[Shroud Cross Section]
Fried Mon / Kenny: Interesting what you pointed out about the shroud cross section being rounded on the inside edges. I haven't noticed that before.
I'm sure this piece is an item they picked up and used on the saber.
[Grip Damage]
Darf Vader: If the light colored area was metal and you can see the metal in that area when the camera is virtually parallel to it, then that means that the coating is very thin (otherwise it would be obscured by the sides of the damaged grip coating).
In other parts of the same image you can see fairly deep nicks and cuts to the grips, but these are black right through.
It's possible that the nicks and scratches have been painted in, however, because the main argument behind the large white/brown area being metal is that it shows rust, then that area would have been exposed to the air for longer than the small nicks and scratchs - so why wasn't that painted?
I can't see where you say that metal is showing through in the other (deeper) nicks and scratches?
Activator Band
When I was working on the 3D model, I did some calculations on the mid-band. I multiplied the outer tube diameter (1.5") by Pi, then multiplied the band diameter (1.5" + a thickness of around 0.03" = 1.56") by Pi and deducted this from the tube circumference. The result was that if the mid band was simply constructed from a sliced piece of 1.5" tube, then there would be a 0.1885" gap (around 5mm) between the open section when you wrapped it around the Graflex handle.
This shows that they constructed the mid-band from a piece of 1.5" tube. I can't see any coloring on the edges, but we know that on the underside there's a chip of paint that exposes a highly reflective silver metal, so it's probably stainless steel rather than chrome plated brass (we'll have to wait for a clear untainted image of the edge of the band before we can be certain).
[Ball Catch]
I ordered a bag of these from England a while back and on examination they are constructed in exactly the same way as they were back in the 1980's, when this prop was built. These ones don't have holes in the center, like the new photos show, but it could be a change in their design over the years.
Here is a photo of the ball catches from various angles (note that the back is hollow):
I looked quickly at the photo of what could be a screw in Photoshop, and I'm undecided one way or another at the moment. It does resemble a screw, but also resembles a hole that looks through the ball catch. The one thing that is odd that if it's a hole, then I can't understand why there is so much light in the back of the hollow ball catch - I don't think the camera flash could've illuminated it from that angle.
[Tire Valve/Recharge Port]
I'm 98% sure that what they used for a button/recharge port is in fact a universal clamp-in tire valve.
I did the research a few months back, but now better photos are available and to me, they show more clues that it's a tire valve.
On the hole that goes through the middle, it shows some signs of wear. The metal underneath can clearly be seen as brass - which is what they make tire valves out of, to avoid corrosion and spark issues.
Also, in that hole you can see a thread at the top. Now, I haven't managed to find a tire valve that has a thread all the way to the top, as the ones I've found only let you screw the valve core itself in from behind. This feature does help us verify when the correct part has been found.
Some people were skeptical of my tire valve theory, because they said the size of the hole was too small.
Here is a photo of a tire valve (rear/left) and a couple of nickel plated furniture parts (not what was used, but worth looking at). On my valve I've simply ground a bevel into the top of the hole, so that a) you can see the brass underneath, just like the original. and B) it has the appearance of being a larger hole, but is actually just a taper at the top (also just like the original).
Something I'd like to point out is that the tire valve I have here, like all the ones I've so far managed to find, have a higher angle and sharper bevel on the outside of the top flange. The photos of the original prop show that the angle is very slight and almost rounded from the flat part to the bevel.
Steve