fiveliter8
Active Member
Hey all. We recently started hitting comic cons and the kids love getting into character when we attend. Our daughter wanted to go as Rey, so we built a nice 3D printed staff and got her a decent costume. Something was missing, though. In one of the very memorable scenes (to us), Rey fixes a problem with the Falcon's hyperdrive by "bypassing the compressor". So I knew we'd have to have something to use as a prop for her to carry so that she could hold it up for photo opps and say the appropriate lines. Since the movie was still in theaters at the time, I did not have any references to use to make the prop. I just remember her holding something with wires hanging down. This is what we came up with:
So, now fast-forward to the "Rey's new lightsaber build contest". https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=287624&highlight=rey+saber+vote In our designs, we wanted to incorporate the compressor into the saber hilts we came up with, so, naturally, we had to have a compressor to use for parts. There is literally only a single frame in the movie where you can sort of see the prop.
Myself being an old military electronic equipment technician, I immediately recognized the "base" as a slot for an edge-connector printed circuit board. I could also see the red and black parts on either side of the board are card guides. The guides look like they have a dovetail to connect other cards which probably came out of some old studio equipment. So, off to the electronics store to hunt down the card slot then best-guess the dimensions of the guides and find whatever PCB I could use till I can replicate what is in Rey's hand.
I started off with this old PCI Firewire card and cut it to a basic shape. The card color should be green, but, alas, I could not find any in my stash.
For the card guides, I used PVC and milled a dovetail through it as well as slots for the card.
I then sliced it in two and attached to the card slot.
Test-fitting all of the parts before paint.
Finally, paint applied and wires soldered on. Not a perfect match, but close enough in our eyes!
So, now fast-forward to the "Rey's new lightsaber build contest". https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=287624&highlight=rey+saber+vote In our designs, we wanted to incorporate the compressor into the saber hilts we came up with, so, naturally, we had to have a compressor to use for parts. There is literally only a single frame in the movie where you can sort of see the prop.
Myself being an old military electronic equipment technician, I immediately recognized the "base" as a slot for an edge-connector printed circuit board. I could also see the red and black parts on either side of the board are card guides. The guides look like they have a dovetail to connect other cards which probably came out of some old studio equipment. So, off to the electronics store to hunt down the card slot then best-guess the dimensions of the guides and find whatever PCB I could use till I can replicate what is in Rey's hand.
I started off with this old PCI Firewire card and cut it to a basic shape. The card color should be green, but, alas, I could not find any in my stash.
For the card guides, I used PVC and milled a dovetail through it as well as slots for the card.
I then sliced it in two and attached to the card slot.
Test-fitting all of the parts before paint.
Finally, paint applied and wires soldered on. Not a perfect match, but close enough in our eyes!
