Comparison between original (left) and modified (right) TTL bodies dressed in a FemBasix leotard.
The TTL L1 (and L2) body is an original design with (IMHO) some room for improvements. One thing that could be improved is the shape of the crotch area.
In addition a more subtle improvement can be made by trimming the bulges at the top of the thighs.
Comparison between original (left) and modified (right) TTL bodies dressed in a FemBasix leotard. |
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Tools needed:
| Remove the lower legs to avoid damage to the knee joints. Mark one of the legs so you can tell left and right apart later. The second picture shows the lower legs with a small red mark on the tip of the mounting peg of the left leg. Note that the calves have a more gentle curve on the outsides. |
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| Remove one of the upper legs. To pop one leg off, wrap some clean cloth or a paper napkin around a piece of wood of about 1cm/0.4in thick. |
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| Put the wrapped piece of wood between the thighs up against the crotch, then firmly press the knees together. |
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Mark two cutting lines, I chose the first one to begin 5mm in front of the seam between the front and rear parts and the other one 5mm further forward. Don't cut too close to the leg pivot, it is anchored inside the body by a disc, don't cut too much off of that disc. If you don't want to risk damaging the remaining leg, you can protect it by covering the thigh with a couple of layers of masking tape near the cuts. |
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| Spread the remaining leg, hold the body by its hips, take a razor saw and gently cut straight down along the forward line. Save the part that was cut off. |
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Gently cut straight down along the rearmost line, make sure the second cut ends in the same location on the body as the first cut did. Save the wedge shaped part that was cut off, it can be used later as a source for snips of plastic. |
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Trim the fuzzy plastic from top edge of the part that was cut off. The fuzzy plastic will cause white stains when glued to the body (as can be seen on the picture at the bottom of the page). |
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| Glue the part that was removed by the first cut back on, align the part in such a way that its surface is aligned with the surface of the body, this may cause a small gap, but this can be filled with snips of plastic cut from the leftover part. |
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Fill the gap by gluing small strips of plastic cut from the leftover part into the gap. Make the shape as smooth as possible to reduce the amount of sanding later. Let the glue cure for several days. |
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 This picture shows the reshaped crotch before sanding the cutting line on the body. On the left is the wedge of material that was removed. |
| Trim the edges and sand the cutting line on the body flush. Pop the leg back onto its joint by placing it over the ball joint and pressing firmly. In case the join line on top of the thigh has split open, apply some glue to the split and apply a clamp to press the halves together. Make sure no glue seeps into the ball joint socket. Let the glue cure for a day before removing the clamp. Finally check if the range of motion of the legs is limited by the new shape. If so, carefully trim the side edges of the crotch. |
 Comparison between an original TTL body (left) and a modified one (right). |
Another improvement can be made by sanding the bulge on top of the thighs flush, this bulge does not serve any purpose and it spoils the looks under tight shiny clothes.
Just sand the front and side parts of the top of the leg until the taper below the bulge is flush, I would have liked to create a more smooth curve at the top of the leg but there is not enough material to sand away that much.
 Comparison between original (left) and modified (right) TTL bodies dressed in a tight little black dress. |
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 Comparison between original (left) and modified (right) TTL bodies. |
