Modifying a Darth Maul to make a "generic" Jedi

[Kryy Jacobi]

yanlauzon said:

Kryy Jacobi do you have pics of the generic pommel you made, I find this to be very interesting - MRFX mods...

kryyjacobi said:

Yes -- it's made from black rubber and plastic plumbing parts and a metal "stopper" from Lowe's -- I can take pictures of the individual pieces involved if you would like. Actually it's all glued to itself but fits over (sort of "stretches over") the connector piece (that connects the two individual Mauls) so I didn't glue anything to the original saber itself.

In other words, I can take everything off and have the original saber (but converted of course).

Olos asked me to post here -- in Hilts -- since this original discussion took place in the "Blades" section....

Last Fall, I had Ultra Sabers do a "consular green" conversion for an FX Darth Maul. I was looking for sort of an "everyday" saber that I could wear with my costume, use for dueling (OK, we're working on that ), and wouldn't be so overtly recognizable as Anakin's, Obi-Wan's, and Mace's are. Without the red blade, a single Maul is very "generic" looking and resembles a lot of the sabers pictured in the Visual Dictionaries, especially AOTC.

I was very pleased with the conversion done by UltraSabers, and Todd was very patient and helpful to answer my many questions (as Olos and Leda were helpful beforehand -- thanks, ya'll.)

But when I got my saber back, I realized a couple of things I hadn't noticed until the blade was out:

1.) It needed some sort of alternate pommel to make it look more "finished" and to visually balance the large "badminton shuttlethingy" emitter. (Plus the battery case cap had the red crystal center which is a no-no for good Jedi )

2.) The covertec button is placed for wearing the double bladed saber, so a single rides up too high on the belt. I tried it and asked for advice on other threads about how to do this, but I finally decided I needed to make a change. Plus, I would rather wear the saber emitter down.

Here's a pic of the saber right after it came back from UltraSabers, and no this is not my costume....



Hmmmm.... having "technical difficulties" with picture scale....sorry..... be back later! To be continued...

Looking forward to my Photoshop Class in February!

[vortextwist]

cannot wait for pics. I just gutted my maul for the sound board and making my own saber from www.thecustomsabershop.com now I got a shell lying around. hmm maybe just a belt hanger.

[Kryy Jacobi]

Thanks so much.

Dashed home, cooked dinner, re-saved pix in Photoshop Elements, dashed back to office (my Internet connection at home is messed up right now), and I can't get the pictures uploaded. Grrr

Will go ahead with small pix and then see if I can't figure out what's up with my settings....

[Kryy Jacobi]

Here's a view of the inside of the connector piece used to attach the two singles to make the double saber. The connector swivels so you can line up the buttons on the two singles, and this is adjusted with an Allen wrench -- you can see this center section which accommodates the wrench.

This is the side that goes DOWN into the saber -- the center of other side of the connector doesn't protrude as much, and the protruding part makes a nice "stop" for the screw that attaches the Covertec button.

The Covertec button is attached with an 8/32 screw, and this fits perfectly into the hole on the connector. To line up placement for your new Covertec button with the one already on the saber, follow the MR instructions for adjusting with the Allen wrench.

[Kryy Jacobi]

These are the fasteners I used -- available from Lowe's:

8/32 x 3/4 round head screw with nut
8/32 insert lock nut (with nylon interior)

This is the sequence:

Screw
Covertec button
Nut (yes, here -- I'll explain in a minute)
Wall of saber connector
Lock nut
Center part of saber connector

The hole on the connector sits pretty close to the "floor" on the inside, so I had to use my Dremel to "sand" off a bit of one side of the lock nut -- otherwise, the screw went in at an angle, and it didn't work.

The nut is used in between the button and the wall of the connector so the Covertec button will "clear" the next button on the saber as the sections are screwed together.

If it only had to be done once... hmmm... maybe I could "force" it (pun intended) to work, but this is access to the battery pack, so it will be opened and closed regularly. Even so, the "last pass" as the pieces are screwed together is a little tight.

[Kryy Jacobi]

This is what it looks like from the side....



And this is what I mean about being "tight" when the pieces are screwed together...

[Kryy Jacobi]

For the actual pommel itself, I used these pieces, all available from Lowe's:

From the Plumbing Dept. (Keeney Mfg.):
#25576K Gasket for Waste King w/Brass Friction Ring
#85522K Slip Joint Washer -- 1 1/2" Square Cut

From the Hardware & Small Parts Dept:
Hillman 1 3/8" Metal Hole Plug



This is the order of assembly:



The gasket sort of "stretches" over the threads of the connector, and then I super-glued everything to itself, but not to the actual saber connector. I twirled up a bit of foam tape inside the top part of the connector (to sort of fill up the space) and then fit the metal plug to that before gluing it in place. The plug probably would have stayed in place anyway, but this adds a bit of extra security.

[Kryy Jacobi]

Here's my finished product:





The finished saber is about 11 3/4" long -- I didn't want to do a larger style pommel because I didn't want the saber to get too big. (The single Maul is about 10" as are the other MR styles.)

Also, I don't have access to power tools other than a Dremel, and I don't really have "shop" skills, so this is my "hardware store" solution. I hope it will give some ideas to others.

Blessings,
Kryy :-)

Sorry for the technical difficulties on the picture sizes -- I'll try to figure out what's going on and put in bigger ones.

[vortextwist]

real nice. I like it.

[Olos Nay]

you even keep the sound holes. Neat idea and looks cool.

Thanks for sharing the trick

[Kryy Jacobi]

Thanks, ya'll. Gotta have the sound holes... that's half the fun of an FX... the cool sounds. ;D

On a side note, I have just tried to work on the pictures.

I have saved my pictures in a lot of different formats and combinations -- large, small, original resolution (180) and web resolution (72) and, other than the "original size and resolution" which won't upload at all (file too big I guess), everything else displays the same!?! (i.e, TOO SMALL)

At other times, I have posted pictures in other threads, and they came out HUGE! For the life of me, I cannot figure out what is different.... I must be missing something.

Any tips or help??? I use PhotoShop Elements at home and PhotoBucket for web photo hosting.

Thanks so much. And I'll keep looking into it myself...

[Olos Nay]

I uses photobucket for images I want to share online. Free account, gives copy N paste for what you need. Maybe you should give it a try?
photobucket.com/

[vortextwist]

I think she said she already uses photobucket? I think there is a way to resize them on there too.

[Leda EmBorr]

I'm sorry, I never used Elements. In Photoshop, you follow the dropdown menu to image/image size and adjust the pixels to about 500 width, 72 resolution. Then you do a save for web... I like to save at about 65%. I'm not sure if photobucket resizes or not.

Thanks for the great tutorial on this! I hadn't considered moving the covertec, but I may have to... the saber does sit high, and it might bump into my ribcage as I sit and bend... highly uncomfortable. I had thought I might like to make the crystal blue somehow.

[Olos Nay]

Vortextwist, you are right. I should have specified:

When uploading on photobucket, you can click on [Uploading Options]
to set the [Max Image Size] to either Message Board ( 640 x 480 ) or Website, Email ( 320 x 240 )
I never send bigger images, but I am almost certain it will resize to its maximum image size

Otherwise, photoshop or mspaint can do some resize but keep in mind to "keep aspect ratio" otherwise the image will look stretched.