The Mods to Premium Ironhide!

So there are a few things that just BUG me about the Ironhide mold. I took care of many of the required fixin’s on my list to make him more movie accurate. The other things I don’t like is that he’s just not designed proportionately to his CG design – which I have not found the resources to pull off a mod requiring total redesign… but here’s what I have so far:

1. I never liked the design of ANY of his heads until the first ROTF mold came out. So I replaced his 07 head with the first ROTF version.

2. I never liked how far back his head is placed. So I moved his head more forward.

3. I was never happy with ANY of the iterations of his arm cannons until Recon Ironhide showed up. So I took those and painted them up, and added a “cylinder” from his ROTF version’s left cannon.

4. I REALLY disliked how the doors are situated over his shoulders. They seem to move more freely around his upper arms in the movie. I felt a ball joint would be more appropriate than the plastic hinge currently being used on the molds.

5. I didn’t like the short smoke stacks. I had my friend CAD up longer ones and had them manufactured at my work.

So, I'll post the mod through several postings. The first one is for the neck/head mod.

Neck and Head Mod:
The neck was a pain to devise for modding. That is, until ROTF Soundwave came around! I couldn't think of the best way to create a ball-joint neck that also allows me to move his head to a more forward position. Once I saw the magical part already designed for Soundwave, I saw the mod take shape..

I took the black plastic extender going to the solar panel between Soundwave's legs and used that to create the ball-joint neck extender allowing his head to be positioned further forward from the original plate design.

To do this, I cut a channel to fit the “extender” into the neck plate. I then secured the two parts by way of creating a pin-joint through the hole already in the Soundwave part. I just had to drill a matching size hole through the length of the neck plate, fashion a pin through and walah!

The ball joint on the end coincidentally fits nicely inside the ROTF Ironhide head. Lucky me. So pop that sucker on after painting it and now he’s got far more range of (head) movement than even Recon Ironhide!

Here's a front view of the paint apps!

Here's a side view showing how much further in front his head is now positioned.

When put back into Topkick mode the only way to fit his head under the hood is by pulling an Exorcist on him. Simply rotate the head 180’.


Next up: His new cannons!

Attached Thumbnails

 

Cannons:
I really do like Recon Ironhide’s cannons much better than any of the other versions, but the plastic color really SUX! So I primed them up and added Testor’s paints to them.

Here’s a shot of his right cannon. I used gold, silver and black. I left some areas of the primer exposed just add more variety.

On his left cannon, I used the same colors, but you can see the added feature on top came from ROTF Ironhide’s (version 1) left cannon. I used a cutting tool with a dremel to remove it, shape it, and then epoxy putty to fill in the interior and fashion it to the Recon cannon.



Up next: Swiveling Doors!

wow! that looks great!!
i have the 07 version, but im thinking about getting the recon version and doin what u did!
i dont have enought cash to get the first rotf one tho hah. recon will have to do lol

Now, the door mod is one that - despite being simple in execution - is one that I am most proud of.

Looking at the hinge connecting the front doors to the hood you will notice the hinge is actually a part of the hood. This required me to dremel out the hinge feature and clear out enough space for the ball joints.

Before I continue, let me share with you how I found the right ball joints. To my surprise, upon looking at the geometry of the hinge on the door half I took one look at Mudflap. Poor Mudflap. Mudflap's doors are also connected by a ball joint that looks to fit perfectly with Ironhide's doors!!! awe....

After mutilating the wings off Mudflap, and securing those finely designed ball joints to the underside of the hood halves:

Now his shoulder kibble is a bit more "weighed down" and doesn't bounce as much. The doors can now be positioned on any angle, which I prefer like this:


Up next: Smoke Stacks!

Certainly there are those of you who think the ones that come with this figure are a little, less than manly...

They are only held in by a single screw. This time around I got crafty. Rather than make new ones by hand, or shop around like a vulture looking to cannibalize a truck model for little parts like this I decided to use my connections.

After having them CAD'd up in a computer, I had them manufactured. Once they were finished, I primed them up and simply painted them with Testor's silver.

Here's a passenger view from the rear:

And here's a shot from the rear bumper:

Much more of a Man's truck!!!

Thanks!

Thanks Javaco! Unfortunately I went the expensive route with finding the parts I needed. If you add up the cost of a deluxe Soundwave, a Premium 07 Ironhide, ROTF ver. 1 Ironhide, Recon Ironhide, and a deluxe Mudflap, oh and add Reprolabel Stickers and paints...

ya.



BUT I am very pleased with what I've come up with!

Great thread and awesome mods. IH is one of my favs from this line. Couldn't really tell you why, I just like the Premium paint I guess.

Originally Posted by Scaleface $90 deluxes? Who do these guys thing they are? Perfect Effect?

This is the most movie accurate VC Ironhide I've seen yet in terms of modding. The Recon Ironhide cannons look nice but they're way too small IMO, so I would've gone with the ROTF Grey Ironhide's cannons.

Still.. Awesome modding work

Wow, great modding work indeed! He looks absolutely perfect!

I would have to agree that the cannons are a bit undersized, BUT not by too much. Considering the amount of space available for them when in truck mode, I can understand. I am more in favor of the cannons looking more movie accurate so long as the size of the part is "in the ballpark".

One thing I do like about the cannons (a plus) is that the features extending out from the sides of the cannons (intended for attaching the Recon assault guns) also double up as steps for the cab in alt mode.