I think we can agree that his hands are nice in that the thumbs move, as well as the fingers, albeit joined. So I cut the fingers apart, leaving a section of the pivot on each one. They can now fold independently. Bird-flippin' time!
Speaking of fingers, they are molded with a joint in the middle, but do not flex there. Well, now mine do. Kinda hard to explain, so see the diagram (pics later), but I cut thru the middle molded "joint" in a stair-step fashion, like this, looking at an individual finger from above:
Now one side of the joint is w/ the fingertip, the other side is w/ the base of the finger. Drill a hole in the middle, jam a screw thru it, and ka-bam, it's fist-makin' time! (I'm still working to find smaller screws, or something else to more cleanly join the halves.)
I'll add more details and better pics later. I also modded the missile rack so the blades can be rotated outwards:
Paint apps- Just added some paint detailing here and there in black, silver, and gold. He was a little plain.
Up next for this big badass:
Chest flaps- I rather liked how Voy Starscream's chest looked, with the slightly-raised flaps. The Leader only does that when you pull down his talking/lights lever, so I'm working on a pair of shims that can be slid into place in robot mode to keep those chest flaps a little open.
Speech- Let's just all admit, the voice bits are just for the kids- the voice is just terrible, and the words themselves are silly. So I'm considering just disconnecting the speaker, except that I'll lose the transformation and jet sounds. Might be a small price to pay...
Lights- I'd love to rig a switch to keep the lights on indefinitely. I'll need rechargeable batteries bec. I'll end up leaving them on all the time...
I'd love to hear/see your mods and ideas as well! Comments please!