I used a razor for all the cutting. Also, I used a small amount of super-glue to make Optimus Prime's hip joints tighter. A small amount is applied at the light brown plastic. Then I let it dry. I then reattached his hip joints to make sure it's stiff to move. I did this several times until perfection. Also used two (2) DotM Shockwave wires as attachment for main gun.

The first picture details disconnecting the backpack "truck cab” from the back of the armor. Unscrew, disassemble, and reassemble:




Next, cut off the upper thigh from the "back of the knee." I used a razor. Feel free to use anything that cuts finely. My cuts are not perfect but clean enough to live with.

Separate the leg armor from the upper thigh. I used the razor to cut off the leg hinge without cutting any parts from the leg armor:









On separating the hip hinge from the main body:

I used a drill bit to drill out the plastic/metal clip that holds the hip joint to the main body. It's optional to leave the grey plastic screw holder connected to the main body. I broke off the grey plastic screw holder with pliers. I didn't like anything sticking out of there.

Wait, you don’t have a drill gun? Break off the hip joint manually with hands. Do this with caution. I drilled one side only and broke off the other side manually. More stress marks result by breaking them off manually. It's visible on the back of the trailer. Pictures are shown for the results:







Here are final pictures of hip joint removal:










Enjoy cutting it up!

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Below are additional pictures to aid in the resourcing of this tutorial detailing the work done on articulating this Ultimate Optimus Prime. ~Superquad7

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