Like before, I saved the best for last. Not only the final write-up in this post, and possibly my final contribution to this thread before I move onto doing blasters, but my official entry in the unofficial Graflite challenge. For those unaware, I believe it was a challenge set forth by our @SethS , where the only rule is take the Graflite flash and do something interesting with it and, hopefully, I managed that.
I present to you, the Graflite Staff-Saber/Twin-bladed saber/Double-bladed saber...whatever it's called these days.
Continuing and finishing with the idea of doubling my saber-smithing fun, I thought that one of the acolytes following one of my baddies around should have a double-bladed saber. Why not? I've doubled everything else (and also I got these two for a steal). Obviously inspired by Darth Maul's weapon of choice but after seeing @manooga post his "May the 4th" photo and having a visual reference of its size (the size of two Luke V2's end to end), I wanted to make mine just a bit longer so it was easier to not just wield and play with, but was more satisfying overall...
...It sits at about 22 inches long...
Unfortunately, I wish I could say I mocked this up in no time but I really struggled with figuring out the final look of this thing and really took my time going through, piecing this thing together, bit by bit. Before Manooga's photo, this thing sat on my workbench for a good while as I went back and forth on how big the saber ought to be. After the photo, I just breezed through it once I set my mind on how big it was gonna be. So, many thanks, Manooga!
Oddly enough, this thing, in one way or another, managed to incorporate all the techniques that I applied to the other hilts I made early on in this thread. There's a little bit of all my lighsabers in this on top of the other influences going on here: Boba Fett, Obi-wan, Darth Maul, and @Panaflex and SethS for their Graflite Challenge entries.
Here's the break-down: Graflites and pvc pipes cut to bits, pvc bits bound in wads of gaffer tape before sliding Graflite chunks over it with epoxy; T-tracks cut and laid inside of Graflite to make "heatsinks"; fill with resin; larger pvc pipe attached to that with T-track stuck on top of that with CA glue, leaving a small section of pipe exposed; more gaffer applied to exposed pipe to lay threaded ends of Graflites on top of, with added epoxy, remembering to alternate the Graflite sections, because they're two different finishes, to create an interesting contrast; assembled emitters out of washers and some thread cap carried over from the first group of sabers built, all held together with CA glue, wrapping around a threaded rod which is then fixed to some aluminium curtain hangers with holes drilled at the bottom; fill the insides of pvc piping with resin before adding the emitters on the end to create a completely solid lock. Add greeblies (dials are from the Canon flash units' reflector attachment) and various screws to keep it all sturdy; no measuring to keep that OT-sloppy-workshop finish, before finishing with some black acrylic paint in the threads.
Then step back and admire.
All that work and you'll be stupefied as I to know that not only will you get a kick-ass looking lightsaber, that's fun and easy to swing around and play with, but it is extremely well balanced.
Hot damn, am I proud of this ugly *******.
And here it is with the others in this set.
Now, I must sleep; I've spent way too much time editing this ******** post.
I present to you, the Graflite Staff-Saber/Twin-bladed saber/Double-bladed saber...whatever it's called these days.
Continuing and finishing with the idea of doubling my saber-smithing fun, I thought that one of the acolytes following one of my baddies around should have a double-bladed saber. Why not? I've doubled everything else (and also I got these two for a steal). Obviously inspired by Darth Maul's weapon of choice but after seeing @manooga post his "May the 4th" photo and having a visual reference of its size (the size of two Luke V2's end to end), I wanted to make mine just a bit longer so it was easier to not just wield and play with, but was more satisfying overall...
...It sits at about 22 inches long...
Unfortunately, I wish I could say I mocked this up in no time but I really struggled with figuring out the final look of this thing and really took my time going through, piecing this thing together, bit by bit. Before Manooga's photo, this thing sat on my workbench for a good while as I went back and forth on how big the saber ought to be. After the photo, I just breezed through it once I set my mind on how big it was gonna be. So, many thanks, Manooga!
Oddly enough, this thing, in one way or another, managed to incorporate all the techniques that I applied to the other hilts I made early on in this thread. There's a little bit of all my lighsabers in this on top of the other influences going on here: Boba Fett, Obi-wan, Darth Maul, and @Panaflex and SethS for their Graflite Challenge entries.
Here's the break-down: Graflites and pvc pipes cut to bits, pvc bits bound in wads of gaffer tape before sliding Graflite chunks over it with epoxy; T-tracks cut and laid inside of Graflite to make "heatsinks"; fill with resin; larger pvc pipe attached to that with T-track stuck on top of that with CA glue, leaving a small section of pipe exposed; more gaffer applied to exposed pipe to lay threaded ends of Graflites on top of, with added epoxy, remembering to alternate the Graflite sections, because they're two different finishes, to create an interesting contrast; assembled emitters out of washers and some thread cap carried over from the first group of sabers built, all held together with CA glue, wrapping around a threaded rod which is then fixed to some aluminium curtain hangers with holes drilled at the bottom; fill the insides of pvc piping with resin before adding the emitters on the end to create a completely solid lock. Add greeblies (dials are from the Canon flash units' reflector attachment) and various screws to keep it all sturdy; no measuring to keep that OT-sloppy-workshop finish, before finishing with some black acrylic paint in the threads.
Then step back and admire.
All that work and you'll be stupefied as I to know that not only will you get a kick-ass looking lightsaber, that's fun and easy to swing around and play with, but it is extremely well balanced.
Hot damn, am I proud of this ugly *******.
And here it is with the others in this set.
Now, I must sleep; I've spent way too much time editing this ******** post.
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