Batman Universe DC Batmovil 2005 Metal Model Kit (SDTWRN89638)

I have built 30-35 of these metal kits, from simple things with only 2 pieces of metal, to complex ones with 12 sheets of metal and 80 page instruction manuals. I have made most errors, such as folding the wrong way several times and breaking pieces off, twisting tabs, then discovering an error, untwisting and damaging a totally diffferent piece. I've learned the glue that works the best for repairs. I've fabricated supports and repairs with scrap metal. I've learned to look carefully, don't remove a piece before I need it, keeping a light on the floor and a big magnet to find pieces that ping away. I've created weird templates for weird shapes. I'm pretty good at this now. Yet, today for the first time, with this kit, I quit. This metal is thin, and has lots of perforations for the bends, making it weak. One wrong bend leads to a break. The designers were overly ambitious, with some pieces having 5-7 folds, and with this Batmobile, these folds go all over the place. That would be ok, but the instructions are very tiny. It's difficult to see where things fit. Most designers will have a color code that lets you know back from front, and a pattern to let one know a mountain fold from a valley fold. And, that will be demonstrated at the beginning of the instructions. Not so here. Confusion leads to error, and error more than once to breakage. These things are created in sub assemblies, that are added together. A complex kit may have 30 subassemblies. I only had two, done over 4-5 days, when I quit. Pieces had to be repaired, fabricated, with each step a mystery, and the result being so unstable as to be funny. This kit is fragile and the instructions lousy. It is not strong enough for repairs. I do not recommend it for anyone but the most devoted, obsessive, hardheaded Batmobile fan, with an incredible amount of self control, and hard as concrete tenacity. That's me. I want this Batmobile to work out. I've built three different Batmobile from a different manufacturer, and they look great. This one is a larger scale, but I want it. So, I'm buying another. I'm going to scan and enlarge the instructions. I'm going to have a schematic of the real thing to check on these folds. I'm going to go even slower. And, having only built two subassemblies, ( with 6 broken pieces, 3 glue joints), 3/4 of the parts can only help to supply more parts for future breaks. This sucker WILL be built! For much better kits, look for Metal Earth, Iconix, and especially Piececool.

This model is not for the faint hearted. It is a tricky little one. I recommend if are thinking if building this, take your time, hold your breath a lot and have glue on standby. The folds are a little precarious and a few did snap when putting together the sub-assemblies. Still a fun project.