PlayfulWolfCub
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No, you can't tell from that photo. You can in this one though (the ones on the far left) & I've offered an explanation as to why a few posts ago.
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I spotted the thread by happy accident while hunting speeder cap close-up images! It's like I had more success once I'd turned the targeting computer off! :luke3: lol
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I can't believe I'd forgotten this but the Curator of Firearms at the Royal Armouries told me he wanted to visit Bapty if he could just find time. He said there's a guy still there in his 70s who worked on the Star Wars props! I called myself a noob jokingly earlier but I really am for forgetting that!!!! lol I've just emailed him & asked him whether he might be able to pull a few strings in his official capacity in order to arrange a visit. It's a massive favour to ask but he's a big sci-fi fan too so you never know! I'd like to see his stuff - what's his name/website? I'm assuming my PM reached you but isn't possible, Chris?
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I've sent a message to TK895 requesting higher res copies of his excellent landspeeder photos
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As has been suggested before, I'd say they're "METALMITE"s with a K rating and, having done some modelling up, exactly the same dimensions as the ones I've bought off you, Andy This is what I read on each cap. Maybe someone has a higher res version or better eyes than me and can fill in the gaps? Cap 1: ……70’C & ……00’C Cap 2: (hidden because pushed further through backplate) Cap 3: (?) Cap 4: 500 V…… Cap 5: “M…… & K…… Cap 6: ……LA (?) Cap 7: (hidden) Cap 8: (?) Cap 9: (hidden) Cap 10: ……ITE” Cap 11: ……(?) Cap 12: (hidden)
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Re: Capacitor codes - help needed Quote: The use of the letter "K" (which doesn't seem to stand for 1,000 I think it's the tolerance. Commonly used letters are L,J and K. Although I can't remember which is which OTTOMH __________________ "Nothing is as dangerous as being too modern;one is apt to grow old fashioned quite suddenly." Tim View Public Profile Find More Posts by Tim 4th Oct 2008, 05:12 PM #11 M0TAW Tony Pentode Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Telford Posts: 157 Re: Capacitor codes - help needed Hi B = +/- 0.1% C = +/- 0.25 D = +/- 0.5 F = +/- 1% G = +/- 2 J = +/- 5 K = +/- 10% M = +/- 20 Z = +80 to -20% Must be for electrolytics I guess ATB Tony
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Doh! I was just about to type "Awesome find Andy!!!!!!" but I'll hold on that, eh? (Though finding the caps at all makes your awesomeness so great that it can't be measured on any known scale!) I look forward to seeing the 'packs
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You're absolutely right Andy and I think I can offer a photo-supported explanation. The end caps are the same ones but they join onto lower components - see photo. If I was a proppy working on the E11 I'd have just pushed the "shorter" one back through the frame once I'd cut it off at the back to be the same length as the others - it'd be quicker than cutting them off at the front. This might explain why, on some photos, one of the capacitors is diagonal - that capacitor which was lower had more wire on the front end & they pushed it the the side. I'm more confident now that all the E11 power cylinders had 3 capacitors and individual builders can choose whether to add a diagonal or parallel top one!
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Well that's one way of getting round the problem! lol Thanks for the correction, Matthias - I'll have to refresh my memory of the different commercial ones. I think I mentally lumped them all together as "expensive considering they're inaccurate" when I realised you can build an genuine parts E11 for way less than an MR!
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Thanks for all that, Chris So if the MSE plate is smooth are best bet if the speeder. Do you think that a good zoom camera could capture some info from that or is this a dead end that people have tried before? Sometime people are afraid to ask obvious questions for fear of seeming stupid. I'm the noob here so I'll ask... 1) Has everyone that made/used the E11s/MSE/Speeder been asked what the parts were? Can we make a check-list to be sure? 2) Has anyone approached George himself & asked him if he'd be perepared to do his fan-base a huge favour & let one of us study/photograph/cast from the MSE or speeder? You might have the necessary credentials, Chris, as Star Wars artist & co-founder of "The Parts of Star Wars". Would you be interested in doing this? 3) This is an aside really... Why do even the Lucasfilm-approved expensive replica E11s have innacurate cylinders? Has anyone ever pointed it out to them? 4) Do we know if anyone has done work on this subject who hasn't yet joined this thread? We're in the blasters section but MSE/speeder research would be just as valuable. I've made a rough model incorporating the new capacitors. It's not pretty or accurate enough yet to post photos but it lines up well with the MSE/speeder photos. I'll tweak it with ANH screenshots & make a styrene model.. I'll show pics of that with a template and ask people to check & feedback on it if they could
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I had a great chat to Andy this morning and he pointed out the serial plates on the mouse droid & speeder. There is one legible number that can be read on quite a few photos but I haven't found one that allows any of the left hand plate to be read. Does anyone have one? If we were phenominally lucky it would have the name of the manufacturer and the unit designation on it. I think it'd be really useful if comeone could go take a high-res zoomed-in pic of the props at a Star Wars exhibition. Are any on anywhere in the world at the moment? Can we ask around? I'm new here but you'll know who might be good to approach. I'll make a new post here & on RPF entitled "Star Wars Exhibition!" to grab people's attention. What category should I post in on FISD to get seen by the most people?
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Andy, you said there were some photos where there were mostly groups of 3 capacitors but that there was at least one group of 2 capacitors. I've looked at my photos & I can't find any where that's the case. I've got some photos where the wires for one of the capacitors has been bent, so the capacitor is out of sight but the 3rd wire is still visible. You may have a photo I don't have - can you post one that shows what you mean? Cheers
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I'll admit I don't understand the point that Vern & Matthias seem to be disagreeing about regarding component E However, given that our most up-to-date research suggest that the unit was from British naval radar (or possibly, though less likely, British Air Force) component E might be from this system although the physical design in these photos isn't exactly the same: Pye Co-axial Connector An important innovation from this time was the "Pye plug" coaxial connector, conceived for the early AI and ASV radar equipments by Donald (Bo) Jackson and designed by mechanical designer George Baguley. The objective was to provide quickly detachable coaxial cables between the modules of the early airborne radar equipment and avoid the problem of poor high-frequency impedance matching (poor return loss and reflected signals) in cables which would otherwise have been terminated in a simple 'pig-tail' soldered connection. The initial Pye connector was a right-angle elbow type with a range of different size co-ax cable entry clamps, but was expanded to include straight , T-piece and back-to-back connectors. The design was subsequently used in the majority of British RF equipment during the war. Illustrated above left are the Pye plug and socket and T-piece. The connector design was also used by Pye Telecom commercially on all of the radio-telephone equipment from 1946 until the end of the Ranger series of mobiles and base stations in 1964. Pye Connector in use from 1939 to 1969 in Military service Source: http://www.pyetelecomhistory.org/prodhist/military/military.html
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Excellent news dude!
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The dimensions I just gave are for the 3 inner capacitors. I said 9 because that's how many I've got - sorry for the confusion. Here are the dims again: I understand the original TCC caps were hand made and they vary very slightly between 25.8 - 26.5mm long, 5mm wide & the end caps from 3.5 - 4mm at their widest point
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There are 5 lots of 10 very similar capacitors on sale on ebay if anyone wants some. Bear in mind we're not sure these are quite the right size yet. http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-TCC-PIO-Capacitors-0-002-MFD-500-V-NOS-/220735560903
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For a ladies version of the E11 perhaps? Yeah, they're effective for a model, but not if you're after 100% authenticity.
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Thanks Vern I'm astonished how Andy managed to track the capacitors down! With my newly acquired & very shiny digital calipers the 9 capacitors vary between 25.8 - 26.5mm long, 5mm wide & the end caps from 3.5 - 4mm at their widest point Their lettering doesn't totally match up with the originals on the landspeeder - we think we're looking for MetalMites. I suspect that they may actually be slightly shorter than the originals but I'll suspend judgement until I've incorporated them into a 3D model that can be viewed from every angle. Seriously though, can't someone just go steal the sodding Mouse Droid?!? :ninja:
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Apparently in 1965 TCC was taken over by Plessey Capacitors which would explain why some capacitors have both names on & there's a 3rd manufacturer, Dubilier "You may come across some large metal can capacitors that look similar to electrolytics but with both wires insulated from the can. They may be branded TCC, Plessey or Dubilier, although similar parts would have been made by other manufacturers. Sets built using war surplus components (such as the Barker 88) tend to use them" Still no sign of a K though!
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Ohhhh! Of course, auto-censor!!! lol
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Wow! Thanks for posting all that, John! I'll pick up the research "baton" & run with it for a while while I've got noobish enthusiasm! I'm not sure what you meant by: "Though if PlayfulWolfCub hits on something new I may just a very impolite person my ears again " I'm guessing there's a typo but I can't guess what you intended to write. Cheers
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I think you're right there but I'd be interested to see a photo anyway - always nice to see peoples' work. Russ's set look great - if I didn't want to make my own I'd have ordered a set myself!
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Now there's an idea! The military often change the designations of gear, don't they. I noticed they changed the names of the valves that fit into equpment very much like this but I didn't extend that thought to the other components!
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Well, if there is, I've got it too! lol Now, hold onto your hat, there's more: Andy, I had a touch of déja vu when I saw the pictures in your message, as we had a similar enquiry a while ago. We think that the item is an IF strip from the Receiver of a Type 80 Radar. There were two similar strips in the Receiver system - one was a normal Linear Amplifier, the other was a Logarithmic Amplifier. The Logaithmic channel was used if the target returns were obscured by thunder clouds, when, as if by magic, the dense patches on the display 'thinned' and allowed the pinhead-sized echoes to be seen. It was expected that this amplifier would also have been effective against certain forms of jamming. The Intermediate Frequency was 13.5 MHz. Vic Ludlow Registrar Signals Museum RAF Henlow Again, i haven't a clue what it all means but I'll keep just googling & emailing folk questions & posting the stuff here! (& my digital calipers arrived today, Zero, so I promise I'll take a break from this riveting stuff & work on the templates soon! lol)
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Erv over at the RPF (& creator of the awesome BlasterCore) just replied to me with this: "I haven't been further in my investigations. Most people I've talked too are positive that this unit probably comes from military RF equipment. Many suggested an IF stage in a radar or something like this. Next step would be to visit a specialist and/or a junkyard dedicated to those parts to put a final point to that mystery. As it's been seen in several props, there's a chance it was installed in those changeable aircraft racks that were gutted. That would explained why they got so many of them. The construction of the racks suggest the military use too (def not consumer electronics) The number of pins of the valve socket don't provide so many choices for the valve type, due to the period of use, hence EF92. I have no doubt about the distributed amp topology neither for the use of the device : It's can't be audio (as confirmed by other people) as it's a super linear + *wide* bandwidth amp for RF instruments (radar, video, ILS why not). This is also (with no surprise) it's found in oscilloscopes as it's exactly the same purpose (large BW and linearity)." I have no idea what most of that means as I'm no electrician but it gives us some more words & ideas to Google! lol