Ok, so I wasn't quite satisfied with Ironhide even after getting rid of the excess arm kibble. I got a couple of big (1/2 inch in diameter) button magnets to attach the truck sides to his back






They are super strong, so they stick to eachother and through to the battery pack, but clearance was tight on alt mode, so they are not glued, but they have plenty of attraction to stick to eachother through the panel. Then in alt mode, they just stick under the chassis




and then I did the face plate mod (I just took it apart and removed the spring so it can stay down if you tuck it in, but it still can activate the voice chip)
Lastly, I also modified the left cannon door to stay with the cannon instead of going off at that weird angle





I attached small magnets here:



& here:



and they attach like this of course:



here he is in action w/them:




Lastly, here are some shots of the trade offs on alt mode; the gap on the back of the cab on driver side is a little bigger and there is a bit of a gap between the front passenger side window and door since it is no longer attached to the arm by pin.


But I think these are minimal negatives compared to the improvement to bot mode. lastly, here are some pics of the magnets that I used on this custom and some others.


Questions, comments, critiques, all welcome.

 

Where did you get the magnets?

 

the big silver ones that I used on the truck sides are from walmart, the ones in the tubes that I used on the cannon door are from hobbytown usa (2 diff sizes are pictured) and the other blister pack comes from radio shack, those are a little bigger, but super strong as well and come in handy when you need a little more strength.

 

Here's different backpack configuration. It's stable enough, but still not as good as having magnets.




I was able to tilt it back and fort and it didn't fall off.

I was able to file some portions off of the knee, but I think I'll need to use a dremel...

 

looks good, keep us posted on the knees, I may have to try doing something about that too.

 

Any pics of the Bumblebee yet?

 

almost, worked on him some today, just need to address a couple more things.

 

I need to get myself a dremel and airbrush set... If only I have the money...

 

Looking good! I bought some magnets at Fleet Farm and will try them out on the panels later on. I'm thinking I'll try using some of the screws already in IH's back for the magnets to stick to...

I'm also planning to do some knee cutting. Looks like there's a lot of unnecessary plastic in there...

 

Cool, magnets are awesome, I love working with them! I'm not sure where the screws are, but the good thing is that the batteries are right there and give you a lot of area to place them. Keep us posted on what you do with the knees. I haven't tackled those yet. I'd like to do something about some of that blue too, but am not that great of a painter.

 

Yeah, I never had powerful magnets like these before. (I just used one to fix a piece that broke off my RotF leader Prime!) While I was looking at Ironhide the other day, the scews that looked like they'd work the best are in the back of his bumper.
I'm going to take him with me to work tomorrow and start trying some mods. First I'd like to put a magnet on his gun to fix the flappy piece, then the magnets on the removed panels, then the knee shaving...

 

did you see the mod in this post where I modded the flappy piece to move with his cannon? you just have to unscrew it and then shave a little of the screw hole so it is open then put it back together and put magnets on the cannon and underside of flap. like this:

 

Yep, and I really appreciate all you're sharing! I did it a little differently because I didn't want to cover up the detail on the top of the gun. I was able to work on this yesterday. I glued a magnet next to his fist and then cut and glued some staples on the end of the flap. Now when I close it there's no flopping. One of the staples seems to catch on the arm, so I don't know if the magnet is actually doing anything, but I'm going to leave it as long as it's working   It's hard to make things out in the pic because I used my cell and I colored the magnet and metal black.

I also added some clear finger nail polish to the gears inside the arm so the cannon wouldn't be as floppy when it's extended...

 

I worked on him some more this afternoon. The magnets and screws don't have a powerful enough attraction. With that approach, the panels don't stay on any better than when I just fold them and store them on the back. I'll bring in a couple more magnets tomorrow. I'll have to look for some pics of IH's back now, too...

I also tried cutting the knees. On the right knee, the one that doesn't move as much, I cut the first part that looked like it was getting in the way, but the knee didn't go any further. I unscrewed the leg and saw that the ratchet has seven spots to click but currently only uses two (the left leg uses three). It's possible for the ratchet to click once more forward. I tried some more cutting with my flush cutters and knife, but got to a large hunk of plastic that I'll wait and try to cut at home with my dremel. First I'll try to get both knees to click up to the final spot, so the legs can straighten out, then I'll try making them go back further...

 

yeah, you def need 2 sets of magnets due to the those
screws being so small, not enough metal to attract the magnets through the layer of plastic. keep us posted on the knees. I may take his legs apart and have a look,
but not till I finish my Bee! Now that you've posted yours, I'm motivated to finish mine
up, but I have to rework something due to a flaw I discovered.

 

Yeah, so many projects going on at once. I have to force myself into a rotation so I don't have a bunch started and none finished  

I tried putting on some magnets. I attached some pics of what I did. I think there's a better spot for the magnets so I'm not going to go into detail just yet. If everything works out after I get some more magnets I'll explain what I did, otherwise feel free to ask any questions if you'd like...

 

the positioning where they extend up like wings is pretty cool!

 

Thanks! I was thinking of this pic when I did that:



But they have a much harder time staying on. As long as it's just displayed and not moved around it's fine...

 

I've placed the new magnets on Ironhide's flaps and they work much better now. It's pretty much just turning the pieces upside down from before, but now the magnets make direct contact and hold much better. Plus none of the magnets appear to interfere with the vehicle mode. (I've had issues with alt mode gaps before, so I can't say for sure.) Even when posed with "wings," the parts stay on really well.

 

I also did a bunch of cutting on his right knee and now it can go straight. The first pic attached shows the knee ratchet joint. Before it could only go into the second or third spot from the top. Now, as seen in the photo, it can go in the top spot as well. After I do the left knee, I'll try working on them to make them go back further, too...

The second pic shows where I did some cutting towards the bottom of his thigh. The third pic shows the cutting at the knee. I removed quite a bit, and notice I had to cut on both sides of the lower leg. It's probably possible to get the same effect by cutting more from the thigh and less from the knee...

The final pic shows the modded and unmodded legs both straightened as far as they can go. One note, though, is I didn't have the cannon in IH's leg. I seem to have lost it (see sig), and I don't know if that would affect it at all...