CustomJoe_MD

Ohh Gods MY EYES, it burnnnns!!!! Extra Extra Lego group buys Bloko http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/comicsalliance.com/files/2013/08/blockostore.jpg?w=300&h=0&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89 I'm going to have to agree with Gregory over there, on the characters thing (untill proof to the contrary). I wonder if they will have noses? Just to get the ball rolling... What we may get if they are lego system style: http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.php?97467-The-Simpsons-Lego-Project-that-could-become-official-lego! These actually look good, but it wouldn't work for every character specially the non human-like shaped heads (looking at ya Bob) http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn266/michaelmidnite/009-2.jpg Or if they are more sculpted heads (BLOCKO style I guess): http://www.worldchesshof.org/uploads/2013/01/07/simpsons-7slide.jpg Will Carl and Apu be yellow heads? Or Homer a fleshie (Inquiring minds want to know ) Will we start going to Blocko Stores instead of Lego stores?? ... stay tuned for these and other developments.

The eraser pictured looks similar to the "rotring b20 rapid-erasers" we have here. I'll try it and report back. Why is it that when you need an eraser you can never find one? Also Scorpiox are you sure that one of the things you tried before didn't act as a loosening agent for the rubber,( like when you try to open a jar lid and are strugling, and someone comes in opens it like it was nothing and all you can say is, but I loosen it for you). Maybe something you did made it easy to abrade the ink away later on. Worth a look.

Hi Vamor, nice designs, can you talk a bit more about the torsos, are they 2 sided? How did you get the white to come out so clean? Was it Pad or some other method? Tell us a bit more about it basically. Regards

I'm adding this one to the list, I actually never heard this one, a bit odd just an eraser. Thanks for sharing. Don't we all! You can also try creating a template for the eyes in clear or white sticker and paint the eyes using - bathroom white ceramic renovator enamel. Works like a charm and is almost flat to the plastic, also scratch resistant more or less.

Aces, that skull is Perfect, just 8 posts and you already shine. And thanks for sharing with clear background, that helps a bunch, specially for direct prints. If (when I print it ) I'll post a pic here. Any chance a torso is on the way?? - This is greedy me talking. Nice work with the scarecrow, but he looks "too cute" IMO. Clueless, angry, scary or maniacal laugh, now thats the scarecrow, cute mmmh Nope.

In the USA, England and Germany it can. Portugal, Spain and to some degree France and Italy, not so much. And the times you can buy it online it tends to be the small flask with 150ml or at high prices. Now generic metal polish sure you can find it everywhere, but you have to buy and test it untill you find one that works, this is a way to get the sure thing independent of your geography (which is the point) In my Country there used to be a brand of kitchen cleaner that worked almost as well, I'm now finding out some cracks in torsos (the ones I know I used that one), Brasso is still the best, IMO it's just a matter of trial and error, this saves the error part.

Ahhhhhh, chucks Saint, I'm all teary eyed right now. <---See Bad Saint you said the Meg******** word. How about MB smurfs? Does it count they're blue and tiny, you can barely see them in the corner. I never really stopped customizing and modding completely, my dark ages were more of the financial kind, or change of residence, or no internet during the 90's (the darkest of ages people). And in honor of your Bricktiotic Speach I give a quote, by a small man, but big in spirit (sometimes Spirits, Mineral Spirits). "You will take. My last Lego minifig, from my cold plastificated hands (and vacuum sealed - of course)"

We need to start working as a well oiled machine and buying services in bulk, printing and graphic work by geography, if we can agree on x number of commonplace decals and bundle that, it could work. As for printers Laser if you can afford it, good quality 800dpi and above, check for references regarding service first, choose the machine second, consider maintenace ink/toner cost if they can be refilled, if they can use Ciss systems (inkjet and heatsub only) and specially the damned chip, check if it can be reset or if you can get a reconditioned good quality toner for your model (for this amazon reviews helps a bunch) This should point you in the right direction for now. I'll be collecting our EB forum knowledge base regarding this kind of stuff very soon. We will have this and more there, with printing systems reviews, opinions, tried and tested printing models and consumables with prices and sourcing. Let's see how it goes.

http://www.britsuperstore.com My inquiry from 26 July 2013 and response today 05/08/2013 Hello I would like to buy this product, Brasso Metal Polish 1ltr Price: £10.50 can it be delivered to Portugal, I've been having trouble finding a source that will send it to my address. Best regards José Hello, Yes we can. Our web site is primarily for people who live abroad. Just visit our website and add items to your basket. When you have chosen all your items just click on the checkout button in the top right hand of the screen and it will give you the order total. Choose your country and delivery option and the total cost including shipping will be displayed. Then payment can be by credit card, PayPal, or you can choose to send a sterling cheque. If you have any problems please do not hesitate to contact us. Your order is not completed until you click on the Done button at the end of the process. Regards, Richard Price, http://www.britsuperstore.com Tel:0044 (0)1304 206069 Britstore Ltd 15-17 Elms Vale Road, Dover, Kent, CT17 9NZ United Kingdom --------------------------------------------------------- So apparently thats that, problem solved on the Brasso buying issue, good price too for 1Lt. considering amazon prices and such delivery costs (and peace of mind). If they can deliver it here then that covers Continental Europe and probably other places If anyone has dealt with them and can give some testimony it would be appreciated. I also sent a request to know what other geographic areas they can cover, let's hope it's worldwide. I'll cover alternatives to brasso and other chemicals for custom work on some other topic later on.

That pengkrang avatar made me think of a a joke, What do you call a living brain in a tuxedo? answer: Are you making some 2003 TMNT tvseries customs, by any chance?? I love the classic series, but have lots of love for that one too.

Oh Gods, not this again, so they really are doing the Simpsons, this will either go really bad, or really weird, going to be fun either way for the AFOLs. There was a discussion a couple of months ago around here about this but no one was sure if the license was for the Simpsons proper. Guess now we know, thanks for the intel. Morten I found the discussion I was talking about it's here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=63339&st=225 Not sure what else one can say about this that hasn't been said there, let's wait and see, this might be a turning point, as big as the Lando fleshie Revolution.

I could see mice - good(farmers maybe) - vs - rats - bad (thieves or pirates - because of the whole the rats are the first overboard thing), In warhammer there was a rat faction that could fit this bill just right. vultures (vulture good buddist monk or bad cultists - like cult of kali types, they are necrophagae after all, death bones and all that) - Do Chimas people die?? Probably just get recycled or something. ninja bats tribes could be fitting in there somewhere (a bat mask not just the ears, something like the totem Tengu mask from Batman knightfall-Knightsend, what I could do with that, oh my stars!!), elephants would be interesting. Sharks only if its a different headpiece than the atlantis one something closer to Mako from Pirates, otherwise it would't fit in style. Chima is minifig head and a helmet mask of some kind, so far no half masks and no full heads have been made, so they'd have to keep up with the style. The more the merrier I say. My Dc Black Mask will have minions to last him for years. Almost forgot, I want me some polar bears minifigs, or gummi bears, any bears really. Its really unBearable how slow the eps come out. I don't think I saw prairie dogs (suricate) in there. They have the Simbas need the Timons. And bekindsorewind please NO my little poney jokes please, think of the children, LOL!

Request: Iron Man hologram sticker decal (if someone has one made already and doesn't mind to share, please do) I recently saw a custom backpanel (on flickr I believe) for the Iron man armors XLII and some of the others we dont have official stickers for (the clear blue panel with the sticker in the Stark Mansion). Could someone with good editing skills try and create some of the original armours in that style, it's basically a full frontal of a minifig, all made of black or dark blue tracing and some makeshift text on clear background, the torso Decal if you could call it that would need to change for each armor, the leg design also and the mark number on the top for each one. There are some decals of the armors available, but none are clear (without a background) that I could use - I have zero editing skills by the way. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=76007stk01 It would be a really useful thing to many, and I could finally try printing some lego windows.

I'm putting this separate because its a different thing, this is how the big boys do it. It's a procedure similar to what I use but using super glue and shavings to get a fill instead of soldering with heat, or polishing buffing. It's just better if you see it for yourselves, very well explained (better than I could) + you can download and print a figure at home if you want. http://www.thingiver...om/thing:116571 Credit to Jason Welsh, now and always. Hope it helps

Its NOT, just use a rotary tool and go slow with the sanding discs of the right size, instead of finishing up with acetone from the drugstore use nail polish remover for a milder action (it's usually a weaker acetone solution) it will take time but it re-shines the plastic where you cut ...eventually. Also indirect heat can be used for finishing abs parts, use a teflon sheet between the heat source (NO OPEN FLAMES use some kind of resistance, maybe a soldering gun -turn on till it reaches max temp, let cool of just enought and then apply) and the part. You can look at how body and interior workers rejuventate abs dashboards (see youtube) -- its a common thing in car repair and touch up work. Except usually heat blow guns/hot air guns are used and thats way to hot and wide nozzle for this kind of stuff, I use wax + neoprene and teflon sheets with my supper dupper sandwich maker for finishing parts, its really involved but works, also good for making toast. Check in a few days for a couple of topics by me, i'll try and see if I can get pics up too. And don't be afraid to mess up (unless its a really rare or expensive part ) try stuff, search new ways, go forth and learn. :)

One of the reasons I joined, was to propose gathering all the knowledge we have of custom minifig creation into a more useable/user friendly system, like a wiki or a tutorial are, except refined and updated to todays global world. Divided into several sections in which we could just go one by one into each area of expertise and sourcing of materials we need, for example I live in Portugal same as from the post Aveal 12 posts above, and it's a pain to get certain stuff (Brasso is like gold around here, hard to find someone who ships it here at a reasonable price, certain solvents and solutions the same, good paper - I use Amazon for that, crafty is ok..ish like the dry rubs they have) So I'm proposing the following separate the customizing forum area into customs proper - the results (the made stuff like mocs minifigs and custom parts ready to show) from the "how to topics" works in progress, techniques, application and educationals + graphic work and either join here the "where to get so and so" by geographic area or by material (for example Brasso Sources and in those who ships where and how much etc ) I'm big into education and open sourcing tools and techniques, how great would it be to be able to make your own printed custom minis for less than 200euros in materials including printer (I'm working on something like that right now, still limited in color thought) and have everyone be able to do the same in the Country they are from. Any takers to help me put this together, I'm putting the initial work, will start by mining topics from here and elsewhere (jareds fineclonier resources, redbean studio, btb etc), then moving to some of my own private resources, and then I'd like everyone to chime in with their own experience and favorite techniques, tricks, sources, graphic work and printer advices. How does this sound?? Are we ready to begin?

All hail ReZourceman!!! purist triple blackbelt master. I'm long past the purist phase (back when the minifig color options were fewer) used to have probably half your customs in purist form so all I can say is wow. Amazing work passing the 200. I'm still not able to post pics but here is a page from my recipe book for all of you: Loki staft+ninjago gold sai makes a trident, zod helmet and armor facing the back of a tie fighter pilot minifig, and it makes a great black manta, try it out. The back of the armour looks like a breathing gizmo and the back of the zod helmet fazing forward looks like Manta just in silver.

The Indy sets, specially the last crusade ones and the temple of doom, that one stings, was on a really tight budget back then. Worth a pretty penny now. Thats life...

Four cousins and counting, the father of two of them curses me every family gathering. My baby cousin wasn't even born and already had a Batcave to his name. My Neighboors kid also but only the videogames, do those count? This one was an accident, they did me a solid when I needed, and I had an extra batman game in a format I couldn't use and gave them that one, and so a new lego fan was born.

I like many of you get the: "You still (insert here negative demeanor) PLAY with Legos" like I've commited a crime or like they are saying "you do drugs" or "kill puppies" or something. It used to bother me until I heard it from someone who actually had no morals to say a pip, after that incident I was cured, never felt weird or ashamed or like I had to explain it. I do have a little story to tell, about 12 years ago, still in my Dark Ages (we all have one or two of those don't we?) there was a set I really wanted, but I was too old to go and buy a box of "LEGOS" and there was like two stores in the entire city that sold lego (no online back then) and I was well known in both (friends of the family worked there and such - small city don't ask ), so I felt embarassed and caved under the scrutiny once, twice, finally I bought it, but when I got to the counter I asked for it to be wrapped as a gift for my little cousin. I had a bunch of them so they couldn't know for which one it was. I didn't show my face there again for a couple of years at least, awkward!!! Has this ever happen to any of you? Saying it was for your... "son, cat, dog, 3rd cousin twice removed on your mothers side".

If they stopped putting a Batman fig with everything (same for spidey) we would have a better roster of heroes by now, but batman and spidey are the toy movers from TLG view, so here comes the crappy set with the Flash, if the spidey we get next at least has a different printwork, well i guess thats bit better. I mean we go from the grail that is Arkham (I got multiples, thats how good it is) to that thing. Be advised I'm going to rant. It's weird we haven't gotten a Ras or BlackMask by now - they aren't really complicated to do, if we get a Prof Pyg before any of those, we should get offended (I mean not age apropriate material at all -Beware the Bat rebranding and softening or not that guy is a nightmare waiting to happen) The Robin arkham version was a cheat, a cute cheat, but still. The only recent Con exclusive I'm sorry not to get in a regular set is the black sups (I'll probably print the others at least some version of Jessica Drew is on my list, but I can't print silver on black torsos, so the sups is out) it could have made a nice variant in the mos sets - it's a simple design change the legs are the regular kryptonian suit legs, didn't even need the cape. Cheap way to spice a set. I mean if we are going to get 3 or 4 batmans and 3 sups in one wave at least change them a bit, give us a a cheap to make black Kryptonian suit sups, or a battle damaged bats once in a while, how many jack sparrow variants did we get in that line, the lone ranger has two different designs in five sets, even Tonto gets some love. Indy got how many variants people? Common TLG that Riddler torso has to go, "but you can leave the green bowler hat on" not crazy about the beware the batsuit either. ...End of rant Back to normal programming

Bienvenido, Welcome to the party, and congrats on the Lego store, they are both a blessing and a pain in the wallet. -Joe

I feel a bit silly starting a topic just to introduce myself, but I guess it's tradition. So I'm José, and I'm from Portugal, I'll be going by CustomJoe_MD I've been lurking for almost a decade (what can I say, really bad with registry forms). Huge Batman Fan, like bats in the brain huge, comics and cartoons collector and enthusiast, even the really obscure ones. I'm a customizer, mad scientist, tinkerer, problem solver, diy guy, world lego creativity domination advocate, and a "dream big till you make" it kind of guy. I hope that the reason I finally joined the club, is that I'm ready to add something to the community and give back a little with my skills and time. Some people have seen my works and some of my drawings for projects and stuff but the community in general doesn't know who I am, in time you will, be afraid, be very afraid. (insert maniacal laugh here) - Gods this sounds like an AA meeting (thats Arkham Asylum people) I almost started with Hello I'm José, and I'm a Lego addict. I've been addicted to the little plastic things for 30+ years Not far from the truth (is there a support group for that??? Seriously is there??? )

That rock work is exquisite , the rest is great, but the diorama part is the best IMO. You take the steampunk stuff out and it could be the Phantoms cave or Zorro's lair too, really good stuff. One complaint, the gentleman does a mask need, may one suggest the lone ranger's head for that extra leathery look. I have a question regarding the car: - Does it come in Victorian?