“Data Viewpad” with some secret plans!

Hello Everybody and welcome to this week’s post. Can you believe we are already at the end of January? Well after the excitement of seeing Shredder from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last week we return to the Star Wars universe for a new non saber prop build. As you know I might be carrying out a “Jedi Mission” as we speak (or am I?…Hm?) and I realised I needed a device of some sort to store my travel documents and mission briefing files on. I wanted something portable and secure and it was whilst watching an episode of The Clone Wars cartoon that I saw what I needed….a Data Viewpad!

Detective Tan Divo with a police issue Data Viewpad

The Data Viewpad was in an episode telling the story of a murder in the Senate which was investigated by Coruscant Detective Tan Divo. He was a sort of cross between Peter Lorrrreee and  Lieutenant Columbo. Now these devices are much like tablet computers found on Earth but these compact computers have many more uses and larger data storage capacity. But where to get one from? I had to look online for an Intergalactic Refurbishment Store. I checked what stock they had and found a reasonably priced Viewpad with one previous owner, so I bought it! This is what it looked like….

Unfortunately as you can see this Viewpad didn’t seem to have been wiped before I purchased it! What’s that on the display? Is it the plans for the….No it can’t be, can it? Only kidding this is actually the 3D model I made of a Viewpad, complete with screen and multiple control knobs plus a Trackball mouse controller. The device has two cylindrical handgrips, one either side that also incorporates the memory modules and can be removed and fitted with larger data storage capacity drives. The viewer also has a Data-Term connector on the top edge, similar to a Ribbon cable to connect this to any computer terminal to access it. This is a seriously powerful piece of equipment! Ok, I just have time to show you a few more pictures, so onto Gallery Two….

As I mentioned before this Viewpad has many functions apart from just storing and viewing data files. You can use it as a Comms device that sends/receives voice and data such as the Death Star plans… or it can be an entertainment media player so you can travel and watch your favourite Star Wars content over the Galactic Communication Grid (bit like the internet). The last picture shows a scene from last week’s episode of “The Bad Batch” and shows Tech using a similar Viewpad to analyse data from a Podrace to help him try and win a race.

Tech with a Viewpad (© Disney/LucasFilm)

So, as you can see this is a very trick piece of kit! I might even see if I can use Blender 3D on it….you never know it might work! Unfortunately what I can’t get this device to do is give me more time to type up longer posts! Yes as you might guess I am running short of time but before I go I’d like to give you an update on what I have in store for future posts. I have more Star Wars inspired builds including FOUR new starships, …there are new sabers too (one of which I designed for myself and a second that will pay tribute to the secret location of my mission). There are even some cartoon and animated movie tie-ins all coming very soon.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and my Data Viewpad , it was a fun build. I also want to say thank you for visiting today and giving me your support. Whether a first time viewer or regular visitor to FTSabersite you all motivate me to keep creating and it means a lot. Now I have to say bye and disappear so I can continue my Jedi duties…..Till next time…….

“Data Viewpad” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the portable datapads seen in the Star Wars franchise movies and cartoons. The original 3D model and renders were created in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2023. “Star Wars”, “The Bad Batch”, “The Clone Wars” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm.

“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 – Hoth Edition – a real snowmobile!

Hello Everybody, well I am still recovering from my big mission at the Comic Con I visited back on the 22nd so today I thought I’d show you my repainted Speedster bike. I liked the camouflaged paint scheme I showed you on my other bike but sometimes you’re in a much colder environment and need a vehicle that blends in a bit better. Soo, I repainted the speederbike in a nice snow camo look. Here is Gallery One showing the studio shots….

I decided to post this gallery of studio shots because when this beaty gets out into the open and speeds over the plains of Hoth you’ll find it hard to see it! However, these pictures show the speeder’s curves and lines a little better than the regular camo coloured bike did. The big front body section with the large air intake grille, laser blaster barrels and the directional control outriggers shows off the curves and recessed upper bodywork which is highlighted by the contrasting black outlining. You will notice that the engines give off a different emission colour, being blue instead of the warmer yellow of the regular model – this shows that the exhausts emit cooler air and anti-grav effect. Well we don’t want to melt the ice when travelling over frozen lakes or rivers and get wet feet! The rear bodywork displays the body panelling and access hatches much more clearly and topped off by the ridged seating pad. And so I guess it’s time to unleash this Speedster out onto the snow fields of Hoth don’t you? Time for Gallery Two….and good luck spotting it…..

It was a particularly cold day on Hoth when I took these photos so I was able to use the regular power settings hence the exhausts show yellow again. I did this as the snow/ice were much thicker and I could hover the bike higher (allowing me to get under the bike for the last two images). But you can see how well the camo blends into the scenery and combined with it’s agility and speed this bike would be a hard target to hit. Again this is just a repaint but I do have a few sorta custom colour schemes I have to showcase in a future post so stay tuned for those.

I have also managed to watch the new Star Wars animation series called “Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi” and it was quite good . I did notice that the animation style was much more 3D based with graphical techniques used to add texture to the images. This meant there was much more detail, such as life-like hairs, rough scratched metals and stonework, cloth moved and flowed realistically making the footage look almost cinematic. The stories centred on Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku’s characters and show Tano’s development as a respected Jedi whilst we see the fall of Dooku due to his growing distrust and belief in the ways of the Jedi Council. We see how events lead each Jedi to take the paths they did – and we even got to see a young Qui-Gon Jinn (whom some of you will know was the student Padawan of Count Dooku!) The series was more or less filling in the backstory so nothing too spectacular (and it only really had two new lightsaber designs in it) but it was good for an hour or two.

Anyhoo, I hope you will return to FTSabersite in future for new posts with some saber designs inspired by the other recent animation show “Visions” – I’m quite proud how they turned out. In the meantime, thank you for your visit today and all the comments and support – it really means a lot and motivates me to keep blogging. Till next time…..

“Speedster – Hoth Edition” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is inspired by the BARC Speederbikes seen in The Cone Wars animation. The design, models and renders were created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite using Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022.

“Delta Four Interceptor” – A design from For Tyeth’s Shipyards

Hello Everybody and welcome to another new design offering. And today I am going outside my comfort zone again and attempting to design something a bit different than a saber. This time I wanted to update an old post which showed off a starfighter that I designed/modelled for a friend of mine who was writing a Fan Fiction story and asked if I could 3D model a ship from his description to use as an illustration. That ship was the Vornyx Starfighter I built for Lord S Gray but I wanted one for myself so I set to work on a new ship (You can take a look at Lord S Gray’s Vornyx by clicking this link : https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/vornyx-a-new-breed-of-starfighter-lord_s_gray-and-ft/. Now, I have always liked the two Starfighter/Interceptors that the Jedi used during the Clone Wars which are the ETA-2 Starfighter and the Delta 7 Aethersprite (which I have commented about on this site before) and I wondered how I could have the best of both ships. Well it was sort of simple….combine the two together! I bet you’d like to see what I came up with? Ok here is Gallery One…

This is the FT Shipyards’ “Delta Four Interceptor” (<Get it? Delta FOR 🤣) and it “borrows” parts from the two forementioned spaceships above and packs them into one nice sleek new package! And this ship has a few special modifications I added myself which I’ll show you later in the post. First off though this design takes inspiration from the early Clone War Delta 7 Jedi Interceptor with it’s triangular fuselage and large dorsal tail plane. But this ship also incorporates the neat folding wingflaps seen on the later model ETA-2 Starfighter from Episode 3. This means that this ship is fast…VERY fast and agile as the triangular body enables high speeds whilst the winglets provide low speed agility. Again I like to acknowledge designs from the past, so I gave this ship a regal burgundy and brushed gold colour scheme -reminiscent of the days of the Old Republic when the Jedi were the guardians of peace. Sadly this ship is still a fighter at heart and can be modified with weapons systems should I need them and the ship features a distinctive “blocky” surface on it’s skin. This is a type of armour/shielding system. Anyhoo…it would be easier if I showed you around the ship so here is a little bonus animation!

In this mini movie you can clearly see all the lines and features of the Delta Four during it’s trial flights. I put it through it’s paces and it performed well. Look closely and you will see the armour plating, angular panels to deflect sensor scope detection beams, twin engines and just in front of the mirror windowed cockpit…there is an Astromech droid socket. At the moment there is just a dummy droid installed till I get a new Astro to plug into my ship. And just in case the video clip was too brief here is a second gallery of pictures with some close-up details…

In the final picture you can see the winglets in their folded “High Speed Position” used for short bursts of speed during combat….but sometimes you need to travel further at speed over a vast distance. That is when you need a Hyperdrive Unit! And this ship has a Hyperdrive, capable of travelling between star systems with ease. Now we have all seen regular Hyperspace travel in the movies right? There is that blue swirly tunnel like this….

This allows my ship to travel anywhere I want very quickly, but if I want to travel between the known Star Wars universe and my current home here on Earth I need something even faster….a Type Four Hyperdrive….and this one is environmentally friendly…as you’ll see….

Ok, it may not be environmentally friendly to Earth’s atmosphere but it is green! It’s quite soothing travelling through this green hyperspace lane.

So now you know how I travel between the real universe and here on planet Earth. But unfortunately, as fast as this new ship is, I still can’t outrun time and I am quickly approaching the end of this post. I hope you liked the design and my little mini movies (I hadn’t done any for a while). This isn’t the only spaceship I have built recently, I have a version of the Starfighter that featured in the cartoon Star Wars Rebels whch I will showcase in an upcoming post. I also have a few more sabers too.

There is a lot more to come so I’d like to invite you all to return and check it all out and if you enjoy what you see here then maybe you’d leave a comment, like the posts and subscribe to get notifications of when I post. But for now, I want to say thank you for your support today checking out my new ride. Whether a new visitor or one of my regular readers/viewers you are all appreciated….so now it’s time to get in my ship and fly off Till Next Time……..

“Delta Four Interceptor” is a For Tyeth Editions Shipyard design inspired by the “ETA-2 Starfighter” and the “Delta 7 Aethersprite” spaceships which appear in Star Wars (Episode 3 and The Clone Wars cartoons). The “Delta Four” was designed, modelled and the renders/animations produced in Blender 3D by For Tyeth/FTSabersite. These materials are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. All Star Wars names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd.

“Trooper – Cody” Saber – Inspired by Clone Marshall Commander Cody

Hello Everybody and welcome to another trip to the world of Star Wars and my Phase Two collection of Trooper inspired hilts. First though before I continue, I’d like to thank everyone for the kind comments on my foray into vehicle designing with my Speedsterbike model. It was so nice to read that you thought I had hit the mark, so thank you – and there will be more variants of the Speedster as well as a few more vehicles to come in future (more on that later with a teaser below!)

CC-2224 Clone Commander “Cody”

But back to today and I have a saber inspired by the Clone Trooper pictured above, namely Commander Cody. Cody was a formidable, dependable and obedient soldier that followed orders but one who could also adapt to any mission assigned to him. He was so competent he gained the respect of his Jedi General compatriots in General Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Anakin Skywalker. It was however with Kenobi that Cody found himself serving with and the two became friends. Cody became the leader of the famous 212th Battalion in the Third System Army and saw action in many campaigns including helping to protect his home planet of Kamino. He was also involved in the near disastrous events of the Battle for Umbara, where Jedi General Pong Krell staged a sort of mutiny against the clones. (You can read about Pong Krell in one of my earlier posts, just click this link: https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/forearmed-darkside-pong-krells-second-staff/). However, Cody survived and went on to assist Kenobi in probably the most dire battle of the Clone War, the Battle of Utapau. This is the famous battle seen in Revenge of the Sith and included the moment when Kenobi loses his lightsaber in a fall and Cody retrieves it, later returning it to his Jedi friend…just before the unthinkable happened.

Here General Kenobi…you dropped this (your lightsaber)

So Cody returned Kenobi’s lightsaber and I think it’s about time I stop chatting and show you the first Gallery for my saber dedicated to the tragic Commander Cody, this is Trooper Cody….

As with my previous series of lightsabers I have created a base model and then created new “skins” for each saber to represent various characters and this is Cody’s hilt. It is the same dependable, solid, battle proven design I did for the 501st Legion Clones but this comes in 212th orange and white. The emitter hasn’t got the eye shade/visor that you see on Cody’s helmet as that was a special feature he adopted for his headgear (so not standard). This does still have the fluted “choke point” where the saber narrows below the emitter, allowing for a better grip when spinning the saber. The colours of the 212th has a bit of grime on it which creates nice camouflage pattern highlights . The rest of the saber is similar to the 501st variant being rugged and non-complicated – perfect for use on the battlefield. And sadly it is back to the battleground of Utapau that this story leads. As the Clone troops battled with the Seperatist Droid Army, Kenobi was attempting to capture General Grievous. It was just after Cody handed Kenobi his lightsaber back that Cody unfortunately carried out his training to perfection. You see the Clones had been developed by Kaminoan scientists to form an army for the Republic (good guys) but a misguided Jedi arranged for the clones to be “programmed” to follow a terrible protocol known as Order 66. This secret order was embedded deep in the subconscious of each and every Clone….the order was issued by the power mad Chancellor Palpatine…and the order was for the Clones to kill their Jedi counterparts! Commander Cody obliged by his subliminal programming , ordered his troops to open fire on and kill Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi was riding a Boga lizard in chase of Grievous when a barrage of laser fire erupted around him causing him and his mount to fall from the cliff face they were climbing and plummet into the water below.

The fateful….Execute Order 66!

It was a terrible moment when comrades turned on their Jedi compatriots…though they were totally incapable to resist their programming (though there were some exceptions). I can’t hold Cody responsible for being brainwashed from birth so I will keep on and display Gallery Two of this saber design showing some details and features…

The emitter has a matrix shaped similar to the emblem of the Army of the Republic (the sort of cog shaped logo) which is also mirrored on the activation switch. The saber also features the standard Covertech Wheel knob which hooks onto a troopers belt to hang the saber for storage. But again the gem of this saber is the internal mechansm and it’s “Crystal Chamber” which holds the golden/honey coloured Kyber Crystal which helps power the hilt (and gives the blade it’s colour). The chamber features a little bit of wiring (red cable) and has a fully modelled mesh cage to protect it. In all, I think a suitable weapon for a soldier on the battlefront.

Cody later believing Kenobi to be dead was transferred by Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine along with the 212th Battalion to become Imperial Stormtroopers that we recognise from “Star Wars A New Hope”.

That just about wraps things up for this repaint variant and I am nearing the end of the post. BUT FIRST! A little teaser of something coming over the horizon next week! Yes, here is a little silhouette of next week’s design – see if you can guess what it might be….

Ooh…what is it Tyeth? Wait till next week to find out!

Oh! I’m such a tease! Ok I have to go now but thank you so much again for all the kind words and comment you leave for me. It’s very much appreciated and keeps my motivation up to try new things and create more. Please leave a like, comment and if you haven’t already maybe you’d like to subscribe so you’ll be notified when I post in future. Thanks again, Till next time…..

“Trooper Cody Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and was created by For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. The 3D design, model and renders were created in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Commander Cody CC-2224” and all other Star Wars related names, images, logos and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

Y-Wing Saber – A For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the BTL-A4 Y-Wing Fighter

Hello Everybody, today I have a saber based on a famous starfighter that was a multi-role spacecraft and very durable. This space ship was the equivalent of the famous A-10 Warthog fighter/bomber aircraft of the American military – both could take a beating. Anakin Skywalker had a Y-Wing fighter during the Clone Wars but his was brand new and looked much more streamlined due to the panelling and armour plating – whilst the Y-Wings we usually think of look much more skeletal as most of the bodywork was scavenged or lost. You will have seen Y-Wings during the original trilogy movies, especially during the two Death Star battles.

You can clearly see that this version of the Y-Wing has seen some action…and you can easily see how the ship got it’s name. The fuselage and cockpit forming the stem of a letter “Y” whilst the engines stretch out to form the arms. Now I can’t remember what I was doing that inspired me to model this as a saber but I did and I think it’s about time I revealed my Y-Wing Saber….Gallery Time…..

I started at the front with the cockpit section – seemed a good idea. As this was going to be a saber I didn’t add the two small laser canons in the nose as they would get snagged up as you tried to handle the blade. The rest of the cockpit is there and looks fairly close, including a small laser turret at the rear (the gun barrells being able to be folded down out of the way). There is “Greebling” details on the side to try and replicate bits of mechanical parts where panels are missing. The long thin neck section is the handgrip and is adorned with some pipework and brackets to again represent possibly fuel lines etc (these are a little more flush with the fuselage so don’t get in the way and provide a bit of grip). Following further down the hilt we get to the main structure which acts as the switch section for the hilt. I added a lit activation switch disguised as part of the pipework (the junction fixture). If you zoom in REALLY close you can even see the bolts that I modelled to hold the plumbing in place! The main blade’s emitter is situated at the rear of this fuselage section and is flanked by the engine outriggers that house the secondary blades. There is more Greebling details on the main fuselage and on the outriggers. A close-up of the panels can be seen in the last image,.

Now this saber is based on a spaceship so I should really show you how it looks in space, so here are a handful of “in flight” images!

Well, it sorta looks like a Y-Wing and I like the engines and the side blades. With the elongated neck section the Y-Wing takes on a sort of Trident shape but I feel it is still recognisable.

Now that just about wraps up this homage to a workhorse spaceship that helped save the galaxy more than once. But it isn’t quite the end of this post…I have some news of new arrivals! This week I received a present or two, first I got a few new NERF blasters so I can keep practising my sharpshooting (Safely)….and if you look closely at the picture….you might see a saber…

Yes I have succumbed and got some blasters or two, the Nerf Havok Fire EBF-25 and the Volt SD-1. The Volt is a single shot pistol that you load a dart, pull the orange drawbar to cock it then pull the trigger to fire, Simple. The Havok Fire…well that’s a beast! It is loaded by using a belt of cartridges – each with a dart in – and when in full automatic mode it fires all 25 darts in about 3-4 seconds! The rest of the blasters you may have seen in my previous posts. And the lightsaber? That is absolutely amazing… a gift from a member of the saber forum I use who liked my designs so much and thought I contributed to the community that he wanted to give me the saber. He read comments that I hoped to pick one up and he had a spare so gave me it . It is a Qui-Gon Jinn replica made by Ultrasabers but the member upgraded it a bit. I will do a full article showing the new blasters and saber very soon.

But I am now nearing the end of this post and I’d like to say a big thank you for checking this Y-Wing inspired saber out. I have much more coming up in future posts (as you can see^) so I hope you will return to see those posts too. Whether this is your first visit to FTSabersite or you are a regular thanks so much. I am now going to practice my target shooting at some cardboard cutouts! Till next time….

“Y-Wing Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the BTL A4 Y-Wing Starfighter seen in Star Wars Clone Wars and movies. The saber is designed and modelled by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2022. “Y-Wing”, Star Wars and all other names, logos, images and related materials are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

DarksaberFTE – Exit light….Inspired by the Mandalorian Darksaber

Hello Everybody. today I have a saber that has been a long time coming although I only just built it! Last week I had an interesting afternoon where I got stuck in a lift (or elevator for American viewers) for over five hours and I had time to think some things over…and I realised I hadn’t built a Darksaber yet. Many long time visitors may recall when I first started using Blender that I made a hilt with a “Flat Blade” but I never got round to building a version of the hilt that inspired my Acrylic Blade model seen below.

And of course it comes in Green!

Well, as I was a little shook up by my little emergency (which did result in the Fire Brigade getting me out) I needed a few days to unwind and I decided to shut off and just play with Blender. And in less than 24hrs I had built a Darksaber variant. Now other people and companies make replicas of the hilt…

On the left is Ultrasabers’ new “inspired by” replica and on the right is Hasbro/Lucasfilm’s “Official” Black Series hilt. I figured mine was just as good, but I’ll let you decide….here is Gallery One of DarksaberFTE (aka Exitlight)….

The original Darksaber was first seen in animated form in the Star Wars cartoon The Clone Wars, and was a basic object model that was “squared off” or blocky to assist animating it in the show. It later appeared in live action TV and The Mandalorian show where it had been “reworked” to be more svelte and rounded. So I modelled mine somewhere between the two. It still features a sloped emitter port with a slim vertical opening, the emitter is then separated by a distinctive Tsuba handguard. The Tsuba is positioned diagonally and is bent into an offset “L” shape, but what I am pleased with is the panelling and rounded bevelling on it’s edges. Beneath the lip of the Tsuba you can see three windows cut into the emitter that have become iconic on this lightsaber.

The first image shows off those emitter windows quite nicely along with the silver Hex-head bolt. In the show this bolt is sort of decorative but in a real ilfe replica this could be used to secure the blade into the hilt emitter socket. I just noticed the sloped face of the emitter looks a little plain so I may return to this and add a bit of detail – maybe an etch or ridge around the blade opening. Next behind the Tsuba is the activation switch with white illumination to match the borders of the famous black core blade. There is also a sliding ridged oblong control used to set the blades’ power. The rest of the handgrip is basic but has nice ridged detailing that runs along the length of the hilt before looping around to “saddle” the grip. I omitted the series of rings seen on the original props as those took away from the sweep of the horizontal ridging. The pommel has a basic opening but has a special feature that I haven’t seen used in any other “Darksaber” and that is a staff connector. The connector is a mechanism to connect two hilts together to form a battle staff with double blades! And when two DarksaberFTE hilts are linked they look a bit like this…

Connecting two hilts give the staff a distinctive asymmetrical look…and as I mentioned I don’t think anyone has linked two Darksaber hilts in this way before! Finally if you take a close look at the dark core section of the blades you will see there is actually a faint “lightning” pattern etched into the surface to replicate the “crackled” appearance of the original.

And that just about wraps up this design and I hope you liked it, it was relaxing to model it (and boy did I need to relax after last week!). I am getting old and as some of you may know this time of year is when I celebrate(?) my “Level Up Day” and become a year older so I am going to take a break for a week or two between now and New Years’ . I do this every year but I will still post a “Holidays Greetings” card and while I relax I’ll work on a review of 2021 to post ready for New Year (that should be fun considering the past year we’ve had…).

So for now I’ll end here and thank you all for checking out DarksaberFTE and all of the support you have shown me and my site. I am still working on the Star Wars “Visions” hilts, I hope to have some more costuming news and maybe, just maybe a new saber purchase or two in the New Year so I hope you will join me for those future posts. I shall chat again when I post my “Greeting Card” so….Till Next Time….

“DarksaberFTE – aka “Exitlight” Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and model inspired by Disney/Lucasfilm’s The Darksaber seen in The Clone Wars animation and The Mandalorian live action TV show. My model and renders are original workings and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “The Darksaber” and all Star Wars related materials are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm. The “Ultrasabers Darksaber” image is owned by Ultrasabers and Hasbro Toys/Disney/Lucasfilm own the rights to the Black Series replica image. (Phew!)

Balance Point Sabers – new for Ahsoka Tano

Hello everybody, I seem to have a thing about pairs at the moment – Twin Ion Engines, Dyads, a new pair of boots (I’m still waiting for these but am nearly at half distance for waiting time – I hope) and today I continue the theme of two by revisiting an old idea and a fan favourite character. A long time ago I designed a hilt for “Snips” or as she is also known, Ahsoka Tano. This old design was built with the old software I had access to at the time and I felt, after watching the final season of The Clone Wars and the newer Star Wars Rebels cartoon that I needed to build a new saber for Ahsoka. I watched the final season of Clone Wars and Ahsoka, having left the Jedi Order was living a shadowy existence in the Outer Rim colonies and a planet named Thabeska. Thabeska was rife with crime syndicates but Ahsoka befriended two sisters (two again!). One of the sisters was a mechanic and Ahsoka “crash landed” her speeder bike outside her garage and needed to repair her vehicle. During one scene Ahsoka was working on her bike and I noticed one of the bike parts on the workbench and I immediately thought “Ooh that’d make a nice saber” So I set about rebuilding the shock absorber into a lightsaber! Here is the first gallery…

These three images don’t exactly represent a suspension strut but the saber was originally a shock absorber, the spring forms the ridges on the handgrip and the emitter section is the hydraulic cylinder section. You may also just be able to make out the little flanges on the emitter where it would bolt onto the bike frame and these little flanges form a rather nifty little detail that tells you this saber belongs to Tano. See if you can pick out the identifying detail in this second batch of pictures….

Ahsoka’s speeder bike was black and silver/white so that dictated the colour scheme and worked out quite nicely. The bike also had flashes of yellow which just gave the look a splash of colour. If you didn’t see or recognise the identifying detail I mentioned it was the striped pattern on the mouth of the emitter which represents a very prominent physical feature of Ahsoka – her Lekku. Lekku are the tentacle like appendages which people sometimes mistake for a head-dress. The Lekku are actually a part of her anatomy and change size and colour with age – showing the age/maturity of the individual. OK, the picture didn’t quite show the detail quite as well so I will show you my second version of the hilt which has a different colour scheme and you’ll easily see the markings then! Another batch of pictures!….

This colour scheme was inspired by the closing stages of The Clone Wars series. In particular the story of Ahsoka’s re-union with her former Master, Anakin Skywalker and her platoon of Clone Soldiers. The platoon, upon hearing of their former Padawan Jedi leader’s return, painted their helmets with a special pattern in her honour. The helmets were orange with the white tribal markings to represent those marks Ahsoka has on her face and forehead. I just thought that’d make a spectacular saber. Now the final image in this gallery really shows off that detail of Ahsoka’s Lekku in the form of the blue and white striped pattern running around the mouth of the emitter and tailing off down the body of the hilt. Finally some of you technical minded readers may be wondering “How do you switch this thing on?” and the answer is built into the geometric logo on the hilt just below the “Tribal markings”. That logo is the symbol that Ahsoka adopted as a moniker for her secret identity whilst she was working undercover for the….well I better not say who, what or why in case you still have to watch Clone Wars and Rebels but the logo and the name have significant meaning. I will say “Balance Point” is a hint at that name – so if you are a mechanical engineer you may know the technical name for a balance point! And speaking of balance if you connect two sabers together they need to be balanced and these hilts are no different and can also be connected to form a staff double bladed weapon…

Just one final thing – I was really pleased how this design turned out and I wanted to know what they would have looked like had they actually been in the cartoon so I produced a bit of “Trick Photography” and came up with this image I used as the header picture for this post – I thought you might like to see a clean version of the picture without the text…

And with that it just about wraps up this post. I hope you enjoyed it, I know I had fun watching the shows and getting inspired to build these. But the inspiration didn’t stop with a saber for Snips….I still have around 8 more hilts to show you and…I have been getting requests to build more spaceships. I have TWO more TIE Fighters and a Star Destroyer from the Unknown regions to bring to you in future posts.

As always I’d like to thank you all again for the support you show me and FTSabersite. It keeps me designing and battling to improve my skills. I appreciate all the comments and likes and I really hope you’ll call back to see the warehouse full of goodies I have to show in the near future. So stay safe and as always. Till next time…..

“Balance Point Sabers” are a pair of sabers designed by For Tyeth and the design, models and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. The hilts were inspired by the character Ahsoka Tano who appears in “Star Wars – The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels” both of which are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

Zyggerian Gold Sting Saber

Hello Everybody, I have been hard at work in my new “Ship Building Studio” as a friend of mine has asked if I could model a very large spacecraft for a story he is writing. It is going well and I kinda like the ship I have built so far, but as I send proof of concept images to the gentleman he keeps coming up with modifications he’d like me to make. So I haven’t had much time to dedicate to sabers, however I do have the limited edition version of my recent Zyggerian Sting Saber I can show you. As you’ll recall the Zyggerians were a species that specialised in Slave Trading until the Jedi and Republic outlawed the practise. However I imagined “what would a high profile, wealthy Zyggerian buy as a gift to either themselves or other Zyggerians?” This is what I came up with…a limited edition Zyggerian Sting Saber….

The whole saber has been coated in “Phryyk” a golden material that can be found on Lord Sidious’ lightsaber (The Emperor). Phryyk is very rare, valuable and found in only a few places around the galaxy. The saber still has the special dual crystal set up to allow it to be used as an “Electro Light Whip” or as a standard lightsaber bladed weapon. While I was animating the Bronze Zyggerian Sting saber I thought I should do the same for this limited edition….

I filmed this from a different angle to get some different lighting and reflections. One day I may make a full movie! But I’m still waiting for updates to my laptop so until then I’ll have to stick with short animations and images. Speaking of which, how about another gallery? Ok here are some more pictures….

I can see an egotistical, rich Zyggerian using this but I can assure you this hilt as with the Bronze version I built are safely stored away from mis-use in my vaults (aka as Cloud Storage – see I’m getting tech savvy!).

Now as I mentioned above I have been busy building other objects aside from sabers. This includes four starfighter models and a very large military ship all of which I’ll be bringing to FTSabersite in future posts. I will also be posting about my new costume which I’m in the process of making alterations too….but slowly it is coming together so I hope you can join me back here for that. In the meantime, thank you so much for your continued support of me and my site, each visitor that comes here means I will keep creating and posting. You are all fantastic friends, please stay safe….Till Next Time….

p.s. Don’t worry I still have around 6 or 7 sabers to show off too!

“Zyggerian Gold Sting Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoon. The design, 3D model and imagery are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020. “Star Wars The Clone Wars” and all other names, logos, images and related material are ©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm.

Zygerrian Sting Saber

Hello Everybody, on this site I have brought you the A to Z of saber designs and a few dROYDs along the way. Well nearly A to Z but today I have a Zygerrian Sting Saber to show you. The Zygerrians were a species of humanoid/feline appearance that were infamous for being involved in slave trading. Many years ago during the Old Republic era, Zygerria was the hub for slave labour and the Zygerrians made vast fortunes on the misfortunes of many species that were enslaved. Eventually the Jedi outlawed slavery and ended Zygerria’s exploits. However during The Clone Wars conflict the Zygerrians saw an opportunity to restart their slave empire. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker were sent to Kadavo in an attempt to end the trade once and for all.

It was in this story that we see a rare weapon used by the Zygerrians to control their slaves and it was an Electro-Whip which looked similar to a regular lightsaber. However the Electro-Whip was a non-lethal weapon as the Zygerrians didn’t want to “damage their merchandise” but it did still pack a “Sting”. I recently saw this whip in the Clone Wars cartoon and it reminded me that I confiscated one off a Zygerrian and I thought you might like to see one I designed based on it. Here are a few pictures of the Zygerrian Sting ..

In spite of the fact this was a cruel weapon to control helpless slaves it actually looked rather elegant. The hilt features an ornate emitter that almost resembled a standard lamp as found on luxury cruise space yachts. In the emitter are little nodes from which metal cables extended then the electricity was projected from the crystal diode. So this isn’t a Light Whip but is a regular but electrified whip. The emitter is shrouded with four gold generator coils which gives it that lamp like look. The handgrip has geometric “Greek Key” like markings which are raised ribs to aid grip.

However it is at the pommel that my design differs slightly. Because I decided to make my saber a full light/plasma weapon it needed a second source of power to generate the flexible blade (or solid blade if used as a conventional saber in multi mode) and that was stored in a crystal pommel FTE. Here are a few more pictures showing the crystal features…

As you can see the crystals are very special Kyber crystals that are harnessed by wire cages. This makes the whip a weapon for a skilled Master, but this one will stay inactive in my gallery. However as a treat I will activate it for you and let you have a look at it working – animation time!…

Zygerrian Sting Saber Animation

I think that just about wraps up this design and offering, I hope you liked it. I have a second, limited edition version of this hilt to show in a future post and I also have many more new designs inspired by Star Wars The Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons which I’m currently binge watching.

I also have news of a parcel I received on my doorstep recently and big news that thanks to you, my friends and followers I have cracked the 20,000 views milestone! Thanks so much for all the support you have shown me (especially recently during my technical issues!) and FTSabersite. Whether a first time viewer or one of my regulars you really do keep me posting and you’re much appreciated. So please stay safe in these crazy times and call back to see what else I have in store. Till next time…

“Zygerrian Sting Saber” is a For Tyeth Edition design inspired by the Star Wars The Clone Wars cartoon. The model and animation are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020. “Star Wars -The Clone Wars”, “Zygerria” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm and starwars.com.