Pullip, Dal, Taeyang, Byul, Tangkou, Blythe - Eye Chip Sizes

[Vetinari]

Hi

Does anyone have a link to an FAQ or first hand knowledge of the eye chip sizes of these kinds of eye-mechanism doll?

I'd heard that a general rule of thumb is that Pullip, Taeyang and Dal all take 12mm chips?

Except more recent Pullips take 13mm?

Byul and Blythe both have 14mm chips?

Is any of the above correct?

Do the MIO kits take differently sized chips?

And anyone got any idea what the difference is between "middle Blythe" and others? Let alone what Tangkou's take?

Argh sorry about the rather listy post of questions - I'm intending to customise the cheapo Taeyang I picked up the other day, and figured whilst I'm at it I'd rechip my Tangkou, and look into chip sizes for future reference... Likely the near future

[Ulti]

I think even the recent ones are 12 mm? IDK. I'm gathering stuff for doing an MIO kit; I just bought mine off of the Hello CoolCat etsy.

[Vetinari]

Thanks, yeah I'm really not sure about the 13mm thing - some chip sellers list both 12 and 13mm sizes as for Pullip, but not many of them. Eh either way it doesn't effect me for now since I'm going to be dissecting a Taeyang! Ooh do let me know what you think of the MIO kit - I've been eyeing those kits for a while now

Ooh yeah I do love some of the stunning looks the CoolCat chips provide - I think I'll hold off until new year's before beginning my mini customising adventure/picking out chips, family X'mas and indecision about realistic vs stylised chips both play a part in that wait-and-see response!

I still can't quite decide on Who my Taeyang Hook should end up as, the not-really-tan skintone really does remind me of Methos but nothing about the sculpt does! And I'm not sure the anime/manga style sculpts would at all suit realistic chips, even though I've seen some stunning realistic eyechips floating about. Though either way he is definitely destined for the customisation route, charming as he is in person, that shiny shiny face-up has to go!

Edit: Nosing around on Etsy - I do wonder how well/poorly 12mm glass cabochons would work, some of the designs on those glass jewellery bits are pretty darned cool

[Ulti]

Edit: Nosing around on Etsy - I do wonder how well/poorly 12mm glass cabochons would work, some of the designs on those glass jewellery bits are pretty darned cool

I was wondering about those too. I think people also replace the pullip eyes completely, but I've never seen the actual results. I'm going for a semi-realistic lolita look for mine - eventually.

[Vetinari]

I was wondering about those too. I think people also replace the pullip eyes completely, but I've never seen the actual results. I'm going for a semi-realistic lolita look for mine - eventually.

Hrmm if the heads had easy access (aka had head caps rather than a screw system that could very easily get stripped if you opened/closed them too often) I'd be kinda tempted, but a lot of the appeal of these dolls for me is the eye mechanism that lets you reposition/change their expressions from the outside.

Ooh I look forward to seeing that! Hrmm still musing over exactly who to redo my guy as! (I think it's a minor trade off between shallowly pretty beach bum that'll continue to develop as I work him out, or going for Chibi!Methos despite the sculpt's lack of nose.)

But I did manage to wipe his face today (Egads - the face-up came off with one quick wipe with propanol... The glue on the other hand... Christ - I think I've worked out that his face-plate is stained with a black line from the combination of black wig cap + evil glue, and the back of his head is suffering from a line of mild melt in a pattern that makes it look suspiciously like it's from the combination of either thread/artificial hair and evil glue... (And a couple of random patches of staining hidden in the scalp area) Gods I've finally worked out why customised pullips always have that ugly glue line, it's more effort than it's worth removing it completely! Especially given the nastiness hiding underneath the mess. It's a good job I didn't want a bald guy or a mohawk!)

[DollyKim]

I've done the eye chip change on my modern Blythe and it was worth it. One color goes perfectly with one of her wigs and the silvery pupils shine a bit when the light catches them.

[Vetinari]

Ooh! You've managed to take the eyechips out of a Blythe! Did you use the glue stick method?

I really want to swap out my Tangkou's chips but I'm a tad leery of what that seems to entail even though I've got plenty of low temp glue sticks and a lighter... (And I need to measure her default chips for myself, since I get the feeling that Blythe 14mm chips might be too large.)

And yeah I'll definitely be buying new chips for my Taeyang - when you look at his defaults under a harsh light the detail is lovely, but it just doesn't show up at all in photos. The decision making process about colour/style is another matter, but I will be rechipping him!

[DollyKim]

I used heat to soften the white plastic and dissolve old glue, the glue stick method worked for most of it, I had to take a tiny flat screwdriver under a couple of them. Did scratch an orangey-pink chip that way. A bit more heat and patience might have done it.

My head is modern and pieced with after market parts but for the face plate so I felt okay messing with her. The hardest part is getting the eye mechanism back in. Take out the spring in the back and replace with a ribbon to make her close her eyes.

[Vetinari]

Thanks for the info! Thankfully I'm not too fussed about keeping the original tangkou chips, some of them make her look downright sinister - just ruining the eye mech. (I'll give the gluestick method a shot as soon as I work out somewhere safer to store the taeyang eyemech so I don't get screws/springs mixed up!)

[Ulti]

Hrmm if the heads had easy access (aka had head caps rather than a screw system that could very easily get stripped if you opened/closed them too often) I'd be kinda tempted, but a lot of the appeal of these dolls for me is the eye mechanism that lets you reposition/change their expressions from the outside.

I'm late but I just did some research today (the MIO kit came this afternoon), and it looks like you might still be able to use the eye mechanism if you use eyes that are flat on the back.