Organic Mechanic
Sr Member
You may call it Ep. IV, or A New Hope, but I still call it "Star Wars".
Let me preface this with the fact that I know there have been more of these builds than we can count, but for me, this prop is what it's all about. I was born in 1976. That means that there has never been a time where I was unaware of Star Wars. I grew up wanting to be Luke Skywalker. Every stick, baseball bat, flashlight etc. I touched as a child (and sometimes as an adult) became this lightsaber. So please, bear with me as I finally build my Holy Grail prop.
thumbsup
*********************
It starts, as these things often do, with the "Graflex Inc." Graflex I picked up in the Junkyard a month or so ago. She was a bit on the battered side. The brass connector pins had been ground down, the bakelite internals were broken, the bulb clamp was stretched out and it's pin had been replaced by a nail. There was also some scratching and rust. That part I didn't mind as I never imagined this saber to be in good shape as I watched the film.
All of that is not to say that finally holding the real thing didn't give me a charge, because it did.
To repair the issues mentioned, I also picked up a Graflex Slave.
Then it was on to the other parts.
While trolling ebay I ran across a Graflex 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 carrying case with D-rings that looked, in the pictures at least, to be eerily close. I took a chance.
Close, but no cigar. The size and shape are good, if a touch small, but the brass plating and the clip were just wrong.
Plating can be stripped, and clips can be reshaped. It's a keeper.
Then, of course, there is everybody's favorite calculator. The Exactra 20.
Here's mine.
And a quick shot of my amassed "Saber Stash"
The grips in that pic will be used on the Graflite. I ordered some Saberfreak grips today.
While I wait for them to arrive, I started work with what I have.
Dismantled, cleaned, and polished the Graflex and Slave. Rebuilding the Graflex to the best possible condition. I removed the rectangular washer from the clamp lever.
Then I trimmed and fit the bubble strip.
It's starting to feel like a lightsaber now!
Let me preface this with the fact that I know there have been more of these builds than we can count, but for me, this prop is what it's all about. I was born in 1976. That means that there has never been a time where I was unaware of Star Wars. I grew up wanting to be Luke Skywalker. Every stick, baseball bat, flashlight etc. I touched as a child (and sometimes as an adult) became this lightsaber. So please, bear with me as I finally build my Holy Grail prop.
thumbsup*********************
It starts, as these things often do, with the "Graflex Inc." Graflex I picked up in the Junkyard a month or so ago. She was a bit on the battered side. The brass connector pins had been ground down, the bakelite internals were broken, the bulb clamp was stretched out and it's pin had been replaced by a nail. There was also some scratching and rust. That part I didn't mind as I never imagined this saber to be in good shape as I watched the film.
All of that is not to say that finally holding the real thing didn't give me a charge, because it did.
To repair the issues mentioned, I also picked up a Graflex Slave.
Then it was on to the other parts.
While trolling ebay I ran across a Graflex 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 carrying case with D-rings that looked, in the pictures at least, to be eerily close. I took a chance.
Close, but no cigar. The size and shape are good, if a touch small, but the brass plating and the clip were just wrong.
Plating can be stripped, and clips can be reshaped. It's a keeper.
Then, of course, there is everybody's favorite calculator. The Exactra 20.
Here's mine.
And a quick shot of my amassed "Saber Stash"
The grips in that pic will be used on the Graflite. I ordered some Saberfreak grips today.
While I wait for them to arrive, I started work with what I have.
Dismantled, cleaned, and polished the Graflex and Slave. Rebuilding the Graflex to the best possible condition. I removed the rectangular washer from the clamp lever.
Then I trimmed and fit the bubble strip.
It's starting to feel like a lightsaber now!
