1930's Bat Gyro

The last of the Johnny Lightning "build your own" die cast vehicles, here is the Bat Gyro! This awesome little plane-a-copter comes straight from the early 30's Batman comics.



The Bat Gyro has a gloss black finish, with matte black accents, the wings have the scalloped bat wing edges as does the tail. two seats, fixed landing gear, a prop protruding from a bat masked engine cowling and a large rotor prop on top. The parts come pre painted like the other little models and most are plastic, with the exception of the main fuselage which is die cast. The only way to have made these better, include some little Batman and Robin figures to stick in them like airplane models.



I really wished that this series would have had a little longer life span, it was sort of fun getting these, doing some simple assembly and having a pretty polished display vehicle. I would have liked to seen at least four more from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. I still wants me that Frank Miller Bat-Tank from the Dark Knight Returns!

Lightning Fast Bat Transportation!

I think enough time has passed since the Dark Knight has swept up everyone in it's amazing whirlwind of adventure that I can post some "Bat Goodness"! So here we go Bat Fans, the Johnny Lightning build your own Bat Vehicles. These were released in the early part of the new decade, and have to be one of the coolest if not easiest models I have ever built. The actual finished vehicle is about the size of a Hotwheels car, but they were packaged in a display type box with header card that is similar in size and shape of the Corgi Batmobiles, maybe a little smaller.

Each kit came with instructions, a tiny screw driver, tiny screws (duh), and pre painted parts. You could pretend you were on an assembly line putting together little die cast cars! Each represents a different era of Bat vehicle, or major Bat vehicle, with two of the four representing the 60's. No you are not seeing things the fourth will be revealed tomorrow.

Let's start with one of the coolest of Batmobiles, the 1940's. The 40's Batmobile is a supped up sedan with the recognizable bat fin adorning the roof, running down the back of the car, as well as the "mask" that was used as a battering ram. This version even has the wheel wells that have the bat like scalloped edges. Solid gloss black, chrome accents, this is one bad looking Batmobile. Probably only considered iconic by comic fans, but is easily recognizable as a Batmobile.






Next we have the 1960's comic Batmobile, I say comic because it seems that while they could do a version that was based on the Futura car design, Johnny Lightning was not licensed to do the 1960's Television Batmobile that everyone knows. But this one is similar to the Barris version form the show in so many ways that it's not to far to imagine Adam West at the wheel.







This set also features no bat markings except for the matte black mask that is on the hood of the gloss black car. The interior and any exterior details were all pre painted as before, but one extra feature on this one is the opening hood. This car also included a hitch on the back that comes in handy for the trailer that came with the next set the 1960's comic Batboat!







Again the comic being because the television Batboat was not licensed. Probably one of the coolest of the four sets, the Batboat features similar pre painted details as the above Batmobile and includes a trailer that you can hitch to the car, or lower it's hitch wheel to stand at the ready in the Batcave. I wouldn't try to float this one though, it's made up primarily of die cast, like the others, and would sink rather fast.



This one along with the Batmobile reminds me of the older Corgi sets that included the car, trailer, and boat. I believe there was even a larger rack toy set that had the same set up, but all plastic at a larger scale. I wonder if they ever produced a Batcamper, so Batman and Robin could hitch it up for a weekend of s'mores and ghost stories?

Romulan Bird of Prey

It always amazed me how most of the alien vessels in Star Trek used to have the same type of engines, or at least they looked the same. I will admit that this one ups the ante some by placing them on the ends of two wings and swept forward. Besides the usual engine configuration this ship is more of a departure than the Enterprise or Klingon D-7 as far as ship layout, this bird is more compact and the bridge section does not hang out there like the others separate from the engineering section. Also you may have noticed a giant bird painted on the bottom, used to strike fear into the system they were attacking.



So what are we looking at? Another of the Johnny Lightning Star Trek ships released back in 2005. I'm going to go on record as saying I thought the bird on the bottom was sweet and when I was younger and the larger AMT models were around, I probably screwed up about a half dozen of these trying to get the bird to look right. So, I really glad that these Johnny Lightning ones come with the decals on.

This ship is a little bigger than the Klingon D-7, I know that they are not in scale, I believe it should be somewhat smaller since it is basically an attack craft. Sort of a strike hard and fast craft. But, I can see why the did not render these craft in scale, you would feel cheated getting a ship the size of a quarter after getting the Enterprise and Klingon D-7, so they were just trying to give you the most plastic for your buck.

The Romulan Bird of Prey was first seen, along with the Romulans, in the Episode the Balance of Terror. Where we learn for the first time Romulans and Vulcans are somewhat related and look surprisingly alike. We also learn the these bad boys have a cloaking device that make them invisible to scanners. The episode is a classic and plays out like an old War drama of fighting submarine commanders, down to the Romulan Commander casting out debris so the Enterprise would think his ship has been destroyed. One last thing the Romulan Commander was played by Mark Leonard, the same actor that would play Spock's Father.

Klingon D-7 Battle Cruiser

When I was first introduced to Star Trek I was all about the U.S.S. Enterprise, as I got a little older I started expanding my horizons with the ships of the Klingon and Romulan Empires.



Today we'll be looking at the Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser form the original series. I have built a few of the AMT model kits in my time and still have one kicking around the collection, but this is a newer release of a classic ship from Johnny Lightning. Released in around 2005 the D-7 was among the first in a series of Star Trek ships from the company. The D-7 was produced in the standard gray, a cloaked version (which could be considered a Romulan version of the ship) and a limited white version called White Lightnings.



I went with standard colors, though they cloaked version might be kinda cool. When I first saw these, knowing what I know about Johnny lightning making die cast cars I thought the ship was die cast. I was surprised to find out it was the stand, and the ship was plastic. Sneaky, the weight of the package threw me off! I wasn't disappointed just surprised. So fair warning.

I am only two ships into this line, with plans only to get the other two classics and a couple of the movie ships, but if you dig a really detailed starship at about 2 1/2" to 3" in length, these are the toys for you. Tomorrow will be the Romulan ship of choice from the original series, tune in!