Customizer's "How to" Guide

[NerdyTrev]

Anyone have any tips on how to eliminate paint rubbing on the elbows and knees?

[buttheadsmate]

Is there such a thing as a colour chart/book for (example) Tamiya paints?  

[AugieWargo]

They have them. I got physical chart from a local hobby shop but a lot of the online hobby stores have them viewable when buying paint.  I know Humbrol, Mr. Hobby, Testors and others have them like this as well.

https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/about-us/downloads/tamiya-paint-charts/

[elhonez]

I want to ask Luke, but really anyone: what software are you currently using to make decals?

I really want to get back into making decals, and some of the customs on my virtual workbench demand them. I used to use Gimp, but it's been a very long time, and it really isn't great for the task in my experience.

[luke314pi]

5 hours ago, elhonez said:

I want to ask Luke, but really anyone: what software are you currently using to make decals?

I almost always use Adobe Illustrator, but I have designed some in Photoshop as well. Here are 2 tutorials you can use:

Designing Minimate Decals in Illustrator

Designing Minimate Decals in Photoshop

[elhonez]

This is super helpful -- thanks Luke!

[Navaan]

Snagging these for some artists friends, hoping to get them on board. THANK YOU, Luke.

[Liney]

In my quest to bulk out my TOS Trek crew I needed more skirts, but didn't want to pay extortionate amounts for Uhura, Rand or Chapel so I took some measurements for their skirts and made a pattern/template to make out of styrene or plastic packaging

• Basic template  good for designing on, or cutting from paper
• 0.5mm -  sides and top are smaller to account for thickness of 0.5mm material
• 1mm - sides and top are smaller still to account for thickness of 1mm material

Each has got a scale to make sure they are printed the correct size.

Glue the sides, front and back together, then the top should fit the top and not show when glued.

Edited March 1 by Liney

[thereasonsy]

1 hour ago, Liney said:

In my quest to bulk out my TOS Trek crew I needed more skirts, but didn't want to pay extortionate amounts for Uhura, Rand or Chapel so I took some measurements for their skirts and made a pattern/template.

• Basic template  good for designing on, or cutting from paper
• 0.5mm -  sides and top are smaller to account for thickness of 0.5mm material
• 1mm - sides and top are smaller still to account for thickness of 1mm material

Each has got a small to make sure they are printed the correct size.

Glue the sides, front and back together, then the top should fit the top and not show when glued.

1. You’re a genius.

2. I think this pattern would work on existing skirts to be decaled on. 

3. What if you printed this on a water decal and stuck it to plastic? 

[cylonchaney]

1 hour ago, Liney said:

In my quest to bulk out my TOS Trek crew I needed more skirts, but didn't want to pay extortionate amounts for Uhura, Rand or Chapel so I took some measurements for their skirts and made a pattern/template.

• Basic template  good for designing on, or cutting from paper
• 0.5mm -  sides and top are smaller to account for thickness of 0.5mm material
• 1mm - sides and top are smaller still to account for thickness of 1mm material

Each has got a small to make sure they are printed the correct size.

Glue the sides, front and back together, then the top should fit the top and not show when glued.

 

Nice!

For those into 3d printing, I have a customizable skirt maker on Thingiverse. You can set a belt height, skirt length, and how much it flares out, then save as an stl.

The customzer is one really cool feature of thingiverse. To get to it click the small Customize icon immediately below the main picture.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7306105

[Liney]

38 minutes ago, thereasonsy said:

1. You’re a genius.

2. I think this pattern would work on existing skirts to be decaled on. 

3. What if you printed this on a water decal and stuck it to plastic? 

1. Thank you muchly!

2. It should - I would test it on paper first. I'm going to do one for the rounded skirt (ie Wave 18 Gwen) and the long skirt, plus some tunics.

3. That would work, and would avoid having to wrap around the corners. Or you could add the decal after

 

42 minutes ago, cylonchaney said:

 

Nice!

For those into 3d printing, I have a customizable skirt maker on Thingiverse. You can set a belt height, skirt length, and how much it flares out, then save as an stl.

The customzer is one really cool feature of thingiverse. To get to it click the small Customize icon immediately below the main picture.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7306105

Ohhhh - that's cool. I'm debating treating myself to a resin printer to help with my various creative things - so have been favouriting/saving/pinning things to try out.

[Liney]

Has anyone much experience with casting? 

As fodder is pretty expensive and in short supply in the UK I'm hoping to try moulding and casting some pieces I need multiples of. 

I've made some silicone moulds to test out - I think some of the smaller pieces will need redoing with larger pouring spouts added on - but not sure what to cast in. 

We don't seem to get Smooth Cast Resin over here, and the moulds are too deep for UV resin. I have some craft resin but it takes 24 hour to set, so was thinking about trying some fast set stuff

Edited March 22 by Liney

[luke314pi]

1 hour ago, Liney said:

Has anyone much experience with casting? 

As fodder is pretty expensive and in short supply in the UK I'm hoping to try moulding and casting some pieces I need multiples of. 

I've made some silicone moulds to test out - I think some of the smaller pieces will need redoing with larger pouring spouts added on - but not suer what to cast in. 

We don't seem to get Smooth Cast Resin over here, and the moulds are too deep for UV resin. I have some craft resin but it takes 24 hour t set, so was thinking about trying some fast set stuff

Here's 2 articles from back in the day on how I did molding and casting for Minimates:

• Molding & Casting Part 1
• Molding & Casting Part 2

But I haven't looked into newer methods or materials. 

[Liney]

Thanks Luke. I'm taking another try with my resin. I don't think it was fully mixed as its rubbery and the pigment all sunk to the bottom.

 

In an attempt to prevent air bubbles in such tiny moulds, I've had to fill them one drop at a time with a cocktail stick🫣

 

Fingers crossed they'll be fine when demoulded in 24 hours!

 

[THE_CRIPPLER]

Liney, you should look into a FDM  printer instead of a resin one. Resin ones seem to be more complicated (more steps when printing) compared to FDM printers. Plus you have to deal with the toxicity of using resin printers. I bought my Bambu A1 printer a few months ago and love it. I have made some pretty awesome things for my Minimates over the past few months. The detail of prints has gotten so much better with FDM printers over the past few years also. Watch lots of videos and make your choice.

[Liney]

5 hours ago, THE_CRIPPLER said:

Liney, you should look into a FDM  printer instead of a resin one. Resin ones seem to be more complicated (more steps when printing) compared to FDM printers. Plus you have to deal with the toxicity of using resin printers. I bought my Bambu A1 printer a few months ago and love it. I have made some pretty awesome things for my Minimates over the past few months. The detail of prints has gotten so much better with FDM printers over the past few years also. Watch lots of videos and make your choice.

I did have any anycubic FDM, until one day I turned it in and nothing would stick to the plate, and it was over extruding like crazy.

The repair place near me wanted half the price of the printer just to look at it 😬

 

Layer lines have always bothered me with FDM. Have they got better?

I've got non minimate stuff which lends itself better to resin too. But if the outcomes are more comparable i night revisit FDM 🤔

Edited March 8 by Liney

[cylonchaney]

Resin printers still produce significantly higher detail and almost invisible layer lines. 

If you're comfortable molding parts, producing the original in a resin printer is still going to yield higher quality results. If you want to print final parts, FDM is less messy and materials are less fragile. As long as the quality is good enough for you.

Having said that, the figures I produce out of my FDM printers look quite good with the exception of close up photography. I'm always disappointed in photos of my work, and find them much more impressive looking in hand.  

[cylonchaney]

3 hours ago, Liney said:

I did have any anycubic FDM, until one day I turned it in and nothing would stick to the plate, and it was over extruding like crazy.

The repair place near me wanted half the price of the printer just to look at it 😬

Even with your Bambu, spend the time to learn how to do basic maintenance and repairs yourself. It will pay off in more ways than one. Probably could have found a tuning video on Youtube and still be running the Anycubic.

Bambu sure does make nice machines though.  

[Liney]

1 hour ago, cylonchaney said:

Even with your Bambu, spend the time to learn how to do basic maintenance and repairs yourself. It will pay off in more ways than one. Probably could have found a tuning video on Youtube and still be running the Anycubic.

Bambu sure does make nice machines though.  

Oh I tried everything - changed the bed and print tip and head, relevelling multiple times, adjusted feeder tension. Its more frustrating as the day before it was working perfectly. I finished a print, turn it off, and then the next day it was amess 

Edited March 8 by Liney

[Liney]

On 3/7/2026 at 1:20 AM, Liney said:

Thanks Luke. I'm taking another try with my resin. I don't think it was fully mixed as its rubbery and the pigment all sunk to the bottom.

 

In an attempt to prevent air bubbles in such tiny moulds, I've had to fill them one drop at a time with a cocktail stick🫣

 

Fingers crossed they'll be fine when demoulded in 24 hours!

 

Well the result were a mixed bag...

I made moulds of:

Mould 1: air bubbles throughout, or resin didn't get to the tips of the fingers. All failed

• Wolfman hands
• CFTBL hands
• Vulcan salute hand
• Frankenstein feet = great success - slight air bubble in top of one peg, but was able to build up with a drop of UV resin

 

Mould 2 (made twice as the first silicone mix looked a bit streaky):

• Wolfman feet = mostly a success, only one  of 4 feet missing a claw
• CFTBL feet = 50% - 2 feet missing toes
•  

Mould 3:

• TOS trouser flare = 1 tiny air bubble, filled with UV = was convinced these were going to fail!
• TOS communicator = main body, but air bubbles in all the lids - failure
• TOS padd = small air bubbles in thin edge on all attempts - experimenting with pour technique should fix
• Spock's Brain remote = bit of flashing and 1 small bubble in corner. Calling this a win, after a little sanding 
• TNG Tricorder = main body, but air bubbles in all the flipped up parts- failure

Take-aways:

• I'm amazed the flare piece worked, as I was sure it would be full of air bubbles or too fragile. Means I can use regular black legs now instead of buying TOS fodder.
• I expected the padds to be fine, so hopefully improved pouring technique will sort them out.
• I foresaw the issues with the communicator and tricorders - I don't think better pouring would help - maybe thinner resin?
• Creature and Wolfman mould might work better if I trim away some silicone to help air bubbles rise to the top. 
• UV resin can be used to fill tiny air bubbles - or some model filler.
• Feet were moulded flat, so don't have the peg hole underneath - might try and male a 2 piece mould so this can be included 
• Will have another go at the hand mould, as a 2 piece mould with a built in a funnel on the end of each wrist peg to help pour the resin.
• Newer mates seem to have bigger peg holes - presumably from mould degradation, or a 'copy of a copy' syndrome. This can be fixed by painting a bit of nail polish or UV resin on the peg to bulk it up.
• CFTB; has two different height feet - 1 being a mm shorter
• Need to see how they take primer and/or paint, and trying out mixing in pigments/colouring

Edited March 18 by Liney

[Liney]

While planning another custom I needed a waist riser piece - so whipped this up - to be cut from styrene or plastic

• you can cut as many of the top and stack to to get the height you need - for example I have 0.5mm styrene, so would need 6 = 3mm
• The side bits are optional - they go on the bottom, to hold it in place on the hips to stop it spinning. They need to be 1mm thick

Edited March 9 by Liney

[cylonchaney]

Nice!

[Liney]

1 hour ago, cylonchaney said:

Nice!

Thanks, once made I'll try and cast one too.

 

It shouldn't be too hard to put together in blender, even eith my limited skills 😅

[Liney]

Added some photos for my casting attempts.

The below shows my test of my waist riser, star trek flare cast, and Kitty with one casted foot (her right) which I think looks even clearer as it doesn't have a peg hole in the bottom

 

[cylonchaney]

21 minutes ago, Liney said:

Added some photos for my casting attempts.

The below shows my test of my waist riser, star trek flare cast, and Kitty with one casted foot (her right) which I think looks even clearer as it doesn't have a peg hole in the bottom

 

Nice work!

Are you planning on casting any other Minimate parts? I've done no casting ever. But it occurred to me that if my parts are all castable, it might be worth spending the time to print some large size mates and work them completely smooth, then make molds. But I think some of the shapes might be challenging, especially for a beginner. 

I'll be following this work with great interest.