FP Aluminum (Copper tip) Gauntlet Rocket

Great points D. (y)

1. I believe that at least some of the ROTJ rockets are brass. But, The ESB definately has always looked to me to be copper....There is something about it that looks different....in every shot!!!!! Now either it is made from copper, or it is made from brass, but with a patena of some kind on it to turn it a darker color. It definately does not have the common gold/yellowish color of machined brass. Now that different color can still be achieved with a brass tip. I believe it was Bobamaker that weathered one or the brass ones from one of our makers very nicely to the point where it did look kinda coppery. However, the ESB rocket tip does not look weathered at all IMO based on pics. It looks to be bare metal hot off the lathe to me...and it is darker than brass.
D

the previous C4 shot shows a ROTJ (AOSW exhibit) gauntlet with what seems to be a "copperish" tip....and the picture here also shows the MOM exhibit, as seen at FIDM exhibit with a ROTJ gauntlet with a "copperish" tip.....Pic below.

but you are both right, what can't be explained is the corrosion factor...that's why I think it's a copper alloy, kinda like a penny.(y)

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Thats how i've done mine in the past too!! And, the one pictured above diefinately looks like copper to me. That doesn't necesarrily mean that it is...but it sure looks like it.

Exactly, I think everyone I know is just tired of painting them :lol:

FIDMMOM1rocket.jpg
 
Pennies are copper-plated zinc, not copper alloy. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.

The C4 pics definitely look like copper. To me, the dents along the edge and the one pointed out by SpideyFett look consistent with how copper would dent. Definitely wouldn't dent like that if it was brass and the dents happened while the rocket was attached to the gauntlet.

Pure copper wouldn't oxidize to green except under conditions that would probably destroy the rest of the gauntlet.
 
Pennies are copper-plated zinc, not copper alloy. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.

The C4 pics definitely look like copper. To me, the dents along the edge and the one pointed out by SpideyFett look consistent with how copper would dent. Definitely wouldn't dent like that if it was brass and the dents happened while the rocket was attached to the gauntlet.

Pure copper wouldn't oxidize to green except under conditions that would probably destroy the rest of the gauntlet.

Fantastic Info count dookie..(y)...

We actually were thinking of a copper alloy of some type per my machinest, I guess that's why I was on that wave length, what do I know.:lol:.. but an alloy would be easier to work with and a little more durable....cost is what I'm mostly worried about.:facepalm

Anyone ever tried anodized Aluminum to a copper finish???? that might be an option here too...no?
 
Anyone ever tried anodized Aluminum to a copper finish???? that might be an option here too...no?

That's an option. To get a true copper finish on aluminum (with the ability to get that authentic tarnish), you would electroplate rather than anodize. I've never electroplated aluminum, but if it's as easy as plating brass, then it would come down to the cost of core materials vs. additional cost of plating. Because of the copper content in brass, I'd think that brass would take the plating better than aluminum, and that scratches through the copper would be less noticeable on brass.

You can anodize aluminum with a copper color, which may be cheaper than going the solid copper route. It's not going to have the same properties as copper, so you probably won't get any tarnish, so in that case there might not be any benefit over just painting it. (y)
 
That's an option. To get a true copper finish on aluminum (with the ability to get that authentic tarnish), you would electroplate rather than anodize. I've never electroplated aluminum, but if it's as easy as plating brass, then it would come down to the cost of core materials vs. additional cost of plating. Because of the copper content in brass, I'd think that brass would take the plating better than aluminum, and that scratches through the copper would be less noticeable on brass.

You can anodize aluminum with a copper color, which may be cheaper than going the solid copper route. It's not going to have the same properties as copper, so you probably won't get any tarnish, so in that case there might not be any benefit over just painting it. (y)

Thank you(y)...that is awesome...definately a ton of options I didn't even know about.

I think as long as it looks right, and cost cheap.. that would be the best way for this project.(y)...hopefully I can get something back as a Protype tip in the next couple of weeks.
 
And what about Bronze, Spidey? It's an alloy of cooper and tin, with cooper as base and tin in proportion of 2% to 20%.
 
And what about Bronze, Spidey? It's an alloy of cooper and tin, with cooper as base and tin in proportion of 2% to 20%.

hmm interesting ?? honestly I haven't looked into all the options yet..

and just for the sake of the conversation...here is an ESB gauntlet shot with what seems to be a copper tip rocket, and a yellowish Brass dental expander.(y)..two completely different tones.

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ESBbrasstip.jpg
 
I was just thinking about bronze again, as Kane mentioned. I had a metal sculpture class in college & did alot messing around with bronze which the universal is 90% copper, 10% tin. Now when we did our sculpts, we could any number of different patenas on a piece of finnished bronze that would give different characteristics. You could use one that made it look almost gold, another that made it look very dark..almost black, annother that made it very red, almost like copper, and they even had one that would turn it completely green like the statue of liberty. I dunno where I'm going with this.....LOL Oh: it does look like some of the rocket cones are more brass/gold colored, while some pics look copper colored. I wonder if they used bronze & maybe patenaed them??? Might explain why some rockets look differnt than other in differnt pics. I dunno if machinists can work with bronze though???? Heck, I have no idea if LFL would have bothered monkeying around with a patena in 1978 either??? LOL I'm just thinkin out loud here.
 
Heck, I have no idea if LFL would have bothered monkeying around with a patena in 1978 either??? LOL I'm just thinkin out loud here.

Thinking out loud is good..(y)..it helps the dicussion.

but the only thing I could find in bronze that even looks close to the rocket was this. :lol:

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bronze fett.jpg
 
Heres all the differnt looks you can get with bronze simply by putting a patina on it. The stuff they are working with there is not actual bronze...but you can do all the same stuff with bronze. Heck, maybe you could use that stuff right over aluminum???????????? I dunno????????

http://www.bnglifecasting.com/custom/finish/index.html

Again..might be wayy off with this, and LFL may or may not have messed around with it...but its pretty easy to do in my experience, (which is pretty limited when it comes to this stuff). All you do is brush it on & let it dry.
D

Actually, you can patina brass or copper too. So who knows what the heck they all did???? I don't have a clue??? The possibilities are endless!! :lol:

http://www.sciencecompany.com/patinas/patinaformulas.htm

I do like the look of machined copper though!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Thanks for all the info Jango's Kid. I know very little about this, but that helped me understand alot better. Seeing how easy it would have been to use patina, that opens the possibility to different metals like you said. I would think that copper would have been more readily available then bronze (I have no idea). But since copper is more fragile that would explain the dent in it. Unless they used another metal and just messed up while making it.
 
Maybe you are right. I sure doesn't look like a dent in the pic I posted, but in a few others it does. Hard to say, but if you have video showing it from various angles, I guess we will have to go with that.
 
maybe I am crazy.....but

why would they make it out of Brass only to make it look copper??

do you think they said....."gee this brass needs to look copper"

I am simply saying that common sense tells me that it was made of copper...thats why it looks copper

again...maybe I am nuts
 
No you arent nuts DM. It could have been a last minute change?
Maybe they said the brass might not look right, and they added a copper tip or patina as Jango's Kid said.
 
I'll just throw my 2¢ in here, which is a hint to my point. You can tell from the reflections that are happening on the tip of the rocket in posts #42 and #48 that it looks exactly like a piece of copper tubing or for that matter, a "Penny"!

CHA-CHING!!! :lol:

Also, that potential "Dent" or "Ding" that's being discussed gives further proof that the rocket tip is more than likely, copper, since copper is a much softer metal and very easily marred!

:cheers

PENNY.jpg
 
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