Foundry Cast Count Dooku Lightsaber: WIP Scratch-Build

[PoopaPapaPalps]

This is a little project I've had in the background for a while now. I don't know where it's documented but the real prop for AotC is purported to be metal. After having made my Palpatine hilts this way, I thought I'd complete my PT set with Dooku's (there isn't a metal Hero of Darth Maul's and I'm fully happy with that). I say this all the time, the best thing about AotC is this hilt and the seismic charge sound fx, that's it.

I wish I took more photos of the process but such things slip away from me while I just actually make the thing. As all my casting projects go, it all starts with a sculpt. The knuckle joint and the main grip section were made from PVC and Apoxie Sculpt, and the curved foregrip area is just Apoxie Sculpt and sintra where it parts.

If the Hero AotC were metal, there are two ways I think it could go: either the thing was cast for the majority of the parts, or it was made with aluminium tubes. After going with casting, as I've already have the materials and experience with it, I honestly wish I had the tooling and resources to make this from aluminium tubes and round stock! It took a goofy number of attempts at casting to get decent casts to work on. Had they been tubes, I wouldn't have had to worry about warping. I didn't split the knuckle and grip sections because had I cut down the middle, the casts would've turned out even more oblong and wonky as metal casts tend to pinch at the seams when cooled.

This is where it currently stands. The emitter was the last part I made as it was the last bit of similar-sized roundbar I had, and I'm currently waiting for more to arrive so I can make the pommel, pommel bridge, grip ring and prong. The emitter took a heck of a time to cut down as I can only do things manually on my little bench lathe.

Plans for the immediate future are brass buttons in the knuckle and, possibly, bronze cap in the emitter/foregrip sections just for some subtle color variation.

 

[scarf man]

I’ve never been interested much in the prequel stuff, but I respect the heck out of the artistry you’re going for on this project. Tip of the cap sir.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Oh, there's still a long ways to go yet, scarf man. We'll see exactly just how well it turns out in the end. Having my luck, I'm sure I'll biff something along the way.

 

[scarf man]

Oh, there's still a long ways to go yet, scarf man. We'll see exactly just how well it turns out in the end. Having my luck, I'm sure I'll biff something along the way.

You’ll do fine, remember to take some more pictures along the way.

 

[Media Man]

Absolutely incredible, can't wait to see what you'll turn it into!

 

[eethan]

Very cool! thanks for sharing

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Got my extra materials in recently and I'm lining up the remaining component parts to be machined. Today was spent machining the "ring" that connects the foregrip and the main grip and adjusting the cast parts to fit. The casts parts, being what they are, don't fit perfectly with something fully machined from stock, but getting it fitting 'well enough' is enough of a milestone for me. I may have cut it just a little smaller than it needs to be, as the profile of the prong needs to sit flush with it, and I think I flipped the profile by mistake (as it was done mostly from memory). I think I'll try doing some more to get it to spec but, overall, I'm pretty happy with it. If it doesn't fully satisfy me in the immediate future, I can just cut another.

This is where the hilt sits now for the moment. I like having these little bits on either ends just to better visualize the final goal.

Tomorrow, I'll be sorting the pommel and, soon after that, the pommel block that connects the pommel to the knuckle. Once I have those pieces, I'll see about doing a dry fitting by joining the ends of each segment together with some threaded rods. Once that's done, I'm left to figure how to mill the channel running the length of the emitter to the knuckle without completely botching the whole thing. In my thinking, I believe the prong served a more practical purpose on the real prop instead of the "counterbalance" reason for its existence. Simply: it's there to keep the individual segments from twisting loose.

 

[Eruonen]

This is so cool

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Still slowly adding to this project. It slowed a bit as I'm really not wanting to make any major mistakes that will have me recasting parts again, so I'm making doubly sure that everything I do is well thought out. It's measure six times and cut once for me, at the moment. Some examples exist in the few photos here.

I machined a, what I consider, better transition ring between the main and foregrip pieces and two different pommels. I had a hard time reconciling that the pommel on the hilt is just a solid puck of metal. A proportionately large one, at that. It doesn't seem as goofy in photos or in the movie as it does in individual pieces laid out separately. I made one more "idealized" pommel, and another as accurate to both the prop and my hilt's measurements. I think the idealized one looks better, more modest and looks more in line with the proportions of the rest of the hilt, but my scrutinous nature just couldn't let me commit fully to that change. The pommel 'block,' the square piece that bridges the pommel and knuckle joint, was more straight-forward. I needed one and cut it from my stock 3in round bar.

This is where it is at the moment. I'm working on doing mock-up's for the 'prong' that runs the length of my replica and finagling it here and there to get it to suit my hilt's silhouette, and get closer to the production prop. I didn't take another photo, but I tinkered on this styrene cut out of the prong even further, after taking this photo, so it more resembles the proper shape. I'm very adamant about keeping this prop within the specs listed by Propstore about the Hero hilt made for RotS (within 13" in length). If I could just futz with anything and be happy about it, I would have the prong extend just a bit further.

Next on the docket is drilling and tapping the segment ends to fit together, and milling channels for the prong and pommel block. The latter of which I have great trepidations about doing.

 

[thd9791]

friend of mine sent me this, he was picking through replica lightsaber parts and said some casts of real things might be scattered in there.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

friend of mine sent me this, he was picking through replica lightsaber parts and said some casts of real things might be scattered in there.

Send me the prong and trigger button.

 

[thd9791]

Send me the prong and trigger button.

Exactly what I was thinking, I don’t have a timeframe he’s real hit or miss.. but that’s the plan lol

 

[Media Man]

Any updates on your build?

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Any updates on your build?

Not much work, I'm afraid. Just small incremental changes to fix tolerances and the like. I've not had much time to really do anything major on it as of late. I want to get all the stuff I'm really unsure about on the parts addressed before I start drilling irreparable holes into the thing. I think I'm at a good place to start but I'll be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive about some things I've got lined up to do.

 

[thd9791]

Have we been able to find any screws in the prong that runs the length of the handle? Or is that **** just glued in, cause that seems like a bad choice lol

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Have we been able to find any screws in the prong that runs the length of the handle? Or is that **** just glued in, cause that seems like a bad choice lol

This is something I've been thinking about; the placement of any screws to lock everything together. The listing for the Gillard RotS chromed resin hero auctioned by Propstore said the prong was sympathetically restored back into the hilt for auction, so I'm assuming glue was used for the resin hilts.

For my metal hilt, the only spots I can think of putting screws into the thing to hold the prong to the hilt is in the main grip section, under the rubber grip on the 'back' of the hilt. I'm thinking of putting two screws in there that fasten the prong to that piece, and maybe one more screw in the foregrip under the bronze/brass 'hump' connecting the emitter and foregrip. The only issue is figuring a way to mechanically fasten that hump after the prong. I may just drop that idea entirely.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

A very minor update to the project: the separate parts are finally threaded all together. I knew it was a matter of time before I messed something up and it turned out to be the threading of these pieces that did me in. Being that all but the emitter is cast metal, nothing lined up and finding center between 3 wonky, oblong, and misshapen parts was much more finicky than I had anticipated, and I took my sweet time as a result working every kink out as best I could.

I had to recut the holes to thread it all together a number of times. I had initially wanted to use a spare 5/16 threaded rod I had, but completely botched tapping and threading every part from the knuckle up. Nothing was aligned. 5/16 is used in the knuckle to fit to the main grip, but either ends of the curved foregrip is tapped with an m12 thread on the face connecting to the main grip, and an m16 thread connecting the face to the emitter. Both ends are then fitted with reducing adapters to mate sections of m8 threaded rod. It took so much finessing trying to find center of these pieces, and incrementally adjusting thread depths so that all the pieces would tighten and orient themselves properly, then shaving areas down to either mimic details of the prop or adjust specific areas to better align. The knuckle was one such part that needed to be shaved down in diameter to replicate the step between the main grip and knuckle that the real prop has.

I also had to mill a more inclined angle to better mate and replicate the curve of the emitter to the prong. That was giving me real troubles as to why my prong design, though nearly completely replicating the real prop's shape, wasn't matching the angle to the emitter.

Now, it's all properly locked together and the tolerances of each seam is nice and tight. I daren't take it apart fully for fear I mess something up again and it not aligning properly after. The knuckle not so much, but the grips and the emitter areas I want to leave as much in place as possible. You can see in the photo below just where I want to cut the space for the pommel block and using that as a sight line to center the prong channel that cuts through the upper elements. I'm incredibly nervous about tackling that. I spent a good amount of time recently aligning my mill so it cuts perfectly straight along the x-axis just to prepare for this. I don't know when I'll get around to doing that but that's the step after I figure out the pommel and block details.

One further thing to note is that this has a very good weight to now; it feels right in the hand. With the remaining pommel and accompanying block and the prong added, this thing is going to be fairly heavy once those things are attached. The heaviest hilts I own are my ANH Kenobi hilt and my bronze Palpy Hero, and this thing is going to join their ranks once it's all said and done.