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Rebuilding the Minimate c3 Batcave


Urban Saboteur

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I've started the process of rebuilding the minimate batcave using Lego Digital Designer, there are of course some building restrictions with the bricks/program, that i'll actually be able to improve on when it comes to the final build, i'm using this so i can establish any improvements or additional ideas on top of what i have, so for now this is a preliminary build to establish a parts list first, then once i've got to this stage in real time i can work on some improvements. :biggrin:

Hope you like seeing it in Lego Digital Designer Model, i've not started the control room yet so this is still a work in progress.

In friendship

Rich.

Pictures

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Sorry, I also want to add, that my idea is that I want to have the batmobile under the arch on the right side of the stairs, theres a brick you can get which is formed rock in grey to build on it, and i'm thinking of encasing the archway and driveway in this rock, then have a small lane for the batmobile to shoot out onto :biggrin:

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Nice job. I used the same program a few years back to re-design the first floor support system on ours. I'd be curious to hear what it's quoting you as the cost to order just that much of the cave so far.

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Well I could always check, i've now finished the final preliminary build and here it is:

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The build mode says i've used 788 bricks. I'd imagine out of all of those bricks, i'd have the majority of the ones in grey (I have alot of grey bricks). I still think i'd have to spend some cash at bricklink or order officially from lego to complete it to this stage. It says to purchase it fully through them for all 788 bricks it would be £134.00GBP.

I'm quite happy with how the model has turned out, especially the computer and console monitor in the control room :biggrin: My next step is to generate a building/parts list and search through all my lego boxes to find the parts.

I'll keep everyone posted when i have this built in real time, i'll have some work to do on the lift and stairs when it comes to the real time build. :thumbsup:

In friendship

Rich

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There is a program you can download from Lego where you can play around and come up with your own virtual designs. It's a fun time waster, and if you really, really like what you come up with, you can have it custom odered for you from Lego. I think Rich was just trying to see how close he could get to the C3 BatCave using that program. As I said, I used the same program to do something similar, but redesigned the first floor supports so they'll actually hold up the other two floors, then ordered just those parts. Didn't take it nearly as far as Rich has.

If he's going to try and make it real, then I'd guess that, no he ain't got it. They are not as common, or cheap, as they used to be... I think... I guess you'd actually be the guy to ask, BHM.

Now seeing how close you can get overall, I may put on my list of things to do with my copious amounts of free time is to replicate Rich's effort digitally, then see what could be reasonably be done to expand it. Place needs a place to park the jet, and a point to the back half of the second floor. And of course all the Sprang-tastic details.

Also, Rich- Lego has a "Pick-Your-Brick" section on their website, to get anything you are missing.

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Lol! :lol:

I think you did miss something somewhere. I posted up a welcome back thing, I did have the c3 batcave as well as a good selection of minimates, I sold them, then deeply regretted it, I'm now attempting to re-acquire what i had. Part of that process is buying the bruce wayne to batman figure from you. :biggrin:

The other stage is to rebuild the batcave in lego form, but once built add-on and improve it, so that this time round my collection will be more awesome!

Today I borrowed Lego Batman for the Ps3, just so i can have a wander around the batcave in the game and churn out some ideas from that game and see if i can replicate any of them onto the C3 design. :)

Rich

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OK I'm up to speed now.

I asked my questions because my logic (often flawed I know) dictated that you'd be better off financially with a C3 Batcave & then buy your extra pieces. As Mirymate says Bat-Caves aren't exactly cheap BUT C3 sets are amongst those Minimate items that decrease in value dramatically once the package is open or damaged. Finding a C3 Batcave set in mint condition was almost impossible from the moment they left the factory because the packaging is woefully underspecced . Please get to the point Rob :rolleyes: My point is that there are (or were) many of us here that have a Batcave sans.... a decent box .... the figures....a few bricks...the instructions etc.etc. which make them far less valuable than the pristine MIB :no: sets often touted on ebay ,ask around ! C3 Batcaves increased in price once the Lego Batcaves became idiotically expensive (bhm's sour grapes outburst :sad: ) but they are currently still cheap..... especially if you just want the bricks rather than the figures . Finally ....I swear that I found this link http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?_nkw=c3+bat-cave&_sacat=0&LH_Complete=1&_odkw=c3+bat+cave&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313 after I typed the above & it completely corroborates everything I was trying to convey to anybody that is interested.

Urban Saboteur : I love your Batcave & I applaud your efforts ....I just don't want you to spend a load of dough unnecessarily ....that's why Bruce Wayne is coming your way for the price of the shipping . I am in no way offended by the fact that you've publically mentioned our 'trade' but I want to dispel anybody's notion that I was going to charge you anything for it ! ;) Christmas might just be coming early to Manchester .

Edited by buttheadsmate
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Wow Rob, absolutely no need to explain yourself or your actions, it's refreshing to see someone help someone else out who is looking to get back into collecting them. Firstly as i'd mentioned I did have every intention of paying for him, of course i'd welcome any help in acquiring Bruce Wayne to Batman minimate, for the costs of shipping, is an absolute steal and it is incredibly generous of you to help. I'm very grateful to you :biggrin:

As far as the actual c3 minimate Batcave goes, recreating it in Lego Digital Designer for purchase is something i wanted to do, however I wont be spending over £100 to acquire the lego pieces.

I have about 7 crates of lego, see here Lego collection ~ this is from about a year and half ago, i have more than that but it does give you an idea of the lego i can pick from.

So my plan is actually to build a parts list to make it, then scavenge from my own boxes first, taking me as far as possible, I think with the exception of the screens and a few slopes i'll be good. I've not ruled out the possibility of actually acquiring a loose c3 minimate batcave, if anything to have those special c3 parts that aren't available in lego form, such as the spire to the lift and the small telephone on the balcony.

Because I'm primarily building this with Lego, i'm hoping that when it comes to the extra ideas/extensions none of it will look out of sync/place. I remember the official c3 minimate bricks being lego compatible but different colours compared to normal lego.

This wk'end I've borrowed Lego Batman for the PS3, my idea is to run around the batcave and bruces mansion to get some ideas for the extensions. I'd like to try and make the 3rd floor bigger and make a study for Bruce Wayne, downstairs in the cave i'd love to have a small lane running out from the archway for the batmobile.

Speaking of my second idea? Does anyone have both assembled Batmobile & Batcave? Does the Minimate Batmobile fit under that archway? If so could someone post a picture or verify to help me? Whilst I don't have either sets for the time being, if it doesn't fit i'll have to reconsider the size of the 1st floor archway. I also want to try and build outwards, encasing the cave in those Lego Rock bricks, you can find them on Lego Digital Designer, when i get a picture of it i'll post it up here. :biggrin:

Thank you everyone so far for the suggestions and help on this, i'm really quite excited by how awesome this batcave could turn out!! :)

Rich

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This is the piece i was referring to:

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I was thinking of building the cave inside these pieces, these are called Mountain Top [3x8x7] you can use the small 1x1 slopes and bricks to make more of a rockery or in my case a cave. :biggrin:

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Urban, I too am currently 'upgrading' the C3 Batcave, building out and 'improving the foundations,' so to speak. I've also considered replacing parts with actual lego (better quality, sturdier, etc.), or even repainting much of the C3. I did post a picture in my customs thread, of a lovely rocky lego base I picked up rather cheap on eBay. There were a few more the same at the time, I'd definitely suggest having a look. I'm certainly going to be paying attention to this thread, it could be cool to throw ideas at one another. I don't know if you want this thread to just be about your cave, or if you were hoping others would show off what they'd been up to as well? Either way, your thread = your rules :)

I'm going to be taking more pictures and sticking them up tomorrow (hopefully), but I now have a lovely lego T-Rex (half painted), Jason Todd memorial, and thanks to Luke, minimate style designs for the Lincoln penny and Joker card. They genuinely look incredible, and with Luke's permission I'd be more than happy to put them in here for all to use. Would you be interested?

EDIT - the batmobile does fit under the arch... while I do not have it myself, I've seen a few pictures online before. I wouldn't be surprised if that arch was deliberately made for the batmobile to live under. Personally, as cool as the big batmobile looks, its just far too big for me. As part of my rebuild project I completely repainted the smaller one, black and navy, gave it a chair, steering wheel and a few flashy bits.

Edited by dj87
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I'm certainly going to be paying attention to this thread, it could be cool to throw ideas at one another. I don't know if you want this thread to just be about your cave, or if you were hoping others would show off what they'd been up to as well? Either way, your thread = your rules :)

Absolutely!

I'd welcome you or anyone else lurking/reading who has done or is currently doing a Batman/Batcave for their minimate to join in. Obviously the more ideas we have going on this the better our minimate batcaves will be. I'd encourage anyone to share their ideas, either by typing out their improvements or sharing pictures.

As i've already stated, my main improvements will be a Bruce Wayne Study room on the 3rd floor, i think the lift will still be behind the grandfather clock as this is more traditional. Which will lead down to the second floor where the change of clothes are leading to the stairs.

My second improvement will be that archway and the surrounding control room. I'm sure when i am finished it wont look exactly like my LDD screen shot, but i just wanted to build to this stage first as a preliminary step. I've not worked out yet how the lift will work in terms of lego parts, because there doesn't appear to be a lego designed brick that will function for the main spire/lift piece like there is in the c3 minimates.

I'm currently in the process of working on a parts list so i can scavenge as many parts as possible for the batcave from my own Lego boxes. Once i know which parts i have i'll know what additional parts i need to order from Lego.com directly or from Bricklink. :)

In friendship

Rich

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Just in case anyone is interested in reading my thoughts and ideas, I updated my toyblog today with a brief insight into what i've been upto with the batcave rebuild. :biggrin:

You can read it here: Superiorville

I'll still be updating this thread as well, but my blog is mostly posted on my friends site so i thought i'd mention it here as well, tonight i started to work on the parts list, over 770+ bricks to find. I've found the majority of light grey bricks i need, unfortunately the blue and black bricks i want are in the loft/attic so i'll need to get up and retrieve those crates during the week. :)

Don't forget i'd like to see everyones photos regarding their own plans for the batcave, whether works in progress or completed projects.

Rich

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I assume you're talking about having the bigger Minimate Batmobile in there, and not the mini one. And as such I imagine it might be a bit wider than that lower area. I don't have a Batcave myself, but I'm looking at my Batmobile now and comparing them based on peg width of the driveway thing versus the actual Batmobile, it doesn't look like it will fit. I am just eyeballing it from pictures, so I might very well be wrong, but I think it'd would be easy enough to just make a wider lane if needed.

Anyways this is really awesome. I've been out of Legos for a long time, but I still respect them and the unbelievable amount of cool stuff that can be done with them.

And now that I have a nephew, I'm going to have to get more soon because I think every kid should have Legos to mess around with.

I used to have a half dozen five gallon buckets full (probably more) but when my mom sold her house they were all in the basement and were either left behind or thrown out, and that still upsets me to this day.

But thank goodness for the C3 Minimate sets. They have very quickly pulled my Lego interests back up and now I'm am buy some sets here and there and just dumping pieces into a bucket.

Well, I build the thing first, say "That's neat" and then demolish it and dump it for silliness at a later date, because I have absolutely no place to display Lego things in my little apartment.

I do have a small box of Legos left that I found in my basement a while back, and I have a couple of those mountain top pieces you're talking about. They are really neat for stuff and a great idea for a Batcave. I got them from a pirate island Set a long time ago.

But that's my two cents. I'm going to keep an eye on this thread because I think some awesome ideas are going to come out of this.

Edited by The Geohound
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The larger batmobile, can you count the stud width across from panel to panel? How many studs is it? I'd imagine like you said that if it doesn't fit the process of just shifting the pillar over by 1 or 2 studs will be easy enough to do. :)

Today, I managed to go up into the loft for the blue, black and white lego coloured boxes. Once i've finished assembling the parts list i'll be in a position to retrieve the bricks i need to build it. :)

Edited by Urban Saboteur
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The large Batmobile is 14 studs wide by 34 studs long and 10 Lego bricks high (all of these come from the widest parts of the car)

My guess would be if using these specs, you'll probably want to add a bit on every side, because if not, the Batmobile would be incredibly snug in there, so better to have some space for maneuvering and all.

Hope that helps.

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That is great! I love that program. I've designed myself a little Xavier's Mansion that I still need to get (I even designed it to where I wouldn't have to buy it all at once, I could just get floor by floor and stack 'em), and was in the process of an Arkham Asylum. Neither were feats of architechture, but would've sufficed nicely for Minimate display purposes.

But, man, it just goes to show how ridiculously expensive Legos have gotten. $200 for that, when C3 retailed it for $50 all those years ago. Yeesh. :wacko:

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here are a few quick pictures from my cave, so far...

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card and coin designs by Luke

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TENIME inspired JT memorial

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repainted mini Batmobile

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EDIT -

workbench and crime lab

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I plan on attaching the separate lego base to the C3, along with a road type base for the Batmobile, under the arch... much like yourself, Saboteur

Edited by dj87
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The crime lab area looks really interesting, and nice use of Lego Pieces :)

Hopefully people will post up their own Batcave W.I.P as well.

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Meant to ask last time you showed that, D, where is that base plate from?

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no idea what set its from, I'm afraid. A few weeks back I just ebay searched 'lego base' and browsed through god knows how many pages. It certainly wasn't the only one of that base on there though, seemed somewhat readily available.

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I'd imagine the base itself is either from the castle or pirate sets, they usually had a fort of somekind built on top of it. :biggrin:

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yeah, sounds about right... that pit bit in particular (where I have the rope piece), looks like it should have a dungeon door over it.

*sigh* I got a wonderfully huge Lego castle when I was about 5... loved that thing.

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