Liney's Designs & Customs - 3d modelling Alkhema and Arex

[cylonchaney]

12 minutes ago, Liney said:

11 years later, and dusting this thread off!

Working on Ruk. He's mostly Battlestar Galactica Leader, but with a custom 4mm waist riser and a cast of some Frankenstein feet.

Would like to make him taller and bulkier, but his robe already looks a bit short now. Debating giving him some puffy upper arms, and Mariko's sleeves to beef his arms up too.

I might eventually scratch build him a new robe from styrene with a longer skirt and wider shoulders.

Still deciding how to do his longer head 🤔

 

That's a great start. You really need to learn CAD and 3d modelling and get yourself a good printer. With your casting skills, you could print super-detailed and smooth parts from a resin printer, cast them and then crank out as many as you like!

Looking forward to seeing where this one goes! I definitely want a Ruk!

Regarding the head, if you get no better options, I can print a taller one which you could sand and paint.

[Liney]

24 minutes ago, cylonchaney said:

 

That's a great start. You really need to learn CAD and 3d modelling and get yourself a good printer. With your casting skills, you could print super-detailed and smooth parts from a resin printer, cast them and then crank out as many as you like!

Looking forward to seeing where this one goes! I definitely want a Ruk!

Regarding the head, if you get no better options, I can print a taller one which you could sand and paint.

Thanks - I've got a bit of experience with 3d modelling, but am currently without a laptop so unable to do anymore tinkering currently. 

As any long robe will traffic cone any leg movement, I might just try to model the whole body to give him the bulk he deserves.

Maybe the weird phallic shaped rock club too 😆

[Liney]

I've been trying to learn 3D modelling, before committing to buying a resin printer.

Been working on and off for about a month on recreating a minimate (with a few helpful tips from cyclonchaney!) and a pretty satisfied with the results.

 Using some digital callipers I took copious measurements of a sample group of 7 mates from different years. Then using a combination of averages/which joints had the best range recreated them it the best of my ability. Towards the end I was just holding a minimate against my laptop screen...

Planning to to use it to make some custom parts - and much like cyclon - try out a few different sized mates.

Just need to test it out, and make sure the tolerances and stuff are all good and it all stays together. I might move the arms in a little bit

[cylonchaney]

Awesome!

Wait until you print him. The feeling when your first one stands on its own is incredible.

A thought for the shoulders, I cut the inside of my shoulder flat so that the inside of the arm doesn't mushroom at the shoulder if you know what I mean. That will make them easier to push closer to the body. Though at this point you're basically done and further choices you make are stylistic as much as functional. I do like my way though.  

Another observation, your torso looks slightly trapezoidal from the side view. That will make wrap around stickers a pain in the ass to design and apply.  I went fully cubic. On the other hand, my head model is very slightly conical and I have to do a curved face sticker which is a PITA to apply.

Fantastic job Liney! I can't wait to see a 3d printed one. 

 

[Liney]

Yeah, it tried to stick to an official mate measurement as much as possible - so the torse does taper a bit, but I did consider making it square, but wasn't sure if existing slipover pieces would fit. This is why Luke sticker template is angled at the sides. 

Looking back at the arms I could reduce the mushroom a bit - they do seem a bit bulbous, but they were tricky to measure. To get them to sit closer I just need to make the cut out a bit deeper. 

The thigh seemed to have a bit of a taper but in the end I chalked that up to bad measuring over the different pieces.

Looking forward to getting that first print done!

[cylonchaney]

There's the difference I think. You're still trying for as close as possible to an official Mate. Once I got where you are, I just did what I thought looked good and would be printable. 

Congrats again! It's an accomplishment.

[Liney]

Taking on board some of the feedback I've been making some changes (original limbs on the left, new on the right):

• Reduced shoulder ball size - there's now a tiny bit of flare in the underside arm, but its a pain to remove, so as its less than 1/4mm I'm ok with it
• Reworked the top of the leg to be more inline the the newest mate legs - not 100% on it still, so might shift the 'point' a bit further inwards. Thought about rounding the inner side of the point, but this would cut into the socket/reduce range of motion.
• Bicep and thigh sun further onto the ball joints to get them closer to the body. Leg also sits a smidge higher.
• Joints cut in an attempt to replicate the widest range of motion on mates I could find- boxset Luke Cage arms, Wave 8 Sue Storm legs. (overall proportions are matched to Luke)

Its easy to get bogged down in miniscule tweaks, until you remember that you're looking at it 3x the actual size, so these changes are realistically fractions of a mm... 

Still not a fan of the side view of the top of the leg, but I can't work of the geometry to get a smooth curve from the side view, and still match the curve of the side edge and point flat front 

Edited May 26 by Liney

[cylonchaney]

14 minutes ago, Liney said:

Taking on board some of the feedback I've been making some changes (original limbs on the left, new on the right):

• Reduced shoulder ball size - there's now a tiny bit of flare in the underside arm, but its a pain to remove, so as its less than 1/4mm I'm ok with it
• Reworked the top of the leg to be more inline the the newest mate legs - not 100% on it still, so might shift the 'point' a bit further inwards. Thought about rounding the inner side of the point, but this would cut into the socket/reduce range of motion
• Bicep and thigh sun further onto the ball joints to get them closer to the body. Leg also sits a smidge higher.
• Joints cut in an attempt to replicate the widest range of motion on mates I could find- boxset Luke Cage arms, Wave 8 Sue Storm legs. (overall proportions are matched to Luke)

Its easy to get bogged down in miniscule tweaks, until you remember that you're looking at it 3x the actual size, so these changes are realistically fractions of a mm... 

Fantastic job Liney!

Your mate's right thigh looks better to me. Left arm looks good. I'd suggest trying to print one at this point. You may find other things you need to tweek. Plus it's so much fun. I have a few prototypes that aren't my final design but they can stand and hold a pose. And it makes me happy every time I look at them.

I want to see yours in physical form. I'm excited for you.

Congrats on your achievement!

 

[Navaan]

Super nifty!

My biggest hope is we get to the point we can create and 3D print helmets and hairs so we can add some possibilities to customs. I work with a guy from Australia who does custom heads for 1/18 and 1/12 scale figures, so would love to see a similar business model get to Minimates.

[Liney]

The more I looked at things trying to get the shoulder and hip joints right, the more things I found were a bit off.

So v3 went mostly back to the drawing board - I realised I was measuring different mates, which was leading to things not fitting right, so I cobbled together a mate with the best range of motion I could (original Picard head, boxset Luke Cage chest arms and hips, original Sue Storm legs) and took a whole new set of measurements and remodelled the head and body, and tweaked the arms and legs.

I could probably get a few more degrees motion in the shoulder. Legs are at their max, as cutting anymore out messes with the shape of the top of the leg.

Might drop the neck height a mm as it looks a bit long to me - despite matching my measurements.

Can't test print it until I get my new workspace wired up though...

Edited June 9 by Liney

[cylonchaney]

2 hours ago, Liney said:

The more I looked at things trying to get the shoulder and hip joints right, the more things I found were a bit off.

So v3 went mostly back to the drawing board - I realised I was measuring different mates, which was leading to things not fitting right, so I cobbled together a mate with the best range of motion I could (original Picard head, boxset Luke Cage chest arms and hips, original Sue Storm legs) and took a whole new set of measurements and remodelled the head and body, and tweaked the arms and legs.

I could probably get a few more degrees motion in the shoulder. Legs are at their max, as cutting anymore out messes with the shape of the top of the leg.

Might drop the neck height a mm as it looks a bit long to me - despite matching my measurements.

Can't test print it until I get my new workspace wired up though...

All your efforts have paid off. It looks great now! You've pretty much nailed the upper leg. Can't wait to see how it prints. 

You'll be tweaking forever. I'm still tweaking my design to this day.  

But it's looking really good now.

[Navaan]

Looking dang good, tho!

[Liney]

A little bit of self indulgent reflection, as it important to celebrate the small things:

While working on stickers for Alkhema I found an old unfinished version from 2015 and I'm glad to say I have significantly improved!

[Navaan]

That is a crazy good improvement, legit! Well done!

1 hour ago, Liney said:

A little bit of self indulgent reflection, as it important to celebrate the small things:

While working on stickers for Alkhema I found an old unfinished version from 2015 and I'm glad to say I have significantly improved!

 

[minifigvig]

On 6/8/2026 at 6:13 PM, Liney said:

The more I looked at things trying to get the shoulder and hip joints right, the more things I found were a bit off.

So v3 went mostly back to the drawing board - I realised I was measuring different mates, which was leading to things not fitting right, so I cobbled together a mate with the best range of motion I could (original Picard head, boxset Luke Cage chest arms and hips, original Sue Storm legs) and took a whole new set of measurements and remodelled the head and body, and tweaked the arms and legs.

I could probably get a few more degrees motion in the shoulder. Legs are at their max, as cutting anymore out messes with the shape of the top of the leg.

Might drop the neck height a mm as it looks a bit long to me - despite matching my measurements.

Can't test print it until I get my new workspace wired up though...

seeing a minimate getting reverse-engineered is so cool!

 

really can’t wait to see more, great work! 

[Liney]

I've been working on sculpting add on pieces but needed to know how thy would look with the stickers, so after a few youtube tutorials on textures, UV and rendering I worked out how to add the sticker to the 3D mate - very exciting for me!

Its also a good way of seeing if faces are too narrow - which is often an issue I have. It also showed me that the sides don't quite line up with the front and back

Edited June 14 by Liney

[Navaan]

55 minutes ago, Liney said:

I've been working on sculpting add on pieces but needed to know how thy would look with the stickers, so after a few youtube tutorials on textures, UV and rendering I worked out how to add the sticker to the 3D mate - very exciting for me!

Its also a good way of seeing if faces are too narrow - which is often an issue I have. It also showed me that the sides don't quite line up with the front and back

That is hella impressive!

[cylonchaney]

Nice work!

[Liney]

As I'm a bit stumped on how to model Alkhema's shoulder pads, and the finishing touches on her mask, I've hopped back into Star Trek again.

Working on a torso for Arex from TOS: The Animated Series.

• Copy and pasted the shoulder joint and rotated 90 degrees - might move a little lower to show more of the shirt collar, but then it'll be lower than the other arms.
• Rotated the top of the upper arm and joint and socket to allow the arm to still bend out forwards
• Need to work out how to model hands like the original Nightcrawler somehow, as he's too pricey
• When testing out posing, I found the elbow clearance isn't quite right, so need to move the joint ever so slightly higher
• Still thinking about how to add his extra leg. Logistically I think its going to point backwards - which shouldn't matter, he'd never be able to sit anyway. And as with the arm, rotate the socket to be in the back rather than side of the leg
• Maybe some more hoof like feet?

Edited July 4 by Liney

[Navaan]

This is really cool, tho

 

[Captain Paco]

Would love to get Arex as a mini mate in my Star Trek collection. Nice work on the design. 

[cylonchaney]

Nicely done Liney! I believe I have a design for one of these in progress somewhere myself.  

[Liney]

I've been thinking about hands for Arex and Lt M'ress trying to give them a bit more personality - I was planning to give them the original Nightcrawler/Salaak hands and some standard claw hands respectively - but then I realised that would mean no landing duty for them, as they won't be able to hold a phaser or tricorder.

The newest Kurt has clawed griping hands, which don't look as good, but would work. Are there any claw hands that can hold things?

Edited Thursday at 01:03 AM by Liney

[cylonchaney]

2 hours ago, Liney said:

I've been thinking about hands for Arex and Lt M'ress trying to give them a bit more personality - I was planning to give them the original Nightcrawler/Salaak hands and some standard claw hands respectively - but then I realised that would mean no landing duty for them, as they won't be able to hold a phaser or tricorder.

The newest Kurt has clawed griping hands, which don't look as good, but would work. Are there any claw hands that can hold things?

I think my Allen hands can hold an accessory. You could whittle them to a point in blender or I could make an alteration.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7328994

[Liney]

On 7/7/2026 at 11:33 PM, cylonchaney said:

I think my Allen hands can hold an accessory. You could whittle them to a point in blender or I could make an alteration.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7328994

Oooh, thanks - I'll have a tinker. I can't get my head around the geometry for the thumb for either type of hand.

 

Been working Arex's 'below decks'

Added the hip ball to the back of the hips and rotated the hip socket to run front to back rather than sideways. Need to remove some of the 'crotch' to allow the leg to pivot forward or backwards. I realised I modelled the knee backwards though 🫣

The first pic is how his leg should look, but is very gappy. The second looks better to me, despite being 'wrong'. All 3 knees would bend backwards as per usual, with a hoof style foot to get the 'S' bend shape - the back foot might need to be at a different angle to balance him. Either angle could have what would normally be the inside leg cut out made smaller, as per the red dotted line to look better from the front.

His extra leg has the range and direction of motion as the regular two, which is tricky, but not impossible, to do on a minimate. The 2D animation sort of warps depending on what's needed, so I don't believe he would ever be able to sit down as he's shown doing- he'll be standing at a bridge station anyway as Chekov will be a the helm anyway.  

Edited Thursday at 01:01 AM by Liney