DD3 L bust for a Dollfie Dream Dynamite (NSFW)

I recently pieced together my dream girl Alna from the secondhand market, and while I wanted to put her on her original Dynamite body, I'm just. Not a fan of the default DDy bust! It gaped awkwardly where it joined the torso, I didn't like the gravity-defying shape, finding clothes I liked was hard, and sewing them was even harder (princess seams *and* darts? at 1:3 scale? ma'am.)

Thanks to baldylox's helpful comparison thread I knew it was possible to mod DD parts for the DDy body. A DD3 L seemed like it would suit Alna's character design while being easier to clothe. I wanted to post a quick walk-through of how I successfully modified it~

 

Original bust on the left, new bust on the right, soft graphite pencil for marking, and a tool called a sewing gauge that will be serving as calipers for the next step.

 

The sewing gauge helped me measure a set perpendicular distance away from the edge of the piece and mark a neat cutting line with the pencil.

 

The new bust was quite soft, so I used the corner of my worktable to support it from behind as I cut. As I worked my way along I realized I preferred a wider margin under the boobs, so I ended up cutting to the outside of my dotted line.

 

Once I made my right-angle cuts to get the outline where I wanted it, I gently shaved down the corners of the cut edges to begin making a soft bevelled profile.

 

For the next step, I decided to try something new to deal with the softness of the vinyl. I popped the bust part in the freezer for ten minutes. As expected, this made it nice and plastic-hard so I could sand it easily.

I worked through 320, 400, 800, and 1500 grits.  When the piece softened I'd refreeze it for a couple of minutes.

 

All reassembled! I'm so happy with how this mod turned out.

 

Some shots from the side and back

 

 

Thanks for looking!

When I modded an L shapely bust, I did It cutting and sanding with my own pulse, calculating according to my dumb senses and sight, and praying almost with tears to not fail in the process. Fortunately everything worked out in the end but I'd have wished to know this method before. Never thought about using a sewing gauge tool, and much less freezing the bust before the sanding process.

I still need two normal L bust for my kosmos and Alna so this time I'd like to use your method. But first, you said you tried to cut a half of an inch at the beginning but after that you cut less vynil for a wider margin, so may i ask what was your exact cutting measure?

And tysm for sharing this!!

Edited September 25, 2020 by Pit

She looks great! I just did a custom M-bust for my 2B but I wish I'd thought to put it in the freezer for sanding, definitely gonna try that trick next time.

Thank you for the freezer tip! I didn't do it as I enlisted my husband for help. I do have a medium bust that needs to get modded for my DDdy. Thanks for the photos

15 hours ago, Pit said:

may i ask what was your exact cutting measure?

I threw away the cutoff piece, but i would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/8". I have profound dyscalculia so when I measure it's less "what number" and more "is this The Same or Different" lol

Ah! I found your post. I saw your introduction and you mentioned you were documenting your restoration, so I'm going to keep an eye on it and hopefully learn something! I'm totally new to vinyl and resin since I've only treated and repaired some PVC nendoroids and figures. Thanks for sharing ' v '

Ohhh, that's genius- and gorgeous to boot! I'll have to keep this project in mind~~

That looks great. The cut and sanding job make it indistinguishable from the dddy bust cut. Have to keep this in mind for a future doll.