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[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

Well since we can't have blasters I decided it was time to start my melee weapons I bought a Pre Visla Dark saber from amazon (~12 dollers) Picking the saber up I could immediately tell it was to light. An added weight (from an airsoft gun) held in by apoxie sculpt solved that nicely. The next very obvious problem was that the 4 LEDs lighting the blade were very obvious. I sanded the original black & silver paint off and painted the blade with black lens tent. This allows some of the light to come through all of the blade while still giving the Black Blade impression. I did a total of three coats so not much light passes through the darker sections (again trying to mask the led locations more than it originally was) After that had dried I sanded some of the tint off in random locations to give it the sporadic lightning effects like pre vislas saber.

Amazons Pic (forgot to take one, it looks better in the pic than it really did)

ReTinted Blade, looks a little weird when the leds are off

How the blade looks when lit now


It is still possible to find where the LEDs are but it looks Much better than it did before.

I will be repainting the handle matte black and will wrap the bottom half with leather

I also bought a silver LED lightsaber (ultrasabers) and a Pre Visla Dark Blade from RipperBladez for a better looking dark blade. Thought it would be nice to have one that I wouldn't be worried about it getting dropped or damaged. Will post pictures when they arrive

[Lem'zig Dee]

Great idea! I was still working out what to do with mine, and this is a huge help for a quick mod!

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

Great idea! I was still working out what to do with mine, and this is a huge help for a quick mod!

Thanks vod! Glad it helped 

[Straka Zulu]

Are they temporarily allowing working trophy sabers?  If so, I have an old Force FX Vader collecting dust... 

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

I will be running my saber with a ripper blade so it looks like pre visla dark saber. My hilt is the dark apprentice v4 so not a readily recognizable hilt. Im pretty sure the no lightsabers still applies if using a standard blade

[Ref Al'drann]

No, lightsabers are still not allowed. Darksabers aren't allowed for custom kits either since only Vizsla carries one and it's basically a lightsaber. So for this to work, it'll have to be modified more. I recommend modifying the hilt and maybe making it look more like a vibroblade. It can still light up, but changing the color also couldn't hurt to differentiate it from a darksaber.

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

Bummer, i completely forgot dark sabers could only be used by vizla. Well the ripper blade will at least be a sweet table display

[Ref Al'drann]

Moding wouldn't be too hard. I and other team members would be happy to help you with a design!

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

Alright well I am open to ideas, to keep the lights I was think something along the lines of the Republic Commandos Vibro knife

The idea here would be to have the edges silver with a lighted core in the center to maintain the light up functionality

Using this second image as a reference the silver blade definitely looks like the way to go. My idea to wrap the bottom half of the handle in leather also seems to fit.


These mods will probably first require me to sand all of the raised sections that emulate the lightning. Ideas on how to further mod the handle are welcome

[Ref Al'drann]

So the last picture of the vibroblade you linked has a blade guard or something (not sure what it's called) running up the back of the blade. You could build something like that out of sintra or styrene to change the look a bit. I definitely think you should keep the lights. Any way to change the color?

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

Will need to pick up some more sintra or an extra tote but that could be done to give it a more vibroblade profile. The blade doesn't come apart as it's glued together and I would prefer to not break it apart as I may never get it back the same way. There are a variety of spray tints that could probably work to change the color. Any recommendations for the color change?

[Ref Al'drann]

Well, your main accent color on your armor is blue, right? Blue, orange, red, yellow, or green would all look great. I would also change the cross guard a bit. Maybe make a new one from sintra. I think with those mods, you'll be in business!

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

Blue is what I had in mind. I was planning to mod the cross guard as that part is one of the most recognizable sections. Now should I make the entire blade blue or just the center strip like the Republic commando blade?

[Ref Al'drann]

I think that depends on how much sanding you want to do. If you're going to sand the raised areas of the blade, you should do a blue center strip. If you arent going to sand, just make the whole blade blue, IMO.

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

fair enough, thanks for all the feedback so far

[Ref Al'drann]

You bet! Always happy to help.

[Lem'zig Dee]

Totally forgot these were strictly for PV. Still, a great starting point for customization.

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

Totally forgot these were strictly for PV. Still, a great starting point for customization.

I did the same thing as this is really my first time getting into melee weapons 

So had a present arrive today that I'm pretty excited about. My ultrasabers hilt + Ripper Bladez darkblade. Note: The darkblade will be for display ONLY. I have a piece of acrylic sheet on its way that I will modify as a second blade. It will be similar size to the ripper but will be modeled after a vibro blade instead of a darkblade

The plan: As my hilt doesn't have a cross guard that will become a part of the new blade attaching where the blade meets the emitter. This will take work but will be well worth it in the end. For the blade itself I will have a central core that will light up with the rest being silver. As with my Rubies darksaber I will construct an additional backing for part of the blades length. The saber came with a blade plug that I will modify so the acryllic blade fits into it and the I will use epoxy to secure it.



Thoughts & ideas welcome!
All of the rubies mods are still going to happen just haven't had time yet

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

2 in by 32 in (.5in thick) piece of acrylic came in today and had time to cut out the rough shape of the blade.

I will give the blade more of an edge (to a con safe point) and then sand the entire blade to allow the rub-n-buff to stick to the acrylic which I tested first on a smaller piece from the area I cut.

Blade plug from ultrasabers I will eposy the blade into so it will fit into any 1 inch saber hilt


Hopefully I will have time to pick up the sintra tomorrow for the crossgaurd and backing.

As stated before the vibroblade will have a lighted core but I am thinking I will keep the lighted edges as well

[Kavryn Falco]

Oooh! I like that.

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

Oooh! I like that.

Thanks vod 

More progress today
Rough cutouts for backing made from a pvc pipe

Attaching them to the blade

The final product after sanding the blade and giving the blade a false edge (looks pointy but isnt sharp)


I will be doing some sort of design with the cross guard, just not sure what yet.

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

More progress


I tried to have a part of the blade be silver but the results were terrible so I'm probably sticking with the Frost white blade

Here is an area that still needs more paint or lens tint as the light is still shining through. I have some smoothing work to do to make it perfect it but it's mostly done

[Ref Al'drann]

That looks fantastic!

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]

That looks fantastic!

Thanks vod, Glad you like it 

I beat the sword up a little to give it some weathering. I took an old crappy knife and hit the bracing to give it more detail and really like how it turned out. I also wrapped some of the handle in leather to break up the lightsaber hilt aesthetic and give it more of a traditional look. Will keep tweaking some minor details but I am very pleased with how this project turned out

[Drakus Cin'Ciri]