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Anyone ever shorten a doll?

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Dollyman25442
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Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Dollyman25442 »

SO, Zoey my WM168 being rather tall (which I like) has the rather odd longish shins to achieve that height. It's fairly typical of all the tall dolls, 6ye has a 166 that suffers from the same problem.
Sooooo, it occurred to me that making these dolls (specifically the ones with long shins) shorter wouldn't be all that difficult.
For each leg, making a circular cut around mid shin and then another below it (for however much you want to shorten), then a lateral cut to that tpe to remove it, then simply cutting the shin tube to the desired and corresponding length. Slide a new pipe sized a bit smaller than the original into the now cut shin tubes, slide together, tack weld or even cold weld or even machine screw, glue the shortened tpe shins back together and voila, shorter doll.
I wonder if anyone's done this before?
Here's a picture of Zoey to exemplify the problem.
P1010235.JPG
P1010235.JPG (1.82 MiB) Viewed 2732 times
PS-Zoey's shin mid knee to ankle 20"
A normal measurement should be something more like 16-17"

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Tybalt
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Tybalt »

Good luck with that. I recommend you only perform this surgery if you are okay with buying a new doll in case you mishap. If you can spare another $2000 for a new doll then green light this operation.

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Dollyman25442
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Dollyman25442 »

Tybalt wrote:Good luck with that. I recommend you only perform this surgery if you are okay with buying a new doll in case you mishap. If you can spare another $2000 for a new doll then green light this operation.
Wish I had a nickel for everyone who warned me against trying modifications.
I've done lots and lots of mods. Probably my most significant was the articulated finger project with the now deceased James aka Crazy Cajun. But the WM oral cavity mod was also quite popular.
Of course it's always good to check if someone else has tread a road before....no need to re-invent the wheel, right?

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alc123
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by alc123 »

If the cross section of one end of the section you cut out is different from the cross section at the other end, you are going to have a problem when you try to glue the TPE together at the end of the operation.

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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by rubherkitty »

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Dollyman25442
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Dollyman25442 »

alc123 wrote:If the cross section of one end of the section you cut out is different from the cross section at the other end, you are going to have a problem when you try to glue the TPE together at the end of the operation.
Yeah, that's where things could get tricky.
I've been thinking about it. I wonder if the incision could be an incision made by hot wire somehow. If I had a hotwire rig that was on a fixed frame it would insure both cuts were exactly the same which would hopefully lead to a higher likelihood of a match when re-attaching.

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Dollyman25442
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Dollyman25442 »

rubherkitty wrote:If you have glued TPE successfully, you can probably do it. The ends should match pretty close w/ just a 3" chop.
Socks or other leg coverings can always work if the mod does not turn out satisfactory.

Yeah, the shin length was quite odd on this otherwise very nice doll.
Agree!
They should have added the three extra inches at the thigh instead of the shin or mebbe at the torso and thigh. Pity.
I have had some marginal success with TPE gluing
Before and after-
P1010528.JPG
P1010528.JPG (1.84 MiB) Viewed 2681 times
P1010543.JPG
P1010543.JPG (1.86 MiB) Viewed 2681 times
.

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Dollpimp2018
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Dollpimp2018 »

I don't think that flaw is worth mutilating your doll... She looks okay... If it is not broken, don't fix it ;)
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Willendorph »

Dollpimp2018 wrote:I don't think that flaw is worth mutilating your doll... She looks okay... If it is not broken, don't fix it ;)
Have to agree with you there. If she was a real girl with long shins, would you send her off to the plastic surgeon to get her legs chopped up? I really hope not.

If you don't like her legs, then you probably should've bought a different doll, and to be honest, I think the high heels she has on are making the length look worse than it is.

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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by rubherkitty »

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Dollyman25442
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Dollyman25442 »

It's hugely funny to see all the "opinions" (and you know what they say about that, right?) when the original post was a call out to see if anyone had actually done this mod.
Had I wanted an opinion, I would have titled the post "What do you think about shortening a doll".
It's the primary reason I posted this in the inventors corner. Most who follow the inventors corner are....wait for it, inventors

Also, (and this is a ditto), I wish I had a dime for everyone who had said one of my mods (of which their are many) was a "mutilation".

I'll have to remind folks of that when they want me to replace their silly wire WM hands with an articulated finger hand. It's a terrible mutilation it is.
:plaidskirt:

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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Maecer »

Here's how I would do it... but this is way over engineered and expensive! Also, this may sound like I'm making fun, but I promise I'm being serious.

Get that 3D scanner you have lying around, and scan those shins, the ankle and the knee; ankle and knee are for orienting your mold. Don't have a scanner? Chances are there could be a company that does 3D scans in your area. At least that's the case for me...

Then, when you have a digital wireframe, adjust the scale until the shins are the length you want, maybe add some thickness to the calves... pretty things up, ya know? Once your 3D digital shins are just how you like, take it into your 3d printing software to create a mold. Make sure you add an orifice for pouring the TPE. Then print away.

Fabricate your steel pieces and joint connections, then cut her off at the knees; keep her feet though, and don't cut at those places you need for your mold. Use that hot wire setup to make clean cuts on the feet and knees. I'd start melting the TPE you need to pour now.

Attach your shin skeleton to the knee and foot joints, heat up the surrounding TPE, and place your mold around the bone; orient your mold so it aligns with the ankle and knee. Pour your TPE into the mold, then let the TPE set.

Voila! Your Doll is shorter and sporting new shins. Oh yeah, did you order color matched TPE for your doll? Ooo.... should have included that in the beginning...mah bad :wink:

What's the next challenge??? Bring. It. On!
We are truly in an age of doll expansion. Sure it's the wild west, with each manufacturer trying to out do one another and society still poo-pooing dolls, but eventually, the age will mature, order will be found and one day we can bring out ladies anywhere.

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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by flying42 »

Interesting thoughts. A hot wire is good for some lighter materials, but I wonder how it would do on very thick TPE, if you can prevent the wrong deflection as it tightens the cut, as well as maintaining temperature. Tapering the seams together radially around the skeleton with a hot knife might be better, and since the doll is to be shorter, you wouldn't need any extra material or a mold at all. Do a mock-up outline to find your desired proportions, cut away, and then reassemble and seal the seams. Given the skills shown here in reforming and blending with a temp control hotstation, that should do it. :thumbs_up:
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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by Dollyman25442 »

flying42 wrote:Interesting thoughts. A hot wire is good for some lighter materials, but I wonder how it would do on very thick TPE, if you can prevent the wrong deflection as it tightens the cut, as well as maintaining temperature. Tapering the seams together radially around the skeleton with a hot knife might be better, and since the doll is to be shorter, you wouldn't need any extra material or a mold at all. Do a mock-up outline to find your desired proportions, cut away, and then reassemble and seal the seams. Given the skills shown here in reforming and blending with a temp control hotstation, that should do it. :thumbs_up:
I definitely need to do some hotwire experiments with cured tpe. While I hear your suggestion of using a hot knife (that's a novel idea btw) I'm just not as confident my free hand could match a wire. I was actually thinking to use a looped hotwire held together with a ring of some sort and using the pull method to get a very precise round cut. See image-
hotwire.jpg
hotwire.jpg (60.08 KiB) Viewed 2604 times

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Re: Anyone ever shorten a doll?

Post by seagull »

It is quite possible that the properties of tpe will accommodate a shorter leg without having to cut a section out.
The damn stuff stretches like crazy and even taking 2" out of the length of those elegant legs should only have a minor impact if at all on the overall appearance of them.
And no, I haven't tried this at home folks :)

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