Lamanda2

I don't use brush-on clear coat, so I can't give you advice on that, but I can say that spray works very well, it's all I use to seal any of my custom decals or pieces. No quite sure what you mean about getting the decals to mold around the edges, are the decals too big or something, why do hey go around the edges? There are some nice advanteges so using spray; no brush marks, thin coats, ect. You might want to give it a try. ~Amanda

To give my figures' armor and gear a weathered look, or to add shading to certain pieces, I use a simple drybrushing technique. For exapmple, if I were to weather a LEGO helmet I would first get my silver (Or whatever color..) paint and my small paint brush (I find that using a brush with very short brissles works best). Since painting LEGO requires only a dab of paint, I just shake the container and then use the little bit of paint from the cap. Be sure to get just a little bit of paint on the brush, then wipe it away a bit on the palm of your hand until it's to the point that it is pretty dry, then brush it around on the helmet. You will probably habe to do this a coupe times to get the desired effect, but in the end it should turn out some beautiful results. You could wipe the paint on a piece of scrap paper or something rather than your palm, but meh.. It's just easier to just wipe it there, and hey, you save some paper in the process. Kinda hard to explain it, but I think you'll get the idea. ..and if you don't, just let me know. ~Amanda

Adding the waist cape would definetely enchance your custom quite a bit. I think I would recommend working with Mark over cutting up a perfectly fin LEGO cape, especially since I was so impressed with the custom designs he made for me last time- the man is a genious! :-) ~Amanda

Very nice! As a fellow Final Fantasy fan myself, I always love to see others' representations of the characters, and this one is quite good. From the way he looks, I assume this is Cloud as he appears in the movie, 'Advent Children'? I've never seen the movie myself, but from the images I have seen he seems to match up better there than as he did in the game. A bamboo skewer sword? Clever use of materials, I would never have thought of that! :-) I'm currently in the middle (OK, I've actually been putting it off for a while now) of updating my old Cloud figure.. Just having a bit of problems with my decals, I want to make sure they are juuust right. "Too many custom Clouds have custom hair and I think that is a mistake." Awww.. don't be dissin' the hair! :-D ~Amanda

Hello, Yoda, you say that it takes you about 10 minutes per torso using this method of cottonbuds and Brasso. I have found that putting Brasso on a paper towel, or a rag, works extremely well. What you do is put the rag on your working surface, using one hand to keep it held down, and take the torso you wish to clear in the other hand and rub it against the Brasso-ed rag. The results are very quick, about 15 seconds I can acheive with my rag (Something about the material, it works well). You should definetely be able to get them cleared in less than a minute this way. :-) "Yes it is, I can't find the link right now, but someone from the Minifig Customization Network was able to remove just the eyes (in order to replace with a custom decal) around a full beard. With a steady hand it can be very precise." Yes, Pharazon was the one who did this. His method was to put the Brasso on a toothpick, I have tried this myself and it works excellent for remove certain details from a piece. *y* ~Amanda

Hello, This decal was requested by a member of Classic-Castle.com, so I decided to tackle the design: Please feel free to use this decal as you like, just give credit where credit is due *y* Please, let me know what you think. ~Amanda

I would love to live in a life sized LEGO set.. If I had to pick one? Hmm.. I would Probably go with the mighty 375, that way I could see it in person. :-) Though I think I'd rather live in a MOC. Probably not one of my own, since they aren't that great. But something like JoJo's 'Tower in the Lonely Woods' or John Langrish's castle (Cat has my tongue on the name) would be pretty awesome! "Yes! This way I could do my own remodeling. Painting, though..." Well, if you ever got tired of a wall color, you could always snap up a new one. *y* ~Amanda

"Ah, so it runs in the family" Heheh.. Well, the artistic-ness does at least, but sadly she isn't really into LEGO (Pity..). She had boughten about 100 sheets of the stuff to use as shipping labels since they were only about $10, but like a say.. the smudging.. "Beautiful work on all of them. they somehow capture that real lego look (even the princesses!) to the point where I almost wondered if they were official." Thank you! That's quite a comliment! :-) "The two red crownies are ! These really do look like official TLC minifigs, Excellent work!" Thanks! *sweet* ~Amanda

"Thanks, dude. And good luck with ma little guards." You are very welcome. I gave the Falcons one last little push, but I'm afraid that's the best I can do. The price has now gone past my limit. But hey, on the bright side I got you a few extra bucks, and I get to put the money towards the castle chess sets I want. X-D ~Amanda

"Thank you for your kind words. ) Your question is in no way stupid: many people are puzzled by these pieces. They are custom and were ordered on Bricklink." So it was a piece of Arealight's I assume? I'll have to check out his shop when he re-opens it Monday. Thank you. ~Amanda

Thank you all for your comments. :-) "I myself only use sticker paper, and it works really well. I use clear packing tape to "laminate" the sticker, and I think it give it a "lego-like shine."" I have heard others say they use packing tape to cover their decals and it works quite well. But in this circumstance I had to go with a spray, because for some reason printing on the paper I am using looks dll when dry, so it takes a liquid seal to bring in the color. "I hope we shall have the pleasure of seeing more of your MOC-s!" I will definetely show you guys any of my upcoming creations. I've got a couple things in the works. Thanks again! ~Amanda

Excellent Minifigs! I do have one, probably stupid question: The hair piece on Robin, I have not seen it before. Is it Official or Custom? I tried to lighten up the picture to see it better, but I still couldn't tell. Thanks, ~Amanda

This is my first post for this new Forum, yay! :-) I'm trying to get back into customization more and more as of late, since I have kinda slipped away from it in past months. My Mom has been letting me used some nice sticker paper she purchased a while ago that didn't work out for what she needed (Ink smudges on it if not sealed.). I'm really enjoying using it, the decals look great and I don't have to go through the troubles I had been getting caught up on with waterslide. (That doesn't mean I'm giving up on Waterslide though, just taking a break from it really) The day befor yesterday I made these Customs (Some to sell, but that doesn't mean they can't have a proper thread). I'll start with the most simple, and only purist figure of the bunch: Forestwomen She fits in perfectly with my Forestmen. Actually, I'm selling her to hopefully make a couple bucks, but I made twins, keeping one for myself. :) Next Up: Two Custom Maidens -Red -White I absolutely love the lady with the red dress. And Finally, I made two Custom Crown Knights: Smiley Crownie Other Crownie Knight There ye have it. Let me know what you think. ~Amanda Edited: (I added 'Castle' to the title to make it clearer and pull more people in to appreciate these great customs, hope you don't mind) -imperialshadows

Some great minifig lots you have there. I gave my best shot of $24 on the Falcons (I'm supposed to be trying to save for a couple castle chess sets, but I'm an addict.. :-P ), at least I put the price up there for you. Winning the Imperial Guards, though. For now, at least. *sweet* ~Amanda

Interesting idea. Would be impressive if somebody could insert a piece of wire through the whip somehow, then it would be super poseable! ..Not too sure how one would go about doing that, though. ~Amanda

"Well of course TT is right You see the rules are that you shouldn't join until you're 18. Those are the rules and they shouldn't be broken. <i>However</i> if you do, we're not so harsh that we'd just bad right away (not yet anyway ) so you'll be allowed to stay as long as you're honest and act in a mature and contributing fashion. But keep in mind you will have a strike against you from breaking the rules if you ever do get in trouble for anything." I was a little shocked a couple months ago when I noticed the age limit rule. I didn't even notice it while registering (I'm almost 17 now), probably since I had assumed it was 13, as on all other forums I had registered at. Was glad to see it wasn't totally strict, I'll tell you. :-) ~Amanda

Very clean and professional looking. Excellent job! *y* ~Amanda

I heard of this sit a couple months ago when it was front-paged at Classic-Castle. After about an hour's loading time, I got to listen to John Langrish's interview- Very nice site! I just wish I had the ability to load faster, it would be nice to hear more without that wait. :-/ ~Amanda

Aha! I was wondering why Troy's store name was changed from 'LEGO' to 'Bloks' when I was looking around there the other day, especially since it's so far from April 1st. ;-) This clears things up.. I guess it only makes since really, I'm a bit surprised LEGO didn't do this sooner. ~Amanda

Hello everyone, Man, I haven't dropped by in a long time (For some reason this forum runs really slow for me, just like MCN). Love what's been done with the place, the new minifig customization section looks great. *y* ..Anywho, I've posted some of my custom thing over here before and you seemed to like them, so I just thought I'd post that I'm selling a few custom Goblin heads I have painted. I ran some auctions last week of the last full figures I had, so now I'm just selling off some of the heads for you to make the figures as you like. -Tan Heads- This is a 'Buy it Now' Auction, incase you want to buy less (or even) more than ten tan heads. These are my last 40, until I get my order of plain heads and paint them all.. -Green Head Lot- Ten Green Goblin heads, I've just got a couple more of these left, which is why I didn't list them in 'Buy it now'. -Tan Head Lot- Just a lot of ten tan heads, you might just be able to strike a deal, they are still at a nice price. I've also got some other auctions listed right now, you might want to check them out. I'm in the middle of sorting and downsizing my collection a bit to make room for some new LEGO, so I should be listing stuff a bit more steadily for a little while. -My eBay- Thanks, ~Amanda

"free shipping at S@H??? where??" It's the Christmas deal, buy $100 or more and get free shipping. Just got my Holiday magazine the other day and found enough to make the order (Castle Tic-Tac-Toe sets look very nice). "Very nice custom! I like your price, and I will probably bid." Thank you! Good luck on the win if you do heppen to bid. "A very fine Kratos indeed! *y* " Thanks! When I got my Dwarves' Mine I knew I just had to make him- Those swords are just perfect for him! :-) ~Amanda

Hello all, I've listed some items from my two Dwarves' Mine sets on eBay, as well as a custom Kratos minifig I made, in hopes to muster some cash together to make an order from S@H (Free shipping deal has caught my eye). Some nice items up for bid including: 4 Brown Dwarf Beards, 6 Winged Helms, and 2 Orcs. Sorry to say that my only payment method accepted is Paypal, but on the upside, I do ship world-wide so this is a good chance for some of you who don't have the mine set yet to get your paws on some of the new accessories. :-) Auctions Good luck if any decide to bid. If you have any questions, ask away! ~Amanda

Very strange.. I've boughten quite alot of the new castle sets this year (7 of the Prison Wagons), and have not had this happen to me. Heck, I can't even recall some of our 15-18 year old set instructions doing this. "Well, considering how many sets they produce, it isn't really a lot..." Indeed. 50 is a very small number compared to the amount of sets TLC puts out and sells. ~Amanda

Orc seemed the most fitting classification to me, so that's what I went with. (Seems I am not so alone in that opinion. X-D ) ~Amanda

I like alot of various songs, styls, and artists. Styles range from Classicle, to Rock, and to more Modern songs. Just whatever sounds nice, or has a good tune to it (Can't bring myself to liking hip-hop, though.). A little example of some songs I enjoy: Yesterday- The Beatles Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen Mr. Sandman- The Chordetts (I Think..) Only Cab on the Road- Train Hurt- Johnny Cash Wake me up When September Ends- Greenday The Metro- Berlin Killer Queen- Queen I Ran- Flock of Seaguls A couple of my favorite artists: Tom Petty Queen Greenday Freezepop Currently I have been listening to alot of songs from the games Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II, since my brother enjoys playing that game everyday. X-D ~Amanda