Personally, I'm not a fan of the armoured up mode and it wouldn't matter how it looked, as I bought this figure to be Skyfire from the G1 cartoon.
After I took these pics the armour pieces went straight into storage. However, I'm sure others will appreciate them and I don't blame Hasbro for doing it.
The armour on both Classics and Thrilling 30 Jetfire looks a lot better, true - I'm not keen on the look of the helmet in particular.