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Come see his home page Sluis Van Shipyards
I numbered the items in the picture to make it easier for people to identify.
The parts I used for this lightsaber are: 1 Heiland 2-cell Flash handle (I'm not sure what model, but it's not a Synchronar, though it's similar it just doesn't have one of the buttons the Synchronar has) See Example1.jpg Part#5
1 Eye-piece from the Sega Menacer (the lightgun for the Sega Genesis, this can probably be found very cheap somewhere online or at at store that buys/sells used video games, Inside of it there is a metal piece from an old microphone - See Example5.jpg ) See Example1.jpg Part# 4 (the black emitter part)
10 1 1/4" Washers for Lavatory Strainer See Example2.jpg
4 Rubber Shank Washers (you can buy them separately, though they are a part to the assembly in a toilet tank) See Example1.jpg Part#1
1, 9 3/8" long, 15/16" diameter aluminum pipe. (It's got holes cut in it because I intended to run LEDs into the actual control box for indicator lights, but these are NOT needed) See Example1.jpg Part#3
1, 6 1/2", 1" diameter butyrate tubing. This comes in a 24" long piece (www.plastruct.com) See Example1.jpg Part#3
1 sheet of 0.60" styrene plastic. (www.plastruct.com of www.micromark.com can also be found at some hobby shops).
1 sheet of 0.30" styrene plastic. Same as above.
D-Ring (I'm not sure of the size, but just eyeball it. You can get these at a fabric or sewing supply store).
Sheet metal or some kind of metal you can shape the piece that holds the d-ring. I had scrap pieces laying around but you can get sheet metal at www.micromark.com
Various foam pieces or foam packing material.
1, 3/4" diameter butyrate tube (www.plastruct.com Code:TBL24) This comes in 15" lengths, so you'll need a saw or something to cut it.
1 1/16" washers (load them up until each ring section is 1/8" wide) or if you find something better that is 1 1/16" than go for it.
Piece from inside a microphone - See http://www.sluisvan.com/custom3_jd2.jpg
1 Cut Guide Screw (for red activator switch. I stole mine from a tool I had, so you’ll have to get one from the company or find something else. They’re $.75 a piece! Here’s where you get them from: Northwest Short Line
Box 423 Seattle, WA 98111 www.nwsl.com frm2nwsl@aol.com
The first thing I did was to unscrew the cap off the end of the flash handle. I epoxied a 6 1/2", 1" diameter butyrate tubing to the raised piece inside the flash handle cap that is has the same O.D. (outside diameter) as the I.D. (inside diameter) of the butyrate tube. I taped some pieces of foam packing material around the butyrate tube to hold it centered inside the flash handle. See Example1.jpg Part#6 I then put the 9 3/8" long, 15/16" diameter aluminum pipe inside the butyrate tube and screwed the cap back onto the flash handle. The pipe will be protruding about 3 or 4 inches above the top of the flash handle, so slide the shank washers onto the pipe.
Next, I wanted to try something different for the controls other than using the band with a control box. I also needed a way to cover up the 6 holes in the handle so what I did was I made some pieces that are 3/4" in length and 5/8" wide using white styrene plastic. I rounded off the corner so that they would be similar to the other control piece I made. To get the pieces to conform to the flash handle I used a scrap piece of 1 1/2" plumbing pipe and I put some epoxy on it and place the part on in, making sure that the epoxy is a little bit past the edges of the part. Once the epoxy was cured I sanded it smooth with the plastic piece. I painted all three flat black using Testors Model Master paint, and I drybrushed some aluminum paint on the edges to give it them the appearance of having some wear. I then sprayed 3 or 4 coats of Testors Dullcote over it to protect the paint. I added various scrap pieces from my spare parts box to them for controls.
The only piece that you can definitely find (especially if you collect 12" Star Wars figures) is the plastic piece that the twisty ties are twisted around on the cardboard behind the figure. I painted it Testors Model Master aluminum then drilled holes in two corners, then put two small watch screws in the holes to give the appearance of the part having been attached to the saber. I took a piece of tracing paper and painted red and green dots on them, then glued that on the bottom of that piece. The other pieces you can just use your imagination with.
See http://www.sluisvan.com/custom_jd5.jpg I then epoxied this pieces onto the flash handle where the holes are. The main control with the red activator was made the same way, though I laminated two pieces of 0.60" styrene measuring 1 1/4" x 5/8" with a 5/16" dia. half added to the top. This was attached using the screw/activator (Cut Guide Screw - see address above in parts list) along with some double-sided tape on the bottom of the part. See Example2.jpg
For the emitter part I used a part from the clamp of the Graflex Extension Flash I used on my other custom lightsaber. Since most people won't have this I'll tell you how to make the same part out of plastic parts. This is probably easier than how I ended up doing it! Take the 3/4" diameter butyrate tube and cut it to a length you think will do the job (the piece I used was around 3 or 4 inches long. It just needs to be long enough so that the piece doesn't wiggle around. Slide your 1 1/16" washers with a 3/4" I.D. or whatever you're using onto the 3/4" butyrate tube making them 7/16" apart. On the Graflex clamp it had two brackets on it that I had to remove with a cutoff disk on my Mototool, which left two raised pieces about 1/8" high, which I put a piece of acrylic sprue to sort of simulate the jewel. Since this won't be on your piece you'll have to cut a 1 1/16" disk out of 0.30" sheet styrene (you can do this two ways, you can use a compass to draw the circle or you can pick up a circle template at an office supply store - it will be with the drafting equipment). What I like to do is use a permanent marker to draw the circle. That way you can cut it out then you just sand the piece until you see no more white plastic around the edges, only the color you drew the circle with. It's sort of a sanding guide. After you have the circle drawn cut it out (0.30" styrene is thin enough that you can actually cut it out with very sharp scissors) glue it on top of the top washers (you probably should use washers and include the size of the plastic disk in the 1/8" figure for the piece - See Example7.jpg). Now cut two strips of styrene (you might also find strips of styrene at your hobby shop, or you can order them)and glue them towards the center of the plastic disk, leaving between 3/8" and 1/4" between them. Then you can glue acrylic sprue (if you have spare model pieces) or maybe some plastic jewels or something in the groove.
The purpose of the two pieces glued on the disk is so that the eyepiece/emitter piece will have something to glue to.You may want to fill the crack between the washers (or between washers and the plastic disk for the top part) using a gap filling superglue (you can also use epoxy) and sand it smooth so there is no crack between them. Now take the Menace eyepiece and fit it over the two pieces of styrene you glued on the disk (NOTE: Only glue it onto the two pieces of styrene you glued to the disk!)
You need to EPOXY the eyepiece/emitter to the two styrene pieces because the will be just about all the will be holding it. Optionally you may just want to cut out a 0.60" styrene disk or two that you can glue onto the first 0.30" disk and then glue the eyepiece over the two 0.60" pieces to get a better hold (this may work better unless you're set on some kind of jewel detail). Now just put the microphone piece inside the emitter. It will be a tight fit, but it will work.
Now just slide the rubber lavatory strainer washers onto the handle as shown in the above pictures. Replace the end cap, put the shank washers back on the protruding aluminum pipe, and place the emitter piece into the aluminum pipe (you may want to wrap and tape some more foam packing sheet around it until it fits snuggly into the pipe, otherwise it will wiggle around or fly out while you're playing with it ;) Good luck, if you have any questions, feel free to email me. There are additional pictures of this lightsaber, including a spec sheet at http://www.sluisvan.com/lightsabers.htm
