After an altogether too long weekend, the UPS man stopped by to deliver my first (of many, I suspect) UltraSaber.
A fantastic looking Dark Standard Issue with Arctic Blue UltraEdge Heavy Grade blade. I will echo what has been said by many, many people before me: Pictures do not do UltraSabers justice. Both in terms of the hilt or the brightness of the blades.
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ImageShack.usI will further echo the difficulty people express at trying to photograph them when lit, and getting a decent photo.
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ImageShack.usThe hilt feels like a million bucks, and the grooves are just deep enough to feel, but not so much as to bind up or be uncomfortable. Because of the UEHG blade, the balance point is an inch or two past the end of the hilt, but it feels great.
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ImageShack.usThe blade film had some ripples when it arrived, which created a dark spiral in the blade when lit, but after a quick search on the forums I found the solution. Beating it on a couch arm didn't work (and was annoying my 8 1/2 month pregnant wife), so I simply cut the glue out, rerolled the film, and regaled. Voila.
In whacking the daylights out of my couch, there was some noticeable battery pack rattle (4 AAAs), so I took a strip of low tack masking take to secure the batteries into the holder and a piece of craft foam inside of the pommel cap to keep the pack from moving around and it seems good to go.
Also, my OCD kicked in a bit with the blade's placement with the retention screw. It ends up pushing the blade to the opposite side of the hilt and leaving a gap on the side with the retention screw. Again, this was easily solved after looking through the forums. Several layers of cello tape with a gap for the retention screw and now the blade is nice and centered when hilted in.
I was originally considering cutting some accent windows or drilling some accent holes, but I'm not so sure right now, the hilt looks /so good/ with the DSI's slick, clean lines. For now, it'll stay stock in the looks department. I've also been switching which hand I'm using the saber in (using either my shinai or rapier in the other hand) to see if this would work (for me) as an offhand saber. I think that the standard length blade in UEHG may be a little unwieldy for that.
I'll most definitely be ordering other sabers from US in the future. The speed of delivery and quality of product are outstanding.
Specifically, I already want another Dark Standard Issue to match this one, with a set of 32" blades for both, and a Dark Initiate V2 LE in Blazing Red, probably with a non UE blade just for comparison (I've also heard folks on these forums say that Blazing Red looks damn good with the non UE blades).
I'm sure I'll grow to covet other sabers as well.
I also plan to add econo sound to this saber, as it looks like there is ample room to do so inside the hilt, and this is something I can do inexpensively enough to tinker on my own. I'll be honest, I'm dreading the opening of the CSO and the offering of Obsidian board in other sabers. My wallet weeps preemptively.
One final photo of my new baby with my other baby, a Neo Geo MVS 2 Slot (circa 1994) that I recently finished a 2.5 year long restoration on. Photo taken with flash, in a garage lit with shop lights. Seriously folks, these blades are /stupid/ bright.
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