After my first "Hum-Brella" had travelled to Greece to be signed by Vangelis himself, and also accidentally ended up on Paul Allen's Yatch (what a ride!), I was asked to make another one for Vangelis with the request it had to be red.
I've used Custom Saber Shop MHS parts too on this one and used this project as an good excuse to experiment with Power Coating and vinyl stencils. I wasn't fully happy with the switch design but that's what I could afford (time wise) while ensuring it could be disassembled and still fit the Force Relics switch mount. The next one I build will have really recessed switches. Those are JQ saber switches, the main problem is that it's virtually impossible to install the cap after, it's not clicking in that well, so I had to split the switch mount and pre install everything, then carefully mount it all inside. Next one will have switches installed on a chassis.

The flat black epoxy powder coating went extremely well with the craftsman PC gun. I cut the Blade Runner shape with my vinyl cutter, removing it prior baking was tricky, I think I will first give it a flash cure in the oven, then remove the sticker, so that I don't have any powder particles that jump to the stenciled area. I removed them after baking with steel wool 000 which gave a satin look. It's still imperfect though.

As I like contrast and asymmetry, I only polished the emitter and left the rest with a satin / brushed look. The milling work is supposed to remain a logo I'm pretty sure I've seen in BR but couldn't spot it. Maybe on a video-phone or something.

♦ Just the Hilt












♦ With the Umbrella


♦ Tyrell Corp home made badge






I've added a few gimmicks. First off, the umbrella I got had a few defects, I stabilized the pierced fabric with superglue, then added more black fabric to allow a button badge to be installed with further damaging the fabric. I didn't have a button badge press yet, so I used an old one, printed a sticker about Tyrell replicants and coated with a polyurethane sealer (airbrushed), 2 coats.




I got a hard time finding a topper. Last time I used a clumsy piece of rubber that I glued, I got a seal mark, not happy with that. Chair feet rubber protectors are nice but bulky and generally too large for this one. Then I got an idea, I remembered the stock of red caps I purchased for M40 replicas (Aliens) when I was building my pulse rifle. Bingo, perfect size. While not a ridley scott movie, I though it would work anyway, as he made the first episode.





Complete kit. Note the sticker I added on the charger