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

Purchased!

Does the kit come with something to cover the graflex bottom stamping under the kobold? In my haste I forgot to add one of these to my cart: Graflex bottom plate – WannaWanga

That's a good point. I decided not to add the plate because the real prop has such a messy bottom but it doesn't seem to have a bottom cover plate. I totally epoxied the bottom to give it a dirty look but it's hard to tell what exactly happens there. Maybe someone else can chime in but I think that a bottom cover is way to idealized to my liking. So it's up to the customer to add one or not. Do you think I should mention this on the product page?
 
Are the grips cut just like the ANH ones on the ends or is this version angled a little differently?
They are all a bit different and clearly finished by hand. Some are angled but most have rounded corners. I didn't check with each grip how exactly they are finished but it's all very rough.

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That's a good point. I decided not to add the plate because the real prop has such a messy bottom but it doesn't seem to have a bottom cover plate. I totally epoxied the bottom to give it a dirty look but it's hard to tell what exactly happens there. Maybe someone else can chime in but I think that a bottom cover is way to idealized to my liking. So it's up to the customer to add one or not. Do you think I should mention this on the product page?

To my eye, there’s clearly something covering the stamping, but I agree your TFA bottom cover is probably too clean. This looks like some thin sheet metal eyeball cut with some snips to me:

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Thank you for offering this kit to us. How did you bend the tabs down? I have heard others say before that they’re brittle to work with. Thanks again!
 
Yes - in my experience there is a rough cut disc of thin metal underneath the Kobold clip. It is not a complete circle, and doesn’t quite reach the edge of the graflex in one area. Also has choppy sides like they did it with a dremel cutting disc.

It appears yellowish, like it’s brass, with some putty, and hastily painted with silver paint. I got the feeling they accidentally blew out the original holes and this acts as a rivet washer.

Kit looks amazing. I recommend countersinking your graflex holes with the core in place. If the core comes pre countersunk, you’ll know you’re done once the metal is flush with the hole. If not, you can countersunk them at once. It’s easy to go too far and make the holes too big without the hole you’re trying to match in the same place.

Make sure your countersunk matches the ANGLE of the screws. 90 degree and 83 or 82 or something? There are two

Kit looks bloody amazing
 
Thank you for offering this kit to us. How did you bend the tabs down? I have heard others say before that they’re brittle to work with. Thanks again!
I have broken so many! Honestly, consider it a one-shot deal, the crimp splits sometimes.

I use beefy needle nose pliers from the outside of the flash to bend them down a little one by one. Then I feed some flat pliers or something down flash nose or put it in a vice and close the vice gently to finish the job
 
I have broken so many! Honestly, consider it a one-shot deal, the crimp splits sometimes.

I use beefy needle nose pliers from the outside of the flash to bend them down a little one by one. Then I feed some flat pliers or something down flash nose or put it in a vice and close the vice gently to finish the job
Also I would think that heating the tabs would make them significantly more malleable.
 
Kit looks amazing. I recommend countersinking your graflex holes with the core in place. If the core comes pre countersunk, you’ll know you’re done once the metal is flush with the hole. If not, you can countersunk them at once. It’s easy to go too far and make the holes too big without the hole you’re trying to match in the same place.

Make sure your countersunk matches the ANGLE of the screws. 90 degree and 83 or 82 or something? There are two

Kit looks bloody amazing
THANKS!!
The countersunk is 90 degrees. Good idea to use the core part as a guide. Just secure it with one screw (M6) and then countersink the rest.
 
To my eye, there’s clearly something covering the stamping, but I agree your TFA bottom cover is probably too clean. This looks like some thin sheet metal eyeball cut with some snips to me:
It looks to be covert with metal epoxy or probably just epoxy with chrome paint on it. It’s definitely not a plate covering.
 
It was heavily discussed some time ago in a few different research threads, they probably still include pictures. here's the general consensus, including a dremel scratch on the right side
 

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It was heavily discussed some time ago in a few different research threads, they probably still include pictures. here's the general consensus, including a dremel scratch on the right side

Somewhere, an old studio prop maker is giggling at our level of obsessive analysis over something he/she sloppily slapped on the end of that saber, on a lark, and chipped with a an errant pass of the Dremel.

;)
 
I'm actually just going to make a sink tube Graflex and install this kit. No need to worry about breaking anything or messing it up. The sink tube costs less than 10 dollars and I'm using a 1 1/2 electrical knock out seal that fits in the tube for the end cap. I have the inside piece from a Graflex parts 3 cell and Roy has the templates on his site so it's off we go. I will post here once I get going on it. It almost pains me to destroy a perfectly good Graflex even though that's what needs to be done :rolleyes: :lol:
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