FenderBender
06-24-2012, 08:15 PM
Hello Saberland!! :D
A lot of you may not know this, but most of us smiths here on the boards are friends. We do compete with each other, rib each other, and sometimes gossip like old church ladies ;D What we also do is work with each other to help move the hobby forward, bring new and exciting things to market, and even team up to do special projects for those in need.
This was one of those special projects. Here at the Vault, we've been doing a lot of work with a group called Defenders of the Force. They are a Lucas sanctioned non-profit group that does events and charities in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Their leader Tony is a friend of ours and came to us with a request. He wanted to get a saber made for a child his group had met named Sam. Sam has suffered with liver failure and has had several transplants to try and correct the problem. Like most families with this type of situation, things are tough, especially for the siblings who are sometimes unintentionally shadowed by the hardship. We decided we were going to make Sam the best darn custom saber that a kid could get to play with, and we were going to do it without having Tony come out of pocket. Asajj Ventress on the FX-SABERS forums is also a friend of Tony's and heard about what was going on and wanted to get something going for the brother, because what fun is one kid having all the cool stuff right? You gotta have a pair for the brothers to play with together. MH stepped up and grabbed the reigns and took on the saber for the brother, Ben. With extremely generous donations of parts and a Petit Crouton soundboard from Tim here at TCSS and a PC 1.6 from MH, we had everything we needed to bring these two brothers, a polished slice of our little geeky heaven :D
Sam is a fan of Mace Windu, and of course, the color purple. What good fortune for Sam! We just happen to be fans of Mace and of purple ourselves! :D It's a fairly short hilt at 10.25" long but is well balanced. There is trans gold and black powder coating on both the custom hilt section, custom pommel, and TCSS emitter. A flush gold AV switch and low profile aux switch handle the operation of the board. The saber is powered by a Petit Crouton v1.6 with FoC and a 3W RGB LED tuned to OSPP. A single 18650 LiIon takes care of the power supply.
Ben likes blue sabers, so MH made him a beautiful Obi ROTS style saber with trans copper, gold, and black powder coating. Each piece is so cleanly done as to look like they were machined out of colored metal. The clamp features a gold engraved card with two custom brass switches for operation. It is also powered by a Petit Crouton v1.6 donated by MH, igniting an RGB LED tuned to a gorgeously bright Sky Blue with FoC.
I took care of making matching blades and each of us provided a charger and kill key for each saber. There's something so viscerally satisfying about bringing a smile and just even a small bit of brightness to a child's life. Knowing that they will enjoy these, and have some fun together as brothers should is worth the sweat and meticulous work.
Pics:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/th_004-1.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/?action=view¤t=004-1.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/th_002-1.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/?action=view¤t=002-1.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/th_006-2.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/?action=view¤t=006-2.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/th_013-2.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/?action=view¤t=013-2.jpg)
Vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcUKJCA0pug&feature=youtu.be
A lot of you may not know this, but most of us smiths here on the boards are friends. We do compete with each other, rib each other, and sometimes gossip like old church ladies ;D What we also do is work with each other to help move the hobby forward, bring new and exciting things to market, and even team up to do special projects for those in need.
This was one of those special projects. Here at the Vault, we've been doing a lot of work with a group called Defenders of the Force. They are a Lucas sanctioned non-profit group that does events and charities in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Their leader Tony is a friend of ours and came to us with a request. He wanted to get a saber made for a child his group had met named Sam. Sam has suffered with liver failure and has had several transplants to try and correct the problem. Like most families with this type of situation, things are tough, especially for the siblings who are sometimes unintentionally shadowed by the hardship. We decided we were going to make Sam the best darn custom saber that a kid could get to play with, and we were going to do it without having Tony come out of pocket. Asajj Ventress on the FX-SABERS forums is also a friend of Tony's and heard about what was going on and wanted to get something going for the brother, because what fun is one kid having all the cool stuff right? You gotta have a pair for the brothers to play with together. MH stepped up and grabbed the reigns and took on the saber for the brother, Ben. With extremely generous donations of parts and a Petit Crouton soundboard from Tim here at TCSS and a PC 1.6 from MH, we had everything we needed to bring these two brothers, a polished slice of our little geeky heaven :D
Sam is a fan of Mace Windu, and of course, the color purple. What good fortune for Sam! We just happen to be fans of Mace and of purple ourselves! :D It's a fairly short hilt at 10.25" long but is well balanced. There is trans gold and black powder coating on both the custom hilt section, custom pommel, and TCSS emitter. A flush gold AV switch and low profile aux switch handle the operation of the board. The saber is powered by a Petit Crouton v1.6 with FoC and a 3W RGB LED tuned to OSPP. A single 18650 LiIon takes care of the power supply.
Ben likes blue sabers, so MH made him a beautiful Obi ROTS style saber with trans copper, gold, and black powder coating. Each piece is so cleanly done as to look like they were machined out of colored metal. The clamp features a gold engraved card with two custom brass switches for operation. It is also powered by a Petit Crouton v1.6 donated by MH, igniting an RGB LED tuned to a gorgeously bright Sky Blue with FoC.
I took care of making matching blades and each of us provided a charger and kill key for each saber. There's something so viscerally satisfying about bringing a smile and just even a small bit of brightness to a child's life. Knowing that they will enjoy these, and have some fun together as brothers should is worth the sweat and meticulous work.
Pics:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/th_004-1.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/?action=view¤t=004-1.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/th_002-1.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/?action=view¤t=002-1.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/th_006-2.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/?action=view¤t=006-2.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/th_013-2.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/2012%20Pictures/?action=view¤t=013-2.jpg)
Vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcUKJCA0pug&feature=youtu.be