With fall in full force and winter coming soon, my attention is turning again to “Things I can actually do in the shop.” I might be able to get some steel in this fall/winter and get started on a table first, then some jigs, and maybe even the cage. While I’m working on those funds—and socking away for hospital bills for the upcoming new baby—I’ve gone back to my ideas of hood designs.

First, a point. I have been looking all over for a hood. I can’t find any near Idaho for a price I’m willing to pay. Next, I don’t know how keen I am on building the whole truck myself and getting a used hood. I may change my mind again down the road, but right now, I’m leaning towards building my own hood. Finally, I think there are some aspects of the HMMWV and H1 hood design that are just ugly. Besides, I don’t know yet if I want a fiberglass hood.

Another thought that has crossed my mind is the desire to not have the truck look TOO much like a Hummer. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous…build a Hummer replica that doesn’t look like a replica. But, I look at it this way: I can build this truck to look any way I want. There’s no rule book that says I have to make it look like anything at all. I can use some aspects of the Hummer that I like, and mix them up with something else that I like….say the Tumbler from the new Christopher Nolan directed Batman movies.

In fact, that’s just what I have been doing.

Start with a nice Hummer hood as a base (like this nicely modified NOPI winner from Shawn Smith of AngryIron.com):

Add pinch of the Tumbler:

These should blend naturally. Think of it. The Tumbler is supposed to be a shelved military vehicle produced by Wayne Enterprises. The Hummer is both the civilian version of and generic term for The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee). Best of both cool superhero combat and real-life military vehicle design.

Now, there is a particular part of the Tumbler than lends itself quite well to transmission to the hummer hood. That is the flat part just above the cockpit for the caped crusader:

So, I first drew out a few ideas on tracing paper over the photo of the Berserker above. It took about four or five times to get that top part just right:

The really difficult part was the front. How do I keep the grill and headlight placement just right, and still incorporate the aggressive look from the Tumbler? What to do now that I’ve essentially eliminated the Hummer turn signals and corresponding fiberglass shape? I can’t just slap this on a Hummer hood and expect it to look ok. This was the most difficult part of the entire design. I finally came up with this:

Obviously, it’s still fairly rough in design. But, I think I like it. Don’t you?

If you do, maybe you could help me save up enough to keep the project moving along…