“Bane” Saber – It’s Bane…Cad Bane

Hello Everybody and welcome to another Bad Batch inspired saber…sort of. You see, the character that inspired this hilt made a recent appearance in the new animated series when something clicked and I felt compelled to create a design for him. That character is the bounty hunter Cad Bane. Cad was highly regarded as the best hunter in the business after Jango Fett’s death at the Battle of Geonosis (in Attack of the Clones) and it isn’t surprising he is so good as Cad trained with Jango for a while. Cad also had many skirmishes during the Clone War period including kidnapping Force sensitive children, hunting down Jabba the Hutt’s nephew , competing to win the job of kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine (only to be foiled by a heavily disguised Obi-Wan Kenobi) to name a few.

Cad was from the planet Duros and had blue skin and red eyes (similar to Thrawn) but had no obvious nose. Instead he had a flat plate running from his forehead between his eyes and down to his mouth. In case you haven’t seen Cad before here is a picture…

“I’ll take on any job…if the price is right!” Cad Bane

As you can see Cad has the face of a western style gunslinger complete with hat and toothpick! And his costume is quite cowboy inspired too with a space age twist. So I had best show you the saber I came up with for him….this is (literally) Bane….

I said that this saber WAS Bane! Cad’s look was so distinctive I just had to try and replicate him in saber form. Of course this isn’t designed for “real” use but as a showpiece hilt. I did, long ago create a “character saber” to look like General Grievous but that was just the cyborg’s head I modelled – this time with the bounty hunter I modelled the whole person! (You can check out “Kaleesh – A saber for General Grievous” by clicking this link: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2018/09/15/kaleesh-saber-a-design-for-general-grievous/ )

This hilt features a lot of details such as the buckles on his waistcoat (or vest for my US viewers) and below the vest are two belts of fake ammunition – all of which is 3D modelled. At the pommel you can see two sets of silvery cannisters which are meant to be Bane’s rocket boot thrusters…and wrapping all of this detail together is his “Duster Trenchcoat” forming the handgrip! Bane’s face can easily be seen just below the emitter. Here is Glamour Gallery 2 showing a few close up details…

Starting with picture 1 you can clearly see the vest buckles (which are in reality “plus and minus” control buttons for functions of the saber – press the left side of a buckle decreases a value, press the right hand segment to increase it) and the twin bandolier belts of gun cartridges. In pics 2 and 3 you can see the emitter with and without the blade – and the emitter and flange reflector plate form…his hat! Yes in picture four you get a full frontal image of Bane’s face – I decided that if I could model Iron Man’s mask on a saber (see it here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2019/04/06/mark-for-t-40-saber-inspired-by-marvels-iron-man-pt-1/ ) then I could model Cad’s features. Look closely and you will see two hoses project out from a sort of lower face covering. You may think these are some sort of breathing apparatus because he has no visible nose and you would be sort of correct – they do help him breathe but they have a very special purpose. Cad was renowned for bounty hunting Jedi for people like Darth Sidious and the tubes were to protect him from being “Force choked” by his opponent! Though I don’t know of any Jedi that would resort to choking as this is a Sith/Darkside ability normally…but he must have been choked at some point and had the tubes fitted! Anyhow, in this design the two hoses flex down and under the saber to connect to a control box which houses the red lit activation button. This allows Bane to activate the hilt with his trigger finger just like his blasters.

Ok, I will finish off by including a few extra mixed pictures of art and stuff…

The first two images show how I created the title header image and the final picture is of a figurine from a well known company called Sideshow Collectibles which I used as reference when modelling this hilt. I think I got pretty close again.

That just about brings me to the end of this post and it’s time for me to fly west into the sunset…like all good space western films finish but before I go I have a few thank yous and stuff. So thanks to everybody who has called in today it is much appreciated – whether this is your first visit or you are a regular caller, your support keeps me designing and posting. I still have quite a few designs to come in future posts…there is also news of some action figures I have bought…Jedi costume updates…and I have acquired a new starship but it isn’t quite what I thought I was going to be flying off in🤔 I’ll leave a teaser image for my ship below, but for now….Till next time…..

I’m not sure this is the ship I was shopping for!

“Bane” Saber is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the Star Wars character Cad Bane. The design, 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “Cad Bane”, “The Clone Wars”, “The Bad Batch” and all other Star Wars related names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

“The Quartermaster” Saber – Inspired by The Mandalorian’s “The Armourer”

Hello Everybody, today we return from an Undiscovered Country back to the Galaxy Far, Far Away….and to the show “The Mandalorian”. Now I haven’t seen any of the Mando shows but I do know there is a character that is quite important to Djn Djarin (The Mando) and that character is “The Armorer”. Yes I know I mispelt the name in the title image above but that was due to English/American differences in spelling – I hadn’t realised the named was Americanised. Anyhoo, I am talking about the blacksmith that gathered and melted down Beskar to re-forge it into Mandalorian armour. Beskar is extremely valuable to Mandalorians and is difficult to work with so Mando armour is also considered prized possessions. The Armorer is a very distinct looking individual as seen here…

The Armorer

The Armorer lived on the planet Nevarro in an underground complex known as a covert along with Din Djarin and Paz Vizsla. Folks familiar with Star Wars history will recognise the name Vizsla as the famous Mandalorian family that laid claim to the Darksaber lightsaber (the one with a black blade with glowing white edges). Vizsla was very conscious of his family and Mando culture and was angered when Din obtained Beskar from the Empire. They began fighting until The Armorer intervened and separated the two. Now, I thought that The Armorer could have used a lightsaber in this situation but they didn’t own one (instead the Armorer used blacksmithing tools!) so I took inspiration from the images I had seen and designed a hilt for the blacksmith. I call this hilt “The Quartermaster”…

I really went to town on this design and it took a little bit longer to finalise than my normal hilts take…but I am so pleased how this turned out. I think I nailed the colours of the textures – the burgundy, the brushed gold and the black. Then there are the decorative pieces I added which are 3D modelled. On the emitter and pommel are shrouds which are shaped to represent the Armorer’s distinct Mando helmet design (which in turn looks almost earth bound Spartan/Preatorian in design).

The images above show the helmet design from different angles and on the right is a .PNG format image. It is this black and white image that I imported into Blender then instructed the software to create a “physical object” based on it’s outline. This formed a flat layer which I thickened using a tool called “Extrude” which stretches the layer/object along a particular path or axis. This formed a thick plate which I then applied a curve to so it wrapped around the emitter and pommel. I placed two of each so the hilt was symmetrical. The emitter shrouds actually sit over two small windows that allow light from the blade to escape and illuminate the shroud through it’s cutouts. Also inside the emitter is a cone shaped emitter matrix that the blade projects from. OK, enough chat…here is Glamour Gallery Two….

In this gallery you will be able to see the shrouds in closer detail. You’ll notice there are lots of “sharp lines” on the shrouds – this is due to the way Blender and 3D software make objects using a “mesh” made from numerous smaller triangles. Fans of 80’s video games will remember “Space Invaders” with the triangular wire frame fighters, well this is the same process Blender uses to create geometry. I could smooth out these lines but it is necessary to have these facets to allow the object to be “bent” into the curved finished piece, But I think it makes the shroud appear to have carving marks where it has been chiselled and beaten into shape! I used a further “helmet” object as an activation switch and added a Covertech Wheel (the round knob on the pommel end used to hang the saber from a belt). By now I was getting carried away but there were two more details I’d like to share with you…Gallery Three…

I inserted a nice looking grille into the pommel vent to represent the Armorer’s forge fire pit…and I added a “real” leather handgrip! If you zoom in on this handgrip you will see it is “wrapped” around the hilt and has a grain and texture to it! Finally, I have to sing my own praises here and say this is one of my best sabers I have created and it needed a special something, so I constructed a display plinth for it complete with an embossed gold name plate – all of which is 3D modelled. It is also textured with a Black Ash wood grain like texture to set off the colour scheme. I am really happy with this hilt.

And finally, whilst doing a bit of reading up on this character for my write up I discovered two striking images, one of the Armorer in the forge and one of the actress that portrays her…

As I mentioned I haven’t seen The Manalorian yet so I was unaware the Armorer was a female! And the young lady that portrays the character is called Emily Swallow.

Well this just about brings me to the end of this post, but first I need to let you know what’s coming up and say a big thank you. In future posts I have a hilt for a Bounty Hunter, a gun-slinging hilt inspired by that Bounty Hunter, along with news on my Jedi costume, some action figures and a new Jedi Interceptor I have acquired for £5! So please stay tuned for those articles here on FTSabersite. And here is the BIG THANK YOU…thanks to your support this website has surpassed 30,000 views – which for a little corner of the galaxy is phenomenal! Thank you so much for your visits, likes, comments and subscriptions…all are much appreciated. It is your support that keeps me designing and posting. Till next time…..

“The Quartermaster” saber is a For Tyeth Editions design and the 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth in Blender 3D. These designs and images are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. The design was inspired by the character “The Armorer” who appears in Disney/Lucasfilms’ “The Mandalorian” tv show. All Star Wars and The Mandalorian names, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Horey’So ‘Eth” saberstaff – Honour Blade – Inspired by The Klingons

Hello Everybody, wow it seems strange not to be showcasing a Bad Batch saber this week but I hope you’ll like this offering just as much. I mentioned a few times that the ideas for the Bad Batch hilts came all at once in a burst and I quickly modelled/rendered them – well this afforded me a bit of time to “relax” as I had a supply of material to show you all. In this “downtime” I tried watching a bit of TV and discovered that one of my cable channels had a Star Trek movie marathon on (yes I mentioned Star Trek again!). I figured a change was as good as a rest and decided to watch a few Trek adventures and saw something in ST6 The Undiscovered Country – a Klingon weapon…sort of. Captain Kirk and Dr McCoy are framed for murder in the film and sent to a penal colony named Rura Penthe. During one of the scenes I saw a Klingon prison guard use a type of shock baton (cattle prod). I attempted to model it in Blender from memory but it wasn’t good and lacked a lot. THEN it hit me…what if I doubled the weapon and connected them to form a Maul style staff? I set to work and came up with “Horey’so ‘Eth” or Honour Blade…

I made a nice looking, balanced staff but it still needed detail so taking inspiration from my B’Elanna’s Blade” and “Gre’thor” hilts I reworked the image of the Klingon cranial ridges to form the cut-out windows on the emitter. I then (I think) cleverly used the same model piece I used as a cutter to create the windows to form the activation switches too! I scaled the piece and switched it from having a plain material and gave it an emission to make it glow – resulting in the red chevron shaped switches. And just to enforce the link to the Klingons I 3D modelled another Empire three bladed logo to act as a decoration on the switch section and emitters.

I also had chance to play with some settings I don’t use much in Blender and those are controls to create ultra-real looking textures using multiple layers of “paint”. The staff above has 4 “layers” starting with a Base Material. This is just a plain photographic texture image and makes the object look coloured but flat and lifeless. However applying the remaining 3 layers changed that. The next layer, Metallic, controls how shiny various parts of the Base Material are then next is the “Roughness” layer which adds chips and scratches – finally a layer named “Displacement” adds a special 3D shadowing effect to trick the human eye into thinking the texture has a raised surface. This technique is sometimes known as “Bump Mapping” used to add details like rivets and screw heads to models. OK enough chatting again, it’s time for Glamour Gallery two…

I realised that the first batch of images were a little dark as I tried to add a bit of “mood lighting” but that meant the details didn’t show too good so I turned up the lighting and while I was modifying I figured I’d add a couple of gold accent rings to hold the leather handgrip in position and I added this colour to the logos so they stood out better too. Hopefully you will be able to see the much more detailed material textures – the red paint almost looks like it is peeling off for real. Finally I decided to build a ceremonial or regal version of the staff and gave it a classic black and gold scheme. Gallery three…

Again this colour scheme uses the advanced texture settings and you should be able to see what appear to be machining marks as if this staff was carved from solid metal on a lathe or CNC mill (a computer controlled manufacturing machine used by saber companies to cut aluminium bars into empty lightsaber handles).

I really enjoyed my break from building Star Wars hilts and am pleased how this design turned out. I think it will look good in my Star Trek gallery which you can find here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/tag/star-trek/

I am drawing to the end of this post but first I’d like to mention what’s coming up in future posts. First I have received a few parcels, one regarding my recent costume build and another couple of packages containing some collectibles which I’m excited about (I had to buy two of these collectible items so I can keep one boxed and display the other!) Hopefully pictures will follow of all my purchases. And in saber designs, I still have a Star Trek ship inspired hilt along with a Bounty Hunter and a Blacksmith saber from the Star Wars universe – basically plenty to entertain you all.

That’s it for today, thanks so much for your visit and support – all your comments, likes and subs are much appreciated. Whether a new caller or one of the FTSabersite regulars please call back for future posts. Till next time…..

“Horey’so ‘Eth” is a For Tyeth Editions design and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. They were inspired by the Paramount Pictures and CBS Television franchise “Star Trek” and “Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered Country”. All Star Trek names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Paramount Pictures/CBS Television.

Crosshair’s “Reticle Saber” – Mystery Saber Five inspired by the Bad Batch

Hello Everybody and welcome to my fifth and final (?) Bad Batch inspired saber design. Can you believe how fast the past four weeks have gone? Well Ihave reached number five and that means only one member of Clone Force 99 is left and he is known as CT-9904 or “Crosshair”! Crosshair is the clone that developed heightened vision and as a result became a skilled marksman with his higher than normal accuracy. He was a complete opposite to the rest of the Batch, being sarcastic, judgemental, argumentative and had a real chip on his shoulder (not to mention the Inhibitor Chip in his head!) That Inhibitor Chip also separated Crosshair as different because when Order 66 was issued, he was the only CF99 member to react to the command and attempted to kill the Jedi forces they were meant to be fighting alongside. Upon returning to Kamino the cloning colony homeworld, Crosshair attracted the attention of Governor Wilhuf Tarkin and he was subjected to a surgucal procedure to INCREASE the effects of the chip in his head. This lead to him pledging himself to the newly formed Empire and abandoning the Bad Batch. Crosshairs’ reward? Promotion to Clone Commander.

Crosshair as a member of the Bad Batch

Crosshair was assigned a mission to test his allegiance where he was tasked with wiping out some insurgents including the famous Rebel mercenary, Saw Gererra. However it turned out when he got to the rebel camp only civilians were left. He ordered his trooper ES-01 to execute one civilian but he disobeyed leaving Crosshair to kill the person himself…then he killed ES-01. Crosshair doesn’t sound like the sort of person I should really be designing a hilt for but I had to to complete the collection. And I have chatted too long so here is the first Glamour Shot gallery of the saber called “Reticle”…

Now this hilt looks simple and to be fair it is but that’s due to the fact I came up with this shape after seeing Crosshairs’ sniper rifle in the show. I noticed a section of the blaster that looked like a Thin Neck saber – part of the barrel and the attachment known as a muzzle brake or suppressor. Here is a picture to show you what I saw…

The barrel and suppressor looked like a saber already!

As you can see the end of the barrel made a neat saber when detached! The image above is of a 3D printed replica I found online so I needed to recreate the model and then add details to it. The first thing you’ll notice about the hilt is the familiar red, black and silvery white colour scheme of Clone Force 99. Also on the emitter I added an “iron sight” lug, the little tombstone shaped object used to aim weapons with. Along the lower handgrip section you will see a strange ridged strip on top and below. This feature is to replicate a device known as “Picatinny Rail” which is a rail with teeth-like blocks which you can attach tactical aiming scopes and flashlights (or many other attachments) onto your blaster. And I also made it out of a rubberised material for comfort. You can see some real world examples below.

This I felt reinforced the sharpshooter theme for Crosshair’s character. The saber has a CF99 logo activation switch mounted on the side of the hilt and if you were wondering how I named the saber, the answer lies on the pommel. I modelled the pommel endcap to resemble the crosshair reticle image you see down a gunsight. The reticle can also be seen as a scar on Crosshair’s face over his right eye.

As I type this the story of The Bad Batch leaves Crosshair tasked with hunting down the remaining CF99 members and recovering the young female clone named Omega, the batch are protecting – she seems to be the key to the story. Sadly this just about wraps up not only this saber offering but the whole collection! It has been great fun building these hilts as the story and characters are so strong. However I may have one or two “bonus” designs linked to this show so stay tuned. And of course I couldn’t leave this post without a group picture or two….so here you are!

Phew! I think I have finished now. It just leaves me to thank you all for checking out these new designs and I hope you liked the series. I also want to say thanks for all the continues support you all give my site, whether you are visiting for the first time or you’re a regular you will always be welcome and please comment, leave a like or two if I’ve earned one and if you really like what you see, then subscribe so you get an email notification when I post new content. Stay safe and from me and the Bad Batch…Till next time….

“Reticle Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design created and rendered in Blender 3D by myself, For Tyeth. The 3D model and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “The Bad Batch” and all names, images, logos and original material connected to the show are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm 2021.

Tech’s “Terminal Saber” – inspired by The Bad Batch

Hello Everybody and welcome to mystery saber number four in my collection. And this time it was a mystery as to which saber I had to reveal today as nobody remembered to vote! So I took “Executive Action” and ordered that saber 2 in the list be next up. Saber 2 is designed for Bad Batch member “Tech” the clone trooper that was given enhanced scientific, engineering and technical skills and abilities when he was created on the planet Kamino. These skills included rapid problem solving, understanding of complex computer and mechanical systems, linguistic skills and translations…oh and a habit of blurting out information to whoever he is talking to relating to any situation they are in – without necessarily being asked for such info! Tech appeared different to the other Bad Batch members, being slimmer in build, with fairer complexion and looking younger than the normal Jango Fett template the clones were derived from. And talking of looks that brings me to the first gallery of Glamour Pics so here is “Terminal Saber”…

I think this is another striking design and quite a “High Tech” looking hilt too. It comes in Clone Force 99 colours and has a thin neck style. The emitter is mounted on a thin neck that has four power conduit cables that glow. The thin neck attaches to the upper handgrip which has two data display panels on either side, which mimic his customised helmet visor. His helmet is a modified Scout Trooper version with a special tactical awareness and data screen built into the visor (a bit like Google Glass!) I imagined that just like Echo’s saber last week had extra functionality so should Tech’s…and I had the idea that his helmet and saber could link wirelessly and share info back and forth. Tech likes gadgets and has a hobby of recording all manner of sounds into a database (this sound database actually assisted in a daring escape in one episode of the Clone Wars show) and this saber can receive audio data and play it back too. On the underside of the upper grip a Clone Force 99 logo can be seen. The lower handgrip I quite like as I was able to create a neat 3D checkerboard patterned grip, with recessed squares to provide the grip texture. The handgrip is capped off by another CF99 logo pommel decoration.

“But how do you switch the saber on and off?” I hear you say…well there is a “hidden” activation slide mechanism that also reveals other controls for power and blade settings, as well as a micro LED screen. And it kinda works like this…over to you Tech….

Due to having had a burst of inspiration a few weeks back and I built all these hilts in record time I was able to film a small demo video of how there is a sliding cover over the setting controls which also acts to switch the saber on and off. Quickly sliding the cover back and forth either activates or deactivates the hilt or you slide the cover fully open to access the settings…as Tech said…”simple really!” And if the video was too quick then here is a second gallery of images of the saber and switch section…

Pairing this saber with Echo’s “Data Splice” hilt and you have nearly every possible computing or technical task covered, Echo can splice into any system and Tech can then run diagnostics and reprogramming of any network. And if they encounter any Hostiles…they have sabers too!

Once again I think that just about covers everything with this design. I really liked working on this one and fortunately (fingers crossed) I managed to get this current laptop to create another animation (ok maybe not up to Disney/Lucasfilm levels but not too bad 😎) I hope you al enjoyed this one just as much as I did. And that leads me to next week’s not quite so mysterious saber – as there is only one left in the collection (or is there more?…..) you won’t need to vote this week. I will just leave the “reveal board poster” here showing the hilts so far and you can imagine what the final one will turn out like.

So it is that time where I have to end, but first as always I need to say thanks. Thank you to everyone that visited and checked out this latest design, your support for me and my site is greatly appreciated. New or regular visitors, you keep me posting and I have a few more sabers lined up for future posts including a Bounty Hunter themed hilt and a weapon for a Blacksmith. I hope you will all return to check those out too. In the meantime stay safe and please spread the word about FTSabersite. Till next time….

“Tech’s Terminal Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the character Tech from Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The design was modelled, rendered and animated in Blender 3D by me, For Tyeth and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “Tech”, “The Bad Batch” and all other names, logos, images and related Star Wars material is Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm 2021.