ESB/TFA Lightsaber

Hi all,

I need some help with putting the pieces together on constructing my own lightsaber, I've never made one before so bear with me. I want to make Luke's ESB/TFA one, with a soundboard, LEDs and removable blade. I'd love to have it so when you take out the kill key it says "The Force is strong in my family, my father has it, I have it, my sister has it...you have that power, too." like in the trailer. I would just buy an FX lightsaber but I really want to put this together myself and customise it. The only part I'm not looking at solely doing myself is the electronics/LED construction and installation, I would have no clue in the world how to do that.

I know that the original screen-used prop was made from a Graflex camera flash but I don't want to spend over $750 just for the flash handle. I've seen Parks Sabers but I'm not that satisfied with them, they look great but I'm really aiming for 100% screen accuracy. I am super picky when it comes to having/making something screen accurate. Below are some pictures I'm hoping to have on my saber. If any of you could leave some suggestions as to where to go for parts that would be greatly appreciated.

I love how this saber has a 'window' or gap below the emitter, again something I really want for my saber.




This is what I meant when I said I am picky when it comes to screen-accuracy. The handle grips need to
only have a gap when the rivet starts and ends. Similarly, I'd like rivets as seen below not screws or allen bolts.



Next is the clear activation button, seen in TFA, whereas in ESB it was the same as or very similar to the blade
length adjuster.



Finally, the HP board, I haven't seen an upclose shot of it in TFA but this the one from ESB so one would assume
it was used in TFA.



This is all I have for now, thanks for checking this out and hopefully you can give me a hand

I believe Romans Empire is going to release a Graflex replica. Knowing their products its gonna be accurate.

http://www.romanprops.com


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mvmagic said:

I believe Romans Empire is going to release a Graflex replica. Knowing their products its gonna be accurate.

http://www.romanprops.com


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Fantastic, I've seen their Obi-Wan ANH saber and it's spectacular

The activation board for the TFA saber has rounded gold fingers with off-center gold leads.

Launch Bay:


I believe the Launch Bay saber has the board upside down though. I think there is also some difference in how the leads are positioned compared to the promo/Fathead poster saber, but I haven't been able to 100% confirm it.

Parks old Graflex replica is very close to the original - you would have to know what to look for to tell them apart from real ones. I heard he is discontinuing those ones and started with "Graflex 2.0" made of aluminium though - which is the wrong material, finish and details.

AFAIK, the lightsabers in ESB all had phillips screws in the T-tracks but pop-rivets for the D-ring.
I think the T-tracks on the TFA lightsaber have lower fins and are curved on the bottom to the Graflex's radius, while as the T-tracks in the original trilogy were higher, less sharp-edged and had a smaller radius on the bottom.

For a ESB version, I would recommend T-tracks, circuit board and D-ring assembly from wannawanga.com . The D-ring assembly comes with correctly-sized pop rivets.

Darth Lars said:

I think the T-tracks on the TFA lightsaber have lower fins and are curved on the bottom to the Graflex's radius, while as the T-tracks in the original trilogy were higher, less sharp-edged and had a smaller radius on the bottom.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the Launch Bay saber looks to have lower fins and curved bottoms. RexKramer's photos show that here:

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=237477&page=62&p=3862839&viewfull=1#post3862839

I love how this saber has a 'window' or gap below the emitter, again something I really want for my saber.

Click to expand...

All of this type Graflex have the gap.

Serenity said:

The activation board for the TFA saber has rounded gold fingers with off-center gold leads.

Click to expand...

Would these be the same as the very first batch that Slothfurnace delivered a long time ago?

Chaim

Darth Lars said:

Parks old Graflex replica is very close to the original - you would have to know what to look for to tell them apart from real ones. I heard he is discontinuing those ones and started with "Graflex 2.0" made of aluminium though - which is the wrong material, finish and details.

AFAIK, the lightsabers in ESB all had phillips screws in the T-tracks but pop-rivets for the D-ring.
I think the T-tracks on the TFA lightsaber have lower fins and are curved on the bottom to the Graflex's radius, while as the T-tracks in the original trilogy were higher, less sharp-edged and had a smaller radius on the bottom.

For a ESB version, I would recommend T-tracks, circuit board and D-ring assembly from wannawanga.com . The D-ring assembly comes with correctly-sized pop rivets.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I'll take a look

Finally had a chance to get to Disneyland's Launch Bay and snapped off a few pictures of Luke/Rey's lightsaber. Unfortunately they have it turned around and you can't see the strip detail, but I figure the pictures might be worth seeing anyhow.

I'd just like to point out that none of the "props" displayed inside Disney's "Cargo Bay" displays are screen used. I'm also a fan of screen accuracy with my props. Having researched this extensively with Cast Members in charge of the props inside the "Cargo Bay" and other SW Disney aficionados I've been told they're all either produced by third party builders (such as the lightsabers from Rebels, uniforms, and ship models) or stripped down Master Replica/Force FX hilts - this includes Rey's lightsaber. Disney essentially feels the average tourist wouldn't notice the difference(s). This also allows them to display the same props at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland and ensure nothing happened to the actual props from the movie.

I would not rely on these displays for screen accuracy. The only place to truly see these "screen used" props on display are at the Star Wars Celebration events or LFL "touring" events. Your best bet for accuracy is pulling stills from the movie itself. It also appears there are differences between what is shown on screen with Rey's lightsaber and what the higher end "ultimate studio edition" (3D scanned) props. In the movie, the rivets are silver but in the higher end "scanned" prop, they made the rivets black. The circuit board appears much thicker in the "ultimate edition" prop but looks thinner in the movie - the gold/green pattern looks consistent.

I hope this helps in your quest for accuracy. I bought the Graflex 2.0 kit and I have to tell you it's pretty fantastic and a great starting point to get it where you want it. I'm still waiting for a RPF member out there to offer the correct circuit board. Korbanth did an amazing job with his kit and it's very user friendly for a beginner like me.