Mouse Vader
Sr Member
The amount stuff I've seen wrecked over the years from people with vices - grrr 
New Elstree Studio documentary with discarded Graflex.
- Thread starter Skelatorious
- Start date
Good analysis!
I posted about bubble strips because, even though it's an educated guess, we do see them reusing greeblies a lot on other props. Another option to throw in the mix is that this bubble strip was not trimmed properly and ANY graflex that holds it will not be able to close it's clamp. Conjecture from other props also suggests they only had multitudes of a few things and may not have run out to get another calculator for this stunt experiment if one was right there.
Less probability from there, but if they broke a bubble strip, and did their thing of grabbing a "close enough" replacement that isn't close enough, this might have led to the birth of the card edge
I posted about bubble strips because, even though it's an educated guess, we do see them reusing greeblies a lot on other props. Another option to throw in the mix is that this bubble strip was not trimmed properly and ANY graflex that holds it will not be able to close it's clamp. Conjecture from other props also suggests they only had multitudes of a few things and may not have run out to get another calculator for this stunt experiment if one was right there.
Less probability from there, but if they broke a bubble strip, and did their thing of grabbing a "close enough" replacement that isn't close enough, this might have led to the birth of the card edge
Mouse Vader
Sr Member
No offense meant , I was just commenting on what I actually see on the item. I also get that speculating is always very tempting, we just don't like 'don't know'.
Which Jawa weapon?
When I got to play the X-Wing VR mission for Battlefront the first thing I did was inspect the rangefinder on the dash to see if it was modelled after a graflite
(It wasn't)
Title
Active Member
Love this!
You had some pics I didn't have, and I also found some higher resolution ones by googling yours, here ya go:
These I already had, also higher resolution than yours:
They'll be on the Graflex Bank Gallery probably later today. I keep thinking I have everything, but then more keep popping up!
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I'm still catching up on this thread (I'm so behind!!) so apologies if anyone else sent the same or a better one, but I found this in sliiightly better quality:
Title
Active Member
Oh man!! Time to google these too hahah
Slightly bigger and clearer, not by much but every little bit helps:
Bigger:
This one is huge!:
Is the graflex to the right of Mark?
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Davy Jones do you have uncropped versions of the pictures you posted? I have one or two of them but not in that high resolution, the highest resolution I find on google is still smaller
I’m starting to wonder if the Elstree saber was made pre-production and used in pre-production photos, taken to Tunisia and used on location, and then for whatever reason a new hero saber was made for the studio shots in Bens hut, the cantina, and the Falcon.
They didn’t need a spinning blade saber for Tunisia, just a belt hanger. I wonder if maybe after Tunisia they tried to convert the then Hero saber (the Elstree) to either a spinning blade or a fixed blade, couldn’t make it work, and fabricated the Luke pipe stunt (shared stunt) and made a new Hero from a different Graflex. They could have even popped the grips off the Elstree and re-used them on the new saber.
They didn’t need a spinning blade saber for Tunisia, just a belt hanger. I wonder if maybe after Tunisia they tried to convert the then Hero saber (the Elstree) to either a spinning blade or a fixed blade, couldn’t make it work, and fabricated the Luke pipe stunt (shared stunt) and made a new Hero from a different Graflex. They could have even popped the grips off the Elstree and re-used them on the new saber.
Mouse Vader
Sr Member
I think they may have sent it to the Mir space station to see how it performed in zero G, & this is re-entry damage...
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The Elstree just doesn’t match anything we’ve seen before.
1. Thin-knurl red button.
2. Rectangular washer between clamp and lever (which the most well-known version doesn’t have in the publicity photos).
3. Shorter d-ring bracket.
4. Missing bulb holder and welded metal plate, indicating a stunt or failed stunt.
The lever position varies from open to closed in both onscreen and publicity images. The earliest Tunisia scenes have the open lever, which also appears in the most prominent publicity photos. The Elstree was found with a closed lever.
And it’s not as if they had only two or three Graflexes to work with. They already had at least one hero, and many more flashguns on-hand, so there would be no need to convert it to a stunt after filming it as a belthanger. There seem to be more Graflexes and Graflex parts spread across the production than we ever originally thought. The Luke hero(es) and FX stunt, the Kenobi hero(es) and stunts, the alternate Jawa blasters, etc. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen flashguns.
Mouse Vader
Sr Member
Just to be picky, brased not welded. You can't weld steel to copper (or aluminium for that matter).
I honestly don’t think is is welding... we see no splatter, and with a blob that big I would think the weld would have burned threw before you could get a tac weld that large
My personal belief is we are seeing a solider weld
This is common practice in plumbing back in the day to fuse different metals together (especially copper and brass)
This would also explain why the weld is black and not rusty like the washer.. because we are seeing melted lead, and not welded metal
Just my personal belief on the experiences I’ve had in construction and welding
My personal belief is we are seeing a solider weld
This is common practice in plumbing back in the day to fuse different metals together (especially copper and brass)
This would also explain why the weld is black and not rusty like the washer.. because we are seeing melted lead, and not welded metal
Just my personal belief on the experiences I’ve had in construction and welding
Mouse Vader
Sr Member
I have a qualification ( damn there's no smug smilie ) in MMA welding. To be technical joining 2 dissimilar metals with a third metal alloy is soldering, but generally people mean using lead solder only for this term. Silver soldering if the joining metal is a silver alloy & brasing it the joining metal is a brass alloy. Non the less they are all solder joints.
Importantly only the joining metal melts.
Welding melts both pieces to be joined & extra metal filler of the same type is added to strengthen the joint, which is why you can't weld dissimilar metals. (in plumbing you sometimes hear of solvent welding of plastic pipe - technically correct as a solvent is used to 'melt' the joint surfaces).
As for spatter - in the 70's material this thin would have been oxy-acetylene welded. Lead solder would not be strong enough for this application, if it is a stunt saber, & the discolouration of the tube indicates to me that it has been at a red heat, too hot for lead solder but right for brasing.
Sorry for the inadvertent lecture, hopefully some of you found it useful.
Importantly only the joining metal melts.
Welding melts both pieces to be joined & extra metal filler of the same type is added to strengthen the joint, which is why you can't weld dissimilar metals. (in plumbing you sometimes hear of solvent welding of plastic pipe - technically correct as a solvent is used to 'melt' the joint surfaces).
As for spatter - in the 70's material this thin would have been oxy-acetylene welded. Lead solder would not be strong enough for this application, if it is a stunt saber, & the discolouration of the tube indicates to me that it has been at a red heat, too hot for lead solder but right for brasing.
Sorry for the inadvertent lecture, hopefully some of you found it useful.
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I have a qualification ( damn there's no smug smilie ) in MMA welding. To be technical joining 2 dissimilar metals with a third metal alloy is soldering, but generally people mean using lead solder only for this term. Silver soldering if the joining metal is a silver alloy & brasing it the joining metal is a brass alloy. Non the less they are all solder joints.
Importantly only the joining metal melts.
Welding melts both pieces to be joined & extra metal filler of the same type is added to strengthen the joint, which is why you can't weld dissimilar metals. (in plumbing you sometimes hear of solvent welding of plastic pipe - technically correct as a solvent is used to 'melt' the joint surfaces).
As for spatter - in the 70's material this thin would have been oxy-acetalene welded. Lead solder would not be strong enough for this application, if it is a stunt saber, & the discolouration of the tube indicates to me that it has been at a red heat, too hot for lead solder but right for brasing.
Sorry for the inadvertent lecture, hopefully some of you found it useful.
So do you think it’s welded? And what machine did they use to weld it
Mouse Vader
Sr Member
Sorry I didn't make my 70's welding ref clear. I was just pointing out that mig/tig was not readily available then & that stick welding (aka MMA) would not have been delicate enough (as you pointed out) but gas welding was a mainstay for this gauge of material. I didn't mean that I thought this joint is a weld.
It's Not welded it's Brased (aka 'brazed'). Brass soldered, melted brass not lead. You need oxy-acetylene, oxy-propane or oxy-MAP gas equipment to be able to get enough heat to melt the brasing rod (red heat). Flux (& goggles) is also needed.
It's Not welded it's Brased (aka 'brazed'). Brass soldered, melted brass not lead. You need oxy-acetylene, oxy-propane or oxy-MAP gas equipment to be able to get enough heat to melt the brasing rod (red heat). Flux (& goggles) is also needed.
Perfect!
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