Henry's Cross Saber from No More Heroes CF 4.31 w/RGBW FoC OSPP

[FenderBender]

Hello Saberland! :D

Over the last 2 or so years we have gotten several requests for the Cross Saber design from the video game "No More Heroes". We've never gotten serious about it until a really dedicated fan came along and wanted a faithful recreation of the saber. If you are familiar with the game 'verse, you'll know that the sabers are referred to as "beam katanas" and usually sport an extend-able frame with a receiver on the outbound end to contain the "beam" of the blade. This design which has floated around for a while was one of the few made in the game that did not require a receiver and was able to contain the blade with out it.

Our interpretation was meant to be as faithful to the concept as possible but still retain the functionality that we love from our props. We stayed true to the color scheme, which is unusual in that the emitter is a machine green and the hilt is bright white. Funny how any colors go together in a cell shaded world :D The emitter is also square, which is cool for me cause we don't get to mess with unusual shapes that much and it was fun doing that.

In the game, the emitter had 4 stubby blades that came out from bezels on the sides to serve as a sort of cross guard. We debated with going with a physical feature here, but decided against it and went instead with focusing lenses inside the machined bezels. I think the final look is much more appealing.

The original concept also had a weird rotary switch, that, in reality wouldn't have worked on a round tube of a hilt. I couldn't find any kind of rotary switch that I liked enough to substitute so we went with a recessed AV switch instead. We did however use the locations of the on/off indicator from the drawings and used the red one to mount the aux switch in and made the green one just a decorative dimple to mimic the art.

The middle band is another defining feature of the saber, and the customer wanted a "rubbery" texture there so I lathed down a band as far as I could go safely and used industrial 1.35" heatshrink to give the texture and maintain the profile. Then I milled the decorative bar to go over the top.

Last but not least, the pommel. The original concept had a sphere on an ornate pommel with these "fish hook" looking things sticking out of it. Well, that was an issue for us as we didn't want any erm....mishaps to occur with those so we omitted those from the design. Im especially happy with the pommel, as I think it came out real close to the art, and is very elegant. Not to mention it was my third try on the pommel :P

Quick Specs:

Custom machined hilt 13.5"
Machine green and gloss white powder coating
black sphere on pommel
Machined bezels with glass lenses on the emitter
Crystal Focus 4.31 with FoC
LEDengin 10W RGBW set to Oppression Stopping Purpliscious Purple©
2x 18650 Li-Ion battery pack with in hilt recharge
Custom chassis with swivel speaker mount for SD card access

Pics:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_Henryscrosssaber.png (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=Henryscrosssaber.png)

The original concept art.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9142.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9142.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9144.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9144.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9153.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9153.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9150.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9150.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9155.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9155.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9156.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9156.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9157.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9157.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9165.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9165.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9167.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9167.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_9169.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_9169.jpg)

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mdNImk6tAM

[ARKM]

The following is the only word I can think of to best describe this saber...

[Deep bass voice]Funkalicious[/Deep base voice]. :cool:

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Very nice and unique saber. I am suprised how well the green PC goes with the white but it looks very nice. I love the way you pulled off the emitter. execellent work as usual.

I really like working with odd shapes and materials too. I have one saber coming up where I got to use some square stock too.

[Crystal Chambers]

Yeah I remember this design posted here several months ago. Excellent work as usual. Looks like it was quite a challenge. Great fonts for such a unique saber. Even the silent one, I can see that being useful.

[Sunrider]

Cool, defiantly different. The emitter is great.:cool::cool:

[cannibal869]

Not really my personal taste, but then again, I've never even heard of this series until you mentioned it.

Regardless though sweet job and nice work with the square emitter and round pommel (too bad that plasma ball thing never quite worked out)...

[FenderBender]

Yeah, I've been itching to have a mini plasma ball in a display hilt. That would be awesome. I realize the design isn't for everyone. It isn't Star Wars after all;)

I had a lot of fun making some of the more subtle details like the lens bezels and such. Having them come out right and being able to hold the lenses was cool. I love making stuff:D

[Jedi-Loreen]

That's one saber that isn't going to roll off the table accidentally! ;)

[Darth Midian]

That's one saber that isn't going to roll off the table accidentally! ;)

That's to funny, but true. Dude great job, very creative, that emmiter is awesome.

[bk_renesis]

Definitely a plus... I like crossover sabers and this is probably the coolest one I've seen in a while. Well done.