Light saber prop options?

[2keepandbear]

Ok, so with all the awesomeness that is The Force Awakens trailer, I decided to expand on my prop collecting franchises. Currently, I have a Ghostbusters 'Hero' proton pack and am working on a Ghostbusters 2 'semi-hero' pack and trap. Blade Runner blaster and Pulse Rifle are next on the list BUT... I want some light sabers. This is COMPLETELY uncharted territory for me and honestly, quite intimidating. Obviously I'd like them to *look* as accurate as possible and lights and sound would be nice but I can't spend $2k on a saber... Especially since I want 3 of them (Luke's ANH, RotJ, and Vader).

So... Who's out there? What's available? What kind of prices am I looking at? I need all the hand holding that is possible in this moment and time.

Thanks!!!



hmmm... DL-44 would be a bad idea, either...

 

[jkno]

If you want to go licensed then you have the Icons, Master Replicas and EFX options. all with various prices and various degrees of accuracy. All these are for hilts only (with display stand, case, COA, plaque etc.), for lightsaber with blades there are the MR and Hasbro versions.

 

[Luke the Belter]

If you want a Luke ANH lightsaber, grab a real vintage Graflex flash handle, a vintage exactra 19 calculator add some grips and you get a very good looking lightsaber, with real vintage parts.

PROs for this option: - the satisfaction that you build this prop yourself
- the money you have to spend isn't so much more
- lots of fun in hunting the items/parts

CONTRAs: - the parts get rarer the moment you read this
- you have to inform which versions of parts you need (e.g. the graflex button differs from version to version)

The Luke ANH saber is one of the cheapest vintage parts sabers you can get.

 

[Iggy]

If you want lights and sound you can build your own or get a saber smith to work one up for you. Check out FX-Sabers.com/forum and imperialroyalarms.com for some people to build for you. If you are doing it thecustomsabershop.com and plecterlabs.com are great for electronics.

 

[2keepandbear]

Awesome! Thanks for all the info guys!!

 

[vidman]

I just checked at tcss and plector,, the only sound card/driver board, tcss has nothing in stock, and at plector the only card he has is the CFSC 6.5 LS version which is for a light string blade but this 1 is made to work with the stock blade of a MR or efx including the newer efx removable blade sabers. If you go the plector route you will be spending the cost of the lightsaber and the soundcard which would be under $500 each so maybe a total of $1500 or less for 3 sabers, of coarse that is if you do them yourself. At tcss you will find tutorials on how to take apart and mod everything.

 

[ARKM]

Naigon's Electronic Creations has some saber sound boards in stock. He sells the Spark and Igniter boards.

 

[Iggy]

Last I saw on the forums more boards at TCSS will be in stock soon. I guess the holiday rush kicked in.

 

[vidman]

Last I saw on the forums more boards at TCSS will be in stock soon. I guess the holiday rush kicked in.

erv must be busy

 

[thd9791]

There's also (In the bladeless option) resin sabers. You learn to polish and paint resin, and have a highly accurate prop at the end. (two fold - good casts are accurate and many movies had resin versions to toss around on set)

There are also many fan-made versions of sabers like Luke's ROTJ, his black chipped V2, Obi Wan's hero saber, etc. I always go for vintage parts if I can find and afford them.

 

[xl97]

As mentioned the custom saber shop has plenty of parts to 'build/design your own'

They are threaded pieces so they are not hard to assemble. Powder coating and certain custom services (mill/lathe work hole tapping..etc) are also available through TCSS.

Some of the sound board options there also come pre-wired for much easier plug-n-play building.

On FX-Sabers, you can find others to help with more custom work.


I suggest going to http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/mhsbuilder/mhsbuilder.php to play around with their builder app to get a design you really like.

The NANO & the PRISM boards are currently out of stock there (but they come in all the time).. but the Petit Crouton is still available.

Dont forget to visist www.saberfont.com to pick out custom fonts to add to your (supported) sound board of choice.

 

[Henni]

There's also (In the bladeless option) resin sabers. You learn to polish and paint resin, and have a highly accurate prop at the end. (two fold - good casts are accurate and many movies had resin versions to toss around on set)

There are also many fan-made versions of sabers like Luke's ROTJ, his black chipped V2, Obi Wan's hero saber, etc. I always go for vintage parts if I can find and afford them.

Any links for these resin sabers? Thanks

 

[thd9791]

Lol no, I got mine from JediFather who used to do casts of some OT sabers. They crop up on the Bay all the time, even the junkyard. Watch out for good or bad quality casts. Knowing what saber you want helps, pay attention to the small details.

 

[Tan Djarka]

I'd say do your research, and wait for good opportunities to pic up the sabers you want. But in the meantime, try building your own. There's lightsaber blueprints floating around online that you can print up. Based on those, you could build a couple of sabers while you're waiting for the ones you want to become available. Probably the easiest to tackle would be the Vader ANH (one of the first I built). It's almost literally a chrome tube with stuff on it. Who knows? You may end up liking the ones you built yourself even better than the ones you bought. Maybe...

 

[digger]

if you want a luke anh best go the graflex and exactra option, for grips and a d ring go to wannawanga.com you cant beat it and as others have mentioned fx sabers is the place to go. ldm on there does a hero luke rotj, I would say the most accurate you can find. that be your best bet for info on a vader aswell. as for erv/plecter labs sound it is the best but generally he sells out really fast so join the line up unfortunately