Saberz.com Definitive Project Hilts: Which should be next?

[Saberz]

Hey everybody,
We have been working for YEARS on some hilt designs which we believe to be the definitive replicas. You can see our first effort at this task in our Project M hilt. We have four more projects waiting in the wings, each of which is as thoroughly researched and verifiably accurate.

To be clear, these will all be metal hilts, and hollow to accept electronics. They’ll either have hidden sound venting, or swappable pommel caps (vented and non vented), plus swappable emitter caps where applicable.

Which one do you think we should make next? You can vote officially at the poll on our home page.

 

[StevenBills]

Would these be metal or resin hilts?

 

[rockbottom]

Voted but also wanted to leave my input here. I purchased your hero M and would love an accurate O1 and Q to go with it.

 

[Mandalorian444]

I agree with rockbottom. I would personally say Q first, simply because I have an O1 hilt I'm happy with already, but I would love to add another to my connection. Either of those two sabers would be great.

 

[Saberz]

Thanks for the input! Yes to be clear these will all be metal. Some combination of T6 aluminum, and some Stainless Steel parts where I can confirm that the originals were SS (like for the LED bezels, and the end ring on the O1 and Q hilts).

 

[mountainjedi]

Definitely would like the O1 or Q next! They look spectacular, particularly the Q. Will the blade plug on the Q be silver or copper? (I know the threaded prop you have has a silver emitter surface, but I think the hero versions I've seen, like the one Liam Neeson was given, have a copper blade plug similar to the KR version.) Might be a cool to do both to give people the optionality? For reference here's a couple hero props with the copper plug/emitter surface:

Liam Neeson Shows Off Qui-Gon Jinn’s Phantom Menace Lightsaber In New Video

Liam Neeson shows James Corden he still has Qui-Gon Jinn's lightsaber.

screenrant.com

Qui-Gon Saber Emitter

I just noticed these in my Qui-Gon saber folder: So what's the deal? Is the front of the emitter really copper? Has everyone who's made a replica gotten it wrong?? On a side note, does anyone have a spare resin or metal emitter top they wanna get rid of? (It doesn't matter if...

www.therpf.com

 

[Saberz]

So that's definitely NOT copper. It's a steel fender washer, just catching the light differently from the other material surrounding it. Yes, we will properly replicate that end face, just as we are doing on the M and O1 hilts.

All three of those hilts (and the vast majority of Episode 1 hilts, perhaps all of them) were constructed around an allthread rod. Early hilts used M8 rods, and main/late production used M10 rods. The fender washer caps off the assembly, and then the allthread is ground down until it looks like a little pip in the center.

Here's how our Maul assembly looks. This isn't painted yet, so ignore the slight color difference, but this is how the assembly works, on all three hilts. It's some kind of end piece on the emitter, with a fender washer on top (we went to the expense of making our own fender washers to ensure they would be perfectly correct!), and the little "pip" in the center.

 

[Saberz]

Oh, and important to note - the Q will have two copies of the bezel beneath the red button - one black and one silver - so you can set it up either way (both are shown in the film).

 

[mountainjedi]

Oh, and important to note - the Q will have two copies of the bezel beneath the red button - one black and one silver - so you can set it up either way (both are shown in the film).

I love it! Man you're killing it on these products. On the surface emitter - I wonder if some of the fender washers were rusty then if they were steel? Because particularly in the Liam Neeson version, its coloring is different than the surrounding emitter bezel, regardless of the lighting angle or anything (you can tell based on the coloring as he moves it). Now obviously wouldn't expect you to pre-rust it, but I suppose for those interested in that look, it could be possible to oxidize that surface on the plug slightly.

 

[mountainjedi]

And back to the original question about which to do next - i have preference to the episode 1 ones as I said, but I guess between O1 and Q I'd say whichever is closest to design finalization - that way they can move to production the quickest.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

My vote would be for the Q because I already have at least 1 version of the other sabers and would pass on offerings of those but I've always wanted/needed to add a Qui-Gon to my collection.

 

[Mandalorian444]

On the surface emitter - I wonder if some of the fender washers were rusty then if they were steel?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain it is just rusty, as you say. You can see that it's not even across the whole surface with the reflections in that video.

Also the one that goes around with the costume exhibit (I'm not sure of its origins) is similar with only the top face of the emitter being rusty steel, not copper.

Anyway, don't mean to detract from the purpose of this thread, just excited to see these projects getting closer to reality.

 

[Scruffylooking]

O1 or Q!

 

[thd9791]

my vote is for the Q

have we confirmed if the hero Q black body parts were resin or metal?

Very excited to see the different bezels!

 

[Saberz]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain it is just rusty, as you say. You can see that it's not even across the whole surface with the reflections in that video.

Also the one that goes around with the costume exhibit (I'm not sure of its origins) is similar with only the top face of the emitter being rusty steel, not copper.

View attachment 1566129

Anyway, don't mean to detract from the purpose of this thread, just excited to see these projects getting closer to reality.

Again, this is neither rust nor copper. It's just steel. It might make you think it looks brown, but it's just the difference in material colors. Also these were sometimes painted, like this:

On this Maul hero, the "rusty" looking outer ring is just aluminum that's been painted. The inner "pip" is the M10 thru rod which has been ground down, and the disc between them is the fender washer. Those fender washers look different at different angles or with different lighting, but they are all stainless steel fender washers, and they aren't rusty. They aren't brown or copper-colored. They're just different from aluminum, have a different surface finish, and reflect light differently.

 

[Saberz]

my vote is for the Q

have we confirmed if the hero Q black body parts were resin or metal?

Very excited to see the different bezels!

No, there's no definitive answer there. I'd guess it's black Delrin, as are some portions of the Obi-Wan EP1 saber. However, we will not be using Delrin for any of these parts, as we need them to have various threaded features for which alloy is a better option. Plus we are making everything hollow in order to optinally accept electronics. With the thin walls we're going for, again plastic won't be a good choice.

HOWEVER, our experience and sophistication with surface finishes makes a big difference here. For these black portions, we'll be doing a media blast and satin anodization which makes the final appearance virtually indistinguishable from black delrin, meaning the best of all worlds. Specifically, the appearance and finish of delrin, with the heft + durability + threading ability of alloy.

 

[mountainjedi]

Not doubting that's a steel fender washer, but the center washer is definitely a different color than the surrounding bezel. So if not rusty or copper, it's probably painted a copper-y color, like you said Saberz . Painted makes sense since it looks like the coloring goes over the threaded middle rod as well.

 

[Saberz]

Definitely not painted, not rusty. Not brown or bronze in color. Again, that washer is just reflecting light differently than the surrounding aluminum.

 

[mountainjedi]

Definitely not painted, not rusty. Not brown or bronze in color. Again, that washer is just reflecting light differently than the surrounding aluminum.

Dang I must be color blind, as is khal1993 , since I still see it consistently that color, regardless of the angle of the lighting in the video Anyway, regardless, I love it and can't wait to buy it!

 

[Saberz]

I'm also privy to some reference images that I can't share publicly. I don't ever state something definitively unless I'm 100% sure that I'm correct.

Of course, you don't have to believe me if you don't want to! Paint yours copper if you like