*Bump* with finished product.

Once I figured out that heating the junction of the two hilt pieces would loosen up the glue holding the two pieces together, the rest was really easy.  I just wish I would have figured that out before I scratched up the hilt trying to undo the two pieces with pliers.   Either way, I'm glad I did it and I think it still looks great.

Hope you guys like it as much as I do!

I've been toying around with the idea of making a full hilt single bladed Darth Maul Force FX lightsaber for some time now.  Recently I scored one that I planned on taking apart.  So I started last night.  Here are the very early WIP pictures and a how-to in case anyone else is interested in doing the same thing.

First lower the o-ring between the two sections of the hilt:



Tap out the retention pin with a nail or screw:





Pull the retention pin out:



Heat the hilt with a blow dryer prior to unscrewing.  The threads have a glue on them that hold them in place REALLY well.  If possible, have a second person help you unscrew the two pieces:





Undo the clip holding the blade to the rest of the electronics in the hilt.  Push the blade out through the top hilt piece:



Remove the On/Off cover and unscrew the switch:





Before removing the electronics from the hilt, you will also have to unscrew the silver knob under the On/Off switch as well as the belt clip from the back of the hilt.  Push the electronics through the hilt:



Replace the silver knob and the belt clip, and screw the top piece of the hilt back into the main part of the hilt:





Replace the o-ring and put back the retaining pin:



Super glue the On/Off cover back on and then super glue the switch onto the hilt:





Lastly, put your new hilt on your 'battle damaged' FX Lightsaber, and you now have a single-bladed full hilt version:

If anyone is still looking for these, you may want to check back at your local Target.  I went today and they put out a brand new case.  Funny thing was, it was in the same aisle as the 'Thomas the Tank Engine' and 'Bob the Builder' toys.  Had I not been looking for more Christmas gifts for my oldest son I would have never even come across these.

Good luck!

Have yet to see these in my area. Most of the stores are sitting on bare pegs or with Endor 3PO and Jer.

The crazy thing was, at the Target right down the street, there was only one figure on the pegs (lushros).  Yet at the WM and the TRU, the pegs were full.  Very bizarre...

Thanks for the Insiders Jeff.  Everything was extremely well packaged and quickly shipped.  Merry Christmas.

Sorry for the length everyone, but I still can't believe my luck.

I've been looking to get a Darth Maul FX Lightsaber to take apart and use the hilt to make a full hilt version of my Battle Damaged saber.  Late last week, I ended up contacting an ebay member that sells a lot of 'customer returns' to find out if they had any that were not functioning since I really only needed them for the hilts.  They responded to me that they indeed had 2 that they were looking to get rid of.  One of them did not have a battery pack and the other had a battery pack that 'could not be removed' they told me.  They also didn't have the caps on the end that hold the battery packs in, so they said that they would throw in two of the connection pieces that create the double bladed versions.  I ended up negotiating a price of $15 each + $15 shipping.

I received these today.  They are in excellent condition.  Both hilts have scratches you wouldn't notice unless you were really looking hard, and the blades show no signs of damage at all.  So on a hunch, I took the battery pack from one of my BD DM sabers, threw some batteries in it, and put it in the one saber that didn't come with a batter pack.  I flipped the switch and it fired up immediately! The blade is in perfect shape (no dead spots).  I have since gotten a hold of Master Replicas and they are sending me a replacement battery pack...  So basically I obtained one Battle Damaged Darth Maul FX saber for $15 !

I then grabbed the one with the battery pack stuck in it.  Using some needle nose pliers, I pulled the battery pack out with relative ease.  The reason it was stuck was because the previous owner wrapped a rubber band around it for some reason and then put it in the hilt.  I'm going to assume that they lost the end cap and the rubber band was holding the battery pack in place.  Regardless, I put in some fresh batteries, popped the battery pack back in the hilt, and presto, it fired up immediately!  Again, the blade is in near perfect shape (I found one small ring near the very top of the blade that looks dead), and the sound and effects work perfectly with that battery pack.  So that's a second BD DM saber for $15 !

But now here's the dilemma.  I still want to create a single blade, full hilt version of this saber.  But now I have two perfectly working double bladed DM FX lightsabers.  I'm going to have to consciously destroy one of them to make my little experiment work.  I didn't care when I thought that two of the sabers didn't work, but now I'm going to bust apart one of them, and it's something that would have normally run me $70-$120.

Also, there's the question of whether or not I say anything to the seller.  They sold them to me for $15 each thinking that they didn't work.  Now I've found out that they work just fine.  They could have turned these around for a nice little profit, but instead do I treat this as 'their loss is my gain'?!  I know that Christmas is a time for giving, but I don't think that they would have given me a $200 item for $30 had they really known it worked...  Am I just thinking too much into this, or should I even consider returning them?

Thoughts?  What would y'all do?

I've still got to pick up....

-Maul double bladed
-Obi-Wan E3
-Yoda
-Palpy if they ever do it

I think at that point I'd be FX sabered out...  Maybe a QGJ would be buyable but it's not a necessity to me either, I dunno.  I'm not going for an ANH Luke though since I consider E3 Anakin's that same saber...  I would only consider buying newer models if they were a substantial improvement like removable blades and stuff...  These are cool higher-end collectible that's still semi-affordable.

Jesse,

I really want an Obi EP3 as well, but I also really like the Obi EP2 one that is coming out next year.  I'm kind of like you, after I get those two, I'm considering my collection complete.  The Yoda would be really cool, but I'd have a hard time convincing my kids that it's not for them...  Since I'm throttling back on my action figure/vehicle purchases next year, I'm hopefully going to be in a better position to get these.

I am all over this figure!  Sorry to those of you that aren't interested in it/don't like it.  To me, the more bad guys the better, EU or not!  But here's to hoping that Hasbro goes the extra mile on this and does the coloring appropriately as well.  I'd hate to see them put out a great sculpt only to have them miss the mark once it's painted.

I'm really just glad that we are finally getting a 'Darth' that isn't the 4th or 5th re-release of the same figure...

'cough' 500th Vader 'cough'