PlanetLII
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
It has been a while since I posted here but I am looking for some help from a Master Replicas expert.
I bought a Master Replicas Luke Skywalker ESB LE saber from a member here about five or six years ago (if you are still here, sorry I cannot remember who it was now).
The saber although an LE came with the SE case. The seller told me that they received it from MR like this and I wasn't about to complain as the SE case is taller and the plaque does not obscure the saber. Also, it all fits into the LE shipper box perfectly, so I felt that this proved his statement to be true with regards to receiving it like this.
Anyways, skip forward four to five years and one day I decide to get the saber out to give it a little heft around and to my horror, the grips had become tacky. It then dawned on me that rubber degrades over time and with the grips being rubber this was on the cards.
I searched around at the time and found out that this was an increasingly common problem with the rubber parts on the sabers. I also learned that it wasn't the rubber degrading but the coating that MR used was breaking down and becoming sticky. (please feel free to correct me on any points as I am no expert)
I also learned that it was possible to remove this coating and apply a varnish to seal the rubber again, thus preserving it from degrading over time.
I have since sold all of my MR sabers except the Obi Wan ANH (keeping this one) and the tacky gripped Luke ESB. I decided to take the plunge and try to sell it at a reduced rate because of the tacky grips but as I dusted it to take the pics, some hairs from the brush got affixed to the grips. They would not brush off with the brush, so I decided to use a baby wipe (gentlest thing I could think of that wouldn't stick) to get them off. As I wiped, the coating began to wipe off, so I carried on.
Half an hour and a fair few baby wipes later, about 50% of the coating had been removed from all of the grips and they had began to lose their tackyness. It is not easy or very much fun, but I reckon I can remove it all without damaging the grips.
Here is where the help comes in:
Upon removal of the coating I found that one of the grips had a hairline crack, like it had been snapped in half. Annoying, but very slight.
What I also found was that the grips were not rubber at all but plastic!
Did MR Luke ESB sabers come with plastic grips with a rubber coating?
If they did make the Luke ESB with plastic grips, did they do the same for the Vader ESB?
Has anyone here removed the coating from their MR sabers?
What did you find?
Any help and advice greatly received.
Peace.
It has been a while since I posted here but I am looking for some help from a Master Replicas expert.
I bought a Master Replicas Luke Skywalker ESB LE saber from a member here about five or six years ago (if you are still here, sorry I cannot remember who it was now).
The saber although an LE came with the SE case. The seller told me that they received it from MR like this and I wasn't about to complain as the SE case is taller and the plaque does not obscure the saber. Also, it all fits into the LE shipper box perfectly, so I felt that this proved his statement to be true with regards to receiving it like this.
Anyways, skip forward four to five years and one day I decide to get the saber out to give it a little heft around and to my horror, the grips had become tacky. It then dawned on me that rubber degrades over time and with the grips being rubber this was on the cards.
I searched around at the time and found out that this was an increasingly common problem with the rubber parts on the sabers. I also learned that it wasn't the rubber degrading but the coating that MR used was breaking down and becoming sticky. (please feel free to correct me on any points as I am no expert)
I also learned that it was possible to remove this coating and apply a varnish to seal the rubber again, thus preserving it from degrading over time.
I have since sold all of my MR sabers except the Obi Wan ANH (keeping this one) and the tacky gripped Luke ESB. I decided to take the plunge and try to sell it at a reduced rate because of the tacky grips but as I dusted it to take the pics, some hairs from the brush got affixed to the grips. They would not brush off with the brush, so I decided to use a baby wipe (gentlest thing I could think of that wouldn't stick) to get them off. As I wiped, the coating began to wipe off, so I carried on.
Half an hour and a fair few baby wipes later, about 50% of the coating had been removed from all of the grips and they had began to lose their tackyness. It is not easy or very much fun, but I reckon I can remove it all without damaging the grips.
Here is where the help comes in:
Upon removal of the coating I found that one of the grips had a hairline crack, like it had been snapped in half. Annoying, but very slight.
What I also found was that the grips were not rubber at all but plastic!
Did MR Luke ESB sabers come with plastic grips with a rubber coating?
If they did make the Luke ESB with plastic grips, did they do the same for the Vader ESB?
Has anyone here removed the coating from their MR sabers?
What did you find?
Any help and advice greatly received.
Peace.
