Trooper TPE Tie Pilot Edition saber

Hello Everybody, today I had better get back to business after the very nice surprise I had last week with my nomination for the “Sunshine Blogger Award”. I’d like to just thank Annlyel once more for that honour, it is really humbling to know I impress, inspire or entertain people with what I do and makes it worth the effort, thank you.

Today I bring you a few unseen designs in my Trooper inspired range of sabers, and this time I have a repaint for the famous Tie Fighter pilots…and they would probably welcome a saber, The reason I say this is that the Tie Fighter, which was built by Sienar Fleet Systems was a very, very basic starfighter…with no shields! The Empire rejected shields on the ships to make them quicker and more agile but also made them fragile, even a glancing hit could destroy a Tie. But even if the Tie Pilots were deemed expendable, they looked menacing and cool in their gloss black flight suits and masked helmets (oh yes, these were necessary because there was no artificial atmospheric equipment on board either and the pilots needed Life Support Suits!).

So as I mention this is a final repaint of the previous Trooper hilts before I move onto a couple of very special hilts I’ll discuss later but first here are the work in progress pictures….

Trooper Pommel

Trooper Body/Handgrip

Trooper Basic Hilt

By using a different material setup I was able to replicate a semi-glossy black coating and a metallic silver colour on the hilt to match the life support suit which looks like this…

And the hilt looks like this, Glamour Shots….

Trooper TPE Tie Pilot 1

Trooper TPE Tie Pilot 2

Trooper TPE Tie Pilot 3

Trooper TPE Tie Pilot 4

Trooper TPE Tie Pilot 5

Trooper TPE Tie Pilot 6

I think I got pretty close to the textures found on the pilot’s outfit. One thing I might have done to this design would be to add a few Imperial Cog logos, but I built this a while ago now before I learnt how to add transparent graphics (you may remember I first did transparent textures with my Finn inspired Trooper – TFA Saber – First Order Trooper Saber hilt). It isn’t much but I feel the red Cog ignition switch just adds a bit of interest. However I have one final Stormtrooper inspired hilt in my collection and it has a LOT of red on it as it is based on a rumoured squad of troopers known as the 709th Red Fury Stormtroopers. I also have a “Super Star Destroyer” for them to fly around in…sort of, well it’s a new saber based on the Destroyer and some eagle eyed viewers may have seen it show up already in a sneak peek last week. But I just have one more image to share based on the Trooper hilt and another squad of troops known as the 501st Legion, Vader’s personal squadron of troopers. This hilt was done as a joke….I realised that Vader’s squad of troops shared the same number as a famous brand of denim jeans, so I textured the hilt in a denim coating…complete with fashionable ripped knee detail and if you look on the emitter it even has the famous Red Tabs! Wow, I have entered the fashion world!

Well on that lighter note, I think that just about wraps up this offering. I just have time to remind you what’s upcoming in future posts. There will be two hilts based on famous ships, one is the Star Destroyer and the TY STRIKER RETURNS. But this time it has been remodelled and is in The Rise of Skywalker colours! And of course there is the 709th Red Fury. So I hope you will return to check these three out but for now I have to say thank you all for visiting and supporting myself and FTSabersite today. Whether you are regular or first time visitor you are much appreciated. Till next time….

p.s. By the way….a little trivia fact I forgot to mention…The Tie Fighter is named after the acronym Twin Ion Engine Fighter!  I<O>I

“Trooper TPE Tie Pilot Edition Saber” is a For Tyeth Edition design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. “TIE Fighter”, “Stormtroopers” and all other Star Wars names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm.

I have been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award 2019!

Hello Everybody, today I am honoured to say I have been nominated for the “Sunshine Blogger Award” by a very kind young lady named Annlyel from Annlyel Online. Annlyel has an awesome site covering a whole plethora of pop culture subjects. Whether you like blockbuster movies, artwork or fashion you will find articles written covering it and there are even Star Wars posts too. Longtime regular readers of my blog may remember Annlyel from a post where I designed a lightsaber for her named after her favourite lipstick….Moondust.

To follow the guidelines of the Sunshine Blogger Award I need to thank and acknowledge Annlyel and provide a link to her site (done^) and answer the 11 questions posed by her. Next I will need to nominate and link to 11 further bloggers and ask them 11 questions in return. However as I will explain below I might not be able to do that, instead I will make some recommendations of some other great sites. So I had best get on and answer some questions…Ok Annlyel first question please…

A: If you can, which movie is your favourite of all time?

FT: Well apart from my life story which I’m working on, I guess it would have to be the Star Wars saga. Technically I know that the question asks which movie is my all time favourite but I see the story in SW as a whole and it covers more than just the one film.

A: Have you been to Disney World? If so, what’s your favourite park?

FT: No sadly not, since Disney bought out Lucasfilm there are a lot of Stormtroopers and even Kylo Ren sneaking around the parks and they don’t like Jedi types like me much!

A: Who’s your favourite Star Wars character?

FT: It probably doesn’t come as big surprise if you know me but my favourite is Qui-Gon Jinn. He was a great Jedi who didn’t always stick vehemently to the rules but he always bent them for the best reasons.

A: Who’s your favourite Marvel superhero?

FT: Spider-man. Peter Parker and Spidey have been my favourite since I was a youngling wall crawler.

A: Who’s your favourite DC Comics superhero?

FT: That title goes to Batman for this question. I was fortunate enough to get to read quite a few of the original comic books where Batman was much grittier and relied on his martial arts skill and brains rather than gadgets. The characters were also very complex especially if you look at the personal lives of people like Commissioner Gordon etc….far from clean cut.

A: What’s your favourite guilty pleasure, pertaining to food?

FT: I quite like 1/4 pounder beef burgers with cheese and relish (and of course side salad) but I have read that they may not be the healthiest food on this planet. However they do taste so much better than the food capsules the Jedi quartermasters issue and I only have burgers now and then, not every day!

A: What city is on your bucket list to visit?

FT: I need to visit New York/Gotham City…..I know Batman quite well and he lives in New York/Gotham and does a great job running his YouTube channel.

A: What’s your favourite pastime activity?

FT: Some people may know that I am a keyboard player and have performed live on stage. I toured around the UK and even travelled to Poland to perform I also helped teach music technology to younglings in my neighbourhood.

A: Wakanda, Coruscant, or Hogwarts; which of these fictional worlds would you love to visit?

FT: Well, I have been to Coruscant so between Hogwarts and Wakanda, hmm, probably Wakanda. I am a fan of technology but at the same time I like the natural environment too so seeing all the desert, dunes and landscapes merging as one with the tech would be an experience.

A: What’s your favourite novel of all time?

FT: I read “Sherlock Holmes – Hound of the Baskervilles” when I was young and it has stuck with me.

A: What’s your favourite sporting event?

FT: I really love watching MotoGP motorcycling, how people like Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso can control a 200mph motorbike without the benefit of the Force is amazing to me.

Now I have to nominate 11 fellow bloggers for the award, however I know from past experience that most of the people I would nominate have been voted for already or would be too busy to participate. So to get round this problem I will just post a few recommendations for sites you might like to visit.

I have a couple of artistic themed recommendations for two sites, the first is a blog that highlights the world of street art and is run/produced by a young lady named Resa. The site is named Graffiti Lux Art and More. There you will find an explosion of colourful street art photography and Resa has recently started to post fictional writing inspired by the artwork on the streets of Canada.

The second is Darksider Confessions and a young chap named Xen. Now normally I wouldn’t recommend folks visit a Sith minded individual but Xen has just taken his first steps into the larger world of graphic design and started studying an online course. It would be great if you could go and give him some encouragement. He edits images and makes animated versions of the originals (including Jedi character pictures hence why I  am adding his site!).

And as I have been nominated by Annlyel…I should also give a shout out to her extremely talented sister Uzuri who also has a blog, named Uzuri Art. Uzuri has recently posted a series of Star Wars inspired images and her Princess Leia portrait is shear perfection. So please go check Uzuri’s fantastic site too.

If you are a fan of reading then you may like to visit the The Beachy Reader which is a book review site that is run by my longest blogging friend Gigi (though to me Gigi will always be a Princess 🙂 ) Gigi reviews a range of genres so there should be a book recommendation for you somewhere on her site.

And now I will introduce you to my good friend and collaborator TheVintageToyAdvertiser and his sidekick Wooof! TVTA and Wooof! run a blog dedicated to all things advertising, be it adverts for Scandinavian kitchen suites, LEGO sets, action figures all the way through to comic book covers and movie poster artwork. All meticulously scanned and presented with a great sense of humour. I also have to mention this duo as it is TVTA and Wooof! who challenge me to come up with lightsaber designs based on various pop culture themes such as Charlie’s Angels, Starsky and Hutch and have provided me with fantastic feedback and crticism to help me improve my designing. Thanks guys!

My final two recommendations are for two young ladies who are big Star Wars fans. They are Kiri and Mei-Mei, who both write great articles about the “Galaxy Far Far Away” and they also have a long running art project where each lady colours in a Star Wars Mandala image and compare their results with each other.

Kiri can be found at starwarsanon.com

Mei-Mei can be found at JediByKnight

Oh, and I very nearly forgot two more ladies I know of who have a great site dedicated to graphic novels. Nancy and Kathleen run the site Graphic Novelty2 and as you may have guessed write articles reviewing comic books and graphic novels. They range from Marvel and DC Comic favourites all the way through to more obscure independent artists and writers such as Jeff Lemire. Nancy and Kathleen are also fully fledged librarians so they know their stuff!

Again I apologise that this post doesn’t adhere to the Sunshine Blogger guidelines but I hope you enjoyed my answers and have fun checking out my recommendations. As a treat I did add a few never before seen images from my virtual saber collection that I have been working on recently. Thanks again to Annlyel for my nomination and don’t forget to visit her site. Now I have to get ready for this weekends’ post and will have to leave you….busy, busy, busy! Thanks for checking this post out. Till next time….

FTSabersite and all it’s content including all images and “For Tyeth Editions” designs are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019.

New Asguard “Phoenix” inspired by Marvel’s Thor

Hello Everybody, I have had a few pleasant surprises this week, one involving my design known as “New Asguard Saber”and a personal accolade that I have been honoured with. I will tell you more about the personal accolade later but first I have a funny story about my Asguard hilts. As many of you will know I had a design inspired by Thor which I was going to post back in January but “lost” the files when my laptop glitched whilst saving them to a backup drive. It wiped ALL the files and folders associated with the saber so I had to rebuild it from memory as the screenshots I took of the hilt were also deleted. However you will also be aware that I did rebuild the hilt and it triggered a few new variants including “Asguard One” the single bladed shoto version. Then whilst remodelling the design I imagined that I was pulling the saber out of the “fire of destruction” and wondered how it would look if charred and scorched. This led to me modifying the hilt so it had a dark grey coating to create a dark version hilt. And this is that dark version and I named it New Asguard Phoenix”…

New Asguard Phoenix saber 1

New Asguard Phoenix saber 2

New Asguard Phoenix One switch 1

New Asguard Phoenix One 2

New Asguard Phoenix One 3

New Asguard Phoenix One 4

New Asguard Phoenix One 5

The hilts are the same as New Asguard but just have a new colour scheme which makes the hilt look a bit more regal in a way. I have found black and gold work well together as a lot of members of the forum I frequent have commented they like that combination too. And the blades I gave a “fire orange” colour to represent the flames of destruction the saber escaped from. I think there must really be some Force or Magic connected to this hilt so I also produced a version with the Thor lightning blue colour too and here is that version…

New Asguard Phoenix Blue

New Asguard Phoenix Blue 2

New Asguard Phoenix Blue 3

New Asguard Phoenix Blue 4

New Asguard Phoenix Blue 5

New Asguard Phoenix Blue 6

New Asguard Phoenix Blue 7

Now so far this story hasn’t been that funny, well recently I started having issues with my email notifications from WordPress, they were being deleted as trash by my email host and I decided I needed to go through some old emails and delete them to see if that helped. Now this is where the magic comes in…whilst scrolling through the emails I found a message I sent to a very good friend and there was an attachment on it. I used to send this person sneak peeks of my upcoming hilts (as he helped critique them when I first started out designing) and low and behold the attachment was a picture of …Asguard Saber the ORIGINAL! I didn’t realise my email host archived the attachments and I forgot I had sent the picture but there it was staring back at me. So now I have a treat for you all, here is the ORIGINAL version of New Asguard so you can compare and see how well I reconstructed it…

Original Asguard Saber

“New Asguard Saber” hilt 1

This was the hilt I was so sad about losing but at least I now have a picture of it to keep. As you can see the basic shapes are very similar but I did lose the original pommel as I couldn’t remember the steps I took to make it. However I kinda like both versions, and to be honest I was able to do a much better job on the scroll work etching on New Asguard.

And as if that wasn’t enough of a surprise I found a notification in my email host telling me WordPress had a private message for me that needed moderating. WordPress never sent me a notification with the little bell function in the menu above. It is a good job that I checked it out as I have discovered I have been nominated for a blogging award! So next week I hope to post an acceptance post on Wednesday and I’ll have another new saber design for the weekend….I’m going to be busy!

So I think that just about wraps up this offering, I hope you enjoyed seeing the “Original” Asguard.  Please call back to FTSabersite next week for more new sabers and as always thank you everyone for your support today. It is much appreciated, Till next time….

“New Asguard Saber” and “New Asguard Phoenix” and it’s variants are original designs by For Tyeth. They are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019.

A Tribute to Peter Mayhew – Wookie Berserker Lightsaber

Hello Everybody, as promised last week I am dedicating this post to the great Peter Mayhew and Chewbacca. Ironically I had been working on a saber for Chewbacca for a month or two as a request by a member of Ultrasaber’s forum. I worked on an initial design but thought it could be improved upon and just as I finished it and was getting ready to post it the sad news of Peter Mayhew’s passing broke. So this hilt has become a tribute and memorial to Mr Mayhew.

Peter Mayhew was born in 1944 and suffered from Marfan Syndrome which resulted in his great height. At his tallest Peter measured in at 7 feet 3 inches (2.2 m) tall. And apparently he also had large feet, which led to his career taking off. Peter worked as a hospital orderly but an appearance in a local newspaper article about men with large feet brought him to the attention of a film company who needed an actor of large stature to portray a half man, half bull….or Minotaur. That film was Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. In the same year George Lucas was holding auditions for Star Wars and Peter decided to try out for a part. Originally Lucas was going to cast David Prowse as Chewbacca but Prowse took the role of Vader instead. This left a big Wookie shaped hole in Lucas’ cast. Then Peter turned up to audition for the part of  “a large hairy alien”. Peter was seated as Lucas and other execs approached him but just by standing up to his full 7″3′ height earned him the role, so imposing was his physique and movement. Chewbacca and Peter Mayhew became one and the same.

Peter Mayhew

Chewbacca

My friend on the Ultrasabers forum asked me if I had or could, make a hilt inspired by Chewbacca and the Wookies and I said I had done one a few years ago (see it HERE). However I said it needed updating as I’d used the old designing software I had access to. This meant I had to model a new Blender design from scratch. After a day or two I had this as a base:

But as you can guess I wasn’t quite happy with it and knew there was something I could do to improve it. It needed an iconic part that would link this to Chewie and that part came courtesy of Chewie’s actual weapon he used in Star Wars, the Bowcaster blaster rifle. The weapon looked like this:

Bowcaster Blaster Rifle

Chewie in action.

I looked at this rifle and realised the part was right there, the crossbow arms and the spheres on each end! I thought they would make a really unique Tsuba hand guard and so set about modifying the emitter. And the very moment I added the bow I knew I had something that might work. Here are the “Glamour Shots” then I’ll talk you through the details…

Wookie Berserker 1

Wookie Berserker 2

Wookie Berserker 3

Wookie Berserker 4

Wookie Berserker Pommel Cap

Wookie Berserker Bowcaster Emitter

Wookies come from the planet Kashyyyk, which is covered in forest and lakes so I thought a green blade would be appropriate and that blade erupts from a windowed emitter with the Bowcaster Tsuba.The Tsuba has the iconic energy spheres found on the blaster as well as a nice insert strip in a brown colour reminiscent of Chewie’s fur. The switch has a matching green light and is situated on a LARGE double handed grip section which features turreted blocks and silver accent bands. The handgrip is capped off with a special For Tyeth Edition lighted pommel. The pommel features a green crystal that I imagined contained some energy or essence of the forest and glowed when in use. When viewed from certain points of view the saber actually looks like a Bowcaster, but without the pistol handgrip and shoulder stock.

I thought this saber captured the character of Chewbacca and the Wookie species, in that it was aggressive looking when needed but also spiritual and mystical at the same time. Chewbacca was exactly the same, he was a loyal friend and peaceful ally but when needed he could be a powerful fearsome Berserker who “can rip your arms out of their sockets”. And Peter was a gentle giant himself, loyal, caring and gave back to his fans. He made numerous appearances as Chewie outside the films visiting children’s hospitals. He also stood up (all 7 foot 3) to bullies too, as one time he became aware of a young girl who was bullied at school for being a Star Wars fan. The girl suffered terribly because the boys said stuff like “you can’t like Star Wars…you’re a girl!” and “Go and play with your dolls, you’re not cool”. Well, upon hearing this story Peter and a charity arranged to meet the girl in person and prove the bullies wrong and let them know the girl was “Chewie’s friend”. The girl was soon considered cool afterwards! But most of this and his writing talent went unheard of. I think the biggest “news story” that involved Peter was when airport security stopped him at the check-in desk because he had a walking cane shaped like a lightsaber (that might have been used as a weapon)! Peter loved his fans and even as his health faltered he battled on playing Chewie up till The Force Awakens. Eventually he had to stop and didn’t appear in The Last Jedi, but did act as a consultant and mentor to Joonas Suatomo, the actor tasked with filling his role. Peter passed the Bowcaster to Joonas with dignity and class. And I wish to pass on this design in his memory. So I have two final images, the first is the memorial picture I posted last week and the second is a last minute edit I made to the design. Chewie became our big furry friend and so I had to make a “furry” version of this hilt and you can see it in the second image:

My memorial.

Wookie Berserker in Fur!

So I think I have covered this hilt and I hope you all enjoyed it and sharing a few memories with me. I wish to extend my condolences to his wife, Angelique Luker and their children Katy, Sheryl and Kathleen. May the Force be with all of you.

Thanks for looking in on Wookie Berserker, till next time….

“Wookie Berserker” is a For Tyeth Edition design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. “Chewbacca” was created by George Lucas and is a Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm.

The Destined One Saber and May The Fourth Be With You

Hello Everybody and happy “May The Fourth Be With You” day! Yes today is Star Wars day when fans of the franchise celebrate the story of a young farmboy named Luke, that lives on a desert planet called Tatooine. That is until he meets up with an old hermit wizard who is really a famous guardian warrior known as a Jedi Knight, and he sets off on a journey to save a Princess from the clutches of an evil Empire and a villain named Darth Vader.

Darth Vader, the villain of the story is a half man, half machine Dark Lord of the Sith who was once a Jedi Knight and peacekeeper of the galaxy. However he was corrupted and turned to the Darkside by events and the actions of his Master, the Emperor. Darth Vader is famous for the weapon he used, a red bladed lightsaber that instilled fear in all who saw it or faced it in combat. As Vader is the focal point of the story I felt I should concentrate on him and attempt to recreate a version of his lightsaber for this special day. Vader used three hilts in the original trilogy of films so I decided I would build a model similar to the one seen in “Star Wars A New Hope”.

Three Darth Vader replicas.

Darth Vader’s ANH hilt replica

The pictures above show the three hilt designs from the original trilogy of films and the single hilt picture shows the one I attempted to recreate from “A New Hope”. It isn’t 100% accurate as I built this from “eyeballing” the pictures above and estimating measurements but I hope I got pretty close. As always you can be the judge as I present “The Destined One Saber”…

“The Destined One” 1

“The Destined One” 2

“The Destined One” Emitter

“The Destined One” Switch and grip

“The Destined One” Pommel

“The Destined One” Switch and lever

“The Destined One” Topside

“The Destined One” Underside

I really worked hard on this hilt as there are lots of tiny details. Starting at the pommel, there are ridges around the circumference of the pommel (to help unscrew the part should you need to repair the internal components!) Then next up is the famous “T-Track” ribs on the handgrip. It was believed for a long time that these black strips were made from car windshield wiper blades but an interview with the prop designer Roger Christian explained how they were cut from runner strips used for holding sliding doors in furniture cabinets. There are also a set of accent rings that circle the hilt and sit beneath the strips. Next along is the switch section which has the lever and clamp band from a vintage camera flashgun and slotted into the clamp was a plastic strip with bubbles on. This strip is the screen from an Exactra 19 pocket calculator which magnified the LED digits. Further toward the emitter are a set of 6 lozenge shaped holes cut into the hilt which shows the brass coloured inner metal. The emitter has a few “Greeblies”, the decorative parts used to look like control knobs. In reality these were Terminal Wire Posts and Caps. Wires on old electric connections were wound onto a threaded post and a thumbscrew style cap screwed down to hold the wire in place. To finish the details there is a “D-Ring” loop to hang the saber from a hook on your belt. Oh and of course a Sith Red blade!

The Destined One Studio Wireframe

The Destined One Meditation Chamber

The Destined One Meditation Chamber Lit Up

In the above pictures you can see the wireframe display of the hilt as I built it in Blender and the last two images were my experiments to present the hilt in a more fancy manner. I attempted to build a plinth that resembled Darth Vader’s meditation chamber that we see in Empire Strikes Back. Again it’s not an exact copy but just something Sci-Fi looking. It also enabled me to try out different lighting set ups too.

Now some of you may be wondering why I named this hilt “The Destined One”? Well, it is due to the fact Darth Vader may be the one who brings balance to the Force as when he was known as Anakin he was discovered to be “The Chosen One” mentioned in the Jedi texts as the person to restore that balance. But I didn’t want to copy the name! I hope I have gotten somewhere close with this model as it is an icon of the films.

That just about wraps up this “May The Fourth” day post, but first I have to say thanks to all of you, my viewers and followers for your continued support of this site. I have noticed an increase in numbers of visitors which is nice. Whether you are a regular or one of the newcomers and this is your first visit, you are much appreciated. I’m not sure which hilt I will post next, I have a choice between the Jedi Fallen Order inspired hilt I teased recently or a remodelled weapon for a Wookie (EDIT: please see footnote below), but whichever I choose I hope you will return to check it out. May The Fourth Be With You today and always…Till next time….

EDIT: Due to the sad news of the passing of Peter Mayhew (on April 30th) the actor who portrayed Chewbacca I will be showcasing the Wookie saber “Wookie Berserker” next as my tribute to Mr Mayhew.

“The Destined One” Saber is a For Tyeth Editions design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. The design is inspired by the hilt of “Darth Vader” seen in “Star Wars A New Hope”. “Star Wars”, “Darth Vader” and all related names, logos, images and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm.

Farewell Mr Mayhew MTFBWY

It is with an extremely heavy heart that I discovered Mr Peter Mayhew has passed away. As you may have seen I had been teasing a new design for a “Wookie Warrior”, well as you will have worked out it was a design inspired by Chewbacca who Mr Mayhew portrayed from 1977 all the way to 2015.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the immediate family and close friends of Mr Mayhew and I wish I could have thanked him for all he gave me  as a fan. I will post my full gallery next week, for now I raise Wookie Berserker in his honour.

Peter “Chewbacca” Mayhew