Mods for DDb

Hi all! I know I don't post or comment on here very often, but hopefully this doll project will change that? I'm gonna try my hand at shelling a character I really like in DDb form; but I have an issue, because the character has 4 arms.

I have a rough idea of how I want to do this, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm not confident. My initial idea was to take an extra set of arms and (carefully) cut arm holes out of his waist area, then mod the arm pegs so that I could drill some of those little o-ring screws (I guess they're called Screw Eyes?) into them and use some elastic to hold them in place. After thinking about that for a bit, though, I realized that there might not be enough room in the abdominal area of these dolls for that (though maybe I could cut the pegs down a few mm). So my next best idea is to 3d print something for them to sit in, like the shoulder sockets they come with, but a cylinder. The problem with *that* is that I don't know how 3d printing works. I mean, I have access to a 3d pinter at my local library (woo), but again, I have no idea how it works or how to design stuff to print out... so I'd need to commission someone to make me that cylinder thing, then send me the file to print.

I might end up making a new topic post when he arrives, at which point I'll also tell everyone which character I'm making. I'm not keeping his identity secret out of shame or anything, I just don't want to jinx myself and end up being unable to do this project by telling everyone my exact plans. The only reason I'm making *this* topic post is because I was hoping to hear some ideas, or potentially cast a net and find someone who is good at 3d print/design so I can shove money at them and beg for help lol

Anyway, have a lovely day!

Have you considered a resin body? @MagicalRozen did something like this for one of her dolls and had a resin body with four arms made. It was up for sale at one point, but I don’t know if it’s still available. She might be able to chime in about the process.

29 minutes ago, ragnamuffin said:

Have you considered a resin body? @MagicalRozen did something like this for one of her dolls and had a resin body with four arms made. It was up for sale at one point, but I don’t know if it’s still available. She might be able to chime in about the process.

Tbh I really would prefer a DDb. I like vinyl a lot more than resin

@cinnabunroll Sorry to bump an old topic. I was made aware of its existence through your newer posts, and it looks like you're still working out the details of this project?

Four-armed vinyl mods do exist, and they've been made well before 3D printers. But I don't know whether there is much good documentation on the process. @kinkachou  built one of my favorite Dollfie mods of all time, this fantastic spider girl, and did so using a pair of strung arms. Which would mean inevitable colour difference; either finding an OG pair of Dollfie arms that are strung, or using resin arms that will yellow faster if you decide to take him into the sunlight. But since the arms are held together with a piece of elastic rather than a skeleton that needs to plug in, they aren't dependent on complex mods to the frame. And the nice thing about ball jointed arms is that you can cheat them; they don't have to be strung super tight to hold good poses as long as you hot glue suede all of their sockets, and maybe add some wire for additional joint stability. In fact I would say arms are the part of the BJD one has to restring least-often, which would allow for less tension on the vinyl. You could also stuff the torso with plush filling, the way people do with Angel Philia, to help him retain his shape if you used this method.

It is also worth noting that the torsos of these dolls are fairly hollow; the upper chest area and the hips are where it's tightest for space, due to those parts of the skeleton accommodating the limbs. I'd think you'd be able to fit some extra arm pegs in there, depending on where you wanted to put them.

There is also a four-armed Obitsu girl mentioned in this customs thread, but I wasn't able to pull up the original posts on Twitter. The maker's account is full of NSFW, but the good thing is that he still posts pictures of her.

https://x.com/yotatangan/status/1762084151719870897

https://x.com/yotatangan/status/1732888252699582752

https://x.com/yotatangan/status/1713682394723823845

(I tried to grab posts that have her arms exposed. It appears she either has a 3D printed bust, or two vinyl busts cut and fused / glued together. There aren't any pictures that show the back of her uncovered. The bust looks vinyl to me, but smooth resin can mimic that fairly well.)

As far as 3D printing /modeling services go, they're harder to uncover now that Instagram hashtags are messed up. I know Synthetic Ephemera was offering them at one time, and I believe Tiriaq_BJD is. (They do have Dollfies; I've been meaning to commission them myself.) There are one or two others, but I need to re-find them.