The Ultimate Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi Real Vintage Parts Lightsaber Group

@Ridire Firean still need a booster. Looking everywhere.

Yes I do! Yes I am! ;)

Let me know if you find any extras.

I saw, and saved the pics from arrowhead back in April 2017. But those photos are different from the ones I just saved today, I wonder if they were the same grenade? Everytime I look at their site everything says "SOLD", and it never seems to refresh, so I kind of gave up on it, guess I need to put it back in the rotation!

Great grab one way or the other, they both looked like specimen grenades!!!

So, if it's been 4 weeks, are they bringing it to you via rowboat? ;) Please share the story when you post up your pics, it's building up to be an epic tale!
 
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And my male balance pipe from EdRaven99 is in. Thank you again man! Now to talk to Roman about getting it converted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ok...finally have a trial fit together.

I think Romans Empire had it right, I think my booster AND grenade had a lot of wear on their threads or had their threads made at the end of the run or something.

With a dremel and sanding cylinder i sanded the threads down on both ends of the adapter and both pieces now screw on farily easily. (Woohoo!)

Had to do the same with the balance pipe adapter too. No biggy, just an hour or two in a high temperature garage with high humidity :)

After all this time I finally see what it'll look like. All pieces are real except the calc bubble. I have a real calculator, just haven't pulled the bubble strip yet. I wish i had a before pic of the grenade. I used steel wire brush dremel bit and took it down to a shiny original steel and used perma blue. Had no real idea what I was doing...learned an important lesson. You're not coloring the steel, your oxidizing it. Yep, it's black rust so to speak and if you don't hit it with steel wool or wet/dry sandpaper it starts developing rust colored rust :) So a note to those who haven't done it yet. They say did it or coat it for less than a minute, dunk it in water to neutralize the solution, dry, and then steel wool or sandpaper lightly.

As i wrote earlier, i had to blast it with a torch to get the stem off the grenade. That actually darkened the stem to the color you see there. I did dunk it in some brass black, but it literally had no effect. I couldn't darken the spoke cover either. Had to hit it with a wire brush first. Dunking it didn't turn it much at all, but it darkened up over the course of a week to that color.

Sink knob, clamp, and balance pipe are all as they were. I haven't done anything to any of them. The clamp isn't a dead on match to ANH, but i really like the natural weathering on it.

Big thanks to Teecrooz, without whom this would still be a fantasy :) Can't believe it's finally coming together, and pretty nicely as well. Only paranoid part left is drilling for the d-ring. Hopefully the dremel drill press works well for that.

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Thank you :)

That was the thing - I don't know enough about the perma blue process - IF (big if) if i could have stopped it in it's tracks, I agree with you...a bit of rust in the crevices looked really cool. Thing was - it didn't stop. It proceeded all the way up the crevices and was starting to get the outer surfaces of the grenade. I don't know if clear coat would have stopped it or not. I think it came out pretty dang well though. I figured it'd turn out looking fairly new, but the way I wound up doing it gave it a good color that looks really old. One of the things I think makes this look so good is the natural age of the rest of the pieces
 
I agree with you...a bit of rust in the crevices looked really cool.

You could always stipple a little bit of orange and brown and red down in the crevices with acrylic paint using a dry brush technique if you want it to look like rust in the corners.

Did you heat your grenade while Perma-bluing it? You probably could have just Perma-blued over the rust that was there (if not too gross) and it would have kept some of the "natural age/ looks really old" texture of the antique grenade. Part of what I think you're seeing now is how smooth the grenade cubes are from having wire-wheeled it. Try misting it with dull clear coat to give it back a bit of texture. Like the beginning to rust texture, not the pitted and nasty rusting through texture. ;)

One of the things I like seeing most on the grenade teecrooz gave me is the tooling marks in the "V" groves that run around the grenade body. As I work on it, I try and preserve as much of the original machining as possible.

I still haven't decided if I want to try and JB-weld repair the upper threads on mine. Probably has more to do with wanting to make it match perfectly and knowing how difficult a task that will be, but part of it is wanting to preserve it as it is.

I feel ya on the Bubble Strip, I kinda like having the complete calculator in working condition for my future display case!

OH! And before I forget....

HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED FINGER-TIP-DRILLING OUT THEIR D-RING HOLE IN THEIR ARMITAGE SHANKS KNOB???

After cutting off their loops, I drill out plasic loop-back buttons for my Mom to make button-hole buttons out of them. Only takes a few minutes of rubbing/twisting the drill bit between my fingers to bore a nice little set of holes through them; and some of them are very hard plastic! I've been thinking I'll try this method when I gather up the courage to attempt the D-Ring hole on my AS Knobs. Starting first with very small 1/32" bits, maybe 1/64" bits, and working my way up once the hole is straight and through the cube.
 
My grenade didn't have any visible rust on the outside - it did on the inside though and all over the threads.

It actually didn't take much time with the wire brush to clean it off. I wasn't 'au naturale' or anything, it had a layer of paint on it. Couldn't blue through the paint, so removed it and moved forward. The grenade really isn't any smoother either. the edges of the cubes might be a touch, but not all that much. The color on it now actually makes the edges look rounder than they are
 
Thank you :)

That was the thing - I don't know enough about the perma blue process - IF (big if) if i could have stopped it in it's tracks, I agree with you...a bit of rust in the crevices looked really cool. Thing was - it didn't stop. It proceeded all the way up the crevices and was starting to get the outer surfaces of the grenade. I don't know if clear coat would have stopped it or not. I think it came out pretty dang well though. I figured it'd turn out looking fairly new, but the way I wound up doing it gave it a good color that looks really old. One of the things I think makes this look so good is the natural age of the rest of the pieces

What I've done on a few sabers is file down artist chalk in 'rust' or 'Tatooine Sand' colors into a fine powder.

Then use a small paintbrush to dab it down in the crevices of the grenade frag cubes for the same effect as rust.

Too heavy, wipe it off and go again. Too light, add some more. And you don't have to add a clear spray coating because when you hold the saber your fingers won't touch the chalk.
 
What I've done on a few sabers is file down artist chalk in 'rust' or 'Tatooine Sand' colors into a fine powder.

That's a great idea! I bet it would work for dust, grit and grime too!!!

I guess there's a sense of realism there too, eh? If you don't clear coat it, the "rust/dust" falls off onto surfaces that you set your lightsaber down too hard on. Just like the real deal! ;)
 
What I've done on a few sabers is file down artist chalk in 'rust' or 'Tatooine Sand' colors into a fine powder.

Then use a small paintbrush to dab it down in the crevices of the grenade frag cubes for the same effect as rust.

Too heavy, wipe it off and go again. Too light, add some more. And you don't have to add a clear spray coating because when you hold the saber your fingers won't touch the chalk.

I like this idea...

If I can get a liiiiiight rust going on in the cracks, even if just chalk, may be the finishing look I'm wanting.

Still waiting on an exactra to finish mine off and post final pics.
 
Ok. Im getting desperate. Can anyone PM me about what has happened to @mugatu?


There's a thread in the off topic looking for him.

I bought an exactra off him and it arrived, so he's okay enough to mail stuff out... but as for how he's doing, no idea.

Hope all's good.... But if he doesn't want to check in, then it's just a waiting game.
 
Been quiet the last couple weeks. Thought I'd bump the thread with a question:

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Has as anyone thought tom use the ears that were designed to kee the grenade from falling into the rifle barrel as a clamp by jamming them into the space between the rings in the balance pipe vent? Seems like with a little shaping and force that would work. But I have no idea how stable the connection would be. Is there any evidence either way showing whether or not the prop makers tried that trick?
 
I have thought about it alas my grenade didn't come with those ears and it will need a lot of tweeking to get the final endresult with the accurate neck part showing ... so I doubt the propmakers even considered it ... that said is it possible to reverse the position of those ears backwards and cover the piece with the one part that's held together by the cotterpin (removed) so all can be squeezed inside the emitter?

Chaïm
 
The ears would have to fit in the annular space between the two cylinders of the balance pipe vent, I think. It would require quite a bit more bending - especially at the base - to get them into the smaller cylinder.

But, if the prop makers didn't likely do it, neither will I. It was mostly an idea of how to best copy what they did for authenticity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
A long time ago in a galaxy very close to here a prop maker/team responded with "you want us to build what from this, you've got to be kidding right...."


After an interesting journey of just over a years time my collection is now complete for an all vintage Obi. MTFBWY as it has been with me.

Just received the last item to my puzzle today, the Hales, which was located here in the US in a military collectors collection as was my booster/FH which was the first puzzle piece I found on my journey and caused me to continue the path.

Enjoy the eye candy.


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Ok...finally have a trial fit together.

I think Romans Empire had it right, I think my booster AND grenade had a lot of wear on their threads or had their threads made at the end of the run or something.

With a dremel and sanding cylinder i sanded the threads down on both ends of the adapter and both pieces now screw on farily easily. (Woohoo!)

Had to do the same with the balance pipe adapter too. No biggy, just an hour or two in a high temperature garage with high humidity :)

After all this time I finally see what it'll look like. All pieces are real except the calc bubble. I have a real calculator, just haven't pulled the bubble strip yet. I wish i had a before pic of the grenade. I used steel wire brush dremel bit and took it down to a shiny original steel and used perma blue. Had no real idea what I was doing...learned an important lesson. You're not coloring the steel, your oxidizing it. Yep, it's black rust so to speak and if you don't hit it with steel wool or wet/dry sandpaper it starts developing rust colored rust :) So a note to those who haven't done it yet. They say did it or coat it for less than a minute, dunk it in water to neutralize the solution, dry, and then steel wool or sandpaper lightly.

As i wrote earlier, i had to blast it with a torch to get the stem off the grenade. That actually darkened the stem to the color you see there. I did dunk it in some brass black, but it literally had no effect. I couldn't darken the spoke cover either. Had to hit it with a wire brush first. Dunking it didn't turn it much at all, but it darkened up over the course of a week to that color.

Sink knob, clamp, and balance pipe are all as they were. I haven't done anything to any of them. The clamp isn't a dead on match to ANH, but i really like the natural weathering on it.

Big thanks to Teecrooz, without whom this would still be a fantasy :) Can't believe it's finally coming together, and pretty nicely as well. Only paranoid part left is drilling for the d-ring. Hopefully the dremel drill press works well for that.

View attachment 744323View attachment 744325View attachment 744326


Was that my grenade at one point? Looks familiar. Anyways, a gorgeous build!!! Now lease it to Disney for the Ewan movie ;)
 

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