My first 'official' saber build on RPF… Luke ANH saber

Here is my first real prop build thread… a Luke ANH saber I built for my son, for Christmas.

The body I got on EBay. Like most of the parts, it’s a reproduction, not an original, but I figured if I screwed it up I’d rather not screw up an original

 

The clamp, red button, clear lens and flash attachment al came from the Graflex Shop. I got the calculator bubbles from them as well, but it was not accurate, so I did not use it.

 

The grips were from Blast-Tech. I sourced a few places, but I liked the way these curves to fit the tube.

 

I used the calculator bubbles from Blat-Tech as well. I had a strip from an actual Exactra at one point, but it got lost when I moved. Anyway, the Blast-Tech ones were closer to the Exactra than the ones from the Graflex shop. I also used their silver tape.

 

The D-ring came from Blast-Tech as well.

 

Now, this one I had a hell of a time finding… the infamous ‘beer tab’ under the red button. It took me 6 months to locate one of these little bad boys. I actually got it from DCARTY back in January. Many thanks!

 

My son requested a ‘slightly weathered look’ to his saber. I have never done anything like this, so I’m a newbie in that regard. I researched a bit, and tried a few different methods (painting and wiping, scratching and then painting, etc) This is one attempt on the clamp.


You’ll see the finished product isn’t nearly as weathered looking… mostly because I did not know how to keep the paint from rubbing off. Maybe an overcoat of some kind? Any suggestions for future builds are appreciated.

 

Here’s an early shot of the top body piece after an attempt at weathering it. Again, you’ll see the finished product is much less weathered than this.

 

Bottom tube after weathering.

 

Here’s the bottom tube with the guide marks I used for the grip placement. I got the placement for the grips and the d-ring from a post by parfaitelumiere. Thanks for the info!

NOTE TO SELF: Don’t use a Sharpie next time. Use a non-permanent marker. I got the marks off where they showed afterwards, but it was not easy.

 

Here’s a semi-assembled pic. You can already see the weathering has rubbed off quite a bit.

 

Grip placement in progress…

 

Here’s an end shot of the grip placement in progress, with the D-ring already attached.



I learned a fairly painful lesson about using the correct tools for the job on the D-ring assembly. When drilling metal, use either a Titanium or Cobalt bit, which will go through the metal tube easily and quickly.



Do NOT make the same stupid mistake I did and try a typical steel bit. The bit snapped, and I wound up with the broken bit shoved into my left hand.



Amazingly enough I managed to miss all the important bits in there. A few dozen Band-Aids, some Neo-Sporin and a tetanus shot later I am 100%.

 

Here’s a shot of the top area after assembly. For the piece that holds the ‘beer tab’ down, I wound up using the head of a nail that looked close to the right size, and simply gluing it on. I also did not have the correct piece to hold the ‘rabbit ears’ in, so I ended up with a machine screw, and sawed off the protruding end. The silver sleeve covering the screw is a plastic sleeve painted silver. I wasn’t happy with this part, but it was all I could come up with.

 

And so, we come to the completed project. Well, almost completed. I still have to make the little slide switch that was not part of the reproduction tube assembly, but that can wait until after Christmas.



This will be displayed in a 1/18th scale model car case. The stand and plaque were ordered from PastorJedi, and should be here soon. I’ll add a display pic once I have the plaque and stand.

Comments, critiques, suggestions, etc. are appreciated. Be gentle with me

 

Very nice work ,love it.....

 

Great job! Building up a real was one of my first props. You can loose the reflective tape, I recall a while back we decided it was never there on the hero.

 

Hi there,

Very nice lightsaber to give your son

-Chaim
__________________

 

Phooey! Reproduction or not, this is still one gorgeous hilt. I wish my dad did this for me as kid!

 

Thanks... lol, my 'kid' is a 3rd year college student. A sci-fi geek, just like his old man

 

True enough. I debated about leaving the GRAFLEX visible, but in the end decided against it. The only closeups I could find very fairly blurry, and looked like no tape, but no 'GRAFLEX' either.

 

Hey, great job! I never had to deal with finding replacement parts, I was spoiled. Great job, very resourceful. the weathering looks epic as well!

The blast-tech glue may fade after a few months, I would just be aware and get some harder glue ready just in case. A couple of my grips are slipping now, still, the best affordable grips out there, so save them!