Artifact ID: Galen Erso water test kit

This ‘water tester’—which I guess fits in with the Erso character’s disguise as a ‘dirt farmer’?—is comprised simply of two items, one of which we have seen already!

As discussed previously, the Paterson Trident slide viewer (~$45-95+) has a solid SW pedigree, being most prominently used (in groups of six) as the surveillance cameras in the Death Star detention center.

This time, the focus is on the Trident’s underside, which has had its metal stand and doodads removed, showing off some nice ridged sections. (The Paterson Viscount viewer I mentioned last time would not be appropriate in this case to substitute for the Trident, as the Viscount’s underside is somewhat plainer (though I suppose one could get creative and fabricate the detail pieces):

To complete the prop, the Trident is sandwiched between a vintage Vorsatz Macro Bellows (~45?) on its left side, with a strip of black material added to the right.

A clip of some sort must have been added to the slide viewer’s upper surface, as the ‘water tester’ can be seen attached to the character’s belt in the film.
To finish things off, the lower section of the Trident was then painted white, the upper section (surrounding the lens) painted black, and then all was heavily weathered to approximate years of honest use.

This weathering is especially important for our purposes, as it really helps to sell the Star Wars setting. While commonplace now, the idea of a ‘lived universe’ was almost groundbreaking in 1977 (compare the distressed Millennium Falcon to the late-’60s spacecraft of TOS Star Trek or Kubrick’s 2001. Too often, I see cosplay props and outfits that have not been weathered and are pristine without any scratches or dings; they look as if they were fresh off the assembly line or straight from the tailor droid. While it could be argued that ‘everything was new once’, the thing that makes the GFFA recognizable is this aesthetic of heavy use. (This applies more to the Rebel and civilian side of the Galaxy; the Empire’s near-limitless resources mean their ships and equipment can remain spotless and unspoiled through replacement–while never stated outright, this ethos of disposability comes across nonetheless when compared to the thrifty, ragtag Rebels, who mend their own clothes and keep their ships flying with the galactic equivalents of duct tape and chewing gum.

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