SparrowHawk's "Threnody" KoTOR-Inspired Saber (Lots of Photos!)

[.: SparrowHawk :.]

Hello SaberWorld! Greetings once again from the Outer Rim (aka the arid Southwest USA).

After many months of designing, puzzling, ordering, building, and re-building, I would like to present my first custom designed saber, Threnody. The origin of the name stems from an old Greek root, meaning "a song of lamentation" or from threnos "to drone, murmur, hum." I liked the fit, and so there ya have it.

It may surprise you to know that Threnody is a saber mostly constructed (structurally) from PVC tubing! The PVC has been covered with aluminum veneer and a cherry hardwood sleeve. The tools I used were all hand tools, files, xactos, drill, Dremel, and lots of patience.

If you're interested about the whole build process, you can check out my WordPress blog, Binary Sunset Design, where I've documented the build log with lots of photos, and check out this post "The Final Steps" that shows how the PVC and aluminum veneer components were made, as well as resources and a dedicated and detailed page for the Petit Crouton v3.5 wiring diagram that I made for the saber.

During the design, my concept was to create a saber that lived in the Knights of the Old Republic era, perhaps made on some backwater world, on a forested planet by a Jedi who became stranded for some time. So components of the saber have been replaced, repaired, and modified, using materials found from the forest or traded for at the spaceport. Eventually this Jedi takes on an apprentice. Later when on his deathbed, he gives this lightsaber to his pupil, and she then continues the legacy of the saber.

Might be a bit lore-heavy, but I liked the used, weathered, cared-for quality of the original trilogy, and I think a lot of the magic of Star Wars comes from creating a galaxy that has a lived-in character to it. The props convey the essence of the story, and become characters of their own. I also borrowed some design ques from the saber used by Orgus Din in the Old Republic MMORPG (though I must confess, I have never really gotten into the new OR game much; it's hard to beat the original BioWare game, pesky Gizka and all )


But I digress...

The Specs:

• Petit Crouton V3.5
• Color Extender
• 7.4V 14650 Li-Ion pack
• Power Level Indicator board
• R/G/rB Tri-Rebel (ordered back when we didn't have the Tri-Crees in the store!)
• 28mm Premium Speaker
• 2.1mm Recharge Port
• R.I.C.E. port, located in crystal chamber (more on that later)
• Crystal chamber, with amethyst quartz crystal, wired to mirror blade color and FX

The Materials:

• Entire PVC core chassis and construction throughout, covered with aluminum veneer.
• Cherry hardwood sleeve for main body.
• Aluminum detail components.
• Brass switch plate, with custom auxiliary switch and backlit acrylic activation switch.
• Brass components aged with ammonia vapor patina process.
• Brass shroud.
• Genuine amethyst quartz crystal.
• Acrylic radiator discs for CC.
• MPS Style 7 Pommel, with Style 1 MPS Insert: TCSS
• 1" OD Heatsink module: TCSS
• 1" diameter thin walled polycarbonate blade from TCSS, with custom cellophane diffusion film installed.
• "Bullet" style blade tip: TCSS.

The Glams:
(Since Photobucket's website is a huge memory hog, I'm inserting the full width images here, instead of the thumbnail links, for everyone's sanity.)

Here you see the custom brass switch plate I made, with the illuminated Act. switch, and the custom Aux. switch on the left. Also, the brass tube running the length of the body is for the Tri-Rebel's wires. The crystal chamber design forced me to put them outside the hilt, rather like Kylo Ren's patched-up saber. Not ideal, but it works.

On the fly color profile shifting:

"Tatooine Sunset" a la Madcow.

Access to the crystal chamber and internal features:

The R.I.C.E. port is mounted in the crystal chamber core, trying to make it function like a "real" saber would.


Access to the 7.4V 14650 battery pack, which didn't in the hilt very easily, haha.






Custom Kill Key.

Based on feedback and interest in this prototype, I may endeavor to build a small production run based on this design, but with fully machined aluminum construction with an "epic reveal" saber core and tangible crystal chamber. BUT as per TCSS forum rules, I will conduct any and all such business elsewhere (FX-Sabers, etc.).

Many thanks to TCSS for fantastic service, Plecter Labs for genius toast tech, and FJK, Silver Serpent, and many others who helped me through the early noob phases! I feel like I've taken my first steps into a larger world...

See you in the Forums!
-SparrowHawk