Star Wars Comlink - what was the bottom found part?
- Thread starter SPY007
- Start date
AnubisGuard
Master Member
Nope. The current best offering are replicas from Todd's Costumes.
lonepigeon
Master Member
I think it might be the Hovi piece with the "donut" part glued or cast into it. The "nipple" part might just be washed out in the X-wing pics.
Roger's recollections aren't always reliable.
The end piece is very likely the same part. It looks like a match in photos.
The comlinks were also sort of used in the Mos Eisley cantina...
jkno
Legendary Member
The funny thing is that this inaccurate version was made by some ebay sellers long ago and then they show up in Star Wars books. This is how truth is getting buried, and other things become cannon, if we are not careful.
SlyFox
Well-Known Member
Yes, normally I would agree however in this case he even remembered the circular holes around the bottom! Also the circumstances around it’s creation were notable enough for him to remember that there was only ever one made. Which means it was very likely a unique prop. The other set pieces from the X-Wing and The Cantina are very different! The X-Wing control panel doesn’t even appear to have the HOVI Aeroator part present at all from what I can tell, just the Reade Models cylinder, and the Cantina wall piece doesn’t show the bottom at all so the HOVI aerator is likely in its original configuration. The communicator however is uniquely different by the simple fact that the bottom opening was visible and needed something to cover it.
We can't automatically discount everything Roger Christian says just because he once misrembered if a D-Ring was riveted or screwed to a lightsaber. It was over 40 years ago! Lets cut the guy some slack and give him a little credit, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. He did design and create the original props after all. He certainly knows a thing or two more than most, sure he misremembered something but he seems to remember most things quite well given the circumstances. He's only human like the rest of us, during production there was no indication the film would even be successful, it was just another job, another project, and I doubt Roger was documenting everything he did.
Last edited:
deadbolt
Sr Member
These are photos Jason Joiner posted in the ANH DL-44 thread several yeas back of the original screen-used Comlink and a prototype blaster he owns. Sadly the side view shot is blurry and we can't see the profile of the bottom cap all that well.. It does appear to be a different type of plastic though due to the color difference vs. the aerator.
-Carson
-Carson
lonepigeon
Master Member
Nice pics even though they're blurry.
It looks like it could be the inside of the swirlerator. Those pieces have the translucent look.
I wish the project to recreate them from an original was still happening, but it seems to have stalled.
Chris
deadbolt
Sr Member
I too would love to see faithful recreations of the aerator and cylinders, focused properly towards every dimension, asymmetry etc. from original parts. Material and finish matching even..if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right I think..
I don't think that the people that currently make injection molded replicas of the Reade/Veron cylinders realize that, for the vintage Veron parts that were used in-film, the plastic originally had some metallic powder added. Creating a subtle and swirly metallic look, that I guess was...overlooked.
The bottom cap does resemble a nylon color quite a bit, vs. straight white ABS or similar. The inner pieces that have been posted are that teal-like color, but do appear to be made of nylon, or something in the same family as nylon. But that's just from what can be seen from the available photos. The color and slight transparency as you noted makes me think it's unlikely to be a polystyrene model-kit part, even though it's shape certainly could suggest that it's a yet another random model part..just the material makes me think otherwise at this point.
Sadly, no clear photos to go on as far as that cap goes. I'm sure there's a million and one things that look like it via blurry photos and such.. For a good amount of unidentified SW parts like this one, it's too much like looking at a cloud. We can see anything we want really. It's hard to identify something if we can't really see it, sadly.. Hopefully one day though, since it's the last mystery piece of this prop.
..Edit: Aside form the bottom cap, I also wonder what's going on in the interior of the Mix Tip on the prop.. Note the known real ones that we've seen vs. the screen-used/Joiner comlink. Notably white exterior 'and' interior too, not the teal-ish interior part color of the screen-used Hero trooper one (1st photo, via EFX/Gino) as with the recently found part (2nd photo, via member dano).
The screen-used one is has a noticeably white interior. Another part inside instead of a stock stock swirlerator, a different variation, or even painted possibly..for an unknown reason?
..the world may never know..
-Carson
Last edited:
Wavey
Sr Member
It's probably common knowledge, that blaster (above) was a wall-hanger in an odd late 1970's film - along with a few others, thought I had seen it somewhere. Please excuse the side-track and mention of this movie, ta.
Attachments
deadbolt
Sr Member
Looks like another appearance of a Greedo blaster casting, too! Along side a rebel blaster and that proto-blaster.. Very cool to know they were used outside of SW!
-Carson
