Big-Ass vehicles is back, suckas! It’s been a while, and it is getting tougher and tougher to find these rare, giant bastards, but this one might be one of the most unique, and possibly most versatile, vehicles I’ve found in some time.
We’ve looked at Bratz vehicles before, and no doubt there is some really nice stuff out there. You get the impression that a lot of attention and passion went into the cars made for this doll line. But, not content to just match Barbie on the base levels, the Bratz dolls got themselves a jet too. And not some tubby pink monster like Barbie’s — they ended up with a Learjet.
While it is a little “chibi-ized” to get it into a manageable scale, the Bratz jet still has some impressive dimensions, running almost 2 feet by 2 feet, and is able to maintain the lines of the Learjet for the most part intact. Even better, there is a functioning side step door, opening cabin roof, and a rear cargo door. Once I learned it had functioning landing gear, I bought one.
Now really, out of the box, it’s not a bad-looking vehicle. It’s definitely styled after a Lear, maybe a 35, but obviously takes plenty of liberties to get where it is. The stars on the windows and wheels are the only things that really give it away as a “doll vehicle,” and, even then, it’s not the worst or most obvious way to go about that anyway. I think it comes in white as well as red, and other than some really stubborn stickers, it’s not out of the question to use as-is.
Doesn’t mean I’m going to do that, though.
I’m still very much working out just how this thing is going to be used in my collection. Private jet, military transport, or somewhere in between? Regardless, though, some things will need to be worked out. First, the rear cargo door is too cool a feature not to use. So, with a dremel, not enough patience, and the cost of a couple knuckles, I knocked out the bulkhead that separates the cargo section from the cabin. I did the same into the front nose section as well, since it doesn’t have a true cockpit. There’s plenty of space for one, though, so we’ll certainly get to that later as well.
The star-shaped windows just aren’t my scene, so I covered the sides with some styrene and am currently trying a mix of masking and styrene on the front ones — I was sort of hoping parts of the stars could pass as panel lines. We’ll see.
As a hedge toward one of those roles, I went ahead and added some pylons to the underside of the wings, one on each, so it can be fitted with fuel tanks, or possible weapons — though I don’t think that’s ultimately where this is going.
I opted to dremel some of the star shape out of the landing gear, but it was honestly a messy affair that didn’t gain me a whole lot. I may add some styrene to fill in some of the gaps they left behind.
From here … man, there’s still a lot to do. But I see a lot of potential as well. Last thing I opted for before cutting off for the writeup was a chunk of monitors and a keyboard in the main cabin. Could be useful for electronic countermeasures, communications, or maybe just for entertaining bored 6-inch Billionaires. Again, we’ll see.
But I would love to hear what you guys see, looking at my start here. Where would you take this Lear? And no, back to the store isn’t an option, wiseacres.
