Parks Sabers accuracy?

AgonizedCandle

New Member
Hi!

I'm completely new to the whole replica prop thing. I've ordered a graflex hilt from Jeff Parks and I'm wondering how accurate are Parks Sabers? I know the rubber grips are curved rather than flat, but are there any other differences to the real prop? Are they correctly weighted? I was also looking at their MKIII Obi-wan lightsaber which looks spot on to me. But is it as screen accurate as the "Romans Props"?

http://www.parksabers.com/graflex-mpp-mkiii.html
 
I have one of the first Parks Graflex replicas and aside from some slight color differences it's nearly identical to the real deal.
I never bought the add on pieces so can't comment on them.
 
Hi there and welcome,

Parks Luke and Vader are quite accurate and if you don't like the T-tracks, bubbles or D-rings you can always upgrade later for more accurate parts ... as for Parks OB1 it's okay but not as screen-accurate compared to Romans Empire ... he has access to all the real vintage parts and made the proper revisions. And you can always order a blank saber from Parks without any add-on parts ... so you can finish it yourself with more accurate parts i.e. from wannawanga :)

Show us your Luke by Parks when it arrives ... it's always good to have some comparison pictures, okay?

Chaim
 
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Yea the flashgun based props are pretty close to accurate. I'll agree to that.

Obi Wan's is a little off, especially in construction if I remember correctly. For example the booster actually extends up behind the graflex clamp and into the pommel and has very shallow ridges. Other parts are off too I believe - anyway they're still decent props :)
 
If you've never had a Graflex before, you might be surprised at how light they are. You can add a chunk of wood inside to add weight and stability; I tend to shy away from actually adding batteries because you might forget about them and have a mess later on.

As for the Obi saber... It's an okay "first" Obi saber, but if you're really striving for accuracy, you'll be left wanting more.

The pommel is a hollow metal one piece version and is based on the modern handwheel. It's constructed wrong and is too big.

The booster is a long metal tube with fins, not true to the real ANM2 booster at all.

The clamp is okay, but the spacing on the GRAFLEX letters isn't quite right. The older bubble strips have too many bubbles, but I've seen that he's doing more accurate versions now.

The grenade is good. Very nice cube shape and it has the stamping/etching around the windvane sleeve. A lot of people have done good things with them.

The emitter has a flat inner profile and from what I recall, also has an extra section added on the bottom to attach to the stem.

I've seen members here do nice things with the Parks Obi. Add some distressing and customization and it gives it some charm. However, if accuracy is high on your list, you may want to look for a better version elsewhere.
 
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So the Parks is a good choice for an accurate Vader saber? Did the originals have the big manufacturer label on it? I don't see a D-ring on it either. I'm not very clued up on sabers sorry.
 
So the Parks is a good choice for an accurate Vader saber? Did the originals have the big manufacturer label on it? I don't see a D-ring on it either. I'm not very clued up on sabers sorry.
It is a replica of a flashgun with conversion parts included. You would have to do the conversion yourself.
Yes, the original flashgun had the manufacturers label on it. You would have to disassemble it and punch the rivets from the inside through a hole on the opposite side.
You would also have to drill the "emitter shroud" for a D-ring. Those black sidebars are accurate to a variation in ANH but most replicas you see are of a variation in ANH that had silver sidebars of the same shape. The variation identified in ESB has sidebars of a different shape - but chances are that props were used in ESB and maybe even in ROTJ that the prop community has not got a good look at yet.

There are several old threads about the Graflex replica...

These images are of the same parts that I have seen Parks sell since back in 2006. The rubber T-track are not very accurate: for starters, the originals were not made of rubber. Do get a new set of T-tracks from Gino or Roy Gisling - both's are much more accurate.
 
@ eifion you can order MPP replica's without any conversion parts from Parks ... a good friend just ordered and received 6 of them ... then you get additional parts D-ring, T-track and replica bubbles from www.wannawanga.com = Roy he sells complete kits and since he's in Europe no additional customs for you :) For an ESB conversion you still need these vintage wires, the brown is not quite accurate though should be more red-brown :



Chaim
 
Thanks for the info guys :thumbsup Yeah roy's kits look really nice and I'm perfectly happy to use a replica graflex to be honest, besides I don't want to bear the wrath of the camera collectors :D
 
Bah. Camera collectors.

It's like I told my friend yesterday about his delorean... NOT converting it to a time machine is like me having a graflex flash on my shelf attached to a camera. BORING. :D

I want to un-like this post. :p I love DeLoreans, and have since before BTTF. There are things I want to do to my DeLorean to make it truly my own and unique, but turning it into [yet another] Time Vehicle is not on the list. :angry Similarly, I always feel bad about destroying a collectible antique, and when an exact or near-exact replica is available I'll definitely opt for that route. The more originals are destroyed to make props, the fewer will be there a generation or more hence for someone to even reference to make a replica. Sort of a "catch-and-release" philosophy of sustainable propmaking. *chuckle*

--Jonah
 
I want to un-like this post. :p I love DeLoreans, and have since before BTTF. There are things I want to do to my DeLorean to make it truly my own and unique, but turning it into [yet another] Time Vehicle is not on the list. :angry Similarly, I always feel bad about destroying a collectible antique, and when an exact or near-exact replica is available I'll definitely opt for that route. The more originals are destroyed to make props, the fewer will be there a generation or more hence for someone to even reference to make a replica. Sort of a "catch-and-release" philosophy of sustainable propmaking. *chuckle*

--Jonah

I hear ya... I do love the car as is... even used it as my wedding car... but I bug him because he's had that delorean for 10 years now, and it's kinda gotten "been there done that"... The prop guy in me wants to get in a time machine now rather than a cool car that breaks down every week (It even broke down on my way to the wedding).

It was no easy task drilling into that graflex when I did... I did feel a little guilt... But not really for the calculator... if it wasn't for Star Wars, no one would care about that calculator, heh.
 
I want to un-like this post. :p I love DeLoreans, and have since before BTTF. There are things I want to do to my DeLorean to make it truly my own and unique, but turning it into [yet another] Time Vehicle is not on the list. :angry Similarly, I always feel bad about destroying a collectible antique, and when an exact or near-exact replica is available I'll definitely opt for that route. The more originals are destroyed to make props, the fewer will be there a generation or more hence for someone to even reference to make a replica. Sort of a "catch-and-release" philosophy of sustainable propmaking. *chuckle*

--Jonah

ban-button-smiley-emoticon.gif
 
I hear ya... I do love the car as is... even used it as my wedding car... but I bug him because he's had that delorean for 10 years now, and it's kinda gotten "been there done that"... The prop guy in me wants to get in a time machine now rather than a cool car that breaks down every week (It even broke down on my way to the wedding).

To be fair, I will never drive a stock DeLorean. It will have, at the very least, been given a full going-over by the company. Preferably I will build it from the frame up, making my intended fixes and modifications as I go. Plus, that's more affordable for me than the down payment for a fully overhauled and certified road-worthy DMC-12.

It was no easy task drilling into that graflex when I did... I did feel a little guilt... But not really for the calculator... if it wasn't for Star Wars, no one would care about that calculator, heh.

I hear that. It was a year of angsting before I could even cut open the plastic baggies my '60s-vinage British dosimeters were still in -- and they don't even get modified to use as code cylinders! I love the fact that they still smell like that era, though. You know, the faint smell of aluminum in everything built back then...?


Oh, hush. :p

--Jonah
 
I somewhat agree, bookface... I think there's a happy medium between an original item being largely ignored (there were collectors of vintage camera equipment who would also haunt flea markets and estate sales to try to score Graflex or Heiland or Leica gear, even before Star Wars prop-replicators started their quests in earnest) and demand stripping the supply bare and driving the prices up many times what they were in the before-times.

I've seen something similar happen with Mauser C96es. When I snagged mine (Bolo made circa 1920, original bluing, great condition, matching serial numbers except for one internal piece and the magazine base plate -- even the grip scales; slightly shorter barrel and smaller grip than pre-Treaty, better for underarm carry) almost twenty years ago, I got it for $200 plus tax. Try and find one now, especially a Wartime Commercial like the ANH Hero prop, in decent condition for under a grand. Difficult. I routinely see non-matching examples go for in excess of $3,000. And forget about Webley & Scott Mark I flare guns!

My philosophy has been to get original parts if price/scarcity (which tend to go hand in hand) don't make it too undesirable. The rarer something is, the pricier it'll be, and the more I'll hate cutting into whatever it was that I just spent all that money on. Parks' replica flash gun handles are so very much within what I consider manufacturing tolerances of the originals that I would be more than happy to get one of their Graflexes for whenever I build an ANH Hero 'saber. And even though it will require modification, it's still the best and most convenient base I can start from (and am) for building the Supertrooper Uzi-blaster barrel.

--JOnah
 
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I don't know why I have issues modifying some things but not others. I had no problem with my graflex but for some reason I feel weird about destroying a working calculator (although I still will when I find one). I don't think I could destroy a real Mauser C96, but I would have no problem modifying a S&W 1917 to look like Indy's :rolleyes
 
For me, once I've saved and made the outlay on a found part to convert to a prop I'm all in e.g. I have no need for a 1970s speargun holster that aren't even matching parts and the only reason I'd buy such a thing is to make them Boba Fett replicas and I attach no value to them other than that; when the time comes I'll have no problem carving that holster up as the money has long since been spent and I don't view the thing as any kind of investment beyond the prop conversion process. I don't understand the viewpoint of many replica prop makers that spend a lot of time (and presumable money) searching for found parts to then only kind of half convert them so that they can be reverted to their original state if required.


This is irreversible.
IMG_0245_zps513df8ea.jpg


Live the dream

Andy
 
For me, once I've saved and made the outlay on a found part to convert to a prop I'm all in e.g. I have no need for a 1970s speargun holster that aren't even matching parts and the only reason I'd buy such a thing is to make them Boba Fett replicas and I attach no value to them other than that; when the time comes I'll have no problem carving that holster up as the money has long since been spent and I don't view the thing as any kind of investment beyond the prop conversion process. I don't understand the viewpoint of many replica prop makers that spend a lot of time (and presumable money) searching for found parts to then only kind of half convert them so that they can be reverted to their original state if required.


This is irreversible.
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab52/intwenothor/Real found parts/IMG_0245_zps513df8ea.jpg

Live the dream

Andy

Nice piece!

I agree completely. I have some vintage stuff; converted all the way with no regrets and I'm a working cameraman in the industry.

I'm about to get a Parks MPP because I can't find the real deal and will be happy with it.

On that note:
How does one take off the badge that's on the Parks MPP without tearing it up and leaving holes?
 
Yeah, anything I convert I go all the way. So if any butchery is required, I'll usually go with replica parts unless the original pieces are common as dirt and/or still in production. Something made exactingly like the original (cast or scanned or otherwise using the dimensions and properties of the original) is more than close enough for me. Even something only vaguely close, if it can be made moreso, will do -- such as the Denix Mauser-shaped sculpture (I refuse to call that thing a replica) that I'm putting the elbow grease into truing up and fixing the shortcomings of. <$100 plus time and tools and some supplies is worth it to me, and the money I might have spent on a real Mauser can go all the other things I'm accumulating for other builds.

--Jonah
 
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