Like most of us, since the blue glow of Luke's father's "elegant weapon" flashed onto the screen I've wanted one.
Like most of us, since discovering said weapon was built from an old flashgun manufactured by Graflex I've wanted one.
Today that second dream has been realised.
I've had a few replicas of that iconic lightsaber over the years; Starting off with the Master Replicas/Hasbro Force FX version from A New Hope (I thought the bunny ears should point upwards in your hand like sights and that uncomfortable control box NOT dig into your palm) which I converted as soon as my internet searches revealed it was possible. I've installed a replica flashgun (Likely from TCSS, purchased from JQ Sabers) with a Crystal Focus board I was lucky enough to score from Erv's Plecter Labs. I've built a couple of the new Graflex 2.0 kits.
They were all great kits and great sabers, but they never felt like a real object. There was no age or history to them and they were all shiny and new.
I watched eBay auctions of real Graflex 3-Cell flashguns for years hoping to find that accidental listing with someone selling one for less than a fortune. I watched the prices rise and rise.
Then the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released.
Graflex prices soared as my hope of ever owning one crashed down in flames.
Then, a few months ago, I moved to America with more lightsabers than I could ever wield (15, in various states of completion).
I was short on space and short on cash so I realised I needed to condense the collection. I decided to sell everything less than perfect and have a small number of the best examples I could build from the best parts money could buy. Or something like that anyway
I realised with this approach I could actually own a lightsaber built, with my own hands, from a real Graflex flashgun.
I immediately hit eBay and as luck would have it, found a clampless one at a not exorbitant price from a seller a mere hours drive away. I did a little more research, found he was RPF member manooga and contacted him. We agreed on a price and I drove down to meet him at a gas station near his home and got myself a real life Graflex for less than the cost of some of my more expensive hilt kits.
It had some rubber grips already on it in the ANH configuration, which I removed as part of the cleaning process as soon as I got home.
A few weeks later I picked up a 2-Cell for the clamp and extra red button, having decided to go not with the original ANH design as I already had a Crystal Focus installed decent replica of that.
Sticking with my theme of the best lightsaber I could build I also tracked down a Kobold flash on eBay for the clip.
The great all-in-one kits by roygilsing were being held up, ironically, by the Kobold part so I had to put the project on hold until they were available.
During this time I was offered a trade for one of my lightsabers I was selling on eBay. The buyer had a bunch of stuff on eBay too and asked me what I wanted. He had a TON of vintage Graflex stuff and although I wasn't really looking to trade I ended up accepting two Graflex tops (no buttons or eyes), two Graflex bottoms and 3 clamps for my saber. I noticed one of the bottoms he had was the Folmer kind with New York spelled out as seen on the bottom of the saber stuck in the snow in the Wampa cave. A little more negotiating and he agreed to let me have that one as one of the two bottoms we'd agreed on.
At this point I was suddenly swimming in vintage Graflexes! For years I'd dreamed of owning one, now I had three! Four if you count the 2-cell!
Eventually Roy's Kobold parts came in and I ordered the ESB kit. With plenty of advice from Sym-Cha I drilled through my vintage Kobold clip (terrifying) and assembled it all.
I cut the grips down with my milling machine, which allowed me to be very very precise in their dimensions but necessitated cleaning up the edges as there was a lot of plastic swarf still attached because of the heat generated. (I've since tried everything I can think of cutting other grips and the best results I've had are actually cutting fast rather than slow and putting the grips in the freezer for a while before cutting them)
(for some reason whenever I upload pictures of measuring stuff with callipers the RPF puts them upside-down...)
My static ESB Graflex version one was complete! I ordered a blade holder from KR Sabers and set upon disassembling the Graflex and designing myself a chassis and crystal chamber. Having finalised the design of the internals and begun to build it Solo's Hold announced that they would be releasing a super accurate blade holder that re-used most of the parts from the original Graflex (everything but the black plastic as far as I'm aware). Being a little unhappy with how new and shiny the shorter replica brass pins would look and the idea of reusing all the vintage parts sold me and I put in an order for one of his holders. The electronics were put on hold and the Graflex top left in its state of disassembly.
I decided I was going to make static builds of all the Graflex based movie sabers (or at least one per movie) including an ANH and a TFA to go along with my ESB so I waited for Roy's clear clamp card tests and when he finally offered a complete TFA kit I ordered that and an ANH.
Continuing with my vintage parts quest, thd9791 managed to track down an accurate vintage clamp card for me. Today it arrived and while I am using a temporary top (hence the beer tab still being on) I am proud to present my screen accurate Empire Strikes Back vintage lightsaber build:
I will be adding much more to this thread in the future, aside from adding electronics to the ESB, when my vintage Exactra 19 comes in and I find an extra vintage red button. Here's a sneak peek
Like most of us, since discovering said weapon was built from an old flashgun manufactured by Graflex I've wanted one.
Today that second dream has been realised.
I've had a few replicas of that iconic lightsaber over the years; Starting off with the Master Replicas/Hasbro Force FX version from A New Hope (I thought the bunny ears should point upwards in your hand like sights and that uncomfortable control box NOT dig into your palm) which I converted as soon as my internet searches revealed it was possible. I've installed a replica flashgun (Likely from TCSS, purchased from JQ Sabers) with a Crystal Focus board I was lucky enough to score from Erv's Plecter Labs. I've built a couple of the new Graflex 2.0 kits.
They were all great kits and great sabers, but they never felt like a real object. There was no age or history to them and they were all shiny and new.
I watched eBay auctions of real Graflex 3-Cell flashguns for years hoping to find that accidental listing with someone selling one for less than a fortune. I watched the prices rise and rise.
Then the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released.
Graflex prices soared as my hope of ever owning one crashed down in flames.
Then, a few months ago, I moved to America with more lightsabers than I could ever wield (15, in various states of completion).
I was short on space and short on cash so I realised I needed to condense the collection. I decided to sell everything less than perfect and have a small number of the best examples I could build from the best parts money could buy. Or something like that anyway
I realised with this approach I could actually own a lightsaber built, with my own hands, from a real Graflex flashgun.I immediately hit eBay and as luck would have it, found a clampless one at a not exorbitant price from a seller a mere hours drive away. I did a little more research, found he was RPF member manooga and contacted him. We agreed on a price and I drove down to meet him at a gas station near his home and got myself a real life Graflex for less than the cost of some of my more expensive hilt kits.
It had some rubber grips already on it in the ANH configuration, which I removed as part of the cleaning process as soon as I got home.
A few weeks later I picked up a 2-Cell for the clamp and extra red button, having decided to go not with the original ANH design as I already had a Crystal Focus installed decent replica of that.
Sticking with my theme of the best lightsaber I could build I also tracked down a Kobold flash on eBay for the clip.
The great all-in-one kits by roygilsing were being held up, ironically, by the Kobold part so I had to put the project on hold until they were available.
During this time I was offered a trade for one of my lightsabers I was selling on eBay. The buyer had a bunch of stuff on eBay too and asked me what I wanted. He had a TON of vintage Graflex stuff and although I wasn't really looking to trade I ended up accepting two Graflex tops (no buttons or eyes), two Graflex bottoms and 3 clamps for my saber. I noticed one of the bottoms he had was the Folmer kind with New York spelled out as seen on the bottom of the saber stuck in the snow in the Wampa cave. A little more negotiating and he agreed to let me have that one as one of the two bottoms we'd agreed on.
At this point I was suddenly swimming in vintage Graflexes! For years I'd dreamed of owning one, now I had three! Four if you count the 2-cell!
Eventually Roy's Kobold parts came in and I ordered the ESB kit. With plenty of advice from Sym-Cha I drilled through my vintage Kobold clip (terrifying) and assembled it all.
I cut the grips down with my milling machine, which allowed me to be very very precise in their dimensions but necessitated cleaning up the edges as there was a lot of plastic swarf still attached because of the heat generated. (I've since tried everything I can think of cutting other grips and the best results I've had are actually cutting fast rather than slow and putting the grips in the freezer for a while before cutting them)
(for some reason whenever I upload pictures of measuring stuff with callipers the RPF puts them upside-down...)
My static ESB Graflex version one was complete! I ordered a blade holder from KR Sabers and set upon disassembling the Graflex and designing myself a chassis and crystal chamber. Having finalised the design of the internals and begun to build it Solo's Hold announced that they would be releasing a super accurate blade holder that re-used most of the parts from the original Graflex (everything but the black plastic as far as I'm aware). Being a little unhappy with how new and shiny the shorter replica brass pins would look and the idea of reusing all the vintage parts sold me and I put in an order for one of his holders. The electronics were put on hold and the Graflex top left in its state of disassembly.
I decided I was going to make static builds of all the Graflex based movie sabers (or at least one per movie) including an ANH and a TFA to go along with my ESB so I waited for Roy's clear clamp card tests and when he finally offered a complete TFA kit I ordered that and an ANH.
Continuing with my vintage parts quest, thd9791 managed to track down an accurate vintage clamp card for me. Today it arrived and while I am using a temporary top (hence the beer tab still being on) I am proud to present my screen accurate Empire Strikes Back vintage lightsaber build:
I will be adding much more to this thread in the future, aside from adding electronics to the ESB, when my vintage Exactra 19 comes in and I find an extra vintage red button. Here's a sneak peek
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