A quickie Rogue One Data Card

Rogue One did a lot of things right. Most importantly, we finally got to see those darn data tapes!
My main interest was in the Artoo-sized data card glimpsed unsatisfyingly in A New Hope, now seen clearly at last.

Of course, several build threads are already up and running. I'm amazed by zenix's mad science approach, but that's too much work for me. Some great pictures and ideas in that thread though: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=271145

And I'm grateful to The14thDr for posting some measurements and diagrams as he works on a 3-D printable version: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=271200

My printer is only in 2-D. Luckily, this prop is a card. I sketched it up in Illustrator - based approximately on The14thDr's version - and printed it out on card stock.

I made the black part extra long so I could fold it over itself a few times. The whole thing is way thinner than 2mm, and the gold part is only a printed color, but it looks good enough for now. I'll make a deluxe one someday out of styrene sheet and adhesive foil or something, but for now this gets the job done.

Wait. You're telling me this is made from printed cardstock??

Honestly, if you hadn't pointed that out, I never would have guessed. You did a great job!!

And I'm glad my measurements came in handy; they certainly look spot on with your replica. Well done!

Kind regards, The14thDr

Nice job! Looks great!

nice job!! :thumbsup

I almost said "nothing wrong with a quickie"... Then I thought better of it[emoji38]

Looks great!

The14thDr said:

Wait. You're telling me this is made from printed cardstock??

Click to expand...

Heh. I love getting that reaction.

But that was just the beginning. Here's my current version, which I'm pretty satisfied with.



That's printed on "glossy photo" inkjet paper. Pretty stiff and shiny. I glued several layers together with a glue stick. The back is medium-dark gray. (I included a crude printed simulation of the "corners" on the black bar, which is just the same photo paper - the edge of the front layer - folded over itself a few times.)



This shade of gray, on shiny paper, can look almost black or almost white when in shadow, depending on what it's reflecting.



I think that's a fair approximation of what we're seeing in the film, which looks to me like gray metal.

I painted over the rings with a gold gel pen (Uni-ball GEL IMPACT gold). From certain bad angles, you can tell exactly how I made this card, and it looks awful:



But from most angles, it looks good, even very close up.

the test is if it fits in an r2 unit now haha! looks good for a quick and easy build

Are these the droids you're looking for?



...Good catch, actually. Thanks! I had forgotten to check.
Sure enough, I needed to trim off about 1mm to fit my R2 data slot.
(Which is also made of cardboard, by the way, and the slot is a bit on the small side, about 71.75mm.)

the shape reminds me of one of these... This is a theatrical lighting Gobo Holder... used to project words and shapes from lighting fixtures.

bigweasleyfan said:

the shape reminds me of one of these... This is a theatrical lighting Gobo Holder.

Click to expand...

Gobo holder, eh? Interesting idea!

(Also, "Gobo Holder" sounds like it might be someone's name in the Star Wars universe. "Han Solo, meet Gobo Holder.")

The one in your picture doesn't really have the right shape. But this one does! Check out that top curve:



That looks a lot like the data card. Doesn't it?

But in another thread someone suggested a view camera's dark slide. I think that's an even better guess, because the handle style is a much closer match:


That red handle really looks a lot like the black bar on the data card. (Aside from the color.) And the size is very close - they fit in a droid data slot. (I'm not sure about gobo holder sizes, but some might also be close. I haven't used a gobo in many years.)

Edit: Just noticed, you posted a gobo holder with a RULER in the picture. So that one, at least, looks about an inch too wide. They do come in multiple sizes, but smaller than that? They're made to fit over spotlights.