ROTJ Darth Vader Graflex Stunt (MoM)(a.k.a. DV6) – by WannaWanga

Almost a year to the day, I was sitting in a hotel coffee shop with roygilsing looking over his prototype kit in amazement! And here we are a year later with build number 4 of this awesome kitView attachment 1687017
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I was lucky to meet roygilsing at Celebration and see his Vader MoM prototype. Great job on the kit and it’s production, Roy.

And you’re doing amazing work on these builds 3251bimmer. The degree of weathering is spot on.
 
Thanks Roy for the beautiful kit.

My rendition of the DV6
Vintage early Folmer Graflex
Vintage double ball catch
Vintage flat head screw holding the double ball catch from a vintage Kobold clip.
Vintage Kobold clip
Vintage D-ring
Vintage tire valve

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Finished my ESB Dueling Stunt using Roy’s kit.

This build was a ton of fun.

The grips are purposefully not as tall in profile as the hero hilts, as seen in some shots (for comfort in dueling), like the Wampa Cave Stunt.

The build also makes use of the ROTJ V3 clamp (which we theorize originally was salvaged by the production from an ESB stunt).

This build IS NOT intended to represent a replica of the dueling stunt that became the Vader DV6, but rather another ESB dueling stunt that has seen some on-set action.

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Finished my ESB Dueling Stunt using Roy’s kit.

This was a ton of fun.

This one has grips that are not as tall as the hero, as seen in some shots (for comfort in dueling), like the Wampa Cave Stunt.

The build also makes use of the ROTJ V3 clamp (which we theorize came from an ESB stunt).

This one IS NOT intended to represent a replica of the dueling stunt that became the Vader DV6, but another ESB dueling stunt altogether that has seen some on-set action.

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This is absolutely incredible
 
Anyone know how many of these parts are compatible with an old DV6 from Parks? I got one cheap and am looking to make it a bit more accurate, the best I can at least. Obviously need to replace the ball catch, possible the shroud and control box.
 
Anyone know how many of these parts are compatible with an old DV6 from Parks? I got one cheap and am looking to make it a bit more accurate, the best I can at least. Obviously need to replace the ball catch, possible the shroud and control box.
I take it you bought that Parks MPP and DV6 set that was on eBay. That was listed by the owner of the company himself. I almost bought that and was thinking of selling the DV6 and giving the MPP to my nephew. It’s definitely possible to upgrade that DV6. Vintage accurate ball catches are very hard to get these days. I’d talk to Roy about possible upgrades.
 
Nope it was another used set, it’s one that had already been partially customized. I should have it tomorrow to measure if it’s the same diameter as a graflex or not.

EDIT: Ok yeah it looks like they should work with a Parks, theyre both about 38.14mm across at the graflex tube.

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I’m starting to think that “upper” hole or two in the bottom can is functional. It’s absolutely not for upper grip screws.. maybe it’s setting a solid support for the ****** it endcap, or something. I have a feeling there were rivets in the clamp at some point but I’ve not seen any evidence of them other than the upside down V3 clamp and the upside down Wampa cave clamp, and the Dagobah stunt lever being upside down…
 
I think it gets even more complicated with the MOM Vader since the bottom half of the flash also exhibits holes that are indicative of ESB Skywalker T-Track grips having been applied, at some point in its past…

So, I believe its history may go:
  • Originally had screwed-on low-profile T-Track grips for dueling (thus the screw holes). These are seen early on in the carbon freeze chamber duel.
  • Replaced by foam grips after actor complaints—which hardly held up to action on the set and are often seen peeling off.
  • Replaced by non-notched and non-screwed standard T-Track grips.

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Not sure if this has ever been pointed out, in some of the pics, the bottom tube appears to be painted of some sort. If you look at the bottom tube, the sheen appears differently from the Graflex upper. If you look in the last pic, there appear to be brush strokes parallel to the tracks.

They might be tricks on the eye,... but I can't stop thinking about it as I prepare for my DV6 build.


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Also noticed this as well, there appears to be a circular embossing on the bottom brass plate.


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I think the bottom plate is painted silver, although I'm not sure if these are brush strokes or traces of crude sanding/filing below the paint. That circle to me also looks like scratches rather than embossing.... like if the clip was rotated around the rivet that is closer to the step and scratched the plate (or maybe pliers were used to rotate it they scratched the disc).
I think there's some silver paint also on the tube itself mostly towards the plate to cover up where the brass was showing too much. It looks like a lot of the chrome was scratched off to the brass.
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And in turn my theory is it is scratched because in ESB they had issues with the tracks falling off so they hoped the glue will stick better to the roughened surface.
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I agree with the circular scratches on the bottom. It seems that the outer rivet came off at one point and the clip could rotate freely and scratched the painted bottom plate.
The tube discoloration looks to me like glue residu. Glue that held a previous set of grips most probably.

-Roy
 
I agree with the circular scratches on the bottom. It seems that the outer rivet came off at one point and the clip could rotate freely and scratched the painted bottom plate.
The tube discoloration looks to me like glue residu. Glue that held a previous set of grips most probably.

-Roy

I agree with Roy…there are pictures of the bottom part of the flash where there is what appears to be (to my eye) dried up amber glue, (the same color as Barge glues) between the grips…I have always interpreted this to have been the remnants of grip glue reside from when the flash was a Luke ESB flash.
 
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I could not find a single reference where the lower part of the flash is exposed well. It's either the highlights are blown or it's too dark to tell any details. Hopefully one day they have an exhibition again (is this supposed to be in the new Lucas museum??) and I'll finally go and see the remaining props with my own eyes.

Could be glue .. some of it is probably glue - like there are some spots below the "control box" that look too orange/brown and too blotchy for it to be the brass.

But overall it looks to me it mostly looks like this:
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and that's brass for sure.

The thing is the current glue or whatever they use is white:
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so can't be from it.

And from the original glue probably nothing was left as it does not seem to show like yellow/orange stripes on the early pictures:
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Then they seem to have sanded the lower and it's hard to say when they put the screws did they use glue again as well.
Maybe from these falling off grips, hard to tell on bw:
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^ couldn’t have said it better myself.

It could be a mixture… the way these flashes look after being roughly sanded/stripped is really similar on its own.

The endcap has still eluded explanation for me. Those pop rivets kind of look like they trimmed the original rivet heads and glued them back in. The saber can be held by that D ring (in the UK recently it was displayed upside down on a costume belt) so I really don’t know…
 

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