The Starkiller Legacy

[JaxAndTheMoon]

Welcome to my first official build thread!

After stalking the forums for years now, I have finally gotten the courage to start up a thread on a very special project of mine. I used to be a decently active member of the 405th back in 2010, but now my taste for props has evolved to Star Wars. After a lot of thought, I decided to try and attempt a design of my own. While contemplating which lightsaber I would try first, I looked back into my history of Star Wars love and fandom to a time that made me really enjoy Star Wars again. That time was playing The Force Unleashed. There was nothing better than having the raw and seemingly unlimited power of Starkiller as he ripped through armies, blew up ships and bases, and brought star destroyers out of the sky. Yet, my favorite thing was still the scene where he is piecing his lightsaber together in front of him with the force, only to have it drop to a mess in front of him at the sound of Vader entering the room.

So that was what I wanted. I wanted the lightsaber that once made me feel like a Sith/Jedi. (Don't get me wrong either, I love both KOTOR games, but the action was definitely of a different style) So I hit the drawing board:

So I didnt go into this completely blind, I definitely had some ideas. I wanted to keep it simple, I wanted it neat, and I wanted a relatively "plug and play" experience. I drew on influence from Ro-Lightsabers and Vader's Vault's run on these as well, seeing what they did and adapting it to my own general ideas. Both of those can be found here: http://ro-lightsaber.blogspot.com/ http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=114287

After all of the small planning I got to work, and after a few weeks of on and off work, it took form:

The thing is, with things like this, I wanted everything to be handmade. I wanted none of it to come from existing parts, so I came up with all of the pieces through tedious measurements and trial and error.

Here its all spread out:

At the bottom of the black chamber housing, the bottom has slots to act as guides for the bottom to lock into. I'm not 100% on that, but I can always go back and edit that if needed.

Now the only bit I have left is the storage for the batteries and the sound card. I have a rough idea on how I'm going to draft it, but we'll see how it goes.

BUT! I'm in need of some help....

Currently, I am an active duty military member. I'm not currently in any position to hand machine these pieces myself, and I won't be for a long while. What I'm asking for is a little help on the matter. If someone would be willing to test the waters with this build with me, I would greatly appreciate it. The fine details can be discussed but if anyone is interested I would love to hear from you guys. PLUS I would love to here what you guys think in general. This is my first project, and this build will take some time for me if I try to wait out the next 9 months to start on the physical process. So hopefully I can figure something out! I'll post another update with the finishing touches of my designs when they get done.

I hope you guys like it!

-Jax

 

[JaxAndTheMoon]

Re: The Starkiller Legacy - Lightsabers by Jax

So after a couple of days away from this project, I had to shove it aside since it was giving me a lot of grief with design challenges. Well after some time, I looked over it again and I realized that sometimes I can be rather stupid, and have since then modified my design. I originally thought it would be easy to make a thin wall and hide all of the electronics behind it. Well I realized that was just ridiculous and would never hold, so I redesigned the chamber, and I added a 45 degree angle cut on the Graflex Style Cover.




I also happened upon another realization: While looking over the design I had for the button that would be hidden in the control box, I realized that I didn't really like it. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but I just didn't like it. So I thought hard about it, and I realized that as a Starkiller Lightsaber, I would hold it in a reverse grip. So where would I put the button? On the lower hilt. (I know this may seem stupid obvious)

So I looked through a couple of switches and decided to replace the bottom glass eye type piece with an Anti Vandal Short SPST switch. I mocked one up really quickly, and decided that I would have it sit a little higher to resemble the original design, so i put a small bezel underneath of it.



I have also completely gone away from the idea of using interlocking pieces to hold the hilt together, and will just have it screw in. I will just need it to be precise as I want the bottom hilt button to line up with the front glass eye greeblie.

I have some more updates but I'll gradually release them.

Question: Does anyone have any experience with the Central Machinery Miniature 7" - 10" Lathe and the Miniature Two Speed Mill? I am going to be coming back state side in a bit, and thought I might pick these up if I could. I was wondering if they were worth it, since I know that people have had issues with Harbor Freight equipment in the past and the have a very mixed review.

-Jax

 

[JaxAndTheMoon]

So lately I've been working on other projects, but today I decided to update with this little mock up here. I mocked up a design for the battery, speaker and sound card. Nothing to creative I guess but I just like to visualize my designs. Still working on a way to machine these, but once I get back into the US I'll be looking into getting a bench top lathe and press.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Your 3D skills are amazing ... love the graphics ... can't wait to see this happen into a real prop

Chaim

 

[JaxAndTheMoon]

Your 3D skills are amazing ... love the graphics ... can't wait to see this happen into a real prop

Chaim

Thanks Sym, I appreciate it :$ I'm just learning though, I'm not too good compared to most of the guys around here that do way better work than I do.