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I have begun work on modifying my Revenge of the Fallen Leader-class Megatron to make some improvements to accuracy and play value. Starting with that blasted right arm.

My goals for the arm are as follows:

Add a bicep swivel
Remove the part of the trigger that pushes the sound effect button, and the box it protruded through, and put an elbow hinge in its place
Make the fingers on thee end of the barrel able to fold away for a more movie look in robot mode
Cut the existing prongs off and reattach them on articulated struts so that they can form the top half of the pincer in robot mode

EDIT: Just fixed an awful typo in the title. I can't believe I made that letter combination even on accident, considering I want to see the current occupant of the Oval Office shoved in a Vortex Grinder. I mean, yeah, Megatron's evil too but still.

EDIT 2: Progress update


I have the prongs cut off from the rest of the assembly, and am getting them ready to be temp fitted to allow construction of the hinge struts.

Progress update: I got the elbow joint installed.

Here's an internal view, showing the joint and the work I did to fit it. The joint is made from the core of a toy made for pet birds, which has a quasi-ratcheting joint in the middle.

And here's a test assembly of the arm, making sure everything fits and that the elbow can bend. Which it can. It also shows where I cut off the mounting bracket on the tail of the trigger, for clearance purposes with the new elbow joint.

Planning on using twist ties to remount the fingers, for purposes of flexibility in the tight space.

Looks good so far, inspired use of a pwt toy for the joint!

I just have to ask though, what was the typo (being from the UK, I am a tad unfamiliar with US political acronyms)?

Accidentally using an "a" instead of an "e" in Megatron's name in the title.

And thank you.

So, I got the fingers mounted with twist ties like I mentioned, secured nicely with Krazy Glue. They can fold away from the cannon muzzle, and then fold back into place. Twist ties also served for mounting the posts that steady and support the upper pincer halves when they're in the closed position.
The pegs that anchor the claw halves in their tank mode/"open" position, and the sockets they go in, should also be visible.
I also got some basic hinge struts constructed. Not the best looking, but paint would have probably helped with that. However, there were clearance and function issues with them. And so I have abandoned the idea of hinge struts until I can make or source some better ones.


Instead, I have resorted to using twist ties for that purpose as well. They're not the most elegant, but they at least work reliably. You can also see the elbow jointing at work.


Because of the elbow joint, I had to move the tab on the upper arm that secures the flattened pincer assembly. That was a bit of a pain, but I got it migrated forward sufficiently.


And a tank-mode shot, showing that it can still transform back to this configuration just fine.

A few weeks ago, the bicep swivel gave out and repair efforts proved ineffective. And the elbow joint I originally used couldn't properly take the load anyway. Somebody recommended Revoltech joints, and I did order some, but they might not be here til January. Wanting to get this fixed up sooner rather than later, I hit upon the idea of something else I could use:


A spare Knights Kingdom II joint I had kicking around. I hate to sacrifice Lego stuff but it was the best option I had available. Much stronger ratchet, and the bicep swivel ratchets too.
I've also constructed the first of the strut segments that will be used for the cannon's transformation.

I've finished constructing one set of the struts and halfway finished the other. Today I test-fitted them.




And it looks like they work. They bring the pincer half to the right positions, and have clearance in tank mode. So I just need to fine-tune the mounting and finish the other set of struts.

So. After THREE YEARS AND CHANGE of not doing more than construct the other struts and and slightly tweak the overall design... Recently, I finally got it the rest of the way together.



I had to resort to fastening the midpoint with wire, because of the crooked angles the hinge bases mount at in the pincer halves, but I got all the hinge struts mounted and fastened. I also added pegs and corresponding sockets to hold them in place for the tank mode/stored-on-shoulder configuration. And after the second pic, I added a peg to hold the assembly up and in place for its pincer mode configuration as well. I also glued the fingers back on for now, since I could not devise a satisfactory way for them to fold away. They don't hurt the look too much, though. At least in my opinion.





Voila! A better-transforming death-lock pincer. No need for parts-swapping (unlike UFO), and the ability to launch the missile is retained.

There's still work to do, of course; I need to pry that bicep socket out and re-mount it so that it's not crooked, for one thing. I also want to add another joint to the stock struts for the pincer assembly, as well as a peg on one side of the forearm and a socket on the other, so that the top of the pincer assembly can be collapsed onto the forearm for storage that doesn't lock the elbow joint (and that hopefully won't be too obtrusive).