The Armour Archive

I purchased a CoP kit from Jamie at Polar Bear Forge.
http://www.polarbearforge.com/cop_kit.html

This will be my first CoP and part of my SCA heavy kit.

I am going to post details of my progress as I assemble the kit so new folks can see how I did it and the experts can critque my design/techniques.

I puchased the stainless plates and I will use two layers of 10oz cotton canvas for the outer shell. The first step is to pattern and sew up the outer shell. To do this I folded the canvas in half, layed out the plates, and traced a general pattern out. The standard kit is too big for my 41'' chest so I removed the last plate "F" from the pattern.



I folded the cloth in half agian to create a mirror image of the pattern on both sides.



I cut out the back piece and layed out the plates agian to pattern out the dangly bits on the bottom.



I then sewed around the outside edge of the shell leaving the neck and shoulder lines open. My singer machine had no problem going through the canvas once I got the right needle in.

I then flipped the shell inside out, ironed down the edges, and sewed agian around the outside to lock the seam in.

I chose to use a french seam at the shoulders and facing at the neck line. My torso cast was useful for making sure my pattern was correct. I talk about the torso cast here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=143358




I am waiting for rivets to arrive from RJ Leahy so I will post more progress pics when they arrive and I can get to riveting.

The shell looks good. looking forward to seeing your progress.

I can't wait to see more!

very nice start, should be the beginning of a nice kit.

The armpit looks kind of high, relative to the neck. It fits fine on the bare torso, but how about with the addition of padding, as in whatever aketon-ish thing you may have?

I agree on the armpit being a bit high. The plates don't go that high up the armpit so I may just trim the shell down a bit.

Progress update:

Curling the plates.


Dishing the chest pieces. The first dishing I have ever done.


All of the pieces are shaped.


Using Halberds rivet set.


I expect to finish the rest of the CoP within the week or so.

And done.







What I know is wrong:
- The shoulder bits are a bit too far forward. Going to just add some grommets to move it back.
- Bit small around the waist but I am wearing hexpads, gambeson, and maille underneath so that adds quite a bit of girth that I wont always have on.
- The back piece needs to be longer and the top D ring needs to be mounted higher for additional adjustment.

Possible suggestions for Jamie:
- Including rivets in the kit. Perhaps you can get a bulk discount and pass the savings onto us if you feel that you can move enough of the kits.
- The top holes of the side plates do not seem to form a continuous smooth arc around on the side plates. Not sure why Jamie chose to modify the hole pattern from the original Wisby find.

Very nice looking kit! You did a good job assembling it. I am sure Jamie will appreciate the feed back too ^u^

It looks good! I always appreciate feedback.

On the rivets, I have considered this. If everybody wanted to use the same style of rivet, then I could stock one type and send them with the kit. Off the top of my head, I can think of 4 different rivet types that people have used.

As to the holes on the side plates, that's a good question. I had to look at my original patterns. Here's what happened, since the the pattern is symmetrical, I just drew half of it. As I look at my pattern, one side had the holes as they are now, and the other side has them in an arc. You can probably guess which side became the pattern.

I'll work on fixing my pattern to make those line up better.

Jamie

Hi, Nice work putting that CoP together, the only thing I would change is to move your shoulder cops down and outward, away from your neck about 2 inches per side. Keep up the good work.


Take care

Pitbull

Looks great! Thanks for sharing.

Ron