Junior Delf Discussion

THANK YOU!!! *glomps* You are awesome. I'll go check them out right away.

 

Seconding this!

I'm kinda surprised at the height difference, actually... the JDFs definitely seem to be a little taller than I imagined! Nevertheless, I still think Nihal will work perfectly for the character I had in mind.

 

Hello! Just thought I'd post and let y'all know how my JDF mod project is going on, as requested ^^

Now, I got my JDF body back in February or March... one of those cold grey months... and was VERY disappointed with the level of engineering of the joints, structure etc. It seems to me that the head designer over at Luts has never actually PLAYED with the body to see just how clumsy and awkward it is. However, I liked the aesthetics of the body (particularly that cute butt!) and set about seeing if I could redeem the situation.

Problems I had with the body included:
*A very long, thick neck that didn't allow for great mobility in the head
*Ridiculous amount of resin in the torso joint
*Arms that cannot rotate properly at the elbow, meaning he cannot bend his arms back and put his hands on his hips
*Hands that didn't sit properly in the wrist, meaning poor mobility
*Completely pointless thigh joint-things
*Poorly cast knee peanuts that pinched the elastic and made bending knees difficult
*Legs that were unable to sit together nicely, always pinging apart when sat
*Feet that couldn't point

Now, some of these things are purely a matter of taste, but others were down to very important structural faults. SO I got my trusty modding hat on!

Things I changed:
*Sanded and narrowed the neck, to allow for greater mobility of the head
*Hacked out the lump of resin so he is able to bend
*Rounded the elbow peanut so arms can rotate
*Swapped the hands for old Dollmore girl's hands, enabling higher mobility
*Sanded down the ridge of resin at the thigh joints so the thighs can twist slightly
*Rounded the knee peanut so the shins can rotate
*Sanded the slit in the knee peanut so the elastic moves through it more smoothly
*Sanded the slit in the ankle ball-thing so more room for the elastic to move
*Sanded the heel of the foot so the foot can point

Also sanded the seams, but that is purely aesthetic so doesn't count.

Not all of these mods were very effective- the elbow mods didn't make much difference to the general uselessness of the arms, but I feel they will be remedied with very loose stringing and/or sueding. In fact, the entire body is much helped by very loose stringing. However, the rest of the mods, particularly the torso, ankle and knee mods, were VERY effective and really helped with the poseability and strength of the body, and I would happily recommend a similar level of modding to anyone looking to get more from the JDF body.

 

Harlequin-Elle Thanks for posting your progress! I'm totally a sanding wuss, so I get around most of my boy's posing issues with wiring (which does really help in the arms, btw), but it's interesting to see what others are able to improve. Do you have photos anywhere of what the mods look like?

Also, some spam. Glaucus is keeping me company today. He does lazing around well. ;D


The rest are here.

 

Aaaahhh, Glaucus.... *grabby hands* Soooo pretty...

Started an attempt to make Tohru a shirt out of a pair of armwarmers I never wear anymore X___x we'll see how this goes, I kind of suck at hand sewing.

...I want to distress the hell out of his jeans, but it's the only pair of long pants I have between him and my other SD...

 

Wow, I love that shirt on him! And you're right, he does nail the relaxed look perfectly!

Harlequin-Elle, I can't wait to see how the mods come out! Thanks for telling us your progress, I'm sure it'll help all of us in the long run.

Nasa, good luck with those pants! I just finished a sewing project for my MSD, so after I get her another outfit option or two I'll be starting on the clothes for my boy.

 

Hello! Well, here's a pic of Selkie doing what he couldn't do before- arching his back and crossing his legs!

This was before I'd carried out all the mods on him, but you can see his head is already more mobile, he can bend his torso, and his legs don't ping apart
I must take more pictures of him, poor little seal ^^

 

So I finished his shirt, and murdered his pants with a file and some sandpaper. There is jean lint everywhere.


Also adjusted his eyes... and then BAM. Diva!Tohru. In other words, normal Tohru <.<

 

13thMuse and StarsofCasi you are both welcome. I am happy to help. It is funny because JDF seem small to me. Until recently they were my small dolls (well other than my tinies). I am usually strictly a collector of larger SD's, my Lu-wen at 60cm was my shortest boy. Then I added the first JDF and they started multiplying from there. I added my first MSD last year and it is an adjustment. They look tiny to me.

 

iris0110: Wow. o.o I guess if I was used to 70cm dolls, they'd seem small to me too... I love a lot of 60cm sculpts, but the size intimidates me. I know that my first doll, a KDF, was WAY smaller than I'd expected. It's hard to really understand what size they'll be until you have them in your hands, I guess.

Harlequin-Elle: Thanks for sharing that; I may have to try some of those mods on my future boy.

Have any of you seen the Luts Summer event announcement yet? They're giving away Zuzu Delfs! I was really hoping there would be another JDF-sized head... I guess they decided it was time for a change of pace. My order will be over $500, but if I get a Zuzu delf, I'm selling it; they kind of scare me. >_> Ah well, shoes and wigs are always useful.

 

Iris0110, I just suppose that he seems big to me because all but one of the dolls I've seen in person have been of the MSD size. Sort of a visual bias, y'know? *laughs*

While I love a lot of SD sculpts, I had a plan to make a family of MSDs (eventually ) with my JDF most likely being the tallest. I can see why you would feel that way, considering you started with a SD-based family!

EDIT: Just saw the Luts announcement! Would it be a purchase over $500, without shipping? (That's kinda what I figured.) That would put me at the free random wig & random shoes, unless I spend another $50 or so... I'm with you on the selling thing though, 13thMuse. I would really prefer to have the money for a doll I know I would love. I'm not scared by the Zuzus, I kind of like them, but I have specific plans for my future doll family and I wouldn't know what sort of character to create.

 

It is definitely what you are used to and also a bit of what is more appealing to you. My first doll was purchased at an anime convention and she was an MSD and I never could bond with her. I thought it was size but looking back now, three years later and it was really a combination of size, gender, and collecting style. I do find that MSD's aren't quite the right size for me as they are a little awkward for me to handle and I'm not sure why. Just a little too in between or something. I do have two of them now though because they fit my characters and that is what is most important to me. But I definitely prefer larger dolls, and JDF are right at my cut off size. They fit nicely into the SD size. I find that there are molds in almost every size that are appealing. I am in love with almost every Luts doll, they are trying to take all of my money. LOL

I do believe if I remember correctly from the events in the past it is $500 before shipping. I'm not really excited because like you I am not interested in a Zuzu head. I preferred the JDF or SDF heads. I always seemed to wind up needing them for one of my characters. I guess this may be better for me in the long run. I didn't "need" to wind up needing another doll. Though I am sure one of my kids would love for me to get this Zuzu for them. I got both of my boys into the hobby with me and my youngest especially loves kitty dolls.

 

Nasa Thanks! Tohru's shirt looks neat&#8212;he does look like he's striking a pose!

StarsOfCasi Thanks!

Also, re: size &#8211; I'm with iris0110 , the JDFs seem super tiny to me. But I started with a 65cm doll and that's about average in our house. Standing Glaucus next to one of the Super Senior Delfs is an exercise in hilarity. XD At some point I should do a size comparison, but atm I can't lift more than 10lbs for the next few weeks so I'm not sure pulling out all the big guys at once would do me much good. O_O

 

Anytime!

(... We've been back on the second page for too long, haha! *laughs*)

Awww, Amet, I hope you get a chance to play with your boys soon!

I'm getting super excited for the Luts summer event- another day or two of babysitting and I'll be ready to buy my boy!

 

Soon~ I'm back at work, getting better. Someday I want to take all my LUTS dolls from KDF to SSDF and just line them up for size comparison. I'm a little afraid they'd all fall down like dominoes, but y'know. XD;;

But this is where my perspective comes from--JDF with SSDF is tiny.

 

Oh wow, I can definitely see the difference! @.@ No wonder the JDF boys seem small to you!

Ahaha, I hope they would cooperate! I would definitely love to see that, though.

 

Oh hey, I was browsing the marketplace and I found this little gem: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?449404-LUTS-SUMMER-EVENT-HEAD-N%B01-(JDF-SDF)-(Real-skin-white)-90 Summer '10 head no. 1. I can't get him right now, though I would if I could. :/ Since we were just talking about him, I figured I'd mention it.

 

13thMuse, I hope you can get that head eventually! Though I'm thinking the shipping on that would be killer, since it's coming from Brazil... something vague in my mind is telling me that either the price or the wait from there is ridiculous. >.<

On the plus side, my boy's wig/eyes/shoes should most likely be here today! Maybe I'll dress my MSD up in them and see how it looks, even if they will be a bit too big, lol. xD

 

StarsOfCASi: Oh, you're right; I forget to look at the "ships from" a lot of the time. ^^; I can't buy any heads for a while; I'm saving up for my Aru, and clothes for my Maska. (Tori would kill me if I bought another doll before Hato, and clothes are really expensive... >_>) But since there are some JDF 1 fans here, I wanted to give them the chance. ^_^

Yay! Aww, that would be cute; I wonder if they'd stay on? ^_^ Out of curiosity, what clothes did you order?

 

Nevertheless, thanks for sharing! ^^

Hahaha, they're a bit big on her, especially the shoes. The wig is so fluffy though that the space underneath is a lot less noticeable! Here's a picture of what I ordered.



I plan on sewing all of his clothes myself once he gets here, because I have very specific pre-sketched designs in mind! The eyes look a little creepy by themselves there on the wig, haha, but they kept rolling around on the table. xD

Oh, does anyone have any suggestions for making small curls on wig? I wasn't having much luck finidng a boyish curly wig in that colour, but if you guys know any tricks, that'd be awesome!