painting pieces

[Bjornu]

Dear users,

My question is:

Is it wise to paint some pieces like:

The little ropes on the back of my soldiers, some swords and other pieces?

I would like to hear your opinions about painting lego pieces, like: It's worth it with the right paint, its useless, it's cool, it's custom so i like it, it's stupid because you ruin your original legoes, Etc.

Ty for Your opinion.

Greetz Bjornu

****UPDATE****

This is how the painted bricks look like now:

How the painted hats look like on a "dutch" bluecoat:

Edited August 11, 2011 by Bjornu

[Warhorse47]

Why not? I just spray painted some pieces I got dirt cheap on ebay, because they were a weird color. I wipe them with rubbing alcohol first and then use a cheap enamel spray paint, acrylic has not worked well for me on Legos.

[Bjornu]

Why not? I just spray painted some pieces I got dirt cheap on ebay, because they were a weird color. I wipe them with rubbing alcohol first and then use a cheap enamel spray paint, acrylic has not worked well for me on Legos.

Well thanks for the advice, i bought many parts from a second hand website and i got paint.

the paint is Emaille so i guess it will work !

ty for your opinion !

Greetz Bjornu

[Captain Becker]

I dont actually like painting minifigs. But decals are OK. Painting swords are OK whit me, especially when they are not very rare, and i also have whole bunch of them. I would only paint my legos if they wont be rare pieces and are very common by their colour. Like: I would paint 2x4 white brick into something else. So if you want to paint or make decals, then feel free to do so. Its your choise, not ours.

PS: You dont plan to paint those ropes on Blecoat minifigs are you?

Captain Becker

[blackpyre]

There is definitely nothing wrong with painting pieces. Actually, depending on whether or not you do it well it will have its own secondary demand if you plan to resell anything.

I'm a purist and have no real interest in painting. However, I am considering for the first time to use a brick ingraver's services.

What it comes down to is that modifying your LEGO elements is a personal choice. Modified elements do have resell value but it will be to a smaller group of fans.

Ideally, if your planning to paint fine details to get minifigures more accurate to a time period, you'll most likely add value to an element.

On the other hand, if the element you are altering is a one of a kind piece that only appears in one set then you may have decreased the value.

But in truth this only applies to sellers. Most fans customize their pieces for their personal collections and that value is impossible to measure. As for advice on painting, I'd recommend finding tutorials on painting war miniatures (plastic war miniatures). They should give you interesting tips on getting finer detail work and handy tips you may not think of.

For instance, create a painter's box that is well lit and ventalated, preparing different surfaces, tips on drying the paint, and so on.

Hope that helps!

Will

[Big Cam]

Personally I do not think you should paint them. In my opinion if you want to paint something so it looks more accurate, then you should be building a model.

Painting LEGO's is a bad idea.

[Erdbeereis]

Personally, I would never paint my minifigs because I like them to be exactly as they were when they were made. However, if you feel like you want to customize them a bit more, nobody will come to your house and arrest you if you paint them. If you do decide to paint them, make sure to do enough research so that you get the results you want, or else you might regret it.

[Tomcat RIO]

I think painting pieces, minifigs is a personal choice ( and skill too). For example, our vintage bluecoat and redcoats had rather plain backs torsos. If you can paint those belts and buckles on, like the newer release redcoat torso designs and the minifigs turn out nicer at the end, why not? Decalling is an easier option if you have the right printer, paper and templates (can be found easily I hope?). But for a part time miniature military modeller like me, nothing beats the satisfaction of painting up a company of tamiya 1/35 American GIs, or german panzer grenadiers..

More constructively. What type of paint is the Emmaile - lacquer , enamel or acrylic based? With Enamels, I can easily control errors by wiping off with cotton buds dipped in enamel thinner(nail polish remover of low concentration). I can't do it for lacquer paints without removing the orginal Lego prints as well. Acrylics can be scrubbed off lightly with soap water while they are still wet, or when partially dry. Also, after painting my bluecoats, I spraycanned a thin coat of clear glossy paint to preserve the shine and protect the painted artwork. Those are just my humble 2 cents from my experiences, I'm sure there are more people on the customizer subforum that have whole lists of great what-to-dos.

In summary, its a personal preference honestly. If it makes unique bluecoat troops nobody else in the world has them, it'll be even nicer! Hehehe.

[blackpyre]

Wanted to throw in one more perspective on this topic.

I've read in "LEGO: A Love Story" that those builders looking to get jobs with LEGO as master builders have a better chance if they see no problem with modifying LEGO to suit their creative needs rather than working in the given element types.

Many purists like myself both enjoy the challenge of building with original pieces with no modifications and for that reason among others we hold those pieces in a higher value.

As for LEGO's point of view, they need people who think outside the box and create interesting designs and give practical feedback on what is needed. This includes painting.

If they didn't hire people with this mindset, we'd probably still be stuck with plain bricks. I think to feel comfortable with this sort of LEGO you need to go beyond the hobby and collector's levels of LEGO. This is where you start getting into the world of art. Consider LEGO elements not as collectible toys but as a canvas or medium you wish to express yourself in.

Just know that you'll always have purists who cringe simply because our values do not allign with yours. The truth is there are plenty of bricks, minifigures, and weird LEGO elements for everyone to play the way they want.

Good luck and keep building,

Will

[Capt.JohnPaul]

If you do decide to paint them, make sure to do enough research so that you get the results you want, or else you might regret it.

Exactly,i bought the Toy Story Army men awhile back and tried to spray paint the muskets brown. If they hold the painted musket and you take it out of their hands, the paint will easily chip and green will show, so use the right paint.

[Warhorse47]

Also, if it doesn't turn out right soak them overnight in Pine Sol and the paint will come right off without harming the plastic.

[Bjornu]

Exactly,i bought the Toy Story Army men awhile back and tried to spray paint the muskets brown. If they hold the painted musket and you take it out of their hands, the paint will easily chip and green will show, so use the right paint.

For me it's going to be hats that will/are painted, so the minifigs won't have the painted parts in their hands..

I think painting legoes is a diffrent story for every lego fan, in my just made opinion I think that:

You have to be able to paint, and let it look like it's done by lego!

[MstrOfPppts]

You painted that with a brush, right? It's clearly seen from pictures that there's too much paint on it - at least the layer surface is not even. I gues it's from painting white over black, which is quite hard to cover. Using an airbrush would make a better result I think. From far the hats look very nice!

[Bjornu]

You painted that with a brush, right? It's clearly seen from pictures that there's too much paint on it - at least the layer surface is not even. I gues it's from painting white over black, which is quite hard to cover. Using an airbrush would make a better result I think. From far the hats look very nice!

Yeah I did it with a brush, I don't have the stuff to spray paint.

But I was actually pretty fine with the job I did

Ty for the opinions, I'm always flattered to see how many people are there to help me!

Thanks for that

Greetz Bjornu !

[Norrington]

I ultimately think whether or not painting a piece is "acceptable" depends on, as others have said:

a) the rarity of a piece. Some pieces exist in very limited quantities (and some common items exist in very rare colours), and as such, that should probably be the first thing considered. Though, I'll say, I doubt many people would 'get rid of' a rare piece of their own volition, but people have done stranger things, eh?

b) what you hope to achieve. I think painting the plumes of shakoes or the edges of tricornes/bicornes/hats in or doing other "detail work" is perfectly acceptable, as you have done. Personally, it often seems like something that should have been done by Lego in the first place, but that's just me. Decals I think are very useful, but in many cases look very poor due to unsuitable colour matching and other such things.

c) the item itself. Disregarding rarity, the piece itself should probably be considered. Painting bricks, for example, would be a bit silly, since with Lego, part of the point of the product is taking liberties and sometimes accepting "close enough." Doing additional detail, as I said, is good and fine. I think the best rule of thumb here would be, doing detail work (painting a design on a brick, painting a design on a torso, colouring in plumes or hilts of swords) is always preferable to painting large surfaces (i.e., painting an entire headpiece, brick, or plate).

But almost anything can be done well, so go wild. :)

[Warhorse47]

That turned out really nice! That really makes them "pop" out!

[Captain Becker]

I do like it, and i dont like it. Thing wich i dont like is at you painted the gold print into black. I think that is a huge mistake, as´i think they look good even whit the gold printing on it. I would have used old shakos for that purpose much more. You have painted the white plume very well, theres almoust any mistakes in it.

Captain Becker

[Bjornu]

I do like it, and i dont like it. Thing wich i dont like is at you painted the gold print into black. I think that is a huge mistake, as´i think they look good even whit the gold printing on it. I would have used old shakos for that purpose much more. You have painted the white plume very well, theres almoust any mistakes in it.

Captain Becker

I guess you mean there are 'no' mistakes in it, instead of 'Any'

Since I ordered 50 new shakos With the Gold print on it, I don't consider this as a loss.

I actually think it was a good project that worked out pretty well, I'm building a MOC atm. and I can't wait to use the White-plumed shacos!!

Greetz Bjornu!

[Cpt. Tristan]

Well personally I like to use a Sharpie to add details on things. This Star Wars clone helmet turned out very well:

I just added the black strip on top.

[Weil]

Looks good. You can also easily get the sharpie off which is a major plus over paint.

Personally I wouldn't paint or sharpie any of my lego though.

[Cpt. Tristan]

Looks good. You can also easily get the sharpie off which is a major plus over paint.

Personally I wouldn't paint or sharpie any of my lego though.

Really? You can easily get it of? you mean with soap and water or something? Cuz it won't come off with general handling (picking it up, or even rubbing). Well, anyway I like it because there are also fine tip and any Sharpie is easier to use than a brush.

[Weil]

I'm sure you could get it off with water and a cloth if you persevered but there are also cleverer ways. If you go over the permanent marker with a normal dry-wipe non-permanent pen then you'll be able to remove both the permanent and non-permanent in a single wipe. (Because of a solvent in the non-permanent pen)

Alternatively some alcohol wipes would do the job fine. If you really want to be swish about it then if you can get a bottle of propan-2-ol (isopropanol) and put a little bit of that on a cloth, that will get the ink of without affecting the lego. Don't use acetone (main component of nail-varnish remover) that's too strong of an organic compound eater - that will take the pen off but I'm pretty sure would also do a great job of corroding the lego!

[blackpyre]

Although (I can't believe I'm saying this) if you want to customize your minifig with acid damage nail pollish remover might be what you want.

I think there's a book out called The Forbidden LEGO that covers all the gluing, cutting, and other devious activities you can think of. Not sure if the book covers painting though. I just figure if you have no problem customizing you may consider what all your options are.

I know I'll respect your project whatever it is.

*cringe* Just don't make me watch while your making the changes. Sorry, I'm just having a Purist reaction. ;)

Will

[CaptainBermuda]

Painting pieces is mostly up to your own restrictions. I, personally won't do that to a piece unless I have many of them and one little change won't do any harm.

p.s. I prefer sharpie...