ANH-era shared stunt/v2 discussion: What is known?

MCM

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
I'm interested in constructing a replica of an ANH-era shared stunt/v2 saber as wielded by Obi-Wan. There is plenty of information/visual reference for the ROTJ-era iterations of these props, but the ANH-era reference seems to be lacking. I guess, firstly, I should be asking if anyone knows of good reference pics for such a project.

Secondly, has anyone else attempted a replica of this particular saber(s)? My searching didn't turn up any results, but my search-fu may be lacking. I'd be curious to see how others have interpreted this saber.

Thirdly, I have these blueprints saved on my hard drive: LUKE_STUNT_EP6.jpg
Are these dimensionally accurate? Would these be a good place to start or are there more accurate plans available?

Fourthly, what differences separated the v2 and shared stunt at this point in time? It seems as though the shared stunt retained a Graflex clamp with the original lever while the v2 has a longer replacement lever, but check these pics out:
Luke-ObiSharedStunt04.jpg There is quite obviously a replacement clamp on this lever. Is it the same lever that wound up on the v2? It almost looks as if someone rammed a nail through the clamp and then bent it downwards. The idea of having a bent nail on a display piece isn't too attractive, to be honest, so part of me really wants to believe that this is the v2 clamp lever :$. Also, this guy seems to have an exactra display in the clamp.
Alec saber.jpg The saber in this picture appears to have no clamp, although I suppose it's possible that a Graflex clamp could have been taped over (like how the shared stunt has the chrome tape over it). Is this the same saber as the last picture or a different one?

obi_wan_saber-vi v2.jpg This one has no bubbles in the clamp but it seems to have transistor (or replica) greeblies. Also notice the grip which brings me to my next point.

Fifthly, I believe the grip to be solid black. The parts of Star Wars page shows these screen shots skke1.jpgskke2.jpg and claims that the grip rings are silver and the neck copper just as they were in ROTJ. To my eyes, it looks as if the grip is solid black with the edges of the rings simply reflecting the light. It also looks as if the copper wind vain part is a darker, more weathered look more like the hero prop than the brighter ROTJ-era shared stunt with which we're all familiar.

Thoughts? I think this could be a cool project!
 
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You can get some of the parts from http://www.romanprops.com/parts, he makes good quality replica parts. As for the long lever, there is discussion of a similar lever on the Luke ROTJ V2 you might take a look at. http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=238654
Oh yeah, I've been sort of lurking in that thread for a while. That's why I'm hoping that the lever in this picture and the lever on the V2 are the same. If anyone could confirm this, that would be rad!

arent the bubbles in this picture?
Why, yes they are :) That's what I meant by exactra display. As I understand it, the bubbles magnified the numbers on the old exactra calculators.
 
I started putting the plans into Sketchup and I think they're looking pretty alright :cool. This is my take on the color scheme; I don't think it's hard to see how the paint could wear off of the "booster" and "grenade" sections to more resemble what ended up being the ROTJ V2, but there are many people here who are much more familiar with the prop, so I ultimately defer to them.
Hi Res Shared Stunt.png
Also, from what I understand, the sabers were cast in aluminum in separate pieces: the main body, the pommel, and the very last ring of the emitter. If this picture is of the real deal, that would make sense ebay-wood-metal-rotj-lightsaber.jpg

Apparently the emitter portion was then cut off then reattached so that it could spin with the prop blade when the motor was activated. My question is at what point on the saber did they sever the emitter? If I attempt to do a replica, I think I'd try to shoot for that level of accuracy.
 
I received this saber a few years ago ... mind you this replica is nowhere near accurate when it comes to the grenade rings ... they are way to fat ... but I don't have the means to alter them properly, nor do I care :



So I decided to make a Luke ROTJ out of it and I removed the paint from the rings and booster section ... but then I thought hardly anyone makes the OB1 Shared Stunt ...



. . . so now I'm back to square one, and I need to repaint those sections black again, add a red switch greeblie in the screw hole before the pommel.

:wacko

Chaim
 
Hi! In a few weeks I'll be offering this clamp lever AND a high quality bubble strip at www.wannawanga.com

Roy
I've been watching the progress on the V2 thread. I definitely plan on picking up one of these sexy levers (or 2) when they're available :cool. I really do like the look of the longer lever for some reason.

I received this saber a few years ago ... mind you this replica is nowhere near accurate when it comes to the grenade rings ... they are way to fat ... but I don't have the means to alter them properly, nor do I care :

http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz258/Sym-Cha/LukeROTJ03.jpg

So I decided to make a Luke ROTJ out of it and I removed the paint from the rings and booster section ... but then I thought hardly anyone makes the OB1 Shared Stunt ...

http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz258/Sym-Cha/OB1-V2-Shared Stunt_zpsqosnxv36.jpg

. . . so now I'm back to square one, and I need to repaint those sections black again, add a red switch greeblie in the screw hole before the pommel.

:wacko

Chaim
That saber is looking rad! I actually don't find the wider grips to be that annoying. Sure, it's not 100% screen accurate, but it's nice in an idealized way. Plus the width doesn't seem to be as noticeable when the rings are painted black (as in the first pic). Is the red switch greeblie you speak of the same as the blanking cap? Or is it some other piece entirely? The only pic I can find of it would be this one: v2 red switch greeblie.png

It almost looks like some sort of push-push button or maybe a toggle switch. I'm not really sure.

Matt
 
Thanks ... painted black again those rings will look just fine ... not pictured are 2 vintage transistors on the opposite side of the G R A F L E X clamp . . . and indeed I gather it's a red push-button switch to activate the motor inside ... though I haven't found any just like it, yet :)

Chaim
 
Ok - it's hard to sift through all the info on this website, but I delved into this prop a while back and got some good answers.

1) As far as we know, the only difference between them back in the day was the lever (V2 was also missing a sidebar). I'm 90% sure it's the same lever as ANH, parts like that in the Archives seem to be in the same shape they were during filming (clamp ESB card, Kobold clips, grips, etc). They either had bubbles or nothing in the clamp and one prop had transistors and some ring around them on one side. I don't think this was either the Shared Stunt or V2 as neither of them show glue residue or holes in that area. There may have been more.

2) The paint job is tough. The whole thing I believe was black, knowing how the floor effects attitude was, they wouldn't have bothered with a different shade of black. The neck appears to be some dark brass or copper, and we still have no good reference photos of that.

3) The Shared Stunt we're pretty sure was a static prop. The V2 was lathed, cut and cleaned after casting for conversion into a spinning prop. The Shared Stunt still has seam lines and bubbles from the casting, so it might as well have been just a fencing prop. Before the end of ROTJ the nipple was cut off and removed for some reason, and there is proof of this in a filming shot from California with Vader and Luke (A practice shot of "that name no longer has any meaning for me"). Before this, it was used in the throne room I think, the V2 was the "belt hanger" that Luke tosses away.

4) I had a friend machine those plans from Aluminum stock and this is how it turned out. (He did not have a mill, so they tried to do those pommel cubes on a lathe..turned out weird, you need a mill.
 

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Okay ... if the shared stunt is supposed to be static why does it have a red switch button ... to what purpose?



The shared stunt between OB1 in ANH and Luke in ROTJ is seen in the middle as it is now and went into space :



This is not to be mistaken for the V2 whatsoever :wacko

Chaim
 
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Okay ... if the shared stunt is supposed to be static why does it have a red switch button ... to what purpose?

Chaim

The one in the top picture isn't the same as the one in the middle on the bottom picture. The top picture is the saber that became the Luke V2. This is the one with a motor in it and the emitter head spun the blade.
 
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So are you suggesting that these holes, which are now covered up and closed with a set screw are not the remnants of OB1 ANH red switch and a possible electric wire going up Alec Guinness sleeve?





And if you're correct ... where does this saber seen above fit inbetween ANH and ROTJ shared or not ... this is becoming ever so more confusing ... :wacko

Chaim
 
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@Sym-Cha - My thinking was that it was also intended to be used as a spinning-bladed one as well but was decided to be used as a static one instead later on down the line. So the neck got fixed to not rotate anymore (it looks ugly to me) and was altered to have blades to just sit in the emitter and fastened into it.

Either that or one of the stunt sabers (this and what we call the V2 at the time of filming ANH were both used for "stunt" work) was picked up to be modified for exhibition and it so happened to be that one.
 
just a bit confusing I'd say. Do you think they did this to fool prop makers? I think it was a matter of 'we need this now we're filming today' type of thing.
Anyway great fun this shall be!
 
just a bit confusing I'd say. Do you think they did this to fool prop makers? I think it was a matter of 'we need this now we're filming today' type of thing.
Anyway great fun this shall be!

Oh, that's totally the case. There seems to be little forethought involved with the props, especially during the first movie. How many times did the Luke/Vader shared stunt get changed around?
"Uhhhh, guys, we need a Vader saber"
*grabs Luke saber and some gaffer tape*
"Tada! Vader saber!"

That seems to be what happened with Luke and his ROTJ saber. I can totally picture them being like
"uhh, guys, Luke lost his hand last flick, filming starts today, and we need a new saber."
"Here, we haven't been using this one for a while" *grabs old Obi saber*
"That looks like butts. Can ya give it a paint job real quick?"
"Can do!"
Wasn't the hero prop made later in production, anyway? That's the impression I was under, but I could be wrong. If it was made later in production, that seems to indicate that they chose the leftover ANH sabers more for convenience than anything and then later made a prettier hero version for closeups and whatnot.

Also, regarding the set screw/switch business and the pommel being separate:
I suppose it's totally possible that the original switch could have played a role in affixing the pommel to the main shaft. The electronics could have been discarded and a set screw then needed in place of the switch to keep the assembly together. Does that make sense? It's just a theory, but that red switch seems to be in the same spot that the set screw ended up being on the shared stunt and where the knurled cone thing ended up being on with the V2.
 
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