Cutting Up A Graflex
- Thread starter Luuke
- Start date
No. A Roman replica. LOLLike…a real one?
If you haven't seen it already, check out Matthew Savage's portfolio... he has a really cool study/concept rendering. Star Wars: The Last Jedi — Matthew Savage. If you look up his instagram he also has a couple of concepts for the repair/rebuild.
The broken Graflex is absolutely the perfect symbol for the impact of the ST on Star Wars…
…they “fractured” it.
…they “fractured” it.
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4str0m3ch
Well-Known Member
Darthmagpie
Sr Member
Luke, I actually just finished a Brokeflex out of a Romans this weekend. I can post pics and try to explain my process if you want and don't consider it a hijack.
Sure. Please post.
Darthmagpie
Sr Member
Here is my take on the Brokeflex.
I basically did a mash up of the 2 photos above, the screen cap and the Star Wars Show, this was tricky as the 2 props don’t match and the clamp card holder and lever were photoshopped back on the saber in the screen cap.
Sorry I don’t have WIP Shots, But the following was the process I took. I first took a sharpie and drew on the saber where I wanted to cut/what was being cut off. Since the 2 props don’t match, I gave priority to the screen cap for the cuts and bends and priority to the SW Show for the guts. Then with a Dremel, I cut into the clamp and the upper. Many Bothan cutting disks gave their lives to make this saber. Once I made all the cuts, I used the sanding drum bit on the Dremel to round off the corners, figuring melted metal is globby and round. Using various size pliers, I bent the parts to try and match the photos. Next, I used a Butane torch to get the heat stripes and blacken it. The heat stripes came out nicely, but it didn’t blacken no matter how long I held the heat on. Speaking of which, I ended up melting the Graflex guts. I actually like it though, and I don’t usually like mistakes. I am not a “happy little Accident” person, usually. To blacken over the heat stripes, I used Acrylic with a sponge. I sponged on black, then gray, then brown, then a little more black in some areas.
Other than buying the blemished Graflex, I wanted to keep this relatively low budget, as I have been buying and building lightsabers I really can’t afford, lol. I got the D-ring and crystals at Michaels and designed and 3d printed the rest of the parts. I will attach my 3D parts to this reply, in case anyone is crazy enough to want to use them. Starting from the bottom, I put silver tape over the end cap disc on the end cap/ Kobold combo part, installed the Dring, and glued it on the bottom, in the unbroken lightsaber orientation, not the SW Show orientation. I cut the heads off of the rivets and glued them on the grips and Kobold. I hit the clamp side of the grips with a heat gun for about 10 seconds and they melted and curled a little. I then went halfway up the grips with brown Acrylic paint with the sponge. I double sided taped them on the lower in the unbroken lightsaber orientation. I printed the internals that stick out, in brass/gold PLA silk. I did the same black, gray, brown sponging with a little silver for highlights. I stripped some wire and treaded it through the holes in the part, splayed the strands and weathered them with the same sponge method. With the crystals, I epoxied all the parts together and into the Graflex. The clamp card is just printed traces, since the backing is clear anyway. I cut it to match how I cut the clamp and weather it with silver, bronze, and black. I think that is it. It took a while, quite a bit of problem solving, and iterating, but was fun. I hope this helps anyone with making one.
Thanks for looking, Ben
I basically did a mash up of the 2 photos above, the screen cap and the Star Wars Show, this was tricky as the 2 props don’t match and the clamp card holder and lever were photoshopped back on the saber in the screen cap.
Sorry I don’t have WIP Shots, But the following was the process I took. I first took a sharpie and drew on the saber where I wanted to cut/what was being cut off. Since the 2 props don’t match, I gave priority to the screen cap for the cuts and bends and priority to the SW Show for the guts. Then with a Dremel, I cut into the clamp and the upper. Many Bothan cutting disks gave their lives to make this saber. Once I made all the cuts, I used the sanding drum bit on the Dremel to round off the corners, figuring melted metal is globby and round. Using various size pliers, I bent the parts to try and match the photos. Next, I used a Butane torch to get the heat stripes and blacken it. The heat stripes came out nicely, but it didn’t blacken no matter how long I held the heat on. Speaking of which, I ended up melting the Graflex guts. I actually like it though, and I don’t usually like mistakes. I am not a “happy little Accident” person, usually. To blacken over the heat stripes, I used Acrylic with a sponge. I sponged on black, then gray, then brown, then a little more black in some areas.
Other than buying the blemished Graflex, I wanted to keep this relatively low budget, as I have been buying and building lightsabers I really can’t afford, lol. I got the D-ring and crystals at Michaels and designed and 3d printed the rest of the parts. I will attach my 3D parts to this reply, in case anyone is crazy enough to want to use them. Starting from the bottom, I put silver tape over the end cap disc on the end cap/ Kobold combo part, installed the Dring, and glued it on the bottom, in the unbroken lightsaber orientation, not the SW Show orientation. I cut the heads off of the rivets and glued them on the grips and Kobold. I hit the clamp side of the grips with a heat gun for about 10 seconds and they melted and curled a little. I then went halfway up the grips with brown Acrylic paint with the sponge. I double sided taped them on the lower in the unbroken lightsaber orientation. I printed the internals that stick out, in brass/gold PLA silk. I did the same black, gray, brown sponging with a little silver for highlights. I stripped some wire and treaded it through the holes in the part, splayed the strands and weathered them with the same sponge method. With the crystals, I epoxied all the parts together and into the Graflex. The clamp card is just printed traces, since the backing is clear anyway. I cut it to match how I cut the clamp and weather it with silver, bronze, and black. I think that is it. It took a while, quite a bit of problem solving, and iterating, but was fun. I hope this helps anyone with making one.
Thanks for looking, Ben
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Darthmagpie
Sr Member
I definitely see what you are talking about. It's is about 1.5 inches longer. I noticed this along the way. I don't feel it's the metal. If you look at the screen cap, they match pretty well. A bit is the gap between the crystals a bit is the length of the crystals, but most is how far the plastic parts stick out. When I noticed I started redesigning and when the heights matched, stuff was recessed or bearly sticking out. I wasn't happy with it. Asked the option of a couple friends and they said they want to see the stuff inside more. So I went back to my original design and rationalized the violent break caused the guts to come out more.
TFA: The Graflex, like the franchise itself, is brought back and used as nostalgia bait.
TLJ: The Graflex is broken, just as the fandom is split in half, and as the film broke the franchise.
TROS: The Graflex is patched back together, much like the film’s sad attempt to patch the franchise back together.
Perfect symbolism.
Awesome work! Thanks so much for sharing the photos and files. I have never wanted to build one of these too much, until now.
Darthmagpie
Sr Member
AS, thank you very much. I really appreciate that. I hope you go for it, it was a lot of fun.
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