Hello! I've been meaning to put some images up for a few days now, but I've also been traveling for the holidays. I'm taking a brief moment to post some images of the saber I built for my wife.

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The basic body is pretty simple. A 7" tube, blade holder 27, pommel 7. Being foolishly stubborn, I acquired the tapping tools for the various screws, measured and drilled the holes for the switches and ports myself. Next time, I pay for the professional service! But I got it done, and everything fits.

Most of the body was scuffed with fine-grit sandpaper, then primed with black auto primer, painted in matte black auto paint, then sealed with Testors dullcote. The middle rings of the blade holder were similarly primed, but painted with a color called Oiled Bronze, I think a Krylon shade, and sealed with Testors glosscote. I left the last bit of the blade emitter, the switch box, and the ring on the pommel in their natural silvery finish. The leather wrap is a dissected belt, attached with Shoe Goo.

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This last pic reveals the real weakness of the saber as it is, the wiring. This is my second go at wire-fu, and more successful than my first (no loose wires this time!), but it's still scarily tightly crammed. Also, my use of only red and black wire really does make it harder to figure out what does what.

I'll post a shot of the thing lit up when I get a chance. Right now, my wife wants me to fix the swing sound sensitivity issue I'm having, which I probably won't get a chance to do for a couple of days. I'm also planning on figuring out how to get the other red-ring LED functioning as an accent light. (It's wired up, I just need to figure out how to get it going in RICE).

Currently, the saber is only wired to use the red LED on an RGB tri-star. I'm planning on upgrading with the addition of a color xtender board, and on replacing most of the leads with color-coded wiring and plugs. I had a chassis system going at one point, it just didn't work with my lousy cram-fu. If I can get the wiring space-minimized, I'll probably go back to a chassis.

Thank you for your kind attention!