The Armour Archive

btmcrae

So, do you like gladiator movies, son? :P Pictures from the Pompeii exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington, USA (taken by my brother who visited there this past week). Enjoy! Gladiator helmets/greaves: http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e245/btmcrae/pompeii01.jpg http://i40.phot...

btmcrae

So, call it "plate n' mail".

Many will refer to it "transition armor" in reference to it being the mix of both armors being definitive of the *transition* from mail to plate armors.

btmcrae

"You're going to want your armor made *this* way your Highness, as Lord Fontleroy is rumored to be a bit of a buggerer, and Baron Hans Von Kleinschwanz is said to be...envious of others, or so I hear."

Great armor to be sure.

btmcrae

You could just grind down the rounded dome of the rivet head to be flat, hammering it flatter as necessary. I did that for the buckle attachment for my spaulders project. Worked like a charm. If you would need to make a whole bunch of them then you might as well order some though.

btmcrae

Japanese armor is not in my area of knowledge, but welcome to the site.
Also, this thread ought to have been started in the second forum down on the list, that being the "Armour: I want to be a..." forum.

btmcrae

Eric's videos are great, but has anyone seen historical examples of hinges made in the way shown in the video? It almost seems too easy(and I'm hoping that it is

), but I'm wondering if it is authentic.

btmcrae

Thanks for the links Johann. This will help me too.

btmcrae

Wow! Nice shields

If I ever get around to making a BP shield(definitely the War shield), I'd just paint the front details on.

I love to see all of that applied detail though.

btmcrae

I'm glad to see I'm no the only madman who has raised an elbow cold. :lol: I had the same problem about the corner cracking during shaping the elbow. The rounded corner trick and filing it last make complete sense to me now. I had my brother weld it up for me(bless his shop contents) and then I sand...

btmcrae

Beautiful stuff! You spoil us with your armor pr0n, and I thank you for doing so.

btmcrae

I've always liked this style of helm. Though I can't recall where I got this mental picture from, I envision that instead of the center of the top of this helm rounding off it instead comes to a central point- not a spike, but an extremely shallow cone shape overall, such that the top of the helm is...

btmcrae

Only when the media is around. It is just a really hot buzz word to get dumbasses to respond to something, and respond they do as there are apparently a lot of dumbasses around. I blame it on hedging the bet of the dumbasses through modern technology. Life just doesn't make it difficult enough for t...

btmcrae

Makes you wonder how well heat-treated/hardened that "armor piercing" arrow is too. Can't say as I saw that entire special though, so I don't know. I'm betting a bit more was done with armor piercing arrows than just hammering them out like they were nails.

btmcrae

That is some beautiful work. Can't really say much more than that.

May we see some pics of the inside areas(crown/rim) of the helm please?

btmcrae

That is some beautiful work. Gotta be in pretty good shape to fit into that waist line too. So I go and see the Knight School site and notice the jousting event that I missed which happended just yesterday, and less than a two hour drive away near San Diego. :( I'll definitely be going next year now...

btmcrae

Now your neighbor will want to build a wall to keep the kid out.

btmcrae

I really do like how ugly the metal looks before it gets polished up, mainly as I think it is good for folks new to armoring(like me) to see that this is normal, and to not be disheartened by their intial work looking bizzarely un-armor-like(with regards to the metal's color). Sort of an ugly duckli...

btmcrae

This is one of the threads that really lit the fire under my butt to go out and get a few tools and scraps of metal, just to see just what I could do with them. There ought to be a special place for such helpful, impressive, and fully fleshed out project threads like this. Perhaps a special web page...

btmcrae

That rivet looks great. My only concern is that the walls of the rivet could collapse and splay outwards or inwards when the rivet is peened(or it could be damaged in combat by a solid hit). Is this a real concern, or is there a specific way to peen these rivets so that this wouldn't be an issue? By...

btmcrae

If non of those options works out or is acceptable, you could always turn it into a visored sallet as well. The shaping is too nice for this piece to just become a dusty relic on anyone's shelf of shame.

btmcrae

That's a real nice one Eric. For me, hardware is a bit finicky to make, but it looks like even I could make a buckle like this(and probably without needing heat even). Thanks for this very good visual tutorial. I've seen them all and look forward to the next one. If you are taking requests for movie...

btmcrae

You could just weld up the proper wedge shape(with ever so slightly rebated edges) using some 1/4 plate and attach it to a 1" square bar for the hardy hole, or use one of those large railroad spikes if you have one lying around collecting rust and dust. The wedge shape will of course need some extra...

btmcrae

I think that more clearly defined musculature would look better. To do this on leather I would imagine that you would score the lines of the musculature first and then bought out the the areas to define them. Perhaps you bough it a bit first, then score, and then do a final boughing to clean it up. ...

btmcrae

Cat: My brother would repsond to your excitement with "Why are all the good ones taken? By chance does she have a sister who is single and that likes welding, half-assembled engine blocks, junky cars, and other such things littering the garage, back yard, side yards, and creeping out into the front ...

btmcrae

I saw an air planisher in action on a show about custom building motorcycles (NOT American Chopper w/ the Tuttles, some other show). One of the guys made a custom gas tank in halves from stainless. He just dished the metal through a wooden form he made, after which he took the roughed out halves to ...

btmcrae

Check this thread out for some other "armourer's mark" ideas too.

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=63415

btmcrae

I have a store 8 miles from me, so shipping is not a problem. :D What I plan on using it for is just for doing that final painstaking planishing work. No doming or anything like that at all, and I don't think I'll use it on anything heavier than 16 gauge. After reading MadMatt's idea for a air power...

btmcrae

Does anybody have any further personal reviews on the Harbor Freight air planisher? Due to a chronic shoulder injury I am considering getting one of these. It is on sale right now for $20 off, plus the recent HF mailer has a 15% off coupon on any single item, which drops the base price to around $12...

btmcrae

I think I know what you mean. Some vambraces look like they were made for Popeye. The Black Prince arms look only slightly shaped, so that is what I went for. The side pics might not show the shaping too well though.

btmcrae

Thanks for posting the pics Joust1. The angles of the pics show some of the parts I had qustions about.

Could you post pics of the folded edges you mention?

Thanks.

btmcrae

Well, its only three hours later and the vambraces of the RIGHT arm are now planished, tweaked, and sanded/buffed to a rough finish. Both arms from the elbow down are now done up to the point of doing rolls, if I actually do them. As to the hinges, I haven't had any problems with where they are loca...

btmcrae

Could any more detail be added to that goldwork?

That is some seriously sick artistry there!!!

btmcrae

Its been a while since I've posted any sort of progress. Other things have been distracting me for a while now, but I finally had the chance to get back to work on the bp arms. I have the left lower vambraces almost complete now, having planished them and given them a rough finish. I have a few ques...

btmcrae

Fantastic work, and overall some great kit that is. Nice work as always.

P.S.: Hello to the Kirbys from a couple of McRaes of So. Cal(one of which is myself) who know Kirby from the Round Potrero gatherings.

btmcrae

Looks like a nicely put together book. Oh how I lament the fact that my Grandmother Peisar only taught my mother a few Czech children's songs and not the whole language, which she then could have passed at least some of along to me. Perhaps this will encourage me to learn a bit of Czech on my own. O...

Pompei Exhibit Pics: Gladiator Helmets/Greaves