Graflex Variations: Facts and vs. Replica

It's real. Do you know how to remove the reflector? If not, hold the flash in your left hand facing forward (button facing you/eye facing out). Right hand, grab the top of the reflector and press it straight down into the emitter until the little hook holding it onto the flash in the little hole is clear. Tip the reflector forward and viola!

Be careful removing those clamps.

Good luck.

Probe Droid said:

It's real. Do you know how to remove the reflector? If not, hold the flash in your left hand facing forward (button facing you/eye facing out). Right hand, grab the top of the reflector and press it straight down into the emitter until the little hook holding it onto the flash in the little hole is clear. Tip the reflector forward and viola!

Be careful removing those clamps.

Good luck.

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Great, thanks for the advice!
Are the clamps difficult to remove? Looking at the clamps, it seems like I have to disassemble the Graflex, unscrew the screw to loosen the clamp and then just slide the loosened clamp over the tube to remove it?

Exactly. Flip the lever up and the top/bottom should turn easily enough. Once the top/bottom are separated, loosen the screws on the graflite clamps and they should come off easily as well. Still, be careful sliding them off to avoid scratches.

Hey guys, I have a friend who has brought a number of Graflexs but worries if they are replicas or vintage, what do you think? thanks!

They're real but they've been refinished and poorly sanded (rounded edges on the rivet and slider) like a lot of them lately. Looks like they all came from that one listing from recently.

sigh.. it's that same seller again. I don't see his listings anymore so mercifully he's finally exhausted his local supply of graflexes. Yes, they are real but he buffs the heck out of the graflexes

WOW! He took that much material off the rivets!

tomm1999 said:

WOW! He took that much material off the rivets!

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In short form - he ruined them that much, i would prefer a good replica over these abominations every day.

Lichtbringer said:

In short form - he ruined them that much, i would prefer a good replica over these abominations every day.

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Agreed. I fell victim to his ebay listing when I first entered the hobby. My first prop purchase. So disappointing. The pictures from his listing were purposely taken at weird angles and with blurry focus. I didn't know he buffed the beer tab rivet so much that it lost its chamfer till I got the thing. By then it was too late as he clearly writes in his listings no returns.

it is really unfortunate that some amateur idiot took it upon him/herself to perform these kind of surgeries on historical items.

besides props, I am also into other collecting, namely military medals/badges/uniforms, if anyone decides to introduce their dremel to some rare piece, at best they will be laughed at, at worst they would be hunted down and like the jedis after order 66!

personally, I have a vintage Graflex, when I finally get around to converting it, I will make sure to a) leave the finish in it's original state b) make sure all changes are reversible ie no holes drilling, so when I finally move on from this world, and if it is picked up by a camera collector, he/she will be able to use it for it's original purpose.

kirova said:

it is really unfortunate that some amateur idiot took it upon him/herself to perform these kind of surgeries on historical items.

besides props, I am also into other collecting, namely military medals/badges/uniforms, if anyone decides to introduce their dremel to some rare piece, at best they will be laughed at, at worst they would be hunted down and like the jedis after order 66!

personally, I have a vintage Graflex, when I finally get around to converting it, I will make sure to a) leave the finish in it's original state b) make sure all changes are reversible ie no holes drilling, so when I finally move on from this world, and if it is picked up by a camera collector, he/she will be able to use it for it's original purpose.

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I hear you. But there are props where if you want to convert to be truly screen accurate, then you might need to make irreversible changes to them. An example is the MGC ROTJ E-11, where they bolted down the magazine, the folding stock and the bolt itself, and added the metal U-tracks with bolts. So there will always be a battle between keeping a historical item untouched or make it as screen accurate as possible and thus damaging it more or less.

lol no probs, I was just ranting

I have been around RPF and other sites long enough to know that some props will need permanent alteration to the parts, it is unavoidable, the parts will live on as a movie prop and will most certainly be treasured by prop collectors for a long time to come, and it is still a million times better then that Graflex seller performing cosmetic surgery on the flashes for no reason at all, he was probably thinking like a used car sales person, where if you buff up the car it will sell for more, but in fact what he has done will end up reducing it's financial and historical value.

Thanks for the info guys!

VHB double sided tape is wonderful for grips. I think its what they stick on car decals with, and its thin enough to barely be noticeable, BUT thick enough that you can stick or glue the heads of screws in there with something more to hold onto.

kirova said:

it is really unfortunate that some amateur idiot took it upon him/herself to perform these kind of surgeries on historical items.

besides props, I am also into other collecting, namely military medals/badges/uniforms, if anyone decides to introduce their dremel to some rare piece, at best they will be laughed at, at worst they would be hunted down and like the jedis after order 66!

personally, I have a vintage Graflex, when I finally get around to converting it, I will make sure to a) leave the finish in it's original state b) make sure all changes are reversible ie no holes drilling, so when I finally move on from this world, and if it is picked up by a camera collector, he/she will be able to use it for it's original purpose.

Click to expand...

thd9791 said:

VHB double sided tape is wonderful for grips. I think its what they stick on car decals with, and its thin enough to barely be noticeable, BUT thick enough that you can stick or glue the heads of screws in there with something more to hold onto.

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thx Tom

at the moment, my main issue is how to cut off the screws head to put it on the grips, maybe drilled them 3/4 way into a plank of wood and start sawing? (not even sure if I have a saw that is capable of cutting metal)

High Guys. The name is Joe. I'm new to the thread, (sadly) new to the whole Graflex light saber thing. Very, very old in pretty much every other way.

I found this thread fascinating and important; given the stratospheric levels that these flash handles are going for nowadays. From my experience in numismatics, once a commodity becomes rare and valuable enough to command stupid money, expert counterfeiting will follow. The only defense one has against that is knowledge. Share it. The expert counterfeiter already has this knowledge. You must gain as much as he/she, if you hope to avoid paying real money for a fake.

That said, I have very little, and am hoping to gain more from the group. I have some pics from my second Graflex purchase - purported to be from an old photographic collection bought in an estate sale a couple decades ago. Optically, under magnification, it looks almost exactly like an old beat up one I had that I'm fairly confident is legit due to wear characteristics and old battery damage (unless the counterfeiters are already way more sophisticated than I think, and are willing to sacrifice monetery returns for safety). This one, however, looked almost too good to be true, and was priced accordingly. I am (tardily) still sifting through the massive amount of material you guys have generated, and have read about some scary sounding replicas being made over the years. Hoping this is not one of those.

I have friends, and access to some pretty cool metallurgical diagnostic equipment. The cell body seems to be made of some material similar to but not the same as nickel silver, with a chrome plating. The clamp, however, is made out of some old school iron alloy, again, plated with chrome. The compositions are pretty much the same as for my old beat up corroded reference Graflex, although there seems to be more variation in the clamp than in the body. I have a couple reproduction parts a kind person sent me and they are made of completely different stuff: stainless steel for both the repro cell bottom and the repro clamp.

So, please, educate me. And, thanks in advance.

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Thats a real, vintage Graflex in very nice condition. Someone obviously took care of it. All the obvious tells that are usually present on a replica aren't on this one. Congrats.

Real

Hi Joe,

and welcome aboard ... no need for buyer's remorse ... it's a genuine flashgun without a doubt ... go get some great kit parts from wannawanga to finish it into lightsaber of your choice

Chaim

Don't listen to them! It's a fake! I have a fake Graflex disposal service, so feel free to send it to me!