DL-44 ESB Blaster Discussion - Greeblies POST 208

thd9791 im always game to talk these blasters. Anyone who’s gotten to know me knows my obsession with getting these OT DL-44’s as insanely accurate as possible. I’m not sure exactly what part we are talking about here though? Are u talking the mystery knob or the spacer in behind the mount. There the thicker bronze spacer then a smaller disk that’s “silver”, the mount itself and on the front another disk (that somehow housed the mystery knob)

Here’s that full pic by the way..
867ACEC7-CE4C-4352-AB60-E06AB086EEA1.jpeg
 
Spacer my man! It looks yellow sometimes, bronze today and silver in that shot you posted. Could be gunk but the weird screw things on the other side make me think there's still an option of it being a found part.
 
Has anyone thought to attempt color balancing to match these multiple shots of, obviously, the same prop?

For instance, we all know Han's jacket is a Dark Blue, right?! j/k!

Spacer my man! It looks yellow sometimes, bronze today and silver in that shot you posted. Could be gunk but the weird screw things on the other side make me think there's still an option of it being a found part.
 
Spacer my man! It looks yellow sometimes, bronze today and silver in that shot you posted. Could be gunk but the weird screw things on the other side make me think there's still an option of it being a found part.

Lol that’s what I thought u ment. My bad!

I do think it’s a gold/bronze for what it’s worth. In fact mortifactor was kind enough to share what he learned by seeing this actual film prop on display first hand. He did mentioned it was bronze in color when he saw it in person.
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As far as what it originated from.. I’m guess it was scratch built but honestly idk?? Here is a collection of some close up pics I’ve gathered over the years. You can see somewhat of the spacer..
AB0CA5C6-40F5-4AED-BF32-C198C785F045.jpeg
 
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Ya. Remember there is two parts there and one is actually silver so maybe it plays tricks? Kind of blends in together on some shots maybe?
 
Looks like copper to me. Seeing that it catches the eye pretty unpleasantly, I wouldn't put it past Lucas to have a detail like this changed in post back in the day. It would have been simple enough to do, and he's since shown a propensity for tweaking much smaller things than this.
 
Definitely. Are we thinking that the shot you posted has bad color in the film, turning the spacer gray?
View attachment 1305650View attachment 1305651


Sorry I should also mention that that specific picture is taken from a 35mm print of the original released version of EMPIRE. That alone might have a lot to do with the color that is seen. I’m sure that print was a well used one by the time it was scanned. It probably had faded quite a bit and maybe that’s why it appears grey?

Edit: just went back. The screen grab wasn’t from the above print but from an HD copy. So disregard the above..
 
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This literally looks like a cross section of copper pipe that someone jammed between the scope mount and the Mauser, likely to give it more grip/stop it from rotating given that these mounts were mounted with a single screw, weren't they? I have experience with color correction for film and I'm telling you there's no way that that whole image would look the way it does while that one piece changes from copper to grey. Not from simple color correction, that is. It's likely that this was either just a different piece not present on the blaster seen in the photos, or it was painted over in post.
 
Yeah, I really think Lucas probably had that piece painted over grey in post. It makes sense because he's holding the blaster still in that first shot, and the part would be noticeable there even without pausing. I believe that they'd skip the process in the latter shot because it's tedious and it looks like that part only becomes visible for a split second as he's moving the blaster. How else is it explained? Just think of some of the ridiculous things he changed with the special editions (tweaking the skyline on Tattooine?). These kinds of touchups are very commonplace and this one actually makes sense ... I do think that bright piece being there is pretty distracting.
 
My girlfriend posed with my Hoth Blaster to help me here. I still don't understand what I'm seeing, my eyes are playing tricks on me.

I think I see a bump with the same weathering as the knob, on our side of the disc (the camera)

I keep trying to gauge how far away from the edge of the mount it is, so I took a picture from 5 ish feet away and at a similar angle. Does this help anyone?
View attachment 1012995

You know, the spacer here is very gray too. And by those shots #2 and #3 looks like the height of that black knob is very short indeed
 
Ya it could be very short but that pic is also on an angle so it’s hard to see. The length might be hidden by the mount itself because of the angle? But hard to tell obviously for sure. It could be something as simple as a cap glued on..
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Sorry I should also mention that that specific picture is taken from a 35mm print of the original released version of EMPIRE. That alone might have a lot to do with the color that is seen. I’m sure that print was a well used one by the time it was scanned. It probably had faded quite a bit and maybe that’s why it appears grey?

Edit: just went back. The screen grab wasn’t from the above print but from an HD copy. So disregard the above..


Edit: I removed this memory of the exhibition as a better description was written at the date of the exhibition in 2017. Don't want to confuse issues.

I can barely remember now, only trust the original postings I made right after I saw it years ago. I've forgotten most of it apart from a few main points (not a thorens disc!!111!!!!!!!)

It was tagged 'Lucas Museum of Narrative Art' - hopefully it is on display again somewhere soon.
 
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My memory of seeing it in person is quite hazy now, but I think I posted that it kind of resembled a coated metal kind of goldish/copperish hue, like how wood screws are coated. I lack the knowledge to articulate it (coating name, whether it is a common or probable coating for pipe or bar stock etc). Maybe it even was copper? Not sure now.

I can barely remember now, only trust the original postings I made right after I saw it years ago. I've forgotten most of it apart from a few main points (not a thorens disc!!111!!!!!!!)

It was tagged 'Lucas Museum of Narrative Art' - hopefully it is on display again somewhere soon.
Yep! I know the "look" - at the tine you definitely said you saw two pieces under that bracket, i cant find the link
 
thd9791

“-The spacer is made from 2 things. An approx 8mm brass thing, straight edges. Ontop of this is some silvery metal thats about 2mm thick. They are identical diameters and are about 2.5mm wider in diameter than the thorens above.

-Actually, the thinner spacer component looked the same thickness as the thorens but was 2.5mm (ish) wider.“

mortifactor Hopefully you don’t mind me quoting you here.
 
This may have come up before, but this has been in my watched items on eBay for some time now: Thorens TD 124 bronze bearing end cap thrust plate 6 mm Fund in Bronze td1 124 | eBay
Could there have been two thicknesses from different Thorens players sitting in someones' junk box?

I can't dispute this, but the issue with anything Thorens is that the initial 'Thorens' piece was identified (in a post documented here) from a photo (in the same post) depicting the blaster, post production, and in the same condition as it was witnessed in the exhibition.

It person, this piece clearly was not a Thorens disc. Therefore, there is no connection between anything Thorens and this prop. It was a mis-association. However, this association still continues even after the initial identification was disproven. I don't believe there is a reason for that association to continue.

If it is in fact a bronze Thorens piece underneath, it is quite a coincidence. It is worth a try, 'if the shoe fits', afterall.



chubsANDdoggers
“-The spacer is made from 2 things. An approx 8mm brass thing, straight edges. Ontop of this is some silvery metal thats about 2mm thick. They are identical diameters and are about 2.5mm wider in diameter than the thorens above.

-Actually, the thinner spacer component looked the same thickness as the thorens but was 2.5mm (ish) wider.“


Also to note, I refered to the disc on the outside of the bracket as a 'thorens' often in my posts (like above), these comments were written before I realised it wasn't one and specifically went back to check and disprove it was a thorens. So that would be the same thickness as the 'not-thorens' (which is thicker than a thorens, and not stamped) and 2.5mm wider than the 'not-thorens' haha! It's like algebra.

I guess if I were replicating this now, I'd just go for brass (or an identical looking kind of bronze). Trust the things I wrote at the time over memory!
 
Yep! I know the "look" - at the tine you definitely said you saw two pieces under that bracket, i cant find the link
Hey, I deleted that memory about the 'coating' as it just didn't make a lot of sense after re-reading what I initially wrote. Take it with a pinch of salt. I never made a replica of this blaster so a lot of the details have slipped my mind now.

Although, ironically I moved to the city and can now see the event venue that hosted the exhibition every time I look out my window.
 
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