Graflex Completion

[Studio Stasis]

Hey guys, I have an almost complete Graflex and its the only replica saber in my collection. It came to me with no grips and a D ring. I want to know what you guys think is the best source for those. I am really confused as to how the grips go on because some of the sabers seem to have them glued on while others look screwed on. I have no idea how to tap screws and id be sure to mess that up if I attempted it.
Would Blastech be the place for a kit of grips? Does anyone have spare grips and a D ring theyd like to sell? I want to complete the saber because its been sitting for 2 years incompleted. I just dont want to mess it up because I have very little knowledge on how to finish it. I also dont know if I want it to be ANH or ESB. I guess I need to see the differences to know.

Josh

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

To learn the differences between the ANH and ESB sabers, check out www.partsofsw.com
The ANH saber had grips glued on and the ESB saber had grips either screwed or riveted down.

I think that the easiest saber to build would be an ANH saber.

Blast-tech grips have an adhesive backing, you simply remove the paper on the back of them and stick them down on the saber. The d-ring is afixed to the bottom of the saber by drilling holes in the bottom of the saber and then ether screwing the d-ring on or rivoting it on.

I would suggest you rivot it on. This is quite easy, you just need to get a pop rivot gun and some rivots from Home Depot, Lowes, or B&Q.

Good luck

Dan

 

[jcoffman99]

<div class='quotetop'>(animetronic @ Aug 7 2006, 04:14 PM) [snapback]1295680[/snapback]</div>

Hey guys, I have an almost complete Graflex and its the only replica saber in my collection. It came to me with no grips and a D ring. I want to know what you guys think is the best source for those. I am really confused as to how the grips go on because some of the sabers seem to have them glued on while others look screwed on. I have no idea how to tap screws and id be sure to mess that up if I attempted it.
Would Blastech be the place for a kit of grips? Does anyone have spare grips and a D ring theyd like to sell? I want to complete the saber because its been sitting for 2 years incompleted. I just dont want to mess it up because I have very little knowledge on how to finish it. I also dont know if I want it to be ANH or ESB. I guess I need to see the differences to know.

Josh
[/b]

I just did my first conversion as well. I got the parts from Blast -tech. Tapping the screws is very very easy. I have NO talent with anything like this and was able to do it. When they send you the parts, they give you a piece of paper that tells you the exact tap size. All I did was go to the hardware store and give them the paper. They found the tools (only a couple bucks) and told me how to do it. You can do... If you buy the ESB kit you'll have to tap a whole on each grip. The ANH would only need one tap for the d ring.

 

[franz bolo]

ANH has a d-ring (1 rivet) and grips. That's pretty much it for the conversion.

MR references:
http://www.rebelscum.com/mrlukeANHsaberEE.asp



ESB has a different D-ring (2 rivets). The grips are different and are held in place with a screw on each grip.
The glass eye is replaced with another red button (just like the top side). There are a few different ESB versions. I'm not knowledgeable about that though. I think there's a cave version and some others.

MR references:
http://www.rebelscum.com/mrlukeesbsaber.asp

FB

 

[Chingon]

<div class='quotetop'>(franz bolo @ Aug 7 2006, 02:38 PM) [snapback]1295732[/snapback]</div>

ANH has a d-ring (1 rivet) and grips. That's pretty much it for the conversion.

MR references:
http://www.rebelscum.com/mrlukeANHsaberEE.asp
[/b]

And a 7 bubble strip. Currently looking for the real deal for my ANH conversion.

 

[OldKen]

hey, i noticed something the other day, i wish i had the pic scanned,i saw somethig in a magazine at a friends house, i believe it was evtertainment weekly... there is a promo shot for ANH, with luke holding a saber (ignighted in the pic) with 2 red buttons and a circuit board instead of calc strip, but no screws or notches in the grips. :confused

i also noticed in a screen cap from the first time luke turns it on at obi's place, that there are no rabbit ears... and the activator box is dead center with the top red button, not on the side as it should be...

ive never heard mention of this before... not in POSW not here NOT ANYWHERE...

anyone else notice this?

just saying there really are several versions of this saber on screen if you wanted to get picky about it.

im starting to think though that the use of the 2nd red button for ESB and appearently even some ANH promo pics... wasnt because it looked cool, but maybe due to the fact that if you take out the guts (to fit the rod for the effect of the blade) and you were to try to screw the glass eye back on, you couldnt without the spring etc, cause we all know that the spring holds the piece of glass in there, and taking that on and off for filming, eventually you would drop it, as where you can screw a red button on and it is very shallow on the inside... at least thats all that i can think of... i never liked the look of the 2 red buttons though, i never liked it, and i always wondered why they had 2 on there for ESB...

well thats all that i could deduce anywho...

 

[Cantina_Dude]

Hey.

<div class='quotetop'>(oldken @ Aug 7 2006, 03:43 PM) [snapback]1295773[/snapback]</div>

hey, i noticed something the other day, i wish i had the pic scanned,i saw somethig in a magazine at a friends house, i believe it was evtertainment weekly... there is a promo shot for ANH, with luke holding a saber (ignighted in the pic) with 2 red buttons and a circuit board instead of calc strip, but no screws or notches in the grips. :confused [/b]

Well I think I have seen the same ANH promo shot that you speak of, but I don't remember where. Anyway, I think that particular image has had the ESB lightsaber "photo-shopped" into the shot, possibly because the original source they were working from was damaged or had something obscuring the lightsaber hilt. My guess would be that the magazine people found the best photo they could of Luke's lightsaber, and not knowing the difference picked a shot of the ESB lightsaber to comp into the photo. I've seen similar things like that happen with other Star Wars promo shots in recent magazines and such.

<div class='quotetop'>(oldken @ Aug 7 2006, 03:43 PM) [snapback]1295773[/snapback]</div>

i also noticed in a screen cap from the first time luke turns it on at obi's place, that there are no rabbit ears... and the activator box is dead center with the top red button, not on the side as it should be...[/b]

Yeah, that's the "stunt" lightsaber that they used for Luke's ignited lightsaber (and later Vader's) in ANH. There is actually a page at the Parts of Star Wars, here.
Also, here is a fairly good shot that someone posted here in the past (although I can't remember who, sorry.):

Hope this answers a few questions.

All the best,

MJC.

 

[Probe Droid]

[IMAGE]http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9048/saber21na.jpg[/IMAGE]
Don't know if this is the image you seek, but it's just so cool I never mind posting.

 

[lonepigeon]

<div class='quotetop'>(oldken @ Aug 7 2006, 10:43 PM) [snapback]1295773[/snapback]</div>

hey, i noticed something the other day, i wish i had the pic scanned,i saw somethig in a magazine at a friends house, i believe it was evtertainment weekly... there is a promo shot for ANH, with luke holding a saber (ignighted in the pic) with 2 red buttons and a circuit board instead of calc strip, but no screws or notches in the grips. :confused
[/b]

Lucasfilm had several of the old Holiday Special era photos retouched. They removed the crappy Graflite saber and replaced it with the ESB saber. It's the Ranch version though with only one red button in the bulb socket. The grip area is probably the original HS/Graflite saber on the photo you saw- that's why there are no notches.

 

[Studio Stasis]

Thanks to everyone who posted to help me figure this out. I know some of the board members here are just huge experts on what is accurate and how the sabers are built for each film. I think I want to go ANH with this one and I will be getting a set of grips for it. If anyone has a spare set for sale, please let me know, otherwise I'll be contacting Blast-tech. I'm glad to hear that its not the horribly complicated task that it feels like it is. All someone has to do is mention tapping screw holes in metal and I stare blankly. I can definitely get rivets and such. I appreciate the tips and resources.

Josh

 

[Chingon]

<div class='quotetop'>(animetronic @ Aug 7 2006, 05:59 PM) [snapback]1295848[/snapback]</div>

Thanks to everyone who posted to help me figure this out. I know some of the board members here are just huge experts on what is accurate and how the sabers are built for each film. I think I want to go ANH with this one and I will be getting a set of grips for it. If anyone has a spare set for sale, please let me know, otherwise I'll be contacting Blast-tech. I'm glad to hear that its not the horribly complicated task that it feels like it is. All someone has to do is mention tapping screw holes in metal and I stare blankly. I can definitely get rivets and such. I appreciate the tips and resources.

Josh
[/b]

Blast-tech are fine, but if you really want to go all out, contact SaberFreak and see if he has any t-track left. Its pretty much the closest you'll get to the real material that was used on the actual prop. Its a tad more work than Blast-tech, but its worth it.

 

[Sumatra]

Josh, if you haven't yet, check out Blast-tech. John is a staple when it comes to grips and calc bubbles. Then, as noted above, you can look at the MR saber on Rebel Scum to see how to place the grips and D-ring.