This concept is something I'm interested in developing as well, and have been playing with the ideas in my mind over the past few years.
I don't know if you're at all interested in adopting my ideas, especially since you seemed to suggest you wanted to make it easily done by other people, and this would require more than just a bit of carving. (I'm guessing at least pin removal to swap Jaruga's lower body out. I THINK you might even be able to switch right out the connection flaps without any major modding! Maybe a bit of carving. I don't have a pin remover yet to try it out) I just don't have the experience to actually do any of this stuff though. One day...
I had thought to avoid too much modifications or alternate transformation for Storm Jet / LeoZack, beyond moving his legs out of the way, and just look to attach a basic sized Jaruga to him somehow rather than combining Storm Jet and Barricade, but I'm not sure... Once you start changing things with Storm Jet, you sort of have to change more to accommodate the changes. I'm thinking of trying to find a way to change the limb connection points so that I can do things like connect the arms to Storm Jet's legs, or to spread the combiner legs from Jaruga a little farther apart. (CRITICAL for a proper Bruticus mod)
(This is what happens when I try to go to sleep. Inspiration time!) Wow. With your mod, you could theoretically swap out his legs for shorter ones. I wonder if I could find a way to make his arms shorter and still retain combined and vehicle mode configurations...
I've been trying to figure out how to best make a Jaruga, and how to combine him. My idea for Jaruga is just to take the lower half of Barricade, and attach it to a Cybertron Hardtop figure, and add some rear wheels somehow. You'd have to deploy the rocket launcher legs in vehicle mode differently though, (extended from the hips, and not pegged together) since the old method has them too low for clearance over his rollbar windows. For robot mode, if you collapse his legs halfway down, you can make him shorter, and his knees will still function. He's still a tiny bit taller than the other limb members, but it is a lot closer than using an unmodded Barricade. He does look a little bit silly with his oversized hips and legs, like he's wearing hip-waders or something.
I even managed to have Hardtop grab onto Storm Jet's pegs with his shoulders unfolded like robot mode, at first the regular pegs, which stretched things a bit; but I just tried connecting him to the pegs you used by removing the flaps and they're the perfect width! Also, I think it's the perfect position once you swing Storm Jet's hips out of the way by using your mod. It lowers his waist only by the height of his hip joint, but that's an improvement over your method.
I think the helicopter mold might make a better head for my smaller-bodied Jaruga. He's got a visor, and an unmasked face, and even extensions on the bottom-front of his helmet.
Here's size comparison of the tank, F-22, my Jaruga, and short-limbed Storm Jet.
Jaruga's upper body is just sitting on top, not connected.
F-22s are reversed. The repaint on the left has his tailfin flap folded 45&45 so it looks lower, but it's actually extending out in front of him.
Also, I wanted to turn the breastforce animal partners into Energon chips, and make sure the chip sockets were on their chests. (and add one in place of Hardtop/Jaruga's seat) A bit tricky for many of them.
Storm Jet would require serious mods. ...to the section normally behind his head so that he could see over his own chest. Maybe cutting the section out and regluing it to the hinged flaps on the side? Probably messy. *plays with it* Nope. The socket's too high even if I cut out the area in front of his face. Not to mention how dumpy he looks with his back as his front. Better to just reattach the socket to where the faction symbol is. Not ideal, (the cockpit's not on his back like the original, and you can't leave the beast attached in gestalt mode without it changing the look) but it's a simple solution.
The F-22 jets would require a lot of work. First, the hinge flap for the tail fins. On the jet body, it would have to be lowered, and the hinge flap shortened, so that it would fold up a little lower and he could see. The forearms would need mods. Pegs chopped off and new ones attached on the other side, and notches carved in the other side. (unless maybe you want to chop off their hands in order to give them forearm swivel articulation) Also, they would need at least the other side of the arch of their foot carved up so that they could stand with their legs apart. You can't just swap them, since the cut-outs are to leave room for the hip joint they clip over top for in vehicle mode.
Luckily the tanks don't need any mods for this.
Crazy enough?
I've got concepts for Drillhorn too. Lots of different options for modifying one of the tank limbs. (although they're not all good options) I think actually looking at these, the best one(s) fail to allow use of the energon chip breast beast partners; so I'd probably just go with sticking drill halves on his forearms and sticking them off the back of the tank. Maybe flip his waist 180 and build up the back of his lower legs so the tank is taller in the new back (formerly the front of the tank). For both tank limbs, I'd probably cut the treads 2/3rds up and attach the larger portion to their lower legs.
I don't think I'd be able to settle for the existing accessories anymore though, thanks to the Superion kit.
