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

[Captain Dunsel]

What if initially the ball catch was supposed to go onto the saber like so :

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And they made a hole for the first screw to go, yet changed their mind since the ball catch did not resemble the MPP bulb release enough :

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Thus ending up with a partly cut ball catch and an extra hole ... as seen clearly in the original DV6 picture :

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Here's another rare picture which to me clearly shows a hole :

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Hole or divot ... I leave that up to your personal preference ... as long as you add something there to resemble what's on the prop lightsaber

Chaïm

P.S. As to why the prop-guys choose a ball catch to substitute for the bulb release is another discussion

Given the alignment of the divot / hole / smudge / and where the ball catch is screwed down, I think you are right on target with a theory that makes sense.

 

[Holopoint501]

Hey guys long time watcher here and first time poster, i think i might have a little bit of a discovery for the dv6 bottom, upon working on roys beautiful kit and a beat up vintage of mine i began to build and assemble my grip section / kobold area, i know the general idea is that the end cap has resin and paint but upon a second glance at this photo and colour showing through i do believe the end is actually a brass cap thats been painted to blend back in, you can see the rough edges and tooling marks from metal sheet sheers/ tin snips just near the edges, i will try my best to show my rough template and crude quick test with some brass i had, bare in mind my brass is way thicker than it would be but if you look closely you can definitely see the cap shape and once you see it you cant unsee its placement. To me this explains why the end would have been painted back to a silver and why so much of the gold brass is coming through, its not a common area of ware for a 3 cell bottom and when you look around the edges you can pick out the crude cuts that they attempted to make somewhat rounded. Hope this helps and definitely would love to know your thoughts.

 

[thd9791]

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

I'm glad you caught that, good eye! This was the theory many years ago and I agree it still holds true. This came up again a few pages back on this very thread

Hey guys long time watcher here and first time poster, i think i might have a little bit of a discovery for the dv6 bottom, upon working on roys beautiful kit and a beat up vintage of mine i began to build and assemble my grip section / kobold area, i know the general idea is that the end cap has resin and paint but upon a second glance at this photo and colour showing through i do believe the end is actually a brass cap thats been painted to blend back in, you can see the rough edges and tooling marks from metal sheet sheers/ tin snips just near the edges, i will try my best to show my rough template and crude quick test with some brass i had, bare in mind my brass is way thicker than it would be but if you look closely you can definitely see the cap shape and once you see it you cant unsee its placement. To me this explains why the end would have been painted back to a silver and why so much of the gold brass is coming through, its not a common area of ware for a 3 cell bottom and when you look around the edges you can pick out the crude cuts that they attempted to make somewhat rounded. Hope this helps and definitely would love to know your thoughts.

 

[Holopoint501]

I just went back through the thread and definitely see this has been a topic before so thats awesome to see, i will definitely be going the brass plate for sure and playing around with scaling a template and slapping some paint on some more tests haha. Roys kit is absolutely stunning and im beyond happy that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to build this saber and give some love to our more worn/ rusty graflex top and bottoms.

 

[kurtyboy]

Best way to remove the bear tab rivet?

 

[Captain Dunsel]

Hey guys long time watcher here and first time poster, i think i might have a little bit of a discovery for the dv6 bottom, upon working on roys beautiful kit and a beat up vintage of mine i began to build and assemble my grip section / kobold area, i know the general idea is that the end cap has resin and paint but upon a second glance at this photo and colour showing through i do believe the end is actually a brass cap thats been painted to blend back in, you can see the rough edges and tooling marks from metal sheet sheers/ tin snips just near the edges, i will try my best to show my rough template and crude quick test with some brass i had, bare in mind my brass is way thicker than it would be but if you look closely you can definitely see the cap shape and once you see it you cant unsee its placement. To me this explains why the end would have been painted back to a silver and why so much of the gold brass is coming through, its not a common area of ware for a 3 cell bottom and when you look around the edges you can pick out the crude cuts that they attempted to make somewhat rounded. Hope this helps and definitely would love to know your thoughts.

If this is your first time posting, it means you have been depriving everyone of a great eye for detail, my friend.

 

[3251bimmer]

Best way to remove the bear tab rivet?

Once you remove the flash guts, you can sand the rivet from the inside with a dremel and sanding drum

 

[Halliwax]

I agree. I vote that it’s a divot.

Me too

Best way to remove the bear tab rivet?

I always grind the rivet from the inside.

 

[Dewy]

Received my graflex shop parts a few days ago. Managed to get the top shell holes drilled and countersunk!

 

[Halliwax]

Wicked sleek!!

 

[thd9791]

Dewy those are cleaner and better centered than the prop!

 

[Holopoint501]

Todays progress on the dv6, made a quick template to do the divot and couldn't be more happy with its placement, i used a small pin punch and did it 3 or 4 times to get the depth i wanted into the brass. Also finished a couple test brass caps for the end and sized them to fit a 3 cell bottom with my printed template. Upon looking at the original photo and my template i could pretty much guarantee they used a folmer bottom with the thinner outside lip as previously discussed by you guys it could have been a recycled esb hilt for sure, hence why the thinner lip shows more on the screen used prop.

 

[Halliwax]

Looking good man

 

[Dewy]

More progress on my end. Still needs lots of weathering and a few parts still need to be installed.




D-Rings are soaking in hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar solution to get them to rust:

 

[blewis17]

Still makes me slap my forehead to realize that the ROTS saber (only seen in publicity photos) was baes on the Frankenstein-ed ROTJ Vader saber!

BTW: that all silver version looks awesome!

 

[Dewy]

This is how the D-Rings came out after ~12 hours in the hydrogen peroxide/vinegar. The Kobold D-ring barely rusted. I take it these are different materials roygilsing ? How did you get yours to rust so nicely in your example build?

 

[Halliwax]

More progress on my end. Still needs lots of weathering and a few parts still need to be installed.
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D-Rings are soaking in hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar solution to get them to rust:

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Looking great dewy! How did you remove the finish? Steel wool?

 

[Captain Dunsel]

Still makes me slap my forehead to realize that the ROTS saber (only seen in publicity photos) was baes on the Frankenstein-ed ROTJ Vader saber!

BTW: that all silver version looks awesome!

I thought the ROTS Vader hilt was based upon the Barbican saber hilt and not the MOM hilt?

Was there another version built for ROTS that resembled the MOM hilt?

 

[Dewy]

Looking great dewy! How did you remove the finish? Steel wool?

For the graflex and kobold, I used some needle files, 240 grit sand paper, and green scotch bright. For the s-rings, I let them chemicals do the work.

 

[Jediseth]

This is how the D-Rings came out after ~12 hours in the hydrogen peroxide/vinegar. The Kobold D-ring barely rusted. I take it these are different materials roygilsing ? How did you get yours to rust so nicely in your example build?

View attachment 1605660

I asked Roy

This is how the D-Rings came out after ~12 hours in the hydrogen peroxide/vinegar. The Kobold D-ring barely rusted. I take it these are different materials roygilsing ? How did you get yours to rust so nicely in your example build?

View attachment 1605660

Roy told me his D-ring he used on his DV6 is actually fake. He just used pigments to make it look rusty.
The D-ring that comes in Roy's kit has been dipped in chrome, it will not rust with the chrome on it. The method I used was to dip it first in Muriatic acid and let it soak removing the chrome first i do lightly scuff it up with sand paper just to give the acid something easier to grab. Once the chrome is stripped off I then put mine in the Vinegar and Hydrogen peroxide / salt mixture. Here is my result.