Anakin Starkiller's New Luke ROTJ Hero saber design thread

[Halliwax]

I did a thread on this a while back, and really the problems I ran into were with current options.

I mean, I did my Yuma the same way they probably did, grabbing an off the shelf item to paint up the stunts, and all the golds, antiques, brass, etc. all were too silver in my opinion. I couldn't find any that were a warmer gold, until AS put me onto this specific Ace metallic color.

Really, I think what you need to look for is a straight up gold color that doesn't give you the silvery gray undertones. Straight up gold with some brown and red tones in it.

And I can attest to Tom, don’t let the metallic label fool you.

The ace color works real well, shake that sucker for a solid minute before use

 

[thd9791]

Also that Yuma shot "between takes" is a little washed out. If you dial the tones back so his clothes look more full black you start to get orangey yellow instead of the dulled color.

If there is a rub n buff that has these tones, lets look at that too.

My Yuma has that Ace can, straight on the bare metal, and with a little light adjustment on a phone it gets really close to the original color.

 

[Halliwax]

Also that Yuma shot "between takes" is a little washed out. If you dial the tones back so his clothes look more full black you start to get orangey yellow instead of the dulled color.

If there is a rub n buff that has these tones, lets look at that too.

My Yuma has that Ace can, straight on the bare metal, and with a little light adjustment on a phone it gets really close to the original color.

Thank you

 

[thd9791]

here's a shot of the paint as it is today - a lot of those lucasfilm images of the saber in the 90s and 00s were edited very dark (check the green arrow LED for an idea of color on those). I am convinced they matte clear coated the saber, and buffed the metal parts back to shine, dulling the color.

Looks like almost the same color from the Yuma days. Also, those rails, my educated guess is those are repaired, tarnished, clouded with glue and re-used from the close-up shot.

 

[Halliwax]

Agree

 

[BRRogers]

bit of color correction

 

[thd9791]

I do think it was repainted since the Arizona shoot. I mean.. they even got the grip's shoulder above the box painted afterwards, missed it in Yuma

So for your AS builds, choose the scene/look you like and go for it!

 

[mindaramblin]

Also that Yuma shot "between takes" is a little washed out. If you dial the tones back so his clothes look more full black you start to get orangey yellow instead of the dulled color.

If there is a rub n buff that has these tones, lets look at that too.

My Yuma has that Ace can, straight on the bare metal, and with a little light adjustment on a phone it gets really close to the original color.View attachment 1085470View attachment 1085471

Perfect! Thank you!

 

[Darth Lars]

That said, the neck, rails, and and circuit card strips on the saber as it appears today are a warmer color than what was seen on screen or in most original photographs. Definitely not copper, but warmer than aged brass.

There are warmer and colder brass alloys: it depends on how much copper vs. zink it contains. I think that the control box's rails must have been of a warmer (copper-rich) type of brass. (warmer than the brass L-brackets I got, anyway)

Having made my own circuit board with gold strips, I think that the card strips are likely copper, and less likely to be gold, but if gold it must have been a very warm gold-plating. Circuit board laminates are always made of copper but often plated with tin or nickel+gold after etching. Card edges are often plated with an extra thick layer of gold though, in a different process from the rest of the board.

I'm firmly in the "I want a solid, prop accurate static hilt camp." But, I also don’t want to miss out in case you don’t do a run of them. What should I and other people that are in a similar position do?

I'm sure that there are owners of the solid hilt from the previous run that would be willing to trade theirs for a new hollow one.

The hollow one looks like it could be more easily converted into one with slide-out internals, and I think the only way to build a lightsaber with universe-accurate weight would be to build internal components.

 

[chazzychaz]

No. An aluminum heatsink is included

Sweet mother of pearl your a genius

 

[Joek3rr]

Any plans on doing a solid, non FX version?

 

[Halliwax]

Any plans on doing a solid, non FX version?

He said maybe after the fx run, no promises though

 

[teecrooz]

I understand what you guys are saying.

However, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to do another Luke ROTJ run after this one. It largely comes down to the feasibility for me financially to take on another project and it very well may be that this is my last Luke ROTJ saber run. I'm sorry. I know that this is not what you want to hear. But I just can't make promises about what projects I will be able to take on somewhere down the line.

Also, I am not convinced that the Luke ROTJ hero saber was entirely solid. If there were electronics added for the control box in 1983, then to my mind that means that the inside may very well have been hollow to accommodate batteries.

(I know some will say that there could have been watch batteries in the control box. But, I don't see them in the pictures we have, and for my money, with 80s tech, it just doesn't make sense to try and cram everything in the tiny box, when you could very easily have held the components in the main body. That's how every other prop I've seen from that time does it.)

We really don't know how much the prop weighed and we don't know what the parts breakdown was. So, to my mind, it doesn't make too much sense to do a solid body run separately, if we don't actually know the original prop was solid.

Also, if you want it to weigh more, it's pretty easy to just insert a 1" aluminum solid aluminum bar into the saber and screw it into place when affixing the control box. The only tool you'd need is a hacksaw

This was pretty much a no. So you’d have to get the current one just in case a second run doesn’t happen.

 

[Sapien1865]

So excited for this!

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

He said maybe after the fx run, no promises though

I don't plan to do a solid version, unless at some point I get additional information on the construction of this prop. This is because I'm not convinced, one way or another, that the original prop is actually solid, and because I don't know what parts on the original prop are single pieces.

 

[Dann]

Necks and brass rails can be aged with a little brown oil paint to get closer to the look of the prop.

And the card traces are DEFINITELY bare copper.

Here's a few recent shots of my Hero, with the neck painted with the Ace Antique Gold, then aged. The saturation is a little high in these pics.

Real Prop

Here's a couple shots from just now, with closer "in person" color. Again, this is my personal old "Rylo" Hero, heavily modified. NOT Dan's new hilt!

Real Prop

Real Prop again

It's close, but still not QUITE there. I may try a combination of the Ace Gold and my other favorite, the Rust-Oleum Satin Bronze, and see what I can come up with...

 

[Kylash]

If you want some real brass aging, drop that sucker in a bucket above some ammonia overnight.

 

[Dann]

That works, too!

 

[chazzychaz]

conversely you could use Birchwood Casey's brass black but use a cotton swab and go lightly, I used this on my OWK 4 and left the parts in for 45 seconds and they turned black. A little scrubbing with scouring pad and paper towel gave me an expectable appearance

 

[Dann]

Yes, indeed. I've used both methods, on many different projects.

For this particular project, I've found that the oil paint gives the best results. Especially in keeping consistency between the neck and the rails, since the neck is PAINTED aluminum.