“Barad-Dûr Saber – version 2” – A reworked classic for post no.666!

Hello Everybody and welcome to a big milestone post! I recently reposted an old Lord of the Rings inspired saber design named “Barad-Dûr Saber” having been reminded of it by my trip down under to New Zealand the sort of spiritual home of Middle Earth. I was some fantastic scenery, some of which featured in the Peter Jackson movies (Mount Ruapeha for example). Having visited the WETA Workshops’ studios where a lot of on screen props, costumes and visual effects etc were created I felt my old design needed a revamp and this seemed a good time as any. I went back into Blender 3D and took the original model I had and took all the decorations off and reworked the hilt. It was forged in fire, brimstone and lots of lava….this is the return of “Barad-Dûr Saber – V2”….

I removed the previous texture from the hilt and applied a new coating that looks more like the side of a mountain (or volcano) rather than the “cracked pavement” looking texture I used before. I used a function in Blender to create a rough craggy looking pattern then instructed the software to paste the pattern onto the saber. I then added an effect that creates the illusion that the texture is a real 3D material by creating lumps and bumps (known as Bump Mapping). I l also removed the horns from the emitter and added wing-like shrouds to mimic Mordor’s tower seen in the movie. And to accent the shrouds I created some “lava” that appears when the saber is activated – it flows through the gold edging. I have a few more pictures to show you and a surprise Travelogue entry so I had best display Gallery Two…enjoy…

You can really see the Lava flow through this hilt, literally as the close up on the emitter wings show! But a saber this powerful must have an equally powerful source of energy and yes, open the hilt up and you’ll find that power…in the form of a crstal chamber complete with a Lavacrystal! The primary power crsytal is made of the same stuff that accents the emitter and if I say so myself looks so realistic when you can zoom in on it and move the model around, the “lava” almost flows.

I hope “Barad-Dûr Saber – V2” outshines the original but now I have to change focus and return to my ongoing Travelogue….and as this is a milestone post I had to find a suitable location. Hell’s Gate! Whilst travelling from the Lake Taupo and Tongariro area towards the town of Rotorua I had the chance to visit a place that demonstrated the sheer power of the Earth – up close and hot! There were actually two locations, the first was at Waiotapu and the thermal springs there, A big attraction is the Lady Knox Geyser which is very active (almost as regular as clockwork) and I happened to be there when it was due to go off…

This geyser had an amphitheatre built around it for viewers to sit and watch and as you can see Lady Knox didn’t disappoint! The mound you can see is about 1.5m (5ft) tall and just to make sure that the Lady Knox could be seen better a secret ingredient was added to it by the park guide…soap powder! This is perfectly safe and somehow ensures the eruption happens. And a lot of folks got slightly damp cos they pushed to “get the best seats” and forgot to check which way the breeze was blowing 🤣. Sorry, that was evil, I shouldn’t laugh…and the second location was no laughing matter either. Located on the eatern side of Rotorua is the thermal spa and mud pools of Hell’s Gate…enter if you dare!….

Now this attraction was other-worldly! The area is known as Tikitere (named after a Maori legend, of the scream from a mother made when her daughter died after throwing herself into one of the pits) but in 1934, Irish playwright Georg e Bernard Shaw described the thermal park as being “….like the gates to hell” and the Hell’s Gate name stuck. There are numerous mud pools (over 17) and each has it’s own characteristic and look. They also have a heavy smell of Sulphur and other minerals hence it’s attraction as a spa . These deposits create many colours and thicknesses (viscosity) of mud/water…it even created a pool in my colours! But worryingly the waters and mud were hot…VERY HOT…as seen in the warning notices and steam rising from the surface. And to get from one part of the park to another you had to cross that boardwalk!

There is also a mud spa and mineral bath facility here too, though sadly due to health I couldn’t risk the mud pools but could enjoy a quick dip in the cooler mineral water pool, But I’m afraid I have to leave the water or I’ll get more wrinkled than ever and sadly bring this post to an end. I hope you enjoyed my 666th post, it was a beast. Please be sure to call back to see much more in future posts. Thanks for all your support, I appreciate it, and….

Oh before I go, to TVTA…here is the edited photo of “Mossie” the Mosasaur I promised…hopefully you can see his outline better now!

Look out…it’s a Mossie!

Thanks again and Till next time…..and good luck to Manchester United!

“Barad-Dûr Saber -V2” is a For Tyeth Edition design inspired by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and the subsequent movie trilogy. The 3D model and design were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “The Lord of the Rings” is Trademark/©Copyright of the Tolkien Estate. Movie credits: Production Companies: WingNut Films and The Saul Zaentz Company. Distributed by New Line Cinema.

“Power Lord Zedd” another villainous Ranger design

Hello Everybody and welcome. I hope you have all recovered from the cuteness of last week’s post with both Puss in Boots AND my new little buddy, Messi the lion cub. Today though I have to bring us back to reality and unfortunately remind you that even though there is cute beautiful things in the galaxy, there is also the darker side still lurking. And one individual that was expert at lurking was the villain in Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers….that being Lord Zedd!

He was kind of the Supreme Leader of the universe and sometimes worked with Rita Repulsa. He was a person who referred to himself as the “Emperor of Evil” and on many occasions tried to obtain the “Zeo Crystal” for himself and take ultimate power over the universe. Unfortunately for him, the crystal had a “ray shield” around it that damaged any forces of evil and whilst trying to steal it he was seriously injured. In fact he had his skin stripped from his body leaving him looking like a flayed skeletal figure (ew!) Anyhoo, as I recently visited New Zealand where Zedd made some appearances in Power Rangers I thought I should design a saber. This is “Power Lord Zedd”…

This saber incorporates the red and silver colour scheme Zedd is famed for – however I didn’t make the red sections look like muscle tissue as I felt that might be a bit disturbing to some people! So I settled for a classy scarlet aluminium look that contrasts nicely with the silver “Skeleton Bones” accent parts. The sternum and ribcage part is actually a set of rocker switches to control various functions of the saber, such as blade length and power settings. The helmet/face piece is the activation switch. There are a few smaller details as usual so here are the close ups in Gallery Two…

The first two images above show off the emitter and side windows that allow the blade to shine through. The second two pics are close ups of the “Ribcage Switches” and show the segments – left ribs decrease a setting whilst pressing the right hand ribs increases a setting. Getting to the pommel, you can see the Covertech Wheel used to hang the saber from a belt clip, along with the silver and black accent banding. Finally, Lord Zedd has a distinctive “Zedd” shaped adornment on his helmet which I was going to model and attach to the emitter but it got in the way of the blade too much so instead I added his initial into the speaker/ventilation grille in the base of the pommel.

Now that just about covers the design for Lord Zedd, but mention of bones reminds me of something I came across in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, situated in Wellington….It’s travelogue time!

Te Papa New Zealand National Museum is a fascinating, six storey high museum filled with exhibits ranging from wildlife to technology, to culture…basically everything related to Aotearoa. There are displays on ancient animal life and even UNDER the museum there is evidence of the wildlife. Whilst constructing the building a fossil of a creature named a Mosasaur was found buried in perfect condition. This fossil was kept in situ and can be seen today in the sandpit in the first three pics (you might need to zoom in – sorry). To give an idea of scale, I am 6 feet (1.82m) tall and the Mosasaur curves all the way around the pit! In the third pic I am showing the length of it’s jaw, over 60cm at least. But not only was the wildlife big, so was the impact of the Maori culture and it’s people. None more so than the imposing Waka or canoes. Waka came in various types and sizes for different uses – there were ocean going Waka, then smaller vessels for river travel, even war boats (called Waka taua). But in the museum was one of the most amazing pieces of woodworking I had ever seen (and my grandfather was a master carpenter) and that was a Waka you can see in the last four pictures. The first two show the stern of the boat with it’s intricate carving. That carving was present along the sides of the boat….all along it’s length…and how long? Well take a look at the last photo! Again I am 6ft tall…the Waka is enormous! There is just way too much to talk about in this museum but you have to see it for yourself if you ever visit Wellington, and even more amazing? It is free to enter, they just ask you make a donation to help keep it running.

But sadly we are approaching closing time at the museum and for this post! I really hope you enjoyed this offering of old bones. Next week I reach a bit of a milestone so you might want to call back to see what I’m celebrating. For now I want to thank you all for visiting my site today and supporting me, whether you are a regular or one of my newer visitors who have recently made a habit of looking in…thanks. All the comments and likes really help and if you enjoy this site then be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already to get notifications of new posts. Till next time…

“Power Lord Zedd” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the character “Lord Zedd” seen in “Power Rangers – Dino Fury”. The design, 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth using Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Power Rangers”, “Lord Zedd” and all other names, logos, images and related material are ©Copyright of Hasbro (Allspark).

“The Last Wish Obsidian Edition” saber – This one could get “Messi”

Hello Everybody and welcome to today’s offering! I hope you enjoyed our trip to Middle Earth last week and the side trip to Wellington, New Zealand to visit the WETA Workshop Caves. That was such an awesome adventure into fantasy that I thought I’d bring you another fantasy themed hilt today and the final hilt in my Puss in Boots series – The Obsidian variant. This saber represents what could happen if our little cat friend Puss ever decided to turn to the Dark Side to achieve immortality (well he is close to losing his ninth life sooo maybe he’s desperate). The saber is suitably dark so here is “The Last Wish – Obsidian”….

This version of the rapier style saber has a unique coating of black Obsidian, a tough, hard as diamonds rock, that is ground down to a powder and applied to the hilt like a powder coating on metallic furniture, gates and car parts. As a result these parts are extremely protected and durable .They also look very sinister being all black – however the floral etching on the handbasket guard still shows up quite nicely. Sadly though as you can see this saber has a red blade and look closely and you’ll see the cat’s eyes in the pommel have also changed to red! Poor kitty! Anyhow I had better show you Gallery Two as I have someone really cute to introduce you to afterwards….

Now these last three images show the saber in it’s inactive mode with the blade in it’s distinct black look, then with the blade lit where the energy field “wraps” around the blade making it red. The last picture is of Puss himself showing how he’d look using it – but don’t worry it is just a camera trick/photo edit I did. As far as I know Puss is still the cute little guy we know and love….speaking of cute loveable little guys…onto this week’s travelogue photos form New Zealand….the cuteness will go off the charts!….

Whilst I was down under I met up with a whole menagerie of wildlife! I visited several wildlife parks and conservation sites but in the region around Rotorua is a special place named Paradise Valley Springs and it was awesome. There were native animals including birds, insects, mammals and reptiles that included Wallabies, Wombats, Deer, Parakeets, even Cassowaries but this park had some special residents….please meet Messi the lion cub! Now Messi is a young cub around 2-3 months old and he and his sister appear daily for park visitors to get up close and personal with. And what an honour and experience that was! Messi wasn’t even a quarter of the size he will grow to be but even at this young age he was formidable. His paws looked small at first but when he flattened them out and stretched they were huge. And he was all muscle. But what was so memorable was actually getting to stroke the little lion. Of course this was done under proper supervision and the utmost care taken . The handlers were fantastic explaining how and why the cubs were at the park and the work that they do, Now Jedi have an affinity with animals and it seemed that Messi and I connected as I filed past him (and his sister, who by now was sleeping). When it was my turn to stoke him I was amazed by how soft his coat was yet it was still coarse to withstand desert conditions. I think he sensed I was a friend and as I parted he did this…

AW! Don’t go Tyeth….Come Back!

He rolled onto his back and started looking for me! Sadly I had to leave as time was running short and it was time for his bedtime. Again I could have spent 2 maybe 3 whole days at Paradise Valley Springs but as ever my hectic schedule prevented me doing so….but I’ll never forget Messi!

And that’s about it for today I hope you enjoyed The Last Wish Obsidian and you managed to survive Messi’s cuteness! I will have more sabers and more travel/wildlife pictures in upcoming posts but for now I will have to end here, Thanks so much for visiting today and all the support you give. whether you are a newcomer or a regular to FTSabersite it really does help me keep posting. If you liked what you saw then please consider leaving a comment, like or even subscribe (if you haven’t already) to get notifications of my new postings. Till next time…..

“The Last Wish Saber – Obsidian Edition” is a For Tyeth Editions lightsaber design inspired by Dreamworks Studios’ character “Puss in Boots” and his rapier sword seen in the movie “The Last Wish”. The design, model and renders were created by For Tyeth using Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Puss in Boots”, “The Last Wish” and all other names, logos, images and related materials are Trademark/©Copyright of Dreamworks Studios.

Barad-dûr Saber Revisited – And my trip to Middle Earth…sort of!

Hello Everybody…..today is a first for FTSabersite in that I don’t have a brand new design to show you all AND I am about to revisit an old design instaed. But it is for good reason. As some of you may know or remember WAY back in February of 2019 I came up with a design inspired by the imaginary world of J.R.R. Tolkien – the world of Middle Earth and Mordor! It had been suggested to me by members of a forum I used that I should make a Lord of the Rings themed saber as a lot of Star Wars fans also like Tolkien. So of course I took on the challenge and it is this saber I am reposting. Sadly when my laptop crashed two years ago I lost all the 3D models and files for this – but don’t worry I am currently working on recreating it. However I had posted the images so here is Barad–dûr Saber once more…..

Back when I created this hilt I was just getting to grips with Blender 3D and hadn’t learnt how to get really clear polished render images so sorry these are a bit small and basic compared to my recent works but I will make up for this with the rebuilt version I’m working on and….how about I treat you with a second gallery of pictures showcasing my brush with Lord of the Rings during my recent Jedi mission to New Zealand? Sound good? OK here is my trip to the world famous WETA Workshops Caves….

The WETA Workshops is a wonderous place in Wellington, New Zealand and is the special effects studio responsible for creating some of the most iconic props, puppets and pieces of film effects in history! Their workshops are a mecca for designers and film fans alike to get up close and personal with the characters and their props etc. Unfortunately the workshop tours are so popular that they were fully booked up and I couldn’t take the tour but I could still browse the visitor centre/shop which still contained some cool pieces. And it turns out that WETA Studios also collaborated on the Power Rangers franchise (which has filmed in NZ) as shown by the three Ranger helmets on display. There were resin casts taken from the moulds used for the real props and some screen used weapons – all in intricate detail. The attention to detail was unbelievable considering you wouldn’t be able to see some of those details unless you were stood holding the piece. I was speechless at some of it. And then there was the inspiration for my Barad–dûr Saber – a real life Sauron’s mace and a familiar face you may recognise…here’s Gallery Three….

As I mentioned these items were beautifully crafted and I felt lucky to get up close to them. Though some things got a little closer than I expected….YES that is Gollum! It was almost surreal…a Stoor Hobbit meeting a Jedi Knight!

Even though I didn’t get to do the full tour I’ll never forget this experience. Sadly though I had to leave and I will also have to bring this post to and end too as time is upon me. Again I apologise for revisiting an old post but rest assured I am working on a replacement built for “Barad–dûr” along with a lot more sabers for future posts. So please call back to see all that and more – and thank you for visiting today. All the support is special and keeps me grafting. Till next time…..

“Barad-Dûr Saber” is a For Tyeth Edition design inspired by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and the subsequent movie trilogy. “The Lord of the Rings” is Trademark/©Copyright of the Tolkien Estate. Movie credits: Production Companies: WingNut Films and The Saul Zaentz Company. Distributed by New Line Cinema.

“Sidious Shadows” saber – a redesign of Sheeve Palpatine’s secret saber

Hello Everybody and a belated Happy May The Fourth Be With You day! Yes sorry I didn’t have a big May 4th special post this year but I wasn’t able to arrange anything major like a new saber purchase or a visit to a Comic Con. That and the fact I have been a bit ill since returning from my Jedi mission – I think the change in climate and food etc has affected me a bit..Anyhoo back to today. As you can see from the title image we are firmly in the realm of Star Wars for this new design and it is for Darth Sidious. Darth Sidious wasn’t always known as Sidious, he was in fact a man named Sheeve Palpatine born on the planet Naboo 82 years before the Battle of Yavin (where the Death Star was destroyed) . He began his story as a politician that climbed the ranks of power by charm and scheming – along with the use of a secret alternate identity. Palpatine was a Sith devotee and studied the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. His teacher was “Darth Plagueis the wise” and Palpatine became a powerful Sith Apprentice. We know what happened to Darth Plagueis however as Palpatine told the story to Anakin Skywalker in the movie Revenge of the Sith. Palpatine having learnt all he could from Plagueis killed his master whilst he slept. Palpatine was then voted to become Chancellor of the Senate ….and he took on an apprentice of his own…All this took place shrouded by shadows so this new hilt is named “Sidious Shadows”…

This is a redesign of the lightsaber Sheeve secretly owned (in fact he owned two – one up his robe sleeve and one in a compartment in his desk chair).

Emperor Palpatine’s Saber original (©Disney/Lucasfilm)

I felt that the original hilt was pretty, but it was in my opinion a little too curvy and “slippery” to hold compared to it’s size. Of course it had to be small to fit up his sleeve but I imagine it would be like trying to hold a bar of soap when using it. So I tweaked the design a little and added some inserts into the handgrip made of a slip resistant material that has ridged lines to provide a grippier feel. The saber is roughly the same dimensions otherwise. Here is Gallery Two for a few up close pics…

I did give this hilt a red and gold colour scheme that would more match with his robes he wore later in his life (or death) whilst living in a cloned body on the planet Exegol (we see Exegol in the Rise of Skywalker movie). The saber also has a Covertech wheel to hang the saber from a belt in case you don’t have a sleeve fitted holster for it. Finally there is a ring of black blocks which are in fact a ring switch to select the length of the blade.

And that brings my saber offering to a close but I still have my continuing travelogue photos to share from my mission. I was still in the Tongariro National Park region and kind of circling Mt Ruapeha visiting some places of interest. The first was a town named Ohakune which in the early days of New Zealand was a farming heartland that was tended to by a group of Chinese farmers. So proud is this town that they set up a commemorative garden in the grower’s honour…and you can’t miss it as you drive by because the carrots are so large! I also visited the National New Zealand Armed Forces museum and had a Star Wars inspired surprise!

I told you the carrots were BIG! This one is probably over 6 metres tall. The car made from a similar vegetable seems to be an E-Type Carrot (but it has Mazda markings). The long highway you can see is named Desert Road and it runs along the eastern foothills of Ruapeha and the climate there is VERY dry and at altitude so trees find it hard to grow there resulting in a desert tundra like region. This road lead to my next location, the Armed Forces Museum. This was a fascinating place I wish I could have explored longer but time was against me…but I did find a Droid. Ok it was a bomb disposal remote droid but it certainly had a Star Warsy look. And finally…I found a Stormtrooper Blaster! The blasters carried by the troopers in the original 1977 movie were actually real old WW2 weapons deactivated and had parts attached to decorate them. The weapon was a British sub-machine gun named the L2A3 sometimes called a Sterling machine gun. The museum has one with a bayonet attached and the one in my picture shows the shoulder stock extended. In the movie this shoulder rest is folded up under the barrel and acts as a handgrip. Here is the picture again next to a pic of Luke holding one.

I haven’t seen an L2A3 this close since I was at high school. The Army in the UK had a recruitment drive during the late 80’s and toured high schools with a truck full of equipment to show kids and in it was a display of the guns the army used. There was a pistol, a rifle and then there was the L2A3. They were chained to a table but we could pick them up and look at them…but I went a little bit too far and I er, field stripped the gun! I taught myself how to do it from a magazine I’d read and the young cadet who was guarding the display looked at the parts in horror and quickly tried to re-assemble the gun. Needless to say he couldn’t and his Commanding Officer was approaching, so being a good Jedi I grabbed the parts back and swiftly put the thing back together. The Sarge arrived just as I handed the cadet the gun back saying “I think I prefer swords but thanks for showing me this!” and walked away. I was getting slightly concerned looks from people for the rest of the day.

Anyhoo, that really is all the time I have and I need to say thanks to you all for checking this post out. All the support you give through your views, comments and likes, help motivate me and keep me designing. So if you liked what you saw then please be sure to call back for future designs. And if you would like to help grow this little site’s audience please spread word about FTSabersite. Thanks so much to all of you new and regulars. Till next time…..May The Force Be With You!

“Sidious Shadows” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by Emperor Palpatine’s lightsaber seen in “Revenge of the Sith”. The design, 3D model and all renders were made by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Revenge o the Sith” and all other names, images, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

TIE Defender Elite version two – “SkyStrike”

Hello Everybody and welcome. Can you believe we are nearly a third of the way through 2023? I guess I can’t waste much time so had best showcase this week’s offering. This time I have the TIE Defender Elite that I brought to you a while back but this time it is in the colours of the Skystrike Academy. The Skystrike Academy was sort of like the Empire’s version of “TopGun” where the best of the best new pilots went to train. The facility was commanded by Commander Vult Skerris, who I introduced you to in the original post in which I debuted the Defender. (You can view it using this link: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/tie-defender-elite-skerris-a-recreation-of-the-galactic-empires-new-tie-fighter/) Skerris’ was given command of the academy and he flew a Defender with red markings to denote his superiority whilst his cadets had yellow trimmed ships. This yellow banded version also became the colours adopted by Defender Squadron One when the cadets passed their resting and entered service. So this offering is really a repaint of my “Skerris” red version, but I thought you might like to see it, plus I have more of my travel pics for later, so here is Gallery One…

The changes are subtle, but when in space the yellow actually shows up more than the red paint on Skerris’ personal ship so these ships were easier to spot. Skerris was ruthless and hated the Rebellion, so used whatever tactics he could to achieve victory – unfortunately this was accompanied by an arrogant and rule-breaking attitude. Skerris would even fire on damaged or unarmed vehicles if it meant another victim for his logbook. His student pilots weren’t so aggressive and regularly incurred Skerris’ wrath in dressing downs when they failed missions. Anyhoo, I had best show you the close up detail pictures and bring you the Glamour Shot gallery, enjoy…

In the end Skerris came to a sticky ending whilst pursuing some Rebel targets when he was hit by friendly fire launched from Grand Admiral Thrawn’s ship. Thrawn attempted to stop Hera Syndula from escaping but Skerris wanted the kill for himself and wouldn’t retreat. His ship was caught in the crossfire and partially disabled but Syndula’s was less so and Hera was able to fire upon the unshielded Skerris and make her escape to hyperspace. Skerris and his ship were destroyed but Defender Squadron One continued.

And talking of things continuing it’s time to showcase my next batch of travel pics from my mission down under! Last week I posted pics of Mt Ruapeha and the SkyWaka gondola and I mentioned some other nearby landmarks that I visited. First I went underground when I visited the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. These caves were mesmerising – to get into the main caverns you had to travel through a cave corridor formed by the flowing water passing through over thousands of years (Wai in Maori translates as “water” whilst Tomo translates to “hole” hence Waitomo is called “Waterhole”). The corridor was made of a limestone like rock and there were rock formations known as Stalagmites and Stalactites, making the the corridors look like the catacombs of Geonosis (seriously). Sadly though I couldn’t get photos because the caves have some creatures living in them that were sensitive to bright lights (so photography was banned) …Glow Worms! The worms lived by dangling on the ends of the roof formations and emitting a neon-like blue glow to attract food which they catch on a sticky silk line they extend . The worms pupate and the “insect” that hatches give birth to the next generation. We passed through these caves in boats powered by our guide pulling on ropes. The views were out of this world, especially when a large batch of worms were gathered – it looked like a starfield inside a cave! I did manage to get a few pics outside the cave and the chalet complex I stayed in that night…

I also mentioned last week a place named Lake Taupo which could be seen from the top of the gondola ride on Mt Ruapeha. This lake was 23km away but could still be seen easily and I took a boat trip on it….which was interesting! The boat captain gave his commentary during which he told us some disturbing news…the lake actually fills the top of an active volcano crater! And it was overdue to erupt by 1600 years…but the risk was worth going out onto the water for as there was a hidden treasure on the island in the middle of the lake….

The first pic shows the approach road to Lake Taupo which my relative described as a “small lake”….turns out that the lake is so big that the whole of Singapore could be built in it’s footprint (and remember this is an active volcanic crater!). The lake even has it’s own horizon on which you can see the curvature of the planet’s surface, it is that vast…but on that horizon was a lone island which had a surprise…massive Maori rock carvings! The carvings were beautiful and could only be seen by boat. The sculptor erected scaffolding made from tree trunks and carved representations of a face that has facial markings which told his family history. But this carving isn’t small by any means as this last picture shows with me in the foreground…

And that I’m afraid is about all the time I have for today. I really hope you liked the repainted TIE Defender (I know it was basic but I made up for that with travel pics😎). Thank you so much for calling in and checking this post out, all the support you give is much appreciated. So please call back next week when I will have a new design and more of my adventures. Till next time….

“TIE Defender Elite – SkyStrike” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the ship seen in Star Wars Rebels. The design, 3D models and renders were created by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Star Wars Rebels” and all other names, images, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“Chopper V2 Saber” – Time for an upgrade!

Hello Everybody and welcome to today’s offering. Recently Star Wars Celebration, the travelling SW convention took place in London and all the big news about upcoming shows and movies etc was made public. Well there was news about the Ahsoka Tano live action series and that brought about speculation about other characters and one name popped up, that of Hera Syndula that appeared in Star Wars Rebels as the owner/captain of the ship The Ghost. I thought “hm…I haven’t done any Rebels inspired stuff for a while so how about if I did another saber or two?” The problem was I have already built a saber for Hera which you can see here> (https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2020/09/19/syndulla-a-saber-for-hera/) and I have built hilts for Zeb, Kanan and Ezra too. I even built a lightsaber inspired by Chopper, Hera’s Astromech…then I realised that his saber was done many years ago using the old software and looked like this:

Realising how old this design is now (and that Saberforge who offered the old software and ASP system no longer support it) I felt I had to redesign and build a new saber for ol’ Chopper! So I have….here is the new updated “Chopper V2″…

This saber I designed to be a “Shoto” or a saber that is held in your non dominant hand as a defensive weapon, alongside your main regular sized hilt in your main hand. Because Chopper is er, slightly shorter than most Astromechs he kinda suited the role of a Shoto! I again as with all my “droid inspired” builds tried to include as many little details as possible. From the chromed eye socket parts, to the LED bargraph lights on the side of his dome (which also has the antenna dish on top which is removable to allow the blade to extend), all the way down to the panelling and access doors. I even 3D modelled his spanner shaped arm appendage (which I then curved to fit his shape). I did however leave a couple of panels out that were situated at the lower half of his bodywork so I could fit in the handgrip portion of the hilt Anyhoo, enough chatting…here is Gallery Two featuring the glamour shots and details…

I feel this updated “Chopper Saber” looks even more like it’s inspiration, I’m just apologising that it took me so long to realise the fact it needed refreshing. Hopefully this is a worthy inclusion into my Astromech collection. And now….onto other news and more from my trip to Mordor…I mean New Zealand! Last week I posted an image of me with a Skywaka…no, not Luke Skywalker but the Mt Ruapehu Skywaka gondola ride! Early on in my trip I got to visit this attraction and it was stunning, even at the start of New Zealand’s autumn/fall (meaning there was less snow). But how could you not be impressed by a cable-car ride upto 2020m and which has a length of over 1.8km! The ride takes 12 minutes to reach the summit and the views are incredible and for good reason…Mt Ruapehu is an ACTIVE volcano (having erupted in 2006 and 07)! Though my Kiwi relative didn’t tell me that beforehand 🤨. From the summit you could see all the other peaks in the area. To get to the site however requires a drive down (or is that up?) State Highway 48 and what a drive that is too. Here are a few pics…

The first two pics show just how BIG Mt Ruapehu is (well it is the largest volcano in the Tongariro National Park) and a building that looks like a Swiss chalet style house, which is in fact an exclusive hotel. The gondola ride itself is as stated 1.8km long and carries you up to the Knoll Ridge Chalet (a restaurant and viewing point) in one of 48 carriages. On a day like I visited on you can see to the horizons. You can even see another fascinating landmark called Lake Taupo which is 23km away but I’ll chat about Taupo in an upcoming post. Oh yes…I mentioned Mordor? Well, Mt Ruapehu is sorta part of Middle Earth as Peter Jackson filmed bits of the Rings trilogy films on it’s slopes (namely scenes for Mordor and Mount Doom).

And sadly that is all the time I have and I need to end this post. I hope you enjoyed Chopper’s upgrades…they were well overdue, And I hope you enjoy what you see on FTSabersite in general. I want to thank you all for visiting and supporting me and the site, it means a great deal to me that folks like what I do and keeps me inspired to create more. So whether you are a regular caller here or this is your first trip to FTSabersite, please call back for future posts a I have much more to come. Till next time….

“Chopper V2 Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the droid character “Chopper” seen in Star Wars Rebels. The 3D design, models and renders were created by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Star Wars Rebels”, ” Chopper”and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

“PowerVoidKnight” – a saber for Tarrick

Hello Everybody, today I bring you a new saber inspired by “Power Rangers – Dino Fury” which is the current season being shown on my cable package. And this saber is for the antagonist)?) of the show, a person named Void Knight. Now originally Void Knight was a humanoid alien named Tarrick, from the planet Rafkon, who travelled to Earth 20 years ago with his wife Santaura and their baby. He was on a scavenging mission for the descendants of Rafkon but all three were soon captured and held in a facility known as “Area 62”. Experiments were being carried out at the plant but one went disastrously wrong and an explosion caused part of the building to collapse…and Santaura was caught in the blast and knocked out eventually falling into a coma. A hole was blown through the wall but it was only large enough to pass his baby through to the facility’s janitor, who took it to safety. The plant was eventually abandoned and Tarrick had to put his wife into a cryosleep machine and promised to do whatever he could to heal and revive her.

Tarrick

Unfortunately the machine wasn’t powerful enough to revive Santaura but Tarrick did discover some Ranger morphing equipment and modified it to morph into the character Void Knight to help his quest to save his wife and chid. Anyhoo, it turns out that Void Knight would need high powered creature things called Sporix to fuel his machine and he set about hunting the Sporix down….but most were housed in the Power Ranger’s base called Dinohenge. As you can imagine many skirmishes and attacks ensued.

Void Knight

So this seems a good place to introduce my latest design inspire by Void Knight (well I made a staff for Rita Repulsa…) and this is called PowerVoidKnight…

I attempted to replicate Void Knight’s armour and mask design and I think it turned out quite well. The shroud on the emitter was tricky as I had to create a flat object in the shape of the mask, then curve it to wrap around the handle without distorting the outline too much – it’s kinda similar. I also went with a grey and purple colour scheme to tie in with his attire. What isn’t apparent from the pics of Void above is that his armour has sections made of overlapping plates (similar to an Armadillo or Pangolin) and I tried to recreate these armour plates to form the rails down either side of the handgrip. I think a few Glamour detail pictures will show it better…Gallery Two….

The last picture above shows the plated armour handgrip nicely which is made up multiple individual plates then “glued” together.

Now as some of you will know Power Rangers is filmed in…New Zealand and during my recent trip there I hoped to visit some filming locations to get photos to use for background images for these hilts but as I mentioned last week my travel itinerary was fully booked and some places were closed off by authorities due to storm damage from the floods (they were still valiantly working to clean up) so missed the chance. But fear not I do still have a few pics to share from my trip and today I have a few from a place named Hamilton Gardens. Hamilton Gardens as you can guess was a beautiful botanical garden site that had sections showing themed gardens including “Traditional Maori Forest”, “English Tea Garden” and “Italian Villa Gardens”. There was also a Japanese riverside pagoda building that I felt a connection to – probably due to Japanese swordsmiths. Then in the final picture I meet with a….Sky….

Yes even in New Zealand there is a presence I haven’t felt since….only kidding but if you want to know what the Skywaka is then I’m afraid you will have to join me for next week’s post as I am running out of space and time today. But before I go, as always I want to say thanks for your visit today and all the support I receive from you all. It does encourage me to keep creating and posting so I hope you will all return for future updates. Till next time…..

“PowerVoidKnight” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the character “Void Knight” seen in “Power Rangers – Dino Fury”. The design, 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth using Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Power Rangers”, “Void Knight” and all other names, logos, images and related material are ©Copyright of Hasbro (Allspark).

“Skytower One” – Inspired by my Jedi Mission

Hello Everybody and welcome back to normal service at FTSabersite! The reason I say normal service is that I haven’t actually been at FT Towers for the past few weeks….I was away on my Jedi Mission I have teased since December last year. I had a few issues getting documents sorted but I eventually got my paperwork and I was able to jet off on my adventure. Now back in December I challenged you all to make a guess where I was going in my end of year review and I left a clue, but nobody made any suggestions. Well I posted an image that I edited to include a famous landmark building in the country I was about to visit. The image was….

And if you look closely at this skyline of Coruscant you might see a skyscraper that doesn’t belong….it looks like this….

Yes this is a 3D model I made and rendered into the image and if you are from Auckland you may recognise it! YES….I have been to New Zealand and Australia! It was a visit to see distant relatives and what an adventure it was. I left London in an Airbus A380 superjumbo aeroplane to Singapore THEN I boarded a connecting flight in a Boeing Dreamliner to complete the journey to Aotearoa – a total of 23 flying hours.

On arrival to Auckland I was greeted by my “long lost” cousin and driven home to where I would set up camp. We took the scenic route from the airport and made a stop at a restaurant…a very impressive revolving restaurant….

The first image shows Auckland’s harbour and skyline, the next shows the entrance lobby to Skytower itself. The third is yours truly sat in the tower’s revolving restaurant and the fourth shows a view from the tower of the city below….and I kid you not, the city of Auckland must have known I was coming as there was a construction crane covered with green safety lights – it looked like a lightsaber!

The Skytower is an amazing structure. It measures 12m (39 ft) in diameter and is supported by 8 curved legs – lifting the tower to a height of 328m (1,076.1 ft) at the top of the antenna. The restaurant sits at 190m (620ft). The tower sways up to 1m from side to side in high winds and can withstand a Magnitude 8 earthquake….reassuring! Anyway having visited such a landmark I had to start off my tales with the 3D model I made of it…oh and of course I had to turn it into a saber…here is Skytower One…

I really like this design and it would make a comfortable hilt in reality – the contours and curve would fit nicely in hand. I went to town and made the emitter look as much like the real tower’s upper superstructure as possible and even nailed the mirrored windows on the restaurant floors. The antenna section is removable to act as the blade plug allowing the blade to extend. The rows of black rectangles represent the window ports that run up the column between the legs of the tower. Now the real tower has eight legs but I only modelled six to make the model less complicated, but I still think it looks the part.

And I am afraid that I’m nearly at the end of this post. I am still recovering from such an epic trip. I travelled to the tip of the north island and skipped down to the southern-most point on the south island…I stood atop a volcano, climbed into some caves, met the wildlife…met the locals…and when I left I left a big part of me behind. But I’ll share more of these stories in upcoming posts. For now I want to thank you all for continuing visiting and supporting me (even if I wasn’t really here 😉). I hope you liked what you saw today and will return to see much more content and tales. Till next time…..

“Skytower One” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by Auckland’s Skytower building. The 3D design, model and renders are ©Copyright and were created in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023.

“Wolverine’s Claws” – A Katana for Logan

Hello Everybody, today I bring you yet another new saber! Back on the 18th February I showcased a design for Deadpool, well today I have the saber I designed for Wolverine. Long time viewers/friends of this site may recall I have already created a saber for Logan, aka Wolverine (you can view them here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/tag/wolverinelogan/), but he is starring alongside Deadpool in the new movie Deadpool 3 releasing on November 8th 2024. Yes I’m a little early but the inspiration struck me so I had to model my idea while the metal was hot! I decided that Logan/Wolverine needed a Katana to match up with the one I built for Deadpool but one with a difference…and I think this Katana is a bit different. This is “Wolverine’s Claws Katana”…

This saber is modelled and coloured in the classic yellow and blue scheme seen in early comic books, back when Wolfie looked like this…

You will also notice that this is no usual Katana as it has not one, but three blades to mimic his Adanantium claws. This is capable of some serious damage but I know Logan can handle it. OK, enough chatter, I had better post the gallery of pics for you….

This saber is a real match for Deadpool’s and the triple blades also feature the Hamon Line inspired etching light effect on the sides. These secondary blades I imagine being used like the three pronged swords named Sai that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Raphael owns. The smaller blades could be used to trap or “bind” an opponent’s blade to control their sword before snapping it. The wrapping on the handgrip is just a classic Wolfie colour scheme as is the pommel. Now I mentioned that Wolverine is due to appear in Deadpool 3, well I decide to do a group photo of both superheroes’ sabers!

And just as a treat here is a quick picture of Wolverine holding a similar pose…

And that just about wraps up this post once again. I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has visited today to check this design out. All of your support is fantastic and has helped me out this past few weeks. Hopefully things at Tyeth Towers will return to normal soon and if you liked what you saw here then please call back for future posts. I have some new “robots in disguise”, more starfighters plus the final Puss in Boots variant . Till next time!…..

“Wolverine’s Claws” Katana is a For Tyeth Editions design created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite. The design, 3D models and renders were create in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Wolverine”, “Logan”, Deadpool” and all other names, logos, pictures and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Marvel Studios.