Tyeth Industries Experimentals FTX-MG – A new Tie Fighter

Hello everyone, I hope you all enjoyed last week’s offering the Ahsoka sabers. Luckily I haven’t been contacted by any big companies so I guess they liked my hilt and bit of artwork. Today though I have another spaceship from my sister design bureau and this time it is a fighter which first appeared in the cartoon “Star Wars: Rebels”. In season 2 episode 15 (titled “The Call”) the heroes were searching for fuel supplies and planned a heist to steal valuable fuel from an Imperial cargo ship. But as you can guess it didn’t quite go to plan and the Rebel crew of The Ghost came across a gas mining refinery base built in an asteroid belt….and it had large supplies of fuel on the landing platforms. The Rebels decide to space walk then free-fall onto the facility, prepare the supplies then fly The Ghost down to scoop up their bounty. Things were going well at first, that is until some unknown starfighters appeared, to defend the base and it’s fuel supplies.

Gas Refinery Asteroid Base – Star Wars Rebels ©Disney/Lucasfilm

One Rebel called out “They don’t look like Imperials!” to which his friend replied, “But they act like Imperials!!!” Anyhoo enough talk, you want to see this newly discovered fighter and so I have a few wireframe images to share…here’s Gallery 1….

As you can see this “new” starfighter is very similar to a regular Imperial TIE-Fighter…except for TWO big differences. First up the stabiliser wings have notches cut out of them to give it’s pilot better visibility from the cockpit which is very striking. And second the ship is very distinct in it’s yellow paintjob! Unfortunately though each time I see this ship from the side I can’t help but think of PAC-MAN! Can’t think why! Seriously, the wings design has advantages and disadvantages…the pilot can see more clearly which helps in combat but losing the extra solar collector panels means it has less performance and speed. However the Mining Guild did add a little extra special feature to this ship….artificial atmosphere! This means the Rodian pilots can fly these ships without needing to wear full pressurised flight suits and life support kits.

I managed to acquire one of these fighters in a game of chance so how would you like to join me taking this for a test spin? Animation time….

In among the rocks!

The ship flies surprisingly well considering the modifications the Mining Guild made. I did like the fact I can fly one of these without a flight suit because I can wear my Jedi robes comfortably sat in the cockpit. So after testing the ship in space I needed to do an atmospheric condition test flight so I flew to the planet of Lothal where a lot of TIE Fighters were built. I found some nice canyons and had some fun. Here are the pictures, oh and another video!….

I managed to avoid any “Imperial Entanglements” for Low Flying over Lothal and set about heading home where I could hangar my new ship, then relax and get back to designing…here’s my journey home….

So in conclusion, even if this ship looks like a character from an 80’s arcade game it isn’t one to mess with, it is still deadly flown by the wrong hands. And I think I’m kinda beginning to like PAC-MAN, that yellow is so striking it sort of surprises your enemies seeing such a bright ship! And it does brighten up my hangar bay….

Back home and in my hangar…my little TIE-Fighter FTX-MG!

That just about wraps up this design, I hope you liked it as much as I liked building and flying about in it! Just before I go back to work though I’d like to finish with my regular thank you message. To all my viewers/readers/friends thanks as always for supporting me and my site you are all appreciated and I welcome you to call back for future posts as I have much more to share including a multicoloured double bladed staff, more Clone Wars and Rebels inspired designs and more ships…a new “Rapier” style hilt….too much to list. Till next time…

“Tyeth Industries Experimentals FTX-MG” is a For Tyeth Editions 3D model inspired by the TIE-MG Tie Fighter in Star Wars Rebels. The model, renders and videos were produced by For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020 and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth?FTSabersite 2020. “Star Wars: Rebels”, “Mining Guild TIE Fighter” and all other related names, images and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

Balance Point Sabers – new for Ahsoka Tano

Hello everybody, I seem to have a thing about pairs at the moment – Twin Ion Engines, Dyads, a new pair of boots (I’m still waiting for these but am nearly at half distance for waiting time – I hope) and today I continue the theme of two by revisiting an old idea and a fan favourite character. A long time ago I designed a hilt for “Snips” or as she is also known, Ahsoka Tano. This old design was built with the old software I had access to at the time and I felt, after watching the final season of The Clone Wars and the newer Star Wars Rebels cartoon that I needed to build a new saber for Ahsoka. I watched the final season of Clone Wars and Ahsoka, having left the Jedi Order was living a shadowy existence in the Outer Rim colonies and a planet named Thabeska. Thabeska was rife with crime syndicates but Ahsoka befriended two sisters (two again!). One of the sisters was a mechanic and Ahsoka “crash landed” her speeder bike outside her garage and needed to repair her vehicle. During one scene Ahsoka was working on her bike and I noticed one of the bike parts on the workbench and I immediately thought “Ooh that’d make a nice saber” So I set about rebuilding the shock absorber into a lightsaber! Here is the first gallery…

These three images don’t exactly represent a suspension strut but the saber was originally a shock absorber, the spring forms the ridges on the handgrip and the emitter section is the hydraulic cylinder section. You may also just be able to make out the little flanges on the emitter where it would bolt onto the bike frame and these little flanges form a rather nifty little detail that tells you this saber belongs to Tano. See if you can pick out the identifying detail in this second batch of pictures….

Ahsoka’s speeder bike was black and silver/white so that dictated the colour scheme and worked out quite nicely. The bike also had flashes of yellow which just gave the look a splash of colour. If you didn’t see or recognise the identifying detail I mentioned it was the striped pattern on the mouth of the emitter which represents a very prominent physical feature of Ahsoka – her Lekku. Lekku are the tentacle like appendages which people sometimes mistake for a head-dress. The Lekku are actually a part of her anatomy and change size and colour with age – showing the age/maturity of the individual. OK, the picture didn’t quite show the detail quite as well so I will show you my second version of the hilt which has a different colour scheme and you’ll easily see the markings then! Another batch of pictures!….

This colour scheme was inspired by the closing stages of The Clone Wars series. In particular the story of Ahsoka’s re-union with her former Master, Anakin Skywalker and her platoon of Clone Soldiers. The platoon, upon hearing of their former Padawan Jedi leader’s return, painted their helmets with a special pattern in her honour. The helmets were orange with the white tribal markings to represent those marks Ahsoka has on her face and forehead. I just thought that’d make a spectacular saber. Now the final image in this gallery really shows off that detail of Ahsoka’s Lekku in the form of the blue and white striped pattern running around the mouth of the emitter and tailing off down the body of the hilt. Finally some of you technical minded readers may be wondering “How do you switch this thing on?” and the answer is built into the geometric logo on the hilt just below the “Tribal markings”. That logo is the symbol that Ahsoka adopted as a moniker for her secret identity whilst she was working undercover for the….well I better not say who, what or why in case you still have to watch Clone Wars and Rebels but the logo and the name have significant meaning. I will say “Balance Point” is a hint at that name – so if you are a mechanical engineer you may know the technical name for a balance point! And speaking of balance if you connect two sabers together they need to be balanced and these hilts are no different and can also be connected to form a staff double bladed weapon…

Just one final thing – I was really pleased how this design turned out and I wanted to know what they would have looked like had they actually been in the cartoon so I produced a bit of “Trick Photography” and came up with this image I used as the header picture for this post – I thought you might like to see a clean version of the picture without the text…

And with that it just about wraps up this post. I hope you enjoyed it, I know I had fun watching the shows and getting inspired to build these. But the inspiration didn’t stop with a saber for Snips….I still have around 8 more hilts to show you and…I have been getting requests to build more spaceships. I have TWO more TIE Fighters and a Star Destroyer from the Unknown regions to bring to you in future posts.

As always I’d like to thank you all again for the support you show me and FTSabersite. It keeps me designing and battling to improve my skills. I appreciate all the comments and likes and I really hope you’ll call back to see the warehouse full of goodies I have to show in the near future. So stay safe and as always. Till next time…..

“Balance Point Sabers” are a pair of sabers designed by For Tyeth and the design, models and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. The hilts were inspired by the character Ahsoka Tano who appears in “Star Wars – The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels” both of which are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

FTX-1 TIE Fighter – Tyeth Industries Experimental

Hello everybody and today we blast back into space with another iconic starfighter and if I were to type this shape

I-O-I

You might just recognise which stafighter without me saying anything else! Yes today I turn my attention to the Empire’s most feared fighter. That fighter is the Sienar Fleet Systems’ TIE Fighter. The name some may not know is an acronym representing the ship’s type designation. T.I.E. stands for Twin Ion Engine Fighter as it features twin Ion powered engines which are a bit like compressors but without any moving parts! The engines aren’t the only unique feature as the ship has distinct hexagonal “solar panel” wings and an “eyeball” cockpit section. The cockpit was a dangerous place to be for Imperial pilots as the ships didn’t have an atmospheric system meaning they had to wear sealed flight suits…but worse, they didn’t have a Hyperdrive and they didn’t carry shield generators making them vulnerable. TIE Pilots were considered expendable and the Empire relied on overwhelming numbers rather than smaller quantities of quality piloted ships. So on this sad note I decided I would try and improve this design and build a new fighter I call the T.I.E. Fighter or Tyeth Industries Experimental fighter!

Sharp eyed readers may have also spotted the Bladerunner “Spinner” Police Flying Cars in the background of these pics…I have no idea where they came from but I think Han Solo was piloting one of them 🙂

As you can see I started with a basic model to begin with as I was working from memory and wanted to tweak the wings but I wasn’t happy with what I came up with. The wings were too stubby/boxy if you know what I mean, they didn’t look right at all. I did get the fuselage and cockpit sort of OK, it has twin laser cannons under the front windshield and there are the two engines – but as always I wanted to do better. So I wheeled the model back into the workshop and came up with this upgrade…

These wireframes clearly show I modified those blocky winglets from my first version and the segments have checkered solar panels! I also elongated the wing mount pylons, making the ship slightly wider but more sleek. This reduces the cross section and makes the ship hard to hit with lasers – though the wings are still large targets. More importantly I added a few more bits of panelling to allow installation of a Hyperdrive and shields! This revised version needed testing so I took it for a spin…

The flights took place within the atmosphere just so I could evaluate the handling and characteristics, which I’m pleased to say were quite nice and responsive. The ship had a good roll rate so you can spin, cos “Spinning….that’s a good move, WHOOAAA!” Sorry I came over a bit Anakin there! But having passed the in atmosphere tests I needed to get this out into orbit and stretch it’s legs, here are a few images from my extended range flight tests! Another gallery…

I gotta say this new FT TIE Fighter can really move! It’s a good job I am not putting it into production or the Rebellion would be in BIG trouble. I managed to find some picturesque locations for my test and got some nice pictures. However I am particularly pleased how the last image turned out as the colouring made the pic look like a 1977 style poster! (I also used it as my post title image ^^)

That just about wraps up this design, I had great fun recreating a classic TIE Fighter to go with my reworked X-Wing and I hope you liked it too. Before I go I need to let you know I still have a further TIE variant that I have modelled and will feature in an upcoming post…but that’s not all I have another SEVEN hilts and my big new battle-ready starship has been approved by my friend who asked me to design it. This means I have another post for that. Phew! I think that’s all the news. Thank you so much to each and every one of you who visited FTSabersite today, whether it’s your first trip here or if you’re one of my regular readers/followers – you’re all much appreciated and please comment, like and call back for future posts. Till next TIEm….

“FTX-1 TIE Fighter – Tyeth Industries Experimental” is a For Tyeth Editions 3D model inspired by the TIE Fighter seen in the Star Wars universe. The models and renderings are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. The “Sienar Fleet System TIE Fighter” and all names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

Lost Build Two – Another FT Original

Hello everybody, I continue today with my series of “recovered” hilts with the second of the Lost Files. Again as I thought I had lost this design I didn’t give it a name. This hilt has a few more features built in as I pushed Blender’s workflow and features. As a result I had a saber that could be either Lightside Jedi or Darkside Sith….depending on your point of view (and the colour scheme you pick!) I will add that I don’t have work in progress images for this one but there are still a dozen images for you to look at. Here is the first gallery…starting with a spooky shadow…

This hilt has an aggressive attitude and a whole viper’s nest of claws! Not only claws but windows (no not Microsoft 😏) a “grenade grip” main body and an FTE lighted pommel. The improved workspace in Blender allowed me to quickly model and texture this hilt and add special little details with just a couple of mouse clicks. I am particularly pleased with the claws, because not only does it have six of them (double the number I used on my Gre’thor Blade – A Klingon inspired field weapon hilts) but they have illuminated elements built into them. Here is gallery two…

I really like the idea of lit claws and I think they should be possible to build in real life using fibre optic cables such as those found on “Fibre Optic Tree” lamp decorations and in Modified Custom Car interior designs. The lit pommel isn’t quite as fancy as the one I built for the Zygerrian Sting Saber sabers but I did build this design earlier, however I may return to this and update the crystal and improve on it. Finally I mentioned above this could be a Sith styled hilt with a change of colour so here are a couple of the Sith variant and a couple of pics of what I have coming up! A sneaky Sith sneak peek!…

These new hilts are inspired by the cartoon series “The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels” and represent about half of the sabers I still have to show. As soon as I bring you a new lightsaber I am already working on the next batch…and I may soon be able to bring you a MASSIVE new ship as well. Lots to look forward to, I hope.

This just abut wraps things up for this post, except to say thank you so much for your visit today. As always whether this is your first time on FTSabersite or you are a regular visitor you are much appreciated and don’t forget to leave a comment or like and if you can spread the word about this little corner of the internet that would be fantastic. So stay safe and…..Till next time….

“Lost Build Two” is a For Tyeth Editions design and all images and design are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. Star Wars, Rebels and The Clone Wars and all other names, logos, and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.