Anakin Skywalkers original Lightsaber (Scratch made)

Here's a little relief from boredom, people. I realised that I made a few mistakes. I bought some "T track" and replaced the original slines along the outside of the saber body. I've added some other things to make this more realistic. Since no one wanted this when I was offering it for sale, I'm going to give it to a guy in Texas that sold me a 3" 3/4 Luke figure that I'm going to use for the X-wing kit that I'll be offering once I'm done with the four foot monster I'm working on right now. This was made with computer parts, along with some scratch made styrene and aluminum parts over a stainless steel tube.
 

 
 
This is T track that I cut, and shaped to resemble the real thing, but when I drilled the holes at the bottom for rivets -they were slightly off center. I had to scrap the first batch of these - I melted them with a heatgun while drying the paint on them. Which I knew was a dumbass thing to do, but since none of them were identical to the other, I didn't care - I had to buy more T track anyway!

This was the beginning of the electrical panel on the side. I made this from a soundcard from an old Emachines computer. The aluminum band was made from a resistor on the mother board of the same computer, I figured this was thin and soft enough to use for this piece. I didn't want to use Bare Metal Foil brand aluminum tape, it would've been too bright! I wanted the old look that the real lightsaber has.

 

 
 
You can see the electrical conduit (on the side) originally used for the lightbulb where the blade now sits.  I used a guitar string that I cut down for this, but that wasn't to be - it fought me tooth and nail. I drilled this with a small bit, then a 1/16" bit until I could put a small enough styrene circle in it. I then drilled into the circle with a 0.18" bit. After the string incident, I used some stretched sprue that I clipped off after the glue dried. I painted this over with a tiny artists' brush, then sanded the very tips off the styrene threads to expose them. There's another hole by the white styrene button that I filled with red paint before I had references. It's not supposed to be there.
 

More to look at!

 This is the part that I inserted into the end of the saber hilt. This is to act as a "keeper" for the belt loop attachment. This was made from a paper clip, and a resistor (the blurry circular part one third black, silver on the bottom right by the boxed in A). I'm going to get a new camera ASAP!
 
 

 
 
This is the first resistor I used for this. I cut this out with an Ex-acto saw. I pulled the alminum away from the core, then I cut it to shape with a pair of sewing scissors. I had to keep bending this around the saber body to get it to fit right.
 
 

 
This is the PC board that I used for the electronic attachment  that goes to the side of the camera. You can see where I cut it at the bottom right where the four gold tabs are by themselves. I think this is a memory board, or a sound card - there are three of these, so I didn't pay much attention when I pulled it out.

This is the mother board. The area with a small circle filled one third white with two smaller circles (between the disc drive and the fan) is where I yanked the second resistor from lastnight.
 
 

 
Painted T track ready for installation.
 

 

 
For some reason this stuff likes to crack when painted onto tape.
 
 

 
Getting there.
 

 

 This is supposed to be Lukes' saber after being used for a while. Afterall, it did survive the clone wars! This looks so much better in person than it does in pictures. I kind of wish I could keep it, but I don't have a 12" inch figure for this. The one I do have already has a saber, but he's still permanently sealed in his box - unopened! This looks like it's squatty/wide on my screen, but that's because of my camera. I can't believe how well this has turned out so far!
 

After being refitted for these for the umpteenth millionth time!!  I had a lot of trouble getting the glue to stick to these, it stuck to the stainless real well, just not to the styrene. I guess I should've removed the adhesive that was still attached to these strips when I pulled them off of the tape?
 

 
 
 
You can just barely see that there are words on the end of the saber handle. This is the resistor that I used. This almost fills the hole completely.

Getting the hilt ready to accept the saber blade. I made three different sized tubes to hold the blade in place, and to give it stability. This just slides in and out - nothing to glue, or bolt into place. 
 

Well, this almost brings this thread to a close, but I have just a few more touch ups, then I can call it quits. I'll wait til tomorrow to do them. I have to make a couple Darth Vader sabers tonight. I might as well get something done while I'm destroying my new cutting mat! I'll try to get some better pictures of this saber tomorrow.
 
 
 
 
The blade on this is a little darker in person than it is in the pictures. I sprayed this so that it will be mostly covered, but still see through to the styrene under it. This is supposed to look like it's energy is moving along the length of the blade. I didn't want to paint it light blue, or leave it off white, it just wouldn't look right! I might go back over this to make it a little lighter tomorrow. We'll see.....