“Prodigal” a design by DarthProdigal

Hello Everybody, another week has passed (how quick has this year flown by so far?) and I realised “Wow I haven’t posted a Guest Designer hilt for a while – I better fix that”. Well today I have a hilt I modelled for a member of the forum I belong to, who had come up with a saber idea based on an old medieval weapon. The weapon is a mix between a mid European Halberd and a Battleaxe. The Halberd was used in the 15,16 and 17th centuries and consisted of a shaft handle with an axe style blade mounted at 90 degrees to the handle and atop the shaft there was usually a short pointed blade like a spear. These things were vicious but my friend DarthProdigal from the forum took the idea and gave the Halberd double axe blades and removed the spear blade. It looked a bit more like a European double blade Battleaxe – but there was a surprise! It also featured a smaller bladed weapon connected to the pommel end instead. DarthProdigal posted a sketch on the forum and as usual members chatted about “I wonder how this would look like this or that” etc so I decided to model it in Blender but first here is Prodigal’s sketch…

This was the picture Prodigal posted and it was interesting! I’ll be honest and say the first thing I saw was Spiderman’s chest logo but after a few seconds of scrutiny I realised this was a nice design that had some thought put into it. There were the two axe blades – very functional should the lightsaber blade fail- then a nice wrapped handgrip. There was also a second shorter “Shoto” (a small defensive blade used in your non dominant hand as a sort of shield) style blade too with a crescent moon claw shaped emitter. I liked this even more. Prodigal explained that the Shoto connected somehow onto the pommel endcap of the main axe weapon making it double bladed like a staff lightsaber. Knowing this I set to work in Blender…

This is the wireframe view of what I thought a fully manufactured Halberd might look like. You can see it is fairly complex and I have added a few minor details to just adorn it here and there (though the additions do serve a purpose). I think I have chatted enough and it’s time for a few Glamour Shots…here’s Gallery One….

I don’t know if I’d want to face up against one of these! I have faced some formidable weapons in my battles but none quite like this. The hilt I built using two cylinders, one for the regular hilt handle and a second “pancaked” cylinder which I modified to give it a “sharp” edge for the blades. I cut out segments to create the trusses holding the blades to the central plate of the axe head, I gave the blades a contrasting colour to make them stand out. For extra detail I added bolts/screws to hold the sections of the hilt together (you can see the hex bolts on the ferrule sections and pommel). The pommel features a connector to attach the Shoto blade allowing the user to form the double blade staff – the connector uses a twist-lock cog) The activation switch is custom made to represent a faction of religious believers in Star Wars known as the Sith Empire – these were a group of fanatics that promote the Sith and some even helped Emperor Palpatine come back from the dead to carry out his plan in The Rise of Skywalker. These fanatics had an emblem which consisted of a “Black Sun” – the switch represents a sun and it’s rays (not Reys 🤣). And on that bad joke I should post the second gallery as an apology…here’s Gallery Two…

Having learnt of the significance of the Black Sun and from what DarthProdigal told me I realised I needed to model the emblem and incorporate it somewhere on the weapon. It turns out that the central hub of the axe head structure provided a perfect place to fit the emblem onto! I modelled the emblem the same way that I created the Jedi logo on my High Republic hilt last week – I took an image of the logo and triggered Blender to convert the image into a flat outline object which I could then apply a thickness to, making the object a fully 3D mesh. I stuck to the red and black colour scheme of the weapon so the Sun is also red. You will see that I had to adjust the shape of the emblem slightly so it was visible over the curvature of the axe head and shaft but I think it looked perfect in position.

Prodigal Lightsaber Halberd and the Sith Throne (background ©Copyright Disney/Lucasfilm

Just before I go I would really like to thank DarthProdigal for allowing me to recreate his idea in 3D for him and to display it here. Prodigal has been very supportive of my designing and gives me great feedback when I post on the forum so it is fitting that I induct him into my Guest Designer gallery! Thanks again Prodigal,

And to you my friends and viewers, thank you also! Your support is much appreciated and all your comments, likes and and follows mean a lot to me and the running of FTSabersite. I hope you will all return to see future upcoming posts as I have more High Republic era hilts to showcase along with a few SW Resistance themed designs as well as a range of NERF inspired sabers! Till next time….

“Prodigal” Halberd is a DarthProdigal design and is ©Copyright of DarthProdigal. The 3D model and renders were created by me, For Tyeth and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021.

The Durasteel Dove by PsychoSith Sabers – A new guest contributor!

Hello everybody and welcome to a big day on this site. The reason it is such a momentous day is that I have the honour and privilege of introducing a Guest Designer! As I have mentioned I belong to the Ultrasabers forum and on that website are a group of very enthusiastic and, in the case of my Guest today, talented individuals. My guest uses the forum name of PsychoSith and  he is a talented artist but PS is a wizard with pencil, paper and tons of sketching skill. PS designs and sketches lightsabers and has a real eye for designing interesting hilts with lots of neat details. He then posts his work in a gallery on the forum and always receives well deserved praise. One hilt that PsychoSith came up with was a very distinctive saber with four aggressive looking claws and spines yet the hilt was named “The Durasteel Dove” and here are the sketches that PS posted…

PsychoSith’s Durasteel Dove Sketch

The Durasteel Dove Isometric view

This saber caught the attention of the forum members and rightly so. They loved it and so do I. It was here that things started to get interesting….as both PS and I designed sabers but in different mediums, one member commented he’d be interested to see what the “Dove” would look like if I modelled it in Blender. PS kindly commented that he liked my work and would be  intrigued to see that too. So we chatted and I offered to do my best on building a Blender replica of his hilt. I was apprehensive because I had to do the design justice but was determined. At first I only had the first image to work from (the top down view) and not the Isometric/perspective view but I managed to block out a base model. And it looked a bit like this…

Durasteel Dove studio build 1

Durasteel Dove studio build 2

Durasteel Dove studio build 3

As you can see I made not just one version but three in total as I couldn’t quite work out the shape of the shroud plates that circled the emitter. At first it appeared to have four spines, but then on closer inspection the spines formed a “V” shaped cutout but that wasn’t possible as the spines were spaced too far apart. So I built new shroud plates but again it didn’t look “right”. Then PS kindly sketched the Isometric image that showed the shroud much clearer and after a quick chat I came up with the final version. This version was much closer, and here are the Glamour Shots….

Durasteel Dove final build 1

Durasteel Dove final build 2

Durasteel Dove final build 3

Durasteel Dove final build 4

Durasteel Dove final build (the top down view)

As PsychoSith sketches in pencil and ink, I had no colour or material references to work from except for his fantastic shading/shadowing. As a result I opted for a grimy silver and brass look to fit with PS’s backstory for the hilt’s history. It was well used and worn in places, having been handed down through several owners. Each person added their own touch to the hilt. I used a silver texture with a distortion pattern mixed into it to create dirt/grime effects. The material also complimented the orange blade. And the blade which has the colour of molten Durasteel  is now surrounded by four really distinct claw shrouds. The shrouds have a kinked spike and then the shroud widens with small tabs to surround the emitter cone. The shrouds also have inlaid panels stretching down their length. The large X-Guard claws have battle damage and feature chipped edges, while the handgrip/body has a broken lanyard chain that would have looped to the pommel cap. Now complete I offered it to PS to check out. In the meantime I also produced a few “arty posters” for the design…

Durasteel Dove poster 1

Durasteel Dove poster 2

I am so pleased and honoured to say that PychoSith approved of my efforts and posted the pictures on the forum and they created quite a stir with the other members, PsychoSith’s Dove had come to life off the page! It is absolutely beautiful and I kinda wish I had designed it…but I did get to build it so had a little hand in it’s conception! And so this is how the collaboration between PS and myself came about and it has been a pleasure working with him.

If you would like to see more of PsychoSith’s awesome art (and it is art in the real sense of the word) then you can visit the Ultrasabers forum and his gallery pages by clicking the link HERE . You will be amazed by his skill with a 6B pencil.

I’d like to thank PsychoSith for allowing me to display his hilt here it is an honour and I’m pleased to say that there will be more of his designs coming in future posts in the Guest Designer gallery! However this just about wraps up this offering and I just need to thank you my viewers and followers for checking this post out. Your support as always is much appreciated and I hope you will return to see future posts…there is so much more in the pipeline! Till next time…

“The Durasteel Dove” is a PychoSith Sabers design and is ©Copyright of PychoSith Sabers used here with permission, FTSabersite and all it’s content including Guest Designer contributions are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019.