From Flesh to Yellow

[Lilsniffs]

Wow, the yellow sharpie works great. Its not the exact shade of Lego yellow, but it sure is close. I used it on my Indiana Jones torso to make Clutch Powers.

[petero]

It is for a while, with the use of 70% isporopyl alcohol (widely available as "rubbing alcohol" in the US). This is especially helpful if you make an error in application, at which time the isopropyl with take the ink right off, completely and easily. I've even had luck when I've repented the morning after a mod. The longer the ink stays on and the greater the contrast between the ink and the ABS, the harder it is to remove. My sons found this out the hard way after modding some Clone helmets (white ABS), then changing their minds a week later.

I'm surprised it gets harder to remove with time. I use a Sharpie a lot while I'm building plastic scale models, and have never had any problem removing it, even if the model takes months to build. I use 91% Isopropyl, which is readily available as a cosmetic remover in the US. Maybe the stronger solution works better than the 70%. Lego ABS may react differently than the styrene in the model kits.

Peter

[Klay]

Interesting! Finally, a solution to the lack of yellow female heads.

I just wish you could remove it once you were done. For example, if I wanted to keep a MOC together, and had colored Lego heads. Well thanks for the warning, no_skill.

You can, if you simply use highlighter instead. It is basically the same yellow, but it rubs right off!

[sologuy369]

The page says there's no yellow super permanent marker.

only black blue green and red

Red! That's good. Should I use permanent or SUPER permanent? And it's just a plain old sharpie that I supposed to use?

Thanks to LuxorV for showing me this topic.

[Darkdragon]

You can remove even old "permanent" ink pretty quickly with Brasso, and as long as you don't rub hard or leave it on long it will not mess up the printed parts or the sheen of the head (do this at your own risk, try it out on stuff you dont care about first, it's a tecnique to be practiced).

Just a quick note about how a "standard" fine point sharpie works - theere is a very find wire imbedded in the felt tips. This wire creates a fine scratch whch then fills with ink. SO if you use the tip of the pen you will be putting in scratches, just an FYI for you guys. Using the sides of the felt tip makes no scratches

[LuxorV]

Just a quick note about how a "standard" fine point sharpie works - theere is a very find wire imbedded in the felt tips. This wire creates a fine scratch whch then fills with ink. SO if you use the tip of the pen you will be putting in scratches, just an FYI for you guys. Using the sides of the felt tip makes no scratches

That's an important tip. Thanks darkdragon for pointing it out.

[jFox]

I tried this myself just the other day, but unfortunately the yellow rubbed right off a day later. I was trying to color this torso: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=973pb595c01. I colored the flesh bits and let it sit for about a day. The next day, when I gripped the torso to pull off the hands my fingers streaked yellow all over it. I washed the piece in the sink and found the yellow washed right off with no fuss at all.

I imagined the yellow might rub off or fade over a period of time and need to be recoated, but not after only a day. Not so easily, either. Looking for a solution just revealed that people have the opposite problem. They have a hard time getting it OFF, whereas I can't get it to stay ON.

Has anyone else had this happen? If so, did you find a good solution for it?

[JaseTJ]

I tried this myself just the other day, but unfortunately the yellow rubbed right off a day later. I was trying to color this torso: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=973pb595c01. I colored the flesh bits and let it sit for about a day. The next day, when I gripped the torso to pull off the hands my fingers streaked yellow all over it. I washed the piece in the sink and found the yellow washed right off with no fuss at all.

I imagined the yellow might rub off or fade over a period of time and need to be recoated, but not after only a day. Not so easily, either. Looking for a solution just revealed that people have the opposite problem. They have a hard time getting it OFF, whereas I can't get it to stay ON.

Has anyone else had this happen? If so, did you find a good solution for it?

Same thing happened for me when I tried sharpie-ing one of those generic peachy heads to use for my Cappy...

[DarkKnight7]

I tried this myself just the other day, but unfortunately the yellow rubbed right off a day later. I was trying to color this torso: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=973pb595c01. I colored the flesh bits and let it sit for about a day. The next day, when I gripped the torso to pull off the hands my fingers streaked yellow all over it. I washed the piece in the sink and found the yellow washed right off with no fuss at all.

I imagined the yellow might rub off or fade over a period of time and need to be recoated, but not after only a day. Not so easily, either. Looking for a solution just revealed that people have the opposite problem. They have a hard time getting it OFF, whereas I can't get it to stay ON.

Has anyone else had this happen? If so, did you find a good solution for it?

Ditto here, too. Tried to do a quick Captain America blue head for my son over a yellow head and even after a day it came right off onto his fingers. I too want to hear a solution!

[jFox]

I think I've found a solution for the problem of the color rubbing off. I put the yellow sharpie on the same torso I tried before, let it sit overnight, and then sprayed it with a clear coat spray. Let it sit for a couple hours and voila! Hasn't rubbed off so far. Haven't tried it on a head piece yet, but on the torso I linked to earlier, so far so good.

Here is the spray I used: http://www.krylon.com/products/crystal_clear_acrylic/. I got it at my local art supply store, but I'm sure they carry it in craft stores like Michael's, or you can get it online.

[Captain Nemo]

I've used sharpies on figures before, though mostly in black to either touch up a figure (Like my precious black and white Two-Face, who now looks like brand new!), or to make custom faces, you know, like putting mustaches on people. I've had mixed success with this, where sometimes it would come off after I touched it, and other times it stays on for months.

Personally, I'd never attempt nor want to change a fleshie to yellow. I like both types, but I like them for different reasons--yellow for it's diversity, and flesh for the fact that all the Batman figs are in that color! Though I do find it as one of the biggest Lego sins to place both flesh and yellow figs in the same creation--it's just not right!

[DarkKnight7]

I think I've found a solution for the problem of the color rubbing off. I put the yellow sharpie on the same torso I tried before, let it sit overnight, and then sprayed it with a clear coat spray. Let it sit for a couple hours and voila! Hasn't rubbed off so far. Haven't tried it on a head piece yet, but on the torso I linked to earlier, so far so good.

Here is the spray I used: http://www.krylon.com/products/crystal_clear_acrylic/. I got it at my local art supply store, but I'm sure they carry it in craft stores like Michael's, or you can get it online.

Ha! I don't know why I didn't think of this before, as I do it all the time for my painted pieces...thanks for sharing...that should solve the issue!

[Alexandr]

I hope theyll make a way to make yellow to flesh

[The Blue Brick]

Great idea. I can now make my fleshies yellow.

[Darkdragon]

You guys could just trade me your fleshies for some yellows. That's even better than destroying a nice head.

[purpleparadox]

I hope theyll make a way to make yellow to flesh

My thoughts exactly.

[Blockburn]

This is fantastic! I was really dreading the idea of buying yellow colored hands of bricklink, plus this will work great for some of the flesh colored head which have good faces.

[jasbury]

Yet another use for sharpies! I still prefer flesh to yellow for my space MOCs. If theres a way to turn yellow to flesh, that would be cool!

I'm a little to much of a purist to try to find a solution, though

[The Lego Wizard]

just yesterday i colored an elizebith swann face to make ava ayala.

[Aanchir]

Does anyone know if yellow sharpie works as well on Light Nougat (light flesh) printing as it does on actual Light Nougat parts? I would like to get one of these torsos as it is the same as Nya's party dress from various episodes of the Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu TV series as far as I know, but it has an open back which, yes, is printed in Light Nougat rather than Bright Yellow.

I ask because for whatever reason, Light Nougat printing almost always looks darker than Light Nougat plastic (see here). And if the color of the print is already darker, I'm not sure Sharpie will be effective. If the base color of the plastic were lighter than the flesh printing some brake fluid might be effective, but with a bright red base I can't think of any effective technique for recoloring the printed "skin".

[Wardancer]

This might be a good way to turn the new Elrond figure into a yellowhead.

It should theoretically also work on elven ears, e.g. the ones on the Legolas hairpiece.

Has anyone in Germany tried this yet and can recommend a brand of felt pen for this? I think I have never seen a "sharpie" here.

[LuxorV]

just yesterday i colored an elizebith swann face to make ava ayala.

Please check spelling and capitalisation when posting. Thank you.

[C A Rotwang]

Do you color over the eyes and mouth?

[AmperZand]

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I'd just like to mention a method I found to make yellowing fleshies with a Sharpie permanent. It's basically the same as jFox's method above, but instead of using a spray, I use liquid satin cote applied with a paint brush. You just have to make sure the part is washed, dried and untouched before you yellow it with the Sharpie and then make sure the Sharpie is untouched and allowed to dry overnight before putting on the satin cote. My preference is for Humbrol.

I tried it on a test piece and it really works. Once dried, the satin cote protected yellow doesn't come off no matter how much you rub it with your fingers. The unprotected yellow, in contrast, comes off easily.

I wish I had the means to post a picture of my yellow fellowship of the ring minifigs with Legolas's ears yellowed, but unfortunately I can't. If anybody out there wouldn't mind posting the picture for me, please PM me and I'll e-mail you the picture.

[Metallic11]

Thank you for all the tips, but due to me being a fleshie fan I would want to find out if it's the same process to colour a yellow head in to a flesh head?