Sideshow ESB/ROTJ Darth Vader

[saunders45]

Will do. but um...how can you help? Do you have an extra dome?

I have a whole spare head. My original was missing tusks and SS sent me a replacement. They never asked for the old one back.

 

[Pixelpiper]

It's a shame this new Vader don't have a light up lightsaber out of the box.

I'm not sure what difference it makes. Sideshow would only be able to produce something as good as I do, not better, and the price would be reflected in the final product - it would likely cost you more than just buying him and buying the lit saber aftermarket.

One of the benefits of going the aftermarket route is that you'll have, by comparison, a very unique finished piece that most others don't/won't have. Impress your fiends, send me a PM for details.

 

[BrooklynWolf X]

It's a shame this new Vader don't have a light up lightsaber out of the box.

Really want to buy this one but without this feature, i'm really not sure...

Nice pics anyway.

Really sorry for your helmet Wolf X.

Yeah I am too. When I received vader, I was soooo thrilled. Got a TTM20, did the swap...but then that messed up dome really hampered my enthusiasm. I got him laying in the box. I just can't bring myself to pose him yet, not until I can get this thing taken care of.

I have a whole spare head. My original was missing tusks and SS sent me a replacement. They never asked for the old one back.

Oh wow...dude, that'll be fantastic. Ill definitely let you know.

 

[shocktrooper_au]

My setup for now

 

[Dr. Odd]

That's awesome!

 

[IronZilmad]

I'm not sure what difference it makes. Sideshow would only be able to produce something as good as I do, not better, and the price would be reflected in the final product - it would likely cost you more than just buying him and buying the lit saber aftermarket.

One of the benefits of going the aftermarket route is that you'll have, by comparison, a very unique finished piece that most others don't/won't have. Impress your fiends, send me a PM for details.

Thanks for your offer. I don't have any 1/6 Star Wars figure for now. Maybe this one, maybe later...

Anyway I think you give me an idea for my Jakks Pacific Vader but with a 30cm cathodes I can find in my country.

 

[momaw]

My setup for now

Just brilliant.

 

[egel]

My setup for now

K, I am stealing that Vader pose.

 

[Shooter]

Thats indeed a great looking setup.
I must find me a Emperor on throne very soon.

 

[Darth Fok]

My setup for now

What kind of light fixture is that? is it battery operated?

 

[jagzz]

Very nice set up "shocktrooper_au".. Amazing


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[DeadFett]

So I have an extra Malgus lightsaber since the original one came with the bottom knob broken and ssc sent me a replacement, how difficult would it be to swap out the the lightsaber blades from Malgus' to Vader? The only thing I dont like about the Vader fig is the ignited lightsaber and its color which almost seems pink. I prefer the deep red.

 

[Pixelpiper]

The Vader blade pulls right out with a gentle twist. I just bought bunch of sabers this morning, Malgus, Grievous, Maul, ObiWan and a couple of others. Looking forward to checking out how much space each has for a blade. Going to light them all up.

 

[shocktrooper_au]

That's awesome!

Just brilliant.

K, I am stealing that Vader pose.

Thats indeed a great looking setup.
I must find me a Emperor on throne very soon.

What kind of light fixture is that? is it battery operated?

Not sure of the name , but yeah just battery operated, don't use very often

Very nice set up "shocktrooper_au".. Amazing



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Thanks for the compliments, very easy set up the window is just foam core cut to shape, had much bigger plans but this will do me for now

 

[Anthrapoid]

Ok, I have reached my limit of tolerance for lacking a great light-up saber. It's 2014... the 'Hasbro years' are behind us. For me, the cathodes don't work; the metal knob at the tip kills it for me, even when it's partially disguised. What we all need, IMHO, is a micro-soldering wizard, and we will all finally have totally convincing SUPER-BRIGHT light sabers.
My proposal:
There are tiny chip LEDs which are even smaller than just a year ago, called 'pico' LEDs. Imagine if you will:
A series of pico LEDs soldered in a row, side-by-side, glued along the length of a rigid strip of circuit board 1/8th" wide x (length of saber), A single pico glued and soldered on the very tip, then another series running down the other side of the circuit board strip. Soldering them directly together would eliminate the need for multiple wires inside the saber; only two wires at the base. The main obstacle is, the + / - contacts on each LED would need to be micro-soldered together under controlled conditions.
(By the way- I spoke with someone who produces LEDs professionally, and he told me that these pico LEDs have 180° of VERY BRIGHT light projection- which means two rows back-to-back would produce 360° of consistently bright light around the entire diameter of the saber blade.)

The final step is the easiest: Fabricating a translucent light-diffusing hollow tube (with a rounded tip) into which the LED strip would be inserted. Actually, the tube may not need to be translucent, it could be totally transparent; the LED's are so bright, and so close together, that the human eye might not even be able to perceive the tiny unlit spaces between chips. On the other hand, if the tubes were cast in a densely pigmented plastic the same color as the LEDs inside, the color saturation when lit would be truly awesome.

So... the big question: Is there anyone out there who can perform micro-soldering?
If so, you will have hordes of SW nerds giving you their credit card numbers, and squealing like little schoolgirls...

 

[Pixelpiper]

My hypothesis: It will look like crap.

Plus, that's not the kind of soldering that's done by hand, it's done by a pick and place machine. The only way to make these is to have them made by someone with that equipment - generally a company that has a production or at the very least a prototyping line. And what about the resistors that need to be placed for every few LEDs? Where will those go? You can't have them in line with the LEDs if you want to have them close to each other, which means you will want them on the opposite side of the board. Which means two boards, one for each side of the saber. But wait, you don't want to create dark sides, so you'll probably actually want to create a sort of triangular extrusion with light going out on three sides - or possibly four.

The practicality of all this? NIL. Forget about it. The results would be underwhelming to put it mildly. There are so many better alternatives if you want to get into the business of custom fabrication, including creating custom CCFL tubes or custom EL rods.

 

[Anthrapoid]

My hypothesis: It will look like crap.

And what about the resistors that need to be placed for every few LEDs? Where will those go?

My hypothesis: You are selling cathode sabers, so you have a vested interest in making people think my idea will look like crap.
(and that it isn't even possible.)

As for the resistors, they are even smaller than the LED chips themselves; they could be wired along the thin edges of the circuit board. The strip would be only 1/8th inch wide, wide enough to accommodate the pico LEDs, and about 1/16th inch thick. Placing the resistors on the edge would not block the 180 degrees of light emitted from either of the flat sides of the circuit board strip.

Nobody said 'all this' had to be practical, or easy. It just has to achieve the desired result. SMD's (surface mounted diodes) CAN be soldered by hand. People do it all the time, and there are special hand-soldering irons made for this. (Google it)
For light sabers, it would just need to be done in a particular way. Hell, there are even digital magnifying cameras that would allow you to visually monitor micro-soldering on your pc, or on an HD tv.

 

[Pixelpiper]

I'm selling cathode sabers because I have years of experience in these kinds of things and take my word or it, CCFL is by far the best possible solution to this problem we have at the moment and for the price. And that isn't about to change any time soon without significant investment - significant enough that it would never be recouped.

If there were money in it, and if it were an interesting enough problem to solve, I'd be all over it. I don't have stock in any CCFL manufacturing company. As it stands, I'd run and hide from such an implementation because it's the compete opposite of practical.

 

[govanrangersman]

I know you are selling these and therefore appreciate you don't want to tell us how to actually make these, but just a general question, how easy is it to power these via batteries?

 

[IronZilmad]

@govanrangersman, I think there's a tutorial on how to make cathodes lightsabers on this forum. This is not a technical secret. I think Pixelpiper do it "better" or with more technicals knowledges. This can be cool for guys who don't want to do some electronic surgery...

I'm ok with Anthrapoid for one point : we're expecting more from our figures when we see what can be achieved with LED and stuffs today. Some others Star Wars Sideshow and even Kotobukiya figures or statues have lightsabers light up feature, even if it's a simple LED, the feature's here. Why they didn't put it on this one ?

For example, the Classic Predator from Hot Toys have the red visor on the helmet wired and attached to the body. The LED is very powerfull and so tiny. Make a red lightsaber tube "opaque" for light diffusion and put this tiny LED at the base and I'm sure it'll add a very cool effect, not perfect and powerfull like the Cathodes ones but at least... (And the cathodes need some 12V power, not too practical...)

Ok, it's not the end of the world, but it's a bit "sad". Michael Crawford's review said this figure should be at 200$, so the extra 50$ can be used for this little LED light on the light saber...

Plus it's a "deluxe" figure, the chest box and belt light up it's awesome, but not the lightsaber...

I'll surely buy this guy anyway (if I can) because I think he rocks and we can add a lighted lightsaber later, home-made or bought from others customers.

Peace.

Cheers.