“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.

“Kenobi Saber – FT Master Series” Inspired by Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Iconic Saber

“Hello there!”….yes hello everybody! If you recognised the quote then you may have an idea who this post and saber design is in tribute to. As some of you will know Disney and Lucasfilm has just broadcast it’s latest Star Wars live action show, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and the finale aired this week. Sadly I don’t have Disney+ in my cable subscription so haven’t seen any of the shows (I still have to watch The Mandalorian too yet) BUT I felt it was time that I modelled the classic Obi-Wan Kenobi saber that he uses during the time this show is set. The show takes place between the movies “Revenge of the Sith” and the original Star Wars (A New Hope) and tells the story of what Kenobi was doing on Tatooine and how he was overseeing the young Luke Skywalker. This saber was Kenobi’s THIRD lightsaber, having lost his first during his battle with Darth Maul in “The Phantom Menace” then when he was captured by Count Dooku and the Geonossians in “Attack of the Clones” his second saber was taken from him. So much for “Remember, you lightsaber is your life”! Anyhoo the third saber was an elegant “Thin Neck” style lightsaber that looked a bit like this:

Kenobi’s third lightsaber from Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith

It was a much more complex lightsaber and one that Obi-Wan was constantly modifying and “tinkering” with. And this is the saber he used to defeat Anakin Skywalker in the pivotal duel that led to the emergence of Darth Vader – you know the whole “ANAKIN! You were the Chosen One!” bit. So it was this saber I had to model and after about two weeks’ of tinkering myself I came up with this…here’s a few “arty” work in progress shots….

These pictures show the 3D model with a “MatCap” texture on it. The MatCap texture creates a sort of “Clay Model” effect so I can see how a model is shaping up before I apply the final textures. I realised I had added a part that isn’t on the Episode 3 saber so I had to remodel that part (if you look on the neck there is a round drum shaped object with a fan like insert – this is known as the wind vane and was in real life a part of an old World War 1 rifle launched grenade!). So another hour of work and I had removed the incorrect part and modelled a new neck section. I then started adding the final textures and little details till I came up with this….here is Gallery One….

I think I came pretty close considering I had no diagrams or blueprints to base the model off, I just estimated the dimensions and did it by eye (though it isn’t far off). The saber has the elegant bell/cup shaped emitter sat atop the brass/copper thin neck section. I made the thin neck look darker and tarnished as Obi-Wan had used this hilt in battle on the volcanic planet of Mustafar so would have some signs of wear. Next to the thin neck is the black “Grenade Grip” foregrip which gives the hilt amazing tactile feeling when you hold one. The mid section of the hilt is the switch section with the copper “printed circuit” board plate. This mid section also has two old transistors used to replicate buttons on the side of the hilt. To finish the saber I modelled the “Booster Gear Cog” which is the ribbed black segment with the small belt hanging Covertech wheel attached. The Booster Cog was again a piece of WW2 hardware, this time being a section of barrel from a heavy machine gun recoil absorber. Then finally another iconic part, I modelled the pommel….this time the pommel was made out of an old sink faucet/tap. A famous bathroom accessories company named Armitage Shanks produced a faucet/tap knob called the “Starlight” and it is this knob that was used by Roger Christian (the prop designer of Star Wars) to build Sir Alec Guinness’ famous lightsaber. Anyhoo, I’m taking too much again and its time for some close up detail pictures of what I just spoke about, here’s Gallery Two….

You can clearly see the thin neck, grenade grip, the transistors and circuit board and the Booster Gear Cog in these images. And you might just be able to make out some etching, which says “Graflex” – this marking shows that the switch section is made from the clamp found on old press photographers’ cameras which were made between 1958-1970. The famous Skywalker lightsaber which Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan gives to Luke was made using a Graflex camera flashgun.

Now I mentioned that this was a saber I am including in my “Master Series” of designs and so it needs something special to qualify and that something is of course, a heart of Kyber crystal. SO this hilt features a crystal chamber inside and when opened you can see the glowing crystal within…here’s Gallery Three!….

A fitting finale to this saber design and hopefully a fitting tribute to Obi-Wan Kenobi. I have heard/read mixed reviews about the Disney show so I can’t say how good it is or not but at least we still have the original Star Wars movie content (with Sir Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor as young Obi) to enjoy. And i hope you have enjoyed this Master Series offering, I was happy with the results of two and bit week’s work. You can see other “FT Master Series” hilts by clicking this link: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/tag/ft-master-series/

And that just about wraps up this post and tribute to Master Kenobi. Obi-Wan did have one more saber variant seen in Star Wars (A New Hope) but I still have to model that one for a future post. Hopefully you will call back to FTSabersite to check it out and much more that I have lined up. But for now thank you all for visiting and supporting me and this site, it’s much appreciated. Please comment, maybe leave a like and subscribe if you haven’t already. Till next time…..

“Kenobi Saber – FT Master Series” is a For Tyeth Editions creation inspired by the lightsaber seen in “Star Wars” Episodes 3&4 and “SW Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+. The saber was 3D modelled and rendered by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and the files/models/images are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The saber and all related names and images are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

“Power Red Katana” Blender 3D Nex Gen – Inspired by Saban’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

Hello Everybody, today I have to return to the world of Power Rangers and my collection of Nex Gen Katana hilts I designed recently. I say this as I saw a video posted on YouTube earlier today and it seemed to suggest there is going to be yet another reboot of the franchise. I have yet to look further into the story but I was already showing off my new designs anyway. And today we look at the Red Ranger, Jason Scott Lee, and his saber. Now the Red Ranger already had a sword in the show but it seemed heavy and cumbersome as seen here…

Red Ranger with original Ranger sword -looks like a wrench!

It also didn’t feature a plasma lightsaber cutting edge. My design is a Nex Gen Katana that is lightweight, sleek, strong and was wrapped by myself! Enough chatter…here is Gallery One of “Power Red Katana”….

This is my base Katana model and I have recoloured the handgrip, Tsuka Ito wraps and blade colours to match the Red Ranger costume. The leather is a nice deep red that suggests status or importance, almost regal. I discovered that I can use the base texture used for the leather and using photo editing software edit the colour to any shade I want. Then I apply the extra layers to add the detail and depth effects. This means I can have normal plain leather in any colour but then I can have a stitched leather base image that I can recolour so I don’t have hundreds of texture files clogging up my hard drive storage. Anyhoo, too much talk, here is another trio of pictures…

You might be able to make out the shipping containers in the background of these gallery pictures and I chose this environment as I recall a lot of the battles the Ranger’s had with Rita Repulsa’s “Putty Men” took place in car parks or dockside locations with shipping containers.

And talking of shipping…my parcel I was waiting for last week has arrived and my Nerf blaster arsenal seems to be getting bigger….a LOT bigger. First the blaster I was waiting for last week was a Nerf Sharpshot which came with Velcro tipped darts so you could play “Dart Tag” games against each other. Well the blaster is very sleek and svelte and with a minor paint job would look wicked as a Sci-Fi/Star Wars-y blaster. And it should be easy to paint. The blaster looks like this…

The yellow plates actually unscrew off the blaster so I should be able to spray paint them separately quite easy – when I can get outdoors to paint! But when I said my collection was growing I meant it…not just my two big tripod mounted Havok Fire blasters, or the X-Shot round ball blasters….No, I bought a few more and now this is just part of the For Tyeth arsenal….

I think I have a new problem!!

There are 8 further blasters marked in the pic above and these are new additions! Some are “Classic Nerf” items I got from Ebay and some are fresh brand new ones! Number 8 is one called a Retaliator that I may paint to look like a Clone Trooper blaster – it already has a Star Wars look/feel to it. Number 1 is a Nerf Strongarm revolver which also has “Clone Vibes” to it.

Oh, just before I go…here is the original Red Ranger hilt I designed back in 2017 with the old software I had!…

Anyhoo, that just about brings this post to an end, I am still expanding my collection, both blasters and sabers, so I hope you will call back to FTSabersite to see future posts on all of that. Next week I should be revealing a new “Master Series” lightsaber to celebrate the finale of the Disney+ series “Obi-Wan-Kenobi” and it may or may not be his saber🤔. In the meantime thank you for visiting my site today and for the support, as always whether you are a new visitor or one of my regulars, please comment, leave a like or two if you want and maybe subscribe if you haven’t. I appreciate all the help and kind words. Till next time….

“Power Red Katana” is For Tyeth Editions design,modelled and rendered in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite. The design, 3D model and images are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” was created by Saban International, and all names, logos, images and related material are Trademark.©Copyright of Saban International.

“InVader X-1” A saber inspired by Lord Vader’s TIE Advanced X-1 fighter.

Hello Everybody and welcome back to the warm cosy surroundings of the Star Wars universe! Yes today I leave the Katanas for a while and bring you a Star Wars inspired Starfighter saber. I recently did a Starfighter hilt inspired by Kylo Ren’s “TIE Silencer ” ship (you can see it here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2022/05/21/ty-silencer-elite-for-tyeth-strikes-back/) but Kylo wasn’t the only Darksider to have a fancy advanced TIE-Fighter…Lord Vader also had a modded starfighter too. It was called the TIE Advanced X1 and was built by Sienar Fleet Systems. It featured many upgrades including cluster missiles, more powerful twin laser cannons , shield generators, a ten waypoint navigation system to control it’s Hyperdive….and it even had food and provisions for FIVE days should Vader need to eject. Oh yes it had an ejection seat too….almost everything that a regular stock TIE Fighter DIDN’T have! Vader did in fact need those survival supplies as, at the end of the Battle of Yavin (in the original Star Wars 1977 movie) his ship was famously knocked out of control by Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon. Vader was sent spinning and eventually crashed landed on an outpost jungle planet where he had to defeat some rather nasty animals. (This was seen in the Marvel Star Wars comics released to coincide with the Sequel Trilogy movies). The TIE Advanced X1 looked like this:

The ship had a much more bulky look to it with thicker wing strut pylons which were more like wings and instead of the tradition hexagonal solar wing panels, this featured elongated wing plates with two folds. This made the wing plates “wrap” around the fuselage bubble and body section. The chunkier look accommodated the shield generators and Hyperdrive units (again which regular TIE Fighters lacked). Anyhoo….I thought this was an Iconic starfighter and I wanted to replicate it in saber form as I had honoured the TIE Silencer and X-Wing fighters previously….so using my Quartermaster hilt as a base I created the InVader X-1!

I again used the emitter to mimic the ship’s cockpit with two red laser cannon barrels visible at the base of the round “windshield”. There is also a red Kyber crystal to replicate the eerie glow of the ships laser targeting system that lights the cockpit up. The emitter is surrounded by shrouds that wrap around and have “solar panel” texturing just like the real fighter. The saber has a basic, rugged ribbed activation switch that slides forward/back to switch the blade on/off. The handgrip is wrapped in a nice leather and on the underside of the grip near the pommel is a Covertech Knob wheel to hang this from your belt. The detailing is done in a chrome finish which stands out from the Imperial grey colour of the hilt body. Back to the shrouds you can see I mirrored those on the pommel section with a smaller pair of shroud plates. However if you look closely at the inside edges of the main emitter shrouds you will see some detailing in chrome that looks like some sort of mechanical parts exposed – those parts (and the pylon struts) are actually the same shrouds from my Mandalorian Quartermaster hilt. I forgot to delete the original shrouds when I modelled the wrap wing shrouds and I positioned them resulting in the layered look, mechanical parts inside the shrouds and solar panelling outside – I think it kinda works! Here are a few more detail shots in Gallery Two….

You can clearly see the chromed mechanical parts in the first two images above. Another “Happy Little Accident”! And that just about wing wraps this design and post up! < Sorry another bad joke….I need some new comedic material! Thank you so much for checking this saber out, I hope you liked it. I hope Lord Vader liked it too….he did like his saber I built for him before (you can see it here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2019/05/04/the-destined-one-saber-and-may-the-fourth-be-with-you/).

I am close to the end of this post but I do need to let you know about some upcoming content including something rather special from the new Kenobi TV series on Disney+ and a whole load more Katana hilts. I also have more Nerf blaster news including another blaster I am awaiting delivery of as I type this (I’m being good and typing this out on Thursday morning instead of last minute!). Finally sometime this month I might be getting a new lightsaber to add to my collection – a much sought after one that started me off on my Star Wars adventure – and the saber will be a gift from another member of the lightsaber community! If and when it arrives there will be a serious BIG shout-out and thank you post to reveal it. Thank you to all for visiting and supporting me and FTSabersite, it is absolutely appreciated. Till next time…..

“InVader X-1 Saber” is a “For Tyeth Editions” design and was modelled and rendered in Blender 3D by For Tyeth. The model, design and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The saber is inspired by the starfighter seen in Star Wars (A New Hope) 1977 and the “TIE Advanced X1″design and all the names, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

Building Storm Katana – For Cobra’s Ninja Assassin, Storm Shadow

Hello Everybody, today I return to the comic book world of the G.I. Joes and to a story between two “brothers”. The brothers were Snake Eyes who I re-introduced you to a few posts back and the Ninja assassin named Storm Shadow. Both Snake and Shadow had originally served in the US military operating in southeast Asia. They were members of a LRRP or “Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol” with another team member who would later become the G.I. Joe named Stalker, You may recall I mentioned that Snake Eyes was rescued from the field of battle when he was injured, by a soldier of Japanese descent and that soldier turned out to be Thomas S. Arashikage or “Storm Shadow” – his Ninja clan name. After the war both men returned to normal life, Shadow to Japan and Snake to the US where he learnt his family had perished in an automobile accident. Having nothing to keep him in the US Snake travelled to stay with the one last person he considered family…Storm Shadow. Below are pictures of Hasbro’s “Storm Shadow ” action figure promo poster and my 2017 lightsaber Katana I created for Shadow,

However, things didn’t run smoothly as Snake became a member of the Arashikage clan and studied martial arts under Shadow’s uncle, the Hard Master. Snake excelled and surpassed Shadow becoming the clan leader elect causing tension. Then an assassination attempt on Snake’s life failed disastrously. The crime group Cobra and it’s leader Cobra Commander sent an assassin to kill Snake in revenge for Snake killing a member of the Commander’s family. Complicated? Well sadly the Hard Master died and was shot by an arrow that belonged to Storm Shadow and the assailant fled unseen escaping in a mini helicopter. Shadow was blamed and he fled also, later joining Cobra itself to try and discover the real killer. Whew! Ok enough talk, it’s about time I show you Gallery one of “Building Storm Katana”….

This is a no-nonsense lightsaber katana, just right for a silent, deadly Ninja assassin such as Storm Shadow. However even though Snake Eyes and Shadow seem to be on differing sides, this hilt is similar to that of his “brother” Snake’s Katana. Shadow is a traditional trained Ninja and as such would probably only use this weapon if it were to give him an edge in combat. Therefore I removed the Arashikage clan logo from the blade as this emits way too much light for it to be stealthy weapon. I did leave the logo on the pommel as this also acts as the on/off switch. The Tsuba handguard and pommel feature the same etching marks that resemble waves and currents – the elements of a storm. This katana also features a metal hilt body rather than a sword with a wooden core (called a Tang) in the handgrip – but the hilt is wrapped in a matching off white leather Tsuka Ito grip wrap that allows the alloy handle to show through. Ok then, again I am chatting too much so I had best showcase the detailed glamour shots in Gallery Two…

Just a few pictures to show off the details and in the last two shots you can see the Clan logo activation switch again but I also varied the angle the picture was taken from to show that the metallic hilt doesn’t stand out too much by shining, which is useful because Shadow can still use it to reflect light to distract an opponent – or sneakily momentarily blinding them! He is a Ninja after all.

Shadow and Snake obviously go their separate ways with Snake returning to the US and joining the special elite corps known as G.I.Joe, whilst Shadow (as I mention above) joined Cobra, the shadowy criminal organisation hoping to discover who killed his uncle and framed him. The two would eventually join forces when Shadow joins the Joes but it didn’t last long. As to what happened next depends on which movies or comic books you read as there are a few different strands of canon/lore (the Marvel comic timeline and the later reboot and G.I. Joe movies).

“Storm Shadow”

And that just about Tsuka Ito wraps up this saber offering (sorry bad pun but I’ve been holding off from saying it, honest!) Thank you so much for checking this one out and I hope you enjoyed it and the backstory, You will be pleased to know the next post will be planted firmly back in Star Wars territory with another “Starfighter Saber” inspired by a famous ship seen in the films. I still have a few more Power Rangers katanas but this past week I have worked on something I hope is really cool, when I saw what I had modelled I said…..”Hello there!”……that was a little hint.

Anyhoo, thanks for he support, be it from new visitors or my regular viewers it keeps me posting and please call back for upcoming posts. Till next time…..

“Building Storm Katana” is a For Tyeth Editions design, modelled and rendered in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite. It is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Storm Shadow” was created by Larry Hama and is ©Copyright of Hasbro Toys.

Power Blue Katana – The Nex-Gen Power Ranger sabers.

Hello Everybody, it’s that time again for another post and a big trip down “memory lane” to some sabers that I covered way back when. To be precise, I’m going back to March of 2017 when Saban Intl released the reboot of their popular “Power Rangers” movie. As I usually do I created some designs inspired by the characters in the film and from my knowledge of the TV show, but I was using the old design software I had access to. The designs were OK and I was pleased with them because I created techniques to use the “Virtual Saber Builder” software in ways it wasn’t meant to be – I found a way to put the parts in unique order so I got combinations other members of the saber community using it couldn’t achieve. The saber I designed for the Blue Power Ranger (aka Billy) looked like this (old pictures coming up!)…..

This design was loosely based on a Katana with the elongated handgrips and silver switch, mid-hilt decorative band and the ornate pommel. The pommel is the section that I tweaked so that there was a silver insert in the pommel opening. This object is actually a blade plug part usually fitted into the emitter of a saber when not in use and the software normally wouldn’t allow it to be placed in the pommel but I found a way.

You can see further images of the original here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/ranger-blue-lightsaber-billys-new-gadget/

So I was pleased with my design but you know me, I always felt I could do better I just didn’t have a 3D design software to do it, FAST FORWARD to 2022 and I have finally gotten around to re-forging my designs after I created my first proper Katana a few weeks back. So without further wait I present “Power Blue Katana” the Blender 3D version!…

I took the “Snake Eyes” themed hilt with the lengthened handgrip and gave it a Power Ranger Blue colour scheme and blade. The texturing again is quite detailed when zoomed in and you can see the grain in the leather. The Tsuka Ito wrapping imitates the Power Ranger costumes nicely with the diamond patterning. This range of Katanas also has a bespoke Power Rangers lightning bolt logo on the pommel (instead of a blade plug!).

I really had fun revisiting this old theme and I even had a ” happy accident” that resulted in a kinda unique view of this hilt…whilst positioning the virtual camera in Blender, I accidently set it’s co-ordinates so the camera was INSIDE the body of the hilt looking down through it – it created a sort of “time tunnel” or wormhole effect….

The spiral effect is created by the Tsuka Ito grip wrapping showing through the inner cylinder of the handgrip. I just thought it looked a bit arty so I created the final image by duplicating the model of the hilt and arranging them to show off their lines.

I hope you enjoyed this revisit to an old theme…and hopefully I did justice to the Blue Ranger with the new custom Katana. I do have hilts for the other members of the Ranger quintet which I’ll post in upcoming instalments I also still have another G.I. Joe themed saber and a range of hilts for some teen Ninjas….and if that wasn’t enough I have a nother Starfighter saber….and more blasters and gifts to talk about!

Thanks so much for your visit and support, it does mean a lot to me and keeps me designing and posting. Please be sure to call back to see all the upcoming stuff, and don’t be afraid to comment or leave a like or two. But for now I have to bring this post to an end so Till next time…..

“Power Blue Katana” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by Saban’s “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” franchise. The 3D models and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. MMPR and all associated content (names, movies, shows etc) are Trademarked and ©Copyright of Saban International and Lionsgate Studios.

“TY Silencer Elite” – For Tyeth Strikes Back!

Hello Everybody!!!!! Yes I am back…..for the moment at least. I have managed to rectify my tech issues…it was a burnt out power adaptor in the end but I had a problem ordering a new one as I was sent a charger with the wrong connector plug so I had to order a SECOND adaptor with the right plug! Trying to make purchases using mobile phone internet access is tough🤣 . Anyhow I succeeded eventually and I am back for now. I had to entertain myself watching DVDs of Dr Who and Star Wars so I kept sane while I was offline but fortunately I had a post readied to publish before the adaptor had it’s meltdown so I am going to get right to business. Here is a re-worked design based on my Mandalorian Quatermaster saber (https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2021/07/24/the-quartermaster-saber-inspired-by-the-mandalorians-the-armourer/) and my Kylo Ren Silencer saber (https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2019/08/24/ty-silencer-tros-saber-for-tyeth-editions/.) …this is TY SILENCER ELITE….

I really wanted to post this saber and was worried I had lost it went my laptop crashed but thank the Force I didn’t. I went to town on this hilt combining the “starfighter” body shape and wing shaped shrouds with the handgrip of the Quartermaster. Then I dressed it up in the classy black and gold colour scheme I used on my Amban Pulse Rifle saber. The Handgrip has proper textured leather graphics and the display plinth is made of the black ash woodgrain effect material I have used a few times (I used to have some flat pack furniture made of the same wood!)

The emitter is the front cockpit window and when the blade is removed you can see a small red light through the windshield (which replicates the targeting scope in Kylo’s starfighter cockpit). Behind the shrouds and emitter are two shine-through windows to let the blade glow out. Next is the activation slide switch in black and gold then the textured leather. The saber has a pommel taken from the original “TY Silencer” hilt but scaled to fit and re-textured. The saber is angular but also sleek at the same time. It has an overall intimidating look I think but it’s time for a few more close up detail pictures….Gallery Two!……

In the final image above you can see the red crystal/targeting scope and there are also two small red glowing “barrels” to represent the laser cannon barrels seen below the cockpit windshield of TIE Fighters.

I hope you like this saber, I was so pleased I was able to share it with you all as I was worried I’d lost it. I also have another version for a Dark Lord of the Sith too – but that will be in a future post. I am going to have to bring this post to an end very shortly as I don’t want to stress my laptop too much after just getting it back operational (it’s getting old like me!).

So I hope you will call back to FTSabersite for more sabers, Star Wars stuff and designs from every corner of the galaxy. Did I mention the collection of Katanas for a colourful bunch of Rangers, or the set of Katanas for the Teenage Ninjas? All that and more is coming soon. But now I need to say thank you for being patient while I had my problems and thanks for calling back. Your support is always greatly appreciated and made me determined to get back posting. So Till Next Time…..

“TY Silencer Elite” is a For Tyeth Editions design. The 3d model and renders were created in Blender 3D by For Tyeth and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022.

Unfortunate News, I may be offline for a while.

Hello Everybody, sadly as the title above says I am going to be offline for a while due to technical issues. My laptop battery has died and I haven’t a backup laptop to use I’m using a mobile phone to type this announcement! I will do my best to get things fixed as soon as possible but I am still here and will return to posting when I can

Thanks for understanding and May The Force Be With Me for a speedy resolution.

p.s. I think I can access email if anyone needs to contact me ok.

Happy May The Fourth Be With You Day – A Big Shout-out to Kaiser Sosay

Hello Everybody and Happy May the Fourth to you all! I hope you all have a great day and if you’re lucky enough to have Disney+ then you’ll hopefully get to see the new show “Kenobi” soon. I have to apologise however that this post is a little bit rushed as things in For Tyeth Towers hasn’t run smoothly this past week or so and all my plans for something big to celebrate May 4th went awry. But I took the opportunity to give a big shout out to a fantastic member of the lightsaber collecting/Star Wars community. That person is a member of the Ultrasabers fan forum and is called Kaiser Sosay. I post my designs on Saberforum.com and Kaiser is a regular viewer of my work I post and sometimes commented or offered suggestions. Well just before Thanksgiving in the USA Kaiser tried to contact me but due to technical issues couldn’t reach me but eventually I managed to log onto the forum and received his message. That message was that he had admired my designs a long time but didn’t comment as much as he thought he should and wanted to make up for it. He had read my comments on the forum saying I liked Qui-Gon Jinn’s saber and I hoped one day to own one from Ultrasabers. To make up for his lack of support he wanted to gift me an Ultrasaber Qui-Gon Jinn replica he owned (he actually had two). I was speechless, as here are a few product pictures of the hilt from Ultrasabers’ website….

This is an awesome saber and of course is modelled on the hilt of my favourite character Qui-Gon….and Kaiser wanted to give me his spare one as thanks for all the effort and contributions I make to the community. I was hesitant at first to accept his gift but he was insistant that I take it as he had no use for it and it needed a good home. So I gratefully accepted his offer and he arranged to have it sent to me. And when it arrived I couldn’t have been happier…as you can see here….

The first image was the picture I posted on the forum and the second shows the saber lit up in all it’s glory, because I forgot mention above that this saber was fully installed with light and sound…worth over £200! Kaiser had even “made some modifications” himself adding the beautiful red activation switch just like it has in the Phantom Menace and inside he swapped the electronics so this saber had sound AND could change blade colours! Obviously I will keep it in green to match Qui-Gon but I have the option if I want to swap colours for display purposes. I took a few images of the hilt for you to take a closer look but as I said above things haven’t run smoothly this week and after transferring the images they seem to have become distorted but hopefully they will still show how great this hilt is….

Now you may have noticed that the end cap of this saber is different than the pictures above off the manufacturer’s website because Kaiser swapped it for the slightly longer chromed pommel so again I will at some point buy an original pommel so I can swap between this look and the canon version. And I can do this because the hilt is modular and breaks down into pieces – even the shiny silver shroud comes off so the saber is plain black!…

As this is a special Star Wars day, this generous act is also very special and actually resembles an event in Star Wars history involving Mace Windu. In-between the events of “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” there was a battle and Mace Windu and another Jedi named E’eth Koth were involved. During the battle both were caught up in an explosion and lost their lightsabers, however in the confusion they each picked up the other Jedi’s saber but instead of swapping back they used their comrade’s weapon until it was safe for them to swap back. This was a sign of utmost friendship, trust and respect known as The Concordance of Fealty. And by Kaiser gifting me this saber I feel I have performed the act of Fealty with him. He is a great member of the Star Wars community and has my heartfelt thanks. This saber has a good home forever here.

That just about wraps this post up, again sorry it is slightly rushed and not as polished but my original plans fell through….however I feel this story is important enough to be told on May 4th. I hope you will return on Saturday the 14th to see my next post (I’m gonna take this weekend off as I posted this article early) to see what else I have in store. I have more Katanas, more starfighters, and more blasters and hopefully some costuming stuff. So thanks for checking this post out and Till next time…

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU AND TO KAISER SOSAY!

This post is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The Ultrasabers Consular and it’s images are Trademark/©Copyright of Ultrasabers LLC based in Texas, USA.

“Snake-Eyed Saber” Inspired by G.I. Joe’s Ninja Warrior

Hello Everybody, today I bring you another Katana design inspired by a character from Hasbro’s toy line of G.I. Joe. Way back in the 80’s there was a comic book that chronicled the adventures oand missions of an elite force known as the G.I. Joes and one character in particular I took an interest in, That was the elite commando and Ninja known as Snake Eyes. Not a lot was known about this mysterious, silent (literally) covert operations expert, except that he served in the US military in south east Asia where he was injured in combat but saved by another soldier of Japanese descent. This soldier risked his life to retrieve and carry Snake Eyes back to a chopper and rescue despite being ordered to leave Snake on the battlefield. Upon returning to the US and recovering from his injuries Snake discovered that his family had perished in a car accident. So Snake travelled with the Japanese soldier that saved his life and joined the soldier’s family clan….the Arashikage….a Ninja clan!

The Arashikage clan symbol (see explanation of this below)

Snake Eyes went on to study the martial arts and became a black belt in 12…yes 12 martial arts along with his now adopted blood brother who became known as Storm Shadow. Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes would later fall out after Shadow was inadvertently framed for the murder of the clan master. The leader of a group named Cobra blamed Snake Eyes for the death of his brother and sent an assassin to kill Snake but that assassin killed the clan father by mistake using a stolen arrow belonging to Shadow. Shadow fled and Snake returned to the US and the military joining the elite squad G.I Joe.

Snake Eyes left, and Storm Shadow on the right.

Snake’s problems didn’t end here however, as during a mission he received serious facial injuries whilst saving a female soldier named Scarlett, an accident which scarred his face and severed his vocal cords leaving him mute. He somehow survived and completed the mission and afterwards donned a mask and mysterious black body suit. Storm Shadow on the other hand…ended up joining the secretive criminal group Cobra in a attempt to discover the identity of the killer that killed his clan master. As an expert in Ninjitsu, Snake Eyes used bladed weapons such as “Knuckleduster Knives” and the famous Ninja sword or Katana. Today I showcase my lightsaber Katana in honour of this mysterious warrior, here is “Snake-Eyed Saber”

I took my recent Katana design and elongated the handgrip and Tsuka Ito wrapping, recoloured the hilt to match Snake’s stealthy black and silver colour scheme and added a glowing Arashikage clan symbol (if you look cloely to the image of Snake above you can see a non illuminated version of this logo on his Katana blade too.) This saber was difficult to get right because as I’ve mentioned before, trying to have two objects that are the same colour (or black in this case) is hard to make them appear and stand apart. But I worked hard to get the leather texture of the hadngrip wrap just the right shade and I’m pleased with the result (the leather really has a 3D look to it). I also liked how the whole saber looked, but enough chatter again…here are a few more pics in Gallery Two….

I added a second Arashikage symbol on the pommel, replacing my initials from the original Katana model. The complete symbol is actually a pair of symbols from the I-Ching, a form of divination or fortune telling, stacked one atop the other . The two symbols are Lí (the lower three lines) meaning “Flame” and the upper three rows are the symbol Kǎn meaning “Water”….the equal and opposite in all things. And what else has an equal and opposite in Star Wars? The Force of course! Light and Dark.

And as with Star Wars, there was bound to be conflict and it would transpire that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow’s paths would cross again but that is for a future post where I will showcase Storm Shadow’s tribute. But before I finish I do want to show you how far my designing has progressed since I started….some viewers/readers may recall waaay back that I did a tribute to these two G.I.Joe characters and created a hilt for them using the old software I had access to…if you don’t recall then here is a quick glimpse of an old design!

Wow! I’ve come a long way since….wait for it….May 4th 2017! Yes five years ago! If you want to check this hilt out then you can find it here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/snake-eyes-fire-and-water-lightsaber-a-ninjas-lightsaber/

That just about wraps up this tribute to the silent Ninja Warrior, Snake Eyes and his new lightsaber Katana. Thank you so much for checking it out. If you liked this one and my old design please have a look round at some of my other content. I will, as mentioned return to showcase Storm Shadow in a future post along with a set of FIVE katana hilts for a colourful bunch of Ninja teenagers, plus I have some starfighter inspired saber designs too. Oh and I may post on May the Fourth….you know….Star Wars Day! Once again, thanks and till next time….

“Snake-Eyed Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design, modelled and rendered by For Tyeth/FTSabersite in Blender 3D. The model and images are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. It is inspired by characters from “G.I. Joe”, created by Hasbro Toys. and is Trademark/©Copyright of Hasbro Toys. The G.I. Joe movies are Trademark/©Copyright of Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment and Hasbro Toys.