Aim of this build is to modify a 2.0 kit to get as close to the Finn-Fight/Snow-Scene TFA hilt as possible.
First order of business was knocking the knurling off the glass eye:
Used a dremel sanding-drum mandrel to fit the shine-through eye onto my drill as a makeshift lathe, than filed away the knurling until the eye was relatively smooth brass.
Next up was machining a flat beer tab to replace the 2.0 zig-zag:
Milled down some aluminum sheet to match measurements I have for a replica Graflex tab. Not pictured, but I also cut the slit up front and drilled a hole for the kit's rivet/screw. Once polished, the aluminum tab is a decent match to the rest of the handle's nickel-plating.
Also swapped out the red-anodized button with a maroon resin cast. Just needs a bit of shaving down to function with the stock switch.
Machining continued with a pommel cover. On-film, it's used to cover the GRAFLEX branding. Here, it covers the excess sound holes, while still allowing sound to vent through the Kobold clip. Ditched the button head screws and riveted the clip and cover in place.
For the grips, I drilled the stock holes out with an 1/8" bit and dropped more 3mm rivets in place. This time, rather than actually riveting the grips in place, the rivet heads were dremelled off and glued in place. This allows sound to vent through the grips, making up for the pommel holes that were covered earlier.
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And that's about it for body mods. Later on, this'll get a bit of light weathering, but next step is getting the chassis painted up and a Crystal Focus installed.