The Ultimate Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi Real Vintage Parts Lightsaber Group

Double check with a magnet that it's brass before going further. I've not heard of any not being so but it's not difficult or long winded to do.
 
Hello everyone :)

I'm glad to finally be able to post in this thread :)
I do have a partial vintage Ben Kenobi lightsaber and I require your help on a rust matter.

My hilt is made of :
  • Vintage G R A F L E X Clamp
  • Vintage Armitage Shanks Sink Knob (amber cubes chromed by Roman)
  • Vintage Windvane
  • Vintage Transistors (and machined washers not on the pics)
  • Roman No°3 MK1 Grenade Body (I have to clean it and weather it)
  • Roman ANM2 Booster
  • I'm still looking for a static balance pipe replica
I recently bought the damaged windvane, the ring is broken and some fins are bended. I was surprised to find rust on it since it is made of brass. I know it can oxidize but I never thought I could find real rust on it.
I wanted to know if you have been in this situation before with these parts and how you've handled it ?
I read on Google that vinegar is a good solution to clean rusted parts without damaging them.

Thank you for your feedback

Constant

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Nice collection!!
 
First, thank you all for your feedback, I really appreciate it :)

Yes, vinegar will definitely remove a certain amount of rust and corrosion from the brass wind vane and ring. I would recommend watching several restoration videos that newmagrathea posted to his blog (www.propchopshop.com) or YouTube channel for further tips. Extremely helpful.

I will try to use vinegar on the fins and the ring to see how it goes :)
ParfaiteLumiere suggested me to use steel wool. I think it will be the second step after vinegar.
I saw the "Hales Restoration - Windvane repair" from newmagrathea, I watched it several times actually. His videos are very inspiring and informative

Interesting, I’ve never seen brass been corroded like that “rusty” looking. Very nice grenade tho!
I know :O ! Brass isn't supposed to "rust" like that, well... isn't supposed to rust at all...
Thank you, I wish it was a vintage one ^^ Actually I bought it like that, it's a Roman part and it is real rust on it. I also have to remove it and do a proper weathering. It's its fault if the bottom/thread part of the neck has rust on it.

Double check with a magnet that it's brass before going further. I've not heard of any not being so but it's not difficult or long winded to do.
Yeah right ! That was a good idea. It is still brass, non-magnetic. 20200129_212924.jpg20200129_212935.jpg20200129_212958.jpg

Nice collection!!
Thank you buddy ;)
 
That looks like an old attempt to repair. The pinky colour looks like a typical result of solder/brazing flux. If the silver blob is soft (hard plastic should easily mark it) it's lead solder. If harder then it's more likely silver solder. Go carefully with wet 000 or 0000 wire wool on the pink. Heat should remove most of the old solder if lead. If silver solder (& remaining lead) you'll need to go carefully with a fine file then fine emery. You can always repatinate later. It is very difficult to tell when you've got through the silver to the brass. I know that sounds silly but I've done that clean up countless times & it's very difficult tell. If you have one of the patina inducing solutions to hand, that's really useful to show up the different metals. The wire wool will also improve the rest of the metal surface on both. Neither will scratch, but if you get a bit of rust caught in it it may, hence the go carefully.

If you plan to bend those fins back make sure you heat the thing very hot to anneal the brass first. Doesn't have to be red hot. Allow it cool before working.
 
Agreed.

The barrel jacket, intact, is pretty damn rare. Like as never to be seen. They can get destroyed or at least fairly messed up when removing the booster some times, and most other times the jackets are sacrificed in transport or as a presentation choice for one’s collection.

That is the main reason why I’m now loathe to take this thing apart to complete my build...

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First-world problem, I know.
 
That is the main reason why I’m now loathe to take this thing apart to complete my build...

First-world problem, I know.

Honestly, I feel like if a person gets it to the point yours is at, and I have never welded anything in my life but, the best and hopefully cleanest way to remove the rivet that is welded to the fin (which penetrates a hole in the barrel jacket) that ultimately rests within a circular pocket (that is drilled into every booster) is to weld it off, if such an action is possible.

The weldment that goes from the rivet to a fin, canit not be heated again to point it is malleable, and then just remove it? Maybe that is not possible or is practically impossible due to how difficult it is to do?


On a side note, I have always felt the ventilation cutouts on the barrel jackets on the British guns were very aggressive looking as well, and for whatever abstract reason have (along with the Martian radial flash cone, and vaned booster) always reminded me of bees. Or stingers perhaps.
They just look really nasty and painful compared to other nations’ gun setups on planes of the period, in my opinion.




*The MG’s barrel threads into a trunnion (breech end) and the tip of the muzzle end of the barrel sits within the booster somewhat freely.
 
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Need help.
I tried to remove brass neck from this display grenade and it wouldn't budge. After light cleaning I noticed this round piece at the top of the grenade. I think it is brass. It does not go all the way through the steel body. Looks to me like a dowel that's meant to prevent the 2 pieces to unscrew?
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Yup, that could be a pin keeping the brass neck stuck in place. You can try tapping it out to see if it falls out the other end. If that doesn't work then I imagine the only other option would be to drill it out.
 
Seems like it was there when the grande was manufactured though as the machining marks seem to match up with that portion of the grenade. I also haven't seen one of these.
 
I can honestly say that in all of the grenades I've owned or handled that there has never been a pin holding the brass stem to the frag body.

And we're talking about almost a dozen No. 3's at this point.

I'm not saying this can't be a variant because lord knows there always is one lol... but usually, the reason why the brass is stuck to the frag is just simply age and the fact that it's different material in contact with one another.

I suck at separating this stuff but the tried and true method that teecrooz uses is the freeze and heat method which always works for him; different materials, different cooling and expansion rates....
 
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Here's my progress with my real parts build. Taken me a long time to find these two parts - I expect the remaining parts will take ages to find too!

The grenade is more on the relic side of things but the booster is good. Big thanks to mugatu in helping me get the booster across the pond!

Nice big weld on the booster!
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andyroo Congrats on your booster and Hales!
You're already half way to the finish line.

I might be wrong, but the grenade looks like a very rare symmetrical cut version :unsure:
 
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