Lightsaber scale question

[Sandman0077]

Searched and didn't see anything similar. My main question is do all of the replica saber hilts seem a bit thick? The diameter, I mean. I'm looking to purchase my first legit saber ever, and it just seems like they all look so huge, specifically the Kylo Ren sabers.

Luke's doesn't seem to be very thick, but the Kylo replicas are massive (to my eyes). Even the screen used seems smaller. Is it just from the electronics inside?


-The Truth is Out There-

 

[JoeG]

Are you talking about the licensed FX sabers? They've usually been a bit oversized, but the Vader FX with removable blade is pretty close in size to my real MPP.

 

[AnubisGuard]

Well it depends on which saber designs and which replicas you're talking about.

Flash-based light sabers - that is, your original trilogy Lukes, Vaders, and Obi-Wans – had outer diameters of 1.5". The custom machined-stuff created for the prequel trilogy tended to be 1.25" OD, with 1.375" OD used on the ROTS Anakin and Obi-Wan sabers. I don't know if we yet know the exact OD of Kylo Ren's saber. (I'm sure someone will correct me if that's wrong.)

Static hilt replicas like those formerly produced by Master Replicas or sellers on the RPF are 1:1. (Generally.) The plastic toy and Force FX hilts tend to be slightly oversized to accommodate electronics.

So depending on which you're comparing to what, the answer is both yes and no.

 

[Sandman0077]

Well it depends on which saber designs and which replicas you're talking about.

Flash-based light sabers - that is, your original trilogy Lukes, Vaders, and Obi-Wans – had outer diameters of 1.5". The custom machined-stuff created for the prequel trilogy tended to be 1.25" OD, with 1.375" OD used on the ROTS Anakin and Obi-Wan sabers. I don't know if we yet know the exact OD of Kylo Ren's saber. (I'm sure someone will correct me if that's wrong.)

Static hilt replicas like those formerly produced by Master Replicas or sellers on the RPF are 1:1. (Generally.) The plastic toy and Force FX hilts tend to be slightly oversized to accommodate electronics.

So depending on which you're comparing to what, the answer is both yes and no.

Thank you. That makes sense, and makes me feel much less crazy. I always figured the $10 collapsible ones at Walmart were larger because of the need to fit the blade and electronics, but I just watched a comparison video last night of a Force Fx, Disney store, and some other brand of Kylo's and the hilts looked massive.

I always felt like the lightsaber hilts were way thinner on-screen, and you hit the nail on the head for what I wanted clarified. [emoji106]


-The Truth is Out There-

 

[Fenris]

I've always felt the same way regarding the thickness of most lightsaber hilts. They really are thick and not that easy to wield as "sword". I prefer a thinner hilt which will be my goal in my upcoming project for my custom saber (if I can find a local supplier for Lexan tubes here).

 

[CarbonaNotGlue]

Well it depends on which saber designs and which replicas you're talking about.

Flash-based light sabers - that is, your original trilogy Lukes, Vaders, and Obi-Wans – had outer diameters of 1.5". The custom machined-stuff created for the prequel trilogy tended to be 1.25" OD, with 1.375" OD used on the ROTS Anakin and Obi-Wan sabers. I don't know if we yet know the exact OD of Kylo Ren's saber. (I'm sure someone will correct me if that's wrong.)

Static hilt replicas like those formerly produced by Master Replicas or sellers on the RPF are 1:1. (Generally.) The plastic toy and Force FX hilts tend to be slightly oversized to accommodate electronics.

So depending on which you're comparing to what, the answer is both yes and no.

Do you have a source for the prequel hilts being 1.25"? I often see people posting this information, but I've never been able to find where it actually comes from. Based on prop measurements, I do know Obi Wan's TPM saber is about 11" long, and Qui Gon's is a bit longer. I also have a 1.25" diameter sink tube cut to 11", and it looks noticeably slimmer than any of the prequel hilts appear to be in photos...

 

[Darth Lars]

Do you have a source for the prequel hilts being 1.25"?

I would say that that number is a generalisation.

The measurements for most lightsabers in the prequels have become available as people have got direct access with calipers to some, or got resin casts of lightsabers from the production and measured those. Master Replicas sold replicas of many (but not all) lightsabers from the prequels and they had had access to the real props when they made theirs, so their measurements should have been pretty much spot on.
(Finding the measurements has been a process. There have been many threads about them in the last 16 years and many more or less accurate blueprints - and replicas - have been passed around.)

The only prequel lightsaber that is pretty much one tube is Anakin's lightsaber in AOTC, where the body is 1.25" in diameter.

Most of the lightsabers though, consisted of multiple sections of slightly different diameters and/or larger shrouds over a narrower body - and the diameter of those sections have been mostly around 1 3/8".
The black grip on Obi-Wan's lightsaber in TPM/AOTC was slightly smaller than 1.25" with the aluminium shroud around it slightly larger and the thick sections 1.5". The black part on Qui-Gon's lightsaber is 1 3/8" though.

 

[CarbonaNotGlue]

I would say that that number is a generalisation.

The measurements for most lightsabers in the prequels have become available as people have got direct access with calipers to some, or got resin casts of lightsabers from the production and measured those. Master Replicas sold replicas of many (but not all) lightsabers from the prequels and they had had access to the real props when they made theirs, so their measurements should have been pretty much spot on.
(Finding the measurements has been a process. There have been many threads about them in the last 16 years and many more or less accurate blueprints - and replicas - have been passed around.)

The only prequel lightsaber that is pretty much one tube is Anakin's lightsaber in AOTC, where the body is 1.25" in diameter.

Most of the lightsabers though, consisted of multiple sections of slightly different diameters and/or larger shrouds over a narrower body - and the diameter of those sections have been mostly around 1 3/8".
The black grip on Obi-Wan's lightsaber in TPM/AOTC was slightly smaller than 1.25" with the aluminium shroud around it slightly larger and the thick sections 1.5". The black part on Qui-Gon's lightsaber is 1 3/8" though.

Okay, that makes sense. I just took pictures of the TPM jedi sabers, an ESB Graflex and an unfinished 1.5" sink tube saber I'm working on and I scaled them all to each other by length:



The largest sections of the Obi Wan saber do seem to be 1.5", since they match the outer diameter of both the Graflex body and the sink tube saber. The aluminum part around the Qui Gon saber also looks like a 1.5" tube cut into a more ornate shape, which would easily fit right over the black hilt body if it were mostly 1 3/8" as you say. Neat.

As much as I love the OT sabers, I think there's some smart design going into those TPM sabers. It seems like they started with a base diameter of 1.5" just like a Graflex, but instead of attaching things like T-track to the outside of the body (with the exceptions of buttons and a covertec wheel), they focused on giving the design slimmer sections, which probably makes them more ergonomic to fight with overall. The main tube of the Anakin AOTC being 1.25" also sounds right, since I've heard people say the MR is pretty small...

 

[Sym-Cha]

For the Prequels to be a bit smaller in diameter meant the lightsabers would lay much better in the hands of the actors to perform their elaborate 'battle choreography' ... there's a making of video in which Ewan McGregor gets to choose his lightsaber for TPM ... and after he picks it ... swings it around showing that it handles quite easily - use youtube/google to find it

Chaim

 

[Sandman0077]

For the Prequels to be a bit smaller in diameter meant the lightsabers would lay much better in the hands of the actors to perform their elaborate 'battle choreography' ... there's a making of video in which Ewan McGregor gets to choose his lightsaber for TPM ... and after he picks it ... swings it around showing that it handles quite easily - use youtube/google to find it

Chaim

That makes sense. Somewhere I read that the OT fights were based on Kendo, so I guess the bigger hilts didn't matter much because it was slow, precise fighting. The Prequel fighting was a lot more raw and action based, IMO.


-The Truth is Out There-