NeoRutty's Prop Projects - ANH Stunt Stormtrooper Bucket - Pointers requested?

NeoRutty

Master Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
My fireplace mantle and work area are now COVERED in Lightsaber parts. I've been collecting parts for a while now, and am finally putting them all together, with the goal of a complete collection of O.T. sabers. It's gotten away from me a bit though. I mean you gotta have AFBB versions... weathered versions... variants of different screen used... and I haven't even tinkered with electronics. But before this gets completely out of hand, I need to finish what's on my plate. So figured I'd do a thread on it...

Anyway, some quick background! It all started with an art show...

A gallery in Vancouver contacted me and my wife to submit art for a Star Wars/Star Trek art show taking place a few weeks later. My wife decided to crochet some characters, and I, not feeling up to painting or inking anything, decided I would make a lightsaber. I am a HUGE Star Wars fan, and while I watched the O.T. regularly , I never really looked too closely at the props.

I knew NOTHING about lightsabers, aside from them looking something like flashlights. So I looked up pics online and found the RPF. I joined and discovered "hardware builds". I was liking how they looked, so I went down to Home Depot with a bunch of pictures of lightsabers (with no idea who's was who's) and looked for parts to make something that could be one of the family.

I finished it, patted myself on the back, and then dropped it off for the show.

This was that rather embarrassing, clearly home depot, first saber...

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But I was hooked... and also being between work contracts at the time, had more than enough time to read up on everything to do with lightsaber props.

Even though between contracts, I still started hunting graflex's and various other parts I would need to complete my new quest... collect ALL the O.T. lightsabers (it's good to have goals when between contracts and going stir crazy).

Well it's now a year and a half later, and I have a pile of unfinished sabers, and a wife who's wishing she never said “yeah! You should look into doing a lightsaber!”

Anyway, time to get at em! I have some sabers that need just a bit of finishing, and others that will need a lot of work... Some I'm still looking for parts.

So far the only two I would say are COMPLETE are Luke's Star Wars Holiday Special saber, and the scratch build of the Vader ROTJ MOM saber (my favorite - so you will see multiple show up in this threads future.)

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I'm aware the Holiday Special isn't O.T., but then neither is the yoda that I'm finishing up... there will be a few exceptions (cue the wife with “How many of these are there?! I thought you said SEVEN!”)

So first up on the block is the saber you probably aren't very familiar with...

LUKE ANH!

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This is the graflex I'm working with for this saber... I have one that is quite a bit more beat up, but I'm gonna ESB Luke that one. This one is as close to pristine as I could find without paying 300+ bucks.

I took my graflex to my friend who has a GREAT workshop, with all the tools I don't have because I live in a tiny condo that I can barely fit a dremel into. Though I've had this graflex for over a year, I actually spent most of that time hmmming and hawwwwing over what D-ring clip to use. I went for the one I got off a member earlier this year, cut a piece of wood to support the back (at Chaim's recommendation) and finally put a hole in it.


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Riveting that ring on was the most satisfying thing yet.

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Last night I cut up my Gino tracks, sanded down the edges, and tonight will pull out my Exactra 19 and get a look a that bubblestrip.

More to come! Lots more...
 
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Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

That's it ... you're hooked for life ... muahhahaa ... looking good though and I was gonna send you a link to an MPP ... but within the last hour the price in £'s quadrupled :wacko

Chaim
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

It such an awesome feeling to complete such an iconic lightsaber.

Looking forward to seeing this one finished, I never get tired of projects like this.
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

I both equally hate and need that holiday special saber... Damn you sir!!!

Seriously, lookin and sounding great on your builds!

I need to accurize my ANH a bit, and finish my ESB Luke...

Need some Gino track before it's all gone!
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Looking good neo. The d-ring looks like a scuba one I picked up, pretty nice shape to it.
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

That's it ... you're hooked for life ... muahhahaa ... looking good though and I was gonna send you a link to an MPP ... but within the last hour the price in £'s quadrupled :wacko

Chaim

I WILL need to do Vader's from the trilogy (other than the MOM version) but I think I'll go down the replica route... who ever does the closest (parks?). The prices are just a bit crazy for a saber I'm not THAT crazy about, and always have the innacurate 2 step when they do show up on Ebay.

It such an awesome feeling to complete such an iconic lightsaber.

Looking forward to seeing this one finished, I never get tired of projects like this.

Ha, good... I was hesitant on even doing a thread of these sabers since it's such a been there, done that... but at the same time, I have a few I may have questions on, and may as well keep them in the same place.

I both equally hate and need that holiday special saber... Damn you sir!!!

Seriously, lookin and sounding great on your builds!

I need to accurize my ANH a bit, and finish my ESB Luke...

Need some Gino track before it's all gone!

Thanks! Yeah strangely, when someone is not in the know on sabers, they always pick up the holiday one first. I think it just looks more cartoony than the others. ESB will be coming up, but not decided on screws yet (though pretty sure I WILL do screws).

Looking good neo. The d-ring looks like a scuba one I picked up, pretty nice shape to it.

Thanks... I should look up the member who sourced it for me. WAY better than the ones I found at shops around here.
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Interesting...

So I DID crack open the two exactra's I have last night... one a 19, one a 20... The 19 is for the graflex, and the 20 for my "Holy Grail" saber... coming up.

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On a totally nerdy side, I was actually kind stoked to see the real strips. I have replicas in place in some sabers now, but these seemed to shine more... almost like a light opened above them and shone down on them as I unscrewed the case. Ha.

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I showed my wife, and she looked at me like a kid asking her to look at the amazing rock I found in the garden outside. Pfft. fine.

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Anyway... the 19 is clear and the 20 is frosted. Does anyone know whether the original was frosted or clear? It obviously doesn't matter that much, and I'd be shocked if somehow someone DID find out...

I used an exacto blade to slice off the plastic keeping it pegged to the board, and pulled them off. I wanted to start sawing off the ends, but it was late, and figured I'd do it in the light of day (my condo has bad lighting and always looks really dark - it's like working in an apartment from a Fincher movie)


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I put the screws in a little glass jar, in case I want to used them to put the grips on my ESB (coming up!), but I may just find screws that are in the same family... these are slightly different sizes... two are grey, two are brown...

Next up, finishing the strips without scratching them toooo much (cuz I can't find novus 2 in Canada!) and gluing on the grips.
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Hahaha yeah I know the feeling, matey when seeing those Exactra bubbles for the very first time ... looks rather good ... the frosted version can be seen in DV ROTJ MPP lightsaber ... so I'd use the clear version for Luke's ANH ;) . . . and I purchased Novus #1, 2 and #3 in a nice 3 bottle 8 FL OZ set . . . via ebay :)

Chaim
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Ok... you're starting to make me look bad... now I *really* have to do something with my ESB build lol.... nice work... I'm going to have to come to you for some pointers pretty soon!
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Onto the bubbles!

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So I followed an old thread by Clutch, and started off with taping up the back of the bubbles.

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I then got my miter saw (A GREAT INVESTMENT - use it all the time) and sawed off the ends.

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I took a medium sandpaper and sanded down the edges, until it easily slid in. No problems!

LIES! It got stuck. STUCK GOOD. I could NOT budge it out by hand. I ended up wrapping the clamp in cloth, putting a rag between the bubble strip and a screwdriver, and lightly hammered it out... it actually took a LOT to get it out again.

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I then sanded it EVER so slightly, and now it sliiiiides nicely in. but of course it's kind of loose.

So the question to you ANH Luke Graflex guys is: What are the tricks you're using to keep it locked in? I have some ideas, but maybe there's a simple solution I'm missing.

Bubbles are nice and scratch free, and if I ever get me some novus, I'll likely touch up the ends and the sides where I sanded.
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

That's it ... you're hooked for life ... muahhahaa ... looking good though and I was gonna send you a link to an MPP ... but within the last hour the price in £'s quadrupled :wacko

Chaim
I queried this, really not sure if its genuine or not.

The owner told me that there are no serial numbers anywhere. And that the letters B E S E, are engraved. The inside is very clean with a battery contact point at the far end and a spring set into the removable end??
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Hi Marv,

There are early or perhaps even later MPP's that have no serial number ... also this one up for auction seems to have rectangular black sidebars and the top screw is exactly in the center of the shroud ... as for the removable part I suspect he means the endcap ... my clean endcap has a spring inside ;) ... also the fonts used on the MPP name-plate are different from the ones I have here still that doesn't mean it's not genuine ... to clue is in the clamp ... you can clearly see how the lever scraped against the paint and left a half circle marking ... only vintage MPP's I have seen sofar have that same marking from usage as a flashgun. As for the engraving of the letters ... I'm not sure ... mine are engraved I believe or perhaps stamped if that's the difference you mean though the letters do contain paint residu ... black and red 'S'. Happy bidding should you decide to go for it near the end :)

Chaim
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

On loose bubble strip; I put a SMALL strip of clear packing tape on one edge of the lens..that can't be seen and it shims up the gap nicely.
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Just seen what that went for!!! May have to sell my spare its the same as that one!
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Wow ... it went over $1000 for a genuine MPP ... it's been a while ... mine was far less ... a good investment if I ever decide to sell :wacko

Chaim
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Yup that MPP sale is nuts.

As I finish up the ones I have CURRENTLY on the go, I'll have to figure what to do about Vader ANH and ESB... I figure it'll be a Parks or whomever is making the closest. I've never been big on either of those sabers, so spendingover $1000 is not even an option...

I do spend a lot of time hunting flea markets and such, so there's always the dream of coming across an mpp there, ha. Saddly, the closest I ever got was a Graflite.

Didn't get much of anything done this weekend... but will hopefully get the grips on tonight.

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To prep for it, I polished up the hilt with some metal cleaner, since this is to as close to fresh off the saber production line as I can get.

I also cleaned up a replica back end I got as part of a bits and pieces buy a while back... already pre-drilled for an ESB or Vader MOM ROTJ. I will be using it for my MOM ROTJ, which is still further down the line for finishing up.
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

I just wonder if Luke ever took such great care on his lightsaber as some of you do with polishing and prepping and so on :facepalm now just slab some grips on there ... without any additional help then the Toe-Picture, just as the old propmakers did a long time ago ... in this galaxy :



... I dare you ;)

Chaim
 
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Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

Wow ... it went over $1000 for a genuine MPP ... it's been a while ... mine was far less ... a good investment if I ever decide to sell :wacko

Chaim

I feel like I stole mine now... wow... fortune really does favor fools sometimes :$
 
Re: Finishing my O.T. Saber Projects - First up Luke ANH

don't you worry, my ESB will be quite beat up... ;)


I just wonder if Luke ever took such great care on his lightsaber as some of you do with polishing and prepping and so on :facepalm now just slab some grips on there ... without any additional help then the Toe-Picture, just as the old propmakers did a long time ago ... in this galaxy :

http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz258/Sym-Cha/Episode_4_LukesToePic.jpg

... I dare you ;)

Chaim
 
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