It is with great sadness that I find that Dave Prowse, the body and actor beneath the Darth Vader suit has passed away, aged 85. He was a giant of the acting galaxy but probably never got as much recognition as he should have earlier in Star Wars history (as he was kept in secrecy behind the mask to preserve his mystique). Dave was however seen in film and on screen if you knew how to recognise him, he appeared in several Hammer Horror movies with Peter Cushing (usually playing Frankenstein’s monster or the Mummy) and for kids of the UK back in the 1980’s will remember him as the face of a government road safety campaign. He was the Green Cross Code Man, a superhero that taught kids how to safely cross roads as well as the Dark Lord that tried to rule the galaxy far far away!
David Prowse Green Cross Code Man – Credit: Daily Mail Newspaper Group
David was a proud Bristol born gentleman who had a career in bodybuilding which led to him getting the roles in the Hammer movies due to his physique. He also appeared in A Clockwork Orange with Malcolm McDowell . Dave was then cast as the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, though we didn’t hear him as his dialogue was famously dubbed over by James Earl Jones due to his West Country accent.
I obviously haven’t had chance to build or design a hilt in his honour but I did model Darth Vader’s hilt a while ago so I will repost the pictures here…
My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr Prowse’s family, friends and the Star Wars community at large. You were the ultimate on screen villain but a gentle green giant off it.
May the Force keep and protect you forever more My Lord….
Hello Everybody, I hope you have all had fun spending your money on the Black Friday sales and got some bargains. I recently got two bargains my new Jedi robe and a new saber which I have mentioned before. Well I have a couple of sneak peeks at the end of this post of the saber but first I’d like to show off a saber I built after I came into possession of some Coaxium!
Now Coaxium is a very special and expensive commodity. It is a substance used to fuel spaceships and costs a small fortune as it has a complex refining process. You may have seen Coaxium in the movie SOLO – A Star Wars Story – it is the glowing blue crystaline substance in the metallic cylinders Han and Chewie attempt to “steal” for Dryden Vos of Crimson Dawn (you can see the vials in the pics above). Well I managed to obtain a few cannisters of unrefined Coaxium myself and thought “Hmm, if this is starship fuel…what would it do in a lightsaber?” So I built a saber powered by Coaxium. First off I needed smaller capsules to contain the stuff so here are my containment capsules…
The pinkish purple helix are the molecules of Coaxium before they are compressed into the crystals seen in the movie. When this capsule is attached to my new hilt it automatically injects and compresses the substance and creates enormous power for the saber! And it takes a skilled Jedi Master to control this amount of energy…I nearly cut a hole in the wall of my cave when I first tried using this! But you want to see the saber itself too don’t you? OK here are the Glamour shots of my “Coaxium Saber”…
I decided to go with an elegant classic look to the saber with a pretty emitter and thin necked design. The emitter and neck have nice contrasting accents and tops a very comfortable ribbed handgrip. The handgrip is reminiscent of both Luke Skywalker’s and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s sabers but is slightly less awkward to hold as there is no “control box” just a single illuminated activation switch. Then at the pommel end of the hilt is where the magic or chemistry happens! You attach the capsule to the bottom of the handgrip, then pull the endcap out to extend the inner tube – then just like a hypodermic syringe press the tube back down into the hilt! This activates the refining process and turns the Helix compounds into the crystals which in turn are drawn into the saber to power it. AND MAN does it have a kick! You can see in the pictures I had to add several hex-head bolts to strengthen this thing.
OK, the Coaxium Saber is elegant and simple yet complex at the same time (in my honest opinion) and I have to say I enjoyed designing this. But I have some other interesting pictures to show you of an equally fun saber….my newly acquired Flyte saber. Now I have mentioned that this lightsaber has colour changing technology so the blade isn’t restricted to one set colour. This saber has four small LEDs, each a different colour, in the emitter and by controlling the voltage to each LED you can mix different colours. This is done by programming a few numbers into a file the circuit board reads to control the light – and it works in a similar way to how “Colour Balance” on a TV works with settings for Red Green and Blue on screen. I connected my saber to my laptop to charge up and to examine the sound effects files when I discovered the file that controls the light effects and I found out I can type in new numbers and set colours. So I now have a green blade with an orange flash effect when it clashes with another blade! Just like Qui-Gon Jinn’s did in The Phantom Menace. I can’t show all the colours but here are three sneak peeks….
EEK! How did that red saber get in there! Don’t worry, I haven’t turned to the Darkside, I just posted this to show what the Flyte can do! I will attempt to get some more pictures of the hilt and do a proper review, possibly in next week’s post.
I am running out of time for this post, I hope you liked the design and the new technology I came up with for it. I have an even more decorative hilt that also uses this Coaxtech (< I just realised I should have called the saber this!) which I’ll post in an upcoming post. But for now I’d like to say a big thank you to all of you for checking this out and I really hope you’ll call back for more. I appreciate the support of me and my site, especially in these crazy and busy holiday times. So stay safe and enjoy any celebrations responsibly. Till next time….
“Coaxium Saber” and “Coaxtech” are “For Tyeth Edition” creations and are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. “Coaxium” appears in SOLO – A Star Wars Story which is Trademark/Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.
Hello Everyone, just a quick post to let you know that things are moving very fast for For Tyeth this week. Not only did my Jedi robe arrive yesterday (20th Nov) BUT my new Ultimate Works Flyte saber has been delivered!!! YAY!!!
I received a notification quoting a Monday 23rd delvery but this morning a TXT message pinged my phone saying DHL were dropping the saber off today. And WOW oh WOW! The hilt is sleek, smooth, is nicely constructed and has a semi gloss piano black finish….plus it feels just right to hold for duelling. I found out it has some really nice sound fonts too (each set of character sounds is called a “font”) and this hilt has 6 fonts built in! But as a tease you will have to wait till my review to find out what sounds it has and see pictures of it but in the meantime here is the product picture again…
I won’t say too much more except that I am EXTREMELY happy with my purchase on first impressions…I’ll see how it holds up over the next few months etc.
Oh and the Jedi robe? That is something equally as spectacular – I’m gonna be the best robed Jedi in the galaxy – but again I’ll review it and have pictures in upcoming posts.
Thanks for checking out this post so I could share some positive news with you all, I hope you stay safe and you all have as good a day as I am having. Till next time…..
Legal stuff: For Tyeth and FTSabersite are NOT affiliated or connected to Ultimate Works or their distributor The Pach Store. I am just a paying customer and have received no payments or incentives. The “FLYTE” is a Trademark/Copyright of Ultimate Works 2020.
Hello Everybody! DONG!…..(the lights go out!)….DONG!….(an eerie mist begins to build)….DONG!….a deathly march fills the air with a purple light…lightning crackles…then the “Deadman” appears! This could only describe one event and that would be the entrance of the world famous pro wrestler The Undertaker! So as you may have guessed today’s post is a wrestling themed saber design and is for the Undertaker, who is sadly retiring from in-ring competition this weekend after ruling the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment brand for…30 years!
The Undertaker’s WWF debut at Survivor Series Nov 22nd 1990
The Undertaker began wrestling in 1984 as a character called “Texas Red”. In 1987 he wrestled his debut against Bruiser Brody. He lost the match but after a short three year stint to pay his dues, Undertaker then joined the big company – The World Wrestling Federation (or WWF). He first appeared as “Kane the Undertaker” but at Survivor Series (a big Pay-per-view show) he was referred to as just “The Undertaker”. He demolished one opponent with his signature move called the Tombstone Piledriver, where he grabs a person round the waist, lifts the guy upside down and drops them (safely) onto their head. A phenomenon had begun. Undertaker was a force to be reckoned with and of course I felt for his achievements he deserved a new saber…this is what I came up with…
The ‘Taker was 6ft 10in tall and around 310 pounds (billed as 7ft 1in) so was intimidating in his black and purple mortician/undertaker outfit. He was impervious to pain and basically your worst nightmare…so this saber needed to be imposing. I achieved this by making the hilt a traditional crossguard that kind of resembles his logo which I also modelled and used as an adornment. The crossguard “quillons” and emitter are edged in purple just like the Taker’s costume (which had purple boots and gauntlets).
The handgrip has beautiful angled rings of silver to give better grip and to break up the solid black colour a bit. And talking of breaking things up, the Undertaker gave a beating to anyone who crossed him and featured in some hellish matches. These matches have become legendary especially his “Casket Match”, “Boiler Room Brawl” and the “Hell In A Cell” (HIAC). Taker took part in a HIAC with fellow wrestler Mick Foley (also known as Mankind) whilst he had a fractured ankle…but it was the fact he threw Mankind off the top of the 20 foot high steel cage of the cell surrounding the ring that was amazing. Foley landed on and destroyed an announcer’s table, somehow surviving, after which he reclimbed the cell and continued fighting Undertaker on top of the demonic structure…
The Hell In A Cell inspired pommel
The battle continued and swung back and forth until Taker Chokeslammed (the opponent is grabbed by the neck, lifted up vertically and slammed flat onto their back) Foley onto the roof of the cell. Not once …but twice and an OMG moment occurred. When Taker slammed Mankind a second time, the roof of the cell gave way and Mankind fell through the roof onto the ring beneath!! Somehow both men lived to tell the tale of this match and eventually Taker reached this point having reigned over WWF/WWE for 30 years. To recognise this I added an emblem to the hilt…
But back to this design here are a few more images…
There is WAY too much information to attempt to list in this post so I encourage you to search for more info on Mark Calaway and his Undertaker persona and check out some of his memorable matches on YouTube. I want to thank Mark for the sacrifices he has made to his life and health in entertaining me over the three decades. He was the greatest “big man” wrestler I saw, who could do things smaller guys struggled to do, such as walking tight-rope along the top ring rope for his “Old School” move. He was technically brilliant and always developed new moves to keep himself relevant and exciting. But most of all, he was a fan of the fans and appreciated them. I hope he likes my new revised hilt.
I hope he likes my design, I wouldn’t wanna fight this guy!
So Thank You Taker! May you enjoy your new lifestyle – you have earned it. Undertaker will take his bow at the Survivor Series pay-per-view this weekend (22nd Nov) and you can watch it wherever WWE content is broadcast.
Now I have to bring this post to an end and let it “Rest In Peace” as it were. I have a new robe to try on, it arrived today and man oh man does it look good! But before I go I need to say thanks to all of you for checking this design and post out today. Your support is always appreciated and keeps me creating. Whether this is your first visit or you regularly call back thanks so much. Till next time….
“Reaper – Undertaker’s 30 Year Streak” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020. “The Undertaker” and “Mankind” appear on World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment programming and all names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/Copyright of Titan Sports/WWE Entertainment.
Hello Everybody, bet you didn’t think I’d be posting today and so soon after my regular weekend slot. WELL….I have some exciting news…I have managed to acquire through a game of chance a new lightsaber! Sort of! I discovered that a well known saber supply company based in Hong Kong was releasing a new saber for the Black Friday Sales and as I had some spare credits I managed to snag one of the first batch of 100 they were selling!
NOW BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER I WILL POINT OUT FOR LEGAL REASONS, THAT I AM JUST A CUSTOMER AND HAVE PURCHASED ONE OF THESE HILTS. I AM IN NO WAY CONNECTED TO OR ASSOCIATED WITH THIS COMPANY. OK?
Image Credit: The PachStore
As you can see the hilt is named the “Flyte” and is quite a reasonable price. A very good price in fact considering the features this hilt packs (though after the first 100 are sold the price will go up to $139 and at the time of writing this there were only 8 left!) Not only is the saber machined from aircraft grade Aluminium but it features a chassis system to hold all the internal components securely so they don’t rattle around inside and get damaged. The hilt has lights AND sounds – multiple colours of light and multiple sets of sound effects so I can mix and match. One day I may feel a bit moody and switch the blade to Red, or another day I might set the saber to sound like Luke Skywalkers’. The on site video says that the sounds are configurable via the USB connector so I think I may be able to load new sets of sounds onto the saber when I get bored of the default effects. So this hilt has multiple colours, sounds and the sounds are “Blended” so they don’t have gaps or clicking noises when each recording starts/stops as you swing the hilt. It has the chassis to make the hilt “duel worthy” meaning when I’m at a Comic Con in future and any little Sith or Jedi have a swing at me the saber will withstand any potential damage 😀
The saber is available in plain silver, black or a vivid red finish though I chose a black version (I already have a regular silver coloured hilt and thought black would contrast nicely for a change).
The reason I got this hilt is so when I am at Comic Cons (hopefully) I will have my costume and two hilts so folk can pose with me and have a saber too if they don’t happen to have one. But for now I am eagerly awaiting for it to be delivered. I’ll let you know about it as soon as I get it and do an unboxing review.
That’s my news for today, thanks for checking it out. Now as long as I’m not breaking any rules I’ll leave the link to the PachStore’s saber pages below so you can take a look (they also sell movie collectibles).
“The Flyte” lightsaber is a product of the PachStore based in Hong Kong. For Tyeth/FTSabersite are not associated or connected to the company in any way, I have just purchased one of these sabers on offer. Any trademarks/copyrights, images or IPs belong to their respective owners.
Hello Everybody, hope you are all well. Today I feel a lot better than the past couple of weeks as my fears over being able to continue designing, posting and the general quality of my output have been allayed. Many people have commented on my Spectre sabers from last week and never even realised the pictures weren’t up to my usual standard – they just commented on the designs themselves…so that was pleasing. So I bring you another video gaming and anime classic in saber form. This time I have a Dragon Ball Z insired version of my Ultrasabers Aeon modified hilt series (so far I have created a GOTG Yondu design https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2020/10/10/yondu-saber-inspired-by-gotgs-yondu-undonta/ and one for Sonic the Hedgehog https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2020/10/31/super-sonic-saber-inspired-by-a-blue-hedgehog/) and it is based on the character of Goku in his “Super Saiyan” mode. I don’t play DBZ so I don’t know the full background/history but I know Goku is the face character of the game and was originally a part human/part simian character with a tail. Gradually over time the tail became less prevalent but Goku’s ability to transform into a super powered muscle bound warrior remained. Oh and his hair changes from black to a very striking spiky yellow style! Enough talk….onto the images…
I will be embedding the images one at a time for now as I am still testing out how to get the best results. I now have to take “Screenshots” of my computer screen as I work on the design then using photo-editing software I crop the unwanted menu bars and Windows from the image. You will see a few tabs at the bottom of the images now and then but I’ll work on erasing those too in future galleries. Onto the next picture…
In the show Dragon Ball Z, Goku is a warrior that was originally sent to Earth to destroy our planet – however when he arrived on our world he was dropped down a mountainside, hitting his head and he forgot his mission. He then battles the forces of evil as various warlords and evil versions of himself land on Earth and attempt to take over the world (sounds like Pinky and the Brain from Animaniacs!). This happens over 7 series of the animated show so there is too much detail to cover in one post so how about another couple of Glamour Shots? Ok….
I based this saber’s colour scheme on Super Saiyan with the spiky yellow hair and there’s no prize for guessing how I incorporated that detail into the hilt. Of course I just repainted the spines around the emitter to match the hairstyle and to show how close I got here is a side-by-side comparison…
The orange and blue are easy to identify – I think I managed to colour match Goku’s Shaolin inspired uniform quite nicely with the saber. The saber is activated by the single switch and emits a brilliant yellow blade. So far I think the images work so here is a close up of that activation switch and emitter to see how the quality fares up…
Thankfully I think the details are still quite clear and the shine and glow effects show well. So I am happier knowing that I can still post to a high level. I am also happier because I may soon be receiving my new Jedi Robe that I have ordered – on Monday it will be 4 weeks since I placed my order so anytime after that and it may drop at my doorstep!
I would also like to say thanks to you all for sticking with me and I hope you enjoyed this post and design. I have many more bespoke original designs for future posts, inspired by pop culture classics and a new set of sabers in the style of Star Wars The High Republic (Disney/Lucasfilm’s new era of Star Wars stories and material). I hope you will all return to check out what I have in store. Whether you are a first time viewer or a regular caller thank you for the support, it means a lot and helped me to work through my tech issues! So MTFBWY…..Till Next Time….
“Super Saiyan Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design (Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020) inspired by the video game and anime show “Dragon Ball Z”. The saber is a modified version of an Ultrasabers’ Aeon V4. All trademarks and Copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Hello everybody and if you are here that means you survived the horrors and pictures from Halloween last week! Sadly though not everything survived…yep, it’s happened…my ever struggling laptop has finally given up the ghost and is now on the scrapheap. The laptop has once again indicated a “Fan Error” yet the fan is physically working but shuts down after a few seconds and the laptop turns off. This I have read is either a software/OS issue or a motherboard issue. Well I have to exclude the software and issue an apology, Microsoft and Windows wasn’t the cause of the problem in total as this has occurred whilst running Linux. Sorry Microsoft. That means it is a power regulator function on the motherboard and can’t be fixed…replaced yes, but I may as well buy a new machine. That means I am restricted to the lower spec laptop I borrowed to keep designing and posting with. I’m not happy about it as there are a lot of problems in that my new model files won’t load properly into an older version of Blender so I have a LOT of work trying to reverse engineer them to run and render in old Blender.
Ugh! BUT! I do still have a new saber and staff to show you which I call Spectre and here is the first gallery of pics I was able to create…
This is a design I made this last week using the old Blender and old laptop but I am disappointed with the quality of the pictures. I can’t render the model to the quality I have showcased this past 9 months or so. The images are grainy and speckled despite best efforts to remove the distortion. But the model itself I think is nice and has a unique feature on the emitter. The emitter has a series of slots cut into six recessed grooves, and to achieve this I modelled six bolts and arranged them into a circle and joined them together into one part. This resulted in a cylinder with six threaded prongs. I used this part as a “Cutter” to create a cut out in another cylinder and the threads on the prongs cut the slotted windows! This allowed the saber blade to shine through nicely – a very hi-tech look. Here is a second gallery…
In these pictures you can see the slotted windows a little better and you will notice the recessed activation/control switches. These again are built from Hex-Head bolts – the type you use a hexagonal Allen Key to tighten. I reshaped the head socket and added a glowing effect to the inner section of the socket which created a nice looking switch. In the final two images you can see the blade emitter matrix (the wheel shaped decorative piece) which casts cool reflections inside the emitter socket and the cooling vent in the pommel base. As Blender seemed to be able to handle this amount of detail I decided to make a Darkside version and gave the weapons red blades for the Sith fans out there…
The Sith red colour definitely gives this design a much more ominous look! The red stripe you see is actually the red blade which I moved out of camera shot (rather than deleting it) casting a reflection onto the hilt. It kinda works well. But please let me know what you think of the images, are they too “grainy” and distorted or do they do the job?
I am drawing to a close on this post but I am working on improving on what I have to work with technically now and I am looking at buying a new PC (most likely a desktop) but it will take time. Hopefully you will stick around and keep checking in to see what I come up with (I do still have some things in the pipeline). Thanks so much for all the support you have given me so far on my journey, it has been very welcome, needed at times and appreciated. So whether this is your first visit or you are a regular viewer/reader thanks so much and remember to comment, like or follow if you haven’t already…and I hope to see and chat again soon. Till next time….
“Spectre Staff and Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. It was built in Blender 2.82.
FTSabersite 