Darth Vader square shroud dedicated stunt saber + Barbican

[eethan]

Hello everyone,

I have been searching quite a bit for infos on that saber in the past few days but can't find anything on this, not even where I found the pictures I have saved on my computer.
I have always loved that saber with the very weird square shroud and would love to reproduce it one of these days.
Does anyone know more about this, how we refer to it in the community, have more photos?

I'm also wondering if we have an idea on the flash they used? the small black thing DV has his thumb on reminds me of the Heiland flash but I can't be sure.

thanks a lot!

 

[E Williams]

This is the ANH Vader motorized stunt lightsaber, which later became what is referred to as the “Barbican” lightsaber. Here’s the thread you’re looking for

ANH Vader Stunt Lightsaber

Edits: 12/22 The Barbican was used heavily in ESB as a fencing stunt. The motor was taken out and it was drilled out for a solid core. Screws and T track were put on In Jedi it was molded for Vaders severed hand and rotocast. The emitter shroud which was square for 2 movies, was finally cut...

www.therpf.com

 

[joberg]

Ah yes; that famous saber

 

[eethan]

Oh really? they turned down the shroud to make the Barbican?! damn.
alright, so, if that is the case that will simplify a lot doing an accurate 3D model since the references for the barbican are so good, thank you!

here was a first model I tried to match to the very poor refs, I'll just start again from the Barbican then, that will be much much easier!

 

[eethan]

I do have to say that I'm sorry though because I completely forgot to look at the lightsaber bible, and now that I remembered about it, I see that everything is listed there!
I'll have a better read at that and the Barbican thread and come back here with an updated model!

 

[Poikilotherm]

I made a Barbican lightsaber, but mine wasn't accurate enough. I think thd9791 has a lot of knowledge about Barbican lightsaber research! But I currently think the Barbican lightsaber is the biggest Vader stunt lightsaber I've ever seen........

 

[thd9791]

haha yes I have some, there are a couple other folks who know a lot more, not sure if they want to be badgered so I’ll let them read this and decide themselves.

What I know is that this is a scratch made item, made around the same time as the Obi Wan cast stunts. Tube, pommel ring and emitter shroud, internal aluminum bushings to hold the motor and bearings, etc.

We know there were bushings because this saber was gutted and filled with the same type of aluminum slug that’s in the Vader saber with bolts all over it. That was the blade system in ESB and Jedi. Pommel still was an empty ring, shroud still square in ESB

The emitter shroud was carved down and the pommel plugged with another new piece of aluminum at least for molding and casting for the Vader severed hand prop during Jedi, some greeblies were swapped out, but it kept the cute little piece of T track. The shroud was just held on with grub screws, and I don’t think it was always put on the same way by accident.

The core was taken out, I think it shows up in the Roger Christian video with the blade still attached, and two of the 4 bolt holes were plugged with some plastic plastruct bits. The other two were left empty but they put a different short core in there to plug the mouth of the saber. It can slide around and it might be brass, I have no idea where it comes from or anything, it’s a solid donut so it probably wasn’t from the motorized days.

 

[eethan]

alright, this is interesting

I'll go back to my 3D model now but I wanted to ask if anyone was planning to do a run of this. If anyone has this already in the works and tell me, I'll just back out I guess. If not, I would love to do a run of emiter, body tube and end piece as I love that square stunt saber

(this is obviously not an interest thread, please don't take it as one as the mods really don't like that.)

 

[eethan]

alright, still early work obviously, but knowing that this is indeed the barbican makes it so much easier to model!
I started working on the whole saber and trying to match it to several photos already. still a lot to improve but it's already looking nice

from there, it will be easy to get back to the square shroud:

cheers

 

[thd9791]

Wow!!! Nice work

If it helps, the carving seems to have been done by hand, the transition on the left and right side are different lol

Model looks fantastic, I have measurements of the mystery piece behind the shroud from a physical collectible item I own

 

[eethan]

Wow!!! Nice work

If it helps, the carving seems to have been done by hand, the transition on the left and right side are different lol

Model looks fantastic, I have measurements of the mystery piece behind the shroud from a physical collectible item I own

yes, thanks for bringing that to attention, seems like one side in angled, the one we have more references of and that I based my model on:

and I seem to see that the other side has a straighter cut, but I don't have great references from that side. If someone has better references, that would be great, and if we have clear evidence, I can reproduce the assymetric look no problem!

and here on the cast version:

 

[thd9791]

I would absolutely say the cast and the first photo are the best references. It even looks like there is more flat area on the side with the straight cut!

 

[eethan]

I would absolutely say the cast and the first photo are the best references. It even looks like there is more flat area on the side with the straight cut!

yes absolutely! I'll match that on my 3D model

 

[eethan]

Hello guys,
here is an update on the 3D model and perspective match getting closer and closer on 4 photos
we have pretty good refs for this saber so I'm going to be pretty confident about the model when all is matching
I haven't addressed the assymetrical shroud yet, I have focused on adding more parts and moving around the cameras and different parts to get much closer on a good model and camera match

I am not yet 100% sure about all the grips, a whole side is perfectly matched as they are visible in all photos, but there are 3 that end up really close to each other at the top here and I need to find another good ref where those grips are seen to be able to check if this is correct or not:

what else?
- I have no idea what to do for the core of the square shroud version, I don't have any refs for that. i don't know if I just put a longer aluminium core inside with a hole in the center like the Barbican of if we have a better idea?

- this is the best ref I have of the front end of the Barbican, it's blurry, is there any other ref that I don't know of?

- same for the back, i'm not yet clear on all the details as the only ref I have is this and it's a bit blurry too:

- I always assumed that there was MPP clamps replica readily available but I checked today and realized that is not necessarily true. Roman doesn't have them it seems. TCSS are not completely accurate and I haven't found others. I'm not planning to do clamp replicas, is there somewhere that sells good replicas that i'm missing, or can Roman maybe help with some individual clamps as his replica is really good?

that's it for now, I'm just going to continue to refine the model and cameras until I get a really accurate model.
I have placed an order for a bunch of aluminium for other projects and to prototype this (and bronze to test for the core!), I hope I can start prototyping on this pretty soon, it's exciting

don't hesitate to chime in for anything, especially the things I listed that i'm not yet clear about

cheers

 

[eethan]

I just realized already that I placed the missing grip randomly at the time and that there are the screw holes for this one visible on several photos, so i'll place this one correctly, it's simply at 12 o'clock (6 o'clock actually on my model with the grips seen from the front)... but I still need to find betters photos for the 2 or 3 grips that are too close on one side.

 

[dcarty]

To chime in about MPP clamp replicas, I've tried TCSS, JediQuartermaster, and Roman's, and I think you've seen the best of what is currently available. Roman's is the most accurate/best made, IMO. I have my quibble with Roman's that, in my opinion, the metal that his manufacturers use is a little thin compared to an original clamp that I have. That said, it could be that the thickness of metals varied as much as the MPP flashes did themselves.

My personal favorite is the Parks replica but, of course, those are long gone. The Parks is very slightly thicker than my vintage clamp but doesn't look as anemic as newer options and looks to be a good match to the clamps we see on the Barbican and ESB Hero.

My $.02

Dave C

 

[eethan]

To chime in about MPP clamp replicas, I've tried TCSS, JediQuartermaster, and Roman's, and I think you've seen the best of what is currently available. Roman's is the most accurate/best made, IMO. I have my quibble with Roman's that, in my opinion, the metal that his manufacturers use is a little thin compared to an original clamp that I have. That said, it could be that the thickness of metals varied as much as the MPP flashes did themselves.

My personal favorite is the Parks replica but, of course, those are long gone. The Parks is very slightly thicker than my vintage clamp but doesn't look as anemic as newer options and looks to be a good match to the clamps we see on the Barbican and ESB Hero.

My $.02

Dave C

thank you for the input, it's much appreciated.
doesn't JediQuartermaster just sell TCSS parts?
if there are only those 3 options, only Roman's is accurate in finish and black bars. I might try to contact him and see if he has a secret stash of clamps or something like that, hopefully I'll get an answer!

 

[dcarty]

thank you for the input, it's much appreciated.
doesn't JediQuartermaster just sell TCSS parts?
if there are only those 3 options, only Roman's is accurate in finish and black bars. I might try to contact him and see if he has a secret stash of clamps or something like that, hopefully I'll get an answer!

You could be right about TCSS and JQ. I was going to mention that, from having them in hand, it looked like they were possibly sourced from the same manufacturer but wasn't sure how far out on that limb I wanted to go, lol.

Maybe Roman can order some extras next time he places a PO with his manufacturer?

DC

 

[eethan]

You could be right about TCSS and JQ. I was going to mention that, from having them in hand, it looked like they were possibly sourced from the same manufacturer but wasn't sure how far out on that limb I wanted to go, lol.

Maybe Roman can order some extras next time he places a PO with his manufacturer?

DC

it's a bit confusing because TCSS photo of the clamp is very dull and it's enven mentioned in the description. but the photo on JQ's website is shiny black. but he has mostly TCSS parts in his shop so I was thinking they were the same. In any case, Roman would still be the better option as his are more accurate and also have black bars

 

[thd9791]

On the saber, you’re doing tremendously.

There is a missing grip today, with two little holes near the end cap… my theory is that one is for the grip and one is the grub screw for the pommel ring. The pommel today.. has a plastruct part glued to the center, the black dot, and the whole center is new metal. Let me show you