Need some MPP lightsaber advice.

[Superpunkduck]

Working on an ANH v1 and an ESB/ROTJ hero.... here are my questions.

For the ESB....any suggestion on which black paint to use on the wannawanga steel ESB MPP shroud?
Flat Black? Satin? Fine Model Primer? Filler Primer? Wrinkle Paint?

Does anyone have any idea how much paint was missing on screen? This Picture shows a lot less missing than the wannawanga stenicil...

.i know the stencil was made to model the prop as it lives today...but clearly there was far less paint missing on screen.


As for the ANH.... I have Romans MPP with shroud and a Wannawanga Shroud. I cant decide what would be better.

it seems to me like the romans shroud sits a little lower so the tube pokes out the top a little bit..... but the wrinkle paint seems off to me.
The paint on the wannawanga shroud looks better...but still doesnt look like it has enough wrinkle compared to some others in the main MPP thread.... Also, the wannawanga shroud doesnt sit low enough for the tube to pop out the top a bit due to the side screws.

Whats the better option? Wannawanga or Roman Shroud? Leave it alone or Repaint? If so, Which Paint?

Pics with small d-ring and matte paint are are Wannawanga Shroud... other 3 are Romans.

BY NO MEANS AM I DEGRADING THE WORK OF THOSE WHO MADE THESE REPLICA PARTS... Theyre all beautiful... im just wondering what I should do to get the most accuracy that i can... being a cheapo who cant find or afford vintage parts.
roygilsing IronDestinyProps Sym-Cha

 

[IronDestinyProps]

It's hard to tell what the Stephen Lane Vader original shroud paint was before it was so heavily damaged/weathered. Probably is just a well worn wrinkle paint.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the bounty hunter scene I believe was Prowse's first shooting scene on Empire so it would follow the MPP would be less worn/weathered early in production. However, it seems there were multiple hero belt hangars and stunts on set throughout filming so the bounty hunter hilt may or may not be the Lane MPP. Reference photos do confirm that hilt was the belt hanger in the carbon freezing chamber scenes. It's possible since flashgun parts were interchangeable that a beaten up stunt shroud made its way onto the hero Lane belt hangar where it resides today, just a theory. All this to say, it may be best to adopt weathering on the shroud that satisfies your taste since the evidence of the screen used shrouds is a bit sparse and inconsistent.

Regarding the ANH, Roman's new shroud paint seems more accurate to the vintage shrouds that have passed my bench. Based on this, it's possible the real prop wore a shroud that had a similar finish. Also Roman's shroud allows the more accurate "peak" of the flash tube above the shroud opening and was designed off an original asymmetrical shroud. By contrast, Roy's was modeled directly from the reference photos of the one on the original prop. This is why his may not sit quite as ideally as Roman's since the latter was designed to fit that flash tube and Roy's to fit the original tube.

It is nice we have so many choices today from several different vendors who are working hard to provide us with great options for our prop collecting goals. I hope this was not too confusing and that it will aid your decisions.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Well since you summoned me Superpunkduck and welcome to the rpf by the way . . . here's a picture of my real MPP with shroud to compare both your ANH shrouds with to make up your mind :

It seems the Romans is more accurate paintwise, asymmetric and the protruding tube lip . . . that said I would switch the too large D-ring on his shroud for the slightly smaller and more accurate D-ring on WannaWanga's shroud . . . if you choose to go with Romans for your ANH :

(This is a replica shroud ... to show a more accurate D-ring)

However I did notice that the ANH shroud from Roy has a more accurate thinner edge, since it was initially based on my real asymmetric MPP shroud (see picture) . . . yet Roy has updated his design since, like IronDestinyProps mentioned, and has a more subtle paintjob :

(Picture taken a long time ago ... actually back in 2014)

As for weathering each shroud ... that's up to you really ... personally I haven't bothered with any of my Vader lightsabers real vintage or replica . . . and as for which type of paint to use on your ESB/ROTJ shroud I would just ask roygilsing for any suggestions

Chaïm

 

[thd9791]

Some VERY good advice here,

I don't know about the paint compared to an original MPP, but as to the ESB/ROTJ shroud.. we just don't know. From my own logic, since it doesn't seem to match anything in ANH, it was fixed to the flash for ESB filming. Whether it was a random photography sourced replacement part or the production had it made in mild steel... I just don't know, I can think of pros and cons to each theory,

My guess is that they didn't use primer. In the right scenario, new paint could flake off, exposing the metal to oxidation, and it may happen rather quickly and progressively over time. So, the above advice is something I agree with. Weather it to your taste, or your favorite point of filming. I used brown TS spray underneath Black TS spray for my shroud to mimic the rust... and funnily enough the paint had a hard time sticking!

My current theory is that the silver sidebar hilt from ANH went on to become the bladed MPP hero.

I can think of at least 3 full MPPs used during filming ESB. The bladed hero, belt hanger, and one used for boba fetts rifle/barbican clamp/x wing cockpit

 

[roygilsing]

Hi there, Roy here, from WannaWanga!
I just placed a post in another thread as well, but here is a comparison of my vintage 2-step (L) with my ANH shroud freshly painted with VHT wrinkle plus paint (R):

As Sym-Cha and IronDestinyProps have pointed out, my shroud was based on direct measurements of a vintage one-step PLUS detailed overlays and reverse engineering of the real prop from images. The shroud also peeps through on the bottom, but it does also depend on the location of the side screws of the flash and how far the shroud can pass through.

I hope this helps.

Roy

 

[roygilsing]

Here's an image of my CAD model during my research from 2020:

 

[Superpunkduck]

Thanks everyone for all the help.

I ended up going with the romans shroud on the ANH for now...simply because I could get the tube to poke out the top... I added a matte spray to dull down the shine a bit and I like the way it came out.

ANH is done with the exception i need to swap out the D-ring for a smaller one.

How'd I do?

 

[Sym-Cha]

Well done ... can't wait to see what you do with the ESB/ROTJ Vader MPP

Chaïm

 

[Superpunkduck]

ESB/ROTJ MPP is done. I opted to do very light chipping on the shroud based upon the behind the scenes bounty hunter photo. Only thing I cant decide is whether or not to put a matte varnish on it or not.