Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 1 Resin Stunt Lightsaber Research
- Thread starter Dewy
- Start date
Gotta be British, right?
Definitely. The only British spray paint company I know is Humbrol.
AnubisGuard
Master Member
Didn't someone claim that the clan sabers were painted with a Valspar brand silver? Or am I having a stroke?
I’m told the prequels used Acrylic Lacquer in the shop. Black stove polish thinned with spirits (or water if you use the water based polish in the US) for the creases on the Maul and clan sabers.
They definitely tried to drill out some sabers on a lathe and glued in rods at first, dumb idea and they went with casting them in.
This is all from an acquaintance of mine who worked on the prequels in the plaster shop.
Yes they used pipe molds. I’ve done this a handful of times and always have to either cut the tube first (and block the seam line with hot glue or something) or cut it out after. I then usually have to trim the cut line so I can properly slide the mold back in place, and shake it to make sure the edges aren’t shifted. I’m doing one right now for someone. This one’s a 3 parter but on all my single part cylinder molds I have to cut down at least 2/3 to remove the item. It does work
I’ll come back with my results here too!
They definitely tried to drill out some sabers on a lathe and glued in rods at first, dumb idea and they went with casting them in.
This is all from an acquaintance of mine who worked on the prequels in the plaster shop.
Yes they used pipe molds. I’ve done this a handful of times and always have to either cut the tube first (and block the seam line with hot glue or something) or cut it out after. I then usually have to trim the cut line so I can properly slide the mold back in place, and shake it to make sure the edges aren’t shifted. I’m doing one right now for someone. This one’s a 3 parter but on all my single part cylinder molds I have to cut down at least 2/3 to remove the item. It does work
I’ll come back with my results here too!
Looks like Hycote or PlastiKote
Excelsior
Well-Known Member
Not to get off topic, but I want to mention this here because of the pics Drew posted at the start of the thread.
The more I look at these stunt sabers, the more I see a ledge in this area of the main grip shroud:
Here's a quick model I did to illustrate what I'm talking about.
Let me know what you think.
The more I look at these stunt sabers, the more I see a ledge in this area of the main grip shroud:
Here's a quick model I did to illustrate what I'm talking about.
Let me know what you think.
Looking at the high res hero pictures (admittedly on my phone screen at the moment) there’s definitely something there, but it doesn’t look as prominent as that example you posted. It also doesn’t look like a flat step. Both sides of the grip that transition toward a taper are sloppily machined and look like they were hand finished. Here are the locations I’m referring too, but pretend it’s the hero:
Excelsior
Well-Known Member
Cool. Yes, my model is slightly exaggerated to help illustrate the point. It's clear that the feature was meant to taper the smaller and larger diameters seamlessly, but the machinist doesn't appear to have made the cut during the same move as the profiling, resulting in a small ledge.
If I had to guess, the machinist's process went something like this:
Another thing I noticed--the taper angle looks a bit steeper than 45° (in my rough model I made the chamfer about 55° just eyeballing it). I wonder how many of the angles and tapers are shared across features due to machining them all in the same setup...
And here's a quick overlay (rough and not fully aligned):
Excelsior
Well-Known Member
Btw, could you elaborate on what you mean by "It also doesn't look like a flat step."? And when you say hand finished, are you talking about filing and sanding, or hand finished as in done on the lathe by hand i.e. not using a power feed?
If the ledge doesn't look like a flat step, then maybe it's just a gouge or error from the machinist applying too much pressure on the hand wheel when executing that part of cut (could also have happened if the machinist tried too deep of a pass).
Excelsior
Well-Known Member
And to get back on topic with the resin hilts, I believe the Hycote can says "SILVER (Met) FOR VAUXHALL CARS" based on the "PASTEL BLUE" Hycote can right below it.
That paint is acrylic, so it would correspond with what thd9791 said. They still produce a variety of paints, including fluorescent colors.
Automotive paint... that would make sense in a lot of ways.
That paint is acrylic, so it would correspond with what thd9791 said. They still produce a variety of paints, including fluorescent colors.
Automotive paint... that would make sense in a lot of ways.
The finish around both the tapers is different like the machinist brought some sandpaper up to the part while it was spinning on the lathe.
Here’s an exaggerated sketch of what I’m seeing, but again we’re really pushing the limits of the reference images. It’s like the two curves should cleanly intersect, but don’t. Almost like when the machinist went to touch off the lathe tool, he went in just a little too hard. It could also just be chatter or something from working the tool into a corner. That might explain why there’s sanding marks, to cleanup the rough spots.
Unless I’m mistaken all the Prequel props were made in Australia by the Australian prop department as the Prequels were all filmed there.
Episode I was filmed in England. They moved production to Australia for Ep II and III.
SB
I did not know that, I appreciate the knowledge!
Excelsior
Well-Known Member
Sounds plausible.
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