“Uhura Queen of Comms” Saber – A tribute to Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols

nuqneH and welcome to the other franchise of the final frontier….Star Trek. Today I present my tribute to the actress and space pioneer Nichelle Nichols who portrayed Lt Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek series (and the first six movies) and sadly passed away recently. It was the news of Nichelle’s passing and a conversation with my friend Resa (from Graffiti Lux and Murals – Link: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/ ) about Star Trek, the Emmy’s and Nichelle’s role that prompted me to create a saber in Ms Nichol’s honour.

Nichelle was (and still is) THE Lt Uhura, communications officer from the original show and canon movies. Uhura however was very nearly named Lt Sulu but this was changed to help the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry achieve a diverse cast and George Takei’s character was named Sulu instead. Whilst reading for the part of Uhura, Nichelle had a book with her titled “Uhuru” by Robert Ruark. Uhuru means “freedom” in Swahili and when this was explained to Gene he adapted the word to “Uhura”. Lt Uhura first appeared in Star Trek in the episode titled “Man Trap” and joined the crew of the Enterprise as chief communications officer. OK, I think that will do as an introduction so I had best show you the saber I designed for Ms Nichols, this is “Uhura – Queen of Comms”…

With this saber I tried to capture the physical appearance of Uhura (sort of) in a similar way that I recreated Robocop with my “Pacifier” design. The saber is the same red colour as Uhura’s Starfleet uniform and even has the same black trim around the emitter to represent the collar design, whilst there is gold trim to signify her rank insignia bands on the sleeves. The emitter has nice slotted windows to allow the blade to shine through. The emitter is also contoured to provide grip and adds a bit of curve to the handle. There are slight bulges on either side of the hilt to replicate arms and you can see the gold trim on the “sleeves”. Of course all Starfleet uniforms must have the famous Federation emblem and so too does this hilt and the emblem also doubles as the saber’s activation switch. This emblem is 3D modelled and not just a graphic pasted on. Alright, I had best quickly move on to Gallery Two as I have a special “extra” later in this post so here are some detail pictures…..

Now you can clearly see the details I mentioned already but in these shots you can see the Covertech Wheel which is used to hang the saber on your belt, but also around the bottom of the handgrip you can see further gold trim and the handgrip appears slightly misshapen. The saber isn’t misshapen, I intentionally created a flared edge to make the bottom of the handgrip look like the hemline of Uhura’s uniform skirt. Below that there are sections to represent her legs and finally her black boots form the pommel end cap with the orange/gold rings in the pommel opening. These rings reminded me of Uhura’s earrings, those classic 60’s style hooped designs.

Uhura and Nichelle herself were both great communicators and inspirational. Nichelle was one of the first African American actresses to appear as a main character and had many fans including Martin Luther King Jr, who once spoke with Nichelle when she considered leaving the show and convinced her to stay aboard the Enterprise because she was such a positive role model. Uhura travelled space but as far as I know Nichelle never made it into space but was approached by NASA to be an ambassador to try and encourage more women and ethnic minority applicants to join the Air Force and NASA. So Nichelle was sort of an honourary astronaut! And because Nichelle and Uhura were such great communicators I thought “what else can I do to make this tribute extra poignant?” The answer….I created Uhura’s iconic communications desk earpiece! Here is Gallery Three with the comlink earpiece….

The first photo shows an actual studio prop of the earpiece to compare with my recreation. I did tweak the angled earbud section slightly so it would be more sturdy and I added a small plunger button on the earbud to allow Uhura to activate it as she held the comlink in place. Otherwise I think this is fairly close to the original prop.

And that just about ends this message and post, I hope I have done both Lt Uhura and Ms Nichols justice with this design. I also hope my friend and fellow Trekkie fan Nancy enjoyed this post as she just posted an article about the 40th anniversary of Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. You might like to see that on her blog Graphic Novelty² (link: https://graphicnovelty2.com/ ).

I’d like to thank you all for checking this post out and for all the support you give me and my little site. All the kind words and comments are much appreciated, Please call back for future posts as I conclude my Katana saber series, I complete my Mad Max collection and finish off with some “new” Star Wars vehicle models. Till next time……Live long and prosper……

“Uhura Queen of Comms Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions creation inspired by Nichelle Nichols and Lt Nyota Uhura from CBS/Paramount’s Star Trek franchise. The saber design, models and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. Star Trek and all names, logos, images and related materials are Trademark and ©Copyrights of Desiluu Productions, and Paramount Television Pictures.

B’rel Nach – Bird Saber Inspired by the Klingon Bird of Prey

nuqneH! Hello Everybody….as you might have guessed from my little bit of Klingon we are headed back to Federation Space today for another Star Trek saber. To be specific we are headed to the planet Genesis where we find Captain Kirk attempting to recover the “body” of his friend Mr Spock in the hope of restoring the Vulcan to life. This is the plot of Star Trek III – The Search For Spock and as you can imagine things don’t go smoothly for our Fed heroes. The Federation are surveying the newly regenerated planet Genesis and a survey team beam down to the surface when they discover signs of life on their scanners. Whilst the scientists (including Kirk’s son David Marcus) investigate some unwelcome visitors stealthily arrive to try and obtain the Genesis data and equipment to use as a weapon -The Klingons led by Commander Kruge!

So Kirk, you are going to try time travelling? I did that once in the future..or was it the past?

This is Commander Kruge, a very harsh, imposing and not to mention ruthless Klingon (played by Doc Brown actor Christopher Lloyd!). Kruge killed his own crewman gunner when the gunner “misplaced” a disruptor beam and destroyed a ship….oh and Kruge killed his girlfriend too when she revealed she’d seen the Genesis data! Now Kruge and the Klingons arrived in their ship and as I mentioned attacked (and destroyed) a ship which was the USS Grissom the Fed science research vessel resulting in Kruge having to also beam to the planet surface to try and capture the “away team” of Lt Saavik and Dr Marcus. All this happens just as Kirk, McCoy, Sulu and Scotty arrive in a newly stolen Enterprise. But how did the Klingons arrive and remain undetected?

Well they were flying in a B’rel class starship more commonly known as a Bird of Prey! This ship had a very distinct appearance and a very special feature. So today I present my B’rel Nach or Bird Saber….

Yes, I have immortalised the Bird of Prey in lightsaber form and it is a sort of crossguard hilt. I tried to replicate the basic outline of a Bird of Prey by giving this saber a pair of “wings” either side of the emitter. In the tips of these wings are small lights which represent the BoP’s Disruptor cannons and look closely and you can see hull plating to replicate the “feathery” details the real ship has on it’s wings. The BoP is very special as some people don’t know it is actually a Romulan design! Back in the 60’s series of Star Trek one episode named “Balance of Terror” established that ships painted with bird designs were Romulan. One small line of dialogue in the movie though explains the Klingons stole this Bird of Prey! Back to the saber and the emitter represents the bridge module of the ship with windows to allow blade shine through, but look on top and you can see I modelled a basic “bridge cupola” and that has tiny windows circling it! The emitter mouth is the launch tube for the Photon Torpedoes which are replaced by the saber blade. Here is Gallery Two …

In these pics you can see the “Photon Torpedo Saber Blade” and the raised bridge cupola atop the emitter. You can also see that this saber has a lot of grime and streaks of rust on it’s surface. The tail or aft section features the leather handgrip from my “Quartermaster” hilt (https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2021/07/24/the-quartermaster-saber-inspired-by-the-mandalorians-the-armourer/) and is adorned with a Klingon Kahless Empire logo. The last two pictures show the saber back on Kronos (the Klingon home planet) and at rest on it’s display stand – this time borrowed from my “Chang” saber. (https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2021/08/21/chang-saber-a-weapon-for-a-klingon-general/) However this time I modified the stand so I could place the hilt at an angle to show off it’s lines. You will also notice the wings have folded downward into their rest position.

Now I mentioned a special feature of this ship and it explains how this ship approached and destroyed the Grissom without being detected…the answer is the BoP has a “Cloaking Device” making it virtually invisible. The BoP has to deactivate this shield in order to fire it’s weapons and it was this small disadvantage that allowed Kirk and the Enterprise to survive an attack (at least for a little while). Kirk realising the situation sets a trap for the Klingons and he and the crew beam to Genesis…where Kirk comes face to face with Kruge, and a young Vulcan. I won’t spoil the final scenes of the film just in case some of you still haven’t seen the movie….so this would be a good place to bring this post to an end but as always my usual thanks and messages before I go where no-one has gone before….

Thanks so much for checking this design out, I hope you have been enjoying the change of pace with these Star Trek designs – they have been fun to build. And as always thanks for the continued support you show my site and I hope you will return for more new saber designs. I have Star Wars Sith sabers, a saber inspired by the silver fern and maybe a few modified Quartermaster hilts. Oh and I might even add a few Lego models too. There is still so much more to come in future posts. Till next time…..Qa’Pla!

“B’rel Nach” saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the Klingon “Bird of Prey” ship from the film “Star Trek III – The Search for Spock” The design, model and renders where created by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. Star Trek and all names, images, logos and related material are Trademark/ ©Copyright of Paramount Pictures.

“Chang Saber” – A Weapon for a Klingon General

Hello Everybody and welcome to another new design. This time I go back to the Star Trek franchise and the film “The Undiscovered Country” and after a comment made by my friend Resa. Resa commented on my last Star Trek hilt the “Horey’ So ‘Eth – Honour Blade” design and mentioned the fantastic actor Christopher Plummer who appears in “Undiscovered” as a Klingon general. This general is at the center of a conspiracy to frame the United Federation of Planets and scupper peace talks between the Klingons and everyone else. This event was known as the Khitomer Conspiracy and it involved Plummer’s character, General Chang using a special Bird of Prey ship with a cloaking device that allowed weapons to be fired whilst activated (which was not normally possible) and attack the Klingon Chancellor’s ship the Kronos One. The only other visible ship in the area was the Enterprise which was escorting Kronos One so it appeared as if Enterprise opened fire. When Kirk and McCoy transported aboard the Kronos, Chang arrests them for murdering Chancellor Gorkon. All very bad news as Kirk and McCoy are then put on trial and Chang “proves” his case against them. Anyhoo it’s a very sinister and clever plot that shows how cunning Chang is so I thought he would have a saber too, especially if the lower rank and file Klingons might have one. So here is the saber I designed, this is “Chang”….

This saber is in slightly better condition than the “Honour Blade” and has a fairly intact coat of paint, in a nice matte black. It also features a shorter leather wrapped handgrip that is separated from the emitter module by a thinner section wrapped in a cross-stitched material to mimic Chang’s battle armour. Oh I forgot I haven’t inserted a picture of General Chang so here he is….

As you can tell by the look in his eye, he is cunning and wily. He also looks slightly more human than Klingon, this is due to his family being infected by a virus that altered their genes and affected his appearance. His eye was lost during a blood duel against the usurper Kalnor who attempted to gain control of the Klingon Empire. You can see Chang’s padded armour clearly and I think the wrap I added looks similar. His outfit also has a bit of military “bling” so I added some gold decoration to this hilt in the shape of the Klingon Empire logo (aka the Kahless Blades symbol) and a gold skull crusher style pommel. But there are a few more details so here is Gallery Two…

Yes, I couldn’t help myself and added a logo on the pommel end cap too and it looks just right to finish the hilt off. The activation switch is borrowed from the Honour Blade design and is again meant to represent the Klingon cranial ridges. Now as Chang is a proud military man, he would probably have a nice display stand to cradle his hilt when not in use so I designed a stand as well. It is in a black woodgrain effect with gold Empire logos on each cradle upright and on the base. The base has an orange/brown section with a triangular grid like pattern which I used to represent the scanner screens on many Klingon ships (you know the radar that shows how far a Federation ship is in Kellicams). I think Chang would approve of this hilt.

That just about wraps this week’s offering up. I apologise there aren’t as many renders this time around but I have been getting carried away with that Lego Digital Design software I showed in a previous post. So far I have built my Interceptor, a new flagship Star Destroyer, a Mandolorian Infiltrator ship and I’ve built part of the city of Theed – complete with B-1 (Roger, Roger) Battle Droids and tanks! Those will all feature in upcoming posts along with a VERY special crossguard saber based on a special Star Trek ship I have already mentioned today! I hope you will all call back to see that. In the meantime I need to say thank you for checking Chang’s saber today and supporting FTSabersite. Your visits have kept me motivated to carry on designing for FIVE years on WordPress as I just passed my Blogaversary so thanks big time! Till next time….

“Chang Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the character General Chang from the film “Star Trek – The Undiscovered Country” The design, model and renders where created by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. Star Trek and all names, images, logos and related material are Trademark/ ©Copyright of Paramount Pictures.

“Horey’So ‘Eth” saberstaff – Honour Blade – Inspired by The Klingons

Hello Everybody, wow it seems strange not to be showcasing a Bad Batch saber this week but I hope you’ll like this offering just as much. I mentioned a few times that the ideas for the Bad Batch hilts came all at once in a burst and I quickly modelled/rendered them – well this afforded me a bit of time to “relax” as I had a supply of material to show you all. In this “downtime” I tried watching a bit of TV and discovered that one of my cable channels had a Star Trek movie marathon on (yes I mentioned Star Trek again!). I figured a change was as good as a rest and decided to watch a few Trek adventures and saw something in ST6 The Undiscovered Country – a Klingon weapon…sort of. Captain Kirk and Dr McCoy are framed for murder in the film and sent to a penal colony named Rura Penthe. During one of the scenes I saw a Klingon prison guard use a type of shock baton (cattle prod). I attempted to model it in Blender from memory but it wasn’t good and lacked a lot. THEN it hit me…what if I doubled the weapon and connected them to form a Maul style staff? I set to work and came up with “Horey’so ‘Eth” or Honour Blade…

I made a nice looking, balanced staff but it still needed detail so taking inspiration from my B’Elanna’s Blade” and “Gre’thor” hilts I reworked the image of the Klingon cranial ridges to form the cut-out windows on the emitter. I then (I think) cleverly used the same model piece I used as a cutter to create the windows to form the activation switches too! I scaled the piece and switched it from having a plain material and gave it an emission to make it glow – resulting in the red chevron shaped switches. And just to enforce the link to the Klingons I 3D modelled another Empire three bladed logo to act as a decoration on the switch section and emitters.

I also had chance to play with some settings I don’t use much in Blender and those are controls to create ultra-real looking textures using multiple layers of “paint”. The staff above has 4 “layers” starting with a Base Material. This is just a plain photographic texture image and makes the object look coloured but flat and lifeless. However applying the remaining 3 layers changed that. The next layer, Metallic, controls how shiny various parts of the Base Material are then next is the “Roughness” layer which adds chips and scratches – finally a layer named “Displacement” adds a special 3D shadowing effect to trick the human eye into thinking the texture has a raised surface. This technique is sometimes known as “Bump Mapping” used to add details like rivets and screw heads to models. OK enough chatting again, it’s time for Glamour Gallery two…

I realised that the first batch of images were a little dark as I tried to add a bit of “mood lighting” but that meant the details didn’t show too good so I turned up the lighting and while I was modifying I figured I’d add a couple of gold accent rings to hold the leather handgrip in position and I added this colour to the logos so they stood out better too. Hopefully you will be able to see the much more detailed material textures – the red paint almost looks like it is peeling off for real. Finally I decided to build a ceremonial or regal version of the staff and gave it a classic black and gold scheme. Gallery three…

Again this colour scheme uses the advanced texture settings and you should be able to see what appear to be machining marks as if this staff was carved from solid metal on a lathe or CNC mill (a computer controlled manufacturing machine used by saber companies to cut aluminium bars into empty lightsaber handles).

I really enjoyed my break from building Star Wars hilts and am pleased how this design turned out. I think it will look good in my Star Trek gallery which you can find here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/tag/star-trek/

I am drawing to the end of this post but first I’d like to mention what’s coming up in future posts. First I have received a few parcels, one regarding my recent costume build and another couple of packages containing some collectibles which I’m excited about (I had to buy two of these collectible items so I can keep one boxed and display the other!) Hopefully pictures will follow of all my purchases. And in saber designs, I still have a Star Trek ship inspired hilt along with a Bounty Hunter and a Blacksmith saber from the Star Wars universe – basically plenty to entertain you all.

That’s it for today, thanks so much for your visit and support – all your comments, likes and subs are much appreciated. Whether a new caller or one of the FTSabersite regulars please call back for future posts. Till next time…..

“Horey’so ‘Eth” is a For Tyeth Editions design and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. They were inspired by the Paramount Pictures and CBS Television franchise “Star Trek” and “Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered Country”. All Star Trek names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Paramount Pictures/CBS Television.

Hyper Saber – Inspired by Star Trek: Enterprise’s Engineers

Hello Everybody, Space….the final unexplored expanse….these are the first voyages of a new Lightsaber based on a tool from the Engineering Department’s toolkit found on the starship Enterprise (that is Enterprise NX-01 – you know the “first” one). Enterprise takes place 100 years before the iconic Star Trek TOS starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy etc and this prequel stars Scott Bakula and Jolene Blalock. As the lockdown in the UK grinds on and we slowly vaccinate everyone I watched a bit more TV than usual and one day opted to watch an episode of Enterprise and low and behold I found inspiration! The episode tells of a mission where the Enterprise gets caught up in a “space minefield” and a magnetic mine attaches itself to the ship endangering all onboard. It falls upon crewmember Trip Tucker to try and dislodge the mine but as usual, it isn’t as easy to do as it is to say!

Trip had to venture out and space walk to remove the mine and it was during this assignment that I saw what inspired this design. And the inspiration was one of the tools in Trip’s tool case and it was the tool known as a HyperSpanner (an original name!) It was hexagonal in cross section and was approximately 12in/30cm long making it the perfect dimensions to be converted into a For Tyeth Lightsaber. Here are a couple of photos showing the prop and you’ll see why it caught my eye:

It sorta looks like a lightsaber already and the facetted hexagonal ridges help create the impression of it having an emitter section and a pommel part. It has control buttons and a little hidden feature I’ll reveal later. So this new lightsaber I built was a little bit of an exercise in modelling rather than a full design but it was fun and worked so well (I think). So for the Trekkies (including Resa of https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/2021/03/09/o-halito/ – thanks again for the magazine you sent I said I was inspired by it 😉) here is my Hyper Saber…

So this is the “unofficial” Hyper Saber I built from an old HyperSpanner casing I picked up (just kidding, I modelled all of this saber from scratch – though I did use background images from the Star Trek Enterprise Memory Alpha wiki pages – thanks) Modelling the handgrip was fairly straightforward – I used a hexagonal cylinder (you can have a cylinder with a choice of how many sides it has from 3 to 360 so I chose 6 sides and bingo!). However, the emitter and pommel sections are in fact separate and made from….BOLTS! I used a feature of Blender that models nuts and bolts of various types and modify them to have different shaped heads and number of thread lines (the spiral portion of the shaft). By creating three bolts and lining them up next to each other I was able to combine the three together which formed the distinctive ridged sections. I used a further gold coloured bolt inside the emitter mouth to recreate the lightsaber blade emitter matrix. But on the pommel I made a Starfleet logo as a 3D decoration. It isn’t the complete badge of the Federation of Planets but just the basic A shaped badge with the elliptical ring because this tool predates the formation of the Federation.

The activation controls also got some 3D treatment too, look closely and you will see that the text on them isn’t just a flat texture but actual 3D parts (here you go Neil, extruded text for you!) which I gave a nice shiny gold material . There is also some engraving I added so here is a second gallery showing some finer details…

In the first two images you can see the On/Off/WP buttons with 3D text. On and Off speak for themselves but the WP I thought could stand for “War Power” and be used as a Power Boost if the blade needs a bit more cutting edge! But then while I was watching the episode of the show Trip and Captain Archer actually opened up the HyperSpanner and there was a CRYSTAL inside it! Now Trip’s crystal was probably Dilithium so I had to tweak the internals of this saber to accept it but it worked and to my surprise the blade it produced has a nice Ice Blue shade! Red crystals usually produce a red blade – must be strange Star Trek magic 🙄.

With that mystery blade effect I have just about wrapped up this design, I hope you enjoyed it – whether as a Trekkie or as a Star Wars fan! Trip and Captain Archer succeeded in dislodging the mine and Enterprise continued it’s mission to explore and so too must I venture forwards (cos I can’t find reverse!) and come up with more new sabers.

Thank you so much for checking Hyper Saber out, if you are a Trekkie, a first time visitor or one of my regular supporters you’re all welcome and appreciated. The support and love you show to my little site is fantastic and keeps me designing. I have some more High Republic themed hilts and a range of designs based on some famous Blasters, so there is plenty more to see in upcoming posts, I hope you will join me again! Till next time…

“Hyper Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions creation inspired by the “HyperSpanner” tool seen in the TV show “Star Trek: Enterprise”. This 3D model and it’s renders are made by For Tyeth and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “Star Trek: Enterprise”, “Captain Archer”, “Trip Tucker” and “HyperSpanner” are all Trademarks/©Copyrighted elements belonging to Paramount Pictures studios. Star Trek was written and created by Gene Roddenberry.

Gre’thor Blade – A Klingon inspired field weapon

Hello Everybody, now today I am breaking from my normal operandus modi and am posting a repeat of sorts. I am posting the other colour variants of the B’Elanna’s Blade hilt from last week. This time the saber is coloured a tactical black with Bloodwine red edging and silver accents (I hear Klingon warriors like a tankard or two of Bloodwine!). It still has the three claws, the “cranial ridges” details on the handgrip and the Klingon Empire emblem on the pommel. But this is a weapon you might find on the battlefield in The Neutral Zone or in Klingon Hell…known as “Gre’thor”. So what better name for a hilt than Gre’thor Blade, and here it is….

Gre’thor Blade 1

Gre’thor Blade 2

Gre’thor Blade 3

Gre’thor Blade 4

B’Elanna’s Blade pommel decoration.

And yes, this hilt shares the same pommel decoration as B’Elanna’s hilt so I used the same image! However the other pictures are new and I think really highlight the sinister looking Bloodwine red edging and accents. This is meant to be a sidearm saber weapon (it might look good paired with a Bat’leth ax weapon!) and is mainly a tactical black colour to enhance it’s aggressive look and make it less visible. It is also stealthy. And on the subject of stealth I messed around with the controls in Blender and tried out some other colours and discovered a very nice green shade for the handle. It turns out that colour reminded me of a very special Klingon icon…The Bird of Prey! The Bird of Prey is the famous Klingon spaceship that has a Cloaking Device, making it virtually invisible (and first appeared in Star Trek III). When it is de-cloaked it looks like this…

The Bird of Prey

My Bird of Prey saber variant!

Similar huh? It’s amazing how often these little coincidences happen and how they can lead me to produce either variants of a hilt or even completely new designs! It is these coincidences that have led me to post these designs today, as during the last 7 days I have created two more completely new sabers and I am beginning to build up a backlog that needs to be posted. But before I move onto these new designs I will just post one last picture of Gre’thor/B’Elanna’s Blade and it is in a nice shade of blue.

So I have finally completed my Klingon Collection, and I can move onto all the other hilts I have left to show you all. These will feature in upcoming posts and include the “Grand Tomato” cop show saber, a hilt based on a space-age mining ship and comedy show, a fearsome weapon from Kashyyyk and a new Stormtrooper has been announced and I built one for him too. But first we are going to Asgard next week and a great Norse God and Marvel hero gets his crossguard…and you won’t want to miss this epic hilt. So please call back to see all of this next week (and in the near future).  Thank you for your visit today, whether a regular viewer/follower or if this is your first time here…your support is much appreciated. Till next time…..

“Gre’thor Blade” and “B’Elanna’S Blade” are For Tyeth Editions and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. They were inspired by the Paramount Pictures and CBS Television franchise Star Trek and Star Trek Voyager (plus movies). All Star Trek names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Paramount Pictures/CBS Television.

B’Elanna’s Blade – Inspired by Star Trek Voyager’s B’Elanna Torres

Hello Everybody (or Nuqneh), today I venture into another galaxy to discover new life forms, new civilizations….and new saber designs, to boldly go where no saber designer has gone before! I refer to the franchise of Star Trek of course and the series Voyager in particular. This is one of my “rebuild” hilts in that I have designed a saber before on this subject using the old software I used to use but this is a new Blender 3D design! The hilt is for the famous warrior race, the Klingons and one particular half Klingon, B’Elanna Torres.

B’Elanna was a half human, half Klingon woman who came from a broken family when her human father left home – unable to cope with two Klingon females in the homeplace. This affected B’Elanna greatly and she shunned her Klingon heritage and the fact she was bullied for her “cranial ridges” at school didn’t help. B’Elanna eventually joined the Starfleet Academy but due to her conflicted personal state she dropped out and joined a group called the Maquis. B’Elanna served on a Maquis ship, the Val Jean, which was attacked and disabled. Ironically, Torres was eventually rescued by the starship Voyager and became a member of it’s crew….and gained a reputation as a bold warrior! This is my new saber for her…Studio pictures!

B’Elanna’s Blade Studio 1

B’Elanna’s Blade Studio 2

These two studio images show how complex my 3D models are becoming! These are the wireframe models and show the three claws and the decorated handgrip. I modelled a single claw then made duplicate copies which I arranged around the emitter. To make these claws look more sleek and smooth I used a function called a “Subsurface Modifier”. This modifier helps blend the rectangular faces to make smooth/rounded curves on parts. You may also be able to make out some details on the pommel too. But of course this hilt has no textures applied so it’s time to display the rendered images with the textures and FX added….Glamour Shots….

B’Elanna’s Blade 1

B’Elanna’s Blade 2

B’Elanna’s Blade 3

B’Elanna’s Blade 4

B’Elanna’s Blade pommel decoration.

The hilt is painted in the colours of the Klingon Empire, red, silver/white and black. And those colours are used to nicely highlight the decoration on the handgrip. These chevron arrows represent the famous “cranial ridges” that adorn B’Elanna’s forehead – they are so iconic as a Klingon feature I had to find a way to represent them. I also made the emitter claws to represent the Klingon Empire emblem, the three bladed logo seen above the Gates of Gre’thor as seen in the episode of Voyager titled, “The Barge of the Dead”. And if you want to see a better representation of the logo, I included one on the pommel as a decoration!

This just about covers this design but I do have to say I have a couple of versions in different colour schemes that I will post next week so you will see this hilt again! I hope they are an improvement on my previous design based on this courageous Klingon, and I hope you have enjoyed this update. As I say I have a few more versions of this Klingon Blade to post next week then I have a Marvel superhero hilt to show you. After that I have a Star Destroyer, a Swoop Bike and a “Grand Tomato” hilt inspired by a famous TV cop show! I hope you will call back and see what I’m talking about in my upcoming posts. But for now thank you for visiting and supporting me and FTSabersite, it’s very much appreciated! Till next time….

“B’Elanna’s Blade” is a For Tyeth Edition design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. It is inspired by the character “B’Elanna Torres” who appears in Star Trek Voyager. Star Trek and all it’s character names, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of the Gene Roddenberry estate, Paramount Pictures and CBS Television.

 

NCC 1701-L Lightsaber – A Highly Engineered Saber

Hello Everybody,

“Space….the final frontier… These are the voyages of the Starship…Enterprise” The famous words that launched the five year mission to discover strange new worlds and new civilisations. It was back in 1965 that Star Trek was produced but the original Pilot Episode, “The Cage” wasn’t seen in it’s entirety until 1988. And the crew of the legendary Enterprise was slightly different from that which most people would remember. The Enterprise was captained by Captain Christopher Pike, Mr Spock wasn’t the First Officer/Science Officer (that was actually an actress named Majel Barrett who later became the voice of the ship’s computer on the various Enterprise versions!) and there was no sign of Captain Kirk! One thing that didn’t change too much was of course the ship itself and as a youngling I had a replica die-cast model which fired Photon Torpedoes, so I decided to design a hilt in tribute to the fantastic Enterprise, this is NCC 1701-L…

NCC 1701-L Hilt

NCC 1701-L Emitter

NCC 1701-L Emitter 2

NCC 1701-L Switch

NCC 1701-L Body

NCC 1701-L Pommel

NCC 1701-L Horizontal

As you can see I tried to design this saber to represent a certain part of the Enterprise! Hopefully it is recognisable as one of the Enterprise’s engine nacelles. In the show Enterprise didn’t have exhaust plumes but I took a little artistic license to use the blade as such so I could make the pommel represent the rotating domes found on the front of the engines. The switch has two powder coated black ridges to look like the ridges found near the exhaust ports. When the electronics are installed the saber would have an illuminated activation switch, perfect to represent the Navigation/Running Lights! The body section has two grooves which I again powder coated in red. As mentioned the FTE Pommel stands in for the rotating and lit domes found at the front of the engine pods (these were added part way through the series as were lights in the windows of the ship.)

Can you spot the saber?

This fabulous ship was designed by Matt Jefferies and in the show was lovingly cared for and patched up by the late great James “Scotty” Doohan – “She canna take no more Cap’n…She’s lit up like a Christmas Tree already!” Hopefully Mr Scott and Mr Jefferies would approve my saber and light it up now and again!

“Scotty”, Mr Spock, Captain Kirk, Dr “Bones” McCoy, Lt Uhura and Pavel Chekov (source startrek.com)

I am approaching my own final frontier, the end of this post! But first I would like to thank you all for looking in today on my latest design, I hope you enjoyed it. Your support for me and FTSabersite is much appreciated. I now need to continue my mission to create some more designs but please call back to see what I come up with. Till next time.

Star Trek, Starship Enterprise and all names, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Paramount Network Television. Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions and Paramount Television.

B’Elanna Lightsaber – Klingon Kyber Weapon

Hello Everybody, I am back to speaking English today but we still have a Klingon theme running through this post. I have the Special Edition version of my Grethor Lightsaber posted yesterday and it was actually the first version I built. The reason was I had just scrolled through the channels of my satellite entertainment system and happened upon an episode of Star Trek Voyager. In that series about a Federation Starship that is attacked by an alien superpower and left stranded in another quadrant of the galaxy is a character who struggled with her heritage as part Human and part Klingon. That character is of course B’Elanna Torres, who was born in 2346 on the Federation colony Kessik IV. She enrolled at Starfleet academy but dropped out and by a stroke of fate both the Federation ship Voyager and Torres’ vessel were attacked and stranded by “The Caretaker”. Both ships and crews suffered losses and the two sets of survivors continued in Voyager. During many episodes B’Elanna struggled with her Klingon heritage but finally came to an acceptance. I hope she would accept this saber as a tribute, this is B’Elanna…

B’Elanna Hilt

B’Elanna Emitter

B’Elanna Switch

B’Elanna Body (Cranial Ridges)

B’Elanna Pommel (One part Human, One part Klingon)

B’Elanna Vertical Up

B’Elanna Vertical Side Detail

B’Elanna Horizontal

I am going to be a little indulgent here and say I think this design is really quite pretty. I am really pleased how it turned out, but it had a very strong influence I based it on. The saber has the Klingon/Sith red blade surrounded by the Triple Claw emitter with a beautiful powder coat red. The saber being silver and black helps set off the powder coat but also completes the colours found in the Klingon emblem and logos. The switch is also powder coated to help draw the eye down to the main inspiration that triggered my design, The body has a set of parallel grooves that most other people who use this piece line up 90 degress from where I set them. I noticed that if I lined up the grooves as shown they looked just like the Cranial Ridges that feature on B’Elanna’s forehead. And as a final nod to her heritage the pommel has two segments or ridges which I powder coated and these reflect that B’Elanna is one part Human and one part Klingon!

B’Elanna Torres with her Cranial Ridges

So that was B’Elanna, and I hope she would be proud to carry it. One of the most memorable episodes featured B’Elanna journeying to the Klingon underworld named….Grethor! Here she had to confront her past and future along with the presence of her dead mother. It gave B’Elanna a great depth to the character we know and was a fantastic performance from Roxann Dawson, the talented actress who portrays her.

It is that time again where I have to bring proceedings to a close but I’d like to say thank you so much for your visit today and support of FTSabersite. I hope to have a few more visitors soon as I have created a little video I plan on showing on YouTube soon to attract people’s attention! So I will have to end here and put the finishing touches to that video and work on new hilts…always busy! Till next time.

Star Trek Voyager, B’Elanna Torres and all names, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Paramount Network Television. Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions and Paramount Television.

Grethor Lightsaber – A Klingon Kyber Weapon

SenwI’ rIlwI’ je bIpIv’a’!  That’s “Hello Everybody” in Klingon just in case you are struggling with your translation devices! Yes today I have a friendly visit from another franchise, that of Star Trek. The series started way back in the 1960’s and believe it or not was rejected and only made a comeback when a protest from the handful of fans that saw the first few episodes prompted a Swedish production company to take a chance on it! Now we all know about the adventures of the Starships Enterprise, Voyager and the space station Deep Space 9 and their indomitable crews. We all know about the pesky alien race that hangs off the starboard bow….the Klingons! They are a militant, lizard like race that dress in battle armour similar to the Samurai of planet Earth. They also like bladed weapons so here is my Klingon inspired design….GRETHOR…

Grethor Hilt

Grethor Emitter

Grethor Emitter 2

Grethor Switch

Grethor Body

Grethor Pommel

Grethor Vertical Up

Grethor Vertical Side Detail

The Klingon are fierce warriors and I tried to capture that in the lines of this saber. The hilt starts with a Sith Red blade (as the Klingons use red quite a bit too as seen I their triple clawed insignia!)…oh and the emitter also has a triple claw, convenient! The switch is large and functional connecting to the ridged body section. The grooves are such that you can grip the saber in either standard or reverse grip equally comfortably. I imagine the hilt contains a Dilithium Crystal or similar to power the blade, I haven’t been able to examine Delta Quadrant technology yet! The pommel finishes off the aggressive look. I can’t talk too much about this weapon and it’s parts as I have a Special Edition version for my next post where I intend to explain my inspirations! (I can say it is pretty and deadly!)

Back to translations and I need to explain the saber’s name. Well, Grethor is the Klingon word for Hell and I felt it had a mythical warrior type sound to it. Just right to carry into battle. K’plah! (Good Luck!  😀 )

I am quickly running out of time, I hope you enjoyed this little Klingon “Invasion” and hope you will return to see the Special Edition version in my next post. Today though I would like to thank you all for your visits (from France, Germany, Serbia and the United States to name a few countries you call in from!) Your support is much appreciated. Till next time.

Star Trek, Klingons, and all names, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Desilu Productions and Paramount Television. Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry.