Upside-down Kobold?

Jedi Reali said:

Wow, this thread flew right past my radar. I remember reading the first post and here I thought it was just about a couple blurry screencaps of a Kobold clip so I didn't follow it! :lol

So I just read it in its entirety and there's alotta fun stuff in here! My biggest takeaway from it is the number of variations of what could be considered an ESB Hero. I love the new pics in here. Tiny grip screws on Dagobah! Silver grip screws on Hoth! Thin knurled button with beer tab! It's got me thinking if I wanna change my own replica for any reason but I probably won't. (I don't have a thin knurled button anyway.)

Anyway, in that vein I'll share another ESB Hero variant you may already know about: the one with no grip screws at all. Presumably early in production before loose grips became an issue. (Other photos from production in Norway show a belt hanger with grips missing entirely.)

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Another thing I'm thinking after reading this thread is that the Wampa cave saber might more accurately be described as a "hero prop with stunt blade" or "stunt hero" or something, rather than simply a "stunt prop". Say what you will about the janky grip ends... (something on a Star Wars prop isn't square and straight? Whoa, big surprise! :lol) ...it is a Graflex with all of the details we see on the belt hangers, and it gets a hero prop's close up in the movie.

Here's another good pic that should feel at home in this thread. A detail of the Ranch saber's bottom. You've got Kobold to stamping alignment, you can really see how beat up it is, and it's a great t-track reference too. The extra ring around the stamping is curious, dunno what that's all about. Anyone seen a Graflex bottom like this?

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clancampbell said:

OK, so, as Gino shared those lovely pics of the Luke ESB saber,

is this now proof that the grips had the extra screws at the tops? I just want to be sure before drilling holes in mine....

Thanks

Rich

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ALLEY said:

If you are going for the "Dagobah / Ranch Version" then definitely add the upper grip screws.

If you are building the "Bespin / Hoth" belt hangers, I am still in the "not so sure" crowd on the upper grip screws being on those versions.

The Dagobah scenes were filmed after the "Bespin / Hoth" scenes so the upper grip screws may not have been added until the Dagobah scenes, when the sabers were dipped in nasty bog water and there may have been additional concern about losing the grips.

I can't find any compelling "Bespin / Hoth" pics that clearly show the upper grip screws on the hilts at that time.

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Drew Baker said:

Thanks, MS. Very interesting. My biggest difficulty is seeing no indication of the ear hole or the lower ear holder, while the top holder is clearly visible. Given the rampant specular highlights on the saber and all the plane changes we would see through and around an empty ear hole I think there would be something to see.

Constellation gazing, I get this notion of where the ears might be:

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Not ideal shape, but they could be banged up from dueling. I've heard that's something that happens.

I'm pretty new to all this and don't know anything about filming order, but here's some speculation (that might get bit wild): In the ear-less side view you posted I can't see either of the bars for holding the ears sticking out, or a red button. Comparing that with my Roman's Gen1, at that angle and resolution I believe indications of any of the three would be visible. If they are the same stunt saber, what if the ears were damaged between this pic and that and removed, and support bars bent in?

And the wild bit: might the black band and hex screws mean that's the Vader MOM saber in the making?

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