Lord Maul
05-28-2011, 01:17 PM
Okay folks, the polls are all done and we have a winner! Here are the top six builders
1st Place: Saber #10 by Borax
2nd Place: Saber #1 by Sunrider
3rd Place: Saber #9 by IG-88
4th Place: Saber #8 by Darth Midian
5th Place: Saber #6 by Cannibal869
6th Place: Saber #12 by Vctrsone
Tim has generously offered TCSS Gift certificates for 1st and 2nd place. Expect messages from him, Borax/Sunrider.
The rest of the builds (in order of submission) are as follows:
Saber #2 by Azmaria Dei
Saber #3 by bk_renesis
Saber #4 by cardcollecter
Saber #5 by Aradian Valentine
Saber #7 by Takanis
Saber #11 by Silver Serpent
Saber #13 by IndustrialAction
Saber #14 by Crystal Chambers
Saber #15 by TimeRender
Saber #16 by iamdrake
I'd like to say that I was really impressed by all the entries. Everyone pushed their skill levels up to the next level and some really inspiring sabers came out of it!
I've got a few things to say about each saber.
Sunrider - Fantastic saber! You did a great job masking the MHS parts. It took me a long time to figure out how you did a lot of the construction, especially that emitter shroud. Since you got second place, there's not much advice for me to give. I think the crystal chamber is a bit crowded, but that's really personal preference. A+ work!
Azmaria Dei - This is your best saber to date IMO. The paintwork on it is excellent. It reminds me of marble, except very sithy to go along with the saber. My suggestion would be to have put the electronics in a chassis instead of just heatshrunk together. Being able to unscrew the bottom half of the saber to access the SD card/whatever is very handy.
bk_renesis - You've come a long way since your first 'samurai' PVC saber! Very nice clean wiring, too. You can use thinner gauge wire which will help save a ton of room when cramming more into a hilt. Well done weathering, everything looks good except for the 'top' of the emitter (way too much black still there).
cardcollecter - This saber strikes me as a great dueling saber. No real frills, good grip, built for beating the crap out of people. The electronics look very secure in that chassis. Suggestion time.. The paint scheme is very monochromatic. Nothing on it really grabs the eye, and the chassis is the same way.
Aradian Valentine - This is a night and day improvement from last year's entry! Great job on making such a clean saber. That gloss black PC is a pain to not scratch, I do it all the time. Nice job with the chassis, too. Having the saber break apart like that even with a ribbed grip down low is impressive.
Cannibal869 - I was a fan of this saber right when I saw it. Reminds me of some of VV's older builds. I've never seen a saber with a springloaded crystal chamber reveal like that. Very well done, I'd like to see some build pics. Remember to heatshrink the threaded rods in your chassis to avoid grounding out the sound board or battery pack (the insulation on those is really thin). Your shroud looks like it wasn't sanded very much, either. That's what takes the build over the edge.
Takanis - Unless I'm mistaken, this is your first build. Very nice job on it! Clean cuts on the shrouds and the wiring looks very good. My only suggestion is to keep building. This is as good as a first saber will get, now you gotta push yourself on each saber. Try at least one new thing on each build you do, you'll be amazed how quickly your sabers get up to the 'pro' level.
Darth Midian - Cool build! Organic sabers are very hard to do well, but you nailed this one. The venting around the emitter is my favorite part of it. The seam in the middle is pretty visible, though I don't know enough about sculpting to recommend a fix. I think I speak for many people here: Use metal. You've mastered PVC sabers, lets see what you can do with MHS or just metal tubing (eastern57 style). This contest is about growth, I was really hoping to see a kickass metal saber from ya
IG-88 - This is a saber that really caught my eye. I had a hard time believing it was MHS at first. Undoubtedly this is the coolest MHS-based Starkiller that I've seen. Turning it to brass was a great idea and it worked well. When you're soldering onto the PC board, have the wires pointed 'inwards' instead of 'outwards'. You'll be amazed at how much room is saved doing it this way. Your pictures turned out very well which is another part of why this saber caught my eye.
Borax - Dude, I really don't have anything to say. This saber is crazy on every level, I really want to see build pics/get more info on how you built it.
Silver Serpent - This is only your 4th saber and you're already tackling double-shrouds. That's impressive. Going green with the saber was a risky move but I think it worked overall. I wish we got to see inside the saber, wiring is a big part of my vote. For you my advice is the same as Takanis. Build more sabers and try something new on each one. Your skills will grow very rapidly.
Vctrsone - This was one of my personal favorite sabers from the contest. It screams steampunk like no other saber to me. The fact that you even soldered the ribs together shows your drive to be 'punk' :p Nice clean chassis too, this was a solid build. The LEDs on the control box aren't perfectly aligned and that hurts the flow a bit but other than that I really liked this saber.
IndustrialAction - This is your best saber to date in my opinion. I've only seen one or two other sabers with carbon fiber on them, I think it should be used more often. The saber seems a bit long but if you're a two handed dueler then it would make sense. It looks to me like some slack could be taken out of the wires but I could be wrong. Great work!
Crystal Chambers - This is a very solid dueling saber in my book. Nothing to get in the way while fighting, just a simple yet elegant saber. It reminds me of some of Madcow's early work. The low-placed chokes are pretty comfy to hold and it looks cool on this hilt. My only suggestion is to ditch the guarded switch and go AV. It would improve the lines a lot I think.
TimeRender - This is definitely your best saber yet. The dual overlays are really slick looking. I like the color scheme a lot. This is one of the only white sabers I've liked. Nice, clean, wiring. That chassis looks rock solid, this would be a fun saber to take out with a few friends. You would have gotten many more votes if the pictures had been better. Even the best saber ever made will look like crap with poor lighting and a bad camera.
iamdrake - This is your first saber if memory serves. It has very clean lines, I personally like the design a lot. Your photography skills are great, the pics on the black leather made the saber look particularly good. Forward gear sections are a personal favorite of mine, too. My only advice is to build more and push your skills on each build.
That's all I have. Once again, great job everyone! Feel free to comment on this thread with your personal thoughts on different builds.
1st Place: Saber #10 by Borax
2nd Place: Saber #1 by Sunrider
3rd Place: Saber #9 by IG-88
4th Place: Saber #8 by Darth Midian
5th Place: Saber #6 by Cannibal869
6th Place: Saber #12 by Vctrsone
Tim has generously offered TCSS Gift certificates for 1st and 2nd place. Expect messages from him, Borax/Sunrider.
The rest of the builds (in order of submission) are as follows:
Saber #2 by Azmaria Dei
Saber #3 by bk_renesis
Saber #4 by cardcollecter
Saber #5 by Aradian Valentine
Saber #7 by Takanis
Saber #11 by Silver Serpent
Saber #13 by IndustrialAction
Saber #14 by Crystal Chambers
Saber #15 by TimeRender
Saber #16 by iamdrake
I'd like to say that I was really impressed by all the entries. Everyone pushed their skill levels up to the next level and some really inspiring sabers came out of it!
I've got a few things to say about each saber.
Sunrider - Fantastic saber! You did a great job masking the MHS parts. It took me a long time to figure out how you did a lot of the construction, especially that emitter shroud. Since you got second place, there's not much advice for me to give. I think the crystal chamber is a bit crowded, but that's really personal preference. A+ work!
Azmaria Dei - This is your best saber to date IMO. The paintwork on it is excellent. It reminds me of marble, except very sithy to go along with the saber. My suggestion would be to have put the electronics in a chassis instead of just heatshrunk together. Being able to unscrew the bottom half of the saber to access the SD card/whatever is very handy.
bk_renesis - You've come a long way since your first 'samurai' PVC saber! Very nice clean wiring, too. You can use thinner gauge wire which will help save a ton of room when cramming more into a hilt. Well done weathering, everything looks good except for the 'top' of the emitter (way too much black still there).
cardcollecter - This saber strikes me as a great dueling saber. No real frills, good grip, built for beating the crap out of people. The electronics look very secure in that chassis. Suggestion time.. The paint scheme is very monochromatic. Nothing on it really grabs the eye, and the chassis is the same way.
Aradian Valentine - This is a night and day improvement from last year's entry! Great job on making such a clean saber. That gloss black PC is a pain to not scratch, I do it all the time. Nice job with the chassis, too. Having the saber break apart like that even with a ribbed grip down low is impressive.
Cannibal869 - I was a fan of this saber right when I saw it. Reminds me of some of VV's older builds. I've never seen a saber with a springloaded crystal chamber reveal like that. Very well done, I'd like to see some build pics. Remember to heatshrink the threaded rods in your chassis to avoid grounding out the sound board or battery pack (the insulation on those is really thin). Your shroud looks like it wasn't sanded very much, either. That's what takes the build over the edge.
Takanis - Unless I'm mistaken, this is your first build. Very nice job on it! Clean cuts on the shrouds and the wiring looks very good. My only suggestion is to keep building. This is as good as a first saber will get, now you gotta push yourself on each saber. Try at least one new thing on each build you do, you'll be amazed how quickly your sabers get up to the 'pro' level.
Darth Midian - Cool build! Organic sabers are very hard to do well, but you nailed this one. The venting around the emitter is my favorite part of it. The seam in the middle is pretty visible, though I don't know enough about sculpting to recommend a fix. I think I speak for many people here: Use metal. You've mastered PVC sabers, lets see what you can do with MHS or just metal tubing (eastern57 style). This contest is about growth, I was really hoping to see a kickass metal saber from ya
IG-88 - This is a saber that really caught my eye. I had a hard time believing it was MHS at first. Undoubtedly this is the coolest MHS-based Starkiller that I've seen. Turning it to brass was a great idea and it worked well. When you're soldering onto the PC board, have the wires pointed 'inwards' instead of 'outwards'. You'll be amazed at how much room is saved doing it this way. Your pictures turned out very well which is another part of why this saber caught my eye.
Borax - Dude, I really don't have anything to say. This saber is crazy on every level, I really want to see build pics/get more info on how you built it.
Silver Serpent - This is only your 4th saber and you're already tackling double-shrouds. That's impressive. Going green with the saber was a risky move but I think it worked overall. I wish we got to see inside the saber, wiring is a big part of my vote. For you my advice is the same as Takanis. Build more sabers and try something new on each one. Your skills will grow very rapidly.
Vctrsone - This was one of my personal favorite sabers from the contest. It screams steampunk like no other saber to me. The fact that you even soldered the ribs together shows your drive to be 'punk' :p Nice clean chassis too, this was a solid build. The LEDs on the control box aren't perfectly aligned and that hurts the flow a bit but other than that I really liked this saber.
IndustrialAction - This is your best saber to date in my opinion. I've only seen one or two other sabers with carbon fiber on them, I think it should be used more often. The saber seems a bit long but if you're a two handed dueler then it would make sense. It looks to me like some slack could be taken out of the wires but I could be wrong. Great work!
Crystal Chambers - This is a very solid dueling saber in my book. Nothing to get in the way while fighting, just a simple yet elegant saber. It reminds me of some of Madcow's early work. The low-placed chokes are pretty comfy to hold and it looks cool on this hilt. My only suggestion is to ditch the guarded switch and go AV. It would improve the lines a lot I think.
TimeRender - This is definitely your best saber yet. The dual overlays are really slick looking. I like the color scheme a lot. This is one of the only white sabers I've liked. Nice, clean, wiring. That chassis looks rock solid, this would be a fun saber to take out with a few friends. You would have gotten many more votes if the pictures had been better. Even the best saber ever made will look like crap with poor lighting and a bad camera.
iamdrake - This is your first saber if memory serves. It has very clean lines, I personally like the design a lot. Your photography skills are great, the pics on the black leather made the saber look particularly good. Forward gear sections are a personal favorite of mine, too. My only advice is to build more and push your skills on each build.
That's all I have. Once again, great job everyone! Feel free to comment on this thread with your personal thoughts on different builds.