So by now the new 1:25 Batmobile model from Polar Lights/Round II has been all over eBay and many places are selling them for between $20 and $30. You can also order them at the manufacturer’s website HERE. As I mentioned earlier in the video first look, this is is an exceptionally well-done kit, especially for a snap version. You can conceivably put this kit together, with or without your kid (I recommend WITH), in an evening. If you want to apply a massive amount of detailing, you can stretch it into a weekend.

I’m not going to go crazy on this one, as I’ll hold that back for the promised, upcoming glue-kit because of the opening trunk and hood aspects of that version. But I will do a middle of the road build/paint with my son and report about the assembly.

As far as the parts and accuracy of the details go – everything here is excellent. With two, fairly important (but not insurmountable) exceptions:

1. The Beacon*

As far as the beacon goes, it’s fairly crudely detailed and even stripping the chrome won’t make it that much less toy-like. Not as bad as we had anticipated, but not as nice as the rest of the parts for sure.  I’ve got access to some amazingly nice and highly detailed beacons in the correct scale designed by our good friend Mit in Australia. I’ve got it in machined aluminum and in resin versions. It’s a 3-piece part that includes the inner red beacon and the top. As you can see, it can totally change the realism level of the model.

2. The Figures*

In an ironic, probably unintentional nod to the original Aurora 1966 Batmobile model kit, The figures are very comic-booky and unrealistic. I think the guys at PL were bummed about how they turned out. But including them will make loads of kid builders ecstatic. They aren’t acceptable for our use and so we’re working on a set of much more realistic figures modified from 2 separate original sculpts by Scott Kapellusch. Here they are in their current state.

So we’re going to be putting the snap kit together this weekend and will take shots and hopefully video as we go. Stay tuned for the report here.

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