Battle Damaged Anakin Lightsaber

[13doctorwho]

So, I was working on making an Anakin Skywalker ANH lightsaber old school with plumbing parts (I know Graflex replicas are reasonably priced and conversion kits readily available, but I like scratch building) and I had a horrible accident. I had most of the machining done (with my primitive tools) on the chrome drain pipe when I was cutting a .5 inch hole and the piece jumped out of the vise on the drill press. There are some pretty deep skid marks I can't fix. Stupid mistake...

There was a lot of work in it, so it breaks my heart to throw it away. Then I had an idea!!!

This is going to be the lightsaber after Luke lost it in Bespin. In the Expanded Universe it was found by the Emperor (or Darth Vader, I forget) and ended up with a clone of Luke Skywalker. In the end he gave it to Mara Jade.

So, I decided that the damage is from the battle and fall in Cloud City. The damage is mostly cosmetic, so I think I can sell that idea.

Has this ever happened to any of you? Is it a good way to still finish the work, or is it a stupid idea? I just really hate to start completely over. I don't even have the right part to start over... I'd have to go get one.

Love to hear you opinions (and stories of salvaging mistakes)!!

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Hey, Luke's lightsaber fell down a hole and then was sitting in who knows how many Imperial facilities before getting to Mount Tantiss? Maybe it was in the Emperor's robes with a lot of pocket change? Who's to say it was only repaired when he gave it to Mara?

That's why I love SW stuff vs. doing real world replicas because a mistake can be turned into battle damage. No one can tell that you didn't intend it to be there. Well, I mean in this case you told us you screwed the pooch, so...

My favorite mistake was when Tom Spina found a bunch of Fiji Totokia replicas (Gaffi stick) that were really nice. I got one and then drilled a hole (the wood was like metal!) and made a passable "axe" head for it. I emailed him showing it completed and he said "I like how you made the "axe" shaft hole at an angle because it looks hand made." That was not my intent; I thought I nailed drilling a straight hole (off maybe 2-4 degrees off 90). So a bantha stepped on it.

 

[13doctorwho]

Small follow up. I am going to finish the battle damaged one, but I also got another sink tube to do a clean one in parallel. I've already done the machining on both tubes. I am currently 3D printing grips and Graflex buttons.

 

[Tan Djarka]

It occurs to me that in the past when I've damaged the chrome, if it was in an unobtrusive location, I covered it with chrome mylar film (typically used for R/C cars). Recently I discovered a chrome flooring underlayment tape (Lowe's #673026) that's good for chroming plastic pipe. It's very thin, leaving the faintest joint lines. It might be suitable for patching chrome pipe scrapes and blemishes.