catch2x2 Posted July 4, 2016 Hi fellow brick buddies!! I'm Jon, from the UK, and have been a lego fanatic my whole life. As a kid I was lucky enough to inherit a lot of lego from my older brother - that coupled with generous parents meant i managed to build up quite a reserve. Sadly, when I moved out, space at my new home was at a premium so my collection was bequeathed to my nephew so i was left brickless. As time has passed I've gained more spare space and have managed to start to build up a small collection, but my particular obsession has become minifigs, which are now numbering in the upper 60s. I've always been interested in making plastic kits which merged into custom painting transformers and gundam and(almost naturally) ended up with me starting on minifigs. I've only done a few so far as they have always been themes friends have asked for, but i've really enjoyed doing them and would like to do them more regularly. Ideally I'd like to do personal commissions for customers, but I'm a way off getting that set up, but maybe one day! Anyway, thought I'd share a few of my favourites with you - hope you like them! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
catch2x2 Posted July 4, 2016 (edited) a couple more: A few details: I made the armour for the Stormtrooper from scratch, the helmet was a standard lego item that I modified slightly. The gym goer was custom painted, and all his accessories were scratch made and painted. In hindsight he would've looked better without the gloss coat, but he was my first attempt and I've learned a lot since then. The chap in the boat used accessories from lego which, along with him, were all custom hand painted. His boat was a lego rowboat which i basically cut the centre section out of and glued back together before filling, smoothing and repainting into a canoe. The reading ladys chair was built from lego then painted, the cat was a lego item custom painted, along with the bottle and glass. The book was scratch made and painted along with the reading glasses (and the lady herself was custom painted - her hair was modified from a standard item too) The bike was a nightmare - it is a mix of a lego bicycle and a motorbike and a lot of scratchbuilt parts. Edited July 4, 2016 by catch2x2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Withacee Posted July 4, 2016 To be left brickless... Oh, the humanity! Welcome aboard. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrickJagger Posted July 4, 2016 Nice customs. Welcome to the boards! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShiningOne Posted July 5, 2016 These are incredible. I know how challenging it is to paint LEGOs, as I enjoy making customs too! Your lady in the chair is my favorite. The face, book, and glasses are great! The armor, canoe, and bike must have been a real challenge to make, wow! Is there any way you could take photos of a step-by-step of the next one so I can see what goes into making something like that? I'm guessing a knife and glue? I cut the cornrows of the fourth character from the left on the first row of this post: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=136452&hl= It's very cool that you are making them for your friends. Keep it up! Glad to have you with us! :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tezclatipoca Posted July 5, 2016 Welcome and nice custom figs ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
catch2x2 Posted July 5, 2016 These are incredible. I know how challenging it is to paint LEGOs, as I enjoy making customs too! Your lady in the chair is my favorite. The face, book, and glasses are great! The armor, canoe, and bike must have been a real challenge to make, wow! Is there any way you could take photos of a step-by-step of the next one so I can see what goes into making something like that? I'm guessing a knife and glue? I cut the cornrows of the fourth character from the left on the first row of this post: http://www.eurobrick...opic=136452&hl= It's very cool that you are making them for your friends. Keep it up! Glad to have you with us! :) Hi ShiningOne!! Thanks very much for your kind comments, I'm really glad you like them. I've added a couple of in progress pics in my posts over in the custom forum: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=137017 http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=137014 Generally it is just a case of cutting and gluing plasticard and then filing it to shape, nothing difficult, just takes lots of patience and acceptance that you might have to scrap what you've done and start over more than once before you get something you are happy with. I'm making a bride and groom at the moment and I've tried about 4 different ways of making the brides hair and had to scrap each one because i t didn't look right. The method I've settled on so far (might still change) has taken me about 4 hours solid so far and I'm not even half way through finished making it, let alone painting it! I don't mean this to discourage you from starting, more to stick with it and keep trying! Miliput putty (I use the white one) is great stuff for forming into little shapes to add onto the figures and also for smoothing out cut edges etc. It works much better if you wet your fingers as the surface will slide under your fingertips instead of grabbing them (hope that makes sense!) Then it's just a case of sanding and more sanding to get everything super smooth before painting. If you have any other questions I'd be more than happy to try and help - I'm no expert but I'll share what I know. I like making them for friends - Actually I just like making them full stop - I find it very therapeutic and relaxing. If I can bring other people a bit of happiness by making them for them then so much the better. I'd love to be able to do it full time but it isn't something I think you can feasibly make a living doing Love your Ninja Quest minifigs - they are awesome!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShiningOne Posted July 8, 2016 I haven't tried using Miliput putty, or cutting too much. However I can relate, at least with painting them that it is relaxing. Your hard work shows. Thanks for sharing, and may your figures grant that same joy that went into your creating them to those who receive them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
