Lightsaber Contests of Old (Lots of Pics)

i think it would be more interesting if it was made to be only £ shops ($ stores), it would be more of a challenge to make a saber from just parts you can get from £ shops to me (or even limit it to everything has to be from the same shop), rather than being able to hunt round any shop. what would the rules be? each item can only cost £1 ($1) or less? or do you think the best way would be just to set say a £10 limit, and you can buy whatever you want with that? but the total must be no more than £10?

personally, i think it would be more fun if the rules were
1. you're only allowed to buy things from £1 shops ($1 stores)
2. everything has to be from the same shop
3. price limit of £10 ($10)

i would've thought buying 10 items from a £1 shop i could make a saber :)

or just have it that you can buy from any shop with the rules as:
1. price limit of £10 ($10)
2. no one part can cost more than £1 ($1)
 
The most popular format that I remember was simply build a custom saber. Some machined theirs, others built hardware pieces, some used a combination of both. I don't like the restrictions that building under a set limit from a dollar store have. I have boxes of parts of stuff I've collected over the years that are random objects that i picked up and thought, "hey that would look cool as a part of a saber". Yes, there would be the novelty of a cool saber built for under $10 from a dollar store but those saber images I posted are from a contest with out those restrictions. One of the reasons some of them are as nice as they are. IMHO
 
Same here, I have a small box filled with random metal crap that I have found and decided would be good on a saber.
 
I think you would need to have 2 different divisions. Customed machined sabers and hardware built sabers.

Also, with the Custom Saber Shop offering different parts, many people can multiple combinations of sabers nowadays.

Scott
 
In the original it was just to build a custom lightsaber like Mercury said. It had to look significantly different than a movie saber. If I remember right it was always a hardware saber that won. I don't recall any machined sabers ever winning, even though they were entered.
 
i think it would be more interesting if it was made to be only £ shops ($ stores), it would be more of a challenge to make a saber from just parts you can get from £ shops to me (or even limit it to everything has to be from the same shop), rather than being able to hunt round any shop. what would the rules be? each item can only cost £1 ($1) or less? or do you think the best way would be just to set say a £10 limit, and you can buy whatever you want with that? but the total must be no more than £10?

personally, i think it would be more fun if the rules were
1. you're only allowed to buy things from £1 shops ($1 stores)
2. everything has to be from the same shop
3. price limit of £10 ($10)

i would've thought buying 10 items from a £1 shop i could make a saber :)

or just have it that you can buy from any shop with the rules as:
1. price limit of £10 ($10)
2. no one part can cost more than £1 ($1)


Wall I do agree with a price limit (witch I've already said I think should be a little higher.), and I'm fine with the idea that it all should come from a $ store, I don't agree that it all should have to come from the same one. We found in the last contest, that not everyone has the same chains in there area, and I know from experience, that you can find different stuff, at different locations of the same store. (like "Dolor Tree" )

I also don't think it should be just a "buy where you like, and spend it how you like, but it can't be over $10." sort of thing. As it was pointed out in the last contest, There are some really great things that go on clearance. Things that could be well under $10. and that there may only be one of, and only at the store close to one member. So that member would get a really expensive part for their saber, wall others only get junk parts for theirs.

So, I'm liking hte idea that it can only be dollar stores, but any actual dolor store (or whatever the equivalent is in whatever country each member lives in.)

$10. seems quite low to me, but if that's what everone likes then I might be able to work with that at the max. I just know I rarely walk out of one of those store for as little as that. I mean, if you buy screws to put it together, that's $, and Glue is another $, and if you paint it with paint from that store, then that could be another few dollars, depending on how many colors you want. Before you know it, half your budget could be spent on just the stuff to put it all together, and you still will need to get the parts for the saber itself with what is left. I spent $50. in the last contest. Not all of it ended up on the saber, but I did spend that much at the $ stores, on stuff I bought, for no other reason, then for the contest.

But if $10. is what people want, that's cool with me. (Hey I'm cheep, so I'm not going to complain about saving money. :) )

I think a theme would be fun, but it was kind of fun last time not having one, beyond the $ store limitation. We ended up with customs, and replicas.

As a bit of a tip. I would recommend that you all keep in mind how you want to photograph your final product. Last time itbedave won, and I still believe it had mostly to do with his great photos, of his saber. He put a "Glow stick" in as a blade, and photographed it so that the stick ran out of frame, so it looked way longer then it really was, and then he photographed it on a mirror, outside, on a day with blue sky's, and puffy clouds. (so it looked like it was just floating there, with it's own reflection.) I don't know that his saber was any better then anyone else's, but his pics sure were.
 
Yeah, let's not set a price, just have two categories, one all hardware and one for all/partially machined components.
 
I think we are talking about two different contest. Luuke, and others, used to offer a regular contest, every year, or so, that was for the hardware, and machined sabers, and the $ store contest was held here on the boards, and was limited to things from the $ store contest.

I think we should drag it out a bit. Do a stricktly Dollar store contest on month, then a few weeks, or months later, do a purely Hardware saber contest with now price limit. And then a few weeks, or months, after that, do a machined saber contest. there would be a prize for each contest (maybe even the top 3 of each contest), and after they were all done, we could put the winners up again each other (eather with there wing sabers, or with new designs) to see who the ultimate winner is, and there would be a big prize for that. :) A contest for everyone, and every style, and every one is happy. (except the loosers. :lol)
 
i think the dollar store (£ shop for us in the uk) is a good idea, i like the idea of working to a set price limit (it also means everyone can join in rather than having a machined saber contest where a lot of us dont have the means to machine sabers), maybe up it to $15 (£15)? i would suggest that the glue, paint etc dont come out of that limit, just the parts themselves needed to make a saber (as i'd guess most of us have paints and glue in stock anyway)
 
If everyone wants a dollar store contest, that's fine, I'm sure it would be fun but I don't believe we should separate the hardware & machined contests. It's always been combined into just a custom saber contest. Some use a combination of both for their pieces, other do one or the other. However just because a person builds a hardware version vs another's machined version doesn't mean the hardware doesn't stand a chance. In most cases you'd be hard put to tell if something was machined or hardware. It's the overall design and originality that pulls out the winner. Still, I'll go with how the majority rules.
 
So what are we thinking about for prizes? I mean, I'm pretty much in it for the fun, of the build, but the better the prize the more people it might bring in.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, trooper armor was the prize in the last $ store contest. Luuke used to offer Very nice Tool sets, I believe. What are people looking for these days? What prizes will get them fired up?

I don't think they have to be as huge as expensive tools, or trooper armor. (though I wouldn't turn them down.)

I mean, If I had anything cool to offer, I would have hosted one of these long ago. (well, that, and if I host it, I shouldn't be in it. and I really want to be in it. :lol)

It could be anything from a plaque, or trophy, that commemorates the win. A gift card for one of the regular hardware store chains. (Ace, Lowes, Home depot, etc. ) As mentioned before, we could all through in to the pot , but those that have nothing to through in may feel left out, or at least feel cheep for playing, and not contributing.

Can anyone afford to put something up as a main prize? I mean, the props I wish I could own, is quite long, and there are fine builders here on the boards I would love to get them from, but many of them have been sighting money troubles, or are just plain getting out of the hobbie because they can't afford it, so I don't know that they will be able to offer up the extra pieces they have laying around ,the way they once did.

Heck, I would be in weather it was a Han solo in Carbonite, or a piece of toast. :) I'm just saying that for some it will be about the prize.
 
Here's a custom blaster I made almost ten years ago :



Made from a vintage scuba diving harpoon gun and modified with chrome tubing and hard disk parts :lol
 
Here's a custom blaster I made almost ten years ago :



Made from a vintage scuba diving harpoon gun and modified with chrome tubing and hard disk parts :lol

Very nice. It kind of puts me in mind of Captain Jacks, sonic pistol, form doctor who. :)
 
I would love to see these contests happen again. I'm more for the dollar build right now, as I don't have tons of money to spend, and that way I can have a fighting chance.
 
Nobody liked the idea of everyone putting in a prize as an entrance fee?

I was thinking of offering an MR .45 scale Clone helmet
Clone-Trooper-sc-helmet.jpg
 
Heck, I would be in weather it was a Han solo in Carbonite, or a piece of toast. :) I'm just saying that for some it will be about the prize.

i'll offer a piece of toast :D

i could offer a tdk two faces coin though. but how would it work with prizes? would the winner have to pay the shipping costs? or each person pay to ship their own item to the winner? either way it would work out an expensive contest. I'd be interested if all you got was the glory nevermind a prize :)
 
I literally have no props or items of interest except MR lightsabers, and that's a bit rich to offer up!

This thread inspired me to start my first hardware saber in years: an adult-sized Yoda style saber!
 
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