Kit Rae Design Studio Projects Scrapbook
Below are photos of some projects we are working on or have completed at Kit Rae Design Studio.
Contact: [email protected]
Copyright Kit Rae. Do not link or copy photos or content from this website with permission of Kit Rae.

SCRAPBOOK HOME

KIT RAE FANTASY ART HOME

HIGHLANDER KURGAN SWORD (2009)- A new, more accurate replica of the sword used by the Kurgan in the first Highlander film. This was a replica for United Cutlery's Highlander line. UC was asked to make new versions of these iconic swords by Peter Davis, who owns the Highlander property and the Legendary Heroes/Highlander store. We supervised these new replicas for them. The previous version had been made in Spain. Not a bad replica. Many details did not match the film swords, and overall it felt heavy and clunky, partly due to the fact that this is a heavy, clunky design. It sure looked cool in the film when I saw it as a kid though!

There were at least three versions of the sword used in the film, possibly four, each with varying shapes, sizes, and details. The United version was to be a mix of some of these, representing what people "remember" seeing rather than a specific screen accurate replica of one particular version, and very different from the Spanish replica. Blade tips and lengths, handle grips wraps and lengths, tang cover shapes, and side blade sizes and shapes all varied from prop to prop. It was decided that the "suitcase" version seen in Kurgan's apartment was the best one to go by since there were many closeups of that version in the film. My list of things to improve included: correcting the blade fuller and grind shapes, especially at the tang and blade tip, increasing the length of the side blades and reducing the open width of the side blades when open to match the film sword seen in Kurgan's apartment, revising and reducing the "fatness" of the hand guard at United's request, enlarging the grip diameter, improving the grip wrapping, and revising the pommel shape. United also wanted to add a mechanism that opened the side blades at the push of a button and have a more polished hand guard and pommel finish than the Spanish made replica. I would have much preferred a simple spring opening mechanism for the side blades as seen in the film, which would not have intruded on the guard design much, but then the sword would have fallen under our ridiculous switchblades laws of the US and other countries. It was decided to use a gear mechanism instead.

Even though this is not a functional sword design I wanted it fitted with a carbon steel blade. However, to meet the target price point, and due to the fact that this sword has a highly mirror polished blade which is more succeptible to showing tarnish if the blade is not properly cared for, UC decided to use stainless steel for the replica blade.

The photos above show the blunt tipped version of the sword from early in the film. Note that the side blades are opened wider, and slightly shorter than they appear later in the film.

The version of the sword from the apartment scene above is what was used for the United Cutlery replica. The sword is most visible in this scene where it is assembled by actor Clancy Brown. Note the small side blades pop out of the guard in the film. Due to cost restrictions to meet the target price point, and the type of mechanism used, we did not have space for that, so the UC version will have the blades exposed like the Spanish replica version, though they will move into "open" position via a button-gear mechanism. Highlander film photos and screen grabs (©MGM)

Since a spring loaded opening mechanism would be fall under the ridiculous switchblade laws of the United States and some other countries I had to design a simple gear mechanism to open the side blades via a sliding button on the back of the cross guard. I had done something similar several years ago for United Cutlery's Klingon knife replica, the Phoenix (aka Bird of Prey). I used basically the same design here.

The previous Kurgan replica made in Spain

One of the original Kurgan filming props (thanks JM)

KRDS design for the United Cutlery Kurgan replica based on an amalgam of the props, but primarily based on the suitcase prop seen in the Kurgan apartment scene. The hand guard would have been made in two halves to house the opening mechanism inside, then press fit together with friction posts - June 2008

   

KRDS revised final design for the Kurgan. Handle screws had to be added due to machanical concerns with the factory in case the mechanim needed adjustment - July 2008

3D model snapshots created from the control drawings - Used to create electrodes to build molds - November 2008

First prototype of the sword from molds next to my Spanish made version for comparison - March 2009

Final prototype of the sword with a few minor revision to the tooling and finish. The blade mechanism needed some fine tuning to smooth out the gears. - May 2009