman Forever, we hit comic-vibes that echoed the original Batman series but once Burton has got into the veins, I’ve personally found it difficult to admire the fun – even though it does have its place. There’s also not much to it really, as it links back to Issues 75/76, as the left actuator and piston rods are added to the left grille, and voila – you’re done!

Issue 78

Now we up the game a little, with a nice chunky section in the shape of the left bulkhead. What I do appreciate about this overall build is the weight of everything and, lord knows, I’ve mentioned it enough. But it’s important with such a commitment and a plastic section just wouldn’t be good enough, not take the literal weight of the rest of the build.

This left bulkhead also finally enables us to bring together Issues 71 to 74, and 75-76, into one wonderfully chunky section, which gives us a proper section to get out those CM screws, and then add the left flank, the left-flap actuator (careful now), and it’s a really big part to slowly get things into place.

Issues 79, 80 and 81

While Issue 79 takes us back a few steps – putting together the right air intake with grille, which would have been easier to do when we did the left one, I see the rhythm here that Hachette Partworks are creating, as it does like it setup it’s own story. This part of exactly the same as Issues 75-77, but on the right-hand side. So there’s not much to delve into, beyond what we’ve seen before. But, do be careful with that grille as it’s still pretty sharp on the edges.

Issue 82

This one gives us the meaty right bulkhead, so we’re here to follow the same routine as Issue 78, where we’re adding together the previous right flank assembly with the right-flap actuator and those handy CM screws to get everything in its right place. I will say that make sure you’ve got a good screwdriver to us to get these into place, and actually the screwdrivers that came with some previous issues work well for this – if you haven’t got your own mini-set by this stage anyway.

Issues 83 and 84

These two go hand-in-hand as another part of the add on to both bulkheads, that we’d started to complete in the issues just passed. The magazine also gives us a great look at Jeph Loeb, and the iconic HUSH – which I’d highly recommend if you’ve never read it!

For the Tumbler build, we’ve got a left and right armoured panel which – literally – only requires a tiny, plastic ’emergency opening jack’ to be pushed into it. But thankfully, we’ve also got the chance to pick up both bulkheads alternatively, and add this extra piece of the puzzle. Connection wise, it’s just some AP and EM screws that get these parts into one bigger outcome, but there’s no doubting that finishing both the left and right sections does give you that continual sense of what’s to come – as a whole.

Issues 85 to 88

Now, while these final four don’t necessarily connect to each other, they’re also smaller sections of ‘things to put together later’, that occurs every now and then. The magazine gives a nice little reminder of the talented Greg Rucka, and the build in Issue 85 is some left and right brackets and headlight ‘clusters’ that only require pushing together.

Issue 86 offers a nice reminder of the H.R. Giger and Joel Schumacher team-up that never came to fruition, and gave me a flashback to the Neill Blomkamp Alien that never happened, plus a piece on Giuseppe Camuncoli, as we’re given the front roof panel, which is another nice metal piece and returns us to the world of adding electronics – which have seemed like an age ago!

These particular additions are part of the headlights, and those brackets from #85, and take your time wiring and screwing in wiring, as those then fit into the front roof panel, and alongside it you get a little insulation tape which might not be the stickiest I’ve used, unlike the earlier individual ones, but it does what you need to tape the wires into the panel.

While the Issue 87 magazine gives us Jim Lee, who needs no introduction in terms of his legacy and contributions, and worth reading as the build itself is just a rack with two hinges, that’ll take you a speedy minute or three to complete and set aside for a future use.

Issue 88 then brings us to a temporary end, for this month anyway, as well as a nice bit of Under the Hood, we get a replacement of Issue 3! This is the windshield and its motor and while I initially can’t see why it’s different, if they’ve felt the need to reissue this one, there must be a fault I’ve missed as generally it all looks very similar. That being said, adding the windshield motor is satisfying as we look ahead to a slide and rack in the future and hopefully an opportunity to start sliding and screwing more of the wider bulk of everything together!