WannaWanga ANH Graflex Configuration

[Gregatron]

Took the plunge and assembled my spare bottom half using the guide. I ended up taking a blind shot by going with the opposite of the Wampa cave stamping orientation, since that’s the closest to the (patent Folmer, I know) Elstree prop, which is the only straw there is to grasp at, even though it’s not the hero.

I don’t think I trimmed the grips too short, but it seems like there’s a bit too much of a gap between the tops of the grips and the clamp band when the bottom half is fully extended. I may end up replacing a few of the grips, as a result.

Although I wonder if this is part of the guide’s design, so as to allow for one to remove the clamp. In the reference photos, it looks like most (if not all) of the grips butt up against the clamp with the bottom fully extended. Hmmm.

 

[malibusteve]

gregatron- post a pic please of the orientation you chose

 

[roygilsing]

Gregatron Yes, please, can you post a pic?

This was my analysis and was the base of the guide, the T-track lengths and the new blueprint. Maybe it helps. If the tracks would be touching the clamps AND the bottom would be all the way out, you wouldn't be able to take it off. If the bottom is pressed all the way in, the tracks should be nearly touching the clamp.

 

[Retroneon]

If a Roman's Graflex bottom half is longer than the reference bottom, who sells one with an accurate length?

For adhering grips, I'm considering using VHB tape. It is very strong and evenly applied. But I don't know if it would add too much thickness. The concavity of a grip doesn't look flush to the Graflex, so maybe gel glue would be easier to hide in the concave recess.

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If you think VHB tape is a good idea, then there might have to be a variant grip guide. The grips would need to be applied straight onto the surface, rather than angled or slid into place. So the grip guide would be open, with alignment tines.

Another idea is a cutting guide for the grips. Something that could be placed over the grips, and present slopes for moving a knife along.

But for all this effort, maybe it would be easier to just mold the grips? They would present the correct length and clipped ends. And they could have rectangular recesses for bonding tape.

 

[steven giunta]

This also gives me the opportunity to announce that I am working on a very accurate stamp for the RAF number on the clamp with great help from The Ninja (thanks Ian)

I might offer this as a service: send me your own side bar and I will add the stamp on your own personal ANH saber. What do you think?

I’d defenatly be in for this. I hope you offer the service because I’d be scared to do it myself on my vintage graflex.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

If a Roman's Graflex bottom half is longer than the reference bottom, who sells one with an accurate length?

Hmmmm....I don’t think there is any difference between Roman’s bottom and a vintage Folmer bottom, in terms of length from the clamp to the bottom of the flash.

Initially, I’m showing that Roman’s tube may be slightly shorter than a vintage Folmer bottom, in terms of overall length of the tube—but that doesn’t matter and I’ll explain why.

Here is a quick comparison of a Roman’s Folmer replica bottom to a real Folmer bottom.

The vintage Folmer is finished with grips, while the Roman’s is naked. One can see a very slight longer length on the vintage Folmer when stacking them up, side-by-side.

HOWEVER—that slight difference in length should not matter as the slots for the clamp teeth seem to match perfectly, in relation to the distance of the slots to the bottoms of the tubes (see the pic below)...so, at least to my eye, there is no real difference in length between a Roman bottom and a vintage bottom, once inserted into the clamp.

They both are EXACTLY the same length from clamp tooth slot to the bottom of the tube; which is the area that matters.

As can be expected, Roman did an outstanding job replicating the vintage Folmer bottom.

 

[Gregatron]

I think I’ll end up replacing the grips with the ones from my previous bottom half, which DID line up with the bottom edge of the clamp, but I’ll do some careful trimming and placement to match the blueprint. I’m hesitant to do it until TGS and/or Roy come up with a stamped sidebar solution, though, because I found that, with the screen-accurate extra rotation to the clamp lever (to get the screw nub sticking out of the sidebar opposite the lever) it was too difficult to disassemble the clamp by unscrewing/disassembling it. I had to pop the grips off of my old bottom in order to remove the clamp so the bottom could be replaced.

I think the “floating” grips come down to either a variance in the length of the TGS bottom half (unlikely), or my trimming the grips too short. I cut them to the correct length, but didn’t double-check the measurements after I angled/rounded the edges. My guess is that I lost too much material when cleaning them up. That being said, I have the leftover grips from my previous iteration. The grips pop off pretty easily (by using a small screwdriver) when E6000 is used to glue them on.

So, i’m gonna have to wait for the accurate sidebar, because I don’t want to have to struggle to get the clamp off again in order to replace the current, stampless sidebar.

 

[Gregatron]

Gregatron Yes, please, can you post a pic?
View attachment 1088889
This was my analysis and was the base of the guide, the T-track lengths and the new blueprint. Maybe it helps. If the tracks would be touching the clamps AND the bottom would be all the way out, you wouldn't be able to take it off. If the bottom is pressed all the way in, the tracks should be nearly touching the clamp.

Yes, I did use the analysis as a reference. I think I just cut the grips too short, somehow. The reference definitely shows the bottom half on the hero being fully extended, and the grips (mostly) touching the clamp. Sure, I could cheat by pushing the bottom half in, but cheating is for quitters!

 

[AnubisGuard]

Both Roman's and the one vintage Folmer bottom I have all stick out 94mm past the clamp when extended. So, spot on as far as I'm concerned.

 

[AnubisGuard]

Yes, I did use the analysis as a reference. I think I just cut the grips too short, somehow. The reference definitely shows the bottom half on the hero being fully extended, and the grips (mostly) touching the clamp. Sure, I could cheat by pushing the bottom half in, but cheating is for quitters!

The impression I'm getting is that there are plenty of 3 cell bottoms out there that are 94mm past the clamp, while the ANH hero used one that was 92mm. Just the variation in vintages, I guess. If that's the case, you could have cut the grips perfectly and still have a gap.

I've run into the same problem with the TFA/TLJ grips – 88mm looks too short on a 94mm bottom.

 

[Gregatron]

I just checked my older grips against the new ones, and there’s a significant length difference. I used the Graflex Guide tool to cut those to length (92mm), and used Roy’s measurements to cut them freehand on the current iteration. I think the floating problem just comes down to removing too much material when cleaning up the angled edges.

I may end up getting another TGS bottom and starting over, I think. Just waiting for that sidebar!

 

[Patlegrand]

Hello Roy!

I've a question, do you plan to do a guide for luke ESB, vader N

Thanks!

 

[malibusteve]

I think I’ll end up replacing the grips with the ones from my previous bottom half, which DID line up with the bottom edge of the clamp, but I’ll do some careful trimming and placement to match the blueprint. I’m hesitant to do it until TGS and/or Roy come up with a stamped sidebar solution, though, because I found that, with the screen-accurate extra rotation to the clamp lever (to get the screw nub sticking out of the sidebar opposite the lever) it was too difficult to disassemble the clamp by unscrewing/disassembling it. I had to pop the grips off of my old bottom in order to remove the clamp so the bottom could be replaced.

I think the “floating” grips come down to either a variance in the length of the TGS bottom half (unlikely), or my trimming the grips too short. I cut them to the correct length, but didn’t double-check the measurements after I angled/rounded the edges. My guess is that I lost too much material when cleaning them up. That being said, I have the leftover grips from my previous iteration. The grips pop off pretty easily (by using a small screwdriver) when E6000 is used to glue them on.

So, i’m gonna have to wait for the accurate sidebar, because I don’t want to have to struggle to get the clamp off again in order to replace the current, stampless sidebar.

View attachment 1088955View attachment 1088956

so the concensus is the D-ring rivets at 7 & 8 o'clock position . ( when GRAFLEX is read left to right )that's what I'm leaning towards myself.
thank you greg and roy!

 

[roygilsing]

Hello Roy!

I've a question, do you plan to do a guide for luke ESB, vader N

Thanks!

I now get requests for various T-track guides. I might do other versions some day, but probably just as a free download for printing yourself. We'll see! Meanwhile I'm busy with other things first.

Roy

 

[roygilsing]

What you see here is my first stamped vintage sidebar as it was visible in the ANH hero saber.
Details are incredibly detailed and the design was copied from a vintage RAF stamped Graflex.

I can stamp your vintage sidebar if you ship yours to the Netherlands and for $15 + return shipping I can stamp your own sidebar. I might also offer stamped sidebar replicas in the near future.

You can send me a PM for details.

Cheers!

 

[eethan]

Awesome, looks super realistic!
I really hope you'll indeed offer the replica stamped side bars, as I said previously, I am missing one side bar and would totally buy a stamped one

 

[Halliwax]

Awesome to here roy!! I’ll be sending my vintage your way!!

 

[redbutton]

Really cool, nice work Roy!

 

[Gregatron]

...okay, I ordered yet ANOTHER bottom half from TGS (that makes four of them since I began this build, given the reveals about the two d-ring rivets and the four mystery rivets), and salvaged the grips from my previous bottom half.

I carefully measured and trimmed the grips to Roy’s specs (complete with attempting to match the specific shapes and angles of the ends), so they certainly shouldn’t end up floating on this next iteration. These grips were originally cut with the Graflex Guide’s tool, and so all of them were right around the 92mm mark. It was just a matter of slightly shortening and adjusting five out of the seven grips to match Roy’s research.

I could have just removed the too-short grips from the current bottom half and replaced them with the longer ones, but I also want to take another stab at positioning the mystery rivets correctly. I think the grip guide was very slightly misaligned during my previous attempt, and so the rivets sit slightly further away from the endcap than they should.

Just waiting on news from TGS regarding their stamped sidebars. Or maybe I’ll send the current sidebar to Roy. We’ll see.


I’m going all-out on this build because the ANH saber is one of the most iconic props of all time, and it seems only appropriate to mark this month’s final filmic disgrace of a once-great franchise by properly celebrating and honoring the film which began it all. Now, more than ever, this legendary prop is an artifact of a bygone era.

 

[Gregatron]

Received the new bottom half. I should have time to assemble it in a day or two.

Although I again find myself agonizing over the stamp orientation, which might just be the last great remaining mystery of this prop.