The OT stunt lightsaber blades research thread

[DaveP]

I always wondered about tent poles, but if they're made it fibreglass they splinter easily. Maybe they've got tape round them to prevent the splinters? If so the colour could be throwing us off the scent

From what I gather, the colour was to stand out against the bright desert background, so it would have been painted black whatever the material. As for the splinters, the short stunt never actually came in to contact with anything, so maybe they went with the cheaper option, rather than using (and shortening) an antenna unnecessarily?

 

[thd9791]

Hey Mouse, That's the one I'm talking about. If I get chance today, I'm going to do another comparison shot.

Could well be an antenna still. It was just the lack of taper (Or possible lack of taper) that had me thinking it could be something else. When I googled 12mm fiberglass rod, 12.7mm (1/2inch) tent poles kept springing up.

Speaking of the attachment, I had an interesting thought earlier. When modelling the grooves in the end of the nipple, I ran one of the reference photos through a few photoshop processes to get a template for the various grooves and ridges.

View attachment 1334290View attachment 1334289

I thought at the time that they could be an indication of where the blade had been? Well, it just so happens that the inner groove is just over 12.7mm across! 13.2mm to be precise (so only half a mm out) Could it be that the inner part is the indentation created by the blade rocking back and forth, and the outer ring is the indentation created by the collar?

Anyway. I'll try to get another overlay made later using this:

View attachment 1334291

I'd be very interested to see your results - if we're talking about the valleys in that model, and the second smaller one, we would see such a large step down in diameter. The blade seems barely smaller than the adapter ( Halliwax may be able to confirm this) with the adapter and the blade both painted black

 

[Halliwax]

I'd be very interested to see your results - if we're talking about the valleys in that model, and the second smaller one, we would see such a large step down in diameter. The blade seems barely smaller than the adapter ( Halliwax may be able to confirm this) with the adapter and the blade both painted black

Nipple and collar are same diameter, collar is a little shorter then the nipple, the collar is super thin, and there is barely a difference between the width of the collar vs the blade.

If I’m over stepping my bounds let me know and I can remove this

 

[DaveP]

Nipple and collar are same diameter, collar is a little shorter then the nipple, the collar is super thin, and there is barely a difference between the width of the collar vs the blade.

If I’m over stepping my bounds let me know and I can remove this

Not at all! If anything, I'm the one derailing thing's! Couldn't not share what I was finding though. Would you agree that the collar looks to be tapered Halliwax?

Not had chance to do an overlay yet on this, but I'll try to get one done shortly....

 

[Halliwax]

Not at all! If anything, I'm the one derailing thing's! Couldn't not share what I was finding though. Would you agree that the collar looks to be tapered Halliwax?

View attachment 1334360

Not had chance to do an overlay yet on this, but I'll try to get one done shortly....

Collar is not tapered

 

[Halliwax]

I’m also pretty sure there are at least 2 different blades used on the yuma..

One long

One wicked short

The long one could have been cut for the medium size blade.. but I don’t know

This also explains the multiple rings on the nipple, because of 2 different size internal setups

 

[DaveP]

I’m also pretty sure there are at least 2 different blades used on the yuma..

One long

One wicked short

The long one could have been cut for the medium size blade.. but I don’t know

This also explains the multiple rings on the nipple, because of 2 different size internal setups

Definitely with you on that one. I made them approximately 500mm for the long one (give or take a bit as they're long shots) and 333mm for the barge one. This one's pretty accurate I think.

Hard to tell whether what I'm seeing as a taper is actually part of the costume behind.

 

[Halliwax]

I don’t see a taper in the small blade

 

[DaveP]

Agre

I don’t see a taper in the small blade

Agreed. Which is exciting, because it kind of opens up the possibility of it being a 1/2' tent pole. Or at least using one for the time being.

 

[Mouse Vader]

It always looks to me that the 'collar' part in this pic is the same material as the blade & is radiused into it. There just isn't the contrast in this area for it to be a shadow from a stepped collar.
Dave, there many scources of 1/2" fiberglass rod, solid & hollow, besides tent poles. I think plain stock rod I think would be most likely in a prop dept.

 

[DaveP]

It always looks to me that the 'collar' part in this pic is the same material as the blade & is radiused into it. There just isn't the contrast in this area for it to be a shadow from a stepped collar.
Dave, there many scources of 1/2" fiberglass rod, solid & hollow, besides tent poles. I think plain stock rod I think would be most likely in a prop dept.

I see what you mean (on both counts). Certainly looks to have the same surface properties. Could this be down to it having been painted after the collar was attached? This would account for the lack of definition too maybe? Seems unlikely to me that the collar would be part of the blade i.e., the same material.

I think you're on to something with the regular stock fiberglass rod/tube. I imagine that's where tent poles originate, so could be that they share a common source?

 

[thd9791]

This is why I questioned those measurements. This saber is pretty darned close, but not an exact replica like the project you guys are doing

Aluminum rod is 12.6 mm

Glomex antenna scrap is 16.16 mm and might be a tad small (expecting the collar or adapter to be 1-2 mm thick)

 

[Halliwax]

This is why I questioned those measurements. This saber is pretty darned close, but not an exact replica like the project you guys are doing

Aluminum rod is 12.6 mm
View attachment 1334515
Glomex antenna scrap is 16.16 mm and might be a tad small (expecting the collar or adapter to be 1-2 mm thick)
View attachment 1334516

Honestly tom. That last picture would look perfect with a collar on it

 

[DaveP]

Sorry guys. I don't want to cause any disagreements. Sorry to keep you waiting on the evidence too. I had other commitments last night, so wasn't able to get to my computer.

Please excuse the screenshot. I've had to throw this together really quickly, so haven't had time to get it perfect and do a proper render. The camera angle is a little off, so the rings don't line up properly, but I'm happy that I've matched the radii (Which is what we're looking at here).

As you can see in the red box, I've got my blade set to 1/2 inch and it looks to be a perfect match to me.

I'll come back to this and get it all lined up perfectly later, and render a proper overlay image. For now though, I'm fairly satisfied that the blade thickness is 12.7mm.

Again, I don't want to contradict anyone. I'm just looking to find the truth. I've ordered myself a 1/2 inch fiberglass rod to see how it looks.

Still having a think about the collar....

 

[Halliwax]

Looks awesome!

 

[thd9791]

I'm glad we disagree, it's how we find the truth somethimes! I didn't mean to rush you, and sorry if it came off that way.

That is a compelling model. In the photo itself, I don't quite see the step from nipple to collar - in fact the more I look at it, it looks like they wrapped the whole blade and collar in tape or something and there's a wrinkle or fold dulling the step from collar to blade.

 

[DaveP]

I'm glad we disagree, it's how we find the truth somethimes! I didn't mean to rush you, and sorry if it came off that way.

That is a compelling model. In the photo itself, I don't quite see the step from nipple to collar - in fact the more I look at it, it looks like they wrapped the whole blade and collar in tape or something and there's a wrinkle or fold dulling the step from collar to blade.

Not at all. I was rushing myself to be honest. I've just got a lot of other things on at the moment, so I was dying to get on to it. The camera still needs a bit of adjustment, but shouldn't effect the thickness. The collar on the above image is a very rough estimate. I'm not seeing a sharp step either. You could be right about the tape! Could explain why I'm seeing a slight taper in the collar.

I'll get back on to this soon to do a more thorough pass.

 

[Mouse Vader]

in fact the more I look at it, it looks like they wrapped the whole blade and collar in tape or something and there's a wrinkle or fold dulling the step from collar to blade.

Interesting option.

 

[DaveP]

Double checked the Yuma thickness again, using the analysis tools in Photoshop this time. You basically plug in a known value and it allows you to set a measurement scale. It's by no means an exact science. It wouldn't work with the length of the hilt for example, as that changes depending on its orientation. Good for radii though, so perfect for this.

It came out at 12.7 (1/2 inch) again.

Couple of other things I've noticed on closer inspection... I'm seeing some diagonal lines on the blade. These could be artefacts in the image, or it could be evidence of tape having been wrapped around the full length (as suggested by thd9791).

Also, interestingly, the blade is off centre. It's off to the side you'd expect too (opposite the grub screw). This suggests to me that the tang is a smaller diameter than the opening in the emitter (Which is actually quite wide). If this is true, it could help to answer another important question regarding the Yuma: It suggests that there isn't a piece of broken tang lodged in there. So the depth that we see on the reference images could well be the actual depth.

My initial thought's are that the tang *could* be 1/4 inch rod. This would offset the blade by a similar amount to that seen in the image.

 

[Mouse Vader]

Good work. I see what you mean about the diagonal 'marks' too. Black insulation tape springs to mind. Something to look out for.

As an aside, I have some old GRP tent poles some where. I'll see if I can find them.