A comparison.

On top is the electronic sabre in it's natural state, and below is one I've already converted to a static replica.. As you can see, the pommel, rear grip, activation band, and forward grip are pretty much correctly scaled as they are. Unfortunately, the neck/windvane assembly and emitter are grossly oversized.

To begin...

First you have to disassemble the sabre. Unlike the similarly designed Luke Skywalker ROTJ electronic sabre, the shell is not just two pieces easily taken apart by removing the screws. This sabre's body is two pieces, but the emitter is a single piece glued onto the neck, making disassembly a little more difficult. I started by removing the blade by cutting around the base of the ring that holds it in place, with an Exacto razor saw. Once that was removed, by following the parting lines of the body of the sabre, I cut the emitter in half. The sabre can now be taken apart by just removing the screws. Doing this, I aslo managed to keep the entire electronics pakage intact, which I removed. What you should end up with is pictured.

Here's the usable parts scavenged from the eletronic sabre (the main body, the windvane "sleeve", and the activation board). Also pictured is the emitter originally fabricated for the ANH project, that was rejected becuase it was too clean.

I've removed the activation box from the sabre, as I plan on using a Graflex style clamp on the sabre, rather than going through he process of modifying the activation band. I started modifying the pommel (although I'm thinking I'll just cut it off and build a completely new one). If you plan on incorporating the electronics into your sabre you'll probably want to leave these intact. Speaking of which, on the first version I replaced the activation band with a 1" PVC connector. Unfortunately, it had a tendency to break at the point between that and the forward grip. this time I'll leave it intact from the pommel to the forward grip, to prevent that from happening.

At the bottom is the windvane. Even though the diameter of the item on the sabre was too big, the details were right, so I decided to use it anyway. It's already been built up with the interior details. The core is a 1/2" PVC connector, cut to length, and notched on one side to accept Evergreen styrene T-track sections to simulate the "fins". Much like the choice to use a Graflex style clamp, this strays from accuracy in that these details exist on the ANH sabre, but not the ROTS.

As you can see from the picture, I've assembled the emitter and windvane onto the 1/2" PVC pipe used as the neck of the sabre. The windvane's outer sleeve and the lower neck have been painted black and the windvane's fins and the forward neck are painted gold. The forward neck has also been covered with gold chrome mylar film.

Also visible on the body of the sabre is the white 1" PVC pipe sticking out behind the rear grip. I've opted to build a new pommel rather modify the existing one. It wil be mounted on the pipe.

The neck bone's connected to the...

Here's the connection between the neck and the forward grip of the sabre. The white bit is the other half of the 1/2" PVC connector used in the windvane. It's glued in place with a two part adhesive, and the 1/2" pipe of the neck simply slides into it. To finish it up, I'll build up the slope from the exposed end of the connector to the edge of the grip with some epoxy putty.

I decided either the windvane was too big, or the emitter was to small, so I decided for this sabre, I'd use neither. The neck windvane (which thankfully, had not been glued in place yet), went to refurbish my original attempt at the Obi ANH. The emitter will go to a project to be named at a later date.

Welcome to the machined...

I've managed to aquire machined aluminum parts for the sabre, The emitter and pommel of this sabre while not entirely accurate to either the ROTS or ANH versions, should make fine additions to this design.

And now the bad news.

The two parts are a bit odd.

The pommel has a stub which precludes the use of a typical machined or resin rear grip, without modification. Luckily, the electronic Obi ROTS body IS hollow. A 3/4" PVC connector glued in place and a little duct tape wrapped around the stub (seen in the picture) provides for a snug fit that requires no fasteners.

The emitter appears to be influenced by the Icons replica which sported a silver neck. The section of the neck forward of the windvane was machined as part of the emitter. I'll just cover it with the PVC pipe I'll use for the neck. Also, since I cannot run a threaded rod through the length of the sabre, a 2.5" carriage bolt will attach the emitter to the neck, which will be glued into the forward grip.

Rough assembly.

Here's test fitting of the parts. All that's left to add is a cell phone clip in place of the Covertech button, a Graflex style clamp with it's associated details, and the windvane on the neck.

The Clamp

Here's the Graflex style clamp. I changed my mind at the last moment and went with the calc bubble strip of the ANH version rather than the circuit board of the ROTS. It's made from a piece of plexi-glass, backed by mylar film, with clear rubber bumpers standing in for the bubbles. I haven't decided whether the side details should be the transistors and washers of the ANH, or the copper bump and "cog" of the ROTS version. Also visible is the cell phone clip on the rear grip, taking the place of a Covertech button.

Mostly Done

And only a year later! The windvane is larger in diameter, like the ANH, but I decided to forgo the interior "fins" of that design, and built it solid. The glue set up as I was sliding the assembly up the neck, so I'm not entirely happy with the windvane's position. Since it's not glued in place, I may rebuild it in the future. The forward part of the neck, which is now a touch long due to the misplaced windvane, is covered in gold chrome mylar film.

Rear View

Not much else to say. The machined pieces, particularly the pommel, give it a little more heft than my usual attempts.

Transistors

Instead of the ROTS details, I decided to go with the transistors and washers of the ANH version. They're made from smooth walled allen head screws and small flat washers. I flled the screw heads with epoxy putty and then covered the end with small circles of silver mylar film (cut with a hole punch).

A vane in the neck.

Here's the new neck/windvane assembly. I assembled the entire thing on the intact 1/2" PVC pipe for ease of painting, and will cut it off once the paint dries.

Done?

Here's the assembly mounted on the sabre. With the possible exception of the lever on the clamp, which I may eventually replace with something more similar to the real Graflex lever, I think it's done.