“Dangercar Saber” – A Secret Agent Mouse saber

GOOD GRIEF! I s it time for another post already? Er hello everybody I guess it is time for today’s post. And today instead of a saber for a cartoon cat I have a design inspired by a cartoon mouse! Probably the most famous mouse to eve be a Secret Agent….Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse is a 1980’s UK cartoon created by Cosgrove Hall Productions that centres around a mouse who is the world’s first and only Secret Agent Mouse that battles crime and works to thwart the evil plans of a “Terrible Toad” named Baron Silas Greenback. Danger Mouse (or DM) was loosely based on the TV character “Danger Man” and of course James Bond but DM was a hero and a bit of a coward at the same time. Lucky for DM he had a hapless sidekick in the shape of a Hamster assistant named Penfold – though Penfold got into more predicaments than he helped the pair get out of. If you haven’t seen Danger Mouse then here is a quick look at him…

DM was a suave secret agent and in real life was voiced by the legendary actor David Jason, who most readers may associate as playing the part of trader Delboy Trotter in the UK sitcom “Only Fools and Horses”. His sidekick Penfold was voiced by comic actor Terry Scott who appeared in the “Carry-on” series of movies (in the 70’s and 80’s) and a TV sitcom named “Terry and June”. The show was a big hit in the UK and was as a result the first animated show to appear on Nickelodeon (along with Belle and Sebastian) . DM became popular in the US too being likened to Rocky and Bullwinkle. But back in the UK….DM battled Baron Greenback for TEN series/seasons and during which time he called upon the use of a special car the Mark III Danger Car. Well my friend TheVintageToyAdvertiser (find his site here> https://thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/) and I were chatting a while ago and the idea of a DM saber cropped up and I thought “I just made a Ferrari themed saber for Magnum PI…why not make a DM Dangercar Saber?” So I did and here is Gallery One….Tally HO!!!!

This saber is based on the Mark III Dangercar which was a yellow sports car (similar to a Lotus Esprit like James Bond famously drove) and also had numerous gadgets and gizmos. But the most famous trick this car could perform was it’s ability to fly! It could extend wings out just like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and take to the skies and it is this flying mode I have recreated here (hence no wheels!). The car saber also has a proper transparent and reflective windshield part near the “cockpit” and seats which act as the saber activation controls. The saber also has the folding red winglets and on the bonnet/hood of the car you can see the famous DM logo badge. The main handgrip is sleek leading to a rear end that has a few more details. But first here is Gallery Two showing a few close ups..

These pics clearly show the sportscar influences and the windshield/cockpit/winglets. I’m also pretty happy how the logo turned out as it follows the contours of the bodywork nicely. The rear of the saber has a red vertical tail fin, along with the rear quarter “engine cover” bulges. Then to finish this saber off I included a pommel part that has tail-lights, a license plate, rear bumper/fender and a radiator grille that acts as a cooling vent and sound grille for the lightsaber. Once again I think I did pretty well converting a car into a saber but so you can judge for yourself here are two images, one of the cartoon car itself and the second, an actual real life replica built by a fan to drive on the road!

And that my friends just about wraps this secret agent mission up. DM and Penfold are about to return to their base (which is a secret lair built under a red London postal box!) and I must return to the shadowsof wherever I am at the moment (can’t say much about my whereabouts…but it’s awfully moist here!)

Before I go however I must as always give out my thanks to TheVintageToyAdvertiser for another of his challenges, they do put me to the test! And I need to say thanks to all of you, my friends and readers. Whether you are a first time visitor or a regular caller to FTSabersite thank you for the support and I hope you will call back for more lightsaber and 3D model making inspired by Star Wars and pop culture. There is so much more to come including Star Wars Visions inspired hilts, FOUR new starfighters I have designed and a few sabers for a Marvel film due out in November of 2024! Till next time….

“Dangercar Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by Cosgrove Halls Productions animation “Danger Mouse”. The design, 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Danger Mouse”, the “Mark III DangerCar” and Penfold along with all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Cosgrove Hall Productions 1981-2023.

“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.

Red Fox Saber – a saber for Rena Rouge

Hello Everybody, hope you are all doing well as we’re just about to enter February. Can you believe how fast January seems to have disappeared behind us? Well, I had best post my latest addition to my collection of “Miraculous” themed hilts and this time it is for a super heroine who was originally a super villain but later “switched sides” when a new custodian took the role. The super villain was originally a young lady named Lila Rossi, who started attending the same school as Marinette (Ladybug) and Adrien (Cat Noir). Lila unfortunately made up stories of being friends with Ladybug and that Lila herself was a super hero. Llia also developed an interest in Adrien. However whilst Adrien and Lila were talking in a park about a book Adrien discovered in his father’s safe, Ladybug appeared and disproved Lila’s claims of being her friend or Lila being a hero. Lila ran off upset and angry and was “Akumatized” by Hawkmoth – turning her into the villain Volpina – a fox themed super villain.

Lila was Akumatized and controlled via the necklace she wore. She also had a “magic flute” that could create illusions and it was this “weapon” that she used to try and break up the bond between Ladybug and Cat Noir (not knowing who they were in real life). It is this magic flute that caught my attention and made me think it would translate into a saber, Now I didn’t design this saber, it is an existing design known as an Aeon V3 which I have modified before for my Sonic The Hedgehog and Yondu themed hilts. The Aeon was created by a saber manufacturer named Ultrasabers but I came up with the new colour scheme. This is Red Fox Saber….

This hilt has the distinct and striking orange and white banded colour scheme which I thought fit perfectly into the curved flowing shape of the Aeon whilst looking very much like the flute Rena/Volpina wields. I did indent the small black dots which represent the finger holes of the “flute” and I added an illuminated activation switch with the Rena Rouge Miraculous logo on it.

These last images show Rena Rouge with her flute and a few more shots of the saber to show it off. I think it worked out quite well. Lila was eventually defeated and the necklace was “cleansed” but the vixen themed super heroine continued in the form of Marinette’s (Ladybug) best friend. Ayla Cesaire is Marinette’s best friend and author of the “Ladyblog” – a Ladybug fansite. In season two of the show Hawkmoth enlists the help of his personal assistant and the tide of power swung to the evil side so to counter this Ayla was enlisted by Ladybug to be Rena Rouge and take the place of Lila/Volpina.

The first fan produced picture (sorry I don’t know the author’s name) above shows Volpina vs Rena whilst the second shows Ayla and Rena side-by-side. The story ends on a positive note (sorry bad joke not intended -you know flute and notes 😀 ) and hopefully this post is going to end on a high.

Yes I am out of time for this post, thank you so much checking it out. I now have a quite a few “Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir” inspired designs and I may post a “Family Photo” collection of them all in a later post. I also have a few Star Wars The High Republic themed hilts lined up as well as some original For Tyeth designs which I hope might get built for real. I hope you will call back to see all of that. In the meantime, thank you all for your support, be it comments, likes or follows. You are all appreciated, new or regular visitors. Till next time….

“Red Fox Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the animated series “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir”. The “Red Fox Saber” design, 3D model and renderings are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021 and Ultrasabers . “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.

“Cat’s Whikers Saber” – Inspired by Miraculous’ Cat Noir

Hello Everybody, hope you’re all doing well and ready for another new design. Last week I featured a hilt for the greatest martial artist ever – Bruce Lee – well this week I back things down a little to a slightly less intimidating character. But he’s still a superhero. Last month I posted “Miracle Saber” for Marinette DuPain Cheng aka Ladybug and told you about her battle against Hawkmoth and I mentioned another hero. That hero gets a saber today.

His name is Adrien Agreste, and is the son of the world famous Parisian fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. Adrien is very sheltered by his father but he is allowed to attend a regular high school which is where he met Marinette – unaware that she is Ladybug and likewise Marinette, despite liking Adrien a lot, is unaware that he is her mystery sidekick…..Cat Noir! Cat Noir is the quick witted, nimble superhero that has a devious charm and a very special weapon that he uses in combatting Hawkmoth’s zombie Akumatised victims. That weapon is a special baton that is ridiculously strong, has the ability to extend to amazing lengths allowing him to use it to “pole vault” around and over obstacles and traverse the city of Paris. It can deflect projectiles and it even has a mobile phone built into it…BUT….it isn’t a lightsaber! So I “fixed” it so it is a proper hero’s weapon for an elegant time! Here is Cat’s Whiskers….

This hilt is based off of Cat Noir’s extender baton and has a matching dark grey coating and green accents. The saber looks sleek and simple, just like the baton but I did add an illuminated activation switch in the shape of a cat’s paw/claws. The green bands are actually slightly recessed ridges to provide a bit of grip and decoration. Speaking of decoration, the pommel end cap features a “Cat’s Eye” emblem in green also (just like his eyes!). I think green is Cat Noir’s colour…

Here you can see Cat Noir with his baton in it’s extended version (though it can extend MUCH longer when needed) but as you can see it lacks the illuminated switch. I felt that my updated version of this weapon was too similar so I did add another piece of decoration which I modelled in 3D to test myself. That decoration is another “paw print” on the reverse side of the saber and is embossed into the surface of the hilt. You can see the emblem which is very important in these next batch of pics, along with a couple of my saber extended too!…

The paw emblem is a “reverse print” pattern of the activation switch (i.e. the raised sections are now sunken and vice versa) and this logo also appears on Cat Noir’s Miraculous trinket. Remember I mention Ladybug and Noir transform by using a magical object or piece of jewellery, well Cat Noir’s Miraculous is his finger ring which has the cat paw logo imprinted on it. The logo also displays a sort of timer showing how long he can remain as Cat Noir before the magic runs out. It is this ring (and Ladybug’s ear rings) that the villain wants and tries to steal in each episode. Hawkmoth…Ah yes….I said there was a Star Wars style twist regarding him didn’t I? It turns out that Cat Noir’s secret identity is so secret…..even HIS FATHER doesn’t know who he is….have you guessed the twist yet? SPOILERS!!! Hawkmoth is……..

OK, I had better stop this post here before I reveal anything that may ruin your pleasure watching Miraculous – The Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir in future – just in case you haven’t seen it. But before I go I have a short announcement to make and my usual thanks and salutations.

Recently WordPress announced that they are testing/rolling out a new feature onto “free account” blogs and sites. This comes in the form of “Sponsored Native Posts” which they describe as a way to generate traffic and awareness of blogs, posts, products and brands (whatever that means). They (WordPress) also state that the authors of free blogs (like me) cannot control what is posted on my pages, so you might read this post on my Homepage and directly above it will be a “Sponsored Post” inserted by WordPress. That post could be about anything! But there is a way around this and that is to upgrade to a paid account which will block these ads. Now I didn’t mind the small ads at the bottom of the pages of my site but full blown post entries I’m not totally happy about. I was considering upgrading as I will soon need more online storage but now this situation has arisen and I may need to consider paying for Hosting. Unfortunately I may have to ask for your help in future if I upgrade. FTSabersite would continue to offer free content as normal but I might have to add a “Members Only” subscription section or similar monetization (which the upgrade also allows for). But I would like your opinions on what “perks” you think I could offer for a subscription fee and whether you would be willing to pay for those. (Believe me I wish I wasn’t faced with this dilemma, however this blog due to my circumstances is just a hobby but one I put a lot of effort into and I’d like to keep it as it is).

Anyhoo, back to the “Thank You” notes I always finish on! Thank you each and every one who has visited (and read this far!) to support me and FTSabersite. You are all very much appreciated as I wouldn’t have an audience if you didn’t turn up. Please comment, like or follow me and spread the word about FTSabersite. I still have lots more to showcase. Till next time….

“Cat’s Whiskers Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the animated series “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir”. The “Cat’s Whiskers Saber” design, 3D model and renderings are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “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.

Hawkmoth “Akumatizer Saber” – another Miraculous Hilt

Hello everybody and welcome to 2021! I am glad you have all survived the new year celebrations. Again I had a quiet January the First as the UK was in a partial Coronavirus Lockdown but now we have a full nation wide lockdown so I gotta stay indoors. As a result, over the past year I have watched way too many cartoons but I have been inspired and you saw the Miraculous LadyBug inspired hilt last year, well today I have the next in the series.

This new saber is the weapon I designed for LadyBug’s enemy, Hawkmoth. Hawkmoth is a conflicted villain who is bending the law to try and save his everyday persona’s wife by using magical trinkets called Miraculouses. In normal life Hawkmoth is a Parisian fashion designer named Gabriel Agreste and in his past an accident involving a damaged Miraculous led Emilie Agreste to fall into a coma. As Hawkmoth, if he can possess LadyBug and her ally Cat Noir’s Miraculouses, then Gabriel can revive his wife. Anyhow, that is a brief introduction to the unfortunate villain and here are a couple of pictures of him as Gabriel and Hawkmoth.

Gabriel is very determined and focused on saving his wife (possibly driven by the effects of being Hawkmoth which he achieves by using a Butterfly Miraculous) so much so that he sometimes neglects his son Adrien. This leads to an unfortunate “I am your Father” moment – but more on that in another post. Back to today it is about time I showed you the new saber I built based on this flawed supervillain. He uses magically endowed butterflies to infect and turn members of the public into villainous characters based on negative emotions. These butterflies are called “Akumas” – so I built the “Akumatizer Saber”…

This hilt is elegantly simple and complex at the same time, just like a good piece of fashion design. The colour scheme I created to match the outfit Hawkmoth wears consisting of purple, grey and silvery white. The texture on the hilt is again a mathematically generated material so I didn’t use photos to paste onto the model. The texture is created by mixing two base colours and instructing Blender to stretch and distort the areas to create the streaks. I thought the streaks looked a bit like the hundreds of butterfly/moths that inhabit Hawkmoth’s lair. The switch has the Butterfly Miraculous logo on it and the blade is a regal purple shade again matching the outfit. The pommel is a silvery metallic pointed dome to represent Hawkmoth’s distinctive helmet. And speaking of helmets and masks, when a member of the public is “Akumatized” they take on the persona related to their character and the negative emotions they are feeling when “infected”. This turns them into powerful, willing puppets to help Hawkmoth in his quest to defeat LadyBug and Cat Noir. We get to see they are Akumatized by this mask outline that appears briefly on their face…

I am nearly at the end of this post as there is a lot of stories to tell about the various events in “Miraculous The Tales of LadyBug and Cat Noir” but I don’t want to spoil any of it. But I will say I have Cat Noir’s new saber I have designed coming up in a future post as well as maybe two more sabers for some allies. I also have new designs based on the new Star Wars timeline saga The High Republic – you may have seen the new trailer Disney/Lucasfilm released this week. So I hope you will return to check those out. Thank you for returning to FTSabersite this year and I hope you’ll continue to support me and my little site, I appreciate all of your comments, likes and follows, I can blog but it needs you to read it!

I will leave you with a final image of “Hawkmoth Akumatizer Saber” in it’s Hawkmoth lair! Till next time….

“Hawkmoth Akumatizer Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the animated series “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir”. The “Hawkmoth Akumatizer Saber” design, 3D model and renderings are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “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.

“Miracle Saber” – Inspired by Miraculous Ladybug

Hello Everybody, I wasn’t sure whether to post this design bearing in mind the sad news yesterday of the passing of Jeremy Bulloch, also known as the original Boba Fett actor. However I had the post lined up and the pictures prepared so I may as well post it. I will be taking a bit of a break after this for the Christmas Holidays and the fact it has been a long, very long year I need a rest. I will use the time to attempt to recharge my batteries and prepare a retrospective review post for 2020. That won’t be easy…but there were a few bright spots during the year.

But back to today’s post and it is “Miraculous” that I am able to bring this to you at all. This hilt was nearly lost when my laptop failed for the last time – luckily though, I had just uploaded copies of the files to cloud storage. So this hilt is inspired by an animation called “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir” and is based on the character Ladybug. In this show two young teenagers are bestowed magical trinkets known as Miraculous(es) which allow them to transform into superheroes to save the city of Paris whenever it is in danger from supervillain Hawkmoth . The two teens are Adrien Agreste and a young lady, Marinette Dupain-Cheng .

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Ironically both are in the same class at high school but are unaware of each other’s secret alter-egos! They both kinda like each other too – well Marinette definitely likes Adrien but is shy. while he is more guarded and develops an interest over time. Marinette uses a pair of magical ear-ring studs to transform from timid mild mannered teen into Ladybug whenever Hawkmoth hatches a plan. Hawkmoth “infects” butterflies called “Akumas” with negative magic powers which then fly into the city to infect and transform citizens into Supervillains based on the negative emotion they are feeling. So enough chat for now, here are my first attempts at creating the “Miracle”…

The saber is simple and functional but does sport a natty red and black spotted paintjob to match Ladybug’s outfit, including the hexagonal panelling on the grip. In the show Ladybug’s costume has hexagonal texturing to it (similar to the new Superman and Spidey bodysuits) and I recreated the panelling using a wire frame which I wrapped around the hilt. The red and black paint is actually one layer of texture generated in Blender (meaning I didn’t paste images onto the model). The second object you can see is Ladybug’s yo-yo which she uses as a weapon and a tool to cleanse the infected butterflies once they have been freed and released their hold on the emotional citizen host. Ok, onto the next batch of pictures…

The yo-yo as I mentioned is used as a weapon, as a shield by spinning it and as a device to cleanse “Akumas”, it also has the power to create a “Lucky Charm” object that helps Ladybug defeat whichever villain she is battling. This Lucky Charm is usually an everyday object which when used in conjunction with other items gives Ladybug an advantage. You will notice that this version of hilt and yo-yo has a slightly altered paint job with a discrete white outline around the black dots. This came about when Ladybug received new powers later in the show and became LadyAquabug. I removed the hexagonal grip as my borrowed laptop couldn’t cope with all the details at first but the hilt didn’t look right so after a few technical tweaks I managed to force the computer to create this final batch of pictures….

So now Marinette/ Ladybug has a powerful new tool to tackle Hawkmoth with. And she will need it as Hawkmoth is determined to steal the ear-ring “Miraculous” of Ladybug and Cat Noir’s finger ring to combine their powers and achieve his goal – to obtain the ability to change reality (he does have a noble reason for this but there are complications involving Adrien and Cat Noir – but that is a story for later).

Hello For, I’m Ladybug!

That just about wraps up this offering as I have run out of Glamour Shots! The story of Ladybug and Cat Noir runs for three series and there is a feature length special set in New York. There are many more characters and villains too so maybe in the new year there might be a few more “Miraculous” inspired designs. Stay tuned!

For now I would like to thank all of you, my friends and followers for the fabulous support you have shown to me and FTSabersite this past year. I am truly lucky to have such a following and I couldn’t do this without you. You have helped the site surpass the 25,000 views milestone last week which I am proud of. I am also proud that I think I’ve posted a design every week (or pretty close to it) and rest assured I still have more ready for next year so I hope you’ll all return for my end of year review (there may be some surprises) and all the new stuff in January. Stay safe, have a happy and peaceful holiday season, take care of each other and Till next time…..

“Miracle Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the animated series “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir”. The “Miracle Saber” design, 3D model and renderings are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. “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.