RotJ Force Pike Accurate Build/Research

tomleech

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
I'm planning on joining the 501st sometime soon as a Royal Guard and obviously need a force pike. There seems to be fairly little around in terms of concrete parts/measurements of the original 'hero' prop.

I found a thread comparing a picture of force pike blueprints from Star Wars: The Blueprints to a behind the scenes image picking out the various similarities and suggesting that the blueprint was reasonably legit and modelled up a pike based on the less than ideal picture and extrapolated measurements from the labelled 7/8 bore.

Shown here is the blueprint/photo comparison from the forcepike.net thread:
Forcepike-1.png

and here is a render of my model from these prints:
forcepike zoom.png

Looks reasonably close to me, although there is some evidence that the pommel and one of the wedge sections aren't cylindrical but faceted with flat sections.

The tip detail was seemingly identified in this thread https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=132759 although the specific model doesn't seem to have been identified yet.

I've worked up a model from the original prop reference images found in that thread although obviously there's no way to confirm any of the dimensions with the original part still missing, although one could probably argue that the top section might be a morse taper and extrapolate from there:

wormgearcomparison.jpg

Other than the threads mentioned in this one, research/info/reference seems fairly sparse on this prop, if I've missed any new developments or if anybody has a decent scan of the blueprint shown above or more info etc. please let me know :)
 
Well, turns out I was able to get hold of a much higher res version of those blueprints so I've redrawn the pike with them to be a little more accurate. The higher res prints also confirmed the facets on the pommel and one of the grip pieces so that's been added in too :) Here are the new renders:

renderfull.pngforcepikepommel.pngforcepikerasp.png

I've spoken to a machinist who has showed an interest in doing a small run of these so I'm looking into the possibility of that, although I'd like to see if I can track down the appropriate worm gear hob to get some measurements, so far I'm just approximating it from reference photos...

An interesting piece of extra info I got from the hi-res prints; most of the grip was bored out to accomodate "EMA TUBE (FOR BATTERIES+LIGHT)" which leads me to believe that the clear/frosted pommel end seen in the reference pics was originally intended to light up, although I'm pretty sure this wasn't seen on screen. Prequel versions of this prop have a button near the pommel and a couple of RotJ reference pictures have something in the same area which could possibly be a button or just a shadow or reflection. If there is a button I guess it would make sense if the prop was designed with a light...
 
I love it Tom! Count me in!
So funny I had that blueprint image right under my nose all this time! I'm happy I could make that scan for you!

About that light: Where would it come out? Possibly at that translucent end cap on the pommel?

About the gear wheel hob cutter: I've been searching it for a while some time ago but with no luck. There are Indian companies making them but I recall that they are pretty expensive. Here's one in an image that looks quite close. No clue about the scaling though.

8c239421441d9e16ae6dce09e0d62c4b.jpeg
 
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Yeah, I've been looking for the right hob for over a decade. It's been... frustrating. I found a good pommel in a now-discontinued sink handle. I'll dig up a picture after I get home. I hadn't seen the flat face on the grip, though. Did replicate the black button -- it's visible on enough reference photos. Speaking of which, what all do you have in your reference library? I don't want to spam you with images you've already seen. :p
 
So yesterday I went to Walmart and picked up a fibreglass fishing pole (as that's what's stated on the prints) and sanded off the line clips etc. and modified my design a little to accept the threading on the pole and the pommel/grip part is currently printing to make a rough prototype :D

I love it Tom! Count me in!
So funny I had that blueprint image right under my nose all this time! I'm happy I could make that scan for you!

About that light: Where would it come out? Possibly at that translucent end cap on the pommel?

About the gear wheel hob cutter: I've been searching it for a while some time ago but with no luck. There are Indian companies making them but I recall that they are pretty expensive. Here's one in an image that looks quite close. No clue about the scaling though.

Yeah i figure the translucent pommel part was supposed to light up, I guess they either didn't implement it, didn't actually use it or it wasn't bright enough to show up on film...

Yeah, I've been looking for the right hob for over a decade. It's been... frustrating. I found a good pommel in a now-discontinued sink handle. I'll dig up a picture after I get home. I hadn't seen the flat face on the grip, though. Did replicate the black button -- it's visible on enough reference photos. Speaking of which, what all do you have in your reference library? I don't want to spam you with images you've already seen. :p

Ooh yeah absolutely, post everything you got! Worth the risk of repeated images to potentially see something new :D
 
And I used the lower two segments of a now-discontinued floor lamp from target as the base for mine. It had a tapering shaft, and everything fit brilliantly -- plus, I can unscrew it in the middle for easier packing. *heh* This means mine is ultimately a couple inches too long, but no one really notices (except us who study it so obsessively) and I like the heft of it. My emitter end is just a bit of 5/8" stainless steel tubing, a machined aluminum tip to match photoscaling, and a quick-and-dirty hob made out of styrene strip, craft foam triangles (so it doesn't actually damage anything those spikes hit), and antique-gold Rub'n'Buff.

Here are a couple from the original costume test:

1616_40809274797_767_n.jpg1616_40811474797_1874_n.jpg

And here's mine, in context (as I said, I'll need to find my close-ups tonight):

1616_40809269797_326_n.jpg337770_10151117052839798_1168175456_o.jpg562815_3682015938071_1522005994_n.jpg
 
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Nice costume! You got a pic with mr palpatine too!

That's a life highlight. They cycle people through the photo ops quickly, to try to get as many as possible done before the celeb needs to go back to their signing table or wherever. So they pointed me to cross behind him to the far side as he was still good-by-ing the last person. So I was just passing behind him as he was turning to see who was next... And no one was walking toward him. Took him just a mere moment to see that the people over there were looking past him and he realized the next person was probably already in position. He turned back, saw me, rocked back slightly, looked me up and down and, as he turned to the camera with that look on his face, said "Ah... I see you're dressed properly."
 
That's a life highlight ... He turned back, saw me, rocked back slightly, looked me up and down and, as he turned to the camera with that look on his face, said "Ah... I see you're dressed properly."

That's an awesome story! Thanks for the pics too, I expected hundreds of them from your spam comment tho! :D
 
3d printed prototype was a success! The two halves of the grip section thread together and the fishing pole threads into the top :) It's smaller than I expected but I believe the size is accurate (it's just hard to judge size when you're working in 3d without much scale reference :lol)

IMG_8829.JPGIMG_8827.JPG

roygilsing is currently working on some perspective matching against the reference photos to see what tweaks I need to make to the model, preliminary results suggest the main tapered length needs to be longer and thinner which is what I suspected but generally it's lining up pretty well :D

IMG_8827.JPG


IMG_8829.JPG
 
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I'm a little uneducated here - was there an earlier version of this prop for ANH or ESB? I seem to remember an AS sink knob being the pommel on some version of this prop.

If it was, was that hob cutter always on there? It's first appearance might give clues to where they may have found it.
 
links dont work...

How 'bout now? :)

- - - Updated - - -

I'm a little uneducated here - was there an earlier version of this prop for ANH or ESB? I seem to remember an AS sink knob being the pommel on some version of this prop.

If it was, was that hob cutter always on there? It's first appearance might give clues to where they may have found it.

No, this is carried by the Emperor's red guards and they only appear in RotJ (and later the prequels) :)
 
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