Hello there (in Alec Guinness's voice)
Greetings from San Francisco!
The year was 2015. A high school senior caught what would soon be diagnosed as "Star Wars Fever" that afflicts him every winter. It times perfectly with two events: the release of a new star wars film, and an annual grand lightsaber battle that takes place in the city. It being the first year for both these events in recent years, he was determined to show up to the battle in style. He grabbed his 1999 Power of the Force Luke ROTJ hasbro toy and decided to frankenstien his way to the warzone. He ordered a Green Luxeon III MHSv2 module, a battle blade, and a 4 AAA battery case from the Custom Saber Shop and got to work. With nothing but a soldering iron and the force on his side, nothing could stop him. Except the fact that he most likely shorted the board the first time he wired it up. "Don't panic," he panicked to himself, "there must be some way I can salvage this!" So he wired up the hasbro board as a "it only turns on if you put the batteries in" configuration, with no sound or switch activity whatsoever. He attended that grand battle and had a blast, happily forgetting about his misstep.
The year was 2016. The freshman art student felt Star Wars fever take hold of him that winter like the dark side taking hold of a gullible Anakin Skywalker. He grew up with a profound love of the series and often would watch the original trilogy while studying. He spent much of his childhood admiring Obi-Wan, his now adolescent eyes glued to his iconic weathered lightsaber and arctic blue blade. "I will not repeat the same mistake as last year!" he exclaimed in solidarity. He ordered a 2004 "Feel the Force" Hasbro saber from ebay, because it seemed the best cheap hasbro version of his favorite saber. He scoured the custom saber shop forums and found old posts about wiring hasbro boards, eager to learn the secrets of his mistake a year before. He ordered a Cyan Luxeon Rebel and a thermal pad this time around, recycling the MHS LED module, heatsink and Lens from the Luke build. He wired everything up and hit the button. The speaker farted out a bit of the startup sound, then was cut off until eternal nothingness. He didn't understand. He still doesn't understand. He proceeded to try every hasbro wiring configuration and combination he could find on the forum, yet none would yield the results he so desperately wanted. Night after night he toiled with his soldering iron and occasionally burned fingertips trying to unlock the secrets of both boards, until he finally put them in a box and set up a simple stunt configuration and left it at that.
The Cyan LED appears green to the naked eye
http://imgur.com/fwsUQv1
Currently using an ink bottle cap that I filled with hot glue to keep the 1" battle blade in place. Doesn't work very well, I need to find a way to make it more snug/secure than it already is. Currently one side of it comes out, making it look crooked. Maybe a retention screw?
http://imgur.com/z9SuMJJ
The Cyan only looks Cyan on camera, and only when the lights are on. Interesting.
http://imgur.com/CBk2uaS
Lights off, blade is closer on camera to the green it is in real life.
http://imgur.com/LOx70RQ
The On/Off switch I scavenged from an old walkie talkie.
http://imgur.com/eNpudwI
I "modified" the hilt to make it look more like the ANH saber. Had to pry the plastic off the emitter to get at the seams so I could screw both halves off, ended up looking cool that way so I didn't make any attempts to restore it to it's former glory. Looks like this thing survived the death star explosion if you ask me. Also spray painted the emitter, clamp, and pommel silver to give them a better finish. Need to seal it somehow, though, as it sometimes rubs off on my fingers.
http://imgur.com/R3GLiJw
Close up of the weathered emitter (pliers, sandpaper, and black acrylic paint)
http://imgur.com/oGtXKpf
I learned I'm a poor spray painter, will be more even next time
http://imgur.com/Bx6sjiw
I didn't mask the booster as well as I thought
http://imgur.com/YRHprVR
Thanks for reading!
