Lego The Batman Batmobile (76181) Modification

 

I couldn't believe I bought this Batmobile set. Actually, I didn't think it was a good Batmobile but I had to say it's a good muscle car model. The original Lego model had two shooters at the front. Buttons were placed on the hood between the 2 bigger grey stripes. The car top was replaced with smooth tiles too. (I think no one likes studs, right?)

To be honest, I don't have any expectation on the up coming The Batman movie. No matter what I will watch it and buy the Bluray when it's available like the previous Batman movies.

I removed the buttons and the shooters and replaced the grey stripes with a smaller slope and height. The hood became smoother.

I also modified the car front side. I extended the lights and fenders by one plate thickness. 

One of the best feature of this set is the engine design. I like it very much and I will not change anything on it.

I like the recent 3 Lego Batmobiles a lot however, I still don't have a place to display them inside the display case.

LEGO Razor Crest 75292 Modification

 

I knew I didn't post new Lego sets in this blog as often as before. Yes... because I seldom had time to build/buy new Lego sets recently. At the same time, I felt Lego was re-making old sets again and again especially Star Wars series. I lost my interest in those new trimmed version X-Wing, Tie Fighters. Poe's orange X-Wing in The Rise Of Skywalker was ugly in my taste (but I liked its new structure). As a Star Wars fan, I felt this series just went crazy after The Force Awakens. No one could save this train going down the cliff until The Mandalorian this TV series from Disney+.

Unfortunately, a great TV series didn't have much iconic stuff from Lego except the Razor Crest. That was why I only ordered this set from the Lego Store. For what I got from the box, I thought it was a bit over priced at CA$180. The main problems that I found at the first look (from preview photo) was the shortened front and the small engines. I told myself I had to fix those things when I built it. So, after months... I finally opened the box and started building it.

Because of the limited time, my plan was extending the front part by 2 studs (original plan was 4 studs) without changing much of its original structure. I also planned to "wrap" around the engines to make them bigger then I didn't need to change too many stuff. Therefore, the engine width was increased from 6 studs to 8 studs. The rear landing gears were widened to the sides instead of hiding right under the bottom. The front of the engines was an easy fix.

At this moment, it was all I could build with my brick inventory. I needed more specific bricks to finish it.

Future plans on this Razor Crest:

When I have time again, I will get some triangle bricks in light grey for replacing the walls into vertical building walls (not using the plates) for maximum smooth looking.

*Recently, I bought a Vader Lightsaber (Aliexpress version) to build. It was surprisingly good in design. Strongly recommended.

*I guess this time Aliexpress sellers won't steal my photos because this is not a newest set. I hope they will not mislead the buyers with modified version.

Cheers,

Raymond

LEGO Batmobile 76119 Modification

Finally I built/modified a set of Lego after pandemic started. First of all, the set was originally looked like below. What was wrong with the original set to me? I didn't like the front bat plate. The top front of the car wasn't "round" enough. The back of the car was too "blocky". And I didn't like the "engines" on the sides. I liked the yellow wheel covers from this set therefore, I took them away for other builds. This set gave us extra bat logos and I'm "SUPER LOVIN IT!". Thank you Lego!

What I will do next when I have time: I will find a longer wheel axis to make the back of the batmobile wider by one block each side.

My first thing to work on was the front engine if I removed the front Bat plate. This engine design was my old one from a bat motor bike. I moved it from the bike to this 76119 model. I might change it into black later if I had time to search for the parts.

The next thing was the blocky back. I wanted it to be more streamline and looked like the back of a bat.

Side view: I will change the side when I have time.

The top of the car changed too. The original top was light grey with a hotrod engine.

The top of the front above engine was updated to be more rounded. Now is more similar to the classic one in 1989 movie version.

Size comparison with other Modified Lego Batmobiles 

Kre-O X Lego Optimus Prime (Small Scale Version)

During the Christmas break, I redesigned the small scale version Kre-O Optimus Prime. It had been sitting inside the box for years. Recently, I got a new parts from Lego store and it jump-started my new design. It looked like engine exhaust pipe which was the best fit for this long lost project. Usually, Optimus Prime was drawn with a heavy blue legs in 90% of designs. What about a streamline one? Let's try it.

*Please don't ask if I have instruction of this. I started with drawings on paper and then I built it right a way.

It was actually like this back in the old days... See old post here!


I grew up with Japanese robot cartoons like Gundam. Although the Gundam design changed since Z Gundam which had big legs and heavy backpacks. Gundam RX-78-2 was still my Number 1 Gundam. One day I saw "G40 Gundam" in Facebook. Many people said it was ugly but I thought it wasn't a bad idea to redesign something classic.

I redesigned the legs like knight's armor with exhaust pipes




Here is the scale with the large scale version. You can see the old post from here!




The joints movement of the new version was even better than the large scale version!

Avengers: End Game War Machine Buster Buy or Not?

Avengers: End Game is coming in 20 days. Lego has a new War Machine Buster 76124 on shelf right now. I'm not sure if the movie has this. The design is quite similar to the previous two Lego Hulkbusters. This time, the original instruction's arms and legs seem to be ok but not the upper body. Very blocky. I'm still considering to buy it or not. The price raised CA$10 from $40 to $50 now because of more minifigures (?). Lego is smart to use the photo to cover the shoulders and blocky body problem with angles... Tricky.

Here is what I have on my shelves at home up to now. Stay tuned!

LEGO Star Wars X-Wing 75218 Vs Modified 9493

Lego updated original X-Wing to become 75218. The last set 9493 was quite old. 9493 used the old transparent cockpit window. Starting from Poe's new X-Wing in The Force Awakens, Lego X-Wing used a new and better cockpit window. I also wanted to buy that part to update my 9493 (but I didn't have time to order). Let's jump to conclusion first... I like 75218 and I think it worth to get a copy.

This new set came with 6 bags, 1 instruction booklet and 1 piece of label sheet.



Let's take a look at the new and older set side by side. The main difference was the structure of 4 engines. The way of building the engines was about the same as the Rogue One U-Wing set. The red color is different too. 75218 used deep red which made it look like the UCS X-Wing version. 75218's 4 cannons at the wings were not well designed as what 9493 did. However, you would be impressed by the new way to open the X-Wings (Battle mode) and the hidden white rubber bands.



75218 had two rubber bands on each side and they were well hidden.









9493 had smaller engines and Lego didn't design it very well. Many people modified the engines as mine (a common way).



75218 had larger engines. They looked closer to the actual model. Well done, Lego.



Let's take a look at flight mode. 75218 had smooth surface wings. At the same time, 75218's X-Wing droid (R2D2) can stay inside facing the front instead of side way (R5).

75218 with 730 pieces was over-priced just like the rest of new Star Wars sets.

I think I should modify the 4 wing cannons later when I have time.

*Aliexpress sellers, please don't steal my photos because they are modified. Your customers may complain about the product photo accuracy.

Aliexpress Seller Likes (Stole) My Photos Again :-)

I found Aliexpress sellers really like my Lego modification photos. This time they stole my mod X-Wing and used their logo to cover mine. Maybe I should make my logo larger. Haha...

My original post is here