Modding My Little Ponies for Fun and Profit

 by sashadistan
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There is a lot of fun and some money to me made my modding stuff, shoes, books, computers, anything and, weirdly, there is a lot going on in the modding scene for MLP's (My Little Ponies for the normal people).

There are two kinds of Modding which I like to call Styling and Sculpting.

Styling is taking a pony, re hairing it, re dying it and repainting the symbol to create essentially, a new kind of MLP (see image below from Minty's Custom Persuasion) http://www.cloverflowers.com

Sculpting is taking a pony, removing all the hair, and then using it to create an entirely new kind of thing, sometimes a parody (Iron Man, Jack Sparrow and many of the X Men are common features of the sculpting world) and sometimes something of your own imagining.

In this tutorial I shall be making an inbetween sort of pony, who still looks like a horse, but with many sculpting elements, a First Nations Warrior.
 
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Step 1: Choosing and Preparing Your Pony

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Generally, second hand or slightly damaged ponies are used for modding. Less damaged ones go for sculpting, but the damage can be as heavy as you like for sculpting, depending on how much you are changing the shape of the pony. Avoid using orginal 80's ponies as they are now rare and can go to collectors for a lot of money. Ponies can be bought new for cheap, or off ebay, which is where mine came from.

Hair: hair can simply be sheared off at the roots, though if using a new style "i turn my head" pony I like to take of the head and pull all the hair out. This is not nessesary and for this pony I didn't do it as the head was very well stuck on and I didn't feel much like slicing it off just for the sake of some roots.

This is all you really need to do, but as you can see, I also removed the markings with acetone (nail varnish remover) in order to start with a clean slate. I will also be re painting the eyes for this pony.
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Master97865 says: Oct 6, 2012. 9:00 PM
wow, gorgeous. what i would do is, leave the hair alone but put in curlers, a braid or whatever to it then dip it in boiled water, take out the braid or curlers and tah-dah! wavy or curled hair! then dye it, color the body and such, and that way the hair will be flowing and free, not stiff. good ible! you should post more photos of your mod ponies.
deebo83 says: Aug 30, 2012. 11:39 AM
This is awesome! You're great!
Evelyn424 says: May 27, 2012. 11:52 AM
i made one a few days ago before i saw this sadly
i used a sharpie on it and didn't cut off hair
:(
pinky252525 says: Feb 9, 2011. 11:57 AM
I liked the second one just that the hair is CRAZY!
Neon Panda says: Nov 24, 2010. 12:34 PM
This sounds awsome. I so gunna try this- But do it in a harajuku style. :D
Great tut thanks. =^.^=
sashadistan (author) in reply to Neon PandaNov 24, 2010. 1:22 PM
Sounds cool. Please post pictures,and you're welcome
CalindaB says: Jun 16, 2010. 1:11 AM
Acrylic paint can be thinned with water.
sashadistan (author) in reply to CalindaBJun 16, 2010. 9:46 AM
Whilst this is true, model paints are designed for tiny fiddly bits and are far superior for painting on vinyl. I have found that acrylic paints (being a type of plastic) do notflex very well and areprone to chipping.
The Ideanator says: Sep 12, 2009. 4:27 PM
Pretty snazzy. I bet furries everywhere would jump on this(not hating on em, I'm friends with a few).
sashadistan (author) in reply to The IdeanatorSep 13, 2009. 12:22 PM
Well that is who I mostly end up doing commissions for. Thanks very much.
The Ideanator in reply to sashadistanSep 13, 2009. 1:40 PM
I looked over at your FA site, you're fantastic with the creamics and tribal-esque stuff, me like!
sashadistan (author) in reply to The IdeanatorSep 14, 2009. 12:07 AM
Well I am a ceramicist by trade. Although I haven't put up any new work on FA in a while. I have a show this weekend so everything is stress. Thanks very much.
The Ideanator in reply to sashadistanSep 14, 2009. 12:56 PM
lol. I hope your show goes well(and sell lots of stuff so you can have more time&money to make cool I'bles!).
ImagineIntentions says: Jun 9, 2009. 5:04 PM
Either way, there both really great! I just wish I could do something like this but its waaaayyyyy out of league :)
Nettiemac in reply to ImagineIntentionsAug 21, 2009. 8:31 PM
I have repainted a barbie doll (I gave her new hair as well). Like a lot of things, it is only hard until you try. So, go find a my little pony, rip out it's mane and tail, remove it's paint and have a go - it is fun, and you can see how you improve between makeovers.
Kidz_Creator says: Jul 13, 2009. 11:34 AM
Wow...Now to go steal some my little ponies from my sister... XP ((not really...)) now...where can i find one...
sashadistan (author) in reply to Kidz_CreatorJul 14, 2009. 9:51 AM
ebay is an excellent source of ponies. No, don't steal them from your sister, in a few years she'll grow up and be big enough to hit you and it'll hurt (I know this). Asda is also good.
Kidz_Creator in reply to sashadistanJul 14, 2009. 11:33 AM
The sad thing is she IS old enough to hit me ((older actually than me!)) AND she STILL has some!?!?!?!!!
sashadistan (author) in reply to Kidz_CreatorJul 14, 2009. 12:07 PM
oh dear...
Demon5magic says: Jun 10, 2009. 12:49 PM
Dude, this is so awesome! I'm gonna try and make a punk-rocker one for my dad for fathers day.
sashadistan (author) in reply to Demon5magicJun 10, 2009. 1:36 PM
That's the most epic present I've ever heard of - post pics!
Demon5magic in reply to sashadistanJun 10, 2009. 3:30 PM
Alright, and do you know of anywhere else that I can learn more about this and this kind of thing?
sashadistan (author) in reply to Demon5magicJun 15, 2009. 7:37 AM
Search the web for Custom MLP's and have a browse on the google machine. You'll find other examples.
Demon5magic in reply to sashadistanJul 7, 2009. 10:11 AM
Thanks man. Hey, I wanted to let you know I did finish the pony, but I can't find my camera at the moment so I can't take pics. I'll post up pictures when I find the camera.
Demon5magic in reply to Demon5magicJul 12, 2009. 12:31 PM
alright, I found my camera, here are some pics. I think I used the wrong kind of paint because it's peeling off at the nose, and it didn't dry at all. And I couldn't find Milliput, but I did find something similar that worked fine. Overall it looks pretty bad, but it was fun and I guess it was ok for my first time. I gave it green hair, a red guitar, a silver body, tattoos on each leg that say "Rock" and "roll" and some weird red stuff all over his legs....I messed up on painting and didn't have time to paint over it...
Demon5magic in reply to Demon5magicJul 12, 2009. 2:02 PM
oh, man, my comp won't let me upload the pics.....it might take a little while...
sashadistan (author) in reply to Demon5magicJul 12, 2009. 1:21 PM
sounds awesome. I can't see the pics though, where did you post them? What kind of paint did you use btw?
Demon5magic in reply to sashadistanJul 13, 2009. 9:46 AM
I used Testors water based enamel paints. Now let's see if I can get the pictures up now....
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sashadistan (author) in reply to Demon5magicJul 13, 2009. 10:41 AM
Dude. He's a rockin' first pony, you should be proud. Next time try specific water based model paints (Warhammer stuff works great). Acrylics also work, but I feel they leave too many brush marks for my liking. I think he's a great punk rocker pony...but where is his tail?
Demon5magic in reply to sashadistanJul 13, 2009. 12:23 PM
Thanks for the tip man. To be honest, I got lazy and I didn't have the time to do anything with the tail (I was leaving town to visit some friends the next day) So I just pulled it out and plugged the little hole with some of the epoxy putty. And, thank you, my dad loves it, this was an epic fathers day. Also, thank you for such an awesome instructible, I will for sure be keeping my eye out for old my little pony's whenever i'm at goodwill from now on.
Demon5magic in reply to Demon5magicJul 13, 2009. 9:50 AM
and here's another one (You can see my crappy hair painting and the paint coming off...)
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sashadistan (author) in reply to Demon5magicJul 14, 2009. 9:52 AM
I like his big eyeliner. Very cool. Hey i'm glad the instructable was put to good use and that your father's day was awesome.
Hannah Belle Lectre says: Jun 14, 2009. 12:54 PM
So awesome. I want to make a 70's punk pony.
bobhill125 says: Jun 10, 2009. 9:04 AM
im making one emo
sashadistan (author) in reply to bobhill125Jun 10, 2009. 11:21 AM
Oh, that could be fun, let me know how it goes.
Yerboogieman says: Jun 9, 2009. 6:21 PM
The my little pony glue factory.
FooL111394 in reply to YerboogiemanJun 10, 2009. 2:52 AM
LOL
SinAmos says: Jun 9, 2009. 3:54 PM
This is totally up my alley. Good work, but get out of my alley.;)
sashadistan (author) in reply to SinAmosJun 9, 2009. 11:20 PM
Fight you for it? ;)
beyondimagination says: Jun 9, 2009. 1:56 PM
Where do you sell them?
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