Mike Pigott looks at this high quality range of diecast kits based Batman’s vehicles from the pages of DC Comics.
Since the Johnny Lightning brand was revived in 1994, it had developed a reputation for producing high quality models of nostalgic character-related models. In 2002 the company obtained the franchise for Batman, although due to licensing issues, could only produce construction kits.
What was most interesting, however, was the fact that these kits were based on vehicles from the comic books, rather than TV and movie vehicles as previously modelled by Corgi, Ertl and Kenner. There were six kits produced; four in 1/64 scale and two in 1/24, both scales being particularly popular in Johnny Lightning’s home market of the USA.
The small scale kits were: 1940s Batmobile, 1960s Batmobile, 1960s Batboat and 1930s Batgyro. The large kits were the 1950s Batmobile and another 1960s Batmobile. None of these vehicles had been previously modelled in diecast.
The 1/64 kits were beautifully packaged in window boxes, with a detailed drawing of the real car on the header card, over a background of Batman comic book panels. The main components were sealed on a blister-packed card insert, with the remaining pieces packed inside a plastic bag underneath. Everything was included, even a handy little screwdriver, and all parts were pre-painted. Most parts simply screwed together, although there were certain pieces that needed to be attached with superglue. Still, they were very easy to build and gave a satisfactory result for not much effort. They were also extremely good value for money; when new they retailed for around £6.
1940s BATMOBILE
The first use of the word ‘Batmobile’ was in Detective Comics #48 (Feb 1941) and referred to a streamlined red convertible Batman was driving. It looked something like a Lincoln-Zephyr, and the only concession to bat-like styling was a bat-shaped hood ornament.
The first purpose-designed Batmobile appeared a year later in Detective #60, although it was rather infrequently used at first as Batman tended to use his Batgyro more frequently. Initially, the Batmobile appeared to be very heavily armoured, with wheel covers, porthole type side windows, a bat-head battering ram over the front grille, and a large dorsal fin on the back. Over time the appearance could change, and depending on the artist, it could vary from an almost tank-like vehicle to a fairly standard 1940s sedan fitted with a bat’s head and fin.
Johnny Lightning’s kit was very easy to construct; it basically screwed together neatly and the only pieces that needed gluing were the bat-head and fin. The interior was very detailed for a model of this size. This was quite an unusual interpretation of the 1940s Batmobile that differed from subsequent models. It was basically a large coupe with a long bonnet and ‘suicide’ type (rear hinged) doors. The wheels were faired in, and the fin on the roof was enormous with a curved leading edge. Other nice touches include yellow bat eyes, door handles and manifold tubes.
1960s BATMOBILE
As Johnny Lightning was not able to secure the license for the 1966 TV Batmobile, it did the next best thing and modelled the 1960s comic book car that had some superficial similarities.
While the Batman TV show was being aired, DC Comics initially tried to be consistent by incorporating the TV Batmobile into Batman’s printed adventures. However, the George Barris designed Batmobile was a complicated car to draw, and DC artist Frank Springer designed a simplified version for use in the comics. This car had a rounded front end with a stylised bat-head logo on the nose. It retained the front bubble windscreens, but not the rear ones, which were replaced by racing-style aerodynamic fairings behind the seat headrests. The car had a sloping rear deck and simplified fins, while the emergency beacon was now placed between the two windshields.
Again the kit was quite simple to make, and the only part that required gluing was the air cleaner under the opening bonnet. The pre-painted parts were extremely good, including the blue seats and there was even a red fire extinguisher between them. The method of applying the bat-head emblem was also well done. In the comics the Batmobile was always coloured dark blue, with the emblem in black. As the Johnny Lightning car was painted gloss black, the logo was printed on the nose in matt black.
1960s BATBOAT
The Batboat was used very infrequently in the comics. During the 1940s and ‘50s, Batman and Robin frequently used the Batplane. The wings could be folded back to convert it into the Batmarine, allowing it to skim across the sea or even dive underwater. So there was no real need for a Batboat, and it wasn’t until the 1966 Batman film that a high-powered speedboat called the Batboat first appeared. The boat was soon carried over to the comics, although it was rarely used as Batman had very few seagoing adventures. It was usually seen moored on an underground stream in the Batcave.
The comics Batboat differed quite significantly from the TV version. Instead of having twin windshields and a large dorsal fin, it had a wrap-around windscreen, twin outside bat-fins, and a bat-head symbol on the sharply-pointed prow.
The kit was simple to screw together, with only the dual outboard motors and aerial that needed to be glued. Included in the box was a two-axle boat trailer, which was a nice bonus as it wasn’t mentioned on the packaging. The trailer was plastic and needed to be glued together, and it could be clipped onto the towing hitch of the 1960s Batmobile.
Incidentally, the Batboat was never seen being towed on a trailer in any comic, movie or TV show. The trailer first appeared with the 1960s Corgi Batboat, and all other toys and models of the Batboat and trailer have been influenced by it.
1930s BATGYRO
The Batgyro was Batman’s first mode of transport. It was first seen in Detective Comics #31, which was only Batman’s fifth appearance. Autogyros were fairly common in the 1930s, and it actually highlights how long Batman has been around, given that it pre-dates the invention of the helicopter. The Batgyro looked like a giant bat with its huge bat wings and front-mounted bat’s head. Autogyros did not actually need wings to fly, so presumably Batman used them in order to cause fear. In the first few stories the ‘gyro only had one seat, but when Robin was adopted a few months later, a second seat was added. By the first issue of Batman Magazine in Spring 1940, the top rotor was gone and it was more like an aeroplane.
The Batgyro was an unusual choice for Johnny Lightning, given its strange appearance and relative obscurity. It was the only one of the small kits that wasn’t simple to make. Only the fuselage was diecast; the rest was plastic and had to be glued together. Some of it was quite fiddly, especially the struts on the front wheels. The rotor blades and propeller had to be glued into place and did not spin. Everything was pre-painted, including the seats, exhaust pipes and machine guns. Machine guns? Yes, in Batman’s first year, he carried a gun and often knocked off his enemies, like many other masked vigilantes of the era. It was only after Robin joined him that he mellowed a bit.
1/24 SCALE MODELS
While the small-scale models were fairly quick and easy to build, the large 1/24 scale models were quite different. The diecast bodyshells were pretty much complete, with the windows, bumpers, lights and most other parts already fitted in place. However, the other parts were all plastic, and needed to be assembled and painted. The parts were contained in the box underneath the card base, and consisted of about six sprues of parts like a plastic construction kit.
On a personal note, I was quite surprised when I opened the box, as I expected it to be a pre-painted kit with a metal base that simply needed to be screwed together. The instructions actually said that painting was optional but not necessary, so initially I wasn’t going to bother with paints. But I realised it would be pretty silly to spend £20 on a kit and then not finishing it properly, so despite being very rusty on making Airfix type kits, I bought the recommended paints and built the kits over the course of a week. It was actually quite enjoyable.
1950s BATMOBILE
This car first appeared in Detective Comics #156 (Feb 1950) in a story entitled, rather appropriately, ‘The Batmobile of 1950’. In the story, Batman is involved in a serious accident while pursuing a gang of criminals in his ageing 1940s Batmobile. He suffers a broken leg and is confined to the Batcave for a time. He uses his recuperation time wisely, and designs and builds (with Robin’s help) a brand new, state of the art Batmobile. The new car contains an amazing array of equipment including a mobile laboratory, radar, CCTV and rocket launchers.
This story was drawn by artist Dick Sprang, who was quite good at drawing cars, and the Batmobile appears to have styling cues from contemporary Studebaker automobiles.
Johnny Lightning’s model came with pre-assembled bodywork. The windows, bumper and lights were already fitted, and the only piece that needed to be glued was the big diecast dorsal fin. However, everything else was plastic and needed to be assembled and painted. The model was not difficult to build, but required a lot of care and a steady hand.
Johnny Lightning did an excellent job of transforming a two-dimensional comic image into a credible three-dimensional model. Everything from that first story was included, including a desk and cabinets in the ‘mobile crime lab’ at the rear. The lab included test tubes, flasks, a microscope, and even a torn map that Robin was working on, complete with a ruler and pencil! The dashboard and console were very well done, considering they were not shown clearly. At the front, the bat-head emblem was accurately replicated, here in its dual purpose as a battering ram and chain cutter, while there was a large spotlight in the roof.
The only discrepancies I could find was that the front wheels had spats in the comic, and the tyres should have been whitewalls. Also, there was no indication as to how the doors opened; there were door shut-lines in the bodywork, but not in the canopy. Also, some water-slide transfers could have been included, as the dashboard and map were fiddly to paint. But these are only minor niggles; it was a great kit that was satisfying to build and looked great when finished.
1960s BATMOBILE
The 1960s Batmobile was the same car as the 1/64 scale model, but unsurprisingly it was a lot bigger and more detailed. As with the 1950s car, the bodyshell was fully finished, with the lights, rear bumper, windscreens, beacon and dashboard already fitted in place. A large percentage of the plastic components were for the engine, which was just a generic big-block muscle car motor, rather than the atomic engine alluded to in the TV series. The interior was well detailed, and included a Bat-phone, radio, TV screen, and fire extinguisher, plus a rather clunky-looking grappling gun moulded into one of the door pockets. The kit instructions suggested the seats could be painted red, blue, black or maroon – although the TV car was black with red piping (I chose blue to match the smaller model). The dashboard was fixed in place on the body casting, and was very difficult to paint; even using a toothpick to touch in the buttons and dials was awkward. The wheels were excellent and were obviously inspired by the TV car. They were chromed five-spoke mags with red bat-logo spinners.
Johnny Lightning made one strange error on both the large and small 1960s Batmobiles; in both cases the front air intakes were interpreted as foglights. On the small kit these were painted yellow, but on the large one they were fitted with amber lenses. The finished model looked good, but the large expanses of gloss black really needed some highlighting, such as the red pin-striping on the TV car. The bat-head logo was printed in matt black with silver ‘eyes’. The front-hinged bonnet opened to reveal the big engine.
This was not as much fun to build as the 1950s model, due to the large percentage of engine block parts, but when complete was still an impressive model.
The Johnny Lightning kits were widely distributed when first released, but were not on sale for very long and had disappeared from the shops within a couple of years. They seemed popular, with the 1960s cars being the best sellers, but to some extent appeared to miss their target market. They were not advertised in DC Comics, where the readers would be most familiar with these particular vehicles.
Values on these types of models are difficult to ascertain. It is still possible to find unmade kits on the second-hand market at reasonable prices. But once they have been built, they are no longer considered mint-and-boxed, so lose their value. However, they are great kits and possibly the best comics-related Batman vehicles yet produced.
This article first appeared in the June 2005 issue of Diecast Collector magazine.
Batman and related characters and concepts TM and (c) DC Comics.
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