This thread is just old posts that were scattered during the building process of this figure. It may get repedative at times.
I did a quick mock up of the external parts (with construction paper) and where they'll be placed. The problem is the main body of the ship looks a bit big. The wing size will need to be widened when it's done in steel and the side vents/chest panels sit low. The backpack will sit lower after the head cover and truck headlights are gone.
Here's toon Skyfire with little to no crap on the bottom side. As you can see, having the arms folded under creates a thick underbelly. The only option is to C-notch the upper body causeing everything to move up/back. The Prime chest/windows will be cut down for the Skyfire panels so ignore that. The biggest problem is that the rear/legs will be alot higher than the rest of the plane.
Bot mode.
Everything here will work except the wings won't fold in any further than pictured. Molding the arms, legs, hip, and head will be easy with the use of panel bonding and Fuzor plastic repair.
The chest panels will be grafted to the windows here and the cockpit will be hinged at the upper body. Primes leg vents will be molded into the boob flaps cause I'm to lazy to build them. The waist and arms will retain all it's original articulation.
This is the stuff I'll need to fabricate for the project. That's the easy part. I'll do it this weekend.