Is Darth Vader's saber blade painted (ANH) & blade flexing.

I believe peter is in the blue shirt, didn’t know all the stunts he was involved in himself! He was the tuskin raider too

IMG_8225.jpg
 
Had a phone conversation with Jon a minute ago and asked him again about the stunt lightsaber blades used in ANH. He does not remember billard/snooker queues. He does remember lightweight (balsa) wooden sticks, painted black, and then covered with scotchlite partially. And those were round, not square. The blades were designed to break to minimize the risk of injury to the actors.
 
I perfectly agree to what halliwax said in the other thread about why there are so many different storys and theories around about what has been used on set and how it was originally made. When I did my research on the original Darth Vader helmets, I‘ve been visiting the LFL archives, Elstree studios, spoke to Prowse and other people who were involved in the creation of the original costumes, and finally had the chance to see the screen used ANH Vader faceplate in the Grunberg collection in France. I could write a big book about all the interesting and different storys I collected over the past 40 years. And the guy who actually played Vader in the OT is still convinced that the screen used helmets wre all black...
 
Had a phone conversation with Jon a minute ago and asked him again about the stunt lightsaber blades used in ANH. He does not remember billard/snooker queues. He does remember lightweight (balsa) wooden sticks, painted black, and then covered with scotchlite partially. And those were round, not square. The blades were designed to break to minimize the risk of injury to the actors.

Thank you so much for reaching out to your friend!!

The balsa wood makes total sense!!! Super super light! And would flex like we have seen in that picture!!!

The weight has everything to do with it, the lighter the pole the easier on the motor, there is a lot of work involved in making these poles spin. The balancing takes the longest part...

With these balsa wood poles they would be light as a feather!!

I built a airplane kit with my friend, the wing section was completely made of balsa wood... being a carpenter I have worked all many kinds of woods, and the balsa was unbelievably light.. couldn’t believe it

Now we gotta find the balsa wood poles!!
 
Would balsa wood really sound like this and stand up to these strikes? My memory of balsa wood is that you can break it between your fingers and even press your fingers into it.

(time 3:10 if the forum modifies my timed link)

(1:53 and 2:08)


EDIT: Yep, the forum does not allow Youtube links set to a precise time position.
 
I agree that balsa might be a hair too delicate for fencing. I'd imagine they'd have to swap blades out after every single strike.

I can see plywood, or luon (sp?). There's always plenty of that lying around constructed sets!
 
This is why I think experimental research is needed. These things need to be made & tried out to find out exactly what each is capable of what they look, like both in motion & still photography & how this matches up with the pic's & film we do have, as well as the difficulty of manufacture.

As I used to play snooker on a weekly basis for a couple of years c.1980 I recall 2 piece ques were just breaking on the scene & were frowned upon by the older players (esp the older pro's). Prior to then everything was one piece, & I never heard of anything but wood being used. I can't vouch for the USA & pool ques.
 
Would balsa wood really sound like this and stand up to these strikes? My memory of balsa wood is that you can break it between your fingers and even press your fingers into it.

(time 3:10 if the forum modifies my timed link)

(1:53 and 2:08)


EDIT: Yep, the forum does not allow Youtube links set to a precise time position.

Balsa wood is very strong.. I built air plane wings out of it...

And I’m not talking about RC airplanes.. legit experimental aircraft

View attachment 991821
 
That makes a lot of sense... a cheap model wood source. Basswood also exists that doesn't have much of a grain, it's all uniform inside.

Either way, thank you for reaching out vadermania! painted, scotchlighted, round too. I bet they changed and experimented while they filmed. Designing them to break is very smart, as safety was probably a main concern
 
The only place I see square is here.. you can fallow it from the tip

IMG_8213.jpg


You can also see these were fabricated pretty poorly... not really straight. Look at it and not the black strip the black strip is all over the place so don’t confuse that being the crooked part

But you can see 90* edge at the tip, but but what lose it once the black strip starts.. I THINK I can still see the 90* edge further down but not sure

Regardless, come time for the Vader duel this blade is removed and a smooth round one installed

Or at least that’s what this crazy old Halliwax sees

Who wants to grab a beer?
 
Vadermania - your post #24 above is a scorcher ! Kurtyboy & I were pm'ing about sq blades a couple of days ago, he was trying to convince me the black stripe or edge of it was a the edge of the square, he sent a couple screen grab frames - what I saw was a round dark cored blade ( I thought unpainted graphite golf stick) with scotchlite material applied to leave a black stripe & that this peeling off during the fight. My theory was that the scoctchlite had been (roughly) cut as a constant width strip so that the stripe gets wider as the diam of the blade increases. Here's my attempt, which does that too well.

DSC08361.JPG

but now you have your friend John, who made them, giving a description that's almost an exact match of what I was thinking, just balsa & not golf stick. Is the bracketed word (balsa) the word he used?

Now I halliwax pointing to a picture I have puzzeled over myself. From this quote:

Two sides of the blade are coated with a highly reflective
material similar to the material used on motion picture
screens. One of those two sides is painted four inches
higher than the other side. When spinning, this gave the
blade its flashing effect.

from: ANH Stunt Lightsaber "Blades"--Triangular??? Gil Taylor sez so...
post # 75

I had assumed that the two uncoated sides would be opposite each other but if they were adjacent then we could be looking at a square blade in H's ref picture. The tip looks quite like my experiment where the stripe closes, the blade gets very dark as you move towards the hilt but there is lighter wobbly line running down the middle, (which is the corner edge you're describing H ?) & we have both uncoated faces looking straight at us, If the wood has been painted black & this blade has seen dueling (or even kicking about in store) this light wobbly line would be damage/abrasion that has removed paint & exposed light wood. My only concern is the light stripe running down the top edge of the blade which would have to be scotchlite that's come round the top edge of the square, which doesn't sound quite right.
A long winded supposition sure but it's one that fits all the evidence we have bar my concern on the light top edge.

I have 6 peices of 16 x 900mm balsa dowel on order. This has to be tried out.

Oh yes something that hasn't been stressed enough about balsa is how easy it is to shape. I'm anticipating being bale to put a taper on with just 'sand' paper in my hand with the dowel in a lathe (or even electric drill) on lowish rev's & just as easy to sand on flats to to a tapered dowel. Should be quite quick. We'll see.
 
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The problem of getting the Light Sabers to work fell upon
Special Production and Mechanical Effects Supervisor
John Stears.

(Snip)

The 'blade' part of the Light Saber is actually a four-sided
blade attached to a small motor in the handle. The motor
is used to quickly rotate the blade.

Two sides of the blade are coated with a highly reflective
material similar to the material used on motion picture
screens. One of those two sides is painted four inches
higher than the other side. When spinning, this gave the
blade its flashing effect.

A device was made to lock a light source onto the camera,
allowing the camera both to move freely and to be aligned
with the light source and the blade's reflection.

If this is quotes from stears this is what I would believe
 
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but now you have your friend John, who made them, giving a description that's almost an exact match of what I was thinking, just balsa & not golf stick. Is the bracketed word (balsa) the word he used?

Now I halliwax pointing to a picture I have puzzeled over myself. From this quote:

Two sides of the blade are coated with a highly reflective
material similar to the material used on motion picture
screens. One of those two sides is painted four inches
higher than the other side. When spinning, this gave the
blade its flashing effect.
Yes, Jon said that round balsa wood sticks were used.

I now tend to believe that both round, square and possibly even triangular blades have been used on the practical "spinning" lightsabers for ANH production. Plus, some of the blades were static, non-spinning blades such as Darth's blade in the Obi/Darth duel.

a) introduction of the lightsaber in Ben's hut, first ignition: "Graflex" type stunt spinning saber, square or triangular blade

b) Obi cutting off Walrus man's arm in Cantina: Obi V2 or V3 stunt spinning saber, round or square blade?

c) Luke training with remote on Falcon: "Graflex" type stunt spinning saber, square or triangular blade

d) Obi vs. Vader fight on Deathstar: "Graflex" type stunt spinning saber with black tip, round static blade (Vader), Obi V2 (and V3?) stunt spinning saber, round or square blade? plus Obi V2 or V3 stunt (spinning saber), round blade, non-spinning for Obi death scene.

Do we have confirmation that the "Barbican" was used on screen in the Vader/Obi duel? I have only seen it on two or three bts stills from ANH so far. In the new STW archives book it says that they were unable/had problems to hide the stunt lightsaber cables on Vaders costume, so they went with a "static" lightsaber.
 
d) Obi vs. Vader fight on Deathstar: "Graflex" type stunt spinning saber with black tip, round static blade (Vader), Obi V2 (and V3?) stunt spinning saber, round or square blade? plus Obi V2 or V3 stunt (spinning saber), round blade, non-spinning for Obi death scene.

.

For the record I bet my life the v3 never spun...
 
Halliwax is the scotchlite tape that sheds the same as you show here ;
ESB Bladed Stunt Graflex Lightsaber "The Core!"
post #111

Correct... I noticed when I apply it onto the pole the material tends to fall off.. again you don’t see it on you but you can feel sandy material on your fingers

I would never never guessed there was that much debris on my pants when I took the picture I kinda laughed

I sent the picture to a friend as a joke, but now have a new “old” phone and don’t have those pictures on this one, had him send me the pic back, that’s why the resolution sucks

My mission this weekend is to make a square tapered blade..

I have a jointer in the if shop but I’d have to move so much crap, then set it up.. I’m just gonna try and taper the square dowel Down with a electric plane...

I think pine dowels at Lowe’s/Home Depot will be to heavy...
 
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