Bladebuilders Kylo Ren Lightsaber repaint

So i needed a quick kylo lightsaber hilt to go with my halloween costume. I decided to just pick up a bladebuilder one - $13 at walmart.

I pulled all the blades out and the corresponding internal springs, etc as I only wanted a hilt. I used hole plugs on both ends and sprinkler shrub heads inside the sides.

I added a light texture to the upper and lower sections and this is the end result after the re-paint.

…. i am aware the belt clip ring i added is not movie accurate.

Great looking repaint. I'm waiting for payday to pick up one of the Disney sabers for a repaint, but seeing yours...


you got me thinking.:thumbsup

Yea man that repaint looks great! Sometimes the hilt looks pewter to me and sometimes black. How did you go about repaint? I picked one of these up today and did the same as you. I pulled the "blades" out and I am wanting to paint. Possible going to replace casted wires with actual red and small blue ones. Any tips on painting?

Thx for the comments!

I was inpired by a couple of other peoples old metal looking 3d print sabers i saw on here that looked super nice.

I sanded it down then primed it with a rust color primer, but i think black would have been just as good if not better. Then i added the light texture. With things like this i dont have an exact formula, i just mess with it until it comes out how i want it. I did use metallic black on it, then gunmetal grey, with several washes i stopped early on the middle section but kept coating the upper and lower portions. Those had the texture on them. They didnt look right until i finally hit them with 2 pretty heavy washes of dark brown. Then i think it started to really look like old cast iron that was getting rusty. For the accent parts i just used a bright silver.

the lighting is off in these pics, if i have a chance i will take some better ones.

i sealed it with testors dullcote.

i wanted to add a real wire too, but there was just no time. I had to make my gf's Rey staff so this was a total rush job to get finished.

Nice! Thanks for the rundown. Gonna give it a go tomorrow. I may do a mix of what you did and this guys method. Looks so easy. Heres a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt70alyJsyQ

Interesting, never heard of that product but the result looks great. I might give that a try on the next metal finish i need.

post up some pics of how your bladebuilders comes out!

I had never heard of it either. Looks pretty sweet. And it's cheap! I will def post some progress pics this week.