My First Attempt at Vintage Graflex Build!

erlomd

Active Member
Well, it finally came... the day when I was able to acquire a beautiful piece of American Film History and completely desecrate it in the name of science fiction!!! hahaha...anyway, I stumbled across this raggedy beaten and battered left for dead Vintage Graflex on the ol' eBay...did what anyone else would and PM'd the seller a low price, and he took it! so win win for me...

It was very very grimy, nicked, scratched, there was a previous attempt at venting the pommel and a huge center hole in the pommel for a D ring...all very very wrong, but whatever...make lemonade with lemons I guess...

I followed Yoda's previous post (at FX Sabers) on cleaning up a vintage and it worked marvels. the graflex cleaned up the best it could and thats where the fun began...

ordered a 1" blade adaptor, a 3D Printed chassis all the electronics...also, I had some spare ANH parts from a Graflex 2.0 kit that came in handy like the grips, bubble card strip and the D ring.

painted the chassis in a bronze paint with bronze rust activator which is about as realistic as you can get!

in the end what we have here is a Vintage Graflex that has a nice 70+ years worth of weathering and patina...

So aside from the Vintage Graflex I got off of eBay for around $275, here is a list of parts I used for the making of this saber:

Master Effects Bronze paint and Rust activator for the chassis: http://a.co/dlBjFsa and... http://a.co/dikEDIy
heres a video on how to apply it that i found useful: https://youtu.be/BITAiEg_vJU
KR Sabers 1" Blade Holder...https://thesaberarmory.com/product-category/accessories/bladeholders/
Tri Cree XP-E2 BBG in a 4A config with a hacked NBV3 using a Power extender. no FoC (just blade flickering)...http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Custom-Tri-Cree-LED-with-modified-base-P1139.aspx
18650 3400mah Li Re-chargeable battery...:http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/P...-PCB-Protected-Rechargeable-Battery-P853.aspx
Adrian Tan's 28mm 3w 4ohm Bass Speaker...(yes its 3w) : https://www.facebook.com/Adrian.Advance.Ratio
3D Printed Chassis...http://goth-3designs.com/instructions/diy-graflex-vintage-replica-knight/
5mm BG Accent LED for the crystal...https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006S21SAK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Real Quartz crystal...https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NOE3G64/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

BTW, I hacked the NBv3 in order to get full brightness out of the LED using all 3 LED's lit up at the same time...this hack is only good for the NBv3 which is no longer made...the newer NBv4 has this 4A option built right in the board so no hack is required. just a simple wiring which is all in the manual. :)

Anyway, Enjoy the pics! It was a fun Ride building this one! MTFBWYA!!!

Here's Some Preview Pics...for more pics click this link: http://goo.gl/photos/ncVnDGd94sq71EqCA and some chassis pics in daylight: https://goo.gl/photos/T5Gm21eBDfgw2vjX7

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Im leaving the names of the products used and who makes them out so as to not break any kind of posting policy, but I think we all know who these parts are comping from. :)

I'm pretty sure you're not breaking any rules if you decide to do so later (and it may be helpful if newbies want to replicate your build). The big no-no is active eBay links, otherwise you'd be OK.

Beautiful build either way!
 
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Dear god that came out beautiful! I love ur idea with the rust! Once I get home I'm looking into this further

I love it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Dear god that came out beautiful! I love ur idea with the rust! Once I get home I'm looking into this further

I love it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Man!

the painting process was very simple to do...other than patience in between coats, its all very simple and easy to do...literally waiting to just let paint dry...the rusting effect is random always. Expect higher concentrations of rust in areas where paint is wet and rust activator has pooled. The paint is actual Bronze, so it will keep oxidizing over time if you don't seal in your desired effect!
 
Nice lightsaber ... seems like everyone is capable of converting a vintage flashgun into a working prop nowadays ...
just one comment if I may ... I realise there was already a pre-drilled hole in the bottom for a D-ring yet the proper
way to attach your D-ring + clip is like so :

DaveGraflex_04.jpg

(Picture courtesy dcarty)

Chaïm
 

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Nice lightsaber ... seems like everyone is capable of converting a vintage flashgun into a working prop nowadays ...
just one comment if I may ... I realise there was already a pre-drilled hole in the bottom for a D-ring yet the proper
way to attach your D-ring + clip is like so :

http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz258/Sym-Cha/DaveGraflex_04.jpg
(Picture courtesy @dcarty)

Chaïm

thanks!!! well aware of the d ring placement...but theres not much else I can do with this bottom half...along side the in accurate center hole is an array of 1mm vent holes...like I said before, I got this vintage very cheap so I'm not complaining...Im actually used to it now...

I will place a proper D-Ring on the next build for sure (or If I'm able to acquire a vintage 3 cell bottom half...which is about as easy to get these days as a vintage MPP! LOL)
 
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