Dorinian Sabre Marvel Mod

[Seano]

After watching the visual awesomeness that is Avengers: Infinity War (twice last week, and will probably see it again this week!), I have been inspired into customising a Dorinian sabre, and it will be based on one of my favourite Marvel superheroes, Captain America.

Although I'm not American (I'm an Aussie, and we don't have any Australian superheroes in the Marvel cinematic universe - well, we've had 3 Aussies PLAYING Marvel superheroes (The Hulk, Wolverine and Thor), but it's not quite the same!), I do like what he stands for. I must admit, I was a bit worried about Chris Evans playing him after seeing him portray Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies, but after watching Captain America: The First Avenger, I was completely sold!

I've ordered an empty Dorinian sabre hilt (hopefully it will turn up this week), and I'll be gutting my Diamond Lost Grey sabre, and installing the electronics into the then customised Dorinian hilt.

Pics to follow!

[For Tyeth]

Great work TR-77477, just the right amount to make it stand out. I like it a lot.

And I know a lot of folks round here like Superhero movies so I wonder if anyone considered getting the Azure Dorinian and painting white accents onto the pommel fins (and a band painted around it) to form the illusion of a letter "A" to make a Captain America themed hilt?

Point incoming TR! 

Hi Seano,
It seems great minds think alike! I figured that the Azure Dorinian with a white (Adegan Silver) blade and change one or two of the greeblie/buttons to red, then paint/anodise/powdercoat the fins on the pommel to white should do the trick for Captain America nicely!
I will keep my eyes open to see how you get on with this build.

[Seano]

Happier than a pig in poo! Picked up my empty Dorinian hilt today (got to the FedEx depot just in the nick of time - I was held up at work, and they were just about to close!), and it looks amazing, so much better in real life! I put a Heavy Grade blade in it, then did a few spins and swung it around a bit, and it's amazingly well balanced. It also feels quite comfortable to wield both 1 and 2 handed, the greeblies and the thumbscrews really don't get in the way.

Here's just a couple of pics of the empty hilt - I've gone with the 16mm A/V switch hole, as I'll be using the old bezel from the Lost Grey (I removed the electronics from the LG yesterday) -





Thankfully the greeblies and the thumbscrews are quite easily removed, but once I've finished painting the hilt, I'll be using Loctite on them to make sure they don't unscrew too easily -



I thought I'd also take a picture to show you how far into the emitter (and slightly into the hilt) the blade sits - it's a good 7.5 cm (3 inches), so basically no wobble!



Tomorrow I'll start on removing all the anodizing, then I'll get to work on painting the pommel and emitter - unfortunately the hilt body will have to wait, as I'm still waiting on some other bits to arrive before I can get to work on it.

Oh, and thanks for the kind words, For Tyeth. I was thinking about your suggestion you gave to TR-77477, re: the letter A illusion with the pommel, and I'll give it a crack and see how it looks. If it doesn't come off, I'll go back to what I was going to do initially (not giving anything away just yet, though!)

[For Tyeth]

Hi Seano,

Actually I'm digging the look of the Dorinian as it is (the detailing is really well finished) and I love that blade socket depth, I wish my saber which I can't mention here had a socket that deep.

If I can find a decent picture of the pommel I will try and edit it to give you an idea what it may look like. I have done a few superhero themed paintjobs for some of my designs in the past so I'll get to work on it.

point incoming.

[For Tyeth]

Hi again,

Apologies for the double post but I just knocked up a render of the pommel with the white accents added. Hopefully the share link works (and the image).



If it worked you should see a pommel with the white fins added and the Azure blue. Due to the way colours (and in this case white) are processed by photo editing software parts may still look silver beneath the white layer but hopefully you will get an idea.

[Lady Agana Kath]

Good to know the blade insertion depth, point for the useful pics.

Can't wait to see how this turns out

[TR-77477]

 The fins can come off of the pommel.  That way you can get a lot finer paint or plating done.

[hazard502]

You put such a fine finish on your mods, Seano ... looking fwd to seeing your vision for this unfold.

[Seano]

Started on my sabre this weekend, first by removing the anodizing with oven cleaner, which has taken off the shininess of the hilt (which is fine by me, it'll give it a worn/used look), and started with the paint job.
At first it looked alright, but on a closer inspection, it didn't come up as well as I hoped, so I'll remove the paint and start from scratch.
One of the extra pieces I ordered online arrived today, and it looks pretty great, so I'm happy about that, now just waiting for my A/V switch to arrive, then I can begin in earnest!

[Seano]

Today I feel like a bag of s**t, have come down with a cold/flu, which is not ideal when you work as a Registered Nurse and around immunocompromised patients, so called in sick, and did a little bit more work to the sabre while stuck at home.

I've removed pretty much all of the paint from the hilt, and from the emitter, in readiness to repaint. I initially made a stencil of the letter "A" using painters tape and stuck it to the hilt before painting, but it really didn't look that good once I removed the tape. So instead, I've gone to my local hardware store and purchased a chrome stick on letter A, have applied it to the hilt, strapped it down using zip ties, heated it up with a hairdryer so hopefully the adhesive will take better, and will leave it overnight before painting tomorrow.





More updates to follow!

[TR-77477]

Lookin good. I like the idea of using zip ties to hold it snug to the hilt.  Also I would of never thought of oven cleaner as a anti-anodizer.

[Dauntless Seven]

Hi.  I can already see that your saber is going to look awesome.  As another nurse... I was really challenged by frequently picking up cold and flu symptoms over the winter ( your summer ).  Actually got sent home a few times but we are always working short staffed so not good to have to do that.  

Really looking forward to the final result.  What do you do with your saber customizations ?  Do you keep them ?  

[RevanReborn]

Hey, this is gonna be really cool!  Also, appreciate the look at the dorinian .  I always like to know stuff like blade socket depth etc .  I really think US knocked this design out of the park- love it. 

[Seano]

Really looking forward to the final result.  What do you do with your saber customizations ?  Do you keep them ?  

Hey Dauntless Seven, I do keep some of them, but have given some away to family and friends. I will however be keeping this one!

More updates - unfortunately the chrome "A" didn't stick to the hilt properly, it started peeling off at the corners, so I've removed it, and just repainted the hilt. I will repaint the "A" in white using another method tomorrow.









I've painted the pommel similar to how For Tyeth suggested, but not overly happy with how it came out, so will also repaint that.



Still waiting on a couple of other things to turn up to embellish the hilt, so will post more pictures when they arrive!

[For Tyeth]

I've painted the pommel similar to how For Tyeth suggested, but not overly happy with how it came out, so will also repaint that.

Hi Seano, sorry the suggestion didn't quite work, I think maybe the vertical fins are too closely positioned and so you can see the fins either side of the ones forming the "Illusion A" I could see. But I gotta say I love that shade of blue you've used and the logo.

points incoming....