“The Twin Saber” – Inspired by Kare from Star Wars Visions episode “The Twins”

Hello Everybody, today we visit the Anime adventures set in the Star Wars universe and the “Visions” animated series. This time I focus on the episode titled “The Twins” which revolves around a brother and sister who were conceived by a group of Darkside/Sith Acolytes with the intention that the pair gain control of the galaxy using a super weapon. That super weapon is a massive double hulled Star Destroyer that carries an even bigger hyper cannon between the ship’s two fuselages…and that cannon is powered by a Kyber Crystal. The episode begins with Master An, the sister, making final preparations before using the super cannon and she talks with her protocol droid, explaining how she and her brother were created to carry out the mission to dominate the galaxy. The droid is concerned about An’s safety as the armour that she wears is powered by Sith energy and it seems it is consuming her beyond what was intended. An however dismisses the droid’s concerns and ploughs on with the plan. BUT…just as the weapon was about to fully charge…the Kyber Crystal is stolen – and only two people had physical access to the crystal….Master An and her brother, Kare.

It turns out that Kare, who was also created by Sith alchemy isn’t as corrupted by the Darkside as his sister is and he feels a twinge of consciousness that compels him to stop his sister before it is too late. This leads to an inevitable clash between the two siblings. Kare manages to partially escape with the crystal in his X-Wing but his sister uses the Force to pull his spaceship back to the super destroyer. A battle of wits and lightsabers ensues as Kare tries to convince An to “do the right thing”. Anyhoo…too much talking you need to see some pictures and I was able to screengrab these pics as reference…

The saber is quite distinctive and has a “Darth Vader-esque” appearance but has a blue blade – unusual for a Sith. The hilt also has a large unique black emitter shroud and large red activation switch and belt hanger loop. These images are from the animated show, so shall we see how close I got to modelling this lightsaber? OK here you are, Gallery One of The Twin…

Considering I only had two good reference images to work from, I came pretty close to replicating Kare’s lightsaber! And I am really happy how this turned out as I think I got most of the details. The emitter has a neat detail with a strip of light that edges the shroud matching the blade. During the battle the Kyber Crystal is destroyed but An is still intent on domination and resorts to using her battle armours’ full power to harness the Darkside. Kare needs to stop her but how? Well he realises that he can use a shard of the Kyber Crystal in his saber to supercharge it. Which he does. Now here is Gallery Two showing a few closeups and the main feature of this hilt…

I managed to model the very unusually shaped emitter, I added a few bits of exposed wiring, I even fitted the belt hanger loop….but again the star of this hilt is the Crystal Chamber. This time the chamber is located under the hinged activation switch box, which can swivel open to expose the chamber housing and cradle. This saber has a piece of the blue Kyber that was destroyed…but it still had a bit of power in it. Was it still powerful enough to defeat Master An and her Master Plan? You’ll have to watch the show if you haven’t already!

All I can say is that Kare came up with a very “out of the box” solution to his predicament. I hope you enjoyed this offering because I really had fun building this one. My designs/models are getting to the point that they are looking more real than ever which I am proud of. Anyhoo, I still have much more to offer and show you all, so I hope you’ll all return to see that in future posts. Till then thank you so much for your visit today and the continued support I receive – it is awesome and keeps me designing and posting. Till next time….

“The Twin Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design based on the hilt seen in Star Wars Visions episode “The Twins”. It was modelled and rendered in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite. All models and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars Visions”, “Master An and Master Kare” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Mando Super Commando Saber” – Inspired by Maul’s Mando Mercs

Hello Everybody, I have been extremely busy this past week both with designing and with making preparations for a BIG secret mission for me next year that requires a lot of planning so I am a little tired but I do have a nice saber to show you today. The saber is another of my “Trooper Phase Two” themed hilts but one with a twist. It is inspired by the group of soldiers from the planet Mandalore known as “Death Watch”. This group were a fierce bunch that caused trouble during the latter stages of the Clone Wars and was led by a man named Pre Vizla. Pre Vizsla was a member of Clan Vizsla, a once highly respected family but which became more mercenary during a civil war on Mandalor.e This turmoil eventually led to the group being taken over by Darth Maul (who had survived the encounter with Qui-Gon Jinn and had formed his own crime syndicate called the Shadow Collective). The Death Watch soldiers were similar in appearance to Jango Fett, Boba Fett and the Mandalorian Din Djarin (from the Disney+ show) however when Maul became their leader they changed their colours, literally. Here is how they looked:

The Death Watch painted their armour to match the colours of Darth Maul’s famous tribal tattoo pattern, red and black. Some members also added horn decorations to their helmets in Maul’s image. Ok, I have chatted enough, you want to see the saber I’m betting so here is Gallery One….

As you can see this is the saber I built for Clone Commander Cody which I showed you a few weeks ago but this saber has a much more aggressive red and black theme. You may have also noticed that the emitter has some appendages attached now in the shape of a set of horns! These are to mimic the horns of Maul and the ones found on the Super Commando helmets. The horns make the emitter look so much more different that I’m going to include a gallery just for the emitter, here it is…..

In the first picture you can see the emitter blade matrix where the plasma blade originates from, whilst the other pics give various angles of the “helmet” design of the emitter. The final image is one of the Super Commando’s helmets for comparison. However, I didn’t just add the horns to look pretty, I intended that these acted as controls for the saber to adjust power levels, blade length and the middle horn is a release lever/catch to open the saber’s body to reveal this….

Yes, this saber also has a crystal chamber! And I have modified the chamber from my previous version – if you look very closely you can see that the crystal is made from the same transparent material I used on the “Margrave Saber” display case lid. The material holds a glowing inner lozenge shaped crystal. The chamber has added gold accents on the silver barrels.

Back in the Star Wars storyline, the Super Commandoes broke free from Maul’s leadership when Sabine Wren and Bo Katarn returned to Mandalore and wrested the leadership position away from Maul and Vizsla. Sabine and Bo worked together to help re-unite the Mandalore people and Bo eventually adopted the mantle of the ruler of Mandalore. (You can see more about Sabine Wren here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2020/08/22/the-artisan-staff-inspired-by-sabine-wren/)

Now I think that just about wraps this “Commando Trooper” saber up. I hope you liked the theme and it’s backstory inspiration. As I mention I am very busy planning my mission but fear not as luckily I still have quite a bit of material ready to post over the next few weeks/months. This includes more sabers, non saber prop objects, some custom painted vehicles and I am working on my end of year review too! So I hope you’ll return to check all that out. In the meantime, I need to thank you all for visiting today and supporting me – as always it’s much appreciated whether this is your first visit or if you are a regular viewer/reader. Please feel free to have a look around my site and if you’d like to leave a comment, like a post or two, or even subscribe to get notifications of new posts that would be great and helps a lot. Till next time……

“Mando Super Commando Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and was modelled and rendered in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The 3D model and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars”, “Mandalorian Super Commandos” and all other names, logos and related materials are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

“Margrave Saber” – Inspired by Star Wars Visions episode “The Ninth Jedi”

Hello Everybody and welcome back to the warmth of Tyeth Towers as I bring you a new saber design from the world of Star Wars “Visions”. “Visions” is a series of animated short stories produced by famous Anime and Manga studios. The cartoons have a very Japanese style to them and the fifth episode titled “The Ninth Jedi” centres around an individual named Margrave Juro who attempts to reform the Jedi Order many decades after it disbanded. However as always darkness lurked and the followers of the Sith had other plans. Margrave Juro was mining the Outer Rim territory planets for Kyber Crystals and he enlisted the services of a Sabersmith named Lah Zhima to build the lightsabers to put the crystals in. The Margrave then sent out a coded message to potential “lost Jedi” inviting them to meet up at a floating Jedi Temple to receive a gift of a lightsaber ready for them to restart the Jedi Order. And to reassure the recruits, the Margrave had a lightsaber ready which he gave to a Padawan named Ethan. The saber looked like this…..

This saber was crafted by Lah Zhima but the remainder of the hilts weren’t ready yet and before he could deliver them, he was taken captive by agents of the Sith Order. Zhima’s daughter however escaped with the hilts and attempted to finish her father’s mission. The daughter named Kara was Force sensitive but wasn’t fully attuned or trained to use it. Despite this she manages to escape the Sith spies and travel to the floating temple meeting place where the Jedi were waiting for the Margrave and the sabers to arrive. So I had best show you Gallery One of the saber I remodelled in Blender so you can see how close I got to replicating this beauty…I named my version “Margrave”….

As you can see I attempted to recreate this regal looking hilt as closely as I could, but with out using pasted on graphics for the details. All of the gold filigree markings, banding and logos are physically modelled in 3D which makes this saber more intricate than it looks. I had to divide the handgrip’s cylinder to create panels which I could re-arrange and colour gold to create the patterns. The Jedi logo is another “extruded” piece which I modelled then “wrapped” around the hilt.

Back to the story and Kara….she arrives at the meeting place where the 7 other Jedi were waiting but when they are handed “their” sabers to test, when ignited all the blades lit up SITH RED! The Padawans were really Sith agents in disguise…there to wipe out the Margrave and any true Jedi that turned up. It was now that the Margrave made his entrance – and unbelievably he had been present all along hidden, disguised as a droid! The Margrave, Kara and the true Padawan Ethan battled the Sith spies. So before I spoil anything I best show you Gallery Two of my tribute saber….

From the images I was able to pick out from the show I couldn’t see an activation switch on this hilt, or see what was located in the emitter or pommel openings so I created a “dartboard-like” shaped object that I used to form both an illuminated switch as well as an insert for the emitter and pommel! I think the design pattern works with the hilt. And I almost forgot…in the image above taken from the show you can see that the first lightsaber built was presented in a display box sooo I felt I should build a case for my version…Gallery Three….

This display case is slightly different than the box used in the show as I wanted to try something out. For a while I have struggled with Blender to create transparent or glass objects that show up in my pictures (due to how Blender formats rendered images). I could model the glass but it was either completely clear so you couldn’t see it or was “blanked out” with a solid colour and not see through at all. But this time I found the correct setting and this display case has a removable glass lid!

Ok back to the Ninth Jedi and the story….Kara begins to become attuned to the Force and her lightsaber begins to change colour to reflect her connection to the mystic power. But I can’t tell you any more about what happens in case you haven’t seen it yet! I can say there are more lightsabers in this particular episode which I have worked on so you will see those (and some more from other episodes) in future posts. Star Wars Visions has been a good series and if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you search it out!

This brings me to the end of this “Visions” post – and thank you so much for checking it out, I hope you liked it. As I mention above I still have more hilts from this series to show you all, plus I have more Star Wars inspired Speedsters and vehicles for future posts so I hope you’ll return to FTSabersite to check them all out. For now, thanks again for your support, all the comments and likes keep me inspired and are appreciated. Till next time….

“Margrave Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions saber inspired by the lightsaber seen in Star Wars Visions “The Ninth Jedi” episode. The 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars Visions” and all it’s names, images, logos and related content are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

Speedster – Hoth Edition – a real snowmobile!

Hello Everybody, well I am still recovering from my big mission at the Comic Con I visited back on the 22nd so today I thought I’d show you my repainted Speedster bike. I liked the camouflaged paint scheme I showed you on my other bike but sometimes you’re in a much colder environment and need a vehicle that blends in a bit better. Soo, I repainted the speederbike in a nice snow camo look. Here is Gallery One showing the studio shots….

I decided to post this gallery of studio shots because when this beaty gets out into the open and speeds over the plains of Hoth you’ll find it hard to see it! However, these pictures show the speeder’s curves and lines a little better than the regular camo coloured bike did. The big front body section with the large air intake grille, laser blaster barrels and the directional control outriggers shows off the curves and recessed upper bodywork which is highlighted by the contrasting black outlining. You will notice that the engines give off a different emission colour, being blue instead of the warmer yellow of the regular model – this shows that the exhausts emit cooler air and anti-grav effect. Well we don’t want to melt the ice when travelling over frozen lakes or rivers and get wet feet! The rear bodywork displays the body panelling and access hatches much more clearly and topped off by the ridged seating pad. And so I guess it’s time to unleash this Speedster out onto the snow fields of Hoth don’t you? Time for Gallery Two….and good luck spotting it…..

It was a particularly cold day on Hoth when I took these photos so I was able to use the regular power settings hence the exhausts show yellow again. I did this as the snow/ice were much thicker and I could hover the bike higher (allowing me to get under the bike for the last two images). But you can see how well the camo blends into the scenery and combined with it’s agility and speed this bike would be a hard target to hit. Again this is just a repaint but I do have a few sorta custom colour schemes I have to showcase in a future post so stay tuned for those.

I have also managed to watch the new Star Wars animation series called “Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi” and it was quite good . I did notice that the animation style was much more 3D based with graphical techniques used to add texture to the images. This meant there was much more detail, such as life-like hairs, rough scratched metals and stonework, cloth moved and flowed realistically making the footage look almost cinematic. The stories centred on Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku’s characters and show Tano’s development as a respected Jedi whilst we see the fall of Dooku due to his growing distrust and belief in the ways of the Jedi Council. We see how events lead each Jedi to take the paths they did – and we even got to see a young Qui-Gon Jinn (whom some of you will know was the student Padawan of Count Dooku!) The series was more or less filling in the backstory so nothing too spectacular (and it only really had two new lightsaber designs in it) but it was good for an hour or two.

Anyhoo, I hope you will return to FTSabersite in future for new posts with some saber designs inspired by the other recent animation show “Visions” – I’m quite proud how they turned out. In the meantime, thank you for your visit today and all the comments and support – it really means a lot and motivates me to keep blogging. Till next time…..

“Speedster – Hoth Edition” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is inspired by the BARC Speederbikes seen in The Cone Wars animation. The design, models and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite using Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022.

FT’s First Comic Con…In Costume!

Hello Everybody! Well I am now back home at Tyeth Towers after a very eventful weekend last week. As you may recall I had received a request from the Jedi Council that I go on a mission to investigate a disturbance in the Force – and that disturbance was centred around a Comic Con. Here is what happened….

The day started early, I prepped my outfit because this mission required that I go in full Jedi dress. I got my boots, tunic, belt and robe and slipped into them. I took my lightsaber off the charging stand knowing it was fully charged for any “skirmishes” I might have. I picked up my Credits to pay for my tickets (and no I don’t get expenses from the Council!) and left Tyeth Towers. Here is where the first fun of the day happened. I didn’t decide I was going to take the mission till late and so hadn’t booked transport, as a result I I had to walk to a public bus pickup point…..and remember I am in my costume! You should have seen the looks from local people as a Jedi Knight walked past them…robe billowing out behind me. Passersby in cars nearly crashed as the drivers gawped. It was during this walk I also found out how heavy my boots were – I had only worn them in my flat. Eventually I got to the bus stop and boarded the bus to take me to the next city. And again a bewildered look on the driver’s face!

I arrived at the city where the Comic Con was taking place and a quick 5 mimute walk led me to the location of the event. And I was greeted by a queue of about a hundred or more Geeks and Nerds….some of whom were also strangely dressed! I had a bad feeling about this but after around fifteen minutes I had got to the doors and paid to get in. OH BOY! This was gonna be intense.

I sensed that not only was this a gathering that could harbour Darksiders, I also sensed that someone needed my help meaning I needed to find them. Luckily there was another Jedi at the show so I asked if he had sensed anything….

Unfortunately his Jedi senses hadn’t alerted him to anything strange butI could feel something. And it was then that a Trooper appeared, it was TK-421 (I think)….

Yep! This was TK-421 and was absent from his post again (this Trooper should have been guarding the Millennium Falcon on the Death Star!). A Jedi mind trick later and I managed to disorientate him and sent him wandering the convention unaware I was present. This mission was turning out to be a LOT BIGGER than I thought…but then this was the view inside the building….

The place was heaving! I had my work cut out for me and I would need some help….wanna see who I bumped into? Then please click the button below to go to Page Two of my Mission Debriefing!….

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

“Ronin Katana” – Inspired by the traveller warrior in Star Wars Visions

{Ki-Shiiiiish} Hello Everybody…..If you can hear this then I am not at Tyeth Towers {kshhhh} I am away on a secret last minute mission to investigate an occurrence in a nearby city….{SHHHhhh} I, and the Jedi Council have sensed a growing disturbance in the Force as if hundreds of Geeks and Nerds are gathering to celebrate all things Comic and Sci-Fi based…..{Beep!} I am actually at a Comic Con! The Council are worried that the Dark Side might rise there and so have sent me to restore the balance.….I can’t talk now as I am investigating but stay tuned as I transmit a pre-recorded post inspired by Star Wars Visions. More about my adventures will follow afterwards,…I hope. Over….{Shhhhhhh}…….

Ronin Katana – Inspired by Star Wars Visions: Hello Everybody, today I return to the Star Wars Universe sort of, or rather the Star Wars Visions universe and I have a saber inspired by the first episode titled “Ronin”. It centres around a village that is being oppressed by a squad of Imperial looking troopers that are led by a mysterious Sith worshipping lady with an unusual spinning llightsaber. The villagers are hounded to pay taxes and provide supplies for the invaders until a young village boy stands up to them. Unfortunately the young boy’s “bite” wasn’t as big as his “bark” and the invaders easily dismissed him and carried on. However this time another mysterious character was in a nearby hut with his droid getting it repaired and heard the commotion in the village. At first he seemed uninterested but after he nearly gets hit by a stray laser bolt he decides to take action.

The mysterious man, Ronin

The mystery man, named Ronin walks calmly into the village which is now the scene of a pitched battle between the locals and the “Imperials”. But it is a one-sided battle. Ronin intervenes when the strange Sith woman attacks with her spinning umbrella-like lightsaber (which has multiple blades). This contraption gets damaged, so she resorts to using a regular saber to attack Ronin though she stops when she sees him reach for his saber….expecting it to be a Jedi colour….but to everbody’s surprise he draws his saber and it has a RED BLADE!

A RED blade! What are you?

The saber was amazing and looked a bit like this one I have built…this is Ronin Katana….

To see this saber with a red blade was a bit of a shock to be honest as not many Jedi or Force users use such a weapon. We normally have Lightside colours like blue, green or Optimism Yellow (like Rey has). But the saber looked good combining a traditional style katana with a red Sith blade. As a result I enjoyed modelling this hilt. I had to wrap it with Tsuka Ito wraps and build the distinctive emitter and Tsuba handguard. Luckily I have the hang of wrapping a hilt and can do it much easier now, The battle between the Sith Witch and Ronin moves to a nearby river where the two combatants carry on their fight whilst balanced on a floating log. And just downstream there lurked a waterfall, where the batttle came to an end…..But before I carry on with the story here is Gallery Two with a few detail shots….

The battle as I mention took place on/around a waterfall but the duel was finished by a clever piece of “Saber Sleight of Hand”. However, I won’t reveal who won or lost, you’ll have to watch the series (if you haven’t already. And sadly I don’t have time to explain the ending as I am near the end of this……

{SHHHHHSHSHHSHH!} Hello? Are you all still there? Oh good! Well, it seems there was a gathering and I am……{SQUEAL!} just about to make my way inside the venue.My…….message……may break up…..I’ll boost my signal……. and in a future post (probably next week) I hope to be able to publish my report to the Council and all of you my …….my viewers. In the meantime may the Force be with me and I’ll activate an automated closing to end this post….{Pu-SHHHhhhhhhh}

{Automatic Closing Activated} Thank you all for checking this post out and I hope you enjoyed it and the design. Whether this is your first visit to this site or you are a regular, you and your support is much appreciated. Please call back to see many more sabers, vehicles, props and if I survive…. maybe even a report from a Comic Con! Till next time……

“Ronin Katana” Saber is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the katana styled saber seen in episode one of Star Wars Visions “Ronin”. The design, 3D models and renders were produced by For Tyeth/FTSabersite in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars Visions” and all names, logos, images and related material belong to Disney/Lucasfilm and are Trademarked and ©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Delta Four Interceptor” – A design from For Tyeth’s Shipyards

Hello Everybody and welcome to another new design offering. And today I am going outside my comfort zone again and attempting to design something a bit different than a saber. This time I wanted to update an old post which showed off a starfighter that I designed/modelled for a friend of mine who was writing a Fan Fiction story and asked if I could 3D model a ship from his description to use as an illustration. That ship was the Vornyx Starfighter I built for Lord S Gray but I wanted one for myself so I set to work on a new ship (You can take a look at Lord S Gray’s Vornyx by clicking this link : https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/vornyx-a-new-breed-of-starfighter-lord_s_gray-and-ft/. Now, I have always liked the two Starfighter/Interceptors that the Jedi used during the Clone Wars which are the ETA-2 Starfighter and the Delta 7 Aethersprite (which I have commented about on this site before) and I wondered how I could have the best of both ships. Well it was sort of simple….combine the two together! I bet you’d like to see what I came up with? Ok here is Gallery One…

This is the FT Shipyards’ “Delta Four Interceptor” (<Get it? Delta FOR 🤣) and it “borrows” parts from the two forementioned spaceships above and packs them into one nice sleek new package! And this ship has a few special modifications I added myself which I’ll show you later in the post. First off though this design takes inspiration from the early Clone War Delta 7 Jedi Interceptor with it’s triangular fuselage and large dorsal tail plane. But this ship also incorporates the neat folding wingflaps seen on the later model ETA-2 Starfighter from Episode 3. This means that this ship is fast…VERY fast and agile as the triangular body enables high speeds whilst the winglets provide low speed agility. Again I like to acknowledge designs from the past, so I gave this ship a regal burgundy and brushed gold colour scheme -reminiscent of the days of the Old Republic when the Jedi were the guardians of peace. Sadly this ship is still a fighter at heart and can be modified with weapons systems should I need them and the ship features a distinctive “blocky” surface on it’s skin. This is a type of armour/shielding system. Anyhoo…it would be easier if I showed you around the ship so here is a little bonus animation!

In this mini movie you can clearly see all the lines and features of the Delta Four during it’s trial flights. I put it through it’s paces and it performed well. Look closely and you will see the armour plating, angular panels to deflect sensor scope detection beams, twin engines and just in front of the mirror windowed cockpit…there is an Astromech droid socket. At the moment there is just a dummy droid installed till I get a new Astro to plug into my ship. And just in case the video clip was too brief here is a second gallery of pictures with some close-up details…

In the final picture you can see the winglets in their folded “High Speed Position” used for short bursts of speed during combat….but sometimes you need to travel further at speed over a vast distance. That is when you need a Hyperdrive Unit! And this ship has a Hyperdrive, capable of travelling between star systems with ease. Now we have all seen regular Hyperspace travel in the movies right? There is that blue swirly tunnel like this….

This allows my ship to travel anywhere I want very quickly, but if I want to travel between the known Star Wars universe and my current home here on Earth I need something even faster….a Type Four Hyperdrive….and this one is environmentally friendly…as you’ll see….

Ok, it may not be environmentally friendly to Earth’s atmosphere but it is green! It’s quite soothing travelling through this green hyperspace lane.

So now you know how I travel between the real universe and here on planet Earth. But unfortunately, as fast as this new ship is, I still can’t outrun time and I am quickly approaching the end of this post. I hope you liked the design and my little mini movies (I hadn’t done any for a while). This isn’t the only spaceship I have built recently, I have a version of the Starfighter that featured in the cartoon Star Wars Rebels whch I will showcase in an upcoming post. I also have a few more sabers too.

There is a lot more to come so I’d like to invite you all to return and check it all out and if you enjoy what you see here then maybe you’d leave a comment, like the posts and subscribe to get notifications of when I post. But for now, I want to say thank you for your support today checking out my new ride. Whether a new visitor or one of my regular readers/viewers you are all appreciated….so now it’s time to get in my ship and fly off Till Next Time……..

“Delta Four Interceptor” is a For Tyeth Editions Shipyard design inspired by the “ETA-2 Starfighter” and the “Delta 7 Aethersprite” spaceships which appear in Star Wars (Episode 3 and The Clone Wars cartoons). The “Delta Four” was designed, modelled and the renders/animations produced in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite. These materials are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. All Star Wars names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

“Trooper – Cody” Saber – Inspired by Clone Marshall Commander Cody

Hello Everybody and welcome to another trip to the world of Star Wars and my Phase Two collection of Trooper inspired hilts. First though before I continue, I’d like to thank everyone for the kind comments on my foray into vehicle designing with my Speedsterbike model. It was so nice to read that you thought I had hit the mark, so thank you – and there will be more variants of the Speedster as well as a few more vehicles to come in future (more on that later with a teaser below!)

CC-2224 Clone Commander “Cody”

But back to today and I have a saber inspired by the Clone Trooper pictured above, namely Commander Cody. Cody was a formidable, dependable and obedient soldier that followed orders but one who could also adapt to any mission assigned to him. He was so competent he gained the respect of his Jedi General compatriots in General Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Anakin Skywalker. It was however with Kenobi that Cody found himself serving with and the two became friends. Cody became the leader of the famous 212th Battalion in the Third System Army and saw action in many campaigns including helping to protect his home planet of Kamino. He was also involved in the near disastrous events of the Battle for Umbara, where Jedi General Pong Krell staged a sort of mutiny against the clones. (You can read about Pong Krell in one of my earlier posts, just click this link: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/forearmed-darkside-pong-krells-second-staff/). However, Cody survived and went on to assist Kenobi in probably the most dire battle of the Clone War, the Battle of Utapau. This is the famous battle seen in Revenge of the Sith and included the moment when Kenobi loses his lightsaber in a fall and Cody retrieves it, later returning it to his Jedi friend…just before the unthinkable happened.

Here General Kenobi…you dropped this (your lightsaber)

So Cody returned Kenobi’s lightsaber and I think it’s about time I stop chatting and show you the first Gallery for my saber dedicated to the tragic Commander Cody, this is Trooper Cody….

As with my previous series of lightsabers I have created a base model and then created new “skins” for each saber to represent various characters and this is Cody’s hilt. It is the same dependable, solid, battle proven design I did for the 501st Legion Clones but this comes in 212th orange and white. The emitter hasn’t got the eye shade/visor that you see on Cody’s helmet as that was a special feature he adopted for his headgear (so not standard). This does still have the fluted “choke point” where the saber narrows below the emitter, allowing for a better grip when spinning the saber. The colours of the 212th has a bit of grime on it which creates nice camouflage pattern highlights . The rest of the saber is similar to the 501st variant being rugged and non-complicated – perfect for use on the battlefield. And sadly it is back to the battleground of Utapau that this story leads. As the Clone troops battled with the Seperatist Droid Army, Kenobi was attempting to capture General Grievous. It was just after Cody handed Kenobi his lightsaber back that Cody unfortunately carried out his training to perfection. You see the Clones had been developed by Kaminoan scientists to form an army for the Republic (good guys) but a misguided Jedi arranged for the clones to be “programmed” to follow a terrible protocol known as Order 66. This secret order was embedded deep in the subconscious of each and every Clone….the order was issued by the power mad Chancellor Palpatine…and the order was for the Clones to kill their Jedi counterparts! Commander Cody obliged by his subliminal programming , ordered his troops to open fire on and kill Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi was riding a Boga lizard in chase of Grievous when a barrage of laser fire erupted around him causing him and his mount to fall from the cliff face they were climbing and plummet into the water below.

The fateful….Execute Order 66!

It was a terrible moment when comrades turned on their Jedi compatriots…though they were totally incapable to resist their programming (though there were some exceptions). I can’t hold Cody responsible for being brainwashed from birth so I will keep on and display Gallery Two of this saber design showing some details and features…

The emitter has a matrix shaped similar to the emblem of the Army of the Republic (the sort of cog shaped logo) which is also mirrored on the activation switch. The saber also features the standard Covertech Wheel knob which hooks onto a troopers belt to hang the saber for storage. But again the gem of this saber is the internal mechansm and it’s “Crystal Chamber” which holds the golden/honey coloured Kyber Crystal which helps power the hilt (and gives the blade it’s colour). The chamber features a little bit of wiring (red cable) and has a fully modelled mesh cage to protect it. In all, I think a suitable weapon for a soldier on the battlefront.

Cody later believing Kenobi to be dead was transferred by Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine along with the 212th Battalion to become Imperial Stormtroopers that we recognise from “Star Wars A New Hope”.

That just about wraps things up for this repaint variant and I am nearing the end of the post. BUT FIRST! A little teaser of something coming over the horizon next week! Yes, here is a little silhouette of next week’s design – see if you can guess what it might be….

Ooh…what is it Tyeth? Wait till next week to find out!

Oh! I’m such a tease! Ok I have to go now but thank you so much again for all the kind words and comment you leave for me. It’s very much appreciated and keeps my motivation up to try new things and create more. Please leave a like, comment and if you haven’t already maybe you’d like to subscribe so you’ll be notified when I post in future. Thanks again, Till next time…..

“Trooper Cody Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and was created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The 3D design, model and renders were created in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Commander Cody CC-2224” and all other Star Wars related names, images, logos and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Speedster” Bike – Something a bit different

Hello Everybody and welcome to today’s post, and today I change up a few gears as we return to the Star Wars universe. During the past month or two I have had a few extra spare hours as my real everyday life issues settle down so I took the opportunity to re-watch some SW cartoons and indulge in viewing some motorsport. As some of you may recall from my early days blogging, that I am a fan of motorsport and I recently watched some really good MotoGP motorcycling races. That coupled with watching Star Wars and seeing some Speederbikes prompted my imagination to spark. In Star Wars some of the foot soldiers of the Republic Clone Army were equipped with hovering Speederbikes (you may recall the Speederbikes from Return of the Jedi with Luke and Leia chasing Biker Scouts through the forest of Endor). These first generation Speederbikes were called BARC Speeders or “Bike Advanced Recon Commando speeder” and were built by the Aratech Repulsor Company. The bikes looked a bit like this…

BARC Speederbike

These speeders had more fairings and bodyshell coverings than the later era versions in Return of the Jedi and the styling with the grille inlets reminded me of the aesthetics of Formula 1 racing cars of the 1930s/40s. I immediately thought of the famous Mercedes Benz Silver Arrows cars and the Audi Auto Union race cars like these…

So I decided I would design a new Speederbike influenced by these beauties. Believe it or not the following design’s main body was created from just two cubes which I rounded off and contoured. I then did add the extra bits like the seat panel, footrests, handlebar grips and the air intake/radiator grilles. Ok, enough chatting, it’s time to bring my new speeder out for a spin….

Hopefully you will be able to see the Formula 1 racing influence in this design and I hope/think it still looks like a Star Wars universe vehicle at the same time. The speeder has outrigger plates that emit energy to control steering and look like the stramlining wheel covers used on racing cars of the 30s/40s. When the speeder comes to a stop and deactivates these outrigger plates retract into the side of the bodywork so it can be stored for transport in battle cruisers. It features three small engines so there is redundancy if one engine should fail – you still have two good engines running. Now onto Gallery Two and a few detail pictures…

In these pictures you can see the rear bodyshell with black panelling – these panels are access plates for maintenance and areas for storage of a trooper’s equipment (sort of like pannier bags). The seat module has ridges to provide a non slip cushioning for any sized trooper. I added a set of basic handlebars with an array of digital display dials. And this type of bike is famous for hovering rather than having wheels and in the last picture you can see the “repulsor vents” where the energy is released creating the levitating cushion the bike glides on. And as I was riding out and about in my local forest…this bike comes in a nice dark green camouflage pattern! Though I do have a repainted variant which will follow in a future post and it is modified a little…here are the teaser images again…

Ok that was fun racing round my local woodland. And don’t worry this bike doesn’t give off emissions! But sadly I am approaching the end of the track and will need to garage my speeder and this post. I hope you liked this switch from lightsabers. This is the first in a few new vehicle designs I have coming up so I really hope you’ll call back to check them out. There will still be sabers too.

Thank you so much for your time today and for checking this site out. All your support is much appreciated and motivates me to work hard and produce new stuff (I have enough to last till new year I think!). Please leave a like, comment or subscribe if you aren’t already. Till next time….

“Speedster” is a For Tyeth Editions vehicle design inspired by the “BARC Speederbike” seen in Star Wars The Clone Wars series and Rebels. The 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. All Star Wars names, references and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm. “Mercedes Benz Silver Arrows” name and cars belongs to the Mercedes Benz Motor Company, whilst the “Audi Auto Union” cars and name belong to Audi.

Cyberblade “Dew on the Grass” Katana – inspired by a real life example of a Japanese Katana

Hello Everybody, now today I have another Katana themed design and yes I know, I said I had kinda finished the Power Rangers inspired Katanas but this style of saber is just so cool I had to do more. I also realised that on the Power Rangers blades I had forgotten to add a feature that is iconic in traditional real world Japanese sword making techniques. Because I had modified the blade to be a “lightsaber” I forgot to add what is known as the Hamon line which is the decorative curved/jagged line that stretches from the handgrip all the way to the tip of the blade. The line can be seen on traditional Japanese Katana and some people describe it as a wave or line of mountains. It is a very desirable effect to have on your blade and looks like this…

via Matsuba-Katana.wordpress.com

In this picture above you can see the blade tip and a portion of the blade. The blade appears to be two distinct shades of colour and this signifies that the steel used to make the blade has different properties. The steel is heated then flattened out into a strip which is then folded over double and hammered together till the metal forms one thick strip with two layers. This double layered strip is again heated, hammered out then folded a second time to create a four layered strip and so on till the blade has been folded upto 10 times creating 1024 layers. Then this 1024 layer ingot is shaped into the familiar Katana profile but the blade is straight. To achieve the famous curve a final treatment is needed where the blade is covered with a layer of clay along the back edge of the blade (spine) leaving the cutting edge exposed. The blade is then heated a final time before being quickly cooled (called quenching) and the rapid cooling and the clay causes the metal to cool and shrink slightly at different rates through the blade. The covered spine cools slower and produces a less hard metal whilst the exposed blade cools very quickly producing a super hard edge which can be sharpened to a razor-like finish. Because the Katana blade has a “softer” spine it is less likely to snap during battle as it is springy and absorbs impact, but it is still tough enough to have a razor sharp blade. Now this is where the name Hamon comes in. The two “zones” of tensile strength have names, the cutting edge is called the “Ha” whilst the upper softer spine is named “Mune”. When combined you get the word “Hamon” and there is actually a visible line you can see between the two – this is the Hamon Line which creates the wave/mountain effect.

When I was first introduced to Katanas whilst watching 1980’s Ninja movies on VHS tape as a kid (and reading GI’Joe comics of course) I read about these swords and learnt about a special blade called “Dew on the Grass” which had a stunningly beautiful blade and Hamon line that looked like a blade of grass with droplets of dew on it. These droplets was the area where the Hamon line bonded between the two hardened segments. I thought it was amazing so I decided I’d attempt to build a lightsaber equivalent with a cyber-age feel. This is my Cyberblade “Dew on the Grass” Katana….

As you can see this saber has a real cutting-edge look to it! Not only does this blade have a Damascus steel wave-like texture but I managed to add a glowing Hamon Line along it’s length. The Tsuka Ito wraps this time are made from a fabric texture that looks like some sort of circuitry. The semi gloss black material of the hilt body sets off this material and the electric blue neon blade and Hamon. And speaking of neon light…I felt a bit “arty” and decided to create a few avant-garde, Blade Runner-esque style pictures. Here they are in Gallery Two….

I was extremely happy when I finally managed to create a Katana with the proper Tsuka Ito wrap and the famous curved blade, and I was even happier (if that were possible) when I achieved adding the Hamon line to my models. The katanas now feel fully formed. Finally, I keep promising this is the last one but as I said these are addictive to model so I have two final versions, one from the Mutant Turtles franchise and a last hilt from a famous video game franchise (unless I make more). Hopefully they will be as nice as this one.

Anyhoo, I sincerely hope you liked this homage to traditional swordsmithing as much as I enjoyed modelling it. I hope I haven’t bored you all and that you’ll return for future posts which will feature a few very different 3D objects – as I venture again into building Star Wars themed vehicles! (There will be sabers too). But for now, I am drawing close to the end of this post but before I go, I’d like to say a big thank you to all of you for visiting and checking this saber out. All your support is much appreciated and I love reading all the comments. Till next time……

“Cyberblade Dew on the Grass Katana” is a For Tyeth Editions design created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite in Blender 3D. All 3D models and renders are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022.