“Power Pair” Katanas – Two sabers for two Rangers

Hello Everybody, welcome to my next offering and today I have to post TWO sabers as I am getting very busy and need some more space in my workshop (I’ll explain why later in the post – It’s exciting news). Regular viewers will be aware that I have been posting a series of Katana lightsabers and in particular katanas for the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Well today I’ll post the sabers for the Pink and Yellow Rangers. The Pink Ranger was portrayed by Amy Jo Johnson in the original Power Rangers TV show and Thuy Trang played the Yellow Ranger. Amy later went on to be a music star and recorded four albums (I think) but sadly Thuy was involved in a car crash and died.

So as before, I took my basic Katana model and recoloured it to match each character so I won’t bore you with all the pictures I normally do but you will have two galleries one for each Ranger. Here is the Pink Gallery…

I managed to tweak the colours to get a pretty good match to those of the Pink Ranger’s costume, and the leather has another nice texture and grain to it. Each Katana I have made has had a different leather wrap material. I am also quite pleased with the glow colour I achieved for the blade and pommel decoration -pink can get washed out if you don’t get the brightness level just right. Ok so that is the saber for Kimberly (Amy Jo) now it’s Trini’s turn to get a hilt – here’s Gallery Two…

This saber has a very solid yellow/gold look which I broke up by using the black diamond inlays on the handgrip. This gives the hilt a Tigerish look as well which kind of resembles Thuy herself. Thuy was very famous for doing her own stunts and injuring herself many times (in particular she blew her knee joint in one accident). Thuy is sorely missed.

You can see my earlier lightsaber designs I did for the Rangers by following these links:

Pink Ranger: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2017/03/05/ranger-pink-inspired-by-the-new-power-rangers-film/

Yellow Ranger: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2017/03/11/ranger-yellow-trini-kwans-new-saber/

OK! So I need to explain why I need to get these Katanas showcased, and it’s because I’m diversifying. I have started to model other items and props from the Star Wars universe and I have two “Teaser” images of a little something I have built for a future post…see if you can guess what these could be…

As always I have numerous variants of this object and I will post all of them in time along with other random stuff too.

BUT the good news doesn’t stop here, I am currently awaiting for a Customs receipt for a parcel I am waiting for which has been sent all the way from California! Yes my collection is about to expand, I just need to pay a few taxes before it is finally delivered to my door. But the wait will be SOOO worth it! Again this new acquisition will feature in an upcoming extra special post.

I am coming to the end of this post however so I’d like to thank you all for checking these Power Ranger Katana hilts out. Your visit and support is very much appreciated and helps inspire me to keep designing. As I say above I still have much more to come so I hope you’ll all return to check those out. And please leave a comment, maybe a like or two and if you think I deserve one, subscribe to this blog so you never miss any new content. I’d love to see you all back here as regular visitors! Thanks again and Till Next Time….

“Power Pair Katanas” are For Tyeth Edition designs created by For Tyeth in Blender 3D. They are inspired by Saban International’s “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” tv series and franchise. The 3D models and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” and all names, logos, images, and related material are Trademarked and ©Copyright of Saban International.

“Dark Horizons” Imperial Macrobinoculars inspired by Stormtrooper Binos

Hello Everybody, after last week’s stargazing and the Moon Knight saber we return to Star Wars and scan the skies and horizons of the galaxy’s planets. And to accomplish this I felt I needed some more powerful binoculars than the Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi binoculars I modelled and posted a fortnight ago (you can see those here:https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2022/07/09/horizons-an-obi-wan-kenobi-inspired-prop-model/ ). So…where would I get more powerful binoculars? The Empire of course! They always seem to have bigger and more powerful equipment and Space Stations than the Rebels or Jedi. However getting hold of a pair of Imperial ones was difficult so I decided I’d 3D model a pair of my own and maybe improve on the design. The original Stormtrooper binoculars seen in Star Wars A New Hope looked a bit like this….

Look Sir!…..For Tyeth’s on the horizon!

We only fleetingly see the binoculars whilst the Stormtroopers are searching the dunes of Tatooine for the droids Artoo-Detoo and C-3PO, but there are some images of the props online and a few creators have made replicas and 3D models themselves. Here is a close up of an Imperial Electrobinoculars prop.

Stormtrooper Electrobinoculars prop

I studied the images online and saw that these binoculars had a big drawback in my opinion. The drawback was the eyepieces for the optic lenses, they were individual eye-cups like those seen on regular real world binoculars and if you are wearing a Stormtrooper helmet then vision is limited so trying to look through binoculars would be difficult. So I had to come up with an improvement there, and after a few hours tinkering with Blender this was the result….Gallery One…..

I decided to reshape the binoculars slightly so they were more contoured to fit your grip and I also added rubberised strips like those found on lightsaber handgrips to stop the binoculars slipping. The objective lenses that capture the image have been improved and beefed up. Now they produce much better quality images and can be used in more lighting conditions as they now have Infra-red (heat) and Tactical Night-Vision sensors. This allows the binoculars to detect heat sources – useful for search and rescue – while the Tactical Night-Vision is the classic green tinted image system seen used by militaries today. Now having these enhanced optical sensors is great but you have to be able to view the images they capture so I upgraded the viewport lenses and replaced them, you can see what I installed in Gallery Two….

Yes, I replaced the individual eyepieces with a full HD video screen! I felt this would be easier to view through the mask of a trooper’s helmet .And to help I added a glare shield around the screen that can press up onto the faceplate of a helmet (or a forehead) to eliminate glare on the screen. The row of push buttons below the screen allow to switch between modes, whilst the joystick thumb controller and two knobs either side allow zoom and focusing functions along with target acquisition functions. I made these so they can link electronically with artillery pieces to provide remote aiming of the cannon/weapon! And to prove how good my binoculars are (and they work!) in the last two images you can see the background environment and in the viewscreen you can see the very same horizon. I highlighted two points to help you identify the features in the scenery and on the screen!

The final gallery above showcases the thumbstick joystick controller and the zoom and focus/sensitivity control knobs whilst the last image shows the mounting bracket. This bracket mount allows the binoculars to be attached to a trooper’s belt or backpack, a portable tripod or onto a fitting on vehicles. You will also notice the binoculars are also more rugged looking but also a bit worn and scruffy looking (“Who’s scruffy lookng?” – Han Solo)…well the texture I used to skin this model is quite clever. The texture is a base layer of plain white but I worked out how to add a darker patterned layer which I could distort to create a “grime layer” making the binoculars look used.

And that just about brings this post to an end as the twin suns of Tatooine are about to set below that horizon we’ve been viewing and night is falling. That means we need more light so in my upcoming posts I have more lightsabers, more lightsabers….and some new modes of transport I have modelled to show you all that feature the new texture technique I described above, I hope you enjoyed this design and will return to check out all my new stuff. However in the meantime I want to say thank you for checking this out and all the support you give me. All your comments, like and subscriptions mean a lot and keeps me working on new material. Till next time….

“Dark Horizons” Imperial Macrobinoculars inspired by Stormtrooper Binos are a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by props seen in Star Wars A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. The 3D design and render images were created by For Tyeth using Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The original Stormtrooper binoculars props and all other names, logos, images and related Star Wars material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Moonlight Katana” inspired by Marvel’s Moon Knight

Hello Everybody, today I dive outside of the Star Wars universe again but into another that features a familiar face. The show that inspired today’s post is Marvel Studios’ “Moon Knight” – a show about a man with Dissociative Identity Disorder that is drawn into an ancient Egyptian mystery involving Egyptian gods, and uses his multiple personas to solve it….and it stars Oscar Isaac (who just happens to be Poe Dameron so this is a sort of Star Wars post too!). Now as with most new shows on Disney+ I haven’t seen it yet but from my little research I discovered Oscar Isaac plays the character named Marc Spector and his alter egos Moon Knight, Steven Grant and Mr Knight. To differentiate the various “alters” Oscar used different accents for each one and at first filmed all the scenes for Marc Spector in order then would record second takes as one of his alters characters, allowing himself time to “get into each character”. However as he became more comfortable with each character he was able to switch between them in one take. This level of acting reminds me of an actor who also took on multiple roles in one movie…that actor being the great Sir Alec Guinness…but Sir Alec just had EIGHT characters to portray! (In the movie “Kind Hearts and Coronets….check it out if you haven’t seen it already, it’s rather good 😎) Anyhoo….this post is about a saber I designed based on the Moon Knight show and I just had a few images and non spoiler reviews to go on so I set to work on modifying my Katana and used this picture as a guide….

Look out for that Crescent shaped object!

The pic above shows Oscar as Marc Spector and on the right as the character Moon Knight himself. Moon Knight has some mythical powers and weapons based on Egyptian mythology and wears a face covering made of bandages….pretty unique so enough talk…here is “Moonlight Katana”….

I took the basic katana model I had and again tweaked the colours and textures to recreate the look of Moon Knight, using the Tsuka Ito hilt wrappings to represent MK’s facial bandage wrapping. The costume designer on the show, Meghan Kasperlik, also went to town with the design of the hero’s costume using multiple fabrics to prevent him (and other characters) from appearing flat onscreen (due to stage lighting which can bleach out details). The materials included one that had a silvery Lame texturing…and in all the costume had 803 pieces to construct it. It also featured an emblem on the chest known as the “Symbol of Khonshu” the Egyptian God of the moon and it is this emblem from which Moon Knight empowers his “Crescent Darts”. These are a mixture of a martial arts Ninjitsu throwing star (called a Shuriken) and Xena Warrior Princess’ “Chakram” throwing ring weapon. However the Crescent Darts featured heavily in the promo images for the show and it’s logo so I had to incorporate one or two into this hilt. And to do this I added an illuminated Crescent to the pommel but I also added two more to the Tsuba handguard to make a set of claws (I used one complete dart and one half shaped dart to produce three claws – this left an opening for the blade to still be useable where the fourth claw would have been). Whilst coming up with interesting angles to take the Gallery pictures I had a “Happy Accident” and aligned the saber in such a way that the graphics I used for the background actually interacted with the hilt and created a neat effect, here are a few pictures to show you…

The background image is actually a picture of a temple amphitheatre taken at night and as I rotated the camera the moon in the graphics spun behind the emitter and claws and created this eclipse-like effect. The picture had an eclipse in it but then when positioned it formed a corona for the hilt! I gave this saber a blue glow but couldn’t decide if it looked best so I did a version with gold too….

I kinda like both! Anyhoo, I am drawing short on much more to say about this show as I haven’t ssen it…but I do have a few Trivia bits you might enjoy. During the filming of scenes where Oscar had to interact and talk to his other “alters” his brother Michael Benjamin Hernandez acted as his body double! And here is a little tidbit of info my friend Nancy of Graphic Novelty² will probably know….one of her favourite Canadian comic writers named Jeff Lemire worked on the Moon Knight comic series! You can read Nancy’s great blog at https://graphicnovelty2.com/.

Well, that just about brings this post to an end, I hope you enjoyed it despite my lack of knowledge on the show (I will eventually get to watch all of these new programs). I will just add that I am going to be busy for the first half of next week on Jedi business so may be late responding to any comments you might leave but I should be back home by Wednesday – I hope!

So as always thank you so much for checking out this design and post, it’s much appreciated. I still have a few more sabers to come and other prop models in future posts so I hope you’ll call back to see those. Till next time….

“Moonlight Katana” is For Tyeth Editions design inspired by Marvel Studios comic book and TV series “Moon Knight”. The 3d model, design and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Moon Knight” is a comic book series and TV show owned by Marvel Studios and all names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Marvel Studios.

“Horizons” an Obi-Wan Kenobi inspired prop model

Hello There, hi everybody. That intro should hint that I am returning to the Star Wars universe and the the new Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” for this week’s offering. I have been struggling for new inspiration in relation to lightsabers I’d like to model so I thought I would scour the universe for something just a little different to make. And there was an object which a lot of people made a fuss about because they saw it in the trailer for the new show. That object was a pair of “Macros” or as we would call them a pair of electronic binoculars! Kenobi is seen using a pair to watch a certain character in the show, but he wasn’t the first person to use a set in Star Wars history. You may recall that Luke Skywalker also had a pair of binoculars that he used twice in his search for Artoo Detoo who had escaped into the desert of Tatooine on his “mission” . Using the binoculars led to a famous scene in the movie when a Tusken Raider attacked Luke while he was looking through the Macros….famous clip where the creature screeches and raises his rifle above his head.

“Tuskens travel in pairs….I see one of them…but….”

These Macrobinoculars seem a little bit large and cumbersome but Obi-Wan had a pair of Jedi issue binoculars which were much more sleek and compact…and it was the Jedi model that I used for inspiration. I made mine similar but not exact…I’ll let you “scope them out” and see what you think….Gallery One….

These are my “For Tyeth Field View Macrobinoculars” which are based on the Jedi model of binoculars. They are small, compact and curve to the shape of your face so the optics are perfectly placed. The control knobs on the upper surface are conveniently positioned to be operated by your fingertips as you hold the binoculars, you just have to stretch a finger and the control rests beneath it. One control increases/decreases the range and the second knob controls the focus. Pressing down on the knobs can also activate low light/night-vision modes along with a function to detect sensor arrays. I mention I made my binoculars similar well, they were actually more similar than I thought…lets play spot the difference….

Not bad huh? You will notice that I added the shield to cover the Objective Lenses which I didn’t have in the first batch of pictures. The shield looks a bit like this…

You can see the curved plate on the front of the binoculars and the hex screws holding it in place. I was in the process of putting it in position so a few screws are missing (it is hard work trying to tighten and loosen them so I can adjust the shield!). Anyhoo joking aside, I didn’t want this to be just a loose copy of the binoculars – I wanted a little extra detail in my model and the “double vision” of the two Kenobi images above gave me the idea to make these look like they were functional. So I tinkered with the model and added a few things inside….wanna take a look?

I added two images onto a pair of panels which I placed inside the model so when you move the 3D model around and peek through the eyepieces you can actually see the “real world” that the binoculars are focused on! To achieve this I edited the environment image texture that I use for the background and made two copies of the area I wanted to “zoom in on” and used these two images as the textures for the picture you see inside.

To finish this post off I have a few little bits of trivia… I said that Luke used his binoculars twice, well he actually used them three times but one scene was cut from the movie. The scene showed a conversation between Luke and his friend Biggs Darklighter at Tosche Station, where they talked about getting off Tatooine and Luke uses the Macros to look to the stars where he see’s Princess Leia’s ship being pursued by Darth Vader in the Imperial Star Destroyer from the opening shot of the movie. The second bit of trivia regards a Sound Bite. When the Tusken Raider attacks Luke in the wastelands the Raider shrieks as he raises and lowers it’s rifle above it’s head….well that shriek could be the sound of a donkey! In fact the donkey that can be seen in Laurel and Hardy’s movie “Way Out West”. The donkey is used by the comedy duo to haul themselves up onto a balcony of their hotel but of course they fail and fall to the ground and the donkey brays as if laughing. I think that sound clip was used to create the Tusken screech.

And that I’m afraid brings me to the end of this post. I hope you enjoyed expanding your horizons with something different! I enjoyed making an object other than a lightsaber. I have another set of Macrobinoculars seen in Empire Strikes Back to show you in a future post along with more sabers including some inspired by an 80’s classic movie from Australia! I hope you will call back to check those out but for now I’d like to thank you for supporting me and my site today. Whether you are a regular viewer or a newcomer you’re very much appreciated. Till next time….keep your eyes open!

“Horizons – Macrobinoculars” are a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the movie props seen in Star Wars and the Disney+ TV show “Obi-Wan Kenobi”. The design was created by For Tyeth and the 3D model and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. Star Wars and “Obi-Wan Kenobi”along with all names, images and related material, are Trademarks/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Master Fu Katana” inspired by Master Fu of “Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir”

Hello Everybody and I hope you’re all doing well. After last week’s “Master Series” hilt I 3D modelled for Obi-Wan Kenobi I realised that there was another “Master” that I had forgotten to honour in one of my other series of designs. The animated show “Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir” has the two eponymous hero characters and the villainous Hawk Moth, whom I designed hilts for but I forgot to honour the “Guardian of the Miraculouses”….Master Wang Fu! Master Fu was a wise old gentleman warrior entrusted with keeping the Miraculous Box and it’s contents (the Miraculous jewellery and trinkets) safe from criminals and Hawk Moth- who wanted Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculouses to give him ultimate power and access to the Peacock Miraculous he needed to erase past mistakes he and his wife made.

Below is Master Wang Fu and the mysterious puzzle box that contains the Miraculous pendants and jewels.

Master Fu is as I mention wise and cautious with a high respect for the past and tradition so I figured that any saber I created needed some stature to match and I think I may have done that. Again I have modified my base Katana model but this time I went to work big time on the Tsuba handguard with some seriously detailed modelling! Here are the first of the pics in Gallery One….Master Fu Katana….

I opted for a regal and traditional colour scheme of red, black and gold, with high polished wooden handgrip and pommel accented by deep red leather Tsuka Ito handgrip wrapping. But the stand out feature on this hilt is the Tsuba handguard. You may just be able to work out where that carving originates from…any ideas? If you said the lid of the Miraculous Puzzle Box you’d be correct. I used the logo from the octagon box lid and modelled a 3D object of it which I embedded into the handguard. This isn’t just a texture as you will see in a picture down below. I came up with this design to represent Master Fu’s role as the Guardian of the Miraculouses and not as his alter ego character. Master Fu also possesses a Miraculous that transforms him into a Turtle themed superhero….but that seemed a bit too much Teenage Ninja Turtle for my liking. So I modelled a hilt for a wise sage and protector instead. And now I had best showcase Gallery Two and look out for the logo modelling!…

In pictures four and five above you can see the completed Tsuba AND the 3D model of the Miraculous Puzzle Box logo….that logo took some modelling so no segments were missing! Lots of stretching and pulling parts into shape then combining them. But when applied to the original Tsuba it melded perfectly. I am extremely happy with how this hilt turned out….oh yes and there is even a smaller version of the logo on the pommel, nearly forgot that too!

And here are just a couple of “arty” images to finish with. I think Master Fu might approve of this design as it does pay tribute to the Miraculous heritage. And that just about wraps up this design….I hope you enjoyed seeing it. Whilst modelling this however I was further reminded that I had missed characters from other series that I have covered so I have a new sword for “Shredding” with and another for Marvel’s new night-time warrior portrayed by Oscar Isaac (aka Poe Dameron!) I also have a few new “objects” I have made for “scoping out what’s on the horizon”….so keep your eyes peeled for those.

Thank you so much for your visit today to check out this much belated design. All your support, be it comments, likes or subscriptions mean a lot to me and keeps me at my laptop creating. Whether you are a first time visitor or a regular you’re all appreciated and I hope you’ll check back for future posts featuring some of the goodies described above. Till next time….

“Master Fu Katana” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the animated series “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir”. The “Master Fu Katana” design, 3D model and renderings are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir” was created by Thomas Astruc and developed by Zagtoon Method Animations. All names, logos, images and related materials are Trademark/Copyright of Thomas Astruc/Zagtoon Method Animations.