Fixing HftD Battle Blade Bumblebee's Axe

Hey all, I haven't seen this posted, or at least haven't seen it done in any of the many repaints of Battle Blade Bumblebee people have done. The axe was supposed to rotate down so that it faces the proper direction, but that apparently got omitted for fragility issues or something. After giving it a lot of thought, I figured out the best way to fix it and went ahead and did it today:




Basically, you need to add a pin so that it can rotate, and the best place to put it is in the base of the axe. Before you do that though, you need to shave the surface smooth and glue another plastic bit to it so that it's wide enough to have a pin placed:




Additionally, you'll need a pin that's a bit smaller than the usual used in most TF joints - Mudflap's ankles have such a pin:




After you've glued another piece of plastic to the axe, just drill through and then delicately cut out where you'll need the axe to rotate. You'll need to remove a small part in order for the piece to have clearance:




You may need to a trim a bit, but it all folds back up into BB's arm and remains spring-loaded - nothing's lost!




Then just place the pin, and you're done!




The axe doesn't necessarily have to be rotated 180 degrees to look good, either. I think 90 degrees so that it's aligned with the elbow joint for maximum chop looks best, myself:





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(These below discussion took place after clay posted this tutorial. The images and this discussion are included or further reference.These images are provided here courtesy of closetrat. I will further add that whether or not the axe modification makes Bumblebee more "accurate", this tutorial certainly provides the kitbasher with another alternative modification for future customs ~SQ7)


(Reference images):

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