Lightsabers & Blasters turning toy sabers into useable props

does anyone know how i could transform the toy saber i bought from the halloween store so that i could put a dowel rod in it, to make for more realistic fight scenes in the fan film i'm going to make? and help would be great...its aplastic young anakin saber with the extendable blade...made of plastic . any help would be great.




unlocking!

 

Is this the Anakin training lightsaber [chrome]? or the Anakin standard lightsaber with sound and light [silver plastic]? In the case of the training saber, the blade is removeable. The standard one is not. You are going to have some problems making a blade mount inside. especially if you want it removeable. it should be somewhat easy to make it permanent by gluing it in after removing the light mechanism. if you want a really easy one to make i would get one of the toy ones that doesnt have sound. Remove the blade and insert the dowel rod, then i would fill up the blade with tile glue, which is mostly silicone and comes in big glue guns. after it dried you should be able to fence with it for a while.

 

Not to mention the fact that they ALWAYS look like toys. They just are too big around and look like plastic.

 

I busted the blade on an Anakin Skywalker electronic lightsaber...and wanted to take it out for costuming purposes.

OMG, those blades are a pain to take out!!!

In the TPM Qui-Gon and Darth Maul lightsabers, the flashlight was easy to remove...and the lightsaber blade came out. NOW, the stupid thing is sealed shut. After cutting the blade down to the hilt...and using everything from a razor to sodering gun to cut the remains of the blade from inside the hilt...and sanding down the inside to smooth out most of the cuts, I FINALLY got the blade out!

 

I'd use Rubies cause you could easily take out the electronics to add a 3/4" dowel, or whatever you're using. I like mounting the dowel in a steel pipe, adds weight. All my hardware sabers are built around a 3/4" galvanized steel pipe.

 

for my halloween costume this year im using a maul plastic light-up saber.

i took it apart, got the red blades and the lightbulb placements on both side out. took a 1 inch wood dowel from home depot and cut it to a good length. used a small metal washer and wood screw and put that into one side of the dowel(not tight).fit it snug into the plastic shell end of the light saber and tightened down the screw. put the other piece of the saber back on(so it now holds the wood blade instead of red plastic blade). assemble the saber back and add super glue for strength. mask and spray the saber hilt with krylon's chrome paint. paint brushed the wood blade red.

cheesy and cheap, but perfect for halloween might work for fan film too, tinker a bit and you will get it.

 

Rubies made 2 versions of the Quigon saber. One was over large and very rounded and the blade would not stay in the hilt when retracted.

The second version was smaller and the emitter had stoppers to hold the blade in place when not extended. This second saber is a pretty good size and shape when you compare it to the original prop. it is very light weight though and wouldn't stand up to much abuse. A dowel rod may crack rate through it but you may be able to reinforce the hilt after you take the electronics out.

 

the electronic anakin practice saber is made of chrome plated plastic. the blade is easy to remove and even better it looks really good on your belt. for fan films i would make hardware sabers as above and at the big yellow box website [pm me for exact directions]. i personally would use a hardware saber, or ones from P***s or from L****T**h. my friend Bladesmith Loreen let me have 2 lenghts of polycarbonite tubing used for el blades. i wrapped a wooden dowl rod in relective contact paper put it inside the poly tubes and sealed the ends with silicone glue. just to make sure the rod wouldnt come out then i put a small screw into one end. this worked really well. no matter how hard we hit, it didnt break or crack. the setscrews in the above sabers and also in my own hardware one wont let the blade come out and hold it securely.

 

Hasbro Mod
Modified Hasbro saber from the Jedi Training Set. Kit includes belt, saber, headset and binoculars. The kits are cheap ($10 to $15 at places like KB Toys). The saber is pretty accurate in dimensions (diameter, length) and detail.

I gutted the saber, added a steel and pvc pipe assembly as a core that a wooden dowell fits into. The whole thing is held together with metal screws. I also added a cell phone clip, brass knob, and repainted the piece. Works really nicely.

~Kai

 

Doesn't steel get heavy? Use aluminum!

 

Of course steel is heavy, that's why I like it. It makes the hilt feel like a heavy weapon. But it really doesn't weigh THAT much.

 

A steel lightsaber hilt weighs about 1 pound. Just about anyone should be able to handle that. Even with the dowell rod "blade" inserted, the entire thing weighs less than 2 pounds (actually more like 1.5 to 1.8 pounds depending on type of wood used, and length). Most swords weigh about 2.5 pounds, and as much as 6 pounds (historically accurate swords, that is...some modern pieces that are poorly made weigh more). And, after all, a lightsaber should handle like a sword. It needs a little heft.

It's interesting to pick up a saber prop that is really lightweight, and then pick up one with some heft to it...makes it "feel" more like a weapon...

~Kai

 

Amen, Kai-Rhann

 

Unlocking for recent query.

 

Thanks, Sister_Sola.

I'm a cheapo. I can't afford ParkSabers, or customsabershop, or even the amazing Master Replicas. And I plan to shoot a fanfilm in the summer.

I'm looking for:
1) Lightweight
2) Authentic hilt (I'll be having all main Jedis/Siths from Ep III)
3) proper length

I dunno if any of you are familiar with the HASBRO Electronic Lightsabers or the basic lightsabers. I have a bunch of them and plan to use their hilts for filming. since the blades are too short, I want to get ¾" PVC pipes 36" in length (meter is too long in my opinion) and stick them into the hilts. If you know the HABSRO sabers, you'll know that on most of them (except for Ep II and III models), you can unscrew the the entire blade assembly and have an empty hilt.

For Obi-Wan, I want to take my ROTJ Luke, paint the handle at the top where there's a "grip" black, and the bottom cylinder part black, as well. This will be a super cheap Obi-Wan look that really works. For Anakin, They have those basic lightsabers with his, and I'd yank out the plastic blade pieces and have a hilt. It's super fat in diameter, but for me, it works.

I wanna somehow fasten hollow PVC blades into these hilts and I 'm a complete n00b as drilling and such. I saw a guide on attaching wooden dowels and centering weight by filling in Copperhead BB's and fiberglass filler. WAY too heavy for what I want. Ideally I would love to have HASBRO hilts with PVC pipes inserted SECURELY inside them for a nice licensed hilt handle with rotoscope ready PVC pipe. I know the PVC pipe is way too light for the weapon "feel" most people are looking for but I need lightweight for fast saber action.

Any suggestions? If not I'll just have to attach PVC pipe pieces to the ends of the blades of the HASBROs and have super dinky props. Also, I'd love to be able to remove the PVC pipe and insert batteries and the original colored blade and still have it be functional. Yes, I'm that strapped for cash.


Thanks dudes.

 

Unlocked for recent query.

 

I'll tell you this: I have the Anakin ROTS toy... and I still have not been able to remove the blade. I can't tell you how many times I've tried, but it just won't come out! So if you find a way please do show me.

 

Hello. Yes, I kow the hasbro 6 dollar sabers are too short. I have fixed that myself, and took two of those short sabers, and by using peices from other sabers and tape, I got the blades to be longer. One of them is actually pretty durable. Well, the sabers I used, I have a duplicate, which is what I am using for the prop that is just the handle. However, I need to take the blade out of
[image=http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/8b/c1/Hasbro_Star_Wars_Basic_Lightsaber_C_Toys-resized200.jpg]
I see that it is stuck on at the bottom, but I am having trouble removing it. Please help me.

 

Thanks for unlocking the thread, I got some good pointers for my props.

 

Same here.

 

Never Mind. Got the blade out, and am attaching to the other copy to make a longer blade. I should make a tutorial for this stuff, with the different lightsaber styles, so that more people can have better sabers

 

I'm thinking about getting another Anakin ROTS, giving both of them a repaint, removing both blades, and attaching a permanent PVC blade to one and using the other as a belt prop.

 

the 6.oo ones are almost the right size they may be passable for a film but the bigger pop up sabers or normal sized extend sabers the hilt is just way to big. it will look like a toy that has been rotoscoped. you can make a nice looking hardware/stunt saber for under 20 bucks. I have done quite a few

 

whats the best way to paint the 6 dollar sabers.

 

Krylon I guess...