Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Build: Starkiller Graflex 2.0 Conversion

  1. #1

    Default Build: Starkiller Graflex 2.0 Conversion

    Hey Folks,

    I found myself in possession of a spare (and very blemished) Graflex 2.0 top, red button retention screw and bunny ears so I thought that I'd embark on crafting something very close to the 'canon' interpretation of the Starkiller saber.  Thanks to the generosity of Jesse Kirkbride of Kyberphonic Fonts, I procured a spare 7/8 blade holder and lower section that was already drilled out for a full shine-through glass eye.  The rest of the parts required include:

    ONEREPLICAS low-profile control box with 2 switches and card
    KRSabers Graflex 2.0 glass eye
    MHS pommel 10
    4 short Graflex pins
    a handful of 4-40 slotted screws
    1 spare Graflex clamp washer
    six 6-32 hexdrive screws
    2 12" 1/8 square brass tubing (solid keystock is preferable but strangely hard to find where I live.)
    Aluminum Black (and zero qualms about beating the heck out of a saber hilt)
    7G Sabers LS6 Chassis (it's amazing how well the crystal reveal from this chassis works as a Starkiller chamber)
    1.5 cm quartz crystal
    Arms of Illum Graflex 2.0 chassis
    Goth3d rotary kill key
    Solo's Hold Neopixel battery (I had an old 10A unit lying around from a previous install)
    Proffieboard 2.2
    eBay 28mm 4 ohm 3w bass speaker
    2.1mm recharge port
    TCSS Neopixel connector and 7/8 holder
    TCSS DV6 style 7/8 blade plug.

    First cut of the upper half


    Inner core cut


    Test fit of crystal chamber. I had this lying around from a failed install (the chassis broke when I was installing it and I thought, what if this fits? And it did, perfectly. I didn't cut the upper or the core to match this piece, it was just a happy coincidence. For the final install I ended up flipping the orientation so the crystal was on top of what I'm calling the 'power feed chamber.'


    First round of weathering with Aluminum Black. I'd never actually used the stuff before and was surprised at two things: how well it worked and how much it stank.


    Mounted control box. It comes with a variety of clamp cards, two momentary swiches, mounting screws and a tiny set screw for the card itself. This is a great product, the slots for the switches are nicely milled and the unit is very clicky and tactile. This is a great addition to any saber that needs a control box.



    Final Crystal Chamber. I have a bag of random brass, copper and aluminum tubing and found a good candidate for the chamber rods. Once I cut them to length and shaped the ends with the sanding drum, I used my drill as a poor-mans lathe to cut the grooves in each rod. Once the grooves were cut, the rods were expoxied to the inner core and more Aluminum Black was applied (especially to the grooves) to give it that nice carbon-scored look.


    Lower section progress. I removed the old adhesive from the Graflex grips and filled the grip alignment holes with JBWeld. Once the JBWeld cured, I used my Dremel with a sanding drum to create wear marks and exposed brass for the Aluminum Black to react to. The MHS pommel doesn't screw in, of course, so I ground down the threads and expoxied it to the Graflex 2.0 lower section, leaving a nice double reveal to accentuate the trim ring. A 'canon' Starkiller has a tapered section from the pommel to the lower half but I decided that the details on MHS Pommel 10 looked too good to cover up, so I went for a slightly modified look.


    Grips detail. I couldn't find any 1/8 brass key stock locally and didn't want to wait for some to arrive from the Internet, so I used hollow square 1/8 brass instead. The tubes were cut with the Dremel and the ends tapered and rounded so there are no rough edges to cut or catch the hand while holding the saber. I aligned the grips to the control box and used (you guessed it) epoxy to secure them to the lower section. Once the grips were secured, I used the drum to randomly rough up the grips and give the Aluminum Black different textures and finishes to react to.


    Crystal chamber with lighting. Three pixels are behind the lower grill section and one is lighting the crystal from above. The crystal, grill and blade are all individually controlled and styled.


    The final product, disassembled. The blade plug is a DV6 style cut down to fit flush in the relatively shallow blade depth available to a Starkiller. Three 3535 pixels are inside for illumination.


    Beauty shots



    Demo video

  2. #2

    Default

    Absolute Starkiller mastery SA2CC!!!! This saber ROCKS. The maker should be very proud.

    Tom

    "Mistakes are our greatest teacher."

  3. #3

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Tilmon View Post
    Absolute Starkiller mastery SA2CC!!!! This saber ROCKS. The maker should be very proud.

    Tom
    That means a lot coming from you Tom, Thanks!

  4. #4

    Default

    Hey @SA22C ! The weathering on the outer surface is very... realistic. I only pause because I'm not a fan of found at the bottom of the ocean relic sabers, but I have to commend you on a weathering job well done.

    So many 'weathered' lightsabers show that they were painted, stained, etc. and then sanded with 80 grit paper, and I think they look horrible. Sandpaper marks in weathering are totally my pet peeve. And typically they have no real-world 'abuse', with dents and scratches in places dents and scratches and wear would never occur.

    Your lightsaber looks absolutely HORRIBLE! But for all the right reasons, and it looks like it was actually found at the bottom of the ocean. It does not at all look like someone 'weathered' it.

    The only thing I would like to see done differently, besides a shiny lightsaber , is if you had reversed the bare spots on the grip section to be more towards the activation box. I think this would reflect a bit more where the weilder's hand would more likely have been 'polishing' off the rust and crud.

    It might not be my can of Coke, but you nailed the weathering effect you were after!


    p.s. Lovin' the crystal effects too! And when you get to weathering the activation card, make a shinier thumb print at the pommel end of the card and go full ugly on the emitter end, it'll look HORRIBLE! In the good way.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •