I like it! I still wish he had articulated fingers, even if it was just a single knuckle bend so he was always in spanking mode.

 

He's absolutely worth it and an utterly fantastic figure. It's just the one problem spot, which if you address immediately is a 15 minute fix.

 

So I put in for the X-Men Blackbird based on this guy, but now I'm back to thinking if I want Hwtfire himself instead. I don't really collect for the Studio Series aesthetic, but the black and red with pointy nacelles is the Blackbird. On the other hand, they somehow managed to get an upright-walking bot out of the same altmode. Hmm. What to do...

 

Just got him.



Should this peg on his leg snap into the socket on his nacelle? As it is it just kind of rests in there, there's no snap.

 

It just sits in the notch, and some pieces kinda press against other pieces. He doesn't like to stay together super well in alt mode unfortunately

 

Seems this guy got a rerelease, hadnt seen one since last year and suddenly found one at Walmart.

 

Almost a year after your usefull and detailled answer, I finally manage to find time to do it.
Any picture of the end result on yours ? English is not my native language and a visual reference would be usefull.

 

Sure!

You can see here the left side is the one that broke. I had to put a few layers of plastic in the crack to build back the material. You should be using a plastic solvent that works on ABS to melt the plastic. You want to massage it until the gaps air gaps are gone, it can take a few applications.
Then, cut additional rectangles that fit these gaps to add additional reinforcement. This goes against the "grain" of the plastic at the joint, adding extra rigidity when the pin naturally wants to pull the joint apart.


NOTE: You should be using a solvent glue, not a normal one. Additionally, make sure you have ABS scrap and your solvent works on ABS - most model stuff will be for polystyrene.
Most solvent glues also say they have a cure time of a few minutes, but for something loadbearing like this you really want to let it cure for a day or two - it shouldn't be shinier than the surrounding plastic. If it is, it's probably still curing.

 

Hi fellow Jetfire-owners! I haven't de-combined my Jetfire in a while, and I'm wondering if there would be any adverse affects to any of his modes if I were to remove a lot of material on the ankles so that he can have more ankle bend in the opposite direction for combined mode. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

So I transformed my SS35 Jetfire to combine him with Optimus a few days ago, after over a year or two displaying him in jet mode, & his swivel joint below his left leg wanted to get stuck. It would make this horrible squeek/creak noise when I swiveled it around 90 degrees & almost get stuck & broke. Putting it in the fridge for a night didn't seem to help so I filed down the mushroom peg on the top & insides a bit. Now it still squeeks but I can move it without it getting stuck. Odd it was only one swivel.

Also for the record, my Jetfire does have a crack in the torso hinge but I have transformed him plenty of times since with no trouble; I imagine the crack might let the plastic give just enough when transforming not to break. Converting the torso is an awkward affair.
Overall though he is still the very best figure in the Live-action movie Studio Series imo, even more so with Optimus.
Some pics I took when I got him:





In other news, I tried integrating the head/torso cannon to his combination with optimus & this is what I came up with. Things got progressively ridiculous:

Doing the Lockdown.

Make your own interpretations...:

 

Picked up the upgrade kit for this largely because his gun is too heavy for prime so I got the smaller version with the kit.

Need to put it all together.

 

Whats the breakage issue and fix i see mentioned?

 

The piece in his spine that has the gun handle on it for the big cannon mode is molded to create hard 45 degree stops/detents. But that motion puts a lot of stress on the parts and has a high tendency to crack as a result. If you file down the corners for smoother motion, the breakage becomes much less likely.

 

Now who's the power mushroom?