Junk Graflex

propmainiac · 12-14-2011, 09:50 PM

Just received my ebay purchase, and in the words of Luke Skywalker What a peice of junk!
First of all the upper half is rusty, The clamp is a repro that has no tabs and has a GR on it. The bottom half is steel tubing and gives it good weight to it. The bulb release lever is missing and the pin that holds the bulb ears is not there. The pins beneath the red button are gone and it looks as if someone had dissasembled it at one time. It has two red buttons neither which are correct but it has the empire style grips and the empire d ring.
Is this worth working on? Whats a good way to clean rust off the body, And wheres a good source for parts?

jbeatle · 12-14-2011, 10:55 PM

Some pix would be helpful to better gauge it's condition. There are options for removing the rust, it just depends on how bad it is.

Interesting that the clamp has "GR" on it. If I'm not mistaken there was a company called Graflex Reborn that was in the process of making replica flash guns and they stamped a GR on there clamps.

As far as I know, they never shipped.

Anakin Starkiller · 12-14-2011, 10:58 PM

So, I saw this on e-bay. Nothing there looks like it's original graflex parts. It's all Graflex Reborn stuff, which as a project from about 10 years ago to try to replicate the original graflex (the first of it's kind),

I'd look at it this way. Graflex Reborn was sort of a landmark in Prop replica history. It was the first time a fan tried to replicate the original graflex. The project never went the whole way. But back in the day these were very sought after parts.

To clean up the rust, you can use some rust remover and steel wool. Then you'll either have to plate the parts (which would be a pain). Or give them a few coats of clear coat paint so that they don't rust again.

You can find replica parts easily enough here The Graflex Shop - Graflex Replacement Parts
and here Graflex Parts - Saber Kit - The Ultimate Source for Saber Parts and Creation™

If you want to replace the socket so that the prop can take a blade, PM me and I'll send you an aluminum graflex replica socket for free.

-best

Dan

JediG60racer · 12-15-2011, 12:42 AM

Graflex Reborn still owes me money for never delivering a product I paid for. Grrrrr to them.

Orange_Blend · 12-15-2011, 12:47 AM

If it were me I'd use it as a relic saber, it seems like it would be too much effort to clean up properly. Use it as Anakin's saber as found by some gas miner on Bespin 100 years after the fact.

Sym-Cha · 12-15-2011, 02:12 PM

Hi there,

I own a Graflex Reborn Darth Vader ROTJ style and compared to a real graflex it still has a distinct metal odour compared to the non smelling real vintage graflex. Leave yours as is and go on your quest for a real
vintage graflex, this can even be done on a budget ... all you need is patience and some determination
to look for a good deal. Or if you have lots of money to spend then go place a WTB in the junkyard

-Chaim

propmainiac · 12-15-2011, 05:01 PM

Hello All

Here are some pics of the Graflex

jazzygeoffery · 12-15-2011, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anakin Starkiller

So, I saw this on e-bay. Nothing there looks like it's original graflex parts. It's all Graflex Reborn stuff, which as a project from about 10 years ago to try to replicate the original graflex (the first of it's kind),

I'd look at it this way. Graflex Reborn was sort of a landmark in Prop replica history. It was the first time a fan tried to replicate the original graflex. The project never went the whole way. But back in the day these were very sought after parts.

To clean up the rust, you can use some rust remover and steel wool. Then you'll either have to plate the parts (which would be a pain). Or give them a few coats of clear coat paint so that they don't rust again.

You can find replica parts easily enough here The Graflex Shop - Graflex Replacement Parts
and here Graflex Parts - Saber Kit - The Ultimate Source for Saber Parts and Creation™

If you want to replace the socket so that the prop can take a blade, PM me and I'll send you an aluminum graflex replica socket for free.

-best

Dan

Is that socket taken? i just started working on an anh saber :o

propmainiac · 12-18-2011, 10:56 AM

HI thanks for the info. Sorry to hear some got burned by that project. If it is a repro then someone stripped it before a replaced the "guts" with what looks like original parts. I broke it all down and cleaned up as much as I could. The bulb socket looks very old. It has some parts broken off . The brass pins are very tarnished. Was able to clean off the rust with metal polish and fine steel wool. Not looking as hopeless as before. I peeled off the grips from the bottom half which appears to be steel. Used mineral spirits to remove the glue residue (very sticky stuff) and cleaned and polished it and rubbed it with a scotch brite pad to give it a more uniform finish. I have two red buttons both repros. Picked the best one and rummaged through some old stuff and found two glass eyes from previous saber builds. Gonna use one untill i find another red button. Also the "beer tab" was held on by a buttonhead screw.This will be replaced by a rivet. Have a few questions hope someone here can answer.

Is there a washer under the beer tab where the rivet goes through? Does anyone have pics of the Graflex reborn saber so I can compare? Also what is the overall length of the graflex Thanks

jazzygeoffery · 12-18-2011, 12:01 PM

I'm not quite sure what you mean by your first question, are you asking if there's a washer on the interior or the exterior? And my original Graflex is about 10 1/2 inches, 26.8 centimeters. That's about all i can help you with since i don't have a GR hilt :P

propmainiac · 12-18-2011, 02:06 PM

Jazzy
Thanks for the info... Is there a small washer under the beer tab on the outside of the body? Been a while since I owned a Graflex and cant remember.

propmainiac · 12-18-2011, 02:38 PM

Here are a few pics of the Graflex after some work to clean it up. Pin was missing for the bulb "ears" so the best I could do was use a pop rivet shaft. I removed the rivet portion and just used the log part. Cut it down and put some jb weild on it and slid it in. The little flathead screw on the back of the flash had nothing behind it to screw into. that part was missing from the bulb socket so before a put the bulb socket back in I used jb weild and filled in the area where the screw was supposed to go. After it dried I put it back in the flash and drilled out were the screw went. Then I slowly turned the screw untill it seated back into the flash. The rivet on the beer tab was missing so I used a hardware store rivet. Filed the head down so it was smooth then sanded it with different grades untill it looked how I wanted it. Before I put it in I placed a small washer under the beer tab, Then glued the rivet in from the inside of the flash. Going to continue to build this up. Not sure if Im going with esb or anh. Enjoy the pics.

propmainiac · 03-07-2012, 06:55 PM

Hello again. So I find myself coming back again to the Graflex reborn saber I bought some time ago on Ebay. As some of my earlier posts state I thought it was junk....well after a good bit of cleaning and polishing Im impressed how good it now looks. Ive been going back and forth about making it an esb or anh so why not a little of both! NOt really screen accurate but Id have to own 5 different ones for that. Here are some more pics with a homemade red button that I made from a coax connector and pushbutton switch from radio shack. The clamp that came with this had no tabs inside so I used a peice of 1 1/2 inch diameter aluminum tubing cut to 2 inches long, cut out 1/2 inch lengthwise and inserted it into the inside of the flash. This made the top and bottom fit very tight! Now top and bottom do not rattle or come loose!

avianoguitarist · 03-07-2012, 10:24 PM

I think it turned out great--nice job!

thd9791 · 03-07-2012, 11:10 PM

Great job! Cleaned up nice

Jerome · 03-08-2012, 09:41 PM

That looks pretty good! I bet a lot of people would like to know how to make that second red button for their ESB lightsabers, if they didn't want to go and buy one.

thd9791 · 03-09-2012, 11:23 AM

Reading how you made the button, that is effing genius! its hard to find things that are knurled or ribbed like that

propmainiac · 03-09-2012, 06:00 PM

Thanks for the positive feedback. Sadly radio shack no longer makes that type of ribbed knob. I had it left over from years ago when I used to make my own hardware sabers. The threaded peice below it is a coax adaptor that threads into the graflex so it screws in just like the real thing! Getting a real graflex knob is my goal but its proving a tough task. Seems no one wants to part with one and one by itself is half the price of a graflex flash. A good repro is looking like my only option.

Mr Walker · 03-09-2012, 06:13 PM

That cleaned up better than I would have expected.

thd9791 · 03-09-2012, 08:37 PM

There is a guy in the junkyard selling graflex pieces and he has at least half a dozen of these buttons, he's way back though at least 5 or 6 pages into the JY.....hopefully he hasn't sold things so I don't look like an a$$, worth a shot though!

propmainiac · 03-09-2012, 08:38 PM

Thanks. It still has some blemishes if you look at it under certain lighting conditions but they are very light. I think this fits with the used look of items in star wars. I may use the grips that came with it or get new ones. I still like the way it looks with the glass eye but im going to make this one my esb since most of the parts are there.

		Replica Props	Screen Used Props	Replica Costumes	Sculpture and Makeup	General Modeling	Studio Scale Models	Movie Discussion
	Collaborate, create, and collect at the internet's largest community dedicated to props, costumes and models.

12-14-2011, 09:50 PM	#1
propmainiac Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 59	Junk Graflex Just received my ebay purchase, and in the words of Luke Skywalker What a peice of junk! First of all the upper half is rusty, The clamp is a repro that has no tabs and has a GR on it. The bottom half is steel tubing and gives it good weight to it. The bulb release lever is missing and the pin that holds the bulb ears is not there. The pins beneath the red button are gone and it looks as if someone had dissasembled it at one time. It has two red buttons neither which are correct but it has the empire style grips and the empire d ring. Is this worth working on? Whats a good way to clean rust off the body, And wheres a good source for parts?

12-14-2011, 10:55 PM	#2
jbeatle Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Fort Wayne, IN Posts: 15	Re: Junk Graflex Some pix would be helpful to better gauge it's condition. There are options for removing the rust, it just depends on how bad it is. Interesting that the clamp has "GR" on it. If I'm not mistaken there was a company called Graflex Reborn that was in the process of making replica flash guns and they stamped a GR on there clamps. As far as I know, they never shipped.

12-14-2011, 10:58 PM	#3
Anakin Starkiller Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 2,253	Re: Junk Graflex So, I saw this on e-bay. Nothing there looks like it's original graflex parts. It's all Graflex Reborn stuff, which as a project from about 10 years ago to try to replicate the original graflex (the first of it's kind), I'd look at it this way. Graflex Reborn was sort of a landmark in Prop replica history. It was the first time a fan tried to replicate the original graflex. The project never went the whole way. But back in the day these were very sought after parts. To clean up the rust, you can use some rust remover and steel wool. Then you'll either have to plate the parts (which would be a pain). Or give them a few coats of clear coat paint so that they don't rust again. You can find replica parts easily enough here The Graflex Shop - Graflex Replacement Parts and here Graflex Parts - Saber Kit - The Ultimate Source for Saber Parts and Creation™ If you want to replace the socket so that the prop can take a blade, PM me and I'll send you an aluminum graflex replica socket for free. -best Dan

12-15-2011, 12:42 AM	#4
JediG60racer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 1,657	Re: Junk Graflex Graflex Reborn still owes me money for never delivering a product I paid for. Grrrrr to them.

( Don't want to see advertising between posts? Register for free and become a member of our community! )
RPF Sponsors

12-15-2011, 12:47 AM	#5
Orange_Blend Wolverine, Semi-Retired Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Everybody's lost but me! Posts: 1,965	Re: Junk Graflex If it were me I'd use it as a relic saber, it seems like it would be too much effort to clean up properly. Use it as Anakin's saber as found by some gas miner on Bespin 100 years after the fact.

12-15-2011, 02:12 PM	#6
Sym-Cha Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Groningen, Netherlands Posts: 799	Re: Junk Graflex Hi there, I own a Graflex Reborn Darth Vader ROTJ style and compared to a real graflex it still has a distinct metal odour compared to the non smelling real vintage graflex. Leave yours as is and go on your quest for a real vintage graflex, this can even be done on a budget ... all you need is patience and some determination to look for a good deal. Or if you have lots of money to spend then go place a WTB in the junkyard -Chaim Last edited by Sym-Cha; 12-15-2011 at 02:22 PM.

12-15-2011, 05:01 PM	#7
propmainiac Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 59	Re: Junk Graflex Hello All Here are some pics of the Graflex Attached Thumbnails

12-18-2011, 10:56 AM	#9
propmainiac Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 59	Re: Junk Graflex HI thanks for the info. Sorry to hear some got burned by that project. If it is a repro then someone stripped it before a replaced the "guts" with what looks like original parts. I broke it all down and cleaned up as much as I could. The bulb socket looks very old. It has some parts broken off . The brass pins are very tarnished. Was able to clean off the rust with metal polish and fine steel wool. Not looking as hopeless as before. I peeled off the grips from the bottom half which appears to be steel. Used mineral spirits to remove the glue residue (very sticky stuff) and cleaned and polished it and rubbed it with a scotch brite pad to give it a more uniform finish. I have two red buttons both repros. Picked the best one and rummaged through some old stuff and found two glass eyes from previous saber builds. Gonna use one untill i find another red button. Also the "beer tab" was held on by a buttonhead screw.This will be replaced by a rivet. Have a few questions hope someone here can answer. Is there a washer under the beer tab where the rivet goes through? Does anyone have pics of the Graflex reborn saber so I can compare? Also what is the overall length of the graflex Thanks Last edited by propmainiac; 12-18-2011 at 11:00 AM. Reason: wasnt finished typing

12-18-2011, 12:01 PM	#10
jazzygeoffery Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Gnarnia, Tx Posts: 204	Re: Junk Graflex I'm not quite sure what you mean by your first question, are you asking if there's a washer on the interior or the exterior? And my original Graflex is about 10 1/2 inches, 26.8 centimeters. That's about all i can help you with since i don't have a GR hilt :P

12-18-2011, 02:06 PM	#11
propmainiac Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 59	Re: Junk Graflex Jazzy Thanks for the info... Is there a small washer under the beer tab on the outside of the body? Been a while since I owned a Graflex and cant remember.

12-18-2011, 02:38 PM	#12
propmainiac Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 59	Not so junk Graflex Here are a few pics of the Graflex after some work to clean it up. Pin was missing for the bulb "ears" so the best I could do was use a pop rivet shaft. I removed the rivet portion and just used the log part. Cut it down and put some jb weild on it and slid it in. The little flathead screw on the back of the flash had nothing behind it to screw into. that part was missing from the bulb socket so before a put the bulb socket back in I used jb weild and filled in the area where the screw was supposed to go. After it dried I put it back in the flash and drilled out were the screw went. Then I slowly turned the screw untill it seated back into the flash. The rivet on the beer tab was missing so I used a hardware store rivet. Filed the head down so it was smooth then sanded it with different grades untill it looked how I wanted it. Before I put it in I placed a small washer under the beer tab, Then glued the rivet in from the inside of the flash. Going to continue to build this up. Not sure if Im going with esb or anh. Enjoy the pics. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by propmainiac; 12-20-2011 at 06:27 AM.

03-07-2012, 06:55 PM	#13
propmainiac Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 59	Re: Junk Graflex Hello again. So I find myself coming back again to the Graflex reborn saber I bought some time ago on Ebay. As some of my earlier posts state I thought it was junk....well after a good bit of cleaning and polishing Im impressed how good it now looks. Ive been going back and forth about making it an esb or anh so why not a little of both! NOt really screen accurate but Id have to own 5 different ones for that. Here are some more pics with a homemade red button that I made from a coax connector and pushbutton switch from radio shack. The clamp that came with this had no tabs inside so I used a peice of 1 1/2 inch diameter aluminum tubing cut to 2 inches long, cut out 1/2 inch lengthwise and inserted it into the inside of the flash. This made the top and bottom fit very tight! Now top and bottom do not rattle or come loose! Attached Thumbnails

03-07-2012, 10:24 PM	#14
avianoguitarist Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Palmer, Alaska Posts: 102	Re: Junk Graflex I think it turned out great--nice job!

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
New junk raygun!	Tack	Replica Movie Props	0	06-05-2011 02:07 AM
Luke ANH lightsaber Graflex or Folmer Graflex??	Tarkin	Replica Movie Props	7	01-19-2011 12:53 PM
looking for graflex hardware saber cutting templates/project graflex?	Sulla	Replica Movie Props	10	01-08-2009 12:25 AM

03-07-2012, 11:10 PM	#15
thd9791 Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 418	Re: Junk Graflex Great job! Cleaned up nice

03-08-2012, 09:41 PM	#16
Jerome Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Australia Posts: 37	Re: Junk Graflex That looks pretty good! I bet a lot of people would like to know how to make that second red button for their ESB lightsabers, if they didn't want to go and buy one.

03-09-2012, 11:23 AM	#17
thd9791 Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 418	Re: Junk Graflex Reading how you made the button, that is effing genius! its hard to find things that are knurled or ribbed like that

03-09-2012, 06:00 PM	#18
propmainiac Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 59	Re: Junk Graflex Thanks for the positive feedback. Sadly radio shack no longer makes that type of ribbed knob. I had it left over from years ago when I used to make my own hardware sabers. The threaded peice below it is a coax adaptor that threads into the graflex so it screws in just like the real thing! Getting a real graflex knob is my goal but its proving a tough task. Seems no one wants to part with one and one by itself is half the price of a graflex flash. A good repro is looking like my only option.

03-09-2012, 06:13 PM	#19
Mr Walker Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 61	Re: Junk Graflex That cleaned up better than I would have expected.

03-09-2012, 08:37 PM	#20
thd9791 Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 418	Re: Junk Graflex There is a guy in the junkyard selling graflex pieces and he has at least half a dozen of these buttons, he's way back though at least 5 or 6 pages into the JY.....hopefully he hasn't sold things so I don't look like an a$$, worth a shot though!

03-09-2012, 08:38 PM	#21
propmainiac Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 59	Re: Junk Graflex Thanks. It still has some blemishes if you look at it under certain lighting conditions but they are very light. I think this fits with the used look of items in star wars. I may use the grips that came with it or get new ones. I still like the way it looks with the glass eye but im going to make this one my esb since most of the parts are there.