Luke ANH Vintage Graflex IV PC 2.0 Tri Rebel FoC new Crystal Core MKII

[scottjua]

Here's my latest creation! One day after packing up and sending off the last ANH to its new owner Darth Zannah, I finally finished (well, almost...) this one.

I decided that single die LEDs weren't giving me enough of a challenge, and I really wanted to explore doing some flash on clash sabers, so why not jump in. All the talk on Tri Rebels really got me going, and with some inquiries to LDM and MH and a little help understanding to make sure, here we are. So a huge thanks to MH and LDM for their patience and constant willingness to be so helpful.

I also wanted to further my crystal core skills with PVC until I can do my own metal work. While the last one was a very clean one piece set up for the main chassis, I wanted and needed to run more wiring, os decided on a new structure. I toiled over this new design and got something that is MUCH sturdier (as the whole chassis is held together by set screws), and gave me a little more room overall to fit a better speaker chamber and relocate the in-hilt recharge port. Even with a TCSS premium speaker, it rivaled the 2W speaker setup from the last one... maybe even a tiny tiny bit louder. As before I drilled out the center of the hex screw for the D Ring for a hidden sound hole, and also added a few more hidden holes under the D Ring strap.

The Vintage Graflex I used for this came off of ebay in an already static prop built mode. The D Ring had already been drilled and fitted (no idea of the make unfortunately), and the blast tech grips were applied. Apparently it had been sitting a while, and the grips were all askew. So a quick inquiry to Blast Tech to find out what kind of adhesive was used originally and I was able to source some 3M 950 and cleaned and re-fitted the grips. The hilt already had a parks bubble strip, which is pictured, but I will replace it with a more accurate Blast Tech version next week.

I chose a B/RB/W (Blue/Royal Blue/White) Tri Rebel LED, and it is wired in series running currently at 1amp via the PC 2.0. Its slightly brighter than a P4 blue, but the white FoC is very very cool. On the PEX I used a flat resistor that I found on mouser.com as this bridge the pads on the PEX and also gave me the proper resistance without the large typical resistor profile that would make it harder to cram.

Power is via 2 TrustFire Red Flame 14500s, in a DIY battery pack. A 2AA holder adds too much thickness to cram in with the PC 2.0.

Finally, I managed to get a good solution for the in-hilt recharge port. The port is actually mounted to the speaker pod and press fits into the main chassis tube with a little gently wire stuff for a mega tight fit and easy to get at charging.

Activation is via the slide switch and aux via the red button.

Blade retention is the main body screw, that holds in the blade holder/chassis to the top Graflex tube.

Finally my ANH touch is the slothfurnace inspired real vintage glass eye (I really don't care for the replica glas eye set screw's look) with shine through and micro screen behind it.

Pics and video:

So I suck at build pics... I just typically don't think about it until its too late. But, here I have all the chassis parts PRIOR to assembly just after painting.


http://www.scottandtemphotography.co....JPG[/img]

Close up of the chamber










Note: Parks bubble strip WILL be replaced






Drilled screw sound hole with more hidden underneath






Glass Eye Reveal














Here's a rare view of the Tri Rebel. The LED was actually a pain to fit, as the 18 degree optics are small, and do not fit flush to the inside of the TGS blade holder. I had to do some shimming and rigging with some VHB to get it to stay in place.


I tried to get a close to real life brightness shot in bright window light. This is an UltraEdge blade. With and Ultra Gelu, the blade is MUCH more evenly lit.


An attempt to capture the FoC









Now here are some videos:

The chassis pre-insertion into the Graflex:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XwnG6KtDcM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YqNVBEJUXs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hda9gUA9h2w

^_^

[Vlad Doon]

Great work, this crystal chamber rocks.

[Ari-Jaq Xulden]

+1. I like this. The core reminds me of a build I did last year. Great job Scottjua.

[Evilpancreas]

What's the price? A liver? That's pretty much all I can pay right now.

[scottjua]

Thanks for all the compliments guys!

If interested in buying it just pm me.

Here's a pic of a blade comparison I just did. I exposed dark to really be able to see what they're like on light dispersion. They're not that dim in real life. Its a bright room, so you can see on the edges how dark I exposed. I also don't have my TCSS trasnwhites yet, but when I do I intend to compare it as well:

[Crystal Chambers]

Aside from the hot glue, nice job. Could use some more greeblies IMO but it looks good. You really should edit your post of any talk of sales. Seeing as this forum is connected to a store none of us mention anything of what we have up for sale.

Are those all gflexs you have or a mirror effect?

[scottjua]

Thanks modified my last post.

The hot glue I added mainly to keep wires from moving around while cramming. The leads aren't going to short but I didn't want them to work loose while stuffing everything in.

What greeblies could possibly be added?

[scottjua]

Oh and no mirror effect. All geaflexes.

[clodhopper]

museum quality workmanship that is functional. Definitely my favorite looking saber of all time in the series, and the crystal chamber is the cherry on top of the cake! great job

[DarkarNights]

Something I've always wondered, why don't people who build Graflex's remove or cover up the engraved writing that reveals the Earthly origins of the parts and kills the illusion of an object from a Galaxy far far away?