Here's my real parts Obi ANH lightsaber. I rarely make my own threads, but I spent too much time on photos to not share them. I'm also going to write a lot and don't want to clog up the other Obi thread. Of course, feel free to skip the words and check out the shiny pictures. 
Fair warning to those who love AFBB sabers: This is not one of them. Prior to this build, I've had a few sabers with mixed parts from different sources. Each was incredible, but once I had the itch to have the "real" thing, it was hard to go back. As such, far too much time was spent searching for the parts. I went a little crazy at one point and for a short time, I had a kitchen table completely covered with parts, including numerous handwheels, Exactra calculators, and more transistors than I could count. After a bit of patience to get the right deal on the final part, this is what I ended up with:
Notes/Observations:
Much has been said about the Derwent balance pipe over the years, but I still underestimated how unique the real deal is. This one came out of a running engine; it smelled of fuel and was covered in carbon and grime from use. The characteristics of the Inconel are also rather neat. When I had a steel replica, I thought, how different can they be? But this metal is beautiful in person, almost like silver. Also of interest: My particular balance pipe has a serial number engraved on it.
Judging by the weathered frag cubes, I'm sure that the grenade was repainted at some point. Some of it has wore off from handling, so I treated the bare steel with chemicals to darken it. I'm not a fan of blatant rust; red undertones are great for a patina, but I don't like surface buildup. Some dust and earth tone chalk was brushed in the grooves of the grenade and booster to hint at the Tunisia photos appearance. (Kudos to James Kenobi for that tip.) I found this also helps tie the colors of the booster, grenade, and balance pipe together.
I've put the torn metal tape on the Graflex clamp, but I don't know if I'm going to add cotter pins and brass screws to this one. Underneath the clamp is a piece of delrin that I modified into a connecting piece. As such, the whole saber can be field stripped to individual components like a real weapon. The bubble strip came from an Exactra 19 and the transistors have a single insulating washer around one of them. If the correctly labeled transistors are ever found, I'll swap them in.
The Browning booster was the first part that I acquired for this particular build. It's seen plenty of real world use; the outer fins have some dings and the nickel plated barrel section had particle buildup when it arrived. The weld is currently placed in the "Chronicles" photo position. I still have the booster bearing as well, which I may eventually use to make an emitter cone or use as part of a spacer.
The Armitage Shanks handwheel cubes are in the "Chronicles" position and I still need to drill and place a d-ring on it. I know the color ring probably wasn't on the real saber, but I like it... Blue for the good side of the force, right?
Finally, in no particular order, I'd like to express my gratitude to the following members for their assistance or advice: teecrooz, James Kenobi 1138, Sym-Cha, scottjua, Roman's Empire, Marv, and kurtyboy. In addition, thank you to Cenobyte and CeSquared for help with a stand and plaque too. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone and I apologize to them now, but cheers to all of you guys.
That's it for now. Thoughts or questions? Feel free to post or ask. Thanks for looking!
*Please do not post or share any of my photos elsewhere without permission.
Fair warning to those who love AFBB sabers: This is not one of them. Prior to this build, I've had a few sabers with mixed parts from different sources. Each was incredible, but once I had the itch to have the "real" thing, it was hard to go back. As such, far too much time was spent searching for the parts. I went a little crazy at one point and for a short time, I had a kitchen table completely covered with parts, including numerous handwheels, Exactra calculators, and more transistors than I could count. After a bit of patience to get the right deal on the final part, this is what I ended up with:
Notes/Observations:
Much has been said about the Derwent balance pipe over the years, but I still underestimated how unique the real deal is. This one came out of a running engine; it smelled of fuel and was covered in carbon and grime from use. The characteristics of the Inconel are also rather neat. When I had a steel replica, I thought, how different can they be? But this metal is beautiful in person, almost like silver. Also of interest: My particular balance pipe has a serial number engraved on it.
Judging by the weathered frag cubes, I'm sure that the grenade was repainted at some point. Some of it has wore off from handling, so I treated the bare steel with chemicals to darken it. I'm not a fan of blatant rust; red undertones are great for a patina, but I don't like surface buildup. Some dust and earth tone chalk was brushed in the grooves of the grenade and booster to hint at the Tunisia photos appearance. (Kudos to James Kenobi for that tip.) I found this also helps tie the colors of the booster, grenade, and balance pipe together.
I've put the torn metal tape on the Graflex clamp, but I don't know if I'm going to add cotter pins and brass screws to this one. Underneath the clamp is a piece of delrin that I modified into a connecting piece. As such, the whole saber can be field stripped to individual components like a real weapon. The bubble strip came from an Exactra 19 and the transistors have a single insulating washer around one of them. If the correctly labeled transistors are ever found, I'll swap them in.
The Browning booster was the first part that I acquired for this particular build. It's seen plenty of real world use; the outer fins have some dings and the nickel plated barrel section had particle buildup when it arrived. The weld is currently placed in the "Chronicles" photo position. I still have the booster bearing as well, which I may eventually use to make an emitter cone or use as part of a spacer.
The Armitage Shanks handwheel cubes are in the "Chronicles" position and I still need to drill and place a d-ring on it. I know the color ring probably wasn't on the real saber, but I like it... Blue for the good side of the force, right?
Finally, in no particular order, I'd like to express my gratitude to the following members for their assistance or advice: teecrooz, James Kenobi 1138, Sym-Cha, scottjua, Roman's Empire, Marv, and kurtyboy. In addition, thank you to Cenobyte and CeSquared for help with a stand and plaque too. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone and I apologize to them now, but cheers to all of you guys.
That's it for now. Thoughts or questions? Feel free to post or ask. Thanks for looking!
*Please do not post or share any of my photos elsewhere without permission.
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