Weathered MHS

[chaos]

So this is the first saber I've built in over 6 months (I finished this on 28th January), I decided to have a bit of a break from sabers and mess around with blasters instead.

The parts I've had for almost a year, they where for saber I was going to sell but since the other one I built took ages to sell I lost motivation and they just sat in my parts box. That was until I saw Obi-Dar's post:

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...-brass-shrouds

I did a similar technique but instead of using flat black enamel on the hilt I used Aluminium Black. This was done at the end of July 2010.

Here is the hilt after sanding and applying the AB:

Here it is after sanding most of the AB off:

After that I applied some Gun Stock Wax as this helps with the finish:

Unfortunately, the stock wax took off some of the AB from the grips. I was hoping they would be fully black but I like they way it came out anyway:

Next was the sleeve. Sorry no pics of this bit! I sanded the chrome off a sink tube, then used the same technique on that but using a slightly watered down AB. Next I cut out the sleeve design. To stop the sleeve from tarnishing any further I applied a satin clear coat. I put the sleeve on the hilt and liked what I saw. I put it on my shelf and it sat there until 28th January!!

So here it is now, after six months of sitting on the shelf, fully working. Because of the switch position there wasn't that much room for a sound board. All I had where two Luke ROTJ boards and they where two big. So I had to get a smaller board. I bought a Anakin and Yoda sound board and with a slight mod to the heat sink the anakin board fitted, just!!

There's still a few wee bits of cooper on the sink tube but I think it adds to the weathered feel. It has a DX rgb LED with a resistor on the red to give a nice purple. The anti-vandal switch is driven straight off the board and is meant to be purple but is more like white to my eye.

I'm really happy its now finished and I want to thank Obi-Dar, again, for sharing the technique. If it wasn't for his post this saber would have never been.

[Crystal Chambers]

Nice weathering! I'm a bit confused about your space issues though. Seems easy enough to me to fit everything in the fluted section. You must have used larger then AA cells.

I've played with AB weathering a bit myself and once I got the effect I wanted I clear coated it ASAP. I never thought if using a wax but I did notice the stuff can just wipe right off in some areas. It smells nasty but so worth it.

[Azmaria Dei]

looks good. the brass matches that weathering quite well.

[chaos]

Nice weathering! I'm a bit confused about your space issues though. Seems easy enough to me to fit everything in the fluted section. You must have used larger then AA cells.

I've played with AB weathering a bit myself and once I got the effect I wanted I clear coated it ASAP. I never thought if using a wax but I did notice the stuff can just wipe right off in some areas. It smells nasty but so worth it.

Thats pretty impressive if you can get a V2 speaker mount, 4aaa battery holder with batteries and a sound board in a 4" fluted section! With the speaker pack in there, there was only about 1.5" between that and the switch. The Luke ROTJ boards are way longer then the newer boards so that wouldn't fit between the switch and the heatsink. So a newer, smaller board had to be used.

I hope that helps with your confusion

The AB really is smelly, its been said before but if you noobs are going to use this stuff do it in a well ventilated area!!! It actually says on the AB bottle to use the wax as it helps with the finish. It gives it a bit of a satin finish and stops the AB wiping off but you have to give it a few coats.

[mps]

The weathering turned out very nice. As I was scrolling down the page I already liked it...Then you threw a brass shroud on it and just really pulled it all together...Looks great!!

[Ronan]

Nice, surprised space was an issue... cram-fu time

[Cancer]

Impressive, sir

[Crystal Chambers]

Thats pretty impressive if you can get a V2 speaker mount, 4aaa battery holder with batteries and a sound board in a 4" fluted section! With the speaker pack in there, there was only about 1.5" between that and the switch. The Luke ROTJ boards are way longer then the newer boards so that wouldn't fit between the switch and the heatsink. So a newer, smaller board had to be used.

I hope that helps with your confusion



The AB really is smelly, its been said before but if you noobs are going to use this stuff do it in a well ventilated area!!! It actually says on the AB bottle to use the wax as it helps with the finish. It gives it a bit of a satin finish and stops the AB wiping off but you have to give it a few coats.

4AAA would do it...although you can easily run an MR off a single li ion or two in parallel, and if you're only interested in nimh cells then you could have possibly moved the pack to where the board is now (if that fits) or put the board on top of the cells like the 4AA holders which would require making a battery pack and holder. There's so many ways to approach these builds but what matters is you found a way it looks great.

[Invisas1979]

I understand the space issue with a 4aaa holder and it doesn't always spring to mind that you could use a li ion battery pack. I think you've done well with the space and a 4aaa setup. My only dislike is the weathering, it think it's too uniform all over and too much of the black is gone. Plus I probably wouldn't have left the brass shroud brushed, I'd have polished it to a shine and then held it every now and again for a few weeks so the oils in your hand did the weathering. My polished brass shrouded saber dulls after taking it to one event and holding it for a few hours, if left for longer it gets worse. Should have had it clear coated.