Vader Saber Side Bars

[Elevader]

Hey all,

I'm building out my Vader ANH and ESB hero sabers and I'm wondering what everyone has done for the side bars? Since I'm using a Roman Props MPP replica as a base, I've been using those side bars for now. I ground down the silver bars to be straight and I've left the angled black bars as-is. In both cases they look good, but they seem slighty smaller and not as thick as bars I typically see, so I was wondering about other solutions.

 

[Dewy]

I am in the same boat. Planning to stick with the Roman Props sidebars for now. I ordered a TCSS replica MPP clamp to see if I could transplant the sidebars. They fit but are not the correct shape. How did you grind down your silver sidebars? I need to do that, but only have hand tools.

 

[teecrooz]

Hope this helps. Here are three of my original flashes along with one of Roman‘s replicas. His replica was based on my flash. I sent it to him and he used it for reference. I currently have one of Roy’s steel shrouds on my ESB hilt, but I have descriptions of how the flash was found with each picture. As you can see, even the two vintage flashes with black sidebars have different size and shape bars, but Roman’s do match the one he had for reference.

Roman:


Vintage one step, black side bar, large B-port flash (the one Roman had for reference):


Vintage one step, silver side bar, large B-port flash:


Vintage two step, black side bars, small B-port flash:


Video:

 

[teecrooz]

Now to sort of answer your question for ANH silver bars, I would find some aluminum stock, grind and sand it to shape, tap the screw hole, media blast it, and then matte clear coat it for an accurate silver sidebar finish. They are not shiny chrome, but do reflect light very well.

I know this isn’t an option for a lot of people, but I think it’s the best option for the correct finish even if just modifying replica bars.

 

[thd9791]

I am in the same boat. Planning to stick with the Roman Props sidebars for now. I ordered a TCSS replica MPP clamp to see if I could transplant the sidebars. They fit but are not the correct shape. How did you grind down your silver sidebars? I need to do that, but only have hand tools.

My recommendation would be the same as teecrooz, aluminum stock. You'd be surprised how much material a good ******* file can take off. I got most of my metal files (rough and fine) from estate sales, but the ones at hardware stores today are very good too. I lock the thing I'm working on in a vice of some sort, leaving very little exposed so the part doesn't wiggle when I'm working on it.

unfortunately, yea the center has to be drilled and tapped. Lots of folks on here can probably help you if you don't have the capacity for that, its not super complicated

 

[thd9791]

That.. I forgot....thats just the name of the type of metal file. I'm not really angry about metal files, I swear

 

[benhs1898]

I’ve been looking for a source of black straight sidebars and I am shocked at the lack of options! I was hoping one of these wonderful parts providers would have them.

 

[Elevader]

Hope this helps. Here are three of my original flashes along with one of Roman‘s replicas. His replica was based on my flash. I sent it to him and he used it for reference. I currently have one of Roy’s steel shrouds on my ESB hilt, but I have descriptions of how the flash was found with each picture. As you can see, even the two vintage flashes with black sidebars have different size and shape bars, but Roman’s do match the one he had for reference.

Roman:
View attachment 1459000

Vintage one step, black side bar, large B-port flash (the one Roman had for reference):
View attachment 1458998

Vintage one step, silver side bar, large B-port flash:
View attachment 1458999

Vintage two step, black side bars, small B-port flash:
View attachment 1459001

Video:
View attachment 1459002

This is great. Thank you. It does look like the silver bars you have here are quite a bit larger than the ones I currently have. I think I'll try getting some aluminum stock as suggested and giving it a try.

My recommendation would be the same as teecrooz, aluminum stock. You'd be surprised how much material a good ******* file can take off. I got most of my metal files (rough and fine) from estate sales, but the ones at hardware stores today are very good too. I lock the thing I'm working on in a vice of some sort, leaving very little exposed so the part doesn't wiggle when I'm working on it.

unfortunately, yea the center has to be drilled and tapped. Lots of folks on here can probably help you if you don't have the capacity for that, its not super complicated

The good thing is that I'll only have to drill for the one I'm worried about the most since it's ANH Hero A, so I have the nail through it. Though I'll have to redo the nail since it's based on the current bar thickness and that's a different challenge. lol

 

[Elevader]

Now to sort of answer your question for ANH silver bars, I would find some aluminum stock, grind and sand it to shape, tap the screw hole, media blast it, and then matte clear coat it for an accurate silver sidebar finish. They are not shiny chrome, but do reflect light very well.

I know this isn’t an option for a lot of people, but I think it’s the best option for the correct finish even if just modifying replica bars.


View attachment 1459004

Any chance I could get measurements for these bars? They are perfect. I don't mind trial and error, but thought I'd ask just in case.

 

[Dewy]

Hope this helps. Here are three of my original flashes along with one of Roman‘s replicas. His replica was based on my flash. I sent it to him and he used it for reference. I currently have one of Roy’s steel shrouds on my ESB hilt, but I have descriptions of how the flash was found with each picture. As you can see, even the two vintage flashes with black sidebars have different size and shape bars, but Roman’s do match the one he had for reference.

Oh definitely, I did not mean to knock Roman’s MPP replica. I was well aware when I purchased them that they were accurate to a real MPP, but not necessarily the same variants used on screen.

Any chance I could get measurements for these bars? They are perfect. I don't mind trial and error, but thought I'd ask just in case.

You should check out the The Custom Saber Shop Replica MPP Clamp (link) (which might be a Parks?). You can easily transfer the sidebars from the TCSS clamp to the Roman, but you may have to transfer the lever or re-tap the TCSS sidebars for Roman’s lever. The threading is just slightly different. Here’s a comparison of my Roman’s (left) and TCSS (right) clamps:

 

[teecrooz]

Oh definitely, I did not mean to knock Roman’s MPP replica. I was well aware when I purchased them that they were accurate to a real MPP, but not necessarily the same variants used on screen.

Oh, no worries! I didn’t take it that way at all.

If you look at the ESB saber, you can see large gaps/spaces between the tops of the sidebars and the clamp, making them appear thicker than they are. Having esb sidebars flush also helps to throw things off when comparing. I’ll see if I can dig up a photo.

 

[v312]

Yes, compared to how the sidebars come installed on the Roman's clamp at least (not sure how it is on a real MPP) - the ones on the prop appear to be flipped. So the flat sides of the sidebars are actually on the outside, and the slopped on the inside. Here's another angle:

What About the TCSS silver sidebars? Are the the correct size?
I have them installed on my replica with the nail, etc. And they look close enough to what I see on screen, but I have not seen side by side comparison with a real one...

 

[Elevader]

Interesting. I wonder if they've always been flipped or if that was done after.

 

[v312]

My guess is that it was done when the prop was put together for ESB. Could be that the clamp was not closing tight enough to hold the bubble strip the other way around or they just didn't pay attention how they assemble it. Given that the lever is missing I don't think anybody messed with them after that. But maybe the sidebars got too scratched on the outside and they flipped them at some point, who knows.