“Coaxium Saber” – A weapon with a boost

Hello Everybody, I hope you have all had fun spending your money on the Black Friday sales and got some bargains. I recently got two bargains my new Jedi robe and a new saber which I have mentioned before. Well I have a couple of sneak peeks at the end of this post of the saber but first I’d like to show off a saber I built after I came into possession of some Coaxium!

Now Coaxium is a very special and expensive commodity. It is a substance used to fuel spaceships and costs a small fortune as it has a complex refining process. You may have seen Coaxium in the movie SOLO – A Star Wars Story – it is the glowing blue crystaline substance in the metallic cylinders Han and Chewie attempt to “steal” for Dryden Vos of Crimson Dawn (you can see the vials in the pics above). Well I managed to obtain a few cannisters of unrefined Coaxium myself and thought “Hmm, if this is starship fuel…what would it do in a lightsaber?” So I built a saber powered by Coaxium. First off I needed smaller capsules to contain the stuff so here are my containment capsules…

The pinkish purple helix are the molecules of Coaxium before they are compressed into the crystals seen in the movie. When this capsule is attached to my new hilt it automatically injects and compresses the substance and creates enormous power for the saber! And it takes a skilled Jedi Master to control this amount of energy…I nearly cut a hole in the wall of my cave when I first tried using this! But you want to see the saber itself too don’t you? OK here are the Glamour shots of my “Coaxium Saber”…

I decided to go with an elegant classic look to the saber with a pretty emitter and thin necked design. The emitter and neck have nice contrasting accents and tops a very comfortable ribbed handgrip. The handgrip is reminiscent of both Luke Skywalker’s and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s sabers but is slightly less awkward to hold as there is no “control box” just a single illuminated activation switch. Then at the pommel end of the hilt is where the magic or chemistry happens! You attach the capsule to the bottom of the handgrip, then pull the endcap out to extend the inner tube – then just like a hypodermic syringe press the tube back down into the hilt! This activates the refining process and turns the Helix compounds into the crystals which in turn are drawn into the saber to power it. AND MAN does it have a kick! You can see in the pictures I had to add several hex-head bolts to strengthen this thing.

OK, the Coaxium Saber is elegant and simple yet complex at the same time (in my honest opinion) and I have to say I enjoyed designing this. But I have some other interesting pictures to show you of an equally fun saber….my newly acquired Flyte saber. Now I have mentioned that this lightsaber has colour changing technology so the blade isn’t restricted to one set colour. This saber has four small LEDs, each a different colour, in the emitter and by controlling the voltage to each LED you can mix different colours. This is done by programming a few numbers into a file the circuit board reads to control the light – and it works in a similar way to how “Colour Balance” on a TV works with settings for Red Green and Blue on screen. I connected my saber to my laptop to charge up and to examine the sound effects files when I discovered the file that controls the light effects and I found out I can type in new numbers and set colours. So I now have a green blade with an orange flash effect when it clashes with another blade! Just like Qui-Gon Jinn’s did in The Phantom Menace. I can’t show all the colours but here are three sneak peeks….

EEK! How did that red saber get in there! Don’t worry, I haven’t turned to the Darkside, I just posted this to show what the Flyte can do! I will attempt to get some more pictures of the hilt and do a proper review, possibly in next week’s post.

I am running out of time for this post, I hope you liked the design and the new technology I came up with for it. I have an even more decorative hilt that also uses this Coaxtech (< I just realised I should have called the saber this!) which I’ll post in an upcoming post. But for now I’d like to say a big thank you to all of you for checking this out and I really hope you’ll call back for more. I appreciate the support of me and my site, especially in these crazy and busy holiday times. So stay safe and enjoy any celebrations responsibly. Till next time….

“Coaxium Saber” and “Coaxtech” are “For Tyeth Edition” creations and are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. “Coaxium” appears in SOLO – A Star Wars Story which is Trademark/Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

Swoop Saber -A weapon for Enfys Nest

Hello Everybody, now today’s post is definitely not the one I was going to bring you but as you may know due to a technical “glitch” the files for the Thor inspired crossguard hilt I had built were wiped from my computer and USB stick as I was finishing preparing the images for the post. Silly me had removed the USB stick and re-inserted it but when I attempted to save an image  to the stick Windows jumped in and began scanning and “fixing” the stick as it didn’t recognise it properly. The “fix” included deleting the folder (because it was open) and ALL the files. I was distraught as I had spent over a month building it!

But back to today and another saber is ready to “Swoop” in and fill the void! That saber is a design I had for a new character from the recent SOLO – A Star Wars Story movie, and she is called Enfys Nest. Nest is a pirate and marauder who led a pirate group called the “Cloud Riders” who rode advanced speeder bikes called “Swoop Bikes”. So this design is named after their flying bikes….here are a couple of studio work in progress images of “Swoop Saber”….

Swoop Saber Studio shot 1

Swoop Saber Studio shot 2

The inspiration an Electroripper Staff

This design stemmed from the weapon Enfys Nest uses to break open packing crates and containers and which she used to attack Han, Chewie and Tobias Beckett whilst they tried to steal Hyperspace fuel from a moving train! The weapon is called an Electroripper Staff and I quickly saw interesting details on it that I thought would look good on a saber, The section above the handhold has a perforated shroud (probably for cooling purposes) and interesting angled panels and edges that I really liked. It was these details I tried to incorporate in my design – the rest of the staff was fairly plain. I had to build the hilt handle but fortunately had a handgrip that I was able to flip and modify, then I had to model the perforated shroud. Man, was that fun! I had to learn how to create a flat sheet, divide it into smaller squares then punch holes through it – and if that wasn’t hard enough I had bend the sheet so it wrapped around the hilt! Luckily I was a quick learner and I achieved it…now I guess you would like to see some Glamour Shots? Ok here they are…

Swoop Saber

Swoop Saber pommel with Nest Logo

Swoop Saber shroud (What’s that glow?)

Swoop Saber emitter detail

Swoop Saber full length up

Swoop Saber full length down

This saber has a few neat little details which didn’t show up in the studio pictures above, the first of which is the logo on the pommel. This logo is associated with Enfys and the Cloud Riders and I thought it would look good on the pommel stub. The saber has a nice blue illuminated switch that matches with the electrical sparks on her Electroripper Staff. The emitter was a scavenged part I thought looked sleek and a little like a carburettor head or part of a Swoop Bike. Finally there is the shroud and this I really like, if you look closely you will see it isn’t just a flat sheet but is in fact hollow and has the perforations running through both sides of it. But the shroud is also removable and a peek underneath it will reveal what that blue glow is…Yep this saber has a twin crystal chamber…

You can see the chamber’s reflection!

A closer look at the crystal chambers.

Twin crystals shine through the windows on the underside of the hilt and once more if you look closely you can see the four mounting pins to hold the shroud when it is fitted, little details make all the difference!

Enfys Nest – Copyright Disney Studios/Lucasfilm.

And I think that just about wraps up this design. I think Enfys might be tempted to use a hilt like this, it suits her style. And so again I apologise that I couldn’t bring the Thor hilt I had been teasing but hopefully this one was just as good. I have started the job of rebuilding the lost hilt from memory and hope to have a new version in a week or two.

Fortunately my technical mishap didn’t erase all of my work and so I still have a lot more new sabers to show you in upcoming week’s posts. And next week we will be visiting Bay City and a police crime drama show where the inspiration will be the “Grand Tomato”! If you don’t already know what that is then I hope you’ll all return and I can show you. Thank you so much for all the support this past week and for visiting today, whether a new or regular visitor you are all welcome and appreciated. Till next time….

“Swoop Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. “Enfys Nest”, “SOLO – A Star Wars Story” and all names, logos and related materials are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney Studios/Lucasfilm.

R5-PHT Saber – Inspired by the Imperial Astromech

Hello Everybody, I haven’t see you all since…well yesterday actually! Yes I have posted twice this week and in my second post of the week I have my second Astromech Droid inspired hilt to present to you. The droid is called R5-PHT and appeared briefly in SOLO – A Star Wars Story so is very new to the saga and lore. Technically you could argue this is just R5-D4 in different colours (and it does share a lot of similarities) but I learnt a new modelling trick to add a new feature. In real life custom sabers they are illuminated with very high powered LED lights. These can if shone directly into someone’s eyes cause injury so saber manufacturers created a device called a blade plug which is inserted into the emitter when the blade has been removed. This filters most of the light to allow people to look at the coloured light safely. This new hilt has a blade plug, so I now present R5-PHT…

R5-PHT Saber Imperial Astromech

R5-PHT Saber side

R5-PHT Emitter (without plug)

R5-PHT Pommel

R5-PHT Body Grip

R5-PHT Switches Close Up

R5-PHT Full Length

This hilt is similar to R5-D4 from my last post but has a gloss black and silver finish to match it’s character counterpart. I actually got to meet this droid when I attended my local Comic Con. He was posing for photos with his master Darth Vader….

Yours Truly and R5-PHT

R5-PHT and Vader (domed head)

R5-PHT and Vader (flat head)

R5-PHT actually has an interchangeable domed head which allows him to conduct different missions and it was the “Flat Head” version that inspired my blade plug design which you can see in these next pics…

R5-PHT Blade Plug

R5-PHT Blade Plug inserted

The plug slots into the hole left when the polycarbonate blade is removed. This protects the lens of the LED light and also allows people to look at the saber while it is lit without blinding themselves. The silvery white sections are translucent which diffuses the light making it safer to look at. It also acts as a bit of decorative detail when you aren’t swinging the saber around with a blade in. The plug’s segmented design reflects the panels on the top of R5-PHT‘s flat dome head. Now to wrap this design up a few “Glamour shots”…

R5-PHT Saber in the “workshop”

R5-PHT Saber on the Death Star 1

R5-PHT Saber on the Death Star 2

Phew! There you have it R5-PHT Saber. Now the new modelling trick I learnt for this hilt is called a “Boolean Modifier”. This function of the Blender software allows me to add an object and basically “liquefy” it so it is malleable. I can then press any other object into the first and it will leave an impression (just like pressing a stamp into modelling clay). This helped make sure the stem of the blade plug was the same diameter of the blade so it would fit the hole in the emitter. Clever!

Ok I am very pressed for time now and will have to finish here. But first I will let you know next week I have not one, but two hilts based off the most famous Astromech in Star Wars history (“beep BRap Whoop!!” No I can’t mention your name yet but I think everyone can guess it!”) I hope you will return to see these new hilts, they have a few surprises. But for now thank you for visiting today, whether it’s your first visit or you’re a regular viewer you are all welcome and much appreciated. Till next time…

“R5-PHT Saber”  is a “For Tyeth Editions” design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2018. R5-PHT is a Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm. The above images of Darth Vader posing with R5-PHT belong to the R2 Builders Club UK and The Sentinel Squad UK.

SOLO A Star Wars Story (Non-Spoiler Review by For)

Hello Everybody, Well I have just completed the Kessell Run (in under 11.9 parsecs – I know that’s distance not time!). Actually I have just returned from the cinema after watching our favourite smuggler and his new film, Yes I’ve seen SOLO A Star Wars Story, and I have to say it made a lot more sense than The Last Jedi did. I was able to follow it and it flowed nicely. It began with it’s foot on the accelerator with a chase scene which led to Han leaving Corellia and getting his name. (And for fans of Lego Star Wars no his name isn’t Ian!) The next sequence shows how Han escapes Correllia and how he plans to get back (and why he needs to) then the fun really starts.

Now Han is supposed to be around 20yrs old when this film is set and so is portrayed by Alden Ehrenriech…who did amazingly well in the role. It was strange not seeing and hearing Harrison Ford and there was always a little niggling voice in my head saying “This isn’t Han”, but block that out and Alden becomes the young Solo. Just remember he is “becoming” the smuggler we know and love so will be a little different, but the self assured and confident Han begins to appear as the film goes on. And he will need this attitude and knows for the adventure he is going to have. I don’t want to give too much of the film away so for now in case you haven’t seen my saber design for Han Solo titled Bloodstripe then you can click HERE to see my post.

Now wherever Han Solo is then his famous co-pilot is not far away. And Han’s co-pilot and friend Chewbacca is equally amazing. He is let off the chain (eventually) and we get to see some evidence of why “you don’t want to upset a Wookie”! And here I have to say again the actor Joonas Suotamo did a fabulous job taking the role on full time from Peter Mayhew. He nailed the mannerisms, looks and shrugs to the point you could only tell the two apart from extreme close up shots. Han and Chewbacca meet at an Imperial Navy Outpost when Han gets into some trouble with his superiors and the meeting is quite amusing in a way as they don’t see eye to eye at first. This could be dangerous for Han as Wookies are fearsome and powerful warriors and again you guessed it I don’t want to spoil the film so instead may I invite you to take a look at my Wookie Warrior design for Chewie by clicking HERE

After establishing a working friendship and escaping their confinement on the Imperial Naval Base Han and Chewie need to get off the planet. To do this they manage to offer their services and hitch a lift with Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson)and his crew. Beckett is the leader of a bunch of scoundrel types who are planning a job to make big money. Han needs money so he can get back home and joins in on the escapade. This is an impressive action sequence. But as you can imagine things don’t go to plan, so a second scheme is devised but they need a ship…and this is where we meet up with Lando Calrissian.

Lando, the soon to be administrator of the gas mining planet Bespin, is portrayed by Donald Glover. And once more Donald did a great job playing the younger version of Lando. He had a style and charisma you would expect of the swindler but he didn’t overplay the role…he looked cool without trying to look cool…you know he was just…cool! There were some classic movie conventions used for the Sabacc card game, all the players round the gambling table, to be eliminated one by one till just Han and Lando remained to play for the spoils and Lando holding the winning hand. We then get to see the “new” Millennium Falcon and trust me it isn’t as bad as I (and others) feared. Just as well she is a great ship they need one for this adventure. So if Lando is going on this journey he’ll need a saber too, and guess what I have one for him. If you’d like to see it then please click HERE

I can’t tell you too much without giving away the whole film but there are also great supporting actors/actresses including Val (Thandie Newton), L3-37 (Phoebe Waller Bridge), Qi-ra (Emilia Clarke) and Paul Bettany is very good as Dryden Vos. The action is intense and there is humour dotted throughout but most importantly I can confirm a LIGHTSABER does appear in the film but I’m not saying more than that!

So if you like space action heist films with scoundrels, droids, Wookies, the good guys, the bad guys, laser blasts and explosions, famous ships then SOLO A Star Wars movie may be just the film for you. Give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.  Well I feel this just about wraps up my little mini review of SOLO, I am no expert but thanks for reading this far and for your support of me and this site. I will be getting back to my normal scheduled postings after this but for now I will have to get to work on some new hilts and maybe some artwork!

If you go to see the film I hope you like it and let me know in the comments section below. Till next time.

SOLO A Star Wars Story is in cinemas from the 24th May

“SOLO A Star Wars Story”, Han Solo, Chewbacca and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney Lucasfilm 2018.