Darth Vader square shroud dedicated stunt saber + Barbican

[eethan]

Interest thread is finally opened!
after months of work! can't believe I opened that thread and started the first parts in July last year!

Limited Run - Vader stunt sabers kits! Barbican, Severed hand and ANH square shroud version

Hello there, After months and months of work on those sabers prototypes to make sure everything was perfect, not counting the amount of work on my 3D model all along, I invite you to check out the WIP thread for details on the long pre-production for that run...

www.therpf.com

cheers guys, thank you for your support all along!

 

[orntar]

Truly great work!

 

[joberg]

Fantastic workmanship once again mon ami

 

[slothfurnace]

Howdy all! After a nice chat with eethan, I'm happy to announce I'm on board to do the Barbican clamp cards for this saber!
I've got some wonderfully detailed reference shots from an awesome and generous board member, and I'm proud to say I think I've nailed the circuit trace pattern for the front. The back trace pattern might be a little more difficult to nail as I think there's a detail on the back I need to shore up.

The weathering sample card in the photo above is not indicative of the final trace pattern, as it lacks the outer thick trace. I just weathered one of my Otis cards and spaced it out in the clamp to get a "how dark should this go" feeling.

I plan to get a batch of these made and make them available on my store page, will post when they come in.

*Edit, changed pic, because I noticed something in the reference I need to change on my back-facing trace pattern...

 

[eethan]

Howdy all! After a nice chat with eethan, I'm happy to announce I'm on board to do the Barbican clamp cards for this saber!
I've got some wonderfully detailed reference shots from an awesome and generous board member, and I'm proud to say I think I've nailed the circuit trace pattern for the front. The back trace pattern might be a little more difficult to nail as I think there's a detail on the back I need to shore up.

View attachment 1694515

The weathering sample card in the photo above is not indicative of the final trace pattern, as it lacks the outer thick trace. I just weathered one of my Otis cards and spaced it out in the clamp to get a "how dark should this go" feeling.

I plan to get a batch of these made and make them available on my store page, will post when they come in.

*Edit, changed pic, because I noticed something in the reference I need to change on my back-facing trace pattern...

Hey! thank you for posting this
the weathering sample looks awesome! i'm really looking forward to see the actual trace pattern and final boards, this is going to be awesome, being able to add an accurate paterned card to the Barbican replicas, thank you so much

just a thought, thanks to my 3D model that is matched on so many references, i have normally a pretty accurate size of the card if you need to know. That being said, even if the cards are too wide, I guess it will be easy enough for people to sand them down a bit

 

[eethan]

Hey guys, just posted studio photos of the first prototype hilt assembled, the square shroud version. I did this one clean and idealized as it was for a friend that wanted it that way, I hope you like it!

all photos can be seen on the project run thread:

Interest - Vader stunt sabers kits! Barbican, Severed hand and ANH square shroud version

Hey there, here are studio photos of the assembled square shroud prototype :-) This one was painted clean and idealized as my friend asked me that way. Barbican and Severed hand will be weathered. I hope you like it! shroud amazingly cleanly painted by my wife Wonder Knight, I can do Star Wars...

www.therpf.com

 

[JoeSheep]

This could very well be common knowledge, but with this run taking off, I decided to look around and try to see if I could spot the square shroud version of the prop anywhere on screen in ANH. From everything I had read on here, it sounded like it must have been used, but every image I ever saw was from BTS. Well, I’ve settled this for myself now at least. Screenshot is taken from right after Han’s line “just hope the old man got the tractor beam out of commission,” and I believe eethan has found some more.

 

[eethan]

Thank you JoeSheep for bringing that up, it's pretty cool and it also motivated me to look as well, and yes, I think I have identified the square shroud in almost 50% of the shots from that fight I can always be wrong in some instances, but it's pretty clear it was actually used in the movie

the only close up from the fight! we can't really see the square, but the emiter is super thick, Vader is holding it like he is usually holding the square shroud, and it has a black clamp that is not the case on the shared stunt! I hope I'm not wrong on this because that makes it a saber seen in close up and it's pretty cool

the scene that JoeSheep identified:

here, unclear as well, but to me, the way he holds it looks like the square shroud

pretty cool!
cheers

 

[blewis17]

Watching the original Star Wars countless times back in 1977, looking at the comics and toys and TV commercials... we noticed NONE of this. To the point that I didn't even WONDER: "gee, what does Vader's saber hilt look like? Is it different from the others?!"

My friends at school NEVER mentioned it.
Nope.
Wasn't on our radar at all.
A lightsaber was a flashlight handle with a laser beam sticking out of it.

In fact, there were knock-off sabers for sale at my local Lionel Playworld (RIP) in the late 1970s that were a flashlight handle with a plastic white tube attached (strongly resembling a golf club sleeve), and a circular gel disc that would lay over the lightbulb and give the "saber" tubing its color. Had one of these myself. I remember there being various colors, it was marketed as a generic "laser sword"

Below is a GREAT article on the early knock-off light saber toys that flooded the market back then.

Turn On Your Force Light: The Great Knock-Off Lightsaber Wave of 1977-78


I did have the official Kenner version, which was... a black flashlight handle with an inflatable yellow blade. The toy included extra vinyl repair kit to patch the holes you were certain to get in the blade.

 

[dcarty]

Right??!! I have a "Force Beam" in my collection too.

 

[eethan]

I guess I should also post those photos here!! sorry!
almost finished Barbican prototype, extremely happy with the result, all those months of research and work are finally paying off
last day to register on the interest thread as well

 

[joberg]

B.U.T.FUL

 

[eethan]

Hey guys,
final photos of the Barbican prototype, with the little plastruct parts added and the brass bracket painted black and weathered.
Just need to replace the temp activation card by Slothfurnace's when he releases it
I hope you like it

 

[lesternessman]

Awesome work, sir! Nicely done.

 

[Halliwax]

Hey guys,
final photos of the Barbican prototype, with the little plastruct parts added and the brass bracket painted black and weathered.
Just need to replace the temp activation card by Slothfurnace's when he releases it
I hope you like it
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Phenomenal

 

[joberg]

Un taf du tonnere mon ami

 

[Dann]

Great job on this!

 

[eethan]

thank you guys!

here are the final photos of the Severed hand version
I forgot to paint the bubbles silver though!

couple photos of the two brothers together:

and a couple montages of the 3 sabers next to each other!

Doing those 3 sabers at the same time is definitely a huge challenge but I'm super happy and proud of the result and it's awesome to see the 3 of those together. And I'm super excited and happy to offer that possibility to you guys as well!
cheers

 

[slothfurnace]

Hey all! Good news, the cards came in early and I’m doing some weathering and soldering tests today. I’ll take some more photos this afternoon but in this shot, from left to right are: Vintage Finish side A, Vintage Finish side B, Silver Soldered side A and Plain.

The toughest part of this is making sure the silver solder on the thin traces doesn’t come all the way to the thick traces, and that they stop flat and even in the right spot according to the reference.

These should be ready to go for the saber run!

 

[eethan]

Awesome, awesome, awesome!! Thank you!