What do you do when there's a part you need in a color that isn&#3

[Beck]

Hi Everyone!

The question is stated above; What do you do when there's a part you need in a color that isn't made?

For my case: http://bricksafe.com/pages/Beck/train_mocs

I need the 1x1 brick with knob in dark blue ("earth blue").

Do you paint it?

Do you use stickers?

Any ideas Are appreciated

Thanks in advance,

Beck

[davidzq]

Being a purist, my answer is to find a solution which does not require that piece. In your case, I would make the first plate on the windows a 2x2, and have the brick with knob moved in one stud. It would be in the interior of the train, and hidden, so could be any color.

[tkatt]

This happens to me a lot. I either sub a similar part that is in the same color or just change the color scheme. But you may be in luck. The Dr. Who set will have dark blue 1x2's with side knobs. They should work in your application, you'll just have them taking up a bit of space inside your train car.

[pirzyk]

I'm going to use vinyl stickers to cover the Infrared receiver and battery pack in white. I am not sure that will work in your case as you will have a hard time matching colors. You may have to resort to a redesign or paint.

Not if you can redesign to use 44728 in dark blue? One of the only brackets I could find in that color, though 3956 is probably not realistic to use. There is always the headlight brick but you will then have that ugly square hole on the outside.

Edited October 24, 2015 by pirzyk

[Sven J]

To stabilize the long row of windows, you may also connect both sides by a 2x6 plate (or two layers consisting of one 2x3 and one 2x4 plate if it's a 7-wide model, I can't really tell), and fasten it in the middle:

[Beck]

Thanks for all of you responses and solutions! It seems that until the Dr Who set comes out I may just have to make do with the pieces LEGO provides.

From the pictures available it does look like there's a possibility that the 1x1 brick with knob may be released in dark blue!

http://www.brothers-brick.com/tag/doctor-who/

Tenderlok, it's 7 wide.

[dr_spock]

Drill hole to mount a technic half pin to function as knob?

[zephyr1934]

Being a purist, my answer is to find a solution which does not require that piece. In your case, I would make the first plate on the windows a 2x2, and have the brick with knob moved in one stud. It would be in the interior of the train, and hidden, so could be any color.

I would have to agree with davidzq. That is part of the challenge of building in rare colors, you need to improvise. So in this case, replace the "1x1 dark blue with knob" with a standard dark blue 1x1 brick. Then one stud in from the outside of the car put a different color 1x1 brick with knob. Use a 2x2 plate on the bottom of your window stack instead of the 1x2 plate. It will work just as good and will be a lot cheaper than buying the 1x2 brick with knob (that will probably be an expensive part if it only comes in the Dr Who set). If you do an interior you could even work this in as part of a bulkhead between the seating area and lavatory.

Personally, I prefer solutions like Tenderlok's though, you can do it between each pair of windows for greater strength, but I don't build interiors. Since you are doing 7 wide, you could use 2x2 corners to brace the windows against the inside walls (eliminating the need for the brick with studs on the side) and then use some plates on the inside, below the window line, to hold the windows together (doing the same function as the 2x6 plate in his image, except doing so under the window line).

As for what parts are available in dark blue, you can use the "colors" option on bricklink to see what parts come in a given color, e.g., here's the selection for dark blue. Looks like the 1x2x2 bracket came in dark blue, but it is pricey and not many are available.

[Paperballpark]

According to this, there's only the 1x2 with side studs in the Doctor Who set: http://www.newelementary.com/2015/10/doctor-who-and-toy-of-doom.html