The two helmets I finished on the weekend.

Mad Matt · Post by **Mad Matt** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 1:56 pm

Well I was really busy on the weekend. Basically binging after not being able to armour for so long.

Anyway I managed to finish 2 helmets. They're my first helmets so they're not very good. But I thought I'd show em off anyway and hopefully get some comments good and bad.

The first one is a greathelm. It's 16ga mild steel and it won't pass an SCA inspection since the eyeslot ended up a little too big. But it didn't turn out too horrible.

http://www.geocities.com/madmattsarmory/greathelm.html

The second one is a spangenhelm with occulars. I actually started this quite a while ago (back before I broke my thumb). I basically wen about things all wrong. I read Krag's tutorial after it was well on it's way and figured I might as well finish it and learn some more from my mistakes along the way.

http://www.geocities.com/madmattsarmory/spangenhelm.html

Anyway lemme know what you think. Feel free to post constructive criticism as well as pats on the back.

No I'm not selling helmets yet. I'm not good enough at them to be comfortable selling them yet. Soon though maybe after a couple more I'll make something I'll be happy enough with to sell.

BTW the spangen-helm doesn't meet SCA regs either.

course it wasn't meant to either but someone would've probably pointed that out.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Gundo · Post by **Gundo** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 5:12 pm

Good first tries, both of them.

The most glaring flaw in your great helm, in my view, is that the tabs on the cap are too wide, basically twice as wide as they should be. This probably contributed to the little "corners" you've got on each tab at the point where they're turned down. The lower front plate is a little oversize, which gave you the 'frogmouth" effect we see in the sideview, but you did a good job of forming the nasal to compensate for the misalignment. The join of the back plates looks good, and you got the lower edges of the front and back plates lined up, which I've failed to do myself.

For the spangen: A little more diligence in planishing and matching the curves of the inset plates would have gone a long way. The bottom strap/band looks kinda lumpy, and there seems to be a big gap on the right rear. The lower curve of the ocular seems too wide, which you may have done for strength, but it just looks wrong to me. Nice thinking on using the truss heads; I think they look great on that style helm.

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<B>Gundobad,
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Sanity is very rare. Every man almost, and every woman, has a dash of madness - R.W. Emerson

A position worth taking, is worth defending.

Bartok · Post by **Bartok** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 7:18 pm

How did you manage to peen the rivets on the inside of the spangenhelm? I tried once and couldn't manipulate a hammer inside. I ended out using a stake and peening on the outside.

Bartok

Who's convinced he's missing something obvious...

Gundo · Post by **Gundo** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 8:31 pm

I use a large chunk of bar stock with a bluntly rounded end as a "pile driver" to peen such rivets...Matt may have a hammer with a long head to do it.

------------------
<B>Gundobad,
Wise Ogre Armory
Wise Ogre Pic of the Day
Wise Ogre Armory T-shirts & more</B>

Sanity is very rare. Every man almost, and every woman, has a dash of madness - R.W. Emerson

A position worth taking, is worth defending.

Bartok · Post by **Bartok** » Tue Jul 10, 2001 9:35 am

Thanks Gundo. I knew there had to be a more plausable solution beyond leaving a saucer of milk out for the faeries so they'd do it for me

Bartok

Mad Matt · Post by **Mad Matt** » Tue Jul 10, 2001 11:36 am

Dammit I was writing a big reply and it up and dissapeared on me.

Anyway I just creatively swung a regular ball pien. I plan on making a long one. I've got the extra ball pien I just need to get around to cutting off the ball and going over to my brother's place to weld it back on with a piece of metal dowel in between.

Also cutting off the flat end of the hammer will let you peen rivits and swing the hammer easier inside of a helmet like the greathelm. I didn't get around to dooin that yet either. But I do have a bunch of hammers for this purpose. $2.95 CDN 14 oz ballpiens from Princess auto.

The spangenhelm. Like I said sorta. It's a piece of crap. I went about it all wrong. The skull was put together before the band went on the bottom. I dished the panels out first I didn't dish the bands. Basically I ended up putting things together realizing my mistake and then kinda mashing it into some semblance of a helmet. Next time I'll do things differently.

The greathelm. Actually the face plate is the correct size. It's the plate over the forehead that's too small. It needs about another 1/2"-1" worth of width in the eyeslot area.

The nasal reinforce is crooked. I'm suprised you liked it.

Smaller tabs would have made things easier. It's not quite as pointy as it looks in the pics though. I think I was having a bad picture taking day.

Also the helm is a tad on the small side. I've got a 22.5" brow line and there might just barely be enough space for sufficient SCA padding. Which doesn't really matter since the eyeslot is too big for SCA anyway.

Also the attentive viewer will probably pick up on the fact that I totally forgot about the nasal piece when I drilled the breaths. I would have liked it to come down a little more on the bottom side but couldn't because the holes are too close to the center line.

Hehe. Something elce funny about the breaths. They're not round. It seems the drill bit I used to drill the holes was bent a little. So the holes are all the same shape but they're not perfect circles.

Anyway Thanks for the comments Gundo. Here's a tip on lining up the plates at the bottom. Lots of vice grips. Punch the holes in the outside plate first. Then drill through those holes into the bottom (back) plate. I was actually kinda suprised everything lined up.

Also Just a construction note. I started with the face plate. Then did the forehead plate. Then the lower back then the upper back then the top. Seemed to work ok that way but fitting the top on was a little difficult.

Then for assembly I attached the two top plates. Then put the cap on them. Then the lower back then the lower front. And the nasal at the very end.

Wouldn't mind any other nitpicking anyone elce has to offer on these. That is why I posted em here.

Thanks for your comments Gundo they've been helpfull.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

Clay · Post by **Clay** » Tue Jul 10, 2001 11:45 am

Looks good Matt! I like the narrow occulars on the spangen helm - gives it a 'mean' look.

accdntprone · Post by **accdntprone** » Tue Jul 10, 2001 12:56 pm

For the greathelm, I would suggest doing a dished top, riveted to a "flange" on the upper front and back. I have a very nice pattern for the Von Prach (spelled wrong Im sure) that I would be happy to share with you.

Mad Matt · Post by **Mad Matt** » Tue Jul 10, 2001 1:40 pm

Clay: I kinda like the narrow occulars too. I designed the shape of em for the evil look it's actually the angle of the lines that does it. Can see plenty good too. Thanks for the compliment.

Accdntprone: Actually I wanted to make a flat top. You're talking about something like the pembridge right?

Absolutly send me the patterns. I'd love to have em.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

accdntprone · Post by **accdntprone** » Tue Jul 10, 2001 2:59 pm

Yeah, its like a pembridge. There is a pic of one (the one I sent to thorgrim) on my page. I would be happy to send you the pattern but need ya to email me your mailing addy again. (you all know how I lose things

)