Slothfurnace's ANH Vader Reveal

[Borax]

BEEFY !


*sitting on couch awaiting more progress*

[slothfurnace]

Here's the crystal mount, machined for the three flutes to allow the mounting bolts to pass alongside, and the flat areas where I will mount the LEDs for illuminating the crystal.



Here the crystal is just sitting in the mount, nothing holding it firmly in place yet, but I wanted to get a sense of the colors and spacing i was dealing with.



With a small battery pack hooked up to an LED in the base, testing for color and light spread. The actual color of this is a deep red, the camera put orange in there for some reason, but it's much prettier in person.

[ARKM]

Very cool.

[Loachri MacTalabh]

It's not fair, why can't I have that kind of tallint. I envy you. You always amaze me with your builds. Excellent work.

[slothfurnace]

This is the beginning of the bladeholder. Here you see the stock Heiland bulb spring retention... thing. I lathed down a piece to just fit inside the heiland body, and that just fits this section of the original flash. I wanted to retain both the chromed curved lip and the flat spring from the original piece.



I lathed a dip into the front face of the holder, that snugs up against the spring. I also chamfered the incoming edge, so the blade would be fed properly into the holder.



I also tested out milling the slots into the holder under the original flash connector holes. Once this piece is anodized black, this will look much better.



I'll also need to add contact fins into the slots to resemble the original piece, and will probably use the opposing vertical slot to put my setscrews for blade retention.

[slothfurnace]

Today, in the mail, I got the MPP replica from Parks. At first glance, I see a few things that bug me about this. Such as the grips don't mesh well with the endcap at all, being pushed away from centerline at the back, giving the flared appearance. Plus the front shroud is a bit clunky.



Visibly unpolished machine lines on both the inside of the emitter shroud and the radiused inner lip of the bulb holder. That radiused lip is perfectly mirror smooth on my heiland, and the spring seems a bit different too.



Shown here are shrouds from a Heiland Synchronar, the Parks MPP Replica and the MR Vader. The knurled bolt is also a good bit different from one to the other. I will allow the client to pick which one he wants for the final build.



Note how thick the walls are on the Parks, and how much less of a "step" there is. I prefer the shape of the MR, or even the Heiland to this. Especially given the machinemarks. The good parts of the Parks shroud are the lack of the notch on the underside, and the preinstalled D ring on top. Overall, I'd rate the Parks MPP replica as "sufficient" but I am positive the real thing is a giant step above this. It's better working material than a Heiland, but I may need to do some mix and match to get what I am going for.

[Knighthammer]

I would have to say that I'm appalled by the "quality" of the Parks parts from the above pictures. Given what Tim makes and sells to us the general public, and what you and other high-quality sabersmiths consistently make are just way beyond the machine marks in the pieces above.

[slothfurnace]

I've been refining some of the design, as I get into the metal and start seeing where things need to line up...



I'm boiling it all down to something I can actually make. Hopefully it will all fit.

[Grackle]

I would have to say that I'm appalled by the "quality" of the Parks parts from the above pictures. Given what Tim makes and sells to us the general public, and what you and other high-quality sabersmiths consistently make are just way beyond the machine marks in the pieces above.

Unfortunately, Tim doesn't make replica flashgun parts (if he did, I'd be buying them by the truckload!)

Currently, the only choices for an MPP are either the real thing (last one I heard of on ebay was going for over $500 - they're a lot rarer than Graflexes or Heiland Synchronars (I bought a Synchronar for $10 on ebay a while back)), or a Parks replica. Blast-tech makes a replica MPP shroud, but it's made of polyurethane plastic instead of metal, so not sure how well it would hold up or compare to a proper metal shroud...

[Tarrell]

Dear Slothfurnace
You sir are just to much, each Saber you produce leaves me drooling at the mouth, and wishing I could have something so awesome.
My hat is off to you.
Yours Tarrell,
P.s. looking forward to your next post, like a sequal to a favourite move.