TIE Defender Elite “Skerris” – a recreation of the Galactic Empire’s new TIE Fighter

Hello Everybody and welcome to today’s post and before we go any further I need to say fasten your seatbelts! This weeks post we venture back to my “Shipyards” division as I showcase my attempt at building a new TIE Fighter design. The TIE version in question first appeared in the animated Star Wars Rebels show during an episode titled “Flight of the Defender”.

TIE Defender Elite on the left. ©Disney/Lucasfilm

The fighter was a new design developed by Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Chiss military genius (you can read about him in this post: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/tactician-v2-strikeback-thrawns-second-saber/) and was far superior to regular TIE-Fighters and Interceptors. The Defender had shields for a start which other TIEs didn’t posses and the new ship was fast because it had a Hyoerdrive unit built in so didn’t need boosters or Star Destroyers to transport them. But while I watched the cartoon I noticed that the Defender was good but to me looked a bit too slender so I decided to redesign and make some tweaks. This is the result of my efforts the TIE Defender Elite “Skerris”..

My redesign is slightly more bulky around the wing supports but I think the ship still has a sleek aggressive look. The distinctive wings each have two laser cannons plus two laser guided missiles between each wing plate. The plates also have carbon fibre-like solar panel texturing giving it the classic TIE Fighter checkerboard pattern to it’s wings. The fuselage is much closer to an original TIE but with an extended larger rear section. The Defender in the cartoon seemed too small at the back to be able to house the shield generator, Hyperdrive AND it didn’t have the Twin Ion Engines that give a TIE fighter it’s name. So my larger fuselage allowed me to add the Twin Engines (so technically this is a Tri Ion Engined ship!) Here is a picture of the Disney version again showing the rear and how small it is…

This rear fuselage seems too small to accommodate it’s tech. ©Disney/Lucasfilm

And now here is Gallery Two showcasing some up close details…

Hopefully these pics will give you a good idea of the shape and build of my version – I think it retains the sleek aggressive shape but looks more solidly built. In the last image you can see the lower two “exhaust ports” for the Twin Ion powerplants but you can clearly see the extra central exhaust and slotted vents arranged around it. These extra ports work like the Vectored Thrust nozzles on modern fighter jets like the American F22, F-35 and Russia’s Sukhoi SU-30 and 35 planes. This starfighter is also very agile as a result.

I named my fighter the “Skerris” variant after the Galactic Empire’s Ace pilot, Vult Skerris. Skerris was an instructor at the Empire’s SkyStrike Academy where the “topguns” of the galaxy trained. After working on developing the Defender Skerris was given the command of Defender Squadron One leading a mission to apprehend Senator Mon Mothma.

These last two images show the Defender out and about both in deep space and in the hangar of the Star Destroyer I designed a year or two back. I’m pleased how my tweaks on this ship turned out and feel the ship would be formidable against the Rebels. Luckily the Empire don’t own any of my variants!

And with that I must end this post, again I can’t divulge too much about my current situation but I hope you will call back next week to see a modification to my Puss in Boots themed saber. Thanks so much for visiting today and supporting myself and my site, all of the interactions motivate me and keeps me designing. Till next time….

“TIE Defender Elite Skerris” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the TIE Defender seen in Disney/Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars Rebels”. The 3D model and mods were modelled in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. The “TIE Fighter” and all it’s variants are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm (as are all names, logos, images and related material).

“Mando Super Commando Saber” – Inspired by Maul’s Mando Mercs

Hello Everybody, I have been extremely busy this past week both with designing and with making preparations for a BIG secret mission for me next year that requires a lot of planning so I am a little tired but I do have a nice saber to show you today. The saber is another of my “Trooper Phase Two” themed hilts but one with a twist. It is inspired by the group of soldiers from the planet Mandalore known as “Death Watch”. This group were a fierce bunch that caused trouble during the latter stages of the Clone Wars and was led by a man named Pre Vizla. Pre Vizsla was a member of Clan Vizsla, a once highly respected family but which became more mercenary during a civil war on Mandalor.e This turmoil eventually led to the group being taken over by Darth Maul (who had survived the encounter with Qui-Gon Jinn and had formed his own crime syndicate called the Shadow Collective). The Death Watch soldiers were similar in appearance to Jango Fett, Boba Fett and the Mandalorian Din Djarin (from the Disney+ show) however when Maul became their leader they changed their colours, literally. Here is how they looked:

The Death Watch painted their armour to match the colours of Darth Maul’s famous tribal tattoo pattern, red and black. Some members also added horn decorations to their helmets in Maul’s image. Ok, I have chatted enough, you want to see the saber I’m betting so here is Gallery One….

As you can see this is the saber I built for Clone Commander Cody which I showed you a few weeks ago but this saber has a much more aggressive red and black theme. You may have also noticed that the emitter has some appendages attached now in the shape of a set of horns! These are to mimic the horns of Maul and the ones found on the Super Commando helmets. The horns make the emitter look so much more different that I’m going to include a gallery just for the emitter, here it is…..

In the first picture you can see the emitter blade matrix where the plasma blade originates from, whilst the other pics give various angles of the “helmet” design of the emitter. The final image is one of the Super Commando’s helmets for comparison. However, I didn’t just add the horns to look pretty, I intended that these acted as controls for the saber to adjust power levels, blade length and the middle horn is a release lever/catch to open the saber’s body to reveal this….

Yes, this saber also has a crystal chamber! And I have modified the chamber from my previous version – if you look very closely you can see that the crystal is made from the same transparent material I used on the “Margrave Saber” display case lid. The material holds a glowing inner lozenge shaped crystal. The chamber has added gold accents on the silver barrels.

Back in the Star Wars storyline, the Super Commandoes broke free from Maul’s leadership when Sabine Wren and Bo Katarn returned to Mandalore and wrested the leadership position away from Maul and Vizsla. Sabine and Bo worked together to help re-unite the Mandalore people and Bo eventually adopted the mantle of the ruler of Mandalore. (You can see more about Sabine Wren here: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2020/08/22/the-artisan-staff-inspired-by-sabine-wren/)

Now I think that just about wraps this “Commando Trooper” saber up. I hope you liked the theme and it’s backstory inspiration. As I mention I am very busy planning my mission but fear not as luckily I still have quite a bit of material ready to post over the next few weeks/months. This includes more sabers, non saber prop objects, some custom painted vehicles and I am working on my end of year review too! So I hope you’ll return to check all that out. In the meantime, I need to thank you all for visiting today and supporting me – as always it’s much appreciated whether this is your first visit or if you are a regular viewer/reader. Please feel free to have a look around my site and if you’d like to leave a comment, like a post or two, or even subscribe to get notifications of new posts that would be great and helps a lot. Till next time……

“Mando Super Commando Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and was modelled and rendered in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The 3D model and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Star Wars”, “Mandalorian Super Commandos” and all other names, logos and related materials are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

“Speedster” Bike – Something a bit different

Hello Everybody and welcome to today’s post, and today I change up a few gears as we return to the Star Wars universe. During the past month or two I have had a few extra spare hours as my real everyday life issues settle down so I took the opportunity to re-watch some SW cartoons and indulge in viewing some motorsport. As some of you may recall from my early days blogging, that I am a fan of motorsport and I recently watched some really good MotoGP motorcycling races. That coupled with watching Star Wars and seeing some Speederbikes prompted my imagination to spark. In Star Wars some of the foot soldiers of the Republic Clone Army were equipped with hovering Speederbikes (you may recall the Speederbikes from Return of the Jedi with Luke and Leia chasing Biker Scouts through the forest of Endor). These first generation Speederbikes were called BARC Speeders or “Bike Advanced Recon Commando speeder” and were built by the Aratech Repulsor Company. The bikes looked a bit like this…

BARC Speederbike

These speeders had more fairings and bodyshell coverings than the later era versions in Return of the Jedi and the styling with the grille inlets reminded me of the aesthetics of Formula 1 racing cars of the 1930s/40s. I immediately thought of the famous Mercedes Benz Silver Arrows cars and the Audi Auto Union race cars like these…

So I decided I would design a new Speederbike influenced by these beauties. Believe it or not the following design’s main body was created from just two cubes which I rounded off and contoured. I then did add the extra bits like the seat panel, footrests, handlebar grips and the air intake/radiator grilles. Ok, enough chatting, it’s time to bring my new speeder out for a spin….

Hopefully you will be able to see the Formula 1 racing influence in this design and I hope/think it still looks like a Star Wars universe vehicle at the same time. The speeder has outrigger plates that emit energy to control steering and look like the stramlining wheel covers used on racing cars of the 30s/40s. When the speeder comes to a stop and deactivates these outrigger plates retract into the side of the bodywork so it can be stored for transport in battle cruisers. It features three small engines so there is redundancy if one engine should fail – you still have two good engines running. Now onto Gallery Two and a few detail pictures…

In these pictures you can see the rear bodyshell with black panelling – these panels are access plates for maintenance and areas for storage of a trooper’s equipment (sort of like pannier bags). The seat module has ridges to provide a non slip cushioning for any sized trooper. I added a set of basic handlebars with an array of digital display dials. And this type of bike is famous for hovering rather than having wheels and in the last picture you can see the “repulsor vents” where the energy is released creating the levitating cushion the bike glides on. And as I was riding out and about in my local forest…this bike comes in a nice dark green camouflage pattern! Though I do have a repainted variant which will follow in a future post and it is modified a little…here are the teaser images again…

Ok that was fun racing round my local woodland. And don’t worry this bike doesn’t give off emissions! But sadly I am approaching the end of the track and will need to garage my speeder and this post. I hope you liked this switch from lightsabers. This is the first in a few new vehicle designs I have coming up so I really hope you’ll call back to check them out. There will still be sabers too.

Thank you so much for your time today and for checking this site out. All your support is much appreciated and motivates me to work hard and produce new stuff (I have enough to last till new year I think!). Please leave a like, comment or subscribe if you aren’t already. Till next time….

“Speedster” is a For Tyeth Editions vehicle design inspired by the “BARC Speederbike” seen in Star Wars The Clone Wars series and Rebels. The 3D model and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. All Star Wars names, references and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm. “Mercedes Benz Silver Arrows” name and cars belongs to the Mercedes Benz Motor Company, whilst the “Audi Auto Union” cars and name belong to Audi.

Tactician V2 : Strikeback – Thrawn’s second saber

Hello Everybody, today I revisit an old design with my newest design and it features a very distinctive and famous strategist. That strategist is the member of the Chiss Ascendancy that joined the Imperial Naval Fleet and rose to fame as Grand Admiral Thrawn! So, as I sort of stated I have already honoured the Grand Admiral with a saber but it was long ago back when I used the “old software” I had at my disposal and had to use other people’s parts. I did however heavily modify those saber parts to create the saber Tactician. Here is a quick reminder of that hilt…

You may recall that Thrawn as he was referred to in the “core worlds” was born in the “Unknown Regions” and was called Mitth’raw’nuruodo. His birth name was Kivu’raw’nuru (Kivu being similar to an earth family surname). He later changed his name when he became an adult and joined the military of the Chiss Ascendency. It was whilst he was carrying out a mission to examine the “Known Regions” and it’s species that he allowed himself to be “captured” by an Imperial squadron of troops as he stowed away on their ship when they came to investigate the disturbances at their camp. Thrawn eventually worked his way into the Imperial Navy by enlisting after showing promise and that he may have something to offer, and finally attained the rank of Grand Admiral after catching The Emperor’s attention.

As you can see from the title images here, Thrawn was a distinctive looking character having blue skin and bright red eyes so when I came up with the first Tactician saber above I had to photo edit the preview pictures to add the blue paintwork (the company that provided the saber building software didn’t have powdercoat or custom paintwork on general offer back then). But I struggled and “painted” each image pixel by pixel but after all the hard work I knew I could do better….so here is Tactician V2: Strikeback….

This saber has the same sort of colouration but this time I didn’t have to paint the hilt pixel by pixel as Blender 3D applied the texture to the model when I built it! It is still the same deep “Chiss Blue” to represent the Chiss species and has nice contrasting brushed silver metal accents with the shroud (you may recognise this from my The Dark Republic saber!). This saber has a red lit activation switch to match the red blade and peek ever so closely to the third image and you might just see two spots of red “peeking” out. These are two windows that allow the light from the blade to shine through but they also pay tribute to my first Tactician hilt and to the Chiss’ red eyes…

How ’bout that? Three pairs of “eyes” spying on us from afar! I say from afar because at the end of the cartoon series Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn was involved in a possible final battle with the Rebels (Ezra, Hera, Kanan, Reb) on Lothal and during the fight his ship was attacked by some Purgil space creatures and we don’t yet know if he survived! But as I said earlier I wanted to improve on my first Tactician saber and when I saw the “eyes” I had created with the windows on the Dark Republic hilt I knew this would suit Thrawn also. And just as a final decorative touch I added two Chiss Ascendency logos made into 3D on the handgrip and on the pommel insert – though Thrawn would probably disapprove saying “decoration is not needed on a weapon of battle – all that matters is that it performs in time of need!”. Well it does work and I hope you all like the Strikeback version.

That just about brings me to the end of this week’s post, I do hope you liked it. I will have to do some thinking about my next few posts as the big “May the 4th” is coming up so I might need to show off something bigger…hm….Anyhoo, thank you so much for your support and visit today. It is really appreciated and I have noticed many new viewer figures coming from new locations around the globe and you’re all welcome. If you all enjoy what you see here please comment, like and maybe subscribe if you haven’t already. I still have much more to come in future posts so do call back…..Till next time…..

“Tactician V2:Strikeback” is a For Tyeth Editions design and was built and rendered in Blender 3D. The design and images are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “Grand Admiral Thrawn” first appeared in the books by Timothy Zhan and is a Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm having appeared in “Star Wars: Rebels”.

“The Last of the Lasat” Saber – inspired by Zeb Orrelius

Hello Everybody, today we return to my series of Star Wars Rebels inspired hilts and I have a saber for another member of the crew of the starship The Ghost. I have built sabers for Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Sabine Wren, Chopper the droid and I present a hilt for the final member of the Spectres…Zeb Orrelius. Zeb is a member of the Lasat species and was a member of the Lasan Honour Guard, protecting the Lasat royal family. Then the Empire arrived on the planet of Lasan and using a new devastating laser weapon wiped out all of the natives save for a handful of Lasan including Zeb. He believed he was the sole survivor and developed a deep seated hatred of the Empire, inspiring him to join the fight against the galactic tyranny. With his Bo-Rifle (a powerful folding weapon synonymous with the Lasan Honour Guard) he caused problems for the Imperials until he crossed paths with the rest of the crew of the Ghost. Zeb became the “muscle” for the rebel Ghost crew…not surprising when you see how imposing he is. Here’s a picture of him…

©Disney/Lucasfilm

So if I was to design a hilt for this big guy…it has to be powerful and impressive. Well I was tinkering as I do and had started to build a hilt – I had a handgrip and switch – it was going well. Then I came to build the emitter and let’s say I had a “happy little accident” and adjusted the shape of the emitter forgetting that it was still connected to the rest of the handle. In Blender you can either build the saber as if carving it on a woodworking lathe – you have a cylinder and “work” it into the shape you want by using loops and adjusting their size or using the second method, you break the handle into sections and then connect the parts to form one solid hilt. I forgot which method I was using and when I attempted to ”thicken” the outer shell of the emitter the “Solidify” function affected the handgrip too. However it created an interesting effect and combined with the texture colours made this saber look very much as if it belonged to Zeb. So here is my new saber, “The Last of the Lasat”….

The saber features some very organic looking ridges which are the result of the Solidify function I used. I had modelled some angled finger grips with rings but when I added “thickness” to the model it duplicated the rings causing them to form the ridges. They looked just like the dark markings on Zeb’s head and body whilst the emitter sorta reminded me of the tufted beard he sports. The blade is a pleasing yellow colour – similar to the colour of the nebula that surrounded a strange planet Zeb visited after the conflicts ended (more on this later). The pommel is made from a regular cog shaped part which I thickened again with the Solidify tool. I added the blade and an activation switch to finish the saber. I was interested to see how the saber performed so I took it to a local cave where I do my testing, here are a few Glamour Shots…

The saber was powerful enough to cut through rocks and boulders, matching Zeb’s strength so I think he’ll be able to handle it. I mentioned earlier a strange planet Zeb visited after the Empire was defeated, well that planet turned out to be the sanctuary where the fellow survivors of the Lasat race fled to. Zeb discovered he wasn’t the last of his kind as he had believed for so long and he found this out because of another person we have met recently. That person was Agent Kallus or Fulcrum as he had become. Agent Kallus was the Imperial agent that led the devastating attack on Lasan, he then had an encounter with Zeb on an Ice planet where each began to rely on the other to escape. A bond was formed and when Kallus learnt of the survivors he visited and earned the trust of group when they realised he had redeemed himself. Kallus then delivered Zeb to the new home world of the Lasat race. A happy ending….

That just about wraps up this hilt for Zeb…not the last of his kind…Orrelius. I hope you liked it. I was amazed how it turned out considering the way it came from a mishap! However I still have over half a dozen new hilts and starship designs to bring you and maybe a few bits of artwork. Please call back for future posts and check out what’s in store, but for now thank you so much for the support and for visiting today. All of your views, likes and comments make it worthwhile me creating and I much appreciate you all. Till next time….

“The Last of the Lasat” saber is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by Zeb Orrelius, featured in Star Wars Rebels. The lightsaber 3D model and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. “Zeb Orrelius”, “Star Wars:Rebels” and all other names, images, logos and related material are Trademark/’©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

“Syndulla” A saber for Hera

Hello Everybody, I hope you are all well as I have another new design to showcase for you today. This time we are staying in the galaxy and time period seen in Star Wars Rebels, and as I have built sabers for Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger and more recently Sabine Wren’s staff I felt the Captain of the rebel ship The Ghost should get a hilt too. The Captain of The Ghost is a young female Twi’Lek named Hera Syndulla, who is a wily, cunning, battle hardened warrior revolutionary. Not surprising as her father was Cham Syndulla, a prominent activist and thorn in the side of the early Empire led by Palpatine and Vader. Hera was born and raised on Ryloth but didn’t have the greatest of relationships with her father, it started well but in war it deteriorated. It got so bad that when a rebellion starfighter crash landed in the Syndulla homestead’s grounds Hera recovered the astromech and repaired it, then formed a friendship with the droid.

Eventually the situation got to the point where Hera left to become a pilot and formed her own band of rebels (who you can see above ^^) whilst her father continued his efforts against the Empire around their homeworld. Over many skirmishes Hera recruited her crew and raised trouble for the Empire, irritating Grand Moff (Governor) Tarkin and Vader. So, even though Hera is famous as a crack shot with a blaster I felt Captain Syndulla needed a saber. I built one and sent it to her…but I think she may not recognise it….

Can you see a saber in the picture above? Well, after the events of the Clone Wars and Order 66 (the Emperor’s purge on the Jedi) it was illegal to use, own or even carry a lightsaber (or any parts thereof) so I had to be clever and disguise her new saber so it would go undetected. I think I did a good job…it looks like there are just a few tools and measuring devices on Hera’s workbench right? Then may I show you this….

Yep! I turned a Hydro-Wrench into a lightsaber…cunning aren’t I! I doubt any Stormtrooper or Imperial official would recognise this as a saber. The Hydro-Wrench has a power activator that I modified to be the ignition switch so the on/off switch was camouflaged already. The saber also features hidden controls that adjust the lightsaber’s blade length and power settings and to access them you have to twist the red torque adjuster lever to open the grille covering the settings panel.

Form and function plus a bit of ingenuity (if I say so myself 😎) This panel is accessed when you twist the red lever which in turn rotates the grille There are two Hex-Head dials that alter the blade length and power settings along with four light emitting diodes that display a traffic light colour scale to show settings. Oh and the red Torque Lever also acts as a convenient belt hanging device – just clip it onto your workbelt and the saber is hidden with your other tools! I think that’s pretty neat…

A Hydro-Wrench Lightsaber? OK that’s pretty clever!

Ah! I think Hera likes the saber, now she’s recognised it. I felt this reflected her character of being resourceful and able to adapt to difficult, dangerous situations. Her calm thinking and skills saved the day on many occaisions leading to her (and her crew) being recruited to a Rebel faction led by the mysterious “Fulcrum” who we met a few posts back. She even managed to reconcile with her father when one particular mission resulted in their paths crossing. And an interesting fact: If you watch the movie Rogue One when we see the ships parked outside the Rebel Base on Yavin 4 listen carefully and you might hear a General Syndulla being summoned on the tannoy – General Hera Syndulla!

Soo, that just about wraps up this saber offering, I hope you liked it as much as Hera seems to. It was fun thinking “outside the box” to come up with a design so well camouflaged. Star Wars Rebels has really sparked my imagination and as a result I still have a few more “Rebels” hilts and a couple of ships to bring to your attention in future posts. I sincerely hope you’ll call back to see those as I also have more Guardians of the Galaxy hilts too. But for now I’d like to say thanks to all of you for visiting and supporting me and the site, whether a first timer or a regular visitor, you’re much appreciated. Till next time….

“Syndulla Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the cartoon “Star Wars: Rebels”. The 3D models and renderings are ©ForTyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. “Star Wars: Rebels”, “Hera Syndulla” and all other SW names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

“Dume” Saber – Inspired by Lothal’s Wolf

Hello Everybody hope you’re all doing well. Today we are returning to Star Wars Rebels and the naval shipbuilding planet of Lothal for a new saber. This saber is not based on the ships that are built on the planet but on one of it’s creatures, the Lothwolf. These mystical animals appear throughout later episodes of Rebels and are a sort of “Force Guide” or “Force Spirits” – and one has a connection to the former Jedi Kanaan Jarrus. Whenever Ezra Bridger, Kanaan’s padawan or the crew of The Ghost get into difficulties the wolves seem to appear and lend a paw to help the heroes out – and usually in a spectacular way. The Lothwolf, though rarely seen looks like this…

They are canine in appearance but are MUCH larger in size being large enough for Ezra, Hera Syndula, Sabine and Zeb to actually ride on their backs. And in one episode the heroes were stranded on one side of Lothal but needed to get to the opposite side of the planet quickly. The wolves appeared and indicated that the heroes should climb on and ride to their friend’s location. However, as the wolves began to run and gather speed, their surroundings blurred and warped causing the heroes to partially lose their senses. When they came back to full consciousness the group discovered they were in fact on the far side of the planet….apparently the wolves had carried the heroes THROUGH the planet! That is some serious Force ability! So knowing this I set to work on a saber inspired by these creatures…

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These studio wireframe images show some very complex modelling on the handgrip – this was to replicate a very distinct feature of the Lothwolf. The feature was most visible on one special wolf, the leader of the pack which was named DUME and here is a gallery of images showing DUME and the saber…

The saber is a monochrome white and black to resemble Dume and the emitter shrouds are almost like “ears”, though unintentional. But I did make an effort to replicate the ridges on the bridge of his nose and his eyebrow area. These are the black oval nodules on the handgrip. To model them I created several Torus knots (a 3D knot similar to a Pretzel that forms an endless loop) and stacked them to make an object that looked like a rope. I then sized the “rope” so that it was inside the handgrip but just big enough so small lumps appeared on the outside surface. This created the ridges!

As the story continued it became known that the pack leader was named after a former Jedi known as Caleb Dume….who after the events of Order 66 and the Jedi Order’s downfall, became known as Kanaan Jarrus. This hints to the fact these creatures may be some form of Guardian Canine that appears when their “subject of care” is in danger. All very mysterious.

I hope you liked DUME and his saber, I loved how the handgrip and the “rope trick” worked out. It worked so well that it inspired a few more variants which I’ll post in upcoming articles. Yes I still have more new sabers to come as well as working on ships and containers of Coaxium! Hopefully you will return to see those and find out what I am using Coaxium for. But for now I want to thank you all for visiting and supporting me and my site, whether this is your first visit or you are a regular caller thanks so much. So Till next time….

“DUME” Saber is a For Tyeth Editions design and the 3D models and renderings are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. “Dume”, “Lothwolf” and all other Star Wars related names, images, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

“The Artisan Staff” Inspired by Sabine Wren

Hello Everybody, today I have a colourful offering from the Star Wars cartoon Rebels, and it is a colourful weapon for a colourful character. You may have seen me mention the Rebel ship called “The Ghost” which is the heroes’ ship in Rebels. It’s crew consists of the captain, Hera Syndula who is a Twi’Lek with superb flying skills. Next there is Kanan Jarrus, a former Jedi Knight who teaches a young human named Ezra Bridger the ways of the Force. There is also Zeb Orrellios the Lasat warrior I mentioned in the Callous Saber post. Finally there is a young Mandalorian woman named Sabine Wren, who hailed from the political family Clan Wren of House Vizsla. This family was steeped in Mandalorian culture with one ancestor building the famous black bladed lightsaber called the Darksaber. But Sabine was enrolled at the Imperial Academy and progressed through the Empire and developed highly dangerous weapons (which she deeply regretted later). Sabine eventually became a rebel and became infamous for her “artwork” which included repainting Imperial Tie Fighters and buildings (she also blew a few up too!). So, enough chat for now here are a few pictures of Sabine and you’ll see why she is so colourful…

Sabine wears Mandalorian Beskar armour which she forged as part of her rights of passage and culture, but she had a much more colourful flair than most Mandoes. From the abstract and Impressionistic illustrations on her armour to her various shades of hair colour Sabine stood out. She even earned the nickname “The Artist” – given to her by the local Stormtroopers because of her paintings she left behind as her calling card.

Now Mandalorians are famous for using bladed weapons – the most famous of which I have mentioned above, the Darksaber. So I felt Sabine needed a saber of her own, something that fit her style and flair….so I built a double bladed staff weapon for her. Here is a wire frame to show my progress as I built it…

If you look closely you will see this staff has shrouds on the emitters, thin neck sections and a central body shell with a handgrip similar to a Graflex. You might also have seen the little black and white checkered ball on the right hand panel of the screen? Well that is one of the materials/textures I added to this staff. But you can’t see textures in a wireframe image so you’ll want to see some Glamour Shots….OK here they are…

Yes I think this is colourful enough! The emitters have Cal Kestis styled shrouds (as seen in the Star Wars game Jedi Fallen Order) but then there are twin choke point sections that are coated in a shattered multi coloured pattern. These choke points have tactical grips to aid spinning the weapon with out losing hold of it. The central body section has the famous handgrip ribs similar to those found on Anakin and Rey’s lightsaber – a classic design cue. And the saber has twin golden yellow blades to represent the rising sun of a new day….another day for Sabine to create her art. Speaking of creating art I did experiment a little with this design and tried out a few functions of Blender. I created a couple of images using 2D and 3D compositing techniques.

The two “poster” images show off Sabine’s colourful look and my attempt to match it, while the third image in front of a building has a special visual effect applied to it to make it look like a cartoon with heavy outlines. All three use a mix of 2D and 3D elements layered together.

Anyhoo, I am afraid I am near the end of this post. I apologise that there wasn’t as many images this time out but I am being careful not to overtax my laptop. But I can promise I have a TON of images for next week as I will be launching the battleship cruiser I built for a friend’s Fan Fiction story over the past month or two. It is ready for it’s trials! I hope you will join me for that new design and for more future posts. Thank you all for checking out The Artisan Staff today, whether it is your first visit or you are a regular caller to this site – as always you’re much appreciated. And if you like what you have seen don’t forget to leave a comment or click to follow Ftsabersite – I left a Follow Me button at the top of the sidebar menu! Stay safe….Till next time…..

“The Artisan Staff” saber is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the Star Wars Rebels character “Sabine Wren” and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/Ftsabersite 2016-2020. “Star Wars Rebels”, “Sabne Wren” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

Tyeth Industries Experimentals FTX-MG – A new Tie Fighter

Hello everyone, I hope you all enjoyed last week’s offering the Ahsoka sabers. Luckily I haven’t been contacted by any big companies so I guess they liked my hilt and bit of artwork. Today though I have another spaceship from my sister design bureau and this time it is a fighter which first appeared in the cartoon “Star Wars: Rebels”. In season 2 episode 15 (titled “The Call”) the heroes were searching for fuel supplies and planned a heist to steal valuable fuel from an Imperial cargo ship. But as you can guess it didn’t quite go to plan and the Rebel crew of The Ghost came across a gas mining refinery base built in an asteroid belt….and it had large supplies of fuel on the landing platforms. The Rebels decide to space walk then free-fall onto the facility, prepare the supplies then fly The Ghost down to scoop up their bounty. Things were going well at first, that is until some unknown starfighters appeared, to defend the base and it’s fuel supplies.

Gas Refinery Asteroid Base – Star Wars Rebels ©Disney/Lucasfilm

One Rebel called out “They don’t look like Imperials!” to which his friend replied, “But they act like Imperials!!!” Anyhoo enough talk, you want to see this newly discovered fighter and so I have a few wireframe images to share…here’s Gallery 1….

As you can see this “new” starfighter is very similar to a regular Imperial TIE-Fighter…except for TWO big differences. First up the stabiliser wings have notches cut out of them to give it’s pilot better visibility from the cockpit which is very striking. And second the ship is very distinct in it’s yellow paintjob! Unfortunately though each time I see this ship from the side I can’t help but think of PAC-MAN! Can’t think why! Seriously, the wings design has advantages and disadvantages…the pilot can see more clearly which helps in combat but losing the extra solar collector panels means it has less performance and speed. However the Mining Guild did add a little extra special feature to this ship….artificial atmosphere! This means the Rodian pilots can fly these ships without needing to wear full pressurised flight suits and life support kits.

I managed to acquire one of these fighters in a game of chance so how would you like to join me taking this for a test spin? Animation time….

In among the rocks!

The ship flies surprisingly well considering the modifications the Mining Guild made. I did like the fact I can fly one of these without a flight suit because I can wear my Jedi robes comfortably sat in the cockpit. So after testing the ship in space I needed to do an atmospheric condition test flight so I flew to the planet of Lothal where a lot of TIE Fighters were built. I found some nice canyons and had some fun. Here are the pictures, oh and another video!….

I managed to avoid any “Imperial Entanglements” for Low Flying over Lothal and set about heading home where I could hangar my new ship, then relax and get back to designing…here’s my journey home….

So in conclusion, even if this ship looks like a character from an 80’s arcade game it isn’t one to mess with, it is still deadly flown by the wrong hands. And I think I’m kinda beginning to like PAC-MAN, that yellow is so striking it sort of surprises your enemies seeing such a bright ship! And it does brighten up my hangar bay….

Back home and in my hangar…my little TIE-Fighter FTX-MG!

That just about wraps up this design, I hope you liked it as much as I liked building and flying about in it! Just before I go back to work though I’d like to finish with my regular thank you message. To all my viewers/readers/friends thanks as always for supporting me and my site you are all appreciated and I welcome you to call back for future posts as I have much more to share including a multicoloured double bladed staff, more Clone Wars and Rebels inspired designs and more ships…a new “Rapier” style hilt….too much to list. Till next time…

“Tyeth Industries Experimentals FTX-MG” is a For Tyeth Editions 3D model inspired by the TIE-MG Tie Fighter in Star Wars Rebels. The model, renders and videos were produced by For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020 and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth?FTSabersite 2020. “Star Wars: Rebels”, “Mining Guild TIE Fighter” and all other related names, images and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

Bridger Saber – I think I’m a Blender Adept!

Hello Everybody, well after bringing you such a villainous saber in the shape of Kaleesh last week I felt I had best restore the balance somewhat and bring you an “Inspired By” replica build. Now fellow blogger Neil Trinarty suggested I do some full scale modelling to really hone my skills so I decided I would try to recreate an “in universe” design and see how close to the real hilt I could get. The hilt in question belongs to a young hero from the animated show “Star Wars Rebels” called Ezra Bridger. Ezra originally had a saber that was disguised so the Imperials/Empire forces wouldn’t recognise it. Unfortunately as a result it looked like an industrial nail-gun or stapler! He had it for two whole seasons of the show but thankfully he got a new (and green!) saber in season three. This is a recreation of that new hilt and I just call it Bridger…as always, first the work in progress shots….

Bridger Extrude 1

Bridger Switch

Bridger Extrude 2

Bridger taking shape

Bridger nearly done

Bridger and Reference picture

To build this hilt I employed a technique which I partly explained when I first mentioned Blender and how it works. The technique is called Extruding. Just like in metal working you have a basic lump or block which you then pull, push, stretch and squeeze it into the shape you want. As a result the model forms a bit like a tiered wedding cake with layers. You make a tube then stretch it down, when happy widen the tube by scaling the edges out then continue down either widening or narrowing each section. I then created the circular activation switch as a separate piece and positioned it. The extrude process then continued all the way to the pommel. The body has ridges at regular intervals around the grip that are pulled outward as strips. The final modelling step was to create the rounded cut-out shape and the rectangular box with the striped top. Oh and I added a little triangular ring to hang the saber from your belt! The last picture above shows the reference image I used as a guide and was created by another modeller named “CaseStudyno8 ” who displays his creations on Deviantart. (I hope he doesn’t mind as there aren’t many good images of this saber online!).

Ok enough talking of extrusions layers, bumps and lumps, I had to add textures to the model to make it nice and shiny and I tried a few things to make the images look a little more professional and sharper. I’ll let you decide here’s a few Glamour Shots…

Bridger Saber Test Textures

Bridger Saber a bit too shiny

Bridger Saber shine reduced slightly

Bridger Saber replaced control box

Bridger Saber finished Glossy

I added a texture/material to make the hilt look metallic but the way Blender displays the image made it too shiny and caused a lot of speckles to appear. This is known as Caustic Noise and is a result of light beams bouncing around off various surfaces. Modellers/Designers want people to see their models clearly so try to reduce noise and I learnt a trick that works as a filter so the light beams basically hit the model once and not reflect in all directions. In the final image is the “De-speckled” version using the filter. I think there is a bit of improvement and less unwanted dots of light. The filtering does cause the computer to take longer to produce the image but I can save time by using the quicker modelling methods!

Speaking of time…yes you know it, I am out of it and will have to end this post. I hope you like this tribute to Ezra’s saber and think I’ve earned the title of a Blender Adept! As always before I go I have to say a big thank you to all for visiting today. Your support is much appreciated and keeps me pushing my limits. Whether you are a first time visitor or long term follower I hope you will return for future posts which will include a “BIG” saber build and a hilt for a “Hot Shot” along with two blockbuster movie themed hilts! Till next time….

“Bridger Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions creation and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-18. This design is inspired by Ezra Bridger’s saber from the animated show “Star Wars Rebels” which is Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm.

Reference image by CaseStudyno8 on Deviantart.com