I've actually changed my mind about this recently. I noticed that the V2 neck is longer and thought they couldn't be the same.... and then realized the first grenade ring was reduced, extending the neck downwards. I brought this idea to
PoopaPapaPalps who had already experimented with this and come up with results. He hasn't shared yet so I didn't want to push it too far - but I am convinced they were
both casts...
Yeup. I think I have this documented on my research thread previously somewhere. I need to finish another hilt before my write-up on the matter but putting it here wouldn't harm anything; but yes, the V2 is most certainly a cast and machined down just to clean up the surface. Everything nearly lines up with the raw cast and wood buck, only just shortened and tighter in some areas.
My belief is that the V2 is cut down from a misaligned cast, similar to the V3, the displaced cuts and getting them flush and cleaned have in my trials resulted similar, if not exact, matches to the real thing. And this is just cleaning the surface; no measuring needed.
I've done a comparison of the V2 and the wooden buck. I believe it's almost certainly a cast. The rings are quite uneven, but line up perfectly. I'll upload an image later (when I'm at my machine).
This is one of the things that sealed it for me when I machined my pieces. The rings themselves are of different width but they line up in terms of placing same to the V3/casts
Emitter... well if the V2's emitter is complicated with bushings and bearings and stuff, then maybe it's a new emitter, but I'm not sure either way there.
I have omitted the bearings from my V2 designs as current findings showed to me they're redundant. Brandon A also mentions that there is no break looking down the bore of emitter---to quote, "There is no break..."--- but with a bearing sat under the nipple: there is a clear and definite break.
I will be taking photos soon to corroborate this. Again, just gotta get some further machining done.
I was & do subscribe to the theory the V3 was an unfinished motor stunt. So that may or may not be a hole for wires. Certainly is a hole of some sort, threaded or not. I'm also convince the V2 was used for off screen choreographing/stunt work & is robust enough for that.
Given the effort put into testing & development of the motor stunts, even down to setting the rpm to interfere with the camera frame rate to give the flicker, I think it likely the motor stunts were all made as such from the get go (& the V3 is a 'reject' attempt).
As always IMO & awaiting new info/ref's.
I am also under a similar idea, along with what's
Halliwax conjectured before about the timeline---only I have a few differing ideas. Namely, the V2 was always the one to be made first for the effects. From Empire of Dreams, there's a lot of archival footage to show that they experimented with all sorts of thing before landing on the final choice for the sp/fx for the Vader/Ben duel. It was a priority to solve first. I can't be sure when the V3 was put into production, whether at the same time as the V2 was being machined or later after production realized this wasn't working well--- I can't say.
What I can say is that in trying to stay true to the original measurements of the V3 I have, when I put my V3 in my lathe set up, something always breaks. Always. And it's typically a bearing in my steady rest. The V3 is only just cleaned up with a rasp and sandpaper, to the best that I can re-create. The clamp section and the last ring on the grenade section has some very minor actual machining applied to it. Everything else still contains roughs and uglies. That includes uneven surfaces.
Casting alu results in a ~6% loss of total surface area as it moves from a liquid state and the atoms align to create a solid. Unfortunately, the rate and areas affected as it cools across its surface and within as it shrinks is completely random. All of my test pieces are like this and all of them are slightly ovaloid to varying degrees. Add that on top of cleaning up unaligned edges on an already lilting piece and you have an extremely troublesome piece. Imagine putting an oblong wheel on a cart that's being pulled. Now imagine that cart going fast enough that the wheel spins 500-700 rpm.
Getting a full bore on a V3 isn't an impossibility---some may manage it---but in the orders of operations that it takes to get to that point, I find unlikely. And a full bore for a motor assembly is only ~3.5-4 inches deep. A half bore is all I can, and dare, to manage for the V3 and that's just to fit the pommel. Any deeper and you increase resistance on one side, chopping and bucking as you try to cut material from something that is fighting to stay centered. That runs risk or ruining the piece (as it's essentially wiggling its way out the chuck's jaws) and the machine, and more importantly, yourself. With these experiences in mind (and a few close-calls for myself), I don't believe the V3 was bored out for a motor. For me, the evidence in the work that's put into the V3 suggests that this thing was hastily made as a second to the V2. Where in our timeline, who can say, but a ready-to-rock V3 is something I can pull off in a day, whereas the V2 takes 2 or 3 to fully complete.
On a final note, the V2 is as robust to duel with as the V3 is. Although, just from what photos have surfaced, I believe the V3 had seen a lot more action than the V2 did. The paint on the V2 is more complete by the time RotJ is filmed and many of the BTS photos and footage show the V3 in hand over the V2. It's even the V3 that's chosen to be molded to make resin stunts for ILM to eventually base their Yuma's off of.
