MAGNUM TC – In remembrance of Roger E. Mosley (Theodore “T.C.” Calvin)

Hello Everybody….Now I know what you’re thinking, that little voice in my head has been telling me I haven’t done any TV show related sabers recently. Well unfortunately recent events have made me realise this big time with the sad news of the passing of a gentle giant of 80’s television, Roger E. Mosley. Unfortunately Roger was involved in a motor vehicle accident and died from his injuries on 7th August. And the reason this news hit me so hard is that Roger was a big part of a TV show I loved as a Youngling, Magnum P.I. – where Roger played the part of Theodore T.C. Calvin. TC was a Vietnam veteran chopper pilot who set up an Island Hopping helicopter charter company in the show. TC was a member of the same platoon as Tom Selleck’s Magnum character and after the war became Magnum’s “unofficial chauffeur” flying Thomas to the various islands during cases. It was because of watching Roger “flying” the now famous little helicopter that I got interested in flying myself.

Seeing the little Hughes MD500 helicopter swoop down over the water of Honolulu’s Waikiki beachfront past the Rainbow Hilton hotel was amazing and I wanted to do the same. I couldn’t in real life but I did in Flight Simulator – I found an addon of the helicopter and repainted the texture graphics to look like TC’s helicopter and I then flew many hours of simulated action in Microsoft Flight Sim (even recreating scenes from the show using scenery I made). Sadly when Roger was TC on the TV way back in the 80’s it was difficult for a kid to find out much about actors and characters due to there being no internet to access so I didn’t know much about him. I am now looking back on his life and finding stuff out I couldn’t discover back then. I also wanted to pay tribute to Roger so I quickly designed a saber that might look familiar….this is for you Roger…

This is the MAGNUM TC saber, based on the iconic helicopter Roger flew in the show. It has the same curvy sleek shape and I managed to recreate the same colour scheme. Surprisingly this colour scheme was not specially commissioned for the show, it was a factory regular paintjob, but boy did it become famous. The helicopter in real life was a Hughes 500 , which a military version saw service in Vietnam and was nicknamed “The Flying Egg”. But it was a tough little bird and because of it’s Egg shape, it saved many flyers’ lives as during crashes it “rolled” and absorbed impacts that would have killed occupants of other helicopters. In the show Magnum called upon T.C. to fly him to the outlying islands of Hawaii during cases and he always promised to buy T.C. a beer or pay for fuel…but rarely did! So basically the helicopter and Roger became iconic and was an obvious choice to replicate as my tribute. Here is gallery two with a few close up details….

I made the emitter to be as curvy as I could reasonably to replicate the forward fuselage and cockpit area of the chopper…I even added small landing gear skids on the bottom to act as a a built in display stand! The sweeping handgrip represents the tailboom whilst the pommel area features a “tail rotor” in the endcap as a pommel insert. The saber also features “aircraft registration” numbers – in this case N1095A, which is the number seen on the helicopter in the show intro. Then to top the design off, and to just reinforce what this saber represented I added the iconic “Island Hoppers” charter company logo on the activation switch.

As I mentioned above, while I was a kid I never got to really “know” Roger or learn of his other works because the Internet of things hadn’t took off but I have since learned he starred in “Roots”, a biopic film about Sonny Liston the world famous boxer and countless supporting roles in other US dramas and action shows like Starsky and Hutch. Roger loved Magnum so much that he even took a role in the recent 2019 Magnum reboot playing the part of the “new” TC’s barber named “Booky”.

Roger was and still is THE original TC and played the part from 1980 through to 1988. He insisted that the character of TC was “straight-edged” as Roger himself never smoked, drank or took drugs. In the show a stunt double was brought in to replace Roger during flying/stunt scenes with the stunt pilot wearing a padded bodysuit to mimic Roger’s massive physique but…during the show’s time on air Roger actually acquired a real world helicopter pilot’s license but was prevented from doing dangerous scenes by the studios, however in some shots you may see Roger at the controls! (And this is no small feat, I know flying a simulated helicopter is difficult enough!). And Roger seems to have been a great family man as he was married to his wife Antoinette Laudermilk for nearly six decades. My thoughts and prayers go out to all his surviving relatives and friends. I am just sorry it took me so long to really get to “know” him.

Now I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the sad passing of Nichelle Nichols who played Lt Uhura in the original Star Trek shows and movies. I chatted with my friend Resa about Uhura and said I’d do a saber inspired by Miss Nichols too but I ashamedly got side-tracked but I will complete that design too. I am slow sometimes but I usually finish what I start!

So with that I am at the end of this post of remembrance, again my condolences go out to Roger’s family and friends. My thanks go out to you, my readers/viewers for checking this tribute out. I hope it was fitting and that you will call back to see the Lt Uhura/Nichelle Nichols tribute when I complete it. Till next time…..soar high in Hawaiian skies….

“Magnum TC Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design built as tribute to Roger E. Mosley aka “Theodore T.C. Calvin”. “TC” and “Thoedore Calvin” are creations of Belisarius Productions and Glen A, Larson Productions and all names, images , logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Belisarius and Glen A. Larson Productions. For Tyeth’s tribute designs (including the 3D model and renderings) are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022.

“Thunderdome Saber” – Inspired by Mad Max 3 Beyond Thunderdome

G’day Cobbers……this be the telling of a man, a myth….a Max. The man was Max Rockatansky also be knowing as “The Sky Captain” who came to our space after the big explosion and the black gold ran out. He was to save us and return us to the big shining Tomorrow-morrow Land. But first Max had to survive a journey….through Bartertown and the THUNDERDOME! Yes today folks we travel “down under” to Australia of the near future and the world of Max Rockatansky. Max was a former police officer whose family was killed by a rogue biker gang that prowled the wastelands of Australia after a nuclear war. Max set out to bring his own form of justice onto the bike gang and hunted them down, earning the name the “Road Warrior”….then later he came upon an outpost town named Bartertown. Here he tried to get more “Juice” for his vehicle but fell foul of the trading post’s traditions and ended up fighting in the Thunderdome.

Well, back in reality my friend The Vintage Toy Advertiser (his site: https://thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/) “challenged” me to design a saber (or two) inspired by Mad Max and this is the first of three designs I have accomplished. This saber is inspired by and modelled on the infamous “Thunderdome” fighting arena seen in the third movie. The dome was a metal cage which two combatants entered and fought to the death to settle arguments and disputes. The dome had two rules…Two men enter, one man leaves, and the second rule was “There are no rules”. Inside were a variety of weapons as well as Bungy-cord harnesses which allowed the fighters to jump and climb about the inside of the locked dome – and allow them to grab weapons hanging from the roof. Well that brings me to the first gallery of pictures….prepare to enter “Thunderdome”!

This saber is based on my previous “Rapier” designs I made for Inigo Montoya and Zorro and I used the “basket handguard” to replicate the Thunderdome itself. The dome was made of metal grating so I created a half sphere then added a Modifier to turn the sphere into a “Wireframe” mesh which I then thickened the struts to form the cage structure. I then added the single (and locked) cage door on one side. To give the dome an old frontier look I applied a texture of flaking painted metal. The dome protects the users’ hand and covers the activation switch module that I shaped to look like a coffin (morbid I know, but it does represent the rule of only one man leaves the dome). The leather handgrip is reminiscent of Max’s jacket and the clothing worn by his adversary, the Master Blaster. But more about Master Blaster in a future post, for now I will present the second batch of images and some closeups of the details.

In the first image you can see how the dome would look if it were a freestanding object. You can also see the “doorway” that I added which is highlighted silver. The second image shows the “coffin switch” and leather detailing. The switch is basic but the whole Bartertown and Mad Max setting is dystopian and kinda apocalyptic so I didn’t want a fancy activation box…just something that looked thrown together and functional. The leather I am really pleased with as I am getting better at setting the texture up to show off the details – I have nailed the function which creates the illusion of “bumps and ridges” known as Bump Mapping. This makes the stitching on the leather appear to pop out (and the grain also looks as if it is rough). Finally just as a reminder of the rules of Thunderdome, I added the text around the pommel which reads “Two men enter….One man leaves” in a metallic silver to match the doorway. I managed to find a suitable background image that looks like the post apocalyptic outback too.

This is just the first basic saber I did to get me in the mood and I have TWO more Mad Max themed sabers to showcase in future posts but I also have news of a new arrival at “Tyeth Towers”. I mentioned a week or two ago that I was awaiting a parcel from America…well it arrived and here is a sneak peek at what that parcel contained….

My new saber…a beautiful gift!

You might recognise this lightsaber as it is modelled on the one owned by Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. This is a fully working replica and was gifted to me by an extremely generous member of the saber community as thanks for my designing. I will have a special featured post showcasing this hilt more coming soon.

And that just about wraps up this edition, thanks so much to The Vintage Toy Advertiser for his newest challenge to me, and thank you to all my viewers/readers. You are all very much appreciated and I hope you enjoyed this post and will call back to check out my new saber and all the new designs I have coming up (the Mad Max trilogy and a new collection of “Phase Two Trooper” lightsabers). I’m off to visit Tomorrow-Morrow Land…….Till next time…..

“Thunderdome Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the movie Mad Max 3 Beyond Thunderdome. The design, 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Mad Max 3 Beyond Thunderdome” is a Warner Bros/Universal Pictures movie directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie. “Mad Max”, “Thunderdome” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Warner Bros/Universal Pictures (1985).

“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.

“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.