Batman Fan Builds Himself a Fully-Functional, Awesome Tumbler in 10 Months

Nguyen Dac Chung is 23 years old, an architecture student and the boss of his own cosplay production company. He’s also a big Batman fan and, in his first year at the university, decided he would build himself a replica of the Batmobile. He settled on the military-inspired Tumbler, as seen most recently in Christopher Nolan’s movies.

In 10 months and using some $22,000 of his own money, and with help from an entire team, Dac Chung put together a fully-functional replica of the Tumbler. You can see it in the video below: this is an impressive vehicle and Dac Chung has been taking it out on the streets of Hanoi, in Vietnam, so he immediately attracted attention from local media.

In the interview, the student explains that he first created the replica in 3D and then set out to put it together. He identifies the biggest challenge as that of securing parts: for instance, the frame and body are sourced from Vietnam, but other parts like the tires had to be bought from the U.S.

As of the time of press, Dac Chung’s Tumbler is only 90 percent complete, since he still has work to do on the interior. Power comes from a 4-cylinder, 400 cc engine, with the designer saying his vehicle can hit 100 kph (62 mph) in a straight line on the road. For suspension, he used 4 front shock absorbers and 2 rear shock absorbers, and the jet engine exhaust in the back is non-functional. It’s only meant to mimic the one on the OG Tumbler and hides a motorcycle exhaust.

This Batmobile replica has butterfly doors and an adjustable rear spoiler, and a steering wheel with the Batman logo in it. Two people can fit inside, though based on the video, it’s a tight fit. The vehicle is 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) long and 2.6 m (8.5 foot) wide.

Dac Chung doesn’t say what he plans to do with the replica once it’s complete, but we have a feeling it would be an awesome conversation starter on dates. Or any other outing, for that matter.