Owned and operated by Orne Montgomery as a sole entity, Rebellion Creations designs and manufactures model-kits.  In 1989, Rebellion Creations began marketing, with permission from the copyright owners of the original TV vehicles, first the "1966 Batura" (tm) - First through Fifth Generations - and then the "Armored Imperial".  Since the time that the first 1st Generation Batura was marketed in 1989, numerous individuals, without permission, have taken it upon themselves to "recast" (duplicate)  both the "1966 Batura" and "Armored Imperial" kits, created by Orne Montgomery/Rebellion Creations.  These kits were manufactured with the permission of the original copyright owners.  Orne Montgomery holds sole copyright to the design of both these kits, and has never granted manufacturing-rights to any other individual or company.  Here will be detailed the specifications and features of both kits.  If you have purchased similar kits from parties other than Orne Montgomery/Rebellion Creations which have box-art and/or instruction-manuals with the logo:  "Rebellion Creations" (aka "Rebellion Productions, Ltd."), check the measurements and other features against these photos to determine if you have obtained a "recast".  If you believe you have, please contact Orne Montgomery at the following:

 

email: rebellion@coam.net  or  InfinityReach01@hotmail.com

phone: 7902-878-0390

address:  Orne Montgomery, 531 Bedford Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89107

 

Only if people identify "recasts", choose not to purchase these "recasts", and report these people to other modelers/collectors, will the offending parties be driven out of the model-kit business.  This a widespread problem, not limited to these instances alone - too many model-kit businesses have closed up shop rather than see all their hard work "recast" by greed-fueled pirates.

 

 

The original design of this kit was scratchbuilt from plans drawn by Orne Montgomery in 1986, once George Barris (Barris Kustom Kar Industries) gave permission to manufacture it as a 1/12th scale model-kit.  While the overall design was based on the original full-size TV vehicle, it was meant as a body conversion for a then-available R/C car kit, the "Acura".  The wheelbase and body-size was adjusted accordingly, both shorter and smaller, respectively, in scale to the full-size car.  Any "recast" will duplicate these dimensions, as detailed below in the photos.  Also the canopy and cockpit will be smaller, in scale (the height was also reduced in size, the front canopy 7/8" of an inch high).  Six third-generation kits were traded to Lunar Models (which in turn sold those as a  "Modified Futura" kit) for several of their kits in 1990; there was an imperceptible flaw with the mold, thin on the left side which, when the mold was turned on its side, flexed the curing resiin and gave it a slightly concave appearence along the driver's door area.  I've seen this same flaw on pictures of some recent recasts, and so know it was the third-generation kit it from which it was lifted.

 

 

 

 

This was an all-new scratchbuilt body built from plans utilizing enlarged xeroes of the Revell Futura kit, brought up to 1/12th scale, and features a main two-piece body with separate headlight pods, front/rear grilles, tailight pods, and fins, with all accessories including an enlarged canopy set with matching rollbar assembly.  It utilized an interior assembly originally created for the fourth-generation kit (only one was sold because of problems with unworkable body-molds).  The length and overall dimensions were increased in size from the versions which preceded the fifth-generation design, and the "armored" chassis (with an added turbine-part) was incorporated directly into the lower half of the body, rather than as a separate insert-piece.

 

 

 

The Armored Imperial was developed as a personal project to make a matching pair of vehicles with the Batura as they were once seen on the TV series.  While I had limited reference photos, and no dimensions, I started with the lengthened chassis of a 1/12 scale Chevy kit and proceeded to build a prototype.  I later contacted Dean Jefferies and asked him for permission to market the model as a limited-production kit.  He granted permission (later I would give him the prototype and several kits to build for himself) and I turned out six initial kits.  The first of these went out without an interior, by request, since it wasn't completed at the time; I learned very quickly that it turned up in the hands of someone who was already recasting my Batura kit, and that the stock interior from the '57 Chevy - was included with the kit.  Fast forward to 2001, when I found out that recasts of both the Batura and the Armored Imperial are being churned out by yet another recaster.