Yoda VD lightsaber discussion

[Halliwax]

I only switched mine because I didn’t want to ruin the factory praco band.

I don’t see any problem with the reverse greeblie locations

Heck my yoga VD saber I did with a centered control box like the small run the original creator did, just to be a little different

Anyone have a spare bosley band their willing to let go?

 

[Skigro]

I received my bolsey today. Removed the black plastic band and found that It’s got a different cut out shape where the emitter fin connects. I haven’t seen any like this before. But it has the knurled end cap so I’m happy with it. It even had the original batteries in it.

Now I just need to pull off the metal bracket and start adding all the resin parts I received from sjanish.

I also received two pem nuts for free. But they don’t have PEM written on them.

 

[Halliwax]

Work in progress man! Keep it going!

 

[mugatu]

Psych0ticmisfit
That is a very strange cut on your Bolsey but it looks legit like from the factory. Is your Bolsey a 1 or a 2?

 

[Skigro]

It is a 2. The cut is definitely from the factory.

I am almost finished. I still need to drill out the hole for the chain ring screw.

Psych0ticmisfit
That is a very strange cut on your Bolsey but it looks legit like from the factory. Is your Bolsey a 1 or a 2?

 

[Dann]

Crazy, I've seen a ton of Bolsey flashes and I've never seen one with that cut. Looking good!

 

[Halliwax]

Looking good!

 

[Skigro]

I decided instead of drilling a larger hole and tapping the vintage bolsey emitter insert, I would just model a new one and 3D print it. Modeled in the threads and the screws go in perfectly. I also extended it a bit to cover the gap that was visible. I still need to paint it black but here it is.

I also need to sand the head of the chain ring screw to the proper diameter.

 

[sbeall]

This thread is such a great resource for anyone building a Yoda saber. I’ve been working on my own Bolsey version and thought I’d reread this whole thing.
One resource I noticed isn’t here is this one (although I know it was in a different thread somewhere):

Lor Designs by lluisoreja - Shapeways Shops

www.shapeways.com

These printed parts are great, and not the only ones on Shapeways, either. I ordered the oil pan and Lambo wheel, and they match up really nicely with the reference here. My only complaint is the nub on the oil pan is too tall, as I think it’s meant to be a switch, so I’m sanding it down.
I’ve also encountered a strange problem. The top edge of the plastic band is deformed so it won’t slide on the flash body all the way. I’m hoping a little hot water will do the trick. Stand by for progress pics.

 

[Halliwax]

One of my favorite threads

 

[corliss1]

Okay, so I think I read through most of this thread. Chaim mentioned me in a post way back when, but let's talk about this oil pan again all these years later, why not.

I bought all the Corvette versions available and posted them on my thread here: Yoda Lightsaber Build

I didn't see any clear photos in this thread of the original Corvette oil pan. (I also ended up going with the sjanish) castings years later. The part I was always hung up on was that the oil pan was in two pieces on all the Corvette models, and it seems incredibly unlikely for it to have been assembled, dremeled off the motor, sanded, reshaped, just for this, when a standard one-piece oil pan from pretty much any other car would be fine.

I'm happy to be proven wrong though, and it's completely possible I missed something in the 29 pages of threads.

 

[thd9791]

Ive always wondered this myself but the discussion ends abruptly back there

Ed made it seem like it was one piece that may have been trimmed.

Unless it was cast in resin and the resin piece was sculpted..

 

[corliss1]

And to piggy-back on top of that, I've reached out to some people about this and I always get "yeah, but the people that created the lightsaber specifically said..." as an answer. And I have to think back on all the Roger Christian stuff that has been misremembered, especially when after buying all the Corvette versions available, the part just doesn't exist..

Carry on, as you were

 

[sbeall]

It’s too bad the story stops at the Corvette kit. But didn’t Ed say (early in this thread?) that Steve threw parts together out of the spares box? And that Steve himself may not have remembered correctly in the first place? I’ll try to track down a quote.
I hate to doubt a primary source, but there seems to be a mountain of conflicting evidence now. Perhaps there actually is an unknown kit, Corvette or otherwise, which donated this part.
It really seems like quite a lot of work to modify the Monogram Corvette oil pan so much. And the question is, why? At the time this saber was built, it didn’t matter what the activation box looked like. It could have been a plain rectangle with a striped PCB on top.
Anyway, I don’t plan on hunting another rare, out of print model kit. I’ll make do with the printed oil pan on my Bolsey. It would be neat to know, though.

 

[corliss1]

Exactly! This wasn't a reproduction thing at the time as they just threw this together for fun. It doesn't make sense that they would have spent hours reshaping a part when 2 seconds of spray paint would be enough.

 

[sbeall]

And yet, we come full circle again:
This thread was initially a discussion of just the oil pan, and right up to post 43 there is some good discussion about it.
Then HermesBlackstar brings us back on track with this quote from Ed himself:

Ed said that after he built the saber from the flash, he handed it over to Steve to add the greeblies.
He stated that Steve grabbed a bunch of parts laying in a box, and that he doubts even Steve knows the exact kit that oilpan came from.

So, no kits were harmed in the construction of the Yoda saber...lol. And the greeblies came out of a scrap parts box.
This is info straight from the fine gent that created that masterpiece, so this infi is accurate.

This is Ed’s first contribution to this thread.
Unfortunately, Hermes also quotes Steve in post #68 confirming the 1/12 1967 ‘Vette as the donor.
And so, we come full circle yet again.

 

[Halliwax]

Do we have a good shot of the oil pan?

 

[corliss1]

There's lotsa good pictures earlier here, and in my thread which is a cast.

 

[sbeall]

There’s a great pic in post 39 by JamesKenobi1138 which is purported to be a cast of the original kit part.

 

[Halliwax]

I meant the oil pan from the corvette model