Graham

Mine was the Captain America / Nick Fury 2-pack. Cap is still my favourite Minimate, although a lot of bargain C3 from Toys r Us shortly followed.

Really cool display there dark.collector, wish I had the space and the MegaBlocks for something like that. Normally I don't display my Minimates on the floor, but here's a group shot anyway...

If anyone be wantin' to add me, I be Graham Higson, Manchester and Uni. Nottingham networks. I think I'm the only Graham Higson on Facebook though, which makes me either really cool or really not

I use paints from Games Workshop, I think they're called Citadel Paints. For brushes I use artists brushes, very fine down to 10/0 size. Green Arrow's and Aquaman's hair are detachable, the rest aren't. When I want to do sculpted detachable hair I either do it on top of an existing hairpiece or use a trickier method. Put cling film over the head of the Minimate you're working on, then sculpt all over the top of that(I use green stuff for sculpting). After it's dry the cling film should peel off leaving you with a separate hairpiece. Okay guys, here's your close-ups, and you'd better enjoy them because I nearly killed my computer playing around with image files that big on Publisher Green Arrow first, the hood is removable (with a little difficulty) as he has a full face painted underneath. Until I can find something better I'm using Deathstroke's hair painted yellow. Here's the rest of the gang, complete with hoods on the back.

I know I haven't posted in this topic yet but it did really inspire me to get onto customising my Justice League. I originally wanted to do them since I saw the episode, but finally got around to it about a month ago, and I've been working on them on and off since. More pictures are here.

Well, here's Thunder, probably one of the fastest paintings of a Minimate I've ever done. I started off using Kitty Pryde's chest, then the arm pin snapped off so it's practically all painted from scratch. The only exception is the face, which I painted around the eyes and mouth of New X-men Jean Grey. The hair is from that Thing hairpiece that everyone (me included) seems to hate. Next up I decided to really push my painting (and Photoshopping for the background) abilities. There's a thread in the DC forum about the pros and cons of Smallville 'mates, so I decided to see if the look would translate. This is what I came up with... First up, Boy Scout (or Clark Kent to the rest of us) uses Luke Cage's jacket and fully sculpted hair. He originally had Power Girl's hair painted black but it didn't quite work. His belt and pants are from Flash, althugh they were quite heavily painted over. The team leader, Green Arrow. He has the pistol from Punisher (as his grappling gun). The bow is made from a Lego lightsabre with two Lego battle droid arms and a bit of string, with a Minimate hand stuck to it. The quiver is 2 Lego quivers stuck together. The glasses are from Blade, with the hood sculpted over the top. Impulse, the team's speedster, has entirely sculpted hood (folded down at the back), hair and glasses. Finally Cyborg has a sculpted hood similar to Impulse's and the belt from Bullseye. His eye doesn't really glow, that's just computer trickery Aquaman has hair modified from Sandman's and Punisher's knife. Other than that, they're all standard Minimate bodies, entirely painted over. I'm quite pleased with the balance between realistic look and Minimate styling, but comments and criticism are welcome as always.

Thanks, it took probably 2-3 hours to paint in all, about 20 mins to sculpt the mask. Red takes longer to paint because you have to do more layers to get a brighter colour. Speaking of which, here's another Iron Man I forgot to post yesterday. It's based on the existing Iron Man, with armour from a BSG Cylon cut down, with the little ring on the front sculpted on. The gauntlets are from Wonder Woman and the boots from Steel. The mask isn't sculpted this time, just painted on. Also note Cap in the background, looking a lot cooler thanks to Sentry's face and Flash's boots. I've also had it pointed out that I forgot Thunder from the Outsiders so that's who I'm on with next.

Sorry it's been a while, but I seem to have a load of projects on the go for ages, then finish them all off at once. First up my third or fourth version of Martian Manhunter. I re-used the head from my original, along with an Ocean Master cloak, Deathstroke boots and a lot more neatly painted body and legs. Here he is with his Justice League buddies. I've been working on these customs for a while now, but my take on the Outsiders is finally complete. In the first picture we have Captain Boomerang (with sculpted coat and modified hair) and Katana (with sculpted mask, skirt and swords modified from LEGO ninja swords; the arms are painted over Firestar's). Next along Metamorpho, who has no extra parts, and Grace Choi and Nightwing, already seen earlier. Just for fun, a pic of the Outsiders as they appeared in Countdown (almost, I know Manhunter isn't in his OYL appearance).

Thanks for the fun contest Luke, and good luck to all the entrants.

Thanks for the comments everyone, I'm glad you like them. I know the DCNF pic is a bit blurry so I'll try to post up some better quality pics sometime. I'm currently working on adding Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Aquaman to the team. Any other suggestions for characters from the comic to include?

Here's a Plastic Man I did a couple of months ago. The extra torso piece was, as already recommended, 2 torsos stuck together. I stuck them together at a bit of an angle, because if front and back are painted the same, you can get a bit more variety of poses. To hide the join, I put a piece of plastic from blister packaging on the front and back, which bends nicely. The legs were made from 2 pairs of legs cut up. It does look a bit weird with 2 knee joints on each leg. Again, to hide the joins I used plastic. I filled in all the gaps with Green Stuff (available from Games Workshop), although I admit I'm not really all that happy with how it turned out. Also, I considered using a Leader head for a stretched version of the head.

Finally did my entry today. I still haven't seen the film yet... And for reference here's the original.

I posted this up a week or so but it might have got missed, my Villain Contest Entry. Following 2.5" Powerhouse Hulk I thought I'd try and do DC in that scale. I actually started it at the same time as Hulk but had left it unfinished for ages. The Villain Contest was just the kick up the backside I needed to get it finished. All of the non-standard parts are sculpted, which is why it took so long. Next up a variety of other customs. On the left, Grace Choi from the outsiders was one that I made for Jason. The Minimate is a standard body and I sculpted the hair myself; everything is hand-painted. Next along is a Movie Daredevil to go with my earlier Bullseye that I did for minijeff. I figured starting from a darker red base would get the more realistic effect whilst still being in that Minimate style. The mask is based on Bullseye's and the billy clubs are made from cut up lego aerials joined with a rubber band. Third along is the Huntress, which I think nearly completes my Batman family. The cape is from Chemical Warehouse Batman, the belt from Ultimate Wolverine and the staff is from Deathstroke. Again, the whole thing is painted from scratch, and the hair/mask piece is sculpted. Next up is a project I wanted to do since I read this comic. DC: The New Frontier lends itself to being made into Minimates really well, with the bright colours and simple line style. Non-standard parts include Aquaman's hair (for Green Lantern), Chemical Warehouse Batman cape and belt (Batman), Superman cape & Juggernaut hair (for Superman), Deathstroke mask (for Flash) and Twilight Frodo parts (for Martian Manhunter and Invisible Martian Manhunter). Batman and Flash's cowls are also customised.

I finally finished my entry today, which is a 2.5" scale Darkseid from DC Comics. It's based on a regular 2.5" body, with a sculpted helmet/brow, chest, skirt, gloves and boots. I've shown it next to the old C3 Darkseid for size comparison, but this one was meant to be more in line with the current DCD 'mates.

I think he painted over it with flesh coloured paint.

Attempt 2 at fishnets, Zatanna. She uses C3 Joker's coat and Penguin's top hat, with a ponytail sculpted on the back. For some reason I bought a lot of Green Arrows, meaning I also had a load of spare Deathstrokes. I decided to get creative with some other spares and came up with these quick customs of Deathstroke's henchmen. Batman, obviously, is not too impressed with them.

Really love them, especially the extra articulation on the Spider-woman.

That Spartan is really awesome. You just have another 299 to make now...

I picked up a lot of C3 stuff in the Nottingham TRU just after Christmas. I think most of it has gone by now (largely to me!) but the prices were; Batcave £15 Batmobile £10 Batwing £10 Riddler, Batgirl and Superman Mini-flyers £2.99 Bat-glider £5

Wow that was a really quickly done Metallo! Awesome work.

Just a thought for the Vampire cape, DCD Ocean Master has quite a cool-looking one. A quick coat of black paint and you'd be laughing.

Some of my stuff is up for trade/sale, see my post in the Want/Have list or PM me. Strange how everyone likes the Hawkeye, I can't stand it! The JSA continues to grow in size, with the addition of Doctor Midnite. I had to sculpt the entire cape. The loincloth is from Lady Deathstrike, the gauntlets are from Ocean Master and the mask is Daredevil's (with the horns cut off and goggles sculpted on). I entirely painted this one, although the face is based on Cable. You might remember the various heads on my battle-damaged Superman custom. I finally found one that I liked, off battle-damaged Batman. Batman himself has been given the 'I don't think he's damaged enough yet' treatment, hopefully he doesn't look too much like a zombie. Some more civilian Minimates. On the left is Alfred Pennyworth, everyone's favourite butler. He has Patch's shirt, Bruce Wayne's jacket and Kingpin's legs, with a fully painted head. Next along, Bruce Wayne is based on the one from the Batcave. He has the head from the new DCD Batman and hair from Deathstroke, painted black. My Lex Luthor now has black eyebrows (he keeps dying them different colours) and a jacket from Patch, painted black. Lastly, not really a major custom but I thought it looked cool. I settled on giving my DCD Batman the cape from the C3 Mini Batmobile Batman. The outside was painted blue, the inside black to match the rest of my Batman capes.

I agree with most people that the Hulk Minimates are lacking in bulk, so I initially tried to add a Powerhouse chest and Gray Hulk hairpiece to get some height in. When I got hold of some 2.5" Minimates, however, I couldn't resist going one step further. I had to sculpt the chestpiece and hairpiece from scratch, and paint the entire thing, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Next, it was only a matter of time before someone converted a Green Arrow into a Hawkeye, so I tried to get mine in first. Also used was a Wolverine mask, Deathstroke boots and a cut-down Chun-Li skirt. Again, I had to paint over everything.

First up a fairly straightforward Ghost Rider. This wasn't the Target exclusive, it was the original unnecessarily purple one. I painted it black, added a bit of detailing and Chun-li's spiked bracelets and altered the face slightly. Next some Justice League. On the left is Star Sapphire, minus that ridiculous collarpiece. Next along is Plastic Man, who is a normal Minimate entirely painted over, with Blade's hair and sunglasses piece. I added black and white lines on the metal parts of Wonder Woman's costume to make it look a bit more metallic. Plastic Man in full extendable mode. The arms are from Mr. Fantastic, the middle is from 2 torsos stuck together at an angle (it works so he can bend forwards and backwards) and the join smoothed out. The legs are made out of 2 sets of normal legs, which explains why he bizzarely has 2 knee joints on each leg.

This game seems like fun... count me in! I haven't got a team name yet, but going from left to right you can see; LONG-ARM: A former SWAT policeman, things all changed for this guy when participating in a raid stopping some thieves from stealing a new experimental type of rubber. A vat of this landed on him during the fight. Whilst most stretching superheroes can return to their original form, not so for Long-arm, whose arms are permanently that long. This gives him an edge in the fight, as he has trained to get used to his newly extended arms, becoming extremely agile. He's still quite insecure about his appearance, and often the butt of the rest of the team's jokes. CAPTAIN NEON: The leader of the team, Captain Neon has the ability to control and create light out of nothing. Whilst this is not particularly a useful ability in itself, he has honed his skills to be able to distract foes while he finishes them off with his boxing moves. He's the leader by default, being the oldest. THE KID: An obsessive Captain Neon fan, no one really knows anything much about the Kid, but he follows the team round in his Captain Neon pyjamas. Eventually Trigger-Dave took pity on the kid and gave him a gun to look after himself with, much to the dismay of the Kid's parents. TRIGGER-DAVE: Allegedly ex-army, Trigger-Dave tags along with the team, bringing his substantial arsenal with him. He is highly distrustful of metahumans, particularly Long-arm, who he regards as a walking joke.