Sabertrio Skylar FX Lightsaber - New Upgrade

Third time's a charm

About a month or so ago Sabertrio contacted me to inform that I need to send the Skylar back for a new chassis which is made from delrin. The old chassis was 3d printed ABS where they had to sand down the chassis to make it smoother to slide out but the end result was not pleasing to the eye. Another issue with the 3D printed chassis is because it was a pain in the neck to remove and more pain in the neck to slide back in.

During the one month plus of absence, I felt like something was missing. I was beginning to miss Skylar even though I did not use it a lot. I was attached to Skylar maybe because it is my first saber.

Metal Earth: Destroyer Droid

 

Patience is the key to success 

 

The last Metal Earth kit done was the AT-AT back in 2015. There are more kits available but I was not allowed to get them until I have completed all the backlog. This time round I will be building the Destroyer Droid.

 

Front and back of the packaging.

 

Same as the AT-AT, it comes with 2 metal sheets and an instruction sheet.

Sabertrio Skylar FX Lightsaber

One holy grail completed

 

I was once asked what would I need in my collection in order to be proud of. There are a few things in my list. One of them is the Hot Toys 1:6 scale 1989 Batmobile. Another item would be in the form of this clue: "This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age." - Obi-Wan Kenobi. Lightsabers. Who doesn't dream of owning one?  Can't really remember when I first started watching Star Wars but I remember that I have always wanted one and any stick or a long object will be instantly turned into one.

 

When news was out that Hasbro plans to release the FX sabers in 2008, I was very excited thinking finally I can have my very own lightsaber. In case you have been living under a rock, the FX sabers "are high quality reproductions that light up and create sound effects when powered-on, powered-off, and when they impact objects. These sounds replicate the movie sound effects, to create a high quality display toy." - Wikipedia. I remember going to TRU constantly checking for new stocks but the only ones available was the Ultimate FX, buildable lightsabers and electronic lightsabers with extending blades.

 

 

Top Left: Ultimate FX, Top Right: Buildable lightsabers, Above: Electronic Lightsabers with extending blades. Images taken from Google.

Updates (21)

 A complete circle

 

Before starting this post, I would like to apologise for not updating this blog regularly. I have completed the Decool Bat-Tank but did not have the time to complete the WIP post. There are a lot of things which are happening. First off I will be finally taking the diving course which I have paid for since last year. This will be happening at the end of April. To top it off, there will be the audit which I have to pass which will be happening in May.

 

In the meantime, here are a few things which has happened in the long absence from the blog. First on the list are the Egg Attack posable figures from KidsLogic/Beast Kingdom. Originally I wanted the Darth Vader but since the shop has a buy-one-and-get-the-2nd-at-50%-off deal, I got the Stormtrooper with it.

 

LEGO Star Wars Microfighters Resistance X-Wing Fighter - WIP 2 (Final)

Accelerate to attack speed

Continuing the build of the LEGO Microfighters X-Wing.

In WIP 1, the pilot and the main body of the X-Wing has been completed. In this post, we will look at assembling the wings, attaching it to the body and showing the gimmicks.

Step 19: First step of assembling the wing

Front and back (right) view of one of four wings

2 completed wings

It takes a total of 8 steps to complete half of the wings. It is interesting to note how both the wings are attached to the body.

LEGO Star Wars Microfighters Resistance X-Wing Fighter - WIP 1

First of its kind (on the blog)

 

I have encountered some problems with the decals while working on the Eggplane YF-19. To stop the frustration and to cool down, I decided start on another small and a much simpler kit. Let us welcome: LEGO Star Wars Microfighters Resistance X-Wing Fighter. That is a mouthful so I will just refer to this set as the X-Wing.

 

Front view of the box

 

Back view of the box

 

Updates (11)

All about Star Wars

 

 

The hype for Star Wars Episode 7 is everywhere. You cannot go anywhere without someone talking about it or look at Facebook without a post on Star Wars. I know the fans are either buying or have already bought the tickets and are eagerly waiting for the 17th. I have bought my tickets and I too am eagerly waiting for the date to come.

 

I will dedicate this post to all Star Wars fans. I got some Star Wars stuff from the net and just want to share with the fans out there. Hope you enjoy it and May the Force be with You.

 

Updates (9)

Interesting things from the net

 

I was looking through Facebook and whenever I come across something interesting, I will save it into my phone to view it again later. These are a few images I got from Facebook.

 

Updates (7)

New stock, new loot and some truth

 

Recently the stock came for two kits which was in my wishlist. There was limited stock for both kits but I was a bit strapped for cash so I just enquired about the price and availability for both kits. The owner mentioned that one of the kits only has 2 sets and one set was picked up earlier in the day. I then asked which branch has the other kit left and went about my day waiting for his reply.

 

Later I got a reply and he mentioned there is still one kit left at the branch in town and he told his staff to reserve it for me together with the other kit in my wish list. Curious to know what was in my wishlist which I managed to get my hands on?

Updates (6)

New stock, new stock

 

Went over to Borders today to enquire and order some books. The first thing I did was to look for the metal puzzle section. I went to the previous location and could not find any of it. I thought they might have either sold out all the models or they have returned the unsold kits to the supplier. After walking and looking at some board games, I saw the metal kits display.

 

I looked through the Star Wars model kit and saw the usual kit which is still available from my last visit: Destroyer droid, X-Wing and Tie Fighter. Then I saw 2 other kits which was new. The R2-D2 and Millennium Falcon.

Metal Earth: AT-AT - WIP 3 (Final)

Good to have spares

With the completion of the partial lower parts of the AT-AT in WIP 2, we will now work on completing the lower sections and attaching the main body to the kit.

 

The first thing to do is another set of reps. This time is the base of the foot. The instructions states that 4 nos are required.

Pieces for the base of the feet 

 

You will have to bend 2 circular  pieces together 4 times. I'm not good at making things circular so all the foot base have different shapes to it. I guess no one will be able to notice it unless they look at it real close.

 

Top view of the completed foot base

Metal Earth: AT-AT - WIP 2

Reps is the way to go

The next part according to the instruction sheet are the legs:

The instructions do look simple but in truth, they are a bit more complicated and requires you to think before you bend. After removing all the required the parts from the runner and assembling them, this is how the completed leg will look like.

Right and left view of the completed leg

There is an interesting text at the bottom or the base plate:

Text at the bottom of the base plate

Metal Earth: AT-AT - WIP 1

Something new

In the post "The unexpected purchase" I showed that I got a few (5 to be exact) Star Wars metal earth 3D puzzles from Borders. Once I finished the small kits, I started opening the AT-AT to get a feel on how building a metal kit will be and how different the experience will be from building a plamo.

This is the front and back view of the AT-AT package:

Front and back view

When opening the box, I tried to cut as small as possible to preserve the back photo of the AT-AT but that did not work out as expected. I had to cut where the picture of the scissors is thus cutting off the AT-AT words at the top.

 

Packaging after the cut

Upon opening the package, there will be 3 things inside: 1) Metal runers x 2 and 2) instruction sheet.

Contents in the package

Updates (4)

An unexpected purchase

 

Heard of Metal kit before? I first heard about it a few moons ago when GN Particles posted his WIP of the RX 78-2. From what I know, there were limited RX 78-2 and Zaku II metal kits produced at the time. From that day onwards, I've been seeing a lot of small kiosk in shopping malls selling the metal kits but they are mainly of iconic landmarks. My search for the Gundam and Zaku II metal kits are still on-going.

 

Went to Borders a couple of months ago and to my surprise, they have some Star Wars kit on sale but what was in stock was the AT-AT and destroyer droid. Those did not catch my interest so I didn't get it. 2 things can happen from here on: 1) Hope they will restock it with other kits and 2) this is their only stock and when it is sold out, it is sold out.

 

To my surprise when I went to Boarders today, they have replenished the kits with a new stock. I took a quick scan through the piles and saw some new and interesting kits which caught my attention. They were also limited kits so if I pass this opportunity again, I would be kicking myself. Therefore I applied the saying mentioned in the previous post: "When in doubt, buy".