Re: The 'Ideal' Obi ANH Derwent Interconnect Replica
UPDATE:
Although we have drawings essentially completed, we unfortunately no longer have a ‘ringleader’ for this potential project. Although it is possible I could step back in, I’d rather have someone else do the footwork and mailing on this project.
THE SHORT VERSION (A summary for those of you who prefer not to read long wordy posts)
I’m fine with anyone doing a run of anything, and will help them attain accuracy, so long as their priority is best possible quality rather than making a buck, and their reputation is worthy of trust. I’d prefer to see a project which satisfies those who are dying to get a quality replica, i.e. steel, possibly plated to look like Inconel, and then perhaps a simpler aluminum piece as a budget-saver. We should stick together and use our buying power to make sure we get good quality rather than more ‘not-quite’ parts.
THE LONG VERSION
MY INVOLVEMENT
This is a good time for me to restate some things about my involvement in any projects.
I do not really care who does a run of emitters or handwheels or whatever SO LONG AS they are doing it for love rather than money, and so long as they are willing to work with other collectors to ENSURE that the resulting piece is ACCURATE to the film prop. (If you make a bit of money to soothe your feeling of lost time I don’t blame you, but if your priority is money, you WILL cut corners in order to make a profit or pay yourself for your time, and the product WILL suffer.)
I love honesty and forthrightness and a commitment to the cause. I don’t like corner-cutting, sloppiness, and enigmatic vendors who don’t want to talk about the accuracy of what they offer. This is a hobby and we are all in it together. Our collective purpose is to get the best stuff we can, not to provide targets for vendors to sell 2nd-rate product to. I’m sick of watching as vendors knowingly sell inaccurate stuff and people snap it up, and generation after generation of product which did not have to be so inaccurate ends up eating away the ability of the market to support accurate runs.
EMITTERS
I think most of us who are interested in getting a replica balance pipe would rather have steel if we can’t have Inconel, and some of us might like to have that steel plated with the odd warm color Darth Lars discovered, if it proves workable.
I have no problem with aluminum ones being done also, either exactly accurate, or a simplified screw-on version for those who prefer that. I’d even support and help such a project if it met my standards of accuracy and didn’t threaten to undercut a more accurate project.
I have said in the past that I would release the specs for these things publicly just as soon as a project for good replicas was completed, and I stand by that. I’m still selling off a last few boosters from my NON-PROFIT run, which I still have my own money tied up in, otherwise I’d have published the booster drawings by now.
So if anyone with the right background and reputation wants to coordinate this thing, let me know.
P.S. For anyone who misunderstands me and thinks I’m setting myself up as an authority figure or as being perfect, far from it. I have my faults; there are many aspects of doing a run which others do better than I do. And I don’t expect everyone to share my values about accuracy. I recognize very well that this being a ‘hobby’ means it’s none of my business what the other guy is doing. But I don’t think that changes the fact that more of us can be satisfied with what we get out of this hobby if we hang together.
:thumbsup
