My first attempts were to dismantle the mini-figs tools (that's what model builders call the arms, legs and body) and spray paint them. It seemed like a good idea and looked good, until I tried to reassemble them. Some paint got on the joints and made it difficult to pop in the arms or legs. I had to scrape away the excess, and then they were still a tight fit. I could imagine this causing a lot of trouble during the animation process.
The next challenge is how to get the uniform customizations on the Lego pieces. There are many options such as hand painting, stickers, or transfers. There are lots of helpful tutorials out there and it seemed like stickers were the way to go. After printing a few tests, I was not confident it was going to work. The clear labels I had did not pick up the colours vividly enough and would not show up over the dark background.
This called for a rethink... or more like a uniform redesign. So last night I completely changed the design to use stock Lego colours. There would be no need for spray painting and instead of stickers, I'll try water-slide transfers. With the help of the Lego Digital Designer and some creative Photoshopping, I mocked up the designs below. Now I just have to buy the parts.
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