Thanks everybody who voted for my entry on the Rey’s saber design contest:
https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=287624
I thoroughly enjoyed this contest and the making of my entry. I’ve put way too much time in it, from designing the concept all the way to the execution and photographing it. I experimented a lot and during the whole process I learned so many new things and I tried all kind of new techniques.
The last two weeks of voting were very exciting too and I loved seeing what everybody had made, how different the entries were and how well they were executed. I did expect a few more Graflex-based and staff-based entries, so I was surprised I didn’t see that many at all.
Thank you kevin926 and Drew Baker for organizing this.
This is a build thread of my entry.
The idea to reuse parts of the Graflex saber was clear to me from the start. I just couldn’t imagine Rey sitting there with the broken parts and knowing what Luke means to her and that she would just throw these important parts away if she was to build a saber for herself. She would never do that. So, I thought, if Rey will reuse the broken saber parts, or at least the top half, how would she reconnect or reuse it with the clamp area broken in two? Well, she would look for a fitting element that would fit and reconnect the two halves. Or at least the emitter. It’s simple as that!
I started collecting parts early on, even before sketching and before the official start of the contest. I collected more parts then I actually needed, but it was really cool. I even purchased two vintage flashlights, a vintage Dutch one and an American Ray-O-vac which, I thought, would make a possible good replacement for the lower half of the Graflex. I also found a really cool Vidicon tube that I thought would make a great interior part. Like a crystal chamber being visible from the outside, protected with some grip elements perhaps. I never heard of those before, but I bumped into them and I thought they looked so much like from the SW universe. But in the end, I didn’t used it.
Here's the Ray-O-vac (how fitting!) flashlight; so very beautiful. I even brushed the chrome exterior with a Scothbrite pad, which made it look even better.
Based on my sketch, I then started to 3D model the connector element. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to re-use the lower Graflex halve or the beautiful Ray-O-vac as a handle, so I designed a connector for both and had these 3D printed.
I chose to 3D print these with the amazingly detailed, strong and affordable HP Multi Jet (in Belgium, with Materialise) in PA (nylon). The parts came in after a few days and were very nice indeed. Here’s one part, the flashlight a small satellite Graflex.
In the meantime, I was still waiting for my 89saber parts to arrive. I ordered some extra scrap parts that Peter Zhang from 89sabers offered for an extremely low price on his Facebook page. These parts, poorly plated and with a lot of the brass exposed would be perfect for the job. It was unfortunate for me (but luckily for most others I guess) that Peter had re-plated even the cheap scrap parts! So, the Graflex parts were all shiny and chromed and now I would have to weather and destroy them again
I also started on the Ray-O-vac and this might be painful to see, but I chopped off the top and made some cut-outs in the metal to fix it to the printed part.
Now it was time to start the painting and the weathering.
I started with the Ray-O-vac – 3D printed connector part combination, but I later did the same with the other connector part that I used in the final saber. After a first layer of primer, I spray painted it with Rust-oleum textured Desert Bisque and let it cure overnight. This stuff is amazing. It took away all the visible 3D print layers and didn’t require any sanding before or after.
I also started weathering the chromed Graflex parts. I tried several chemicals, but I ended putting the complete parts in a bowl with chloride and left it there a full day. Disgusting! But it really worked well! I did this also with a heavily scratched Kobold clip with D-ring (I have a few of them ), a bottom cover plate and some short rivet heads.
After that, I chopped off a piece from the Graflex top and later I sanded, scratched and did a lot, to expose some brass here and there to get the patina I wanted. That took some time.
I didn’t have an 89sabers lower halve left, so I used an Roman’s Graflex lower halve for that. I didn’t scratch or destroyed it with the chloride, I merely glued the weathered bottom plate, Kobold D-ring and rivet heads to it. I thought I would just dry brush some acrylic paint to it.
I started doing some tests on the printed parts to mimic old cast iron staff parts, using acrylic paints and that came out nicely. Maybe a bit too much and too strange at first, but when it dried up it looked alright. I added some rust colored pastel powders to add some ore rusty effects inside the cavities.
With the Ray-O-vac handle I tried it differently with some Humbrol metalcoat steel spray paint and some pastel powders for rust as well. That was different. Nice too, but I still don’t know which one I prefer.
There was one problem with the Ray-O-vac direction. Even though I liked it, I couldn’t help but thinking that it resembled something else; it could be Rey’s, but perhaps something that would fit better on her bedside table!! Haha! I showed it to a few people, and they said the same. So, I finally decided to go with the other design.
The cloth. In the first sketches I already added the cloth as a way to express the staff style better. I doubted till the end if I would include it or not, but even though it blocks the view, I thought it looked more Rey-ish. So, I stained a medical bandage with coffee, tea, paints, grease and dirt, until I was happy with it.
The install was easy. I added a blade holder from KR Sabers (thanks Khal!) and weathered the pins and glass eye in an ammonia vapor bath. I put everything together with some superglue and added some acrylic paints in the corners with a brush and the saber(s) were done.
I still felt something was still missing, so I added a small detail: a copper ring (made with just a thin strip of copper tape) and weathered using some ammonia.
I realized I needed (and wanted) some professional pictures taken from the saber. I asked a photographer friend to help me out and together we had a really cool studio session with some amazing results. For effect I had a short flashlight with some light blue transparent foil wrapped around the lens to mimic a lit crystal inside.
Here are some more final pictures and details, with and some without the cloth.
Thanks again for all people who voted for my saber and thanks for your attention!
If any of you wants to receive an STL of the 3D model, just send me a PM or email. Cheers!
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