Roman Obi-Wan ANH saber build

[Obi1Kenobi]

I gave the pre-weathered windvane assembly some light scuffs and scratches, and currently have it suspended over ammonia fumes to lightly re-darken it.

I’ve also begun the process of running the tap knob under some water, then letting it sit, so as to generate a wee bit of limescale in the nooks and crannies. I’ll also add some scuffs and scratches, as well as the promient scratch in-between the cubes.

Also, I’m thinking about how to handle the marks on the bottom of the balance pipe. Some people say scratches. Some people say crimping. Some people say glue. Some people say brazing.

I should, however, point out that the top stem of the windvane appears to be much more of a shiny brass color than the rest, which is badly tanished. That kinda makes me think that the part of the windvane which connects with the balance pipe was cleaned/polished in preparation for brazing, or maybe just for gluing.

Real grenades are often found "in the wild" with brass necks that are less tarnished in that area. That part of the neck fits within another piece of the total rifle grenade assembly, so I assume that's what keeps the neck less weathered in that location.

 

[Gregatron]

Real grenades are often found "in the wild" with brass necks that are less tarnished in that area. That part of the neck fits within another piece of the total rifle grenade assembly, so I assume that's what keeps the neck less weathered in that location.

Makes sense.

 

[Gregatron]

Added the scratch between the pommel cubes and installed the d-ring. I’m still letting the booster and grenade oxidize. I’ll probably give them some more weathering and bluing treatments before knocking back the rust and oiling them.

The windvane still needs more work. I may pick up some Brass Black to supplement the ammonia-fume tarnishing I’ve already done. Then it’s on to light denting and physical damage.

Meanwhile, Roman’s FX cage should be arriving in the near future.


That all being said, I need to make some decisions regarding just which direction to go in. I could go with the Tunisia version of the prop, assuming the same prop was used throughout production. Most people tend to go with the Chronicles look, but I’m a little leery about adding all that damage and detailing without being sure what was actually onscreen.

After all, the Chronicle clamp has the badly damaged tape, but we don’t know exactly how it got that way, or what condition the prop was in during filming. There only appears to be one transistor washer in the death scene, but two in Tunisia. The prop was obviously intended to have two, and one apparently fell off. The prop was also apparently intended to have a fully-taped (or perhaps even tapeless, depending on whether or not the Tunisia version had it) clamp. And the damage and dents in the clamp may well have come from being dropped on the floor in the death scene.

It may even be possible, considering the plating damage on the lever, that the Chronicles clamp had tape on the clamp to hide existing damage/rust, as opposed to just covering the Graflex stamping.

At the moment, I’m kinda aiming for a Death Star look, but maybe with both washers (which the prop likely had before the death scene).

Basicslly, I have to decide whether to go full-Chronicles, with damaged tape/screws/wires, or a more idealized version of what the prop probably looked like during Elstree filming.

Any tips, theories, or reference would be appreciated!

 

[Media Man]

For the balance pipe to grenade assembly you could do what v312 did with theirs and use silver solder to create a brazing effect of attachment-

It's a pretty convincing look at how it appears in the Chronicles version. Just an idea

 

[Halliwax]

The Tunisia is my favorite version, always enjoy seeing more of them

 

[Halliwax]

Added the scratch between the pommel cubes and installed the d-ring. I’m still letting the booster and grenade oxidize. I’ll probably give them some more weathering and bluing treatments before knocking back the rust and oiling them.

The windvane still needs more work. I may pick up some Brass Black to supplement the ammonia-fume tarnishing I’ve already done. Then it’s on to light denting and physical damage.

Meanwhile, Roman’s FX cage should be arriving in the near future.


That all being said, I need to make some decisions regarding just which direction to go in. I could go with the Tunisia version of the prop, assuming the same prop was used throughout production. Most people tend to go with the Chronicles look, but I’m a little leery about adding all that damage and detailing without being sure what was actually onscreen.

After all, the Chronicle clamp has the badly damaged tape, but we don’t know exactly how it got that way, or what condition the prop was in during filming. There only appears to be one transistor washer in the death scene, but two in Tunisia. The prop was obviously intended to have two, and one apparently fell off. The prop was also apparently intended to have a fully-taped (or perhaps even tapeless, depending on whether or not the Tunisia version had it) clamp. And the damage and dents in the clamp may well have come from being dropped on the floor in the death scene.

It may even be possible, considering the plating damage on the lever, that the Chronicles clamp had tape on the clamp to hide existing damage/rust, as opposed to just covering the Graflex stamping.

At the moment, I’m kinda aiming for a Death Star look, but maybe with both washers (which the prop likely had before the death scene).

Basicslly, I have to decide whether to go full-Chronicles, with damaged tape/screws/wires, or a more idealized version of what the prop probably looked like during Elstree filming.

Any tips, theories, or reference would be appreciated!

Watch the bluray when obiwan pulls the saber off his belt when he senses Vader getting closer to him

I don’t recall if you can see both transistors there..

I live in a pre historic town.. our internet sucks and when ever it rains it’s non existent… can’t wait for this storm to pass

 

[Gregatron]

For the balance pipe to grenade assembly you could do what v312 did with theirs and use silver solder to create a brazing effect of attachment-

View attachment 1825476

It's a pretty convincing look at how it appears in the Chronicles version. Just an idea

I’ve been considering it.

 

[Gregatron]

The Tunisia is my favorite version, always enjoy seeing more of them

It’s certainly the road less traveled. Problem is that there isn’t much reference. It could well be that the Tunisia/Death Star/Chronicles sabers are all the same prop, just with the parts rearranged.

I need to look and see if any of the damage or other tells seem to match between photos.

 

[Gregatron]

Gave the grenade another treatment—a light Dremeling to smooth out some of the tiny dents, sandpaper, soaking in hydrogen peroxide, and suspended over white vinegar fumes.

After that, I cleaned it with alcohol and re-blued it.

I’m very pleased with the pitting and texture it’s taking on, now. Once again, I’ll let it oxidize for a few days. Need to study the reference material to see how far back to knock the rust. I’m going for very light hints of rust in the nooks and crannies, since that’s what the 4K of the movie indicates. Hard to tell, though.

Far too many replicas overdo the weathering on these sabers. Less is more. Of course, with real-parts builds, it tends to be unavoidable.

 

[v312]

Watch the bluray when obiwan pulls the saber off his belt when he senses Vader getting closer to him

I don’t recall if you can see both transistors there..

I live in a pre historic town.. our internet sucks and when ever it rains it’s non existent… can’t wait for this storm to pass

I've stared at this frame by frame many times and I can never tell if the second washer is there or not ...
I'm pretty sure that both washers are on the clamp in the Falcon when Obi senses Alderaan's destruction though.
Also I can't never tell for sure what's the orientation of the handwheel cubes anywhere in the movie.

 

[Gregatron]

Been doing some homework with 4K screencaps. The scene aboard the Falcon where Kenobi senses Alderaan’s destruction was filmed AFTER the Death Star duel, and would have been the final use of the saber prop, in terms of filming chronology. I dunno if the insert shots of the cloak and saber (with only one transistor washer) falling to the floor and Vader’s foot poking them were filmed around the same time as the duel or not. I presume that they were, since that’s when the set was lit and ready to use.

But here are some observations from the Falcon scene:

*Windvane mounted high, a la Chronicles photos.

*Pommel cubes appear to be in Chronicles configuration, but it’s hard to tell.

*Clamp lines are visible, indicating no tape at all on a clean-looking clamp, OR tape that’s been burnished into the lines.

*Chronicles clamp wire does not appear to be present.

*There looks to be only one transistor washer.

*Grenade appears to be in Chronicles orientation, instead of Tunisia.

 

[Gregatron]

Setting aside the fact that any halfway decent production has multiple backups of key props, I kinda find myself wondering if we only saw one Obi-Wan hero onscreen, but which was tweaked during production. What if the plastic part of the handwheel gave way when hanging from Sir Alec’s belt on-set, and was replaced by a second handwheel that had been reassembled upside-down after drilling the d-ring hole? Maybe that’s when the washer fell off, too, with the grenade also subsequently being reassembled in a different configuration.

We’ve never really seen hard evidence of two Luke saber props. We have the Tunisia and Elstree Obi-Wan sabers and the two Vader props, though. But the different details on the two Kenobi sabers don’t necessarily preclude their being the same base prop.

Even in 1976, how easy would it have been to acquire multiple duplicates of the Obi-Wan saber’s exotic parts? Sure, a Derwent engine would yield several balance pipes, Graflex flashguns were plentiful, and the Armitage Shanks handwheels would naturally come in pairs (assuming they cannibalized full sink assemblies, rather than using random spare/surplus or NOS parts). But what about the grenades and boosters?

What if they had spare parts on hand to swap out in case of damage, but not multiple full props?

 

[v312]

As far as I can tell both circles are the same diameter here and about the same size compared to the clamp like the size with washers on the Tunisia picture:

 

[Gregatron]

As far as I can tell both circles are the same diameter here and about the same size compared to the clamp like the size with washers on the Tunisia picture:
View attachment 1825694

It’s hard to tell. I need to actually rewatch the scene in motion.

If that IS the case, that would mean the Death Star and Chronicles sabers had one transistor, and the Tunisia and Falcon sabers (the latter of which appears to have some Death Star/Chronicles features) had two. Which, in terms of filming order, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, unless the props were alternated and/or swapped parts from scene to scene.

 

[v312]

Unfortunately video quality is not very good in this scene. it could be that highlights and/or motion blur makes them look the same size even if one of the transistors is without a washer

 

[Gregatron]

I watched the scene in motion, and it’s hard to tell, but now I think there might indeed be TWO washers.

 

[Halliwax]

 

[Gregatron]

...why is Shaq flirting?

 

[Gregatron]

I find myself wondering if the Falcon saber isn’t just the Tunisia saber, and that there WERE two different props, rather than one prop being disassembled and then reassembled for reasons unknown. It makes sense that the flipped pommel cubes on each version would be the result of two different handwheels being disassembled for the purpose of drilling the d-ring holes, then reassembled, but with one set of cubes in one orientation, and the other backwards.

It may well also be that the Tunisia had a clean Graflex clamp, while the Chronicles had chrome tape applied to hide rust/damage. Hmmm.

 

[Halliwax]

I’m willing to put my pathetic life on the line that there is at least 2 different grenades used