TrooperTrent Holiday Special Lightsaber Series
- Thread starter Halliwax
- Start date
LOL!!
Love it! Great work.
I weathered mine a little, but nowhere near the extent you took yours!
Give them grips some dings and scratches, too! (If you haven't already)
I actually haven't printed one that size, yet. Broke the heatbreak on my printer before I had a chance!
So my control box is a bit bigger than the one you've got there. Probably TOO big.
sbeall
Active Member
That’s still the V5 in that last pic. I’ll have the V7 printed by the end of the week. Then I’ll be able to compare. It’ll be good to have a spare to test various operations.
Printer problems are no fun. I’m still pretty new to 3D printing, so every day it seems like there’s a new challenge to fix, or variable to test. Hope you’re up and running again soon.
Printer problems are no fun. I’m still pretty new to 3D printing, so every day it seems like there’s a new challenge to fix, or variable to test. Hope you’re up and running again soon.
Trent now carries the Control Box & End Cap on shapeways!!
Trooper_Trent by trentwhite778 - Shapeways Shops
I personally have used their black plastic, and like it the best. It’s super smooth and fairly inexpensive!
Trooper_Trent by trentwhite778 - Shapeways Shops
I personally have used their black plastic, and like it the best. It’s super smooth and fairly inexpensive!
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...okay, so I started working on the tongue. I removed it, flipped it, and shaved it down to match the photos. There’s a problem, though.
When the end with the locking nub is shaved to shape, the result is that the tongue doesn’t stick out as far out from the inside of the bulb holder as the reference photos indicate. I can only assume that they cut a slot higher up in the bulb holder for the tongue to cantilever out from.
I ended up snapping the first tongue piece in half when trying to adjust the bend, so I think I’ll wait for the experts to chime in before working on my spare tongue.
When the end with the locking nub is shaved to shape, the result is that the tongue doesn’t stick out as far out from the inside of the bulb holder as the reference photos indicate. I can only assume that they cut a slot higher up in the bulb holder for the tongue to cantilever out from.
I ended up snapping the first tongue piece in half when trying to adjust the bend, so I think I’ll wait for the experts to chime in before working on my spare tongue.
Yes these tongues are very weak.. like I said before when I was disassembling a flash it broke coming out
I have the weather now, and people have been waiting for their V2’s. I only have 1 left to do, then I can wrap up a bunch of other projects including this one for myself! Lol
I still am up in the air over the knub and the tongue.. I have to really sit down and think this over
Do keep us posted! Now that my dome is glued on, this is the last bit of business before I can close the door on this build!
The tongue vexes me. It vexes me! In some reference shots, that locking nub is clearly visible, indicating that the tongue was installed with the thinner end pointing out of the bulb socket (but trimmed down and rounded).
In other shots, the amount of tongue sticking out of the bulb release matches Halliwax’s initial configuration, with the tongue bent to a 90-degree angle and the thinner end. (with the nub) stuck into the slot of the plastic bulb holder.
I almost find myself wondering if the tongue maybe fell out and was reinstalled backwards for some of the publicity shots. Like, they trimmed it down to fit in the socket slot (rather than bending it around the metal bulb release collar ring, as in Halliwax’s tutorial), which would explain the locking knob end being both trimmed and the tongue being suspended right over the center of the bulb release, directly over the bulb contact pin.
Because some shots seem to match Halliwax’s initial configuration (wider tongue tip, tongue centered over bulb contact), and others don’t (locking nub visible, thinner tongue tip). However, if the locking nub end was the end sticking out of the bulb holder, then the fat end stuck into the plastic collar would need to have been trimmed down in order for the tongue to be centered over the bulb contact. Madness!
In other shots, the amount of tongue sticking out of the bulb release matches Halliwax’s initial configuration, with the tongue bent to a 90-degree angle and the thinner end. (with the nub) stuck into the slot of the plastic bulb holder.
I almost find myself wondering if the tongue maybe fell out and was reinstalled backwards for some of the publicity shots. Like, they trimmed it down to fit in the socket slot (rather than bending it around the metal bulb release collar ring, as in Halliwax’s tutorial), which would explain the locking knob end being both trimmed and the tongue being suspended right over the center of the bulb release, directly over the bulb contact pin.
Because some shots seem to match Halliwax’s initial configuration (wider tongue tip, tongue centered over bulb contact), and others don’t (locking nub visible, thinner tongue tip). However, if the locking nub end was the end sticking out of the bulb holder, then the fat end stuck into the plastic collar would need to have been trimmed down in order for the tongue to be centered over the bulb contact. Madness!
Dude that’s a good theory!!
sbeall
Active Member
Wow. This is all totally plausible. However, I think for my build I’m going to go simple. The “Halliwax V1” configuration seems to answer for most of the reference material.
Those lights sure do take their sweet time to get here from China, huh?
The boat takes forever to get here... lol
At the very least, the best reference photos indicate that the tongue is tapered (the thick end of the stock tongue is not, but the thin end—with the nub—is). We also can’t be entirely sure that Parts Of STAR WARS photo hasn’t been incorrectly cropped, or that the “nub” isn’t some photographic artifact, right?
Also, there are a couple of shots of the bottom (red button side) of the prop showing the side of the tongue which faces out (the side opposite of the one which faces the shroud), and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of the nub, which is visible from both sides of the tongue on the actual part, because it’s indented—a bump on one side and a divot on the other.
I’m almost thinking that maybe the POSW photo is a fluke (or an instance of the part falling out and being reinstalled backwards), and that Halliwax’s original configuration is correct, but with the thick end of the tongue possibly sanded to a taper.
And, interestingly, I stuck the thin (nub) end of my uncut spare tongue into the plastic bulb holder slot, and the thin tip actually peeks out through the corresponding hole on the flash tube that’s lined up with the slot. It makes a pretty solid mechanical connection without any glue. If they trimmed and tapered the thin tip down a bit (so that the tongue would be centered over the bulb contact), then it could well have been stuck in there without any glue, and could therefore also have fallen out, at some point. We also know from the ESB BTS shot that the upper shroud was missing by 1979, and there doesn’t seem to be a tongue in that photo, either.
Roy (or someone) maybe needs to do some computer modeling to see if any of these possible configurations match the different photos!
Also, there are a couple of shots of the bottom (red button side) of the prop showing the side of the tongue which faces out (the side opposite of the one which faces the shroud), and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of the nub, which is visible from both sides of the tongue on the actual part, because it’s indented—a bump on one side and a divot on the other.
I’m almost thinking that maybe the POSW photo is a fluke (or an instance of the part falling out and being reinstalled backwards), and that Halliwax’s original configuration is correct, but with the thick end of the tongue possibly sanded to a taper.
And, interestingly, I stuck the thin (nub) end of my uncut spare tongue into the plastic bulb holder slot, and the thin tip actually peeks out through the corresponding hole on the flash tube that’s lined up with the slot. It makes a pretty solid mechanical connection without any glue. If they trimmed and tapered the thin tip down a bit (so that the tongue would be centered over the bulb contact), then it could well have been stuck in there without any glue, and could therefore also have fallen out, at some point. We also know from the ESB BTS shot that the upper shroud was missing by 1979, and there doesn’t seem to be a tongue in that photo, either.
Roy (or someone) maybe needs to do some computer modeling to see if any of these possible configurations match the different photos!
...so, my fixation on the tongue continues. I took a look at my reference books to find the original photo that the PARTS OF STAR WARS prop image was cropped from. It is, of course, a publicity photo of Hamill from the Bob Seidemann session, and it appears in full on page 16 of Steve Sansweet’s STAR WARS: THE ACTION FIGURE ARCHIVE (1998) book. That can’t be the particular printing of the photo which was sourced for use on the POSW page, however, because the saber is tiny on the ARCHIVE book page, and so blowing it up would not result in the decent resolution of the POSW image .
Gonna have to search for a better-res version of that image, I think. Although, looking even at the tiny image seen in the Sansweet book, the tongue is long enough to overhang the edge of the bulb socket when viewed from the angle the photo was taken at.
Gonna have to search for a better-res version of that image, I think. Although, looking even at the tiny image seen in the Sansweet book, the tongue is long enough to overhang the edge of the bulb socket when viewed from the angle the photo was taken at.
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