[Adopted] Mirodoll Discussion - Part III !

Aeryn, ew! I think I'll ask Miro not to use DHL, if at all possible then! That's just not right- they shouldn't come back and hit you with the fees after the fact. That's just gold-digging. Meanies.

It's bad business ethics, $abbatha! To me, it's a sign of a poorly-run business, possibly one trying not to go under, but I don't cheer for the underdog willing to use underhanded tactics to stay afloat, ya know? *frowns*

 

chalyss, if you're in the US you will not be hit by fees regardless; doll stuff is duty free in the US.
DHL is not my favorite shipper, but it's not they who charge these fees, it's the countries where the dolls are sent to that do. And some are lamer about it than others, unfortunately.

 

I am in the US... Washington State. DHL demanded fees for my dolls from China. I don't know why they did, but I got a bill for them. Not sure what they claimed it was for though- I was not in the state at the time and got home months later. I was just told by family that a bill came in from DHL and they read it to me over the phone. I snorted, really, and blew it off. It was ridiculous. They never came back for the money, but if I were to receive anything through them again, I'm sure they'd demand that payment before I saw my merchandise. I don't think it was customs stuff- I think it was carrier fees. But again, I am not sure.

 

Regarding DHL don't know really why they asked to you the fee if the goods were already in China, it's just so strange.
Again it's not merely bad business, you know?
On Prego board i've read once that a guy was billed of a fee from FedEx for a shipment that came from UK, i guess that all private courier *such UPS, TNT* have just different rules in matter of fee.
I got this parcel recently from Indonesia, was just an Hot Toys action figure and i was billed of 29€ that are approx 37usd at the delivery of the parcel on the receipt it reads that are more thei percentage and other fees more than custom fee, but again i've paid such amount also with UPS and TNT as well. You know what? I guess i'm used to pay custom fee

 

Sometimes private couriers are tricky and can charge of odd fee that has nothing to with import duties or such, at least in my country.
As $abbatha mentioned spotted details of shipping document most of the time is more what you pay in handling fee than what you owe to your country of duty fee....i feel you as pay to get something which you've paid already is pretty annoying...

 

Wow that's pretty lame DHL charging fees. Dolls fall under the category in the US that doesn't get charged customs fees. So if they're charging people that's all them. I messaged Mangotree about using EMS because I use a PO box and she/he said to just ask to use EMS but that it'd be like $4 higher if I remember correctly.

 

I hope you don't have to pay any extra fees.

My girl has a new wig.

 

Dolls&Tea, you have one the cutest Winds ever! She is so sweet!

BlueBoy, EMS might just be worth that extra $4. Let me/us know if you get hit with anything extra, please!

 

Ok. So apparently the info about "if your parcels worth is under 150 Eur= no tax" is absolutely not accurate.

Our customs pick out any parcel over the value of 22 eur and make the recipient explain exactly what it contains and how much it costs. I paid my tax fee of 24 Eur and unless I'm in class at the exact wrong time, I'll have my doll tomorrow around noon.

 

Yay for Teadesu! Then spam pics!

 

Teadesu DHL has different ways to bill taxes it's not like dealing with national custom office ergo taxes have different amount, and usually a private courier is pretty picky in matters of contents and value in comparion to a regular national postal service.

 

Teadesu please spam pic of your arrival, such curious about it!
Dolls&Tea your gilrl is simply awesome, love her style!
About fee matters one thing is pay duty fee billed by your national postal service and another thing is have to deal with private courier, as $abbatha said are completely different way to calculate duty fees, so what we get charged vary quite a lot.

 

Tanks for liking my girl! I've been doing a new face-up style, so it's really lovely to hear people like her.

 

$abbatha Actually. I did the customs declaration myself online. The DHL customs support did offer to do it themselves for another 14 eur extra. But since Estonia has a pretty darn good online system for banks, customs, taxes etc. it really is possible to do most things out of ones own home (or in my case between lessons on a school computer.) So in general, I only paid the national default tax set for the product group.

It annoys me that I have to go out and to class for two hours during the 6 hour gap when they deliver. D=

$avage Aye aye~ I can't wait to do that!

 

AOD NS Ying + Miro Doll NS 62cm hybrid- wip - Click for box opening

The S hook won't fit through the head neck hole so full pictures of complete hybrid coming after the weekend (busy busy bee, visiting convention with a doll)
The resin match and fit is wonderful! Dolls figure is so sexy and sleek. But I'll know what I like more or less when I actually get to assemble her.

 

Thanks for showing us the picture Taedesu
To make hook fits the hole of the head you need just to warp it a little and then will fits, i did most of the times with every mirodoll body and works just fine.

 

Yai congrats i'm very very happy that you've got the body, seems also a good match with your AOD head!!!!

 

Pretty Ying! Well, when you get the head on, spam some more pics please! I'd love to see her complete! And congrats again on your new Miro doll hybrid!! I wanna get a new 62cm doll just for the rounder wrists! Though now that I've done the rounding mod, it's not such a chore in my mind now. *L*

 

I'll try to get her together by the middle of next week. I have an event I'm going to this weekend (working an the last bits on the costumes at the moment). I will have to take on a complete restringing just as you recommended. But that will take some time as I'm pretty sure I'll have to do it over and over

 

Teadesu, my suggestion is to use thicker strings than what Miro uses. I makes a huuuuge difference! I know stringing is technically 'not hard' but it IS a pain, IMO. (Though maybe not to you!) Stringing and adding eyelashes are my two least fave things, but it sure helps to know how to do them! You may also want to hot glue suede her after stringing... or before stringing. I do it after but I know some do it before, so YMMV.

 

OO How do you do it after?!
I tried hot glue sueding on my AOD girl. When I only had her. But the hot glue was so bad. It was sticky and collected dust. It glued the elbow joints together and I couldn't even move the chest pieces after a while. D= I must say it traumatized me.

Any good places for better elastic for the body? (And if possible, how much I'd need)

 

Hot gluing is not a permanent thing. You need to renew it when it gets dusty or when the friction wears off.

 

Yeah Chalyss, i use the miro stings and are just fine with me. But you're right about getting thicker strings, improves so much pose-ability of the body.
About eyeleashes i'm not a fan sincerely, so i do no apply its anymore

 

Teadesu, are you using a low-temp hot glue gun? If not, definitely switch to that instead of a high temp one. After stringing, you pull the pieces apart and apply the glue. Blow on it to cool it a bit, then put the pieces back together but move them around a bit, as you would to pose. That way the glue is shaped. Sometimes you can put too much glue in and the joints don't sit properly together again. Just peel the glue off and put on less the next time. Some joints you have to be really careful with; it's trial and error sometimes, but do make sure the glue cools a bit before letting it touch the other resin. Luckily, hot water will soften the glue back up if you glue pieces together.

$abbatha, I do the same thing now! I don't bother with the lashes anymore. *L* And I have definitely reused the Miro strings and just tightened them/restrung with them so I don't have all the ends sticking up the way they do it. BUT, as you said, if you go up a size in string (5mm?) it really makes a difference in poseability!

 

Joining the Non-Lashes club i've tried just a couple of time on my dolls and then quitted definitely, i know that at some point are realistic and imporve glance on our dolls but i prefer without as eyes are much more visibe than with lashes instead!
Bigger strings are surely helpful to hold poses even if it's a bit tricky to restring dolls with such size.

 

To be honest.. The hot glue gun I have is really cheap and I assume low temp, but I have no way of knowing. It has no info about temperatures on it and even google doesnt help.

All I know it's a Casco SL-10 with 220-240v/50hz, 10 W.

Also, a bad photo since it's dark, but look at the height and figure differences between AOD and Miro bodies.

 

Thanks for the pic, pretty helpful
Also about hot glue really i cannot tell, but as far as glue melting imo it work just my two

 

The Low-Temp gun heats to 230°F. The higher temps go up to to 400 degrees. Also, the high temp glue guns tend to be adjustable, use bigger glue sticks and be for more industrial usage. High heat should not be used on plastics, which urethane resin is. Just a specific kind of plastic. High heat is for a very permanent result where low temp is not. See if there's a temperature indicator printed somewhere on your gun. I know my gun cost about $3 from walmart- very low tech, does what I want, tho adjustable would've been nice for furniture projects.

I can only tell your gun uses the HotMelt sticks, but trying to figure out what temp those melt at. Maybe if you have a package with their product number, I can find the answer.

Thanks for the pic! Helpful! (Your girls are beautiful!)

 

[MENTION=54501]Teadesu[/MENTION] Thanks for posting that picture. Really helps me. I have an AoD Meng Li and the girl I'm going to get the 62cm body for (eventually) is going to be her best friend. So nice to see the comparison. Plus it gives me an idea how she'll fit into the band whose members are 63.5 and two 68cms.

 

That is a big busted girl or the smaller one? (I really love the Miro girl aesthetic!)

 

The glue sticks are said to melt at 140-180 F. And the glue gun really only has the info I posted earlier. XD
By googling (searched for the packaging) the gun again I found a PDF with some more info about a number of the companies glue gun models, and it says the following:
Operating data: Melting point 85 ° C
Glue Gun's operating temperature +180 ° C / 356F(depending on the guns)
Working time approx. 30 seconds
open time: 20 secs.
compression time: approx. 10s
Heat resistance approx. + 65 ° C

So from this info I guess I should just go and get a glue gun that is verified as low temp.
Thank you Chalyss for helping me figure it out

The bust on the Miro hybrid is currently the default big one.

Blueboy57, Meng Li is so pretty!
I tried posing the girl yesterday and compared to AOD-s curved joints, the angular Miro joints are quite a handful. The elbow joints are too small (there is a gap that allows the arm and forearm pieces to go out of alignment even in the simpler poses) and knees need constant re-locking into the sockets (possibly also the wrong size). When she's sitting it looks like she has shields on her knees.

 

Thanks for this extra pic dear!
Uhm i've experienced already that double joints are a bit smaller to work properly expecially in legs...

 

*LOL* I don't know if I helped or just created more work for you. But you're welcome, if I actually helped!

Miro definitely has design flaws- some owners have even made their own peanuts to fit properly. Miro is a fixer-upper and great for learning mods and your way around a BJD; they're inexpensive enough to meddle with, mess up on, and not feel like you just threw $600 down the drain. Replacement pieces are cheap if you mess up beyond recovery. They work as-is well enough, but they shine shine shine when owners put a bit of love into them. They're like customize-by-default... you'll probably HAVE to learn to restring or tighten strings or hot glue suede or even sand a little resin with these beauties. They're diamonds in the rough and maybe more beautiful for it... certainly more utilitarian because of it. I'd do things with my Miro I'd /never/ do on an Iplehouse because of the price difference, but when it comes to then doing something on the Iple, I know what to do.

 

I agree about everything you just said!

I will probably go look at some hardware shops here and if I find no low temp glue guns here I'll just order one. It's all so easy nowadays :P
I'm also seriously considering getting AOD hands for the body but I dont know if they sell them with the tiny S hooks and ball joints or not...

 

Uhh... Hmmm. Good question. I'd like to THINK they do, but not positive. I'll ask an ebay store that sells them.

 

Great point Chalyss, MiroDoll body can give you a chance to start with modifications, that's what i did with one of boy body that i've got back on DEC 2013.
I'm planning also to try modding double joints expecially on famale body

 

We have some material of Soom Chrom color. If customers have a Chrom head, we can make a body of the color for you. A customer sent us her Chrom headcap to us, we mix the color for her, she is very pleased with the body.
Here is the picture of the body and the headcap.

 

Very beautiful color, it's pretty warm shading on pink!

 

Thank you MangoTree! That's very kind of you to offer and let us know! I saw her hybrid and he's stunning with the Miro body and Soom head!

Teadesu: MyBayer2008 on ebay said the hands come with the ball joints (wrists) but not the hooks. However, she said if you need hooks, contact her, so maybe they'll give at the request. Or sell at request. Hope that helps!

$avage, I'd love to see how your joints turn out! Please share results when you finish!

 

Oh Thank you thank you thank you!! I'll have to do just that!

 

Hi, sorry to just barge in on your conversation, but I really appreciate reading this post.
I recently purchased a mirodoll 68cm and this helps me be more prepared for what might come along.
Thanks for your honest and well studied advice. ^^

 

Luxury_Comedy, welcome aboard! And congrats on your new boy! I do love the macho look of the Miro men! If you have any questions about them or need any help, don't hesitate to post on this thread. There are many 'experienced Miro owners' here who love to help! We hope you'll make suggestions too and of course show off the new guy! Glad to see you here!

Teadesu: you're very welcome! I'd love to see the end results! I'd have to round the wrists of my girls to do it because only the 62cm revamp has the rounder wrists, but it's not hard and the results are worth it. I found out ResinSoul hands look good too and have the built-in round wrist joint. You'll definitely want NS-P AOD skin and it will most likely be just a dash lighter than the Miro NS, but just a dash. Provided your girl IS NS, of course. Looks like it, but if not then disregard me. *L*

 

Chalyss- Thank you so much for the warm greetings!
I will try my hardest to share any new finding. ^^
And I will be sure to share my boy once he's ready. He's a Leekeworld Min Head and I'm hoping this body will work, especially after seeing so many great and beautiful Leekeworld/ Mirodoll hybrids. ^^

 

Luxury_Comedy, I just looked up the Min head... oooh hoo! I think he's going to look verrrry handsome! Baby faced hot guy! Rowr!

 

Chalyss you are spot on, she is NS-p and the seller you contacted also sells that tone by default so all should be well.

Welcome to the thread Luxury_Comedy and also to the den in general I agree with Chalyss in saying that your boy will be very handsome.
Please do share pictures once you have him assembled~

 

Chalyss I'm planning to give my female body some outher double joints a sort it should reminds AngelsDoll female massive body, i will share progress here!
Luxury_Comedy Hey welcome aboard looking forward to see your amazing boy!

 

$avage- Thank you for the welcome! I really look forward to making new friends and learning more about various doll types.

If I my ask, I have read various posts stating that mirodoll bodies don't come with S hooks (hands and feet mostly) but then when I have asked some friends who have them and they have told me their bodies came equipped with them.... Is it something along the lines of "Luck of the draw."??
Please and thank you!!! ^^

 

Luxury_Comedy, no mystery there: the XM dolls do come with S hooks, only Miro's own dolls don't
(I just checked; my XM Lemon has S hooks and I have pretty much all Miro's dolls except the newest one, and they are all without,)

 

Ikke777-Thank you so much for letting me know!

 

Welcome Luxury_Comedy! I'm new to Mirodoll dolls and recently got a body (I'd got a head in a swap) and I'm really happy with her.

 

Welcome Luxury_Comedy welcome aboard
Happy to see new people getting into the thread and join Mirodoll army. As said by others please post here update about your boy! It's nice to see different hybrid and also new people sharing their bjd dolls

 

I ordered a body on 09-06-2014, an received it on 09-27-2014. Pretty impressive.

 

Great update Katyok then please as soon as your boy is ready pls show him here

 

Perhaps I might be the only one with a less than satisfied review for Mirodoll so far. They promised to send out the items in a week but no news for an extra week after the week has passed. When I asked they mentioned it will be sent out on that day as they had broken the high heeled feet mold and had to remake one.

Next they changed my DHL shipping to Citylink Express without asking, stating that this is a cheaper option! (I paid for the more expensive option as DHL is more secure??). They did refund me the 20USD difference as promised but now the tracking number hasn't worked since they sent the number to me on the 25th of Sept.

Getting very annoyed now though I really just want the shipment to arrive safe and sound for now sigh

 

Looking forwrad to see your Hybrid Katyok!
Gosh i'm very very sorry for your experience Pokebattles but at times i found hard dealing with MiroDoll as well, seems that unfortunately it could happen sometimes...

 

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome!
I can't wait to get the body in! And i will be sure to show off my boy as soon as he's all put together! I'm very excited to see the results!
I have yet to get a shipping notice, but i only made the order a few days ago. I'm confident things will go smooth. ^^

 

A question to all you wonderful Mirodoll owners, if i may...
I'm trying to do some shopping for my boy, but I'm still unsure of sizes when it comes to wardrobe... Does anyone happen to own the 68cm body? And have any advice on what kind of clothing (companies and such) work best for it?
Please and thank you!

 

Luxury_Comedy, I make all my own doll clothing, but I can tell you that he's the same size as my 72cm Dream Realm dude (just a little shorter in his arms & legs). So you need to look at 70+ size clothing.

 

Luxury_Comedy, he works best with Uncle size clothing. His chest is 28cm around which makes him smaller than an Iple and bigger than quite a few SD17s, but it can be a crap shoot. Really watch the measurements on the clothes. As Ikke777 said, 70+ works best... or uncle size I think they call it sometimes. Due to lengths, it's easier to find clothes that fit the 68 than the 60 half the time.

POKEBATTLES, I hope all works out! Molds only last like... 20 pours or something? Something like that, then need to be remade for quality reasons. It happens that they break down, so I don't think they were blowing you off. During sales times, like now, they can get pretty busy. However, try emailing them with 'shipping' as the subject line to get a fairly quick response. I've never even heard of that carrier/shipper company. Maybe they're new? With all the complaints about DHS, they probably tried a new face. Keep us posted!!

 

Pokebattles i could suggest you to try to communicate with Mirodoll even if i agree with $avage sometimes it's hard, i guess that they are pretty busy due to 40% discount event. Wait some more days, usually tracking needs few days to show update.
Luxury i found that sd17 size works good for 68cm mirodoll body