Vader MPP lightsabers details and specifications

[Scruffylooking]

It certainly looks genuine to my eyes but I’ll let the more experienced members here confirm it. Beautiful score btw!

 

[IronDestinyProps]

Nice find there! That one step shroud looks like it may be a Laszlo, who I believe was one of the first if not THE first to discover the Vader saber utilized the MPP flash as it’s base. It would help to have someone else confirm though.

 

[slothfurnace]

That MPP is beautiful, such a nice find. I'll probably never even handle a real one, let alone add one to my collection. Well done!

 

[Sym-Cha]

Poikilotherm reached out to me and I adviced him to post the inquiry here ... he also included this next picture in our PM discussion :

IronDestinyProps is Laslo the same as Larbel? I have a Larbel MPP and the shape of that shroud is close but different from the side :

The outer edge of this one step shroud posted by Poikilotherm is slightly thicker and the thumb screw hole is off-set to the left instead of the usual right ... other holes i.e. for the reflector are all wonky, for lack of a better word, which is consistent with all genuine MPP's I have seen sofar.

So I too call upon other learned members to take a look and enlighten us.

Chaïm

 

[IronDestinyProps]

IronDestinyProps is Laslo the same as Larbel? I have a Larbel MPP and the shape of that shroud is close but different from the side :

Sym-Cha, I don't believe they are the same. According to the following link (Star Wars Darth Vader The Empire Strikes Back Lightsaber Larbel Esb Mpp Flash), Larry Larbel was one of the first lightsaber manufacturers in the 90s. The shroud in the link does not seem to bear the same heavy wrinkle texture that Poikilotherm's does. I believe laszlo is an independent, and perhaps he can shed some light on this mystery.

 

[IronDestinyProps]

View attachment 1553971

Sym-Cha, that shroud looks similar to Dewy's (photo below from his collection), so it looks like Poikilotherm's may be one by laszlo?

This is kirova's Larbel MPP shroud:

 

[Dewy]

Sym-Cha, that shroud looks similar to Dewy's (photo below from his collection), so it looks like Poikilotherm's may be one by laszlo?

View attachment 1554015

This is kirova's Larbel MPP shroud:

View attachment 1554018

The shroud in my picture is a Larbel as well.

 

[IronDestinyProps]

For comparison, this is a shroud I received from corliss1 which seems to be similar to Poikilotherm's, but it would help to have other's weigh in.

 

[JoeG]

Was this purchased from a Star Wars collector? Why would a real MPP shroud have a d ring installed otherwise? Still a cool find, but the fact that the shroud came that way would suggest to me that its a replica.

 

[Poikilotherm]

Was this purchased from a Star Wars collector? Why would a real MPP shroud have a d ring installed otherwise? Still a cool find, but the fact that the shroud came that way would suggest to me that its a replica.

Yes, I still believe the seller may be a member of the RPF community, and on the day of the MPP auction, the seller also sold part of his Graflex. The 1 Step Shroud was already a complete ESB Lightsaber, but the seller only sold one. My listing only indicated that I had bought one MPP flash, including a 2 Step Shroud. When I opened the package, 1 Step shroud also appears here. Along with 2 copies of Roy's Vader Lightsaber blueprints.

Apparently, the seller removed the 1 Step Shroud from his other MPP and gave it to me as a gift. However, the authenticity of 1 Step Shroud is not known at present, since the D ring hole on 1 Step Shroud is about to break. And D ring hole is skewed, which has to make people think that this hole is manually processed by the seller.

View attachment 1554065

 

[Sym-Cha]

This sharp angle, see here mirrored with my real MPP, is why I tend to believe it could be a genuine MPP one step shroud :

Larbel and even Master Replicas are more curved ... here's a 2002 Master Replicas ANH Signature Edition :

What makes me hesistant to conclude it is genuine is the slightly thicker and evenly sized edge :

which I have never seen in a real one step MPP shroud before, yet Larbel and Master Replicas are quite similar when it comes to a thicker edge.

Chaïm

 

[Scruffylooking]

Here a couple of pics my vintage one step, if it helps.

 

[v312]

The wrinkle paint looks very differently on the single step in structure and the way it reflects light compared to the 2-step.

I'm really not an expert on MPPs, but the 2 step shroud wrinkle paint is much more consistent with the paint of the genuine 1 step shrouds I see posted here

The thumbscrew though looks very familiar - I think it is from a vintage Heiland flash 2-step shroud.


Compared to the replica shrouds that I have:
My Larbel shroud is little different in shape, very different in paint and it is heavy so I guess it is not made from aluminum.
Roy's shrouds are also different shape and in particular much thinner tip (maybe too thin compared to the real ones??) so it is not that either.

 

[Poikilotherm]

The thumbscrew though looks very familiar - I think it is from a vintage Heiland flash 2-step shroud.

I tried to screw the Heiland Thumb screw knob into the 2 step shroud earlier, but the Heiland thumb screw is larger than the two thumb screw rods, so it couldn't be screwed in.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Take a look at the paintjob on the MPP shroud of Scruffylooking :

Another thing I questioned ... since the seller added blueprints of wannawanga inside the package ... why would he gift a one step shroud taken from another real MPP? ... If the seller was a member here he could have been aware of the current value of a real MPP ... even for a two-step shrouded MPP.

This purchase remains an enigma ... calling upon teecrooz, James Kenobi 1138, Edraven99, juajn7fernandez, scottjua, kurtyboy and other members to shed some light on the shroud of this saber.

Chaïm

 

[Edraven99]

So the main tell is inner "lip".

Most replica shrouds like Roy's have the lip where the flash body is supposed to stop facing the back of the shroud where you insert the flashgun or is missing this lip entirely. On a real vintage shroud, the lip is on the front of the shroud - so the shroud itself becomes thinner past this point.

The other tell is - at least on both of my shrouds - is that there are casting imperfections; small pockmarks in a couple of places. And of course both shrouds are asymmetric: the back curves on either side are different, one side is slightly sharper and the other side more rounded; the thumbscrew base is slightly wider on one side than the other at the base, etc.

Here are both of mine (excuse the crappy iPhone pics)

 

[Edraven99]

I will say that the paint on the shroud doesn't quite look right. I tried to show in that last pick that there are visible patterns; waves and lines on the vintage shrouds.

Also the inner paint work looks too "clean". All of my shrouds both one-step and two-step have paint overspray in the back and where the lip is on the single-steps.

This doesn't mean anything as it could have been repainted... but that's a lot of effort to replicate the wrinkle paint.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Thanks Edraven99 ... so if I interpret that inner lip tell correctly ... what is this I see in the pictures from the previous page :

Excuse me for the large size pictures posted by Poikilotherm ... I did not want to resize them and maybe loose important details.

Chaïm

 

[Poikilotherm]

Take a look at the paintjob on the MPP shroud of ScruffylookAnother thing I questioned ... since the seller added blueprints of wannawanga inside the package ... why would he gift a one step shroud taken from another real MPP? ... If the seller was a member here he could have been aware of the current value of a real MPP ... even for a two-step shrouded MPP.

The seller's introduction includes a sentence like this: MPP is very rare now, even in the overseas auction market, MPP is very difficult to appear, so I think there are few opportunities to buy it.

So the main tell is inner "lip".

Most replica shrouds like Roy's have the lip where the flash body is supposed to stop facing the back of the shroud where you insert the flashgun or is missing this lip entirely. On a real vintage shroud, the lip is on the front of the shroud - so the shroud itself becomes thinner past this point.

It starts at the arrow and gets thinner and thinner up.

 

[Scruffylooking]

I will say that the paint on the shroud doesn't quite look right. I tried to show in that last pick that there are visible patterns; waves and lines on the vintage shrouds.

Also the inner paint work looks too "clean". All of my shrouds both one-step and two-step have paint overspray in the back and where the lip is on the single-steps.

This doesn't mean anything as it could have been repainted... but that's a lot of effort to replicate the wrinkle paint.

“I tried to show in that last pick that there are visible patterns; waves and lines on the vintage shrouds.”

That’s it, that’s the tell right there for me. I zoomed in on Poikilotherm, Edraven’s and my shroud, and you can see the differences.