The Armour Archive

Lord Vanguard

After trying riveted maille myself, all I can say is that I have the greatest of respect for those who make it all day long. It is much harder than it seems and I destroyed a lot of rings just trying to flatten the overlap without the 2 ends slipping on each other. It is just annoying when something...

Lord Vanguard

WARNING! Inhuman stupidity below. Use extreme caution while reading this or you may laugh your ass off and accidentally kill someone with a stapler in the process. You have been warned! I was welding something when I noticed a strange smell. Like burning rags. I wear the kind of helmet that allows y...

Lord Vanguard

I don't know the exact alloy, but I do know it is a very soft alloy with no hardening. It work hardens a lot, but slowly enough that I can do some raising with no problem about cracking. I would not try raising a helmet from one piece though. The finish you see here was done this way: First, using m...

Lord Vanguard

The first leg is now DONE :D This was my first try at riveted maille, and I must say it was much more work than I expected. It took forever just to build that small patch. It seems I'll have some fun when making the sabatons, maille skirt and armet collar :roll: I think I'll ask some friends to help...

Lord Vanguard

Gest - I did a cast only for the lower leg. I will be making full greaves for the first time, so I'll need all the help that I can get to fit them right :) I made the cast this way: 1. Wrap your leg tightly with several turns of that plastic stuff used to wrap food (I forgot the english name). 2. Wr...

Lord Vanguard

*Picks up his jaw that fell on the ground*

That is SUPER NICE!!! The tasset is gorgeous and that knee cop...wow! The only thing that could be improved a little is the depth of the knee. I would personally dish/raise a bit more. But other than that, I'm speechless!

Keep up your good work!

Lord Vanguard

It will have full greaves.

Lord Vanguard

Thanks :) It is 16g aluminium all around, with a raised (not dished) knee. Rivets are 1/8 steel. The crease is a bit rounded on the top plate, though not as bad as it looks in the picture. It got rounded during the polishing process. At first it didn't seem so bad, but now it is really looking funny...

Lord Vanguard

Hi all! The first leg is almost complete now. The only thing left to do is the riveted maille fringe and leather work. I'll build a punch to make holes through the rings this week. If it works well, I think the maille patch will be done by the end of the week. The rings will be 14g steel wire with 3...

Lord Vanguard

Eh i have problem :) I cant weld the alliuminium. How to make a normal helm for this tipe of armour without welding? I'm brainstorming about this very same issue since I'll have to build an armet from this stuff soon. I'm thinking of joining 2 halves flush with a hidden band inside the helmet, usin...

Lord Vanguard

Those pauldrons are beautiful! The finished kit will be awesome

Lord Vanguard

Foec! Ic eom god! Jeost ascath me!

I nearly fell off my chair laughing! I think I might actually write this on a helmet

Lord Vanguard

Thank you as well. I like the shape and the look, nice work. Do you have a specific reference you used as a source to make them? It is based off a couple of different pieces, but the most important source was the Avant harness: http://home.armourarchive.org/members/vanguard/Milanese%20project/avant...

Lord Vanguard

That's extremely nice! I really like helmets with different metals on it. The nasal is very cool too! My only complain is that I can't read what's written on it. Not that it's not well embossed, it's just that regular english can be tough for me sometimes. But old english? I'll just forget about it ...

Lord Vanguard

Good morning guys! Here are the measurements (circumference) for Justin: widest point of forearm : 11 inches wrist : 9 inches length of vambrace : 6 inches inside the bend of the elbow rerebrace : 13 inches I intentionally made the vambrace somewhat short so it doesn't interfere with my wrist, and m...

Lord Vanguard

Not to be picky about someone putting up cool patterns, but... ummm... Vanguard? Effingham Well, that's just a user name. I could have named myself Yellow Pig With Green Dots, but I think Lord Vanguard sounds better :P Seriously, that dumb name came from an ancient time when I was playing a game ca...

Lord Vanguard

Justin - I'll take the measurements tomorrow (it is late here), but I can already tell you that you'll probably have to enlarge the pattern, because I am about 5'8" and 130 lbs. My legs could be someone else's arms

Lord Vanguard

lorenzo2 wrote:Thanks for posting that! Will it go into the Armour Archive pattern page?

I didn't ask JT, but if he wants to put it there, I'd be happy to provide pictures, instructions or whatever he may need.

So, JT, if you are interested, just send me a PM.

Lord Vanguard

Hi all! I have put the pattern for my milanese arms in my internet folder: http://home.armourarchive.org/members/vanguard/Patterns/ The pattern will give you something like this: http://home.armourarchive.org/members/vanguard/Milanese%20project/Arms02.JPG It still needs some adjustment but it is a g...

Lord Vanguard

lorenzo2 - The holes tend to enlarge a bit with time, however I never had a major problem with the articulation (like ripping a rivet out of its hole). If it gets too sloppy, I just planish the hole to close it back to its original size and then it's good for a while.

Lord Vanguard

Nice work, I like it! Did you use Sinric's pattern for your last breastplate and backplate? Where did your metal come from, a street sign?

Lord Vanguard

Konstantin - Yes they work. They are not perfectly parallel because this area is rounded, but there is some slop in the hinges allowing them to work. Justin - I can't really make a comparison, because I very rarely work with steel (for armour). I'd say the difficulty level is about the same, its the...

Lord Vanguard

Wolf wrote:wow nicely done!!! any thoughts to having lames on the bottom? then the fringe?
i like these a lot

Sure! It's not complete yet. It will have all the lames that are supposed to be there

Lord Vanguard

Hello guys! I've been working on these legs for the last few weeks. The upper leg is shaped to the muscles of my thigh and it will have a riveted maille fringe at the bottom. I am very happy with how it looks and articulate. I think this is my best armour piece up to now. :D *happy dance* My dream h...

Lord Vanguard

I am building a full suit of aluminium armour too. If you know the limits of the metal and how to work with it to avoid cracking, there is no reason for an alum. piece to not be as nice as a steel or SS one. Of course, authenticity-wise, forget about it. But if you just need the look and not a bombp...

Lord Vanguard

I know what you mean. When I finish a piece of armour, at first I am happy with it. I put it on the armour stand in my bedroom, then a week later I wake up looking at the piece and now see all the flaws and find it crappy. So, I take everything apart, rework, and reassemble. I once did this 3 times ...

Lord Vanguard

Thanks for the pictures, they'll help a lot

Lord Vanguard

Hi everyone! I started working on my leg harness (1450 milanese) and I need some feedback about how to do the angle in the articulation (I'm talking about the angle in the knee when looking from the front). Sinric's pattern uses an assymetrical upper lame to accomplish this. However, when looking at...

Lord Vanguard

InfinitySteel wrote:I love my home built planisher. It knocks wrinkles dead.

Now this is heavy duty! With a pedal, too. Nice machine InfinitySteel, thanks for sharing!

P.S. There's also a heavy duty mess on the floor

I'm just teasing you

Lord Vanguard

The big 72" one Pad, So Vanguard, what other junk you got laying around? Perhaps you would like to make one of these: http://home.armourarchive.org/members/halberds/AirPounder.jpg Have fun Hal Yep, I've been mentally building one of these in my sleep for some time now :twisted: I already have a pne...

Lord Vanguard

Yes, these are brass bushings. I put grease fittings and cut a narrow slot in the bushings lenghtwise so that they can be greased evenly. Without grease, I don't think they would survive. But like this it is just fine. It gets hot but it spins well.

Lord Vanguard

LV, I forgot, I would be concerned about that motor in an environnement with conductive metal dust. It may not last long. Maybe make some kind of shield to help protect it from said dust? Pad There is a small shield on top of the motor, to prevent dust from falling into the motor, but I don't know ...

Lord Vanguard

Thanks for your comments guys :) Very cool, where did you get the industrial velcro from? I got it from my local Canadian Tire store. They sell it as a conversion kit to use velcro disks instead of stick-on disks. http://home.armourarchive.org/members/vanguard/Homemade%20sander/Velcro%20pad.JPG

Lord Vanguard

Hello ladies and gentlemen! In my quest for tools to make long and boring tasks more pleasant, I built a disk sander to polish armour pieces. Sanding by hand takes forever and is hard on the joints, so I woke up one day thinking "Hey, I have to do something about it!" So, 2 weeks and 3$ later, here ...

Lord Vanguard

Infinity, Please, please post the patterns. Or even better a brief how-to so we won't make the same mistakes. I made one of these 2 years ago, the pattern is here with some brief instructions if you want it. You will probably have to enlarge it some since I made it to fit me (5'8" and 130#). Yeah, ...

Milanese legs almost complete

New patterns for you

Milanese legs progress pictures

Need help with milanese legs

I made a disk sander