Filandrius
Sr Member
Ever since I finished my Luke and Obi-Wan ANH sabers, I felt to need to complete the "bubble strip trifecta" so accurately described by scottjua. So I managed to get my hands on a Larbel MPP replica, which was already loosely converted in an ESB Vader. I use the term "loosely" because of the accuracy of said conversion. Here's what the Larbel looked like when I got it:
As you can see, it was pretty much a straight Larbel, including the "default" D-ring which was WAY too big, with added Blast-Tech rubber grips. It also had the black "trapezoid" sidebars on the clamp, which were also incorrect for the ANH I was planning to build. As for the unidentified circuit strip, it was held on not by the clamp, but by a weird little contraption that prevented it from falling out. Aside from that, the chrome on the inside of the shroud was tarnished and the rubber under the clamp had deteriorated.
I started out by removing the rubber grips, which were held on with 3M two-sided tape. Then I dismantled the whole thing to get rid of the deteriorated rubber, remove the adhesive residue and clean/polish the chrome. After a nice cleanup I tackled the D-ring; I removed it from the shroud, cut it down a bit, then reshaped it to a more accurate size and shape for the ANH Vader. Then I removed the sidebars from the clamp, sanded down the ends to make them rectangular, stripped them of paint, and polished the naked metal to a mirror finish.
For the bubbles, I had an extra Rebelscum strip which I modified to replace the circuit strip. I sanded it so that it'd fit between the clamp, not under, then I glued it on a larger strip of clear plastic. Then I cut it down to the correct length for the clamp, making sure that the cut was "between" the 6th and 7th bubble like on the screen-used saber. After these modifications the bubble strip is held on by the clamp like it's supposed to, so I got rid of the aforementioned contraption, which wasn't needed anymore.
To be continued! In the meantime, here's some pics of my progress.
As you can see, it was pretty much a straight Larbel, including the "default" D-ring which was WAY too big, with added Blast-Tech rubber grips. It also had the black "trapezoid" sidebars on the clamp, which were also incorrect for the ANH I was planning to build. As for the unidentified circuit strip, it was held on not by the clamp, but by a weird little contraption that prevented it from falling out. Aside from that, the chrome on the inside of the shroud was tarnished and the rubber under the clamp had deteriorated.
I started out by removing the rubber grips, which were held on with 3M two-sided tape. Then I dismantled the whole thing to get rid of the deteriorated rubber, remove the adhesive residue and clean/polish the chrome. After a nice cleanup I tackled the D-ring; I removed it from the shroud, cut it down a bit, then reshaped it to a more accurate size and shape for the ANH Vader. Then I removed the sidebars from the clamp, sanded down the ends to make them rectangular, stripped them of paint, and polished the naked metal to a mirror finish.
For the bubbles, I had an extra Rebelscum strip which I modified to replace the circuit strip. I sanded it so that it'd fit between the clamp, not under, then I glued it on a larger strip of clear plastic. Then I cut it down to the correct length for the clamp, making sure that the cut was "between" the 6th and 7th bubble like on the screen-used saber. After these modifications the bubble strip is held on by the clamp like it's supposed to, so I got rid of the aforementioned contraption, which wasn't needed anymore.
To be continued! In the meantime, here's some pics of my progress.
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