Lego Tan DIY

Nitojutsu

My friends, countrymen, etc etc.

I'm making a MOC of the great hall of Hogwarts and as you can probably guess, tan is a color that's quite prevalent in the build, and getting every piece required in the right  color can be a struggle.

We've been trying out some spray paint to make some non-tan pieces tan but they all came out pretty off, so today I ask yall, does anyone know a place where I can get a shade close to the real Lego Tan? Spray paint, normal paint, anything.

Hope y'all can help! Also if you want to talk about Harry Potter... please do.

WesterBricks

In my opinion, working within the constraints of available parts in available colors is an enjoyable part of the challenge of custom builds.

Brainslugged

I was just a little bit sick in my mouth when I read about you spray painting Lego.

Nitojutsu

Any tips on how to paint it properly are appreciated...

daewoo

Color match with pre-mixed paints is going to be your issue.  Better bet would be to mix your own (lots of trial and error here) and use an airbrush.  That will take some time to dial in, but it's doable. 

And @Brainslugged, what would your reaction be to my cutting Lego elements to fit my wants/needs?  :P :D

Nitojutsu

@Daewoo thanks. We also cut ours.

Switchfoot55

I believe stores that sell paint are often able to take an object and analyze it to try and match a color. Might not be quite precise enough. But I know some home improvement stores around me sell "sample" sizes of matched paint so you can then take it home and test. Likely even one of the same sizes would be sufficient to color a considerable amount of parts. But, to daewoo's point, airbrushing will undoubtedly give you the best finish. 

Astrobricks

If the paint color doesn’t quite match, then it would replicate the color variation of actual Lego :)

560Heliport

Just put your white bricks in the sun- they'll be tan soon enough!  ;)

daewoo

Switchfoot55 said:

I believe stores that sell paint are often able to take an object and analyze it to try and match a color. Might not be quite precise enough. But I know some home improvement stores around me sell "sample" sizes of matched paint so you can then take it home and test. Likely even one of the same sizes would be sufficient to color a considerable amount of parts. But, to daewoo's point, airbrushing will undoubtedly give you the best finish. 

They do try to color match, true, but the paints they mix are usually meant for painting houses or fences, etc.  They aren't color-mixing the kinds of paints that will work with Lego, unfortunately.

Sethro3

@daewoo in regards to cutting LEGO is like using the Unforgivable curses in Hogwarts Legacy. You want to not do it, but once you start you can't stop!

I have only modified one piece in my adult life and it felt like I was tearing out my own soul. But I needed it for the MOC since it didn't exist. 

Brainslugged

daewoo said:

And @Brainslugged, what would your reaction be to my cutting Lego elements to fit my wants/needs?  :P :D

I was going to ask the mods to kick you out... but then I remembered that as a kid I used to build MOCs and then burn them in the woods 😳

Astrobricks

Brainslugged said:

daewoo said:

And @Brainslugged, what would your reaction be to my cutting Lego elements to fit my wants/needs?  :P :D

I was going to ask the mods to kick you out... but then I remembered that as a kid I used to build MOCs and then burn them in the woods 😳

^ A WITCH!!!!

daewoo

Brainslugged said:

I was going to ask the mods to kick you out... but then I remembered that as a kid I used to build MOCs and then burn them in the woods 😳

I burned model ships in the creek by my parents' house when I was a kid. This might be sacrilege but the most satisfying one was the Arizona.  It was loaded with firecrackers that we got from somewhere.

 I've mostly cut Lego track so it can handle different geometries, especially the points. As produced, they force the divergent to a turn back to the main, which if that's not what you're trying to do, gets in the way. Making the divergent turn cleanly away from the main is so much more preferable, hence the cuts.

560Heliport

@daewoo does it work to just cut the divergent part at the same location on a left and a right point, and then swap them?

One nice thing about the monorail track was that the extra 1/8 curves could be swapped so that the points could either become two parallel tracks, or a 90° turn. 

daewoo

I typically use part of a curved track piece to match with the cut point.  I've got so many of them I don't feel bad if I screw a few up.

CCC

Even if you nanage to get a colour match, the finish will be wrong and they will scratch badly. Paint is just about OK for minifigure accessories but anything that butts up against another part, especially surface to surface, will scratch terribly.