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 Posted 4/1/2014 10:36:24 PM |
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Forum Member
 
Last Login: 12/9/2018 8:47:32 AM
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of the 10 headlights, the 2 in the back are anti-fog lights, the 4 lower are low lights, and the 4 above are high-beams. Pias. They can be turned on altogether, or separately. Will be adding the tanks in the back, I've had fake tanks in there, but took those out, and will be putting NOS tanks. Can't say enough how nice it is to have all digital gauges where the numbers jump right out. I have my voltage gauge wired directly to the kill switch, so that when the kill switch is on, you immediately see how hot the battery is. Usually reads 12.8 to 13.0 cold. Another annoyance at least for me, is that quick clip battery jumper box. Maybe I just got a bad one, but the one thing that I don't like about them in general is that if you forget to bring your cables w/ the clip on the end, standard jump cables will do you no good. I didn't like that, so I went back to standard posts. Now if I ever do need a jump, I can just attatch standard cables right under the nose cone, quick - done. No fiddling around. Sometimes you forget to turn something off, then you run down the battery, and you have to jump it in front of a crowd. You want that to be as quick and as painless as possible. Am also thinking of getting a second battery, wired parallel.
The front tires I have are exactly like the film ones. The Hoosier wing sprint dirt 95. Why they chose those is beyond me. They are like beach balls. After this set wears out, I think I will go with a much more durable tire, that looks similar. I like the look of some of the flat tread tires that you see some people have done w/ zbrush images, pretty cool, they look very heavy duty, road worthy.
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| Posted 4/2/2014 4:27:39 PM |
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Has NO LIFE!!
Last Login: 12/4/2023 11:08:55 PM
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| Hey youngbat, I've read all that I found available from you and what others wrote about you. What you and Big Wave Dave have done and continue to do has inspired me in building my own Tumbler. Thanks for the information from your last post. I'll put your lessons learned to good use. vertigo
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| Posted 4/2/2014 8:46:33 PM |
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Forum Member
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Ya, Dave deviated from the whole exact likeness thing, which I think allowed him to just go ultra heavy duty without concern for exactness over practicality. sometimes I wished I had given myself that kind of freedom. The exact likeness thing is tough because first you have to get all the details exact, then later you worry about durability, functionality, which can be hell.
I was at an auto show last year in Boston. A guy who is a well known batman cos player asked me if i thought 10K was enough cash to build a batpod. I said it all depends on your resources. At first he thought I meant tools, equipment, etc.. but no. I meant the resources in your head. I believe that none of these cars have to be merely a function of money, but of how cleaver you are, and how bad you want this thing. I built mine out of an average 2 car garage, no heat, so so lighting, in michigan, where winters are tough, and with these power tools ONLY: 220 mig welder(lincoln), milwakee chop saw. Rabid standing drill press, reciprocating saw, angle grinder. And I started with only 6. I also used a lot of fx techniques that I used on costumes, busts etc. My knowledge of materials paid of a lot with this car. Biggest learning curve for me was the basic mechanical issues. Engine, trans, etc. I learned never to go with cheap parts on these cars. think 10 times tougher than you would if you were building a street rod. The advantage we all have is time. if you are not doing this for money, you have no deadline, this is a great advantage, and it will make it FUN. FUN is very important. These cars should keep you dreaming, keep you excited to get up everyday. Look at what you have to look forward to. And its all because you want to build this thing so bad, and you want it to be YOUR build, YOUR engineering that makes it great, makes it stand out. I am excited. I am at the fun stage. the stage where I get to make this car do cool stuff.
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| Posted 4/3/2014 8:37:52 AM |
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Supreme Being
Last Login: 11/29/2023 6:02:47 AM
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Very well said Bob!
The car has to be for "you". You need to enjoy the process of building the car almost more than actually having the finished product.
It will never be "done" or "complete" but an ever evolving project
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Building the BatBerry - Batmobile powered by BlackBerry 
http://batberry.wordpress.com/
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| Posted 4/3/2014 3:59:40 PM |
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Has NO LIFE!!
Last Login: 12/4/2023 11:08:55 PM
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| Hey youngbat, Were any of the models of the Tumbler of any use to you in building your Tumbler? I remember you saying somewhere that you were disappointed with the Hot Toys 1/6 Tumbler.
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| Posted 5/20/2014 11:28:47 AM |
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Has NO LIFE!!
Last Login: 12/4/2023 11:08:55 PM
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| Hey youngbat, Like yourself, I am not very impressed with the Hoosier, Wing Sprint checkerboard dirt tires. Spent 8-hours searching the net studying tires and tread patterns. Have found an excellent tread pattern from Prolineracing.com. The Road Rage series, problem is they make scale tires for RC cars. Have been searching for a similar tread patterns, among others, in a full sized tire with dimensional parity to the original rim and tire. Got any ideas you would care to share? Have you found a viable substitute yet for the Hoosier dirt tires?
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| Posted 6/10/2014 8:11:27 PM |
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Forum Member
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I think that the second tire is the one I would like to try next. I've seen some real good digital drawings with those flat tires used, and it really looks good. You really want a set of front tires that can handle hard use, because while the engine is in the back those front tires do get a lot bearing down on. As I have found.
Anyway, hello everyone, back from some shows. Try to resume my talks/experiences with our fav ride.
trying to think of where I left off.
Let me talk about tumbler steering tricks. Some that I have done to increase steering power, within the confines of not altering the car externally.
On sweetmftg power steering pumps, there is a needle that goes up and down w/ regards to the pumping that the engine provides, on it is a spacer, take the spacer off, and you get 300lbs. more steering power, what a difference!
I also moved the steering arm out 1.5" from where I had it originally, this increases the steering power 35%.
What I'm doing now. adding more 1/4" aluminum plating to the interior, all lined w/ soundproofing material.
I've got one side of the Anti-sway shocks almost done. should be done tonight. This is slightly deviant from the original cars.
As most of you know the tumbler has a bit of a "sway" when turning fast corners. I am correcting that. There is that anti-sway bar in the front, but the prob. as with the original, is that all the inertia of rocking comes from the back where the two big shocks are close together, and the weight of the engine(mounted in reverse), causes the car to rock in fast turns, and when someone heavy steps into it. So....I came up with this plan to counter all of that, and also have control over EXACTLY how stiff the car will be. Add two more shocks. mounted as far out from either side of the car inside, then the top of them will be mounted to a heavy steel rect. tube, which will follow the existing chassis, and then right back to the rear axle. For even more stability, the two new bars will be connected in the middle. So no matter which way the car wants to roll, it gets its strength from both bars on either side, not just one.
As I say I should have one side done tonight, then once the other side is done, I will take it out to the nearby race track, and test it.
also up, is making foam seat cushions that resemble the ones seen in the interior shots. The 1/4" plate steel seats I made were cut into the shape for those cushions. will hopefully get some shots up soon.
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| Posted 6/10/2014 8:16:06 PM |
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Forum Member
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this has become one of my favorite pics. not taken by me, but by someone at a comic con. great shot.
the 4 lights missing below the flaps, are back on now. I took them off to do some work on the rack and pinion, and to mount differently.
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| Posted 6/13/2014 11:32:16 AM |
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Junior Member
Last Login: 11/8/2019 8:14:51 PM
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| I too was looking at changing out the front tires...That gives me some ideas. The dirt tires were just a poor choice. They could have chosen anything else...Especially as know one was familiar with the look of the front tires it could have been whatever they wanted. Bob did you shorten the rear axle yourself or have some company do it for you?
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| Posted 6/14/2014 12:39:25 PM |
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Forum Member
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I got very lucky on the rear axle. back in 2005, I was in a hot rod shop, where I actually tripped over an axle lying on the floor, the owner modified it for a guy who never came back for it, so I got for about 450.00. It turned out to be the exact length I needed to put the super swampers, 30" apart on the inside. But if you want an exact replica, you will have to have an axle modified to that length.
on the discussion of the tumbler sway. watch this video at 0:27 you can see the original going around a race track swaying like crazy. It looks like the passenger side front fender almost hits the ground. At 2:18 the driver has a hard time keeping the car on the track coming out of a left turn.
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDnP9zfmi54][/url]
I am correcting this. Rather tricky because you have a floating rear axle. All the roll comes from the back, not the front. After you get past the thrill of just driving it, you will want it to perform as well as any other vehicle. In every way possible. This is really the hard part. To do this, and stay within the confines of the external visual aspect.
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