Ven Zallow's Axis hilt was my unicorn since day one when I got into this hobby two years ago. I remember first seeing that image of the hilt as it dropped to the floor upon Zallow's impalement at the hands of Malgus in the Deceived cinematic trailer. I also observed that Kao-Cen Darach had an Axis but it was white, not brass/gold colored unlike Zallow's.
After the ill-fated Kit Axis Run two years ago, I bided my time to acquire a better built hilt. That day arrived last year when I learned that Wes of Nocturne Armory had announced he would stop taking commissions by October 2014. Knowing that he had previously made Daddy Solo's Axis 3 years prior, I immediately contacted Wes mid August and roughly two months later, I finally had my unicorn hilt. I requested an empty. Overall, the final product was amazing but there were also some design flaws I noted that had to be addressed. For one thing, the door to the CC did not swing wide open; and the emitter was not in the proper orientation as was noted by daddy solo when I had posted pics of the empty on FB.
I had specifics ideas of what I wanted in this hilt. Getting a CC and install done was a trial unto itself which is why it took this long to get it done. I finally settled with Harp after having remembered how he had dealt with cram-fu builds where CCs were concerned and how he had to re-engineer some hilts to get the job done. This fact alone encouraged me to seek his services out. I sent him the empty hilt around mid April of this year and about a month later, he completed the job. Based on the build pics he sent me, he actually pretty much finished the build 2 or 3 days after he had received my hilt. As he said, and I quote him, "80% done!"
My Axis sports the following SPECs:
CF 7.5 with CeX
Tri-Cree XPE-2 RGrB
14500x2 7.4v
TCSS Premium 28mm 1.5w Speaker
Recharge Port and R.I.C.E. Port in pommel
For me, the highlight of this install is the CC and the solution Harp devised to open up access to it. As he has already shown in his reveal video, Harp used magnets to resolve this issue mentioned above.
I actually misunderstood how the Color Profiles worked in a CF 7.5 board. Little did I know that setting blade colours was very different from what I was use to. After having spoken with Obi-Shane and Deanna, I finally understood that the 10 Color Profiles essentially defined or set what blade colours you had at your disposal for each sound font on your board. Now since I had 12 fonts to deal with, 6 Jedi and 6 Sith, I knew I couldn't use this colour changing feature that this latest CF board offered; I wanted different shade/hues of reds for the Sith fonts and the 10 Color Profile feature would not allow that at all in conjuction with the other Jedi colours I knew I wanted. Sadly and reluctantly, I had to ditch this particular feature. In the video to follow below, it's hard to see the subtle differences in the reds for the Sith fonts but I assure you, seeing it first hand, it's there.
A great big thanks goes out to Wes and Harp. I cannot say "thank you" enough for helping me finally acquire this unicorn saber of mine.
Because the Axis is from The Old Republic game, I had this hilt TOR-themed:
Sound Fonts:
TOR Ascension
TOR Crucible
TOR Tranquility
TOR Treachery
TOR Malign
TOR Deceived
TOR Echoes of Tython
TOR Darkness Returns
TOR Ignatius
TOR Fallen
TOR Malcontent
TOR Justice
Audio of:
TOR Intro Cinematic
TOR Hope Cinematic
TOR Deceived Cinematic
All 14 Audios of TOR Galactic Timeline Records
....and
Selected TOR Soundtracks:
The Mandalorian Blockade
Balmorra, The Forge
Alderaan, The Throne
The Occupation of Balmorra
The Battle of Coruscant
The Siege of Alderaan
Brass activation plate and switches
Blade Plug
SD Card access, Recharge Port, and R.I.C.E. Port
I tried to keep the video short but I jammed this hilt so much. Enjoy!
Nocturne Armory Ven Zallow AxisI 'm still planning to edit a few boot sounds in order to include certain quotes from the Cinematic Trailers.