IndustrialAction's TCSS Contest Build - Sith'ari

[IndustrialAction]

Sith'ari

For years I've been designing things. Everything I own gets stripped down and re-done my way. I've owned a number of sabers and they've primarily been conversions. My big projects wrapped up so I went looking for a new hobby. It turned out that the sabers sitting on my desk were just the inspiration I needed. Since then, I've spent countless hours designing sabers. Part of my problem is that I'm a perfectionist so you haven't seen many public reveals from me. That will all be changing starting with Sith'ari.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that when I design, I try to put my best foot forward, regardless of the status quo. For my contest saber, I wanted to do a hammered copper paint job. I have always loved the look of carbon fiber and wanted to integrate that as well. The more I looked at the lines of my design, the more I knew it had to be a Sith's saber. The problem is that most feature red blades and I absolutely did not want copper, black and red. To my eye, cyan was the only color that played well. You'll see this combo again in at least one of my upcoming sabers because I think they work so well together. I wanted an aggressive saber and I wanted to make a large saber. The tiny sabers with awkward clamps and control boxes just aren't my thing. I can't wrap my hands around them well and I prefer a two handed grip. Hence, my final render which went to Tim for MHS modifications:

Tim did an awesome job of making the pieces look exactly as I had envisioned them. He even modified the hilt to ensure that the activation box would fit properly and still leave the saber with the look of hilt #4 at TCSS. Here's a shot of the raw pieces screwed together.

I spent days working on sanding, priming, painting and baking to get the look just right. I worked for hours with tiny measurements and my hobby knife cutting out the carbon fiber. It is hard to tell in the pictures, but the pommel insert is also covered in carbon fiber. It took almost two days of work to get all of the pieces cut out without damaging the portions you see. Because of the time spent working on the exterior, I didn't have time to get the planned chassis/crystal chamber and shroud done in time for submission.

Despite the saber not quite getting 100% to where I envisioned it to be, I am very proud to put my name to this build. I'll add a video review to the thread in a few days.

Story


Sometime during the early history of the First Sith Empire, the coming of the Sith'ari was foretold. Inspired by the legend of Adas, King of Korriban. The Sith'ari was prophesied a perfect being, free of all restrictions—the ultimate Sith. The Sith'ari would rise to power to lead the Sith and, according to the legend, destroy them—yet, through their destruction, make them stronger than ever.

The lightsaber of the Sith'ari, like its wielder, is free of all restrictions. Instead of using the synthetic crystals most Sith believe to be more powerful, the Sith'ari Lightsaber uses two cyan Kaiburr Crystals imbued with the ultimate power of the Darkside. A third crystal hidden in the hilt is the famed Heart of the Guardian creating a fast and devastating blade. The Sith'ari forged his saber from rare metals and imbued it with virtually indestructible carbon nano-tubes. This combination of natural and synthetic materials produced the ultimate Sith Lightsaber.


Specs


PC-L 1.5, Darkmeat, with Custom Boot (Vader: “You don’t know the power of the Darkside”) & Custom Aux (the Imperial Death March)*
490nm (cyan) Rebel (bin 1) driven at 1.5A [custom pulse pattern]
490nm (cyan) Crystal Pommel [wired in parallel to the blade]
490nm (cyan) Choke Blinky [custom blink pattern]
Black Lamptron AV Switch with Blue LED Ring [kill key removed activation]
Hand Painted – Hammered Copper
Carbon Fiber Accents
"Scorched" Emitter & Blade Plug
Solid Copper Pommel Spike & Kill Key and D-Ring
Clash sensor removed from PC-L and re-wired into the choke*
All MHS Parts with modifications by Tim (D-Ring hole, Hilt #1 modified similar to #4, grooves on Double Female to match Emitter neck, threaded hole for Choke LED, light holes in Emitter)
7.4V Li-Ion Battery Pack
Custom Stand & Plaque
* - upgrades done post contest submission


Glams











NEW VIDEO!

[Knighthammer]

didn't realize until now that that was carbon fiber highlights...looks nice. The spike kill key & pommel are very sithy

[Lord Dottore Matto]

A very nice MHS hilt. Needs a thicker D-ring (small suggestion, lol). Love the hammered copper (one of my personal faves).

[bk_renesis]

Awesome build mate well planned out. Hope you get to complete it as you initially planned but nevertheless it's outstanding. I love bigger or longer hilts as I'm a bit of a big boy myself. Well done on one badass saber, awaiting video.

[Darth Midian]

This is a cool design. I love the carbon fiber accents. I like your story behind your saber too. I hope you're going to finish it the way you planned. I'm curious to see the type of shroud you have designed for this.

[IndustrialAction]

Thanks guys! It is in for revisions as we speak. It is getting a rumble motor at the moment.

The shroud design went back and forth. I think what I'm going to do is make a Graflex clamp-like shroud that encompasses the activation box out of sheet copper.

[IndustrialAction]

New video added to first post!

[bk_renesis]

New video added to first post!

Nice rebuild/completion. Copper and cyan = WIN!

[Knighthammer]

Like the video, you get a better feel for the updates/work you put into it.
I love the boot up sound! Not a huge fan of the custom lock up, although I do like it (what self respecting SW fan doesn't like the Imperial March)

[Arashi]

Very nice looking. Out of curiosity, is the visible portion of the blade plug a Norelco style electric razor head? If not, what did you use for it, I like that look.