They were blued.
Steel cannot be anodized, powder coating only started to be developed in the late 1940s, and paint would definitely not be durable enough.
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Steel cannot be anodized, powder coating only started to be developed in the late 1940s, and paint would definitely not be durable enough.
PHArchivist
Master Member
Was actually thinking each of those points as I was typing the post...! Thanks...!
So the original substrate would be clean silver metal?
Also, the original grenades were a brass color, correct?
Yeah. And somehow they chrome plated just the inside surfaces:
Just the neck assemblies and the end caps - the frag bodies are steel.
PHArchivist
Master Member
That answers my "wonders" and makes sense...
About both pieces.
Seems across the spectrum of replicas, the grenade reflects rust, black (blue-ing? age?), and brass.
Your answer helps clarify why...
Funnily, I have the Master Replicas .45-scale right in front of me. From a rookie perspective, their finish is really quite good...
That is the trick I want to know… the process to chrome steel is intense.. it’s even harder to remove
The way I was taught you really can’t pick or choose areas to remove the chrome you just submerge it in multiple different chemical baths to remove it..
How the inside is chrome and the outside is blue boggles my mind
And it’s not like you can submerge the bluing in the chrome chemical bath because it contaminates the chrome chemical, the item has to be perfectly cleaned, with no impurity’s or it ruins the tank of chemicals
Ask me how I know.. my uncle nearly killed me when I went to chrome side pipes and had steel wool inside them..
Boy oh boy did I get in trouble
Ask me how I know.. my uncle nearly killed me when I went to chrome side pipes and had steel wool inside them..
Boy oh boy did I get in trouble
Yeah, that's a real head scratcher...
PHArchivist
Master Member
In brief, what is the 'story' on the chrome / foil tape on the Graflex clamp?
I've been scanning this thread, but just too much content to absorb much more than the images...
I've been scanning this thread, but just too much content to absorb much more than the images...
PHArchivist
Master Member
When the 'fins' of the booster wear, then, does the underlaying metal show through as silver?
Seems like a rookie question, but I'm not a metallurgist! And it at times is tough to tell from the images posted in this thread...
It shows as raw steel, not as bright and white as silver or aluminum, but a darker color, like what you see in stainless steel objects around your house
In general - yes.
No two boosters will be exactly alike, but I would say that "fresh" wear would be a brighter silver, while older wear that has had time to oxidize would turn kinda' grey. In addition, sometimes oxidation will start to turn bluing into a shade of brown.
PHArchivist
Master Member
Thanks gents...
Another question, from an old fart too lazy to digest this thread...?
The MR .45 mini has what appear to be a couple brass screws in the Graflex clamp...
Is this accurate to the original prop?
Another question, from an old fart too lazy to digest this thread...?
The MR .45 mini has what appear to be a couple brass screws in the Graflex clamp...
Is this accurate to the original prop?
PHArchivist
Master Member
There in lays some of the fun in doing this saber - such weathering (at least for me) is a true joy...
Lol you’re too much buddy! lol
There's no way to definitively say, on that particular detail.
Could be brass, could be plain steel. I think the consensus is, is that the chrome tape (or rather the presence/lack of presence of it); and the colour of the screw - are completely up to owner / builder of their prop. Those two features are the only two left up for interpretation/preferance I think lol.
Other than whatever is holding the bal pipe on of course - but no one is out here soldering, brazing or glueing their pipes on realistically.
So will you be starting your own real parts journey PHArchivist ?
PHArchivist
Master Member
So what is the story of the chrome / foil tape? I do indeed have a sense that there is no definitive 'word', but what IS the story?
Mine will ultimately be all NON-real parts - my sink knob is metal, but alas, a replica. My Graflex metal clamp may be real, or may be a replica, but will not be used.
With respect for this thread, I'm leaning on the masters for intel, but started my own thread for my build...
All that being said, my Graflex clamp is resin, and as such, am inclined to explore the tape method / approach...
Some people think the aluminum tape was used on the clamp to cover the Graflex logo.
Some people think the aluminum tape was used to cover rust as the plating flaked off the clamp.
Some people think there is no aluminum tape at all, and what we think is tape is actually just the plating in the clamp on various states of distress.
Nobody really knows for sure, so it’s dealers choice. Do what you want on your own saber.
Some people think the aluminum tape was used to cover rust as the plating flaked off the clamp.
Some people think there is no aluminum tape at all, and what we think is tape is actually just the plating in the clamp on various states of distress.
Nobody really knows for sure, so it’s dealers choice. Do what you want on your own saber.
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I’ve spent the last year on a hunt for a space with the old double-fluorescent light bulb ceiling lights to do a photo compare.
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