ESB Bladed Stunt Graflex Lightsaber "The Core!"

[Mouse Vader]

My tape is glass bead type ala scotchlite. It's shiny plastic.Tip of the golf stick is 9mm diam. Full length single strip. I ordered white, it's a silver grey in normal light. I'm impressed with it & it's cheep. I don't have any scotchlite tape or fabric to compare it with, too expensive for my 1st steps in Lightsabery.

ALLEY, I've hear Mark H state in interview that they used movie screen material = scotchlite. I've also discovered that DV's blade in ANH at least was painted (se my thread on this} while I'm sure OB1's was fabric covered. I think you're right for the BTS photo's that the dark marks could well be missing paint. By ROTJ I understand that all this reflective stuff had stopped. Kurtyboy informed me in a pm that scotchlite did make a reflective paint to put on a wall to make a projector screen, they no longer do.

 

[Halliwax]

I don’t think the ANH blades were covered in fabric, we have pretty good pictures of them and they seem smooth

 

[Mouse Vader]

Why would a fabric covered blade not look smooth? That is scotchlite glued onto a core.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

This video is now kinda bogus isn’t it? Since roger didn’t work on ESB or RoTJ

He’s holding the ESB/RoTJ blades?

Uh, Roger is sort of the “Indiana Jones Of Prop History” I suppose.

“...I don’t know, I’m making this up as a go...”

 

[Captain Dunsel]

I keep thinking of how prop makers typically do their work while actually on a movie set with time being such a factor...go with what is fast, or take their time and work methodically?

They seem to move quick and dirty, as demanded, once onthe set, from what is described.

...rewrap the blades with tape constantly?
...glue actual material to the blades each time you replace them when they break?
...or, simply spray the blades each night with reflective paint for the next day’s shooting?

The production blades all look smooth to me and not wrapped with fraying material or with ratty tape hanging off, as would happen due to the wear and tear of dueling.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

Hmmmmm...

Go to the 4:37 mark here where Mark and then George talk about the blades.

Mark calls it “movie screen material”.

George then says “we rotated them with reflective tape ...that never really worked...so then we just used the sticks with reflective material on them...then as we got more proficient...we used swords that didn’t have the reflective material..”

 

[Mouse Vader]

I'm currently having a long pm conversation with Kurtyboy on this very subject. We're trying to get his motorised stunt in better shape & I'm trying to find the time to make one to test out what looks right when filmed & what doesn't. It's going to take some time though. I for one will post my theories & results when I can.

Does anyone know of anyone who's already done work on this apart from Kurtyboy.

At the moment I'm leaning to these: Lukes blade on the falcon as a square blade covered 2 sides ; everything else round, with DV's blade painted & OB1's fabric covered. I know you will want more detail & so do I but that takes work for which we need time in our busy lives. I'm confident that we have sufficient archive material & expertise to make some decent progress.

on that subject, hows your motorised stunt coming along Halliwax?

 

[thd9791]

Looking back at that "birth of the lightsaber" video yields some new observations from me

I've been focusing on ESB/ROTJ stunt sabers in this thread.

1) it appears the ANH stunt survived into ESB Practice, seen with the endcap and red button, and had fencing blade installed (promo shot set-up?)

2) the blades in the Bespin duel had some sort of reflective coating, DV blade shines when he rotates on the spot during practice between takes.

3) the dark blades are absolutely different from the thinner blades. Thinner ones flex and snap, but there are some dark blades that appear to be stiffer.

I've looked into snooker cues after Brandon mentioned it and after a small amount of searching: most break in the middle, leaving 2 halves that seem to be too short. digging deeper on that one...

 

[Captain Dunsel]

Looking back at that "birth of the lightsaber" video yields some new observations from me

I've been focusing on ESB/ROTJ stunt sabers in this thread.

1) it appears the ANH stunt survived into ESB Practice, seen with the endcap and red button, and had fencing blade installed (promo shot set-up?)

2) the blades in the Bespin duel had some sort of reflective coating, DV blade shines when he rotates on the spot during practice between takes.

3) the dark blades are absolutely different from the thinner blades. Thinner ones flex and snap, but there are some dark blades that appear to be stiffer.

I've looked into snooker cues after Brandon mentioned it and after a small amount of searching: most break in the middle, leaving 2 halves that seem to be too short. digging deeper on that one...

Do you mean the “classic 3 piece” model? The long piece looks spot-on to me...and the shorter part it threads into could be easily cut down and mounted as fairly solid chunk inside the Graflex and held in place by multiple socket head screws around the perimeter of the Graflex..a brilliant way to mount the blades and to swap them out easily.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

There are some 2 piece models but it is unclear whether the top piece is the length and diameter needed.

 

[thd9791]

Good eye, I was more looking at graphite and carbon sticks. solid wooden cues just don't feel right, after watching the footage

 

[Captain Dunsel]

Good eye, I was more looking at graphite and carbon sticks. solid wooden cues just don't feel right, after watching the footage

Interesting. Could something like this piece, then, be what is inside the Graflex (with the mounting screws drilled into it to keep it stationary), with the cue mounted to it and, therefore, being interchangeable?

I wonder...

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey ALLEY ! Neat find on the APX50! It's not easy finding dimensions on those, but a datasheet from another vendor with the same model name has the material listed as epoxy/ fiberglass laminate with metal parts of brass and stainless steel.

So, I get that they're military antennas and all, but just be careful if you decide to test its strength by whacking it on something. Epoxy chips, chunks or shards in the eye don't sound fun. But if it's the right diameter, it's gonna look the part for sure!

One source shows the serial number having a beginning of service date of 2006. It'd be interesting to research military antennas pre-1980. I don't think they have to have been WWII antennas specifically, but filming era correct would be a wicked find!

I'm looking forward to your antenna review!!!

 

[vadermania]

Do you mean the “classic 3 piece” model? The long piece looks spot-on to me...and the shorter part it threads into could be easily cut down and mounted as fairly solid chunk inside the Graflex and held in place by multiple socket head screws around the perimeter of the Graflex..a brilliant way to mount the blades and to swap them out easily.

View attachment 991609

The long piece looks very ANHish to me. Solid wooden stick, correct taper, perfectly round. Square milling, starting at about two inches from the base until the tip, after that the stick was painted with a reflective (scotchlite) paint, two sides were left blank or black tape strips were added. And voilá, Obi's stunt lightsaber blade was done.

 

[vadermania]

Looking back at that "birth of the lightsaber" video yields some new observations from me

I've been focusing on ESB/ROTJ stunt sabers in this thread.

1) it appears the ANH stunt survived into ESB Practice, seen with the endcap and red button, and had fencing blade installed (promo shot set-up?)

2) the blades in the Bespin duel had some sort of reflective coating, DV blade shines when he rotates on the spot during practice between takes.

3) the dark blades are absolutely different from the thinner blades. Thinner ones flex and snap, but there are some dark blades that appear to be stiffer.

I've looked into snooker cues after Brandon mentioned it and after a small amount of searching: most break in the middle, leaving 2 halves that seem to be too short. digging deeper on that one...

Some ESB stunt lightsaber blades were definitely coated with reflective paint.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

Hey ALLEY ! Neat find on the APX50! It's not easy finding dimensions on those, but a datasheet from another vendor with the same model name has the material listed as epoxy/ fiberglass laminate with metal parts of brass and stainless steel.

So, I get that they're military antennas and all, but just be careful if you decide to test its strength by whacking it on something. Epoxy chips, chunks or shards in the eye don't sound fun. But if it's the right diameter, it's gonna look the part for sure!

One source shows the serial number having a beginning of service date of 2006. It'd be interesting to research military antennas pre-1980. I don't think they have to have been WWII antennas specifically, but filming era correct would be a wicked find!

I'm looking forward to your antenna review!!!

I may be backing off of the antenna theory, the more I think about it.

I’m starting to lean more towards the blades having been some sort of plasma-energy at this point.

 

[Halliwax]

I think a big problem we have with this is..

We are getting facts from people who are NOT the actual creators of these props...

No disrespect to Hamill, but I don’t think he would be able to tell the different between blades...

He went on record stating he never filmed the cave scene either with the blinking light hero..

And George.. George couldn’t tell the difference between lightsabers.. so I doubt anything he says is facial as well.. “which one is yours?”

I think.. well we KNOW these stunts went threw many experiments..

And I think these experiment conversations trickled down on set, changed during filming so on and so on..

I don’t want to come off as a @$$ but you can’t tell me these blades are square...

Try taking a square dowel, spinning it around 800rpm then whacking it on something.. it doesn’t behave Or SOUND like what we are seeing and hearing...

I truly believe there was so many trials of different blades that there are many different stories..

If the blades were wrapped in movie screen material the process to make it so freak’n smooth would take forever..

These guys don’t have time for this.. there is a picture with obi wan and a wood blade and you can see where the tip is cracked.. if it were wrapped in fabric we wouldn’t see that..

Another thing to mention is...

Vader’s ANH stunt broke for some reason.. blade or motor.. something.. maybe they actually ran out of blades who knows but it broke..

They threw in Luke’s ANH stunt and everyone is saying Luke’s is a triangle-square blade.. you can’t tell me this is 3 sides, 4 sides ...it’s round

We have to stop looking with our minds and looking with our eyes.. sit back, forget what everything we read and heard and dissect the pictures.. too much outside information contaminates what you THINK you see

It’s too bad that actual creator has passed.. he may have shed some light on this for us..

But I believe

Blades are made of wood (that’s why none are around today)

Prop department experiment with wood blades (possibly square/3 sides)

Prop department experimented with fabric covered blades, chose painted material instead (we can see fencing swords covered in this material as well, and when they break they aren’t held together with movie screen fabric)

While on set these things could have not worked right and the panically tried something else.. this is why there are so many different stories

The stories could be true.. but it’s not what we see on screen, the prop department isn’t just 1 person so that’s another reason why the stories could be different, joe was in charge or painting blades and manny was in charge of covering them in movie screen material.. but it took to long to make manny’s blades so Joe’s version is what they went with

But manny tells a friend or in a interview what his job was and how he made it.. and even though he’s telling the truth, it never made it to the screen...

To end this long babbled out post.. I don’t believe square/triangle blades were used until I have better pictures..

Doesn’t make sense to me.. would take way too long to make, wouldn’t behave like we see on screen and I can’t see photographic proof...

And before you all start posting pictures of the blades, lol I’ve seen them I just can’t see the sailboat.. I’m sorry

 

[kurtyboy]

Oh jeez, I think we now have four current threads discussing details of the ANH blades!

 

[Halliwax]

Oh jeez, I think we now have four current threads discussing details of the ANH blades!

Its fun! Next we need a group video chat with popcorn, and M&M’s!!

 

[Halliwax]

Hmmmmm...

Go to the 4:37 mark here where Mark and then George talk about the blades.

Mark calls it “movie screen material”.

George then says “we rotated them with reflective tape ...that never really worked...so then we just used the sticks with reflective material on them...then as we got more proficient...we used swords that didn’t have the reflective material..”

I think George is more on key in this video.. I remember reading there was movie screen tape. 3m scotchlite, which theaters would use to patch rips in the movie screen

Living next to one of the nastiest dirtiest cities in Massachusetts I distinctly remember being a kid and seeing all the patches in the movie screen with the tape lines..

When playing with my 3m tape, the stuff falls off and got all over me. Let me see if I can find the pic

This would also explain the dust we see, because it comes off pretty easily