Reflecting on this after my 3 doubles..
I'm not 100% certain on that, for I have played with "NPC" races (where their armor and appearance is all set through a visualset) and have equipment class set to none, and when they equip armor in game their body parts do not disappear and their armor does not change.
The only thing I can think of that could cause a potential problem is how the VisualSet isn't like a normal race. Maybe if you moved VisualSet pieces around to their proper places like other races (Visual 1=hair, Visual 2 = heads, Visual 3 = torso, etc. and then Visual 8 and 9 should be the "armor" pieces you desire), it would potentially fix the problem. Not a guarantee but something you could try.
