New Elstree Studio documentary with discarded Graflex.

I’ve only used a few bubblestrips—the old Blast-Tech, Roman’s (clear, for Luke ANH), and Roy’s (frosted, for Vader and Obi-Wan).

The thing with all of the replica strips I’ve seen is that they’re already designed to slide into a clamp, and are also usually thin enough to allow for wiggle-room, in order to accommodate the switches used in in FX builds. I believe the Rebelscum replica strips are still regarded as the best, but I dunno offhand whether they need to be shaved down to fit in a clamp or not.

Hmmmm... I didnt consider that, as I DO want my hilts to be upgraded to FX one of these days when the wallet and I are on good terms.

Wonder if its possible to swap them out, have the thick strip for display, and the thin one for when you decide to mount a blade on and play with it?
 
I keep checking this thread to see if anyone has yet taken a vintage flash, removed the bunny ears, crushed it in a vice while soldering a washer to it, squeezed a deliberately fractured vintage TI lens into the clamp jaws, pop-riveted a d-ring mount fashioned from a folded over piece of an aluminum can, and added simulated grip adhesive residue to the 3 cell bottom half.

It will happen, sooner rather than later.

Whose got the guts??

(It won’t be me; don’t tell anyone, but I’m a coward too.)
 
With that in mind, who makes an appropriate vintage style bubblestrip with the correct dimensions?

In my experience, from the ones I've bought, this is the best:

Rebelscum eStore

And this one, from propsplus on eBay is second:

Star Wars Luke Obi Vader Saber Activator Switch Replica Ti19 Ti20 Exactra Calc | eBay

Both need to be shaved, beveled, or the like to fit into a clamp. The Rebel Scum strip costs roughly 3x as much as the Propsplus strip but has much clearer resin so it looks more like an acrylic. I think the Propsplus has excellent geometry, but is clouded -- which could be good for an aged look. Here are the strips side by side, Rebel Scum on the left, Propsplus on the right:

_sdi6059-jpg.jpg
 
I keep checking this thread to see if anyone has yet taken a vintage flash, removed the bunny ears, crushed it in a vice while soldering a washer to it, squeezed a deliberately fractured vintage TI lens into the clamp jaws, pop-riveted a d-ring mount fashioned from a folded over piece of an aluminum can, and added simulated grip adhesive residue to the 3 cell bottom half.

It will happen, sooner rather than later.

Whose got the guts??

(It won’t be me; don’t tell anyone, but I’m a coward too.)


I’m still waiting for someone to add the mystery rivets between the grips!
 
The other thing you have to watch out for with the eBay/propsplus bubble strips is that they are rather brittle. I kept mine hidden away for over a month to allow it to continue curing then I took it out to see if it would polish up a bit with some Novus and it snapped in half :mad:
 
When I was creating my bubble strip replicas I had to make a choice between an accurate uncut Exactra strip or a pre-cut easy to install bubble strip. Since they are injection molded I had to make a choice. I choose the latter because most people wanted that. Only few of us would like to spend time and effort cutting a replica for use. I don't think I can invest in tooling for a uncut replica; too little demand probably.

Roy
 
When I was creating my bubble strip replicas I had to make a choice between an accurate uncut Exactra strip or a pre-cut easy to install bubble strip. Since they are injection molded I had to make a choice. I choose the latter because most people wanted that. Only few of us would like to spend time and effort cutting a replica for use. I don't think I can invest in tooling for a uncut replica; too little demand probably.

Roy


A not-unreasonable decision!
 
The only two bubble strips from production we've seen today had me slapping my forehead and going DUH!

I spent so much time thinning the whole bottom of the strip to fit under a clamp, or shaving the length of the sides down to pinch and here they are milling off the top corner
 
The other thing you have to watch out for with the eBay/propsplus bubble strips is that they are rather brittle. I kept mine hidden away for over a month to allow it to continue curing then I took it out to see if it would polish up a bit with some Novus and it snapped in half :mad:

You have to watch out for the same thing with the Rebelscum ones too though. I know from experience. :(
 
Skywampa were offering bubble strips on their etsy site which are cast from a vintage piece. Seem to be sold out at the moment. I have one but never touched a vintage so not sure how well it holds up.
 
Something I forgot to mention—removing the clamp washer and giving the lever an extra turn also resulted in the lever being rather hard to flip down into place. I could easily see someone working with the screenused prop not wanting to push the lever into place with too much force, which would therefore lead to the lever sticking out just as it does in so many publicity images and screenshots. Without the washer, the tension is such that the lever doesn’t need to be locked all the way down for the parts to be secure.
 
I swore I was not going to do a build-up based upon the details of this hilt, but I already had a vintage Folmer flash with the glass eye and red button that demanded it. Plus, once Wannna Wanga created the D-ring, I had no choice...

EA1AE4C5-E2EB-4328-9AA5-402D6C5DA75E.jpeg

C5B309C2-E7F0-40F5-88DD-C208C55A68C7.jpeg
 
I swore I was not going to do a build-up based upon the details of this hilt, but I already had a vintage Folmer flash with the glass eye and red button that demanded it. Plus, once Wannna Wanga created the D-ring, I had no choice...

Excellent! Still waiting on my D-ring to arrive. Is the bubble strip vintage as well?
 
So, while waiting for my d-ring from Roy, I’ve been thinking: D’ya suppose that they glued the bunny ears in place on these props? After all, vintages tend to have loose bunny ears which rattle around quite a bit. My TGS replicas certainly have rattling ears. Onscreen evidence doesn’t show the ears moving around, nor can any rattling be heard in scenes which retain onset/production sound.

...obviously, the Elstree prop doesn’t have that problem!
 
So, while waiting for my d-ring from Roy, I’ve been thinking: D’ya suppose that they glued the bunny ears in place on these props? After all, vintages tend to have loose bunny ears which rattle around quite a bit. My TGS replicas certainly have rattling ears. Onscreen evidence doesn’t show the ears moving around, nor can any rattling be heard in scenes which retain onset/production sound.

...obviously, the Elstree prop doesn’t have that problem!

Think with all the tweaks to the top of the flash they might be stuck in place because of all the twisted metal
 
I've stuck bits of scrap in the back corners on my first flash, kept things from rotating, and it was almost invisible. (pencil eraser bits wrapped in electrical tape)

But on some flashes they are gunked still, or .... yea a drop of superglue would do it huh, it was new in the 70s right?
 
. yea a drop of superglue would do it huh, it was new in the 70s right?

I remeber it being advertised on TV about that itme as a new & literally 'super' glue but can't say exactly when - it was realively expensive if I recall right, about £1 for a 5ml tube. I remember my Mum enthustaically bying some & thinking it an uncharacteristically rash (&expensive) purchase. I think it may have been about in industry for a while before then.
 

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