DDS f3 Unitorso

This is a project that I've wanted to do for awhile, but I kept putting it off because I wasn't really certain it would work.

My favorite girl is Makoto Kikuchi who is originally a unitorso DDS, and as much as I love the f3 body I was never willing to give up her unitorso body because she tends to wear stuff that shows off her midriff. I tried stuffing the f3 upper frame into Makoto's body the day Saber Altria arrived, but it didn't go well. I stopped before getting it in because I didn't want to damage the torso, or lose the f3 frame, which couldn't be purchased on its own at that time.

I recently happened upon a video by @MaKayla_Panda on YouTube, in which she hybridizes an f3 with an L-Bust untorso. Her video proves that yes it can be done, and no it's not easy.

 

This inspired me to give it a second try armed with a bit more know how.

Before I go any further I want to point out that doing this isn't likely to be supported by Volks. They clearly mark certain body parts as incompatible with the new f3 frame, so ignore that advice at your own risk because it's almost certainly going to void the warranty, or at least void the warranty on the torso parts. 

To get it done I did the following:

Made sure all the torso parts were properly tightened, because it's quite possible that I will never be able to get the upper torso back out.

Stuck an S-Bust unitorso in a plastic zip-lock bag, forced all the air out, and then immersed the sealed bag in a pot of very hot tap water. I didn't need to boil water to get the body soft enough and I didn't get it squishy soft.

Then I just started to push the upper torso in.

Once it was in far enough I stopped and made sure that the neck peg was lined up with the neck. If they are misaligned and the torso won't come back out far enough to re-align them, you may end up with a useless unitorso, so if you try this I would be very careful not to omit this step. 

After the neck part was lined up I just pushed it the rest of the way in. It didn't take me more than 3 or 4 minutes start to finish to get it in, but I have pretty good hand strength, and it's possible I just got lucky and everything lined up just right. I am reasonably sure I will be able to get it back out for adjustment, but I didn't try and the arm holes don't give as much room as the leg holes, so no guarantees.

There are also some slight differences in the vinyl, and the unitorso is missing a flange that keeps the hip centered.

I am reasonably sure this will be much easier with Takane's DD sized unitorso, because the upper torso frame appears to be the same on DDS and DD and the DD sized unitorso should be a bit larger in the waist.

Anyways, introducing the new and improved Kikuchi Makoto-san. She wanted to wear lacy underwear with bows, but it didn't show off her hips. She wasn't happy about the topless part either, but Ranko refused to give up her bra for the photo shoot.

I'll post better photos this weekend.

 

I’ve been wondering about this for a while. Does it affect the poseability, or are there any real issues with the frame not being ‘truly’ compatible (other than the difficulty of getting it in?)

Unfortunately the unitorso I want the most is a tan one, which has never existed, so I really hope Volks does plan to make f3 unitorsos at some point (even if the tan one will be Akiba limited like the busts and hands). I’m feeling a bit more hopeful since they brought out the unitorso MDD body. I just hope they don’t make it a DreamChoice option only if they do have plans (since the MDD one is for now).

1 hour ago, Monty said:

Does it affect the poseability, or are there any real issues with the frame not being ‘truly’ compatible (other than the difficulty of getting it in?)

I plan to do some pose testing with her tonight, but so far I see no real issues with compatibility. For certain the unitorso didn't have the same posability as the two piece torso at the torso itself, but it was a tradeoff for a nicer bodyline in certain types of outfits. The real question is does the flexibility of the f3 torso frame limit what you can do with the torso compared to a regular DDS unitorso?

What I am really interested in seeing is how the leg poses work. I can already tell you that the way she has her right leg crossed in front of the left leg wasn't something her old body could do, and she can do it to the same extent that Uzuki V2 can. I don't have it crossed to the full extent that it can cross in the photo because I needed her to stay upright.

I messed around with posing, and outside of the limits at the waist everything else works the same as the regular f3. At the waist I think the real limitation is twisting. You can sway the hips a bit, just not to the same extent.

 

4 hours ago, Monty said:

so I really hope Volks does plan to make f3 unitorsos at some point

They do have the upcoming boy, and it makes me hopeful they could reintroduce them with the next 765 Pro girl.

I'm not holding my breath though. A boy does have a few differences like a wider waist which would help with the frame fit problem, and you don't really need to swap the boy chest with a different size.

Took less than a minute to get the f3 upper torso frame into Takane’s M-bust unitorso. (Takane ships with an L unitorso, but mine is an M.) I suspect that you could do this with a DD without heating the torso, but having it warmed up made it cake. Much harder to get the thigh frame out of a DD to be quite honest. 

The girls are getting ready for some comparison photos.

Uzuki will be providing the standard segmented DDS f3 body.

 

Makoto is my DDS f3 unitorso girl.

 

Yuriko is providing an original DDS unitorso body.

 

One major difference between the f3 and the old body is the ability to cross their legs. The f3 has a ball and socket joint where on the original body the socket stops at a 90 degree angle.  Yuriko's legs are as close at they can come to being crossed.

Ooh I'm glad you found my video to be helpful! It was definitely a hard task. I think I might use the boiling water method instead of the dryer method next time just to heat up the vinyl a bit faster. Your girls look amazing 👏🏾 

48 minutes ago, MaKayla_Panda said:

Ooh I'm glad you found my video to be helpful!

Three of my girls so far. Takane’s DD body was really easy to get it into. 
 

49 minutes ago, MaKayla_Panda said:

I think I might use the boiling water method instead of the dryer method next time just to heat up the vinyl a bit faster.

Worked like a charm, and just with very hot tap water.

 

Wait wait, they made a unitorso f3 body? 

29 minutes ago, mayaiincho said:

Wait wait, they made a unitorso f3 body? 

No, I stuffed an f3 frame into a unitorso using guidance from @MaKayla_Panda's video linked up in the OP. Once I knew it worked for me I did two more of them. 

On 3/12/2022 at 12:12 AM, BeyondTime said:

No, I stuffed an f3 frame into a unitorso using guidance from @MaKayla_Panda's video linked up in the OP. Once I knew it worked for me I did two more of them. 

Oh lol still neat