I spent a lot of time researching this particular item as I wanted it to be as accurate as possible and I also wanted it to be "Functional" ie.. LIGHT UP!. Reference pics available on the web are quite hard to come by and most searches ended up with pics of other peoples own scratch built props. With this in mind I hit the forums and other scratch build websites to obtain as much information as possible. The most commonly used part of this prop (And quite possibly what was used in the original) is what is known as a "Hobby Box" or "Enclosure". These are small metal or plastic boxes designed for hobbyists to use for electrical projects. The approx measurements for the boxes used in Star Wars are 3 x 4 inches x 2 deep.

NOTE: The boxes in "Star Wars A New Hope" & "The Empire Strikes Back" are different. The ones used in "A New Hope" are metal, painted black with a lot of weathering and the ones In "Empire" look to be black plastic.

For a belt you will need the following parts:

A Leather Belt (A fabric webbed one will do)

2 x Project Boxes 

12 x Knobs or thumbscrews 

4 x Green lenses (Lights) 

4 x Green LED's (Light emmiting diodes... from Radio Shack)

2 x Red LED's (With chrome case)

Clear reinforced PVC hose 

2 x 10 Ohm resistors

It is only really a matter of assembling the parts to the correct places on the boxes. Here is a rough template of the boxes layout...

There is no real fabrication apart from some drilling, cutting and soldering.

Drill holes where you need to put the lights, red LED and the knobs and then simply screw them in place. The red LED's in the chrome case usually come with a small nut which can be atached from the inside and the thumbscrews litterly screw in. You can also use small bolts here too if you want them really secure. Some people have used Computer Case thumbscrews. Attaching the tubing can be a little tricky. I cut a slot along the box and then cut the hose along the middle so I could push it through the box and have it held in place with it's own tension. The hose can be quite hard so I boiled it a little first to make it more flexible.

To have the lenses light up I attached the 1 Red LED & the 2 Green ones to a 9V battery (& a switch from Radio Shack) all self contained within each box. NOTE: You must use resistors in the circuit or the LED's will blow. I used a 10 Ohm and it works great. For those of you not familiar with electronics here is a wiring diagram which will help.

The average life span of an LED is about 200,000 hours so not much chance of them ever needing to be replaced. I have also never changed my batteries yet either and have about 10 hours use out of them so far constantly lit.

The lenses were the hardest parts to find and I ended up using the old "Running" lights you see on industrial machinery. They did have 24V bulbs in them so I had to remove them completely and only use the lenses which I used to house the green LED's.

The buckle is simply a "Switch Plate" from Lowes painted black. (The kind you use to switch your house lights on). The silver part was Sintra PVC with slots drilled into it and another disc of Sintra glued on the top and painted. (I have recently replaced the buckle with an aluminium one from Ebay which I bought cheap).

The best thing to remember is to use your own personal interpritation of what you want your prop to look like. Some builders replace the reinforced hose with cut out mesh screening (Like you use to repair fiberglass on your car etc) and some builders make the lenses from painted plastic etc...

This guide is to help you find ideas to help you with your own projects and is not designed to be diffinitive even though I have tried to be as accurate as possible. NOTE: My belt (Pictured) is based on "The Empire Strikes Back" type.