Darth Vader ROTJ Cutaway (WIP thread)

[JOATRASH FX]

*Update 9/14, see page 2..*





Hi all.

I thought I might as well start a new thread for this and get a clean start. I've been tinkering with this for the last couple of months. I am in the midst of building several of these, all basically from scratch and found parts barring a few details. (Hey, I couldn't bring myself to slaughter that many Graflexes.)

I've only just begun interior detailing and there's still the wiring (for the red lighting) and outer shell to do. (I'm scratch-building the shroud and control boxes too.) As you can see, I decided to use a lot of copper and aluminum. I also took some inspiration from Howard and added a little brass tubing. Anyway, there's still a ton of work to do so I'll try to update regularly with more pics.

Any thoughts or comments are always welcome.

/Joe F


*UPDATE 8/27: Well, the first saber is done and I've started assembling #2. Pics below (and more info further down the thread). *

/Joe F

Here is the first cutaway at about 99% done:

*And here are WIP pics of cutaway #2. (parts only loosely fitted so far)*

*Latest pic. #1 and #2 comparison. Note that #2 has more work done on it.

 

[MikeyX]

That's very nice work - I always get a kick out of the cutaways. Keep the pics coming. :thumbsup

 

[vaderdarth]

Very nice cutaway. I am jealous. These custom projects always display the finest skills on this forum. Nice job indeed...

Dave

 

[Boba Frett]

Great work, can't wait to see it completed.

 

[the iron 1]

Looking Good.

Cutaways are my favorites

 

[Darth Fetty]

Wow very nice indeed.

Great work.

 

[Darth Lars]

That's a good start.

Are you going to add more crystals?
I had also an idea of using brass pipes around the crystal assembly, and you were first... argh.

 

[Darth Domain]

i'm really starting to like these, especially the amount of craftmanship, i think there's more skill needed in this due to the fine egineering that goes into the guts of a saber,
Very nice indeed :thumbsup

 

[JunkSabers1138]

Nice job so far. Can't wait to see all THREE cut-aways ( :eek THREE. Most have trouble with just ONE.) and the fourth complete saber completed.

 

[kdawg1]

Very nice these are cool. I love the detail you guys put in these cut a ways.

 

[JOATRASH FX]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Darthlars, I'm probably not going to have more than two crystals in each. I think it's more aesthetically pleasing to keep the focus on two and it makes controlling where the lights will go easier. Only thing I haven't decided yet is whether or not to use a red-colored crystal in one of them. (I've seen references stating that force crystals are colored, not clear.) At the same time, I think clear crystals which turn red with the lighting gives more of a startling effect.


<div class='quotetop'>(JunkSabers1138 @ Aug 17 2006, 12:27 AM) [snapback]1301847[/snapback]</div>

Nice job so far. Can't wait to see all THREE cut-aways ( :eek THREE. Most have trouble with just ONE.) and the fourth complete saber completed.
[/b]

Well, I figured that with the enormous amount of effort a cutaway takes to complete, doing several at the same time would be practical (I may as well cut up 3 "graflex tubes" and prep a ton of parts while I've got the tools out. This way I have more than one spare if I should screw something up and the other two can find be shuffled off to the you-know-what if needed.

I'm currently focusing on getting the exteriors done (shrouds, control boxes) and I gave the parts a coat of Plasticote satin black yesterday. I also picked up all the electronics for the lighting and I found some real nice cable-protection tube to "hide" the wiring in.

 

[MaddChinaMan]

Wow nice job cant wait to it finished.

 

[JOATRASH FX]

Small update. Here's a snapshot of a bunch of loose parts I am using.

You can see the rough unfinished shrouds and control boxes to the right as well as shells for two cutaways. The greeblies shown are more or less what I need for one saber. I've got the boxes and shrouds finished now- just waiting for the paint to properly cure before I start weathering. (I also went out and bought a new piece of crystal today for the third cutaway. Gotta get some more tubing too.)

I expect to do some serious work on them this weekend, so I'll hopefully have another update soon.

/Joe F

 

[franz bolo]

Can you ID the parts???

Where did the cylindrical piece with the brass tubes come from?

 

[JOATRASH FX]

<div class='quotetop'>(franz bolo @ Aug 18 2006, 05:16 PM) [snapback]1302952[/snapback]</div>

Can you ID the parts???

Where did the cylindrical piece with the brass tubes come from?
[/b]

Well, so far I'm using parts from:

-old and new hard drives, CDROMS and disc drives
-classic motorcycle parts (70's Nortons)
-classic auto parts (60's Triumph)
-old air compressor parts
-lots of circuit boards
-vintage Texas Instruments calculator
-misc gears and stuff from unknown sources
-some kitbashed parts
-aluminum tubing (for the graflex replicas and interior)
-brass tubing
-copper tubing
-copper sheet
-sink drain parts (from a TK bucket)
-natural and artificial crystals
-bought electronics (led, wiring, resistors, switches and battery holders)
-styrene, wood and foam board (for the control boxes and shrouds)
-uh... and other stuff... waiting on some screws and stuff from ob1kenny

I'm betting Howard and other builders would agree here, that the actual gathering and preparation of usable parts is really tough. I've spent days just dismantling computers and cutting up circuit boards. Then you have to prep the parts so they don't look like they just came out of whatever it is they came out of. But hey, it's fun and relaxing.

The cylindrical piece ("main beam emitter housing") is a combination of hard drive parts (rings), a TK "mic tip", real "mountain crystal", old pro audio connector, vintage gearbox (or rear axel) washer, some kind of magnetic engine coil and brass tubing. It was actually the first thing I did after cutting up the graflex tubes and it took some puzzling to get it together.

The cool thing about fiddling with all these small, wierd parts is that you constantly get new ideas about how to use them.

/Joe F

 

[JOATRASH FX]

Hi all.

Well, I got a little further this weekend and here are the results. As you can see, I've added some more details and greeblies and started to make real progress on the "power box" in the rear which will hold the two AAA batteries that power the leds. Most of the parts in these pictures are only "dry fitted"- they're not glued down yet, so some things are a little crooked.

Here are some "raw" pics of different parts. First up WIP tubes, one cutaway and the regular hilt.

Here are a couple of control box tests. I'll be using the one on the left for the first cutaway.

I just discovered a cool way to "age" circuit boards by working them over them with a brass dremel-brush. (The weathered ones are on the left... and the difference is more noticable in real life.)

Another side view.

Thanks for looking... and keep the comments and thoughts flowing.

/Joe F

 

[OdiWan72]

You´re a genius...just like Howard....

WOW :eek

Markus

 

[Drago Lordist]

gotta love the harddrive parts lmao I use them a lot too. especially those old 1Mg harddrives that have NO ROOM for even windows lol

 

[franz bolo]

Thanks for the info.

The saber is looking good..

FB

 

[Howard]

Now that's looking superb Joe. :thumbsup

You're right - so much time is taken up making the components look as though they should be part of the build, rather than just taken from somewhere else.
You've done an excellent job.

Howard.