Customizing G4 Minty - good idea or bad idea?

[Zapper]

So thanks to one amazing Arena member I finally have my G4 Minty. But I dislike that her symbol has the black outlines. I think the prototype Minty was superior in every way and I have this amazing character trait that small things tend to bug me so much that they become unbearable and I have to do something about them.
Such is the case with G4 Minty.

I'd love to remove/paint over the black outlines and maybe give her some white hair.
But most of all the black outlines need to go.
Can you reommend a technique or certain paint that will allow removal of the colored outlines but not the symbol itself if I wanted to resell her sometime in the dark future?

Thanks in advance!

[Shiromisa]

The only advice I can give is acetone and a very, very fine tip Q tip. However, you'll still probably need to touch up the edges with paint. The outline is almost definitely the same sort of applique as the rest of the cutie mark, so I'm not sure there'd be a product that would take it off and leave the rest.

[Winter Bones]

Painting over would probably be your best bet if you want to keep her as intact as possible. What you can do is spray a layer of varnish over the existing symbol to 'save' how it looks, paint over the layer of varnish, then spray again. That way, if you ever want to revert her to her default symbol, you can carefully wipe the paint and varnish off with a magic eraser.

[Jennifer2004]

I have a possible suggestion. One of the methods now used for sun-fading is to use acrylic craft paint to paint over the pony's symbols and eyes so they don't fade in the sun. This is done because it was discovered that you can use 70% rubbing alcohol to remove the acrylic paint without affecting the original paint underneath. Here is the thread about it: Paint and sunfading tutorial

Maybe you can use an acrylic craft paint to carefully paint over the black lines and then if you ever want to remove it for any reasons you can use the 70% rubbing alcohol to take it off.

Now I know this has been tried with G1 ponies, but I'm not sure if it has ever been tested with G4 ponies. So you might want to test a small area and see how the rubbing alcohol affects it. Also, the longest anyone has ever left the acrylic paint on before removing it is probably only a few months. I don't know if it will still come off as easily and without affecting the symbol after several years. Although my guess would be that it would still work.

~Jennifer

[brittney_rochelle]

The title scared me! You would be totally fine making her NOT have the outline and adding in some white hair.

[Galactica]

Lol- this topic caught my attention as well.  I don't have any specific suggestions- but would love to see how she looks when you are done!

[Zapper]

The title scared me! You would be totally fine making her NOT have the outline and adding in some white hair.

Oy, I didn't mean to scare
I guess for me "customizing" is every change you would do to a toy that isn't about restoring them. Since I'm thinking about partially rehairing her and changing her symbol I used the term in my title.

The thing is, I don't want to do anything that would cheapen her. She will probably become HTF in a few years.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far! More are appreciated, but what I've read so far will definitely help me a lot

[gabumon]

I don't know if you've had experience with acetone, but one thing I want to say is that acetone doesn't clearly wipe the paint off.  In my experience, it "smears" it off gradually, and I've had to repeat and repeat until it's gone.  I could be doing it wrong, but knowing this, I'd say acetone would not be a good way to remove only the outlines.  Hope that is helpful.

[Galactica]

Yeah- acetone I find to be very tricky.  I definitely would not use a q-tip  unless it is one of those super firm pointy ones from a craft store. 

You might try experimenting on a less important pony first?  Maybe a G3 destined for the custom bin anyway.  Until you get your technique just right

[Shiromisa]

I don't know if you've had experience with acetone, but one thing I want to say is that acetone doesn't clearly wipe the paint off.  In my experience, it "smears" it off gradually, and I've had to repeat and repeat until it's gone.  I could be doing it wrong, but knowing this, I'd say acetone would not be a good way to remove only the outlines.  Hope that is helpful.

I use the ones from the makeup section of stores, personally! I've never tried them for detail work like this, but thought it might work. Painting over them might be a better idea if you can match the colors.

[hathorcat]

I am going to nudge this over to Customs where you should get some more help

[Sarahlacewing]

It's a hard question.  Usually when I mod a pony I mark it in some fashion so everyone knows that it was altered.  That way people don't think I am trying to pass it off as something it isn't.  I suppose you should ask yourself if it is really worth it.  I understand you like the proto design better, but odds are you will end up having to rework the symbol and that may bother you more (esp if you have any oopsey moments while attempting to erase the black). If it was me I wouldn't since the design (though less cool for yah) is factory flawless and a repaint won't be.