Inacuracies in Abion's/Filmsword's movie swords?

[JunkSabers1138]

I have been browsing around Filmswords.com lately and have noticed that there are several innacuricies in the external designs of some of their products. Now I know that each one varies slightly from the other and that the pics are mostly of prototype catalouge/advertising swords, but should these products live up to their claims of 100% accuracy? Now I am NOT bashing these people in any way, and I hope to own a few of their absolutely AMAZING swords one day (that is, if I can raise a $#.tload of money before these sell out), but I'm just one of those guys that can spot an innacuracy from a first glance and it's just one of my peeves. Now, has anyone else spotted any of these?

Some examples:
1. Their Highlander 1 Masamune looks good but the entire sculpt is of an entirely different design than the original katana. Now I will let this one off the hook because they hired a different guy to make these and every individual has their own style when making the same thing. Maybe a "prefered" version?

2. The Conan Father's sword's criss-cross leather wrap is reversed/inverted when compared to the film sword's suede/fuzzy side out wrap.

3. The Highlander 2 Masamune katana has a habaki added even though the original swords in the pictures on their site lack such a feature.

4. I know it isn't out yet, but their Kurgan sword's grip looks like it might look different from the originals.

5. The Destroyer Atlantean looks quite different from the screen used prop; mostly in that the fittings are less shiny and that the grip is wrapped in "leather lace" rather than the lighter colored thread/string/cord wrap evident in the original Destroyer.

6. Their Subotai sword's grip-wrap is spiraling in the opposite direction than that of the original seen on their site.

7. Their DT5154 they are advertising, even though it is the best repro of this sword available, is still slightly different in appearence than the movie prop.

Ok, I'm done. Has anyone recieved any of these swords in person yet and if you will, see if they are different than what I've described above?

Seth

 

[JunkSabers1138]

One question I had about the Conan swords is why are they so dang heavy for their size? The Barbarian Atlantean weighs in a 7 lbs 12 oz, the Destroyer at 8 lbs 3 oz, and the Father's at 7 lbs 8 oz (The original B.A. and Father's were stated to be 9-10 lbs on the DVD commentary, but I thought that might have been an uneducated guess). What's making these so heavy? I've heard of much bigger swords that weigh less than this. Other swords their size would've weighed in at around 3-4.5 lbs.

 

[DavidS]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JunkSabers1138 @ Jan 16 2007, 08:30 PM) [snapback]1398775[/snapback]</div>

One question I had about the Conan swords is why are they so dang heavy for their size? The Barbarian Atlantean weighs in a 7 lbs 12 oz, the Destroyer at 8 lbs 3 oz, and the Father's at 7 lbs 8 oz (The original B.A. and Father's were stated to be 9-10 lbs on the DVD commentary, but I thought that might have been an uneducated guess). What's making these so heavy? I've heard of much bigger swords that weigh less than this. Other swords their size would've weighed in at around 3-4.5 lbs.
[/b]

whats making them heavy?" massivly heavy CAST bronze fittings add alot of weight........ Also the blades are really wide with little profile taper which is a fairly unhistorically accurate design, althought cool on screen.......... but then again, they made swords a certain way "back then..." for a reason........ often time modern fantasy artists or movie makers want a sword to LOOK a certain way, often times at the expense of TRUE function........

 

[Jeeves]

I believe I read that the repro bronze castings are actually LIGHTER than the ones done for the film, because they hollow-cast them for the replicas. I bet the film sword blade was not a high quality tempered steel, though.

I got to heft one of these at a prop party, and it is massive, and 100% impressive. I'd love to have one so that I could sit in my basement and brood.

-R

 

[vadermania]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JunkSabers1138 @ Jan 17 2007, 12:21 AM) [snapback]1398729[/snapback]</div>

1. Their Highlander 1 Masamune looks good but the entire sculpt is of an entirely different design than the original katana. Now I will let this one off the hook because they hired a different guy to make these and every individual has their own style when making the same thing. Maybe a "prefered" version?

3. The Highlander 2 Masamune katana has a habaki added even though the original swords in the pictures on their site lack such a feature.

[/b]

1: yes, it's based on an entirely new sculpt from Jose De Braga. I call it an "idealized" version of the Ramirez katana - if you want the screen-used look, you might be disappointed. There is still no official/licensed exact replica of the screen-used Highlander I Ramirez katana available, only fanmade repro's.

3: the screen-used hero Highlander II Ramirez/Masamune katana is part of my private collection. FilmSwords got a mold of the tsuka for their Masamune version. Later, they had Jose carve an entirely new version of the HII tsuka. I'm not sure which one they plan to release, the repro of the screen-used tsuka or the De Braga version. The original sword lacks the habaki, that is correct. Again, this is what I call the "idealized" version of the HII katana. This is what the katana should have looked if the propmakers of the film would have had more time and money for the making of the sword

I have just read on the FilmSwords webpage that the Highlander project is discontinued.

Tom

 

[Wakal]

I've been up to visit the nice folks at Albion; the crap they have to work with, it is amazing that they turn out as good a product as they do. While they had access to original Father and Atlantean swords (and, of course, Jody himself), they only had stunt versions of the Valeria and Sabuti swords. "Crapfest" would be an understatement of those two, although playing with them was pretty cool. The original Fangs dagger looked pretty bad in person too, although the copies are darn slick.

The Conan blades were not supposed to be historically accurate in any way. They were fantasy blades, pure and simple.

The "Braveheart" Del Tin is inaccurate because...Fulvio never made an entire sword for the movie. He made blades only (I learned that when I was in Italy visiting his shop, many years ago ). He replicated the fittings on the same series of blades, and markets it as a decent (if not perfect) version for a reasonable price.

The Highlander swords...licence fees. The Conan swords more than doubled during the pre-production period. I was working to build some (licenced) Conan pieces under Howy's licence, years ago, but the licence fee of just "little" stuff forced the price point so high that there was no way to sell them. And Highlander fees are worse. Sigh.




Alex

 

[JasonofTigerclaw]

1. Their Highlander 1 Masamune looks good but the entire sculpt is of an entirely different design than the original katana. Now I will let this one off the hook because they hired a different guy to make these and every individual has their own style when making the same thing. Maybe a "prefered" version?

Albion/FS was not able to acquire any screen used props from the first film and the recarve by Jose was based off the mold pulled from the HL2 hero prop and photos of two of the orginal HL1 props. It is moot now, as FS has cancelled the project.

2. The Conan Father's sword's criss-cross leather wrap is reversed/inverted when compared to the film sword's suede/fuzzy side out wrap.

The leather on the grip was not made from suede on the screen-used prop that Albion/FS had acquired from the director (John Milius). The pattern was copied exactly from the original.

5. The Destroyer Atlantean looks quite different from the screen used prop; mostly in that the fittings are less shiny and that the grip is wrapped in "leather lace" rather than the lighter colored thread/string/cord wrap evident in the original Destroyer.

No steel swords were ever made for that film and only modified figerglass left-overs from the original movie were used. These were apparently re-painted and didn't quite match the original film.

7. Their DT5154 they are advertising, even though it is the best repro of this sword available, is still slightly different in appearence than the movie prop.

It may be sold by FS, but the DT5154 is made completely by Fulvio Del Tin and has not had any input from Albion/FS. Del Tin created the blade used in the original film, but the sword was cutlered by Simon Atherton, along with all the other swords that were created from mis-matched DT parts.

[/quote]

 

[propsculptor]

The other thing to keep in mind with the Conan the Destroyer Sword is that not only was it Fiberglass, but they modified the length and stretched it out, the handle is longer and so is the blade.

I actually prefer the first Conan Film Atlantean Sword :thumbsup

 

[JunkSabers1138]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(vadermania @ Jan 17 2007, 02:05 AM) [snapback]1398979[/snapback]</div>

I have just read on the FilmSwords webpage that the Highlander project is discontinued.

Tom
[/b]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. :cry :cry :cry :cry

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED.?.?.?

 

[DavidS]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JunkSabers1138 @ Jan 17 2007, 04:22 PM) [snapback]1399323[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(vadermania @ Jan 17 2007, 02:05 AM) [snapback]1398979[/snapback]

I have just read on the FilmSwords webpage that the Highlander project is discontinued.

Tom
[/b]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. :cry :cry :cry :cry

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED.?.?.?
[/b][/quote]



thats what id like to know..

as someone who cant drop huge chunks of change like that, it would take me a while to save up, but it was still a project i would have liked to see come to fruitation

 

[Clutch]

I was wondering why there variances between alike swords. For instance the #1 Atlantean bronze parts are bigger than the #20.

 

[vadermania]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JunkSabers1138 @ Jan 17 2007, 09:22 PM) [snapback]1399323[/snapback]</div>

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. :cry :cry :cry :cry

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED.?.?.?
[/b]

Maybe their license rights expired...or there were not enough orders. Too bad...I always wanted to have a cased Kurgan sword...

Tom

 

[JunkSabers1138]

I guess the our only hopes now are either someone else will take up the project (which will most likely not happen), have custom work done by a VERY good maker (which might cost more than abion's and will most likely come out inaccurate and unsatisfactory), or strike a deal with the few that are going to get swords and either buy the swords from them or, in the case of the katanas, obtain resin (or something good) castings of the tsukas, tsubas, and other fittings and attach them (if that's possible) to your own wallhanger katana blades (like they did for the films) and hopefully paint, plate, whatever them to make them look at least passable.

With the project cancelled, the only accurate OFFICIAL Connor masamune sword from ANY Highlander movie is... Marto's Connor sword which was used in Endgame (pretty much the ONLY 100% accurate replica of any movie prop available to fans since the replica was used in a film).

 

[Hitogiri]

I actually contacted Jose when I heard it was cancelled and he qouted me $4000 just to have the hilt carved and a tusuba/fuchi made.... and that was if I supplied the blade.

 

[JunkSabers1138]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hitogiri @ Jan 25 2007, 06:05 PM) [snapback]1404973[/snapback]</div>

I actually contacted Jose when I heard it was cancelled and he qouted me $4000 just to have the hilt carved and a tusuba/fuchi made.... and that was if I supplied the blade.
[/b]

IMO, that's WAY too damn much for a hilt. Even Abion's price for the entire swords sounds better than that.

 

[gnrlotto]

What about the accuracy of their Sleepy Hollow product?

 

[JasonofTigerclaw]

Re: Inacuracies in Abion's/Filmsword's movie swords?

What about the accuracy of their Sleepy Hollow product?

The hilt was cast from a production used mold (for the fiberglass stunt props), and I (when I was still with Filmswords) designed the blade based on the outline/configuration found in that mold.

Filmswords is still in possession of production used molds of the Sword, Axe, and a dagger that was never filmed.