Limited Run Anakin Starkiller Luke ROTJ Hero Lightsaber Sign up List (Signup closed. Production has begun)

[Spyhunter2k]

You know, I keep thinking about the fact that the Hero Skywalker ROTJ hilt was one of the few created in-house, in the US, vs. in the UK.

This being the case, the ILM workshop was well known to have made great use of Humbrol brand paints.

I feel pretty confident that the paint on the neck of the hilt may well be of Humbrol origin.

Humbrol Enamel Paints - Paints - Shop : Metallic

View attachment 1253602
View attachment 1253603

You may be on to something, though Humbrol seems to name their paints strangely. It would actually be one of these two colors that better match the neck:

Humbrol "Gold Metallic":

Humbrol "Brass Metallic":

In any other universe, "gold" is more orange than "brass", but this seems to be reversed with Humbrol. The "brass" on the bottom is probably closer to the orange-ish color of the neck. We'd need to have a sample in-hand to verify that the 54 "Brass" color is actually the better/closest one.

Also, the texture of the paint on the neck is not super-smooth. I would suspect that this paint could be sponged on and look great. That would also mean that overseas buyers could use this without worrying about shipper an aerosol spray can.

Great find!

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

Nice guys!

Just FYI. I've ordered a new source for trip rings which should arrive by the 11th. If these look better. I'll mail out replacements to everyone.

Best
Dan

 

[Captain Dunsel]

You may be on to something, though Humbrol seems to name their paints strangely. It would actually be one of these two colors that better match the neck:

Humbrol "Gold Metallic":
View attachment 1253635


Humbrol "Brass Metallic":
View attachment 1253637

In any other universe, "gold" is more orange than "brass", but this seems to be reversed with Humbrol. The "brass" on the bottom is probably closer to the orange-ish color of the neck. We'd need to have a sample in-hand to verify that the 54 "Brass" color is actually the better/closest one.

Also, the texture of the paint on the neck is not super-smooth. I would suspect that this paint could be sponged on and look great. That would also mean that overseas buyers could use this without worrying about shipper an aerosol spray can.

Great find!

Agreed—54 looks pretty good, to my eye.

The neck is DEFINITELY a two-tone paint job, of a gold/brass base layer covered by a darker color, or wash, seen below. One can see the lighter brass color near the upper and lower areas of the neck, where the darker, second layer of plaint, was not applied. This is most likely because the darker color was possibly applied as a “wipe” (applied and then removed with a rag to leave only a thin layer of paint) application.

Color corrected from my prior post, Humbrol Met 171 is a close match for the darker top layer of paint:

 

[jorged123]

I know some people are unhappy with the tri-ring.
I've assembled two of these so far and they're a little more difficult then I originally thought because the plating and welding on the tri-ring varies a bit making some if them a bit thicker than others. I'm looking into options for this.

I have a pretty big bolt cutter and some hobby files. Would those tools suffice to take care of the tri-ring issues mentioned?

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

I have a pretty big bolt cutter and some hobby files. Would those tools suffice to take care of the tri-ring issues mentioned?

They will. You can file the tri ring down a bit and sand it to make it fit fine. I've done this twice on two builds. I'm just looking for a better option for everyone as well. Whatever you do. Don't drill out the hole in the pommel any bigger. That's a surefire way to **** up your kit and make you go crazy.

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

I just sent this to Halliwax, but I thought I'd post it here as well

"When I got home, I did some work in my hero build and wanted to pass along some notes that might help you out.

For the arrows and arrow plate.
I put a piece of Scotch tape on the back of the plate. Then I dipped a tooth pick in a little super glue (I have some stuff from the hobby shop that's particularly thin and liquid and worked well) and I traced around the edges of the triangular opening. Then I inserted the triangles and let them set for an hour. Finally, I cut away the excess Scotch tape from the backside of the tape. Leaving a little bit remaining as a Halo around the back of the triangles.

As to painting. I used the antique gold from Ace. I did copper first then black. I warmed up the can before straying by filling a large glass with hot water and then letting the bottom of the can sit in it for 10 minutes before spraying.
As to the black. I used a satin black that was a paint and primer in one.

Many light coats is key. Especially for this antique gold from Ace.

For the tri ring. I ground down the bottom bar to thin it out a little and then sanded the whole thing to give it a more satin silver color. It worked fine, but was more work then I would have liked, so I'm going to look into finding tri rings that fit better.

In order to attach the black buttons on a static build, I'm going to find some small button head screw that I can screw into the black buttons from behind to hold them in place for now and still leave electronics upgrading a possibility for the future.

For the control box canoe, after you paint the rails the dark grey. You'll want to hit it with a glossy clear clearcoat to match the shine of the plastic.

Hope this all helps

Best
Dan

Hope this helps."

 

[xbadcardx]

85% of editing is done, please don’t cut anything or do anything to the D ring until you check out the next video

Throwing it up tomorrow night

Crap! I just got mine out of the rust bath and saw this post.

 

[Halliwax]

Finalizing now... gonna be a long upload. Shooting for 9pm est time

 

[Gregatron]

Excellent. Although I may hold off getting gold/copper/whatever paint for awhile, since there seem to be a few new contenders.

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

Crap! I just got mine out of the rust bath and saw this post.

View attachment 1253759

What did you do here to this guy?

 

[xbadcardx]

What did you do here to this guy?

I sanded it down a bit with 120 grit sandpaper and soaked it overnight in a vinegar, peroxide, and salt solution.

I need to tone it down a bit to get close to this pic:

 

[Captain Dunsel]

What did you do here to this guy?

“Look how they massacred my boy...”

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

Looks fantastic

 

[The 48th Ronin]

The neck is DEFINITELY a two-tone paint job, of a gold/brass base layer covered by a darker color, or wash, seen below. One can see the lighter brass color near the upper and lower areas of the neck, where the darker, second layer of plaint, was not applied. This is most likely because the darker color was possibly applied as a “wipe” (applied and then removed with a rag to leave only a thin layer of paint) application.

I disagree. This has been discussed before and the consensus was that the perceived darker areas are the result of handling, which has left the paint dirty/grubby. Seems like a simpler, more logical conclusion than them giving it a two-tone paint job. I mean seriously... why would they even do that?

Also, that is really not the best pic to judge the color by. Take a look at the whole photo - the levels are completely out of whack. Look at how dark and drab the green triangle LED is...

That is definitely NOT the true color of the paint.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

I disagree. This has been discussed before and the consensus was that the perceived darker areas are the result of handling, which has left the paint dirty/grubby. Seems like a simpler, more logical conclusion than them giving it a two-tone paint job. I mean seriously... why would they even do that?

Also, that is really not the best pic to judge the color by. Take a look at the whole photo - the levels are completely out of whack. Look at how dark and drab the green triangle LED is...

View attachment 1253838

That is definitely NOT the true color of the paint.

The look of the saber, as it exists now, is the look I will be going for. I do doubt what we are seeing is the result of dirty fingers, over time (most pics show this thing being handled with cotton gloves), but, I could be wrong. As to why they would do this? Many props in the “Star Wars” universe (and outside of it) are given an artificial patina for various artistic reasons.

In any case, the color is clearly not a mono color, in my humble opinion. Perhaps I’m wrong and perhaps my theory will end in colossal failure, I’ll give it a shot and see

 

[mindaramblin]

I disagree. This has been discussed before and the consensus was that the perceived darker areas are the result of handling, which has left the paint dirty/grubby. Seems like a simpler, more logical conclusion than them giving it a two-tone paint job. I mean seriously... why would they even do that?

Also, that is really not the best pic to judge the color by. Take a look at the whole photo - the levels are completely out of whack. Look at how dark and drab the green triangle LED is...

View attachment 1253838

That is definitely NOT the true color of the paint.

I have to agree with ALLEY. I far prefer the way the prop looks in this photo, even if the levels are off. I am more in the ‘this should look dirty and used’ camp, but I’m also going to wait to see what Halliwax does in his video with Anakin Starkiller.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

The look of the saber, as it exists now, is the look I will be going for.

So this, then?

They sure haven't been taking very good care of it.

I know that's not what you meant. I wish you luck with your experiment, and I hope you end up with something that you're happy with.

 

[Halliwax]

Ok gang here it is! sorry it took longer to edit and WAAAAAY longer to upload then i thought!

 

[Goodie2325]

I really wish I wasn't at work right now so I can watch the rest of this!

 

[Goodie2325]

Oh and that opening title screen should be a t-shirt!