SirSwagger said:
This is the most helpful forum I have EVER been on........wow. You guys are awesome
Well I've heard some people say to use a dremel for high detail work, and I have seen some tutorials that have made it happen......so what exactly is recommended more over the other? An exacto knife or a dremel? Cuz I just bought a dremel and was going to use that. My last 3 questions are:
1. How would I go about making tthe Joker's face and putting it on the front of the case? What material should I use and how easy would it be? I'm not bad at sculpting. but that detailed......I just don't know.
2. How would I change the color of the DS screens light? Like would it be possible to make them a different color?
3. Should I paint the buttons and if not, how do I change there color then and make them light up?
PS: Palmer a tut would be AWESOME! Could you explain a little bit more about what you mean with the improved diagnols? Because I think that's the route I want to take for now (until I become skilled enough for the circuitry one lol). BTW thanks for the vid!
Also Palmer, how much did your modded DS sell for? Because I wanted to sell this after it's done (not for profit....well a little lol, but mainly for paying off the cost of the tools I bought/am going to buy and so I can afford this as well as my next modding project). I haven't seen ANY modded consoles on ebay anymore, but I here they sell for a lot and was wondering if you had any selling tips?
Thanks for the compliments, this site is essentially a smaller, quicker response version of forums.benheck.com, though there is some good info on there. Just don't expect any help in the handheld modding section!
A dremel is fine, but you will want to finish it with a nail file. Exacto is also good, it really depends on what you are more comfortable with. Practice on scrap plastic with both, see what you think.
1. You want this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dark-Knight-Heath-L ... 286.c0.m14
Molded, painted resin, easy to cut the head in half and mount the front part on the DS AFTER you paint it and do the LED modding (Attaching the head will be the last thing you do). That will be the easiest and best looking route, in my opinion. Cheap, too.
2. You COULD do this, but why? It will make all the games weird looking, and white will be the brightest. If you are looking for a freaky color distortion effect, you can pull the rear polarizer off the LCD and swap it with another filter rotated 45 degrees, it will make all the colors the exact opposite.
3. I painted my buttons, it is really, really a rough idea. No matter what you do, the paint will eventually wear down with heavy gameplay. To be honest, you are best off leaving them as they are. Although dealextreme DOES have some shells with white buttons that you could vinyl dye, or use fabric dye, with. What color are you looking for? I will see what is around.
I will take a few pics while I am working on my N64p, the dpad mod has a lot of overlap. Basically, you are taking a disk of some kind, and gluing it to the dpad. It makes pressing into diagonals easier, since it spreads out the pressure to the edge. For an easy try of what I am talking about, take a quarter, and hot glue it temporarily to the dpad. Or, just hold it on top. Try a game with heavy diagonals, and you are gonna see what I mean.
I sold my DS for $186+shipping. To be honest, considering the DS Lite had been out and was only $130 brand new, it was a fair price. But with a used DS Lite now costing under $60, and a DS Phat costing maybe $30-40, I do not know if you will be making much at all.
Selling tips? I have a ton.
Keep the worklog here, and when you are done, post a thread in the "completed projects" forum. Once you do that, list it on eBay using a 10 day auction, making sure it ends late on a Saturday night, EST Time, and add the link to your modretro thread. Then, post it on a variety of batman and comic memorabilia based forums, like
http://legionsofgotham.proboards.com/index.cgi, and a few others. Google will help you there. In all the threads, link to the eBay listing and your modretro thread (Once you sell it, it only stays on ebay for 90 days, so you want the modretro thread so that people can still see it in the future). In the meanwhile, using the power of ModRetro, us members can all submit news tips to places like engadget, gizmodo, kotaku, hackaday, etc. If they post it, you will get MASSIVE hits on your eBay page, and thus a higher price.
I was new back then, I was a modding nobody, so I had no powerful forces to help me. I only got on joystiq and DSfanboy, and Joystiq was like a year later.
if you do a good job, and we help ya out, you might make a decent amount! Should have timed this to the release of the Dark Knight on DVD, though.
He wants a new case so that the joystick would fit in, not just the same case.
If all you want is improved diagonals, then put a small circular top (like the top of a GC joystick) and epoxy that to the DS dpad. It looks cool, and feels ever cooler. 
