Original Trilogy Lightsaber Collection

mburkit

mburkit

Well-Known Member
With Star Wars: The Force Awakens just around the corner, I figured I would share my collection of the Original Star Wars Trilogy Lightsabers I have been working on for the past few years. I have posted some of these else where, but I wanted to show everything off in one thread.

Lets start off with some group photos of everything I currently have.


From Left to Right: Vintage GRAFLEX ESB Luke; Converted Heiland Synchronar ESB Darth Vader; Roman's Empire MKIII Obi Wan Kenobi; Anakin Starkiller ROTJ Luke V2 Hero; SD Studios ROTJ Luke Hero; LDM Customs MKVI V2.




Now that that is out of the way, lets start off with the lightsabers I put together. I am going to do separate posts for each lightsaber.
 
Roman's Empire ANH MKIII

First up is my Roman's Empire ANH Weathered MKIII Obi Wan Kenobi Lightsaber. I had purchased the kit and put it together. I ended up adding my own chrome tape, and that's about it. I have owned 3 different versions of this lightsaber over the last 10 years and this is by far my favorite Obi Wan Kenobi Saber I have owned. This thing is amazing.


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Vintage GRAFLEX ESB Luke Lightsaber

I got lucky and snagged a No Patent Folmer Graflex right before the Graflex showed up in one of the TFA teaser trailers and the prices SKY ROCKETED! Talk about "timing. . ."



I ended up sourcing both T-Tracks and a replica Kobold clip from Wannawanga.com. I found my own circuit board on Digikey, that I cut it up myself, and purchased a replica second red button from Parks Sabers. Here's some shots of it complete.



 
Converted Heiland Synchronar ESB Darth Vader Lightsaber

This one was an interesting build. As many of you may know, finding a vintage MPP flash like the one used for the screen used prop is near impossible. I opted to convert a Heiland Synchronar Flash instead. It is fairly similar in design and there are people that sell reproduction MPP parts, which can lead to a pretty nice lightsaber. I actually sourced 2 Heiland flashes, and modified the end-cap from one with parts of the other to make a much more "accurate" end-cap similar to a MPP.




I sourced the MPP shroud, T-Track and reproduction MPP bulb release from wannawanga.com. I picked up a MPP reproduction clamp from The Custom Saber Shop, and lastly, I contacted MCM for the colored wires. I also picked up some 4-40 fillister bolts from McMaster Carr for on the T-Tracks.





 
Anakin Starkiller ROTJ Luke V2 Hero

The "V2" is by far my favorite lightsaber from the original trilogy. That is why I was so excited when photos came out from Star Wars Celebration of the original prop, which spurred new, more accurate runs of props for the community.

I love this lightsaber so much, that I opted to purchase a vintage Graflex clamp for this build, which was almost as expensive as the blank from Anakin Starkiller himself. The circuit board is from Slotfurnace, the extended lever is from wannawanga.com and my "mystery chunk" is a square end set screw I picked up from McMaster Carr.






I painted and hand weathered this sucker on my own. I painted it completely black and then sat at my PC, staring at reference photos for about 3 hours with sandpaper and an exacto blade. This is the result.


 
LDM Customs MKVI V2

I did not build this saber but I did commission it from LDM Customs and he was nice enough to share with me a TON of build photos. I ended up modifying the build slightly; mainly by switching out the clamp circuit board, extended lever, and "mystery chunk" (not pictured) to be a little more accurate.


How it showed up to me. . .


And how it looks now:






I haven't really taken any photos of my SD Studios ROTJ Luke Hero Lightsaber, mainly because that was just a straight up purchase, and not a "build" or hasn't even been modified by me. So this is it. Thanks for checking out my stuff!
 
Gorgeous collection sir :thumbsup
I'm hoping to finish my Heiland here soon (got my last bits in from Roy the other day). How difficult is it to take the handle off the clamp & get it installed?
Beautiful work though. :)
 
russellsch said:
Gorgeous collection sir :thumbsup
I'm hoping to finish my Heiland here soon (got my last bits in from Roy the other day). How difficult is it to take the handle off the clamp & get it installed?
Beautiful work though. :)
Click to expand...

It was pretty easy removing the handle off the clamp. I just used a small screw driver to push the pin out of the handle and then reinstalled the pin and tightened the threaded rod of the handle assembly down until it wouldn't go any further. Honestly, the most difficult part for me with my Heiland build was waiting for parts to show up so I could finish it up! Haha.
 
mburkit said:
It was pretty easy removing the handle off the clamp. I just used a small screw driver to push the pin out of the handle and then reinstalled the pin and tightened the threaded rod of the handle assembly down until it wouldn't go any further. Honestly, the most difficult part for me with my Heiland build was waiting for parts to show up so I could finish it up! Haha.
Click to expand...


HAA!!! I totally know how you feel on the waiting thing! But, thank God for Roy! His work is awesome!
After you removed the handle, was it difficult to tighten the rod? & did you have to glue the wires in? Or do they just stay once put in place?
 
russellsch said:
After you removed the handle, was it difficult to tighten the rod? & did you have to glue the wires in? Or do they just stay once put in place?
Click to expand...

I just used pliers to tighten down the rod. The Heiland Flash openings that the wires go into have tension in them so they hold the wires just fine without any glue or anything. I hope that helps!
 
2keepandbear said:
And I thought you only excelled at Proton Packs ;-) Well done!!!
Click to expand...
Don't worry, I still have those too!




You build proton packs for 13 years and you eventually need to work on other stuff too. Ghostbusters is and probably will always be my first love, but as far as props go, Star Wars is right there too.
 
WOW! OFF the Freakin' CHARTS!!!

VERY VERY NICE BUILDS!!!

Gives ME INSPERATION!!!

I KNOW I'm with Like Minded People here! ALL "Lunatic Fringe" as my friend Mike would say! :D
 
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