Various OT lightsaber WannaWanga parts (new ALU MPP shroud)

Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

Considering someone was selling them by the spool on the Junkyard before the overhaul (I don't remember if they were correct but they sure looked the part), I'm sure the prop guys had easier access to them than we have now.


Not sure if they were original though.


I searched in some old threads and found:

lonepigeon said:

One of the original prop guys from Bapty confirmed that the T-track was plastic and bent with a heat gun. He also mentioned that they ran out of black at one point and used brown t-track painted black on some of the guns. The black paint did not stick well.


I thought that there was also a post from moffeaton about seeing resin-cast T-track on a prop from ROTJ, but I can't find it. I might have remembered wrong.
Of course, T-tracks were moulded in on some "stunt" E-11's used in ESB who were moulded whole and cast in resin as one piece.



The Pugman blaster has accurate (molded-in) t-tracks. I also think Master Replicas t-tracks from the E-11 are pretty accurate, though idealized, especially when rounded to insert in the barrel.

Wish we could find a batch of the old stuff...
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

The Pugman blaster has accurate (molded-in) t-tracks.
Yep. It is the type of his original production-used blaster that I was thinking of.
But you can't rely too much of one of his recasts as reference, partly because of paint thickness and partly because of resin shrinkage in each generation. We don't know at which generation his original blaster really is nor which types of resin/s were used.

Wish we could find a batch of the old stuff...
Indeed. It is a bit frustrating considering how many wrong types of T-track we have found.
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

Yep. It is the type of his original production-used blaster that I was thinking of.
But you can't rely too much of one of his recasts as reference, partly because of paint thickness and partly because of resin shrinkage in each generation. We don't know at which generation his original blaster really is nor which types of resin/s were used.


Indeed. It is a bit frustrating considering how many wrong types of T-track we have found.

I know of the shrinkage possibility alas. Though I don't own any MR lightsaber I'm wondering how they compare to Gino, Roy, Marv and even MR E-11 or MR Force FX T-tracks.
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

Got my ANH set today and they were flawless! Slapped them on my Graflex as soon as I got them and this is the result:

001.JPG 002.JPG 003.JPG

Not bad for what could be the easiest thing to assemble ever.;)

EDIT:
So much for it being easy! I just noticed I cut my grips a little too short. You got another order from me on the way!:facepalm
 
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Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

So much for it being easy! I just noticed I cut my grips a little too short.

Indeed you need your grips to be just a little short otherwise you can never open up your clamp again ... so leave it be, yours look fine to me ... get moving on to a Luke ESB G R A F L E X instead ;)

Chaim
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

Yeah I don't see anything wrong with the lengths... unless it's on the not pictured back end...
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

I'll agree with chaim: I can't adjust my clamp until I take my blast-tech grips off. I've been waiting until I get replacement track (speak of the devil) so once I budget it in, I'll redo mine!
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

It's the distance between the clamp and the top of the grips; it's too large. I don't intend to open the clamp or do anything else with the saber beyond the grips, that's why I have everything locked in place. Everything is where it needs to be to my liking. I'll keep these grips, though, whenever I find a good replica body of an MPP for an ANH Vader (if I decide to do one, my initial plans are to keep my collection small and select for now) and use the extra track for the thing on Han's ANH Hero.

No, Luke ESB for me, I'm afraid. Don't think I have it in budget for another Graflex (let alone the price I got my current one at, which was a steal) and I'm perfectly alright with an ANH Luke in my arsenal.
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

I just noticed I cut my grips a little too short.
Have you pressed the Graflex together completely? When the clamp is loose there should be a little bit of play lengthwise.

Hi Andymac84,
No, they don't. The tracks are best glued with an epoxy adhesive. Double sided tape is maybe an option, but when I tried it didn't stick well to the Graflex. Or maybe it just wasn't the proper tape.
I suppose he was thinking of Blast-Tech's rubber T-track which was made to fit against the body of a Graflex flash...

Some people mount T-tracks on their Vader sabers with double-sided foam tape, because it lifts the ends of the tracks over the MPP's endcap . It is not perfectly screen accurate, but it looks neater. The sides of the tape should be blackened with a marker pen first. I don't remember who here that first posted about this trick.

I put some Milliput into the grooves of some T-track I got from Roy, to adapt them to be used with thin double-sided tape on a Graflex, but it was much more difficult to do right than I thought it would be. Some thick glue would be easier.

The original tracks were used for sliding drawers in office furniture. That is why the base is mostly flat. It has been speculated that the groove was intended for a string of glue. Another theory is that it is because if you cut off a section of the fin and drive a screw through the base into the cabinet wall, then the screw might drive up some wood chips that would need some place to go.
Even though the exact type has not been found, at least six other types of plastic furniture tracks have. Some have had an almost-identical groove to the movie-used (and to Roy's) tracks. Others are flat on the bottom or have barbed protrusions to fit into grooves in the cabinet wall.

I thought that there was also a post from moffeaton about seeing resin-cast T-track on a prop from ROTJ, but I can't find it. I might have remembered wrong.
I think I and he must have referred to the lightsaber that Darth Vader's severed hand is still holding after Luke had cut it off in ROTJ. That lightsaber is definitely a resin-cast, probably of the "Barbican saber" with a couple different greeblies.
 
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Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

Some people mount T-tracks on their Vader sabers with double-sided foam tape, because it lifts the ends of the tracks over the MPP's endcap . It is not perfectly screen accurate, but it looks neater.

I am about to do the same thing since I have some strong double sided tape left ... I just cut a 0.5 cm strip off and put it in and slightly alongside the glue-channel though ... so I would not have to add a black marker stripe on the edge . . . I'll just test-fit one first to see if it works and ... if I like it ;)

Chaim
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

I am about to do the same thing since I have some strong double sided tape left ... I just cut a 0.5 cm strip off and put it in and slightly alongside the glue-channel though ... so I would not have to add a black marker stripe on the edge . . . I'll just test-fit one first to see if it works and ... if I like it ;)

Chaim

Anyone ever consider doing the MR method of slightly sanding down the ends of the t-tracks to accommodate the endcap? I'm debating about whether to do that in my build or not...
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

Have you pressed the Graflex together completely? When the clamp is loose there should be a little bit of play lengthwise...


Yep, everything is placed and locked where they should be. My problem was, in my enthusiasm, I printed the grip template from PoSW without having it sized accurately. Like, I mentioned before, I'm gonna keep these ones for later sabers down the line (ANH Vader, more than likely) when I've got the funds and enthusiasm for another.
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

I made two old style 'blueprints' of the LUKE ANH & the LUKE ESB saber :)
It includes some building information and it combines all the knowledge I found here.

View attachment 411440 blueprint-Luke-ANH.jpg

Roy
 
Re: Various OT lightsaber parts

I replaced my blast-tech grips with these. It was a total mess getting the glue off, and then re-doing one of these I placed wrong...super glue does its job *sigh* anyways I finally completed upgrading my ANH graflex. Some shots... it's beautiful!
 

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