cylonchaney's custom figures

[Padrino]

Amazing!

[cylonchaney]

Pulling out a Batman figure to pose with 3d printed Robin seemed like a pain in the butt. So instead I made a Batman to go with him. LOL It was much more effort than digging out a Minimate but more fun as well.

They both need new face decals.

I ended up making a new torso for these guys. I use a different shoulder for small figures than I do for the larger ones and it sits lower on the peg. It looked really bad leaving a large gap between the shoulder and cape. I made a new chest block with higher shoulder pegs for small figures. It's so funny. I printed quite a few figures like this and never noticed the shoulders and now I can't unsee it. LOL A part of me wants to go back and re-print all their chest blocks now.

I hate how badly they photograph. They look a fair bit better to the naked eye.

 

Mandatory Kor photobomb for scale.

 

 

Original vs. new chest

 

[elhonez]

I love this scale, and the new chest looks great - nice work!

[Padrino]

you are a genius! These are great!

[cylonchaney]

Thanks!

Any guesses on the next 5? Should be easy for many around here. LOL

Again, it amazes me sometimes how much of a character is conveyed just by the basic colour scheme.

 

 

[buttheadsmate]

I'm 'seeing' 3 of them but there's one ..? 

I've been waiting years for a Melted Aquaman 

 

Love this thread.

[cylonchaney]

9 minutes ago, buttheadsmate said:

I'm 'seeing' 3 of them but there's one ..? 

I've been waiting years for a Melted Aquaman 

 

Love this thread.

If you look closely, you can see his calf-fins.

[cylonchaney]

How about now?

 

 

[cylonchaney]

 

 

 

[cylonchaney]

One figure is missing and a couple are incomplete but we're getting there. They're are all done with clear sticker paper painted white on the back in select locations. The missing figure needs all of the stickers printed on white sticker paper. Some of the other characters will get additional detailing when I print the white page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10 by cylonchaney

[cylonchaney]

This has been a fun group to make. GL and Flash got new stickers tonight. I'm really happy with GL and Aquaman. Wonder Woman is definitely the weakest one. I'd redo Flash's mask but I ran out of red plastic for now. I want to make the wing / ear things bigger. And they line up almost perfectly but I think they eye holes need to be just a hint closer together and bigger. All in all I'm pretty happy for production from a 12 year old low end (even at the time) 3d printer.

 

[cylonchaney]

I've redone a bunch of my chest decals. I noticed that I really like the heavy shading on the original DC Minimates. Because my 3d prints look bad from really close up, I like that this style is visible from further away. For Superman, Flash, GL, and Aquaman, I directly copied the shading from their counterparts and created my own logo that would be easier to back paint white. I've updated Flash's helmet but ran out of red plastic so he has to live with this for now.

 

Gotta have some baddies.

That Manta really sucks. I'm not going to finish him off. But he really makes me wish we'd gotten an official one. That's my Draconian Guard chest. I just wanted something to cover up the layer lines and give him a bit of detail.

I'm also giving up on Wonder Woman. All of my stuff is still done in a command based CAD software that I have described a couple of times. For women's hair pieces, I use downloaded Lego ones. This is from a Wonder Woman figure but I still don't like it. I think she'll go on the shelf until I learn to sculpt in Blender or similar.

Black Manta will go on hold until I dig up my resin printer. That helmet is just a nightmare for a printer like mine. It doesn't help that I just painted the eyes white and coloured them with a Sharpie. One day I'll do them both justice.

 

Here is my latest round of 3d printed block figures as they look today. When I get some red plastic again, I might do a Bizarro. I'd like to make an enemy for each of them. I also might do a teen version of each (except Batman).

[Minimike]

Great job! They all look great to me! I love the Flash mask since I always thought the official one looked a little off for my taste. The smaller Robin is how a younger character minimate should be proportioned in my eyes. Keep up the great work!

[Padrino]

On 9/14/2024 at 2:15 PM, cylonchaney said:

I've redone a bunch of my chest decals. I noticed that I really like the heavy shading on the original DC Minimates. Because my 3d prints look bad from really close up, I like that this style is visible from further away. For Superman, Flash, GL, and Aquaman, I directly copied the shading from their counterparts and created my own logo that would be easier to back paint white. I've updated Flash's helmet but ran out of red plastic so he has to live with this for now.

 

Gotta have some baddies.

That Manta really sucks. I'm not going to finish him off. But he really makes me wish we'd gotten an official one. That's my Draconian Guard chest. I just wanted something to cover up the layer lines and give him a bit of detail.

I'm also giving up on Wonder Woman. All of my stuff is still done in a command based CAD software that I have described a couple of times. For women's hair pieces, I use downloaded Lego ones. This is from a Wonder Woman figure but I still don't like it. I think she'll go on the shelf until I learn to sculpt in Blender or similar.

Black Manta will go on hold until I dig up my resin printer. That helmet is just a nightmare for a printer like mine. It doesn't help that I just painted the eyes white and coloured them with a Sharpie. One day I'll do them both justice.

 

Here is my latest round of 3d printed block figures as they look today. When I get some red plastic again, I might do a Bizarro. I'd like to make an enemy for each of them. I also might do a teen version of each (except Batman).

I am in awe of your skills! These are amazing!

[cylonchaney]

3 hours ago, Padrino said:

I am in awe of your skills! These are amazing!

Thanks so much. It's always appreciated!

I figured I might as well flesh out a couple more Flash characters as the stickers were easy mods from the Flash. Zoom and Kid Flash need belts and I really have to learn to sculpt so I can make hair pieces. I can barely tell that's supposed to be Kid Flash's hair. LOL

Aquaman is on his third chest sticker and I think this one will be the final. I'm quite pleased. Scales look better now I think.

I think the future of toys is going to be an interesting ride. My figures are kind of crap. But they are made by an amateur with no training in art, design, or 3d printing on 12 year old bottom of the line machines. Even the best machines today are still going to have visible layer lines. But we are getting to a place where a hack like me can produce some decent looking pieces. And one of the things I like about making my own block figures is being able to scale them how I want. If someone comes up with a printer that can somehow output objects with an injection molded finish, it will be a game changer.

 

[cylonchaney]

On 9/14/2024 at 12:00 PM, Minimike said:

Great job! They all look great to me! I love the Flash mask since I always thought the official one looked a little off for my taste. The smaller Robin is how a younger character minimate should be proportioned in my eyes. Keep up the great work!

Thanks. One of the primary reasons I got into 3d printing all those years ago was to make giant Minimates. LOL Making smaller ones just amazes me.

[cylonchaney]

OK. This will bring it up to an even dozen and I'll probably pause for a while here.

I wanted him to be just a little bigger so this is my first ever 1.125 scale.

 

 

 

[cylonchaney]

Couldn't help myself. The helmet I used for Black Manta was a download from thingiverse. I decided to make my own so it would be easier to tweak and get just how I want. I'm already pleased with the results. Eventually, I'll add some hose ports and use some high gauge electronics wire for the hoses. I'll have to make him some kind of backpack for the hoses to go into as well.

I was never a big Aquaman fan. But it seems to me that Manta in my day was a pretty good bad guy and I've always liked the suit. Chest is also temporary. The only black one I had for now.

 

 

[cylonchaney]

Did I spend even more time on custom figures this weekend?

OH YEAH!

Working on a bunch of customs lately, my clear sticker back painting (white) is getting better. I'm quite pleased with these chests.

I also designed a beer utility belt but have not yet printed. I did two versions. One with removable beers. LOL But I think it's going to be too tiny of detail to print.

At first I preferred the one on the right. But DC Direct Duff Man is growing on me.

 

Edited September 23 by cylonchaney

[Freaqualizer]

@cylonchaney, these are all so amazing! FWIW, if you decide to make 1.125 versions of Darkseid, Doomsday, and Solomon Grundy, I be interested in purchasing copies. 😊

[cylonchaney]

21 hours ago, Freaqualizer said:

@cylonchaney, these are all so amazing! FWIW, if you decide to make 1.125 versions of Darkseid, Doomsday, and Solomon Grundy, I be interested in purchasing copies. 😊

Thanks.

When I read this, my first thought was that we already have a Grundy superior to anything I could make. Then I remembered it was a custom someone made from one of the bulked up characters. LOL

Grundy might be in the works.

[cylonchaney]

Utility belt added. LOL

 

[cylonchaney]

Question for the more experienced customizers out there. Any idea how I can make labels for the beers? If you look at their hats, the labels are just beyond my ability to manufacture well. And the stickers are too small to stick well.

I don't think I can print them that small for the beers and if I did I don't think they'd stick well.

All I can think of at this point is to leave them unlabelled or try to hand paint them. The logo would just be Duff shaped blob on a white background.

Anyone have any better ideas?

Also, Duffman! Oh Yeah!

 

Flash got a new mask and they all got cleaned up a little.

 

Edited September 28 by cylonchaney

[buttheadsmate]

Let me first of all say that I am completely out of superlatives regarding your custom figures 

Duff labels ..PM sent.

[cylonchaney]

15 hours ago, buttheadsmate said:

Let me first of all say that I am completely out of superlatives regarding your custom figures 

Duff labels ..PM sent.

Thanks so much for the praise and the link. There are some amazing accessories on that site. However, those beer cans are enormous to fit on my belt. About the size of a round 1X1 lego piece. Mine are less diameter than the lego stud. I mean the round bit that sticks into other lego.  They're really small. I can't really make them any bigger because he already has trouble putting his arms down.

I decided to give had painting a try and I'm pretty happy with my first attempt. I think I might just print a bunch of belts and keep painting until my skill improves. Or when I get tired of it, I'll pick the best two that I've done and call it a day. Honestly, with my aging eyesight, the first one looks almost good enough to me. LOL But I think I can do a little better with some practice. You don't have to be too far away before this already looks decent. I can't believe "Duff" is readable at that size.

It turns out that fine tip Sharpies are mighty fine indeed.

 

Edit: adding my second attempt. Also there is a lego piece so we can see how big those Lego Duffs would be. I think I'll print a couple more belts and try a few more times. I prefer the one on the right so I will do a couple more abandoning the silver bottom.

 

Edited September 30 by cylonchaney