Hey saberforum!
So, I picked up an Initiate V4 LE as a grab-bag during the raffle before Christmas. Its a straight-up stunt V4 LE, but it is in Arctic Blue (my favorite!) and it was a nice hilt, so I decided to hang onto it and see what I could do with it.
Here's a picture of it in company with its "mates" from that raffle:
But ... what to do?
After some thought, I decided to remake this hilt into a "two-handed" hilt by stealing an idea from my daughter. She has an Initiate V3 that she made into a two-handed hilt by adding an extension. So I picked up an MHS V1 ribbed extension, v-grooved from TCSS. After installing this extension, I also picked up some new pommels and installed a Malice Round pommel on this hilt. It looked better, but it needed something more. Here it is, after this hardware installation, with my new Dark Sentinel V5 (also sporting a pommel upgrade), Dk Cat (with a Scorpion pommel) and two Initiate V3s with their vented coupler.
So ... I was mulling it over and I happened to see a post by Solstice Lacer, outlining how she used a paint treatment on her Sentinel V4 mod. So I stopped off and picked up a spray can of Rustoleum "black steel" paint. I also grabbed my trusty Testors Model Master Gunmetal acrylic paint. The approach was this: Paint the recessed rings Gunmetal to give the base hilt a two-tone feel, and spray the "grenade" section of the extension to make it pop.
I like the result:
Amazing what a little paint will do...
