Hi everyone. I made an account a few days ago to discuss TDKR but I've been a big fan of Nolan since BB in 2005. As a lifelong Batman fan who kind of lost the spark after the Schumacher travesties, I went into Begins not expecting anything. I surely didn't expect characterization, drama, symbolism, excellent writing and myth-making, putting heart behind one of the greatest legends ever. So deeply was I struck by this film that I started searching for a token to express it. Just one little collectible prop or something. The metal batarang shuriken looked interesting.

Well, 5 years later I have a full replica Begins Batsuit with many pieces cast right off screen-used originals. Everything is movie quality (well, better than that, actually) and the real deal. I also put together a little Wayne Enterprises Applied Sciences case with some of the iconic equipment.

The armoire I built myself from scratch. I knew nothing about woodworking when I started, so I ended up making it a bit smaller than the original, but it'll do. I spoke to the production designer and set designer for Begins to get a little more info on how everything should work together. If anyone can get in touch with Chris Nolan I'd love for him to see what kind of madness his films have inspired

After the Batsuit and armoire were completed, I picked up a couple of other little things like Gordon's GCPD badge and a deck of Joker cards.

You can see all the pictures here: http://gregday.org/batman

Where the hell did you get all that stuff!? That is beyond awesome

Holy shit man

Impressive.

That's so awesome.

God damn

Thanks everyone. I've been trying to use this promotional photo as my inspiration and starting point



I still need to work on the positioning of the mounts and the lighting but I think I'm pretty close. As for the outside of the armoire, it was never really seen in the film, so I had to get photos from the set designer to base off of.

gregday wrote:Thanks everyone. I've been trying to use this promotional photo as my inspiration and starting point



I still need to work on the positioning of the mounts and the lighting but I think I'm pretty close. As for the outside of the armoire, it was never really seen in the film, so I had to get photos from the set designer to base off of.

Did you build the cabinet? Where did you get the costume and other props? I NEED TO KNOWWWWW

I built the closet, yes, using the absolute cheapest wood available at my local hardware store. 95% of it was built by hand without any power tools. I actually chiseled out 38 divots for the brass pull rings on the faux drawer fronts manually. My blisters were multitide. The boot and gauntlet shelves I had fabricated by a steel company in Washington to my specifications and then I finished them in flat gold/bronze paint. The batarang hangers on the inside of the doors are my own design, made from brass brick hangers sandwiched around a pair of rare earth magnets. It's actually quite clever if I do say so myself. The batarangs hang perfectly stable when opening and closing the doors, but it's easy to grab one and pull it down and throw it, although I'd never do that because they are 1/4" solid laser cut steel and kinda dangerous. The main parts of the outer door handles are stock from an interior hardware company, and I made the rosettes around the handles myself. I also designed and built the locking mechanism that unbolts when you rotate the handles (just like you see him do in the film, except the wooden gears inside the doors are never revealed on camera). The big gold ring on the outside I cannot take credit for. I am not a woodworker really and I hired the expert hands of Brian Millspaw to carve out those details. I finished it with a blend of gold metallic paints.

If anyone is curious, here's one of my reference photos of the original full armoire from the batcave set. The set designer tells me they scratch built this rather than finding something already made. It's a real shame we didn't even get to see the front at all:



As you can see, I'm a bit too small on my overall dimensions and proportions are off. Truth is I had most of the "box" of the closet built before I ever saw these reference photos so I kind of had to put the front detail on after the fact. I'm still pretty happy with it And YES I know there are supposed to be 2 more handles on the bottom half, to unlock the bottom bolts. I just never got around to it.

So that's really all I can take credit for. The rest of the suit was made by very talented artists that I spent a long time finding and arranging to help me out. There are a couple of places you can look if you want a suit. Start with the Replica Prop Forum (www.rpf.com) and search for a Batman costuming site called Brotherhood of the Bat. But I'll warn you, this stuff isn't cheap.

My cowl and gauntlets are 1-offs from screen used originals. I believe the cowl is a copy of the stunt cowl worn during the "Lighten up" scene when Crane lights Batman on fire. If you'll notice, my left cowl ear is slightly warped. That's what fire damage can do.

The torso armor was sculpted originally by another fan and is not taken from a screen-used piece, but it's damn close. The boots and cape were crafted from scratch by people who had access to screen used originals and are made out of the same materials. The cape is 100% accurate to the "walking cape" pattern in the film (they use several cape patterns depending on the scene, sitting, walking, gliding...)

The cowl and torso armor are both cast in urethane. The gauntlets, grapple gun, and utility belt are resin with metal hardware.

gregday wrote:I built the closet, yes, using the absolute cheapest wood available at my local hardware store. 95% of it was built by hand without any power tools. I actually chiseled out 38 divots for the brass pull rings on the faux drawer fronts manually. My blisters were multitide. The boot and gauntlet shelves I had fabricated by a steel company in Washington to my specifications and then I finished them in flat gold/bronze paint. The batarang hangers on the inside of the doors are my own design, made from brass brick hangers sandwiched around a pair of rare earth magnets. It's actually quite clever if I do say so myself. The batarangs hang perfectly stable when opening and closing the doors, but it's easy to grab one and pull it down and throw it, although I'd never do that because they are 1/4" solid laser cut steel and kinda dangerous. The main parts of the outer door handles are stock from an interior hardware company, and I made the rosettes around the handles myself. I also designed and built the locking mechanism that unbolts when you rotate the handles (just like you see him do in the film, except the wooden gears inside the doors are never revealed on camera). The big gold ring on the outside I cannot take credit for. I am not a woodworker really and I hired the expert hands of Brian Millspaw to carve out those details. I finished it with a blend of gold metallic paints.

If anyone is curious, here's one of my reference photos of the original full armoire from the batcave set. The set designer tells me they scratch built this rather than finding something already made. It's a real shame we didn't even get to see the front at all:



As you can see, I'm a bit too small on my overall dimensions and proportions are off. Truth is I had most of the "box" of the closet built before I ever saw these reference photos so I kind of had to put the front detail on after the fact. I'm still pretty happy with it And YES I know there are supposed to be 2 more handles on the bottom half, to unlock the bottom bolts. I just never got around to it.

So that's really all I can take credit for. The rest of the suit was made by very talented artists that I spent a long time finding and arranging to help me out. There are a couple of places you can look if you want a suit. Start with the Replica Prop Forum (http://www.rpf.com) and search for a Batman costuming site called Brotherhood of the Bat. But I'll warn you, this stuff isn't cheap.

My cowl and gauntlets are 1-offs from screen used originals. I believe the cowl is a copy of the stunt cowl worn during the "Lighten up" scene when Crane lights Batman on fire. If you'll notice, my left cowl ear is slightly warped. That's what fire damage can do.

The torso armor was sculpted originally by another fan and is not taken from a screen-used piece, but it's damn close. The boots and cape were crafted from scratch by people who had access to screen used originals and are made out of the same materials. The cape is 100% accurate to the "walking cape" pattern in the film (they use several cape patterns depending on the scene, sitting, walking, gliding...)

The cowl and torso armor are both cast in urethane. The gauntlets, grapple gun, and utility belt are resin with metal hardware.

I want to meet you. You are the coolest person ever.