The Batpod: 2021 Tumbler Scale Tutorial

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-9248...

Ever since the Dark knight came out, I’ve been fascinated by one particular part of it. The Batpod. I’m sure I’m not the only one, but for me, this fascination went as far as to start designing a working, street legal version of the motorcycle seen in the movie. My father even got on board and started researching electric motorcycles that we could cannibalize and reconfigure to build it. Unfortunately his declining health and my severe lack of funds drove it onto the ‘dreams that will never come true’ backburner, and I had to abandon the plans. ‘

However, unlike many of us who have to give up on projects, I had another avenue to pursue, and built my own tumbler and batpod out of Lego as soon as the right build solution presented itself. My ultimate dream is to build a batpod that comes out of the tumbler itself, but we’ll have to wait a while longer for that particular idea to bear fruit.

I never intended to build a tumbler without a batpod, and built them both simultaneously in my original Lego annex in my first home. I was very proud of them and showcased them in some of my earliest videos. When the UCS tumbler was announced, I spent hours staring at its details, trying to determine if a Batpod could fit inside. Eventually my financial situation got the best of me, and I was unable to get it. But then, Lego announced the official Lego Batpod giveaway. I have honestly never entered sweepstakes to this day with as much zeal and earnest as I did that one. I promised myself that if I won that Batpod there was nothing that would stand in the way of me purchasing that UCS tumbler to match it.

Then, I didn’t win. This was only the first of many disappointments when it came to online Lego giveaways, but my love for the batpod remained unchanged.

Then, earlier this year, a rumor circulated of a new tumbler, both a UCS and a playscale version. I was pretty excited, but the previous iterations left a bit to be desired, so my excitement was tempered. Then came the announcement, and my goodness was it gorgeous! This new tumbler looked so much better than any other playscale version that I didn’t even care what it cost, I had to have it! And of course at the same time started thinking about what a batpod at this scale would look like.

I was actually worried that someone would beat me to the punch here, but to my knowledge, I think I’m the first one:)

As you know from the publishing date of this video, and the instructions on rebrickable (You’re welcome galaxy) it was a bit more complicated than I anticipated. I tried multiple variations, trying to get it to work, but in the end, went back to my tried-and-true first version to get the right angles and proportions. It worked magnificently. While it is extremely oversized for a minifigure, it does however come very close to the scale of the 2021 tumbler. The hardest part of the build was definitely the forward canons. There really isn’t a perfect solution that I could find, and it was only hard work and trial and error that lead to this final product that I think looks pretty good and gets the right feel of its real-world counterpart.

There’s only one really illegal technique used in the MOC, and I really felt bad about it, but in the end, it made the whole thing work at its best. The illegal technique is that the tires are not seated perfectly onto the wheels. They sit about ¼ of a stud width from their intended position, but the upside of getting the wheels perfectly centered with no slippage or maladjustments gives me a bit of justification for this minor indiscretion.

Anyway, as mentioned earlier the Instructions are available at Rebrickable.com right now, so feel free to build your own batpod to go with your 2021 tumbler set, and reenact your favorite scenes from the last 2 movies of the dark knight trilogy, just like my kids and I get to do:)

And until next time in TJ’s Lego Room, Play Well:)