ARMT-W-B01X The Bat

A special collaboration reFrame commissioned by Wayne Enterprises. No other details were disclosed about this unit but it is rumored to be piloted by an affluent billionaire for his personal use.

Classification: Melee
Armaments:
(2) FW-BCLAW
(1) CLOAK-SLH01BAT

---

Build Notes:

Happy Halloween everyone! 😛

This was actually a rush build for a one day local convention called the Warner TV Expo that happened last September 30, 2017. Being a Warner expo, I figured I’d make something special just for the event and had recently acquired a Batman minifig and some new black parts so it was the perfect reason to build a Batman mech :p

Figured I’d make it using the reFrame V3 system instead of building it from scratch as I only had 2 days to do it :p

The version shown here is actually not the version I had with me during the expo and has been greatly improved over this past week. I wanted to upgrade him after the initial build and make him more based on my original vision of the mech which is highly influenced by Tetsuya Nomura’s Play Arts Kai Batman.

---

WIP Process:

VERSION 1

I actually have ZERO work-in-progress pictures of the first version as I really rushed building this (and completely forgot to document the entire process) but this build takes a lot of design and parts usage from the Sailia especially for the chest. The head design was actually the longest part of the first version as it took so many hours just to get the right size with the black blades for the signature Batman horns.

One thing about the first version was using this specific setup for the arm joints using two of the DBG mixel joints with both female and male connections on opposite ends. Usually I’d use a double jointed mixel balljoint elbow but figured for this build, This setup provided enough articulation while being really efficient on parts.

The claws weapons would be the weakest thing about this version 1 build as I had no more time to properly make weapons 😛 Initially, this was supposed to be equipped with wearable fist weapons that resembled lightning claws from the Warhammer 40k universe. I then slapped on a tattered cape from the 70212 Sir Fangar big Chima Constraction set as I had a bunch of these capes but never got to use it.

Overall this version was “OK”. Nothing too wow about it but it was a nice practice for building as this was my first mech build in since August and I felt really rusty. I did badly want to update it and thus…

VERSION 2!

So after the Warner TV Expo, this guy pretty much just sat in storage as my room is currently a mess (I’m in the process of moving out actually so building is a little limited). Figured it was time I update the guy in preparation for PinoyLUG’s Bricktober which I had the special chance to participate 😀 I had roughly a week to upgrade whatever weak points I had from the version 1 build so this time I wanted to build my original idea for this mech with big bat wings that had these claws at the end of it that would serve as another weapon.

I was fortunate enough to also see one of Kelvin Low’s Parademon Mech suit which cemented the idea of using the same bat wings (in black because.. Batman dur!) but wanted to have it look more massive and have a bigger wingspan for more intimidation 😀 After a few hours, I had two setups with the wings that I wasn’t sure which to go with so I spelt on it after posting it on my Instagram and FB page to get some feedback.

 

 

The upper back attachment got better feedback so decided to go with that the next day.

Next was making the weapons so removed the old dual claws and figured I wanted a deadlier looking fist / claw weapon. Initially I was toying around with the idea of Assassin weapons from Diablo 2 (either a triple claw or bladed fist weapon) but after building it, I felt like it didn’t quite match the whole build’s current evil / menacing look.

 

 

 

I actually really liked the V2 claw since it was a really thin and sleek profile weapon and that whip as cable that attached to the underside of the arm had a nice look to it. But then I found this piece in my bins and just felt it was perfect as bladed weapons!

The result was a nice ornate bladed dagger and the red horn by the hilt was recommended by fellow BMD admin and good friend Benjamin Cheh Ming Hann 😀

Finished the build by rebuilding the arms to allow for a ball jointed wrist assembly as compared to my usual t-bar based hand build. It’s slightly thicker and the restriction of color for the plate modified with towball on side in just LBG or DBG makes it slightly annoying as I wanted the whole hand to be in black. Some modification was also done to the shoulder build just to make them more structurally stable as the old build was a little flimsy.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the WIP notes for The Bat as much as I did building it. This will probably be my only Superhero-based reFrame build (for a while anyway) :p

I’ll be uploading another reFrame build in the next few days so kindly look forward to it 🙂 I’m still recovering from the events last August but hoping to build more before 2017 ends.

---

For those interested in LEGO mech building, I put out an eBook over at Amazon Kindle a while back called Mech Wars Instructional Primer. If you’re looking for a resource that could help you start or even improve your mech building skills, you might find this eBook useful😀

If you liked this article then you can help me out create more LEGO mech content by clicking the button below. Your monetary contribution, no matter how big or small, will definitely help me a lot in sustaining this passion 😀