“The Knight” Inspired by Gotham’s Greatest

Hello Everybody, today after the “Frightener” and things that go bump in the night I bring you a hero to save you from the darkness, a man who is bats! Yes today I bring a design inspired by Gotham City’s Batman. Whilst modelling the “High Republic” saber I noticed something about the shroud that reminded me of the Caped Crusader and that was how the blade when viewed from below looking upward I could almost make out the shape of Batman’s cowl.

If you turn you head to the side you can probably just about see the “shape of a head” and what appears to be a pair of ears pointing up just like Bruce Wayne’s headwear has! This prompted me to modify the “High Republic Saber” into a new Batman hilt. Now I say new Batman saber because a looong time ago I designed a saber for my friend Lady Revan from the lightsaber forum, who wrote a fantastic Star Wars story and I based the hilt on one of her characters, Alex Khaar. The hilt had a a long bayonet like steel blade as well as the plasma one and on the other end of the hilt it’s pommel looked like Obi-Wan Kenobi’s first saber. Well another friend named BatMike90 told me he was a Batman fan so I gave Lady Revan’s hilt a repaint which looked like this…

I thought this worked quite well, but you know me I always want to do better. I have to be fair however as this was an early Blender built hilt and I didn’t know all the tricks of 3D modelling then. Fast forward a couple of years and I can now bring you a totally bespoke Batman hilt with a special plinth…Here are the Batty Beauty Shots…

The Knight is a recoloured and streamlined “High Republic Saber” but this one has a snazzy bat logo base! This plinth was made using the invaluable Extrude function where I upload a bat logo and instruct Blender to thicken the image to form a 3 dimensional object. I then multiplied it a few times to form the cradle uprights. All the bat shapes were bevelled giving the parts an almost “Batarang” sharp edge (it’s not really sharp but the silver highlight on the edges emphasises the illusion). Ok I think it’s time for some detail shots…

The activation button has a bat logo embellishment just below it and of course the pommel needed some decoration. So I removed the mesh grill from the original design and placed another Bat into the pommel opening, all lined in silver.

Again I kinda liked this hilt and decided to mess around and try out a bit of art so to round out this presentation I have two “posters” I knocked up.

I couldn’t help but put the hilt “in” the Batcave to see how it looked and the second image is just a quick transparency overlay on a moody looking Batman.

That just about wraps up this offering but first I need to acknowledge that Batman and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne were created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger back in 1939. He first appeared in Detective Comics #27 dated May 1939.

I also have to acknowledge you, my viewers/readers and say a big thank you for visiting today and checking out “The Knight” and helping support me and my site. You are all very much appreciated, whether you are a here for the first time or if you are one of my regulars, If you like what you have seen then please leave a like, comment or subscribe if you haven’t already – I’d be happy to enjoy your company again. I still have a lot more to show everyone including some Star Wars Resistance inspired sabers so…Till next time….

“The Knight” saber design is a For Tyeth Editions design and is inspired by DC Comic’s Batman. The 3D model and all renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “Batman”, “Gotham”, “Bruce Wayne” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of DC Comics 1939-2021.

Dragon Katana – Ultimate Edition Bruce Lee

Hello Everybody, wow time flies and we’re already about to start the third week of 2021. It is a tumultuous time, I had hoped that the new year may calm down a little and things would be less fraught but alas not. And it got me wondering how certain people would react in these strange times. I thought about “heroes” like the Jedi, I thought about our “leaders” of the world, I thought about “Warriors” and that final thought brought me to the warrior I have constructed a new saber for, That warrior is Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee – the man, myth and legend.

Bruce Lee I envisage wouldn’t be one to back down if fighting for a cause he believed in and would stand up to protect those that needed it. He was certainly wise and intelligent enough to be a great leader as well as warrior. You see sometimes you need to know when NOT to fight just as much as when to engage. Bruce I reckon could do that. But I know that if ever he needed to engage an opponent he probably wouldn’t need a lightsaber but I designed one in his honour anyway. Here is Dragon Katana – Ultimate Edition Bruce Lee….

You might have seen Bruce in the picture above from the movie “Enter The Dragon” – that picture/pose was very iconic and 99% of the world would know who the person was, but another iconic image of Bruce is that of him wearing a yellow and black jumpsuit in “Game of Death” where he famously fought Kareem Abdul Jabbar (NBA basketball legend). Well this saber is definitely based on that iconic jumpsuit. The hilt is also based on a traditional Katana sword hilt with an elongated body giving the wielder great leverage and control of the blade due to the ability to spread his/her grip on the handle. The hilt also has a round Tsuba handguard below the emitter. Black stripes adorn the sides of the hilt along with two large panels featuring the outline of Bruce performing a dropkick…another trademark image. Near the pommel of the saber are a set of three diamond shaped apertures with a mesh grill cover. These are sound/heat vents for the saber and are made to look like the hilt wrapping feature called the Tsuka Ito that involves wrapping the silk around the handle leaving small diamond shaped windows (these holes would usually have a contrasting coloured silk or decorative metal plates beneath them). The activation switch is modelled on the “Bruce Lee Dragon” logo and that logo also adorns the pommel end cap. Ok, here are a few more picture of the hilt before I finish describing it’s features…

These final pictures show off the clean smooth lines of the hilt. I say smooth lines but there are three discreet creases around the body of the saber to create 4 distinct positions to grip the hilt by (and just prevents the hilt being too flat sided). The white blade represents Bruce’s philosophy of being free in mind, body and spirit so allowing oneself to quickly adapt to changing circumstances when necessary. Hence the blade is neutral white and not Lightside or Darkside of the Force inspired. The last two images were just me trying out some atmospheric lighting shots as I have been dabbling in artistic compositions recently. I even edited the Bruce Lee Dragon logo onto this picture which shows off the jumpsuit nicely…

There were so many great things Bruce could have gone on to do in his life but sadly he died at a very young age (32yrs) in 1973 just as he was about to break all movie box office records and gain global film mega-stardom. He did after death become a legend and his teachings and beliefs still carry on with the Bruce Lee Foundation. You can read his bio on the Bruce Lee website found here: https://brucelee.com/bruce-lee

That just about wraps up this tribute to (arguably) the greatest martial artist to have ever lived. Thank you for checking this one out, I sort of sprang this as a surprise (I think I may have mentioned it was up coming once but that was late last year). So as always, I hope you will like, comment and spread the word about FTSabersite and whether this is your first visit or you are a regular caller, thanks again for the tremendous support. Coming up….more Miraculous and Star Wars Resistance! Till next time….

“Dragon Katana – Ultimate Edition Bruce Lee” saber is a For Tyeth Editions design and is Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “Bruce Lee”,” Bruce Lee Dragon” and all names, images and logos are Trademark/Copyright the Bruce Lee Foundation/estate and the image from “Enter The Dragon” is Copyright of Warner Bros/Concord Productions.

“Yondu Saber” Inspired by GOTG’s Yondu Undonta

Hello Everyone once again, thanks for joining me for my second post of today. And as I mentioned in my earlier post regarding Eddie Van Halen’s sad passing this week, in this slightly shorter post I have a design that is out of this world, just like Eddie’s guitar mastery.

This is a saber inspired by the character Yondu Udonta from the Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy. I had over the past few years gotten into GOTG but realised recently that I hadn’t built a saber in Blender for any characters from the films. I also read comments on the Ultrasabers forum about a hilt that is called the Aeon V5 which Ultrasabers produce. The Aeon has decorative claws which some people say are “uncomfortable to grip”. Well I studied the rendered product images Ultrasabers posted online and discovered how the claws were attached and suggested that the claw could be carefully prised off, rotated 180degs and then reattached. It turned out to be a very popular idea (and has been claimed by others as their idea or “discovery”) But I noticed that the claw when removed reminded me of the distinctive character of Yondu and his bright red head fin. So I fired up Blender and built a 3D model of the Aeon and I added a “new claw” and a colour scheme that you might recognise. Here is Yondu…

Again I apologise that this post is shorter than normal but my heart hasn’t been in my work and really was in a different place this week. Despite that I hope you liked Yondu and rest assured that next week I will have a fully powered up and battle ready design to share. I am also going to work on an updated Eddie Van Halen tribute saber. Finally as we approach Halloween I am preparing a possible cosplay special to show my progress so far with my costume….so there’ll be a few horror pictures😁. Thank you all so much for visiting and supporting me and FTSabersite today (and in the past if you are a regular) you are very much appreciated. Stay safe and if you don’t know Eddie’s music go and search some out and treat your ears….Till next time….

“Yondu” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the Guardians of the Galaxy character Yondu Udonta and by Ultrasabers’ Aeon range of hilts. All names, images, logos and related materials and likenesses are Trademarked/©Copyright of their respective owners – Marvel Studios and Ultrasabers llc.

Kaled Dalek Saber – For Tyeth Edition

Hello Exterminate!….I mean hello everybody, today as you may have realised FTSabersite has a visitor from the Whoniverse! Yes I had the unusual experience of meeting one of the most “feared” races in the galaxy of Dr Who, the Daleks, at my local comic con a year or two ago but it occurred to me that I hadn’t built a proper Dalek inspired hilt. Well today I rectify that and bring to you a design firmly rooted in Kaled/Dalek origins. The Kaleds were a sort of reptillian/mollusc/octopus looking creatures that had mutated from more humanoid shape as a result of fallout from the weapons used during a civil war on their home planet of Skaro. To survive and become the “superior race” of the galaxy an individual named Davros developed a survival suit or armoured shell for the Kaleds to live in and hence became Daleks (The Daleks were created by Terry Nation and designed by the BBC designer Raymond Cusick. They were introduced in December 1963 in the second Doctor Who serial, colloquially known as The Daleks. (wikipedia).

But this is Dalek Dolly!

They over-ran numerous worlds, wiping out inferior beings and races but could never get the better of The Doctor or his assistant Ace. Through space and time the guy from Gallifrey was there to stop Davros and his followers. Ok, enough talk for now, I’m sure you’d like to see a few pictures so here you go may I present Kaled Dalek….

I think this saber pretty much speaks for itself…it is basically a misshaped Dalek fitted out with a lightsaber plasma blade! I know, I know! Daleks were dangerous enough with their own weapons without adding a lightsaber but this is just a concept and is safely locked away in my vaults. So beginning at the base you’ll have noticed that the “glider base” has four nozzles that act as the repulsor lift generators that were added to Dalek design in the late 80’s early 90’s so they could Elevate. The nozzles also work well as speaker vents for a custom saber design. Moving up the handgrip, the hilt features the famous Dalek skirt which is covered with numerous spherical balls which were sometimes jettisoned as mini bombs. The switch section of the saber represents the midsection of the Dalek that usually housed the equally famous Sink Plunger sucker arm and Egg Whisk Disintegrator Ray. I removed these appendages and used the recesses to install activation controls for the saber. Above the switch section is a very nice gripping section for the saber, made out of the radiator fins below the upper dome. This ribbed section provides a non slip surface and great position to hold the saber. Then of course the saber features the Dalek dome and the emitter for the blade. I removed the “police car” flashing lights and modified the eye stalk so it became the blade emitter.

However…news of my modifications to Dalek technology seem to have reached the ears of upper command and a Commander Elite has been sent looking for me!! Would you like to see it?…Here you are…more pictures…

Fortunately the Commander Elite realised he was no match for a fully fledged Jedi and friend of Ace, so he backed off and all is well.

And Sophie Aldred aka Ace!

But this brings me to the end of this post. As always just a few bits of news and thanks before I go…Firstly my new Jedi costume arrived recently and I will be making a few minor alterations. The outfit fitted me perfectly, I just need to add a few fasteners here and there to keep some parts of the costume in place and tidy a few unfinished threads (time to get my needle and thread out!) I will also be adding a new belt and boots hopefully in the next few weeks…but more of that in a “Jedi Fashion” special soon.

Thank you all for checking this post out and for all the support you have given me, whether this is your first visit to FTSabersite or you regularly call in you’re much appreciated. Please be sure to return for many more new designs and builds in future posts. Till next Time and Relative Dimensions in Space… And stay safe!

“Kaled Dalek Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the Dalek characters seen in BBC TV’s Dr Who series. The model and renders are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. “Daleks”, “Kaled” and “Skaro” and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of BBC Television UK.

Wolves’ Claw Sabers -Wolverine revisited

Hello Everybody, today I take you back to the Marvel Universe and the world of the Wolverine. Long time followers of my site may recall I created some designs based on Super Hero themes such as Panther’s Claw, The Flash, The Hulk, Aquaman and of course Logan/Wolverine. (These hilts were so good they inspired a custom saber manufacturer…probably – see HERE). While I liked those hilts I felt I could do better. However I never got round to improving on my designs as there were so many new unique For Tyeth and Star Wars hilts to build. But the other week I was chatting to a few friends of mine on Nothin Nerdy’s Discord server chat room. My friends, WinstonMaul and Emxc commented on my Mauled Staff CW7 and our chat turned to superheroes and Wolverine in particular. As most chats do it was suggested “Hey For, how about a Wolverine hilt? That’d be cool!” I replied I had done the ones I mention above but I could “redesign” a completely new version. So that is what I did…I decided to reforge the Adamantium and sculpt a new saber…this is Wolves’ Claw….

Wolves’ Claw 1

Wolves’ Claw 2

Wolves’ Claw 3

Wolves’ Claw 4

Wolves’ Claw 5

I didn’t go to town quite as much as I normally do and kept the design fairly clean and streamlined. I based the colours on Wolverine’s classic blue/black and yellow costume from the early Marvel comics and gave the hilt three claws just like Logan has.

Old Man Logan and Classic Wolverine

Logan/Wolverine in LOGAN. Photo Credit: Ben Rothstein.

The handgrip has a nice concave curvature to it which provides a very comfortable grip – and the flared ends prevents the saber slipping from your grasp. The pommel has an X-Men logo as the speaker vent cover. I also made a version in a reverse colour scheme…

Wolves’ Claw Reverse 1

Wolves’ Claw Reverse 2

Wolves’ Claw Reverse 3

Wolves’ Claw Reverse 4

Wolves’ Claw Reverse 5

I have an X-Men Academy version ready for next week. I have to do as much designing and work as I can while my laptop keeps working (I have to say it is less often it completely locks up but I still have to be wary). But there is some good news…

I have “re-discovered” an old website I used to watch cartoons on. It shut down it’s original site but I recently found the new one and it has ALL of the Star Wars Clone Wars seasons on it….including the latest one, season 7! So I am binge watching Clone Wars and have a new CW inspired hilt for a later post.

This brings me to the end of this post but I’d like to thank WinstonMaul and Emxc for challenging me to design this. I’d also like to thank all of you my viewers, followers and friends for all your support in these strange difficult times. It means a lot that you take time out to check my site. I sincerely hope you and your folks all stay safe and well and please be sure to call back and see future posts. Till next time….

“Wolves’ Claw” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020. It is inspired by Marvel Studios “Wolverine” and all names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Marvel Studios.

Dune Saber 2020 – Built in Blender 3D

Hello Everybody, today we travel from one desert planet to another and from one galaxy to another. We travel from the world of George Lucas’ Star Wars over to the sands of Frank Herbert’s Dune! Photos of a new remake of the Herbert classic story have dropped in Vanity Fair magazine and as I had made a few Dune inspired hilts before (click HERE to view them) I felt I needed to make some updates too. So I have built a new saber for House Atreides, the noble family that is in conflict with the House Harkonnen over the control of a planet named Arrakis…or the Spice Planet…or just known as Dune! On this barren planet a special substance named Melange or Spice can be found and upon digesting it can give the person taking it the ability to navigate and control space itself making travel over vast distances possible and almost instant. This Spice therefore is a valuable commodity and whoever controls Dune, controls the Spice and so controls the universe.

Paul Atreides, aka Muad’dib

The two warring families have vast armies, the Atreides army being headed by Paul Atreides son of Duke Leto Atreides (played by Kyle MacClachlan in the original 1984 film and by Timothee Chalamet in the 2020 remake), whilst the Harkonnen army has Fayd Rautha Harkonnen at it’s command. Fayd is the cruel nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. The story evolves and tells how the Harkonnen family begin to take over and Paul finds himself stranded on the planet Dune and reluctantly becomes the leader of a religious group of sand dwellers known as the Fremen. Paul teaches them warcraft and sorcery from his family connections with the Witches known as the Bene Gesserit. Paul is a Bene Gesserit by birth, his mother was Jessica who was part of a breeding program to provide a daughter who would then be bred with Fayd Harkonnen. Jessica however falls in love with Duke Leto and promises him a son….Paul. Complicated I know, the film was nearly 7 hours long uncut. However you are here to see a saber and I’m afraid I have been hit by technical issues once more so have struggled to get these images rendered but I think they turned out ok.

Dune Saber 2020 pic 1

Dune Saber 2020 pic 2

Dune Saber 2020 pic 3

Dune Saber 2020 pic 4

Dune Saber 2020 pic 5

 

This saber was based on the bladed weapons seen hanging on the belts of Oscar Isaacs and Josh Brolin in the recently released photoshoot images. Oscar plays Duke Leto and Josh portrays the man-at-arms Gurney Halleck. Well the weapon had a Katana style leather wrapped Tsuka-Ito handgrip which I attempted to recreate with the metallic criss-crossed motifs down each side of the saber. The pommel has the House Atreides family emblem on it and that logo I also used as the activation switch. The emitter is supported by four gold coloured support rods. The emitter itself is a little bit different as it is in fact made by solidifying a letter “D” taken from the TrueTypeFont known as “Android” and creating a 3D object. I then gave the shape a golden inlay to make the “D” stand out (you can see this in the title image above were I use the emitter to spell the word Dune!) Finally there is the very special blade of this saber and it combines two elements, Water and Light. The water is special to the story of Dune as Paul Atreides has to find a way to bring water to Arrakis to enable him to control the Spice. And the Light which is special to lightsabers….is used here to contain the watery core of the blade…and if you zoom in closely you can see ripples in the water!

I have nearly finished this….wait! I nearly forgot something…sabers are known to have Kyber Crystals to help power them right? Well this saber has a “Water Pearl” to help power and focus the blade, wanna see it?….

There it is in it’s own little protective cradle! You can clearly see the ripples inside this droplet. Now as I mentioned before I am still having tech issues (I hope a new version of Windows due out in May will solve my problems) so I couldn’t produce a full gallery but here are a few of the images from Vanity Fair magazine that triggered my imagination…look out for the dagger handles….

Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac)

Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin)

Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet)

Ok this time it is the end of the post but as always and in these difficult times I want to say a big thank you to you my friends, viewers and followers. You have supported me over three years now and I have broken the 19000 views milestone so thank you so much for taking time to support me and FTSabersite. It is much appreciated. I hope you will return to see what else I can come up with (I do have more designs I just have to get them polished up). Till next time…..stay safe and well!

“Dune Saber 2020” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020. Dune was written by Frank Herbert. The new Dune 2020 movie and all images are Copyright of Legendary Productions/Villeneuve Films/Warner Bros Pictures and Vanity Fair Magazine.

 

“Montoya Saber” – Inspired by Inigo

Hello Everybody, today I bring you my second Rapier style lightsaber which is a inspired by a character from the 1987 hit film “The Princess Bride”. “Inconceivable!” you can’t make a saber made of light! Well, I proved last week that it is possible with my “Master Z” saber for Zorro, so I have built one for “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father….prepare to die!”. Technically this saber is just an inspired by version of his rapier as I am working on a more accurate version (coming soon I hope but it is complex, very complex). But this saber is quite complex itself and to show you I have a couple of wireframe pictures for you to take a look at…

“Montoya Saber” Wireframe 1

“Montoya Saber” Wireframe 2

I can now make much more complicated objects now I have an I5 processor powered laptop. It can compute all the data for the polygons and the texturing which makes the models look so much more realistic. As you can see in the picture the handguard is in fact a wire basket and Blender/my laptop has to map out the position, size and shape of each little strut within that basket, hence the big strain on the computer and software! Luckily Blender has some clever tricks called “Modifiers” used to make modelling easier and one is called “Wireframe Modifier”. I have used this technique before on my “Spidey Saber” to make the web like shrouds, but it was perfect for this saber too to make the basket shaped guard. The wireframe modifier turned the bowl shaped part into a wire framework – a bit like early 3D computer game graphics – and allows me to alter the thickness of each strut to make the frame look “solid”. The ornamental globes on the pommel and at each end of the Quillon bar are also Wireframes but have a set of panels beneath the wires to fill in the gaps. I can make the struts one colour but the panels can be coloured differently giving the globes that Faberge like look! And speaking of coloured pictures I think it’s time to show you the Glamour Shot gallery…enjoy….

“Montoya Saber” emitter/handguard 1

“Montoya Saber” Handgrip and handguard 2

“Montoya Saber” Top down view 3

“Montoya Saber” User’s viewpoint 4

“Montoya Saber” the view your opponent might have! 5

I decided to go with a regal black and gold colour scheme with an amber/gold blade. Now I have added the texture graphics you can see the complexity of the struts making the basket handguard. I was able to select certain rows of struts and rotate them clockwise around the saber, then selected a second set of struts and rotated those counter-clockwise to create a zig-zagged pattern or swirl effect. I can just imagine my old (but much loved) previous laptop being asked to model this and it saying, “Please don’t make me try and build this!”

I also decided that as “The Princess Bride” became such a classic cult film I would make a few posters for this hilt…

“Montoya Saber” poster 1

“Montoya Saber” poster 2

These are nothing too fancy just some toying around with object placement and lighting. Also, I normally add the lettering and text in a photo-editing package known as GIMP (which stands for Gnu Image Manipulation Program), but Blender can also add text as a 2D layer in Compositing Mode (where you build images/videos in layers) or as in this case, I added a 3D model of the text! Blender even allows you to type a word or text, then convert it into a 3D model which you can edit, morph and add textures. This now means I only need to fire up Blender to do all my workload to create my designs and images.

And finally, as I mentioned above this is just an “inspired by” version of Inigo Montoya’s hilt – I am working on building something that looks a lot closer to the real thing for a future post – however it is very, very complex and I am working hard on it…this is the real prop I am hoping to recreate…wish me luck!

The real Inigo Montoya Rapier hilt (as seen in The Princess Bride 1987)

I think that just about wraps up this post and design. I will be working on the proper Montoya hilt and will post it as soon as possible but in the meantime I have a few other new things to post for you. These include Darth Maul’s new saberstaff from the new Clone Wars season 7, a whole new collection of original For Tyeth designs and as Disney/Lucasfilm has announced a new project named “The High Republic” which is set 200 years before The Phantom Menace I am going to attempt designing some sabers for the new sagas to come! I hope you will call back to FTSabersite to see those. I want to say a big thank you to all who visit and support me and FTSabersite, especially the viewer who logged in from New Caledonia! Thank you whoever you are and I hope you liked what you saw. Whether a new or regular visitor/supporter, thank you – you’re much appreciated and are what keeps me designing! Till next time….

“Montoya Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020. It is inspired by the sword seen in the movie “The Princess Bride” and all names, quotes, images or related material are Trademarked/©Copyright of Act III Communications, Buttercup Films Ltd and The Princess Bride Ltd. 1987-2020.

Master Z Lightsaber – Don Diego de la Vega’s saber

Hello Everybody, a week or two back I posted a design inspired by the new Disney live action movie of Mulan – and the beautiful Katana sword featured in it. Well I seem to have caught a bug and have started modelling hilts based on real world swords and sabers….and in this case a sword that was made famous by Don Diego de la Vega – aka ZORRO! Vega/Zorro was a gentleman vigilante of the California regions who fought the oppressive authorities and tyrants that made the lives of the poor downtrodden folks hell. Don Diego was the son of a wealthy landowner and couldn’t be seen as such to be fighting the local authority so adopted a disguise of a black costume and cape, a sombrero cordobés hat and a famous face mask. In this disguise Don Diego became Zorro and using his fencing skills learnt in Spain he battled for the local townsfolk. Zorro also used a pistol now and then, had a knife in his boot and rode a horse named Tornado…but it was his sword he was most famous for. The weapon was a thin bladed sword with an ornate cup shaped handguard known as a Rapier (one of four types of fencing swords – the others being the Foil, Épée and Sabre). With this weapon he would out-skill the bounty hunters and militia that were sent out too stop the vigilante and as a way to humiliate his opponents he would famously “carve” his initial Z into their clothing using three quick strokes of his blade. Now I build lightsabers, so how could I build a Zorro inspired hilt? Well here are a couple of studio wireframe images to show you what I came up with…

Master Z Wireframe Image 1

Master Z Wireframe Image 2

The saber has a very distinct “Pirates” look to it too and you could imagine Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Powers or Duncan Regehr wielding this hilt (they all portrayed Zorro in movies or TV shows – Duncan Regehr is the Zorro seen in the title image above ^^). It has a regular “lightsaber blade” but that is just so I get the usual lightsaber look to the blade, otherwise I would have made the blade slightly thinner. There is the bowl shaped handguard and I even added ornaments such as the Quillons (the bar with the spherical ends) and the curved bar known as a Sweeping or Knuckle Guard. To finish the fancy stuff I added a high polished spherical pommel to act as a counterweight. However you won’t see the pretty polished look in a wireframe image so I think it’s about time for some Glamour Shots….

Master Z Saber picture 1

Master Z Saber picture 2

Master Z handgrip, guard and Quillons

Master Z user’s view of hilt.

Master Z – you don’t want to be on the recieving end of this!

I am really pleased how this hilt turned out as I used to have problems before creating curved parts in Blender let alone a curved part made of a high polished material. My old laptop couldn’t handle the number of polygons (modelling units) and the graphics required to recreate such complex pieces, but my new laptop can! And I have gone to town with my second Rapier saber which should appear in next week’s post.

To wrap up this post I will just give a shout out to Johnston McCulley, the creator of Zorro, who wrote the original story way back in 1919 so Don Diego is actually 101 years old! The character of Don Diego/Zorro first appeared in a novel named “The Curse of Capistrano” which was serialised in five parts in the pulp magazine “All -Story Weekly”. Since then there has been over FORTY Zorro films, countless books, comics, plays, computer games and even a musical starring the masked man.

I will also mention that Zorro and it’s associated names and intellectual properties allegedly belong to a company named Zorro Productions Inc, but there are/have been disputes about who owns the rights. However I have mentioned them so I don’t have to worry about “infringing copyright” or other people’s work….this is a tribute!

That does wrap things up for this design and I hope you liked it. It was fun to build as I even got to visit the pueblo of Los Angeles for the Glamour Shots (just kidding!). I have another Rapier inspired hilt you may have seen in my sneak peek I posted yesterday coming up next week and it was inspired by the biggest swashbuckling film of the 80’s. I hope you will return to see that one as there are some memorable quotes to go with it. Thank you for checking out Master Z today, whether this is your first visit or you are a regular viewer/reader of my site thank you for the support, you are much appreciated. Till next time….

“Master Z” Lightsaber is a For Tyeth Editions design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020. “Zorro” and all other names, logos, images and related materials are Trademark/©Copyright of Zorro Productions Inc.

Master Montoya and Master Z Coming Soon!

Hello Everybody….just a quick sneak peek of some historical styled hilts coming to FTSabersite very soon, Master Montoya and Master Z sabers.

So if you are into swashbuckling and saber swinging then you’ll not want to miss these!

Thanks for looking in today and I hope you can join me again this weekend for my normally scheduled post!

“Master Montoya” and “Master Z” sabers are upcoming For Tyeth Editions and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020.

“Warrior Saber” Inspired by Disney’s Mulan live action movie

Hello Everybody, today I am Blending a past design and a new rebuild (see what I did there? Blending?). Now last year around July news of a new Mulan live action movie based on the Disney animation broke and a few promo images and a teaser video released.

Disney’a Mulan promo image (Copyright Disney Studios)

I saw the images and trailer and was interested as I saw that the film has swords in it and Katanas in particular. I knew there would be lots of people making 3D models of the sword so I thought I’d do my version of it. Due to circumstances and how busy I was over the last 6 months I didn’t get to post the design even though I did post this teaser…

Mulan Saber teaser poster from last year!

And as you can see I pushed the limits of my model-building skills by creating an embossed/carved reproduction of the Mulan family crest/dragon on the handguard! But as you can see there are those pesky “Fireflies” or noise pattern on the image. This annoyed me but my old laptop and Blender couldn’t make the images look better without processing the image for hours on end. However fast forward 7 months and I have new hardware and the new Blender 3D v2.81 and so I figured, “I haven’t posted the design so why don’t I modify it and see how my new setup copes?” I reloaded the old Blender file and started to improve (I hope) on the original. Here is that new version, this is “Warrior”…

“Warrior Saber” inspired by Mulan 1

“Warrior Saber” inspired by Mulan pommel 2

“Warrior Saber” inspired by Mulan tassel 3

“Warrior Saber” inspired by Mulan the business end 4

“Warrior Saber” inspired by Mulan environment shot 5

The original Mulan inspired build for comparison 6

In my last version I attempted to use the techniques I used on my LOTR “Barad-Dûr Saber” to recreate a hammered metal look for the hilt handle and pommel ring. This made the hilt appear to be made of wrought iron with lots of hammer pockmarking and I also tried to recreate the dragon handguard. As I mentioned I managed it but the rendered images didn’t do justice to the model. I discovered I had made a few minor errors too in my fist build so I rectified those and added carvings around the edge of the handguard too…and I prayed to the Force that Blender’s new render “despeckle” function would work. Thankfully it did and I reckon the engraved detailing turned out nicely. I will admit the tassel hanging from the pommel still needs some work but with my new more powerful laptop I can use the “Hair” function to improve it. The “Hair” modifier recreates hair follicles but creates a lot of strands that need to be calculated and processed, my old laptop couldn’t manage that. Overall though I think this updated model looks OK and the final renders are a vast improvement. I am really pleased with Blender 3D and not only am I able revisit and tweak my old designs…I have already come up with around half a dozen new hilts….or one design a day! All of which I will be featuring in upcoming posts.

That just about wraps up this post but I would just like to point something out regards the movie’s release and more importantly the Coronavirus outbreak. I sincerely hope that a remedy for this terrible virus is found quickly and deployed successfully and my thoughts are with those already affected, those that have succumbed, and their families. I mention this virus outbreak as it may affect when the Mulan movie is released (it is scheduled for March 21st as of time of posting)…but the health scare could change that date.

Thank you for visiting FTSabersite today and I hope you liked my new updated “Warrior”. All of you, my viewers/readers are much appreciated, whether this is your first visit or you are a regular, thanks so much for your support. I hope you will all return to see what I have in the pipeline in upcoming posts. Till next time….

Oh! and p.s. Hope you all had a Happy Valentine’s Day yesterday…I made sure I got my card…I wrote it myself!

“Warrior Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions model and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2020. It is inspired on the weapon seen in the upcoming Disney live action adaptation of Mulan due out in March 2020. “Mulan” and all names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney Studios.