Critique My Living History Kit

[RandallMoffett]

Swete,

Your kit looks good. When I lived in England I was part of an Anglo-Saxon/Viking group called DAS. Here is their link.

http://darkagessociety.co.uk/

It was a fun period. I am slowly working on getting a kit together for 10th or 11th century Anglo-Saxon.

Wade,

I think we can assume their was a great deal of variety in breastplate thickness that are high end. There is a breastplate in the RA that is I think German in origin that is only 1.6/8 mm at its thickest and tapers down to 1mm at the edges and is in all likelihood a harness intended for some one of wealth and standing. I am not sure I would say the Avant the more top end for thickness but I get that impression from limited measurements I have taken and obtained.

That said we have breastplates that at their thickest are 1.2-1.4 mm. Many appear to be made for infantry grunts and the likes but until more real work has been done I can only base it if rather small observations.

Williams assumes the average thickness at its thickest is 2mm. When I heard from him last he said it was based off some string estimation of mostly fairly late breastplates to be medieval, though some do consider them medieval. As this is where the bulk of medieval armour, and armour in general lie this makes sense. But if he is right the bulk of breastplates top out about .5mm on either side if it follows normal patterns.

RPM

[Dansknecht]

Just premiered this kit last weekend; English middle class 1580's-1590's. The doublet and venetians were handsewn by me. The doublet is linen canvas lined with more linen and fastened with reproduction tin buttons cast by Chris Last, the Venetians are orange fustian (linen and cotton), lined with linen, and with pockets and trimming of buff leather. The buttons are worked thread made by me. The shoes, cloth hose, hat (my fiance made the hatband), hanger sword, dagger, and ruff came from other sources/individuals. Any thoughts?

[Dansknecht]

And a side shot

[f_hynd]

My current pieced harness. Its supposed to be 14th/15th century. but as ive been making it myself as a learning excersize i might have missed that mark on some parts.




any thoughts on the overall look/ feel of the harness would be nice.

[Wolf]

The reluctant photographer and perfect wife who is wonderful enough to put up with her crazy husband's hobby

LOL! That is SO much a "the things I put up with" look.

hahhahaha i know that look well!!

[RandallMoffett]

Hynd,

You might want to look for some type of textile or padded armour for under your current kit. And some type of hose, leg armour or both.

Cool helmet. Not seen many of those about!


RPM

[robstout]

Dansknecht, where do you find Fustian?

Robert The Stout.

[Dansknecht]

They had it, believe it or not, at an upholstery place near me. They no longer have any unfortunately. There are a few vendors carrying it now online, I'll see if I can rustle them up.

[Steinarr Aggarson]

I want to start working on my soft kit. I'm aiming for a 9th-10th century rus trader. I'm thinking about getting a thinner belt, and making a brass and leather sheath for my seax. The tunic is going to get embroidery around the cuffs and the bottom.

I'm open to suggestions

[Swete]

Steinarr, I am noticing the lacing and toggles on your shoes. Could you explain how that set up works, because it looks very nice. Also, is that some embroidery on your pants around the knees?

[Steinarr Aggarson]

Those are 3 toggle Jorvik Boots from Viking leathercraft

http://www.vikingleathercrafts.com/cata ... cts_id=381

I got the with a hiking boot sole so I could fight in them, but they've been working really well. And for the price its really hard to beat.

The knees have a diamond patterns sewn into them with a reenforced material to make them a lot more durable for fighting. Doesn't stand out in a bad way, and I'm very happey with them.

[Steinarr Aggarson]

The upper lacing for the boots goes above the heel and really locks your feet in much better then stand viking shoe

[Jeppe]

I am aiming for the period from 850AD to the turn of the century. I am portraying a Danish Viking participating in the raiding of the Anglo-Saxon isles. I am a member of the Dark Age Society mentioned earlier, and also the Wychwood Warriors.

LH_kit_1.jpg (93.63 KiB) Viewed 7104 times

LH_kit_2.jpg (88.17 KiB) Viewed 7104 times

LH_kit_3.jpg (93.21 KiB) Viewed 7104 times

[Tom B.]

Please note that I don't have much knowledge of the period / place of your portrayal.
That said I do want to say that your kit does look very nice.

I do have a question, what is the bit of black and white cloth on your belt?

Thanks,

[Swete]

Update as of early this year:

[Lucian Ro]

Damn Swete, dare I say your soft kit looks ... sweet?

[Swete]

Thanks! Most of it is bought piece by piece. I did make the sword harness, the seax, the sheath for the seax, shield , and the phrygian cap.

[J. Morgan Kuberry]

These are my "cavalry" kits, I also have "infantry" ones for both periods but no pictures of those as of yet. I do have a plain ol' spear that goes with the cavalry kits as well, not pictured. They small pics but the best I've got at the moment.

Here is my high medieval Maciejowski inspired kit. Kits are never done though and I have already added a throat flap to the hauberk and done some other things. Working on integral maille mittens now. Of course, this kit really screams out for a shield. Under the coif is a cervelliere, not sure if its visible in the pics. I would love it if I could get the scabbard covered in leather and laced semi-permanently into the belt.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzRnei ... sp=sharing

And here is my 15th century coustillier kit.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzRnei ... sp=sharing

Since taking that picture, I have gone from a haubergon and standard, to a haubergon with integral standard, though you can't tell the difference with the breastplate on anyways. I really should get articulated faulds added to the breastplate too. I am unhappy with how the couters and vambraces hang a bit loose and have decided the only solution is a new, heavier, arming doublet. I got the fabric for it, now I just need a pattern that comes recommended. The sword only looks ok until I draw it, the cross section is a century too early for the 1470's. I have similar feelings about this sword belt, its ok at a distance but not quite on. I work on a shoestring budget though. The points on this kit also drive me nuts, I just got two dozen brass aguilettes to make proper ones for it. Again, we'll see when I get time.

I've actually got step by step "arming sequence" pics of these two kits if anyone wants but I think they'd be missing something as a series of inter-web-links. I'll look into getting them small enough to upload directly.

[ArchibaltDavis]

I'll give it a go.

This is my portrayal of a north Italian man-at-arms, circa 1470. It is based heavily on the armours in the Mantova collection, but incorporating other features from other surviving Italian harnesses from the period c.1450-1490, as well as a few illustrations from the era, notably Mantegna's St. George.











Many more photos may be viewed here, at the website of the photographer:
http://ailinstock.deviantart.com/gallery/

This harness comprises pieces made by Patrick Thaden, William Hurt, Mark Berry, Brian Brown, and myself, all of them constantly worked on, tinkered with, and tweaked by yours truly (with occasional assistance from Benedek, Trevor, and jarlragnar). As worn in these pics, it weighs about 74 pounds, including the 12-pound haubergeon worn beneath. The cuirass is the heaviest component, weighing in at 24 pounds with all the tassets on (a pair of side tassets are not shown). The upper breastplate averages 3.5mm thick, and the plackart 2.3mm thick, according to my digital caliper. The front of the armet is similarly substantial. Other pieces range from .9mm-2mm thick.

There are at least a dozen things wrong with it that I can think of off the top of my head--the armet's ventaglia should be solid, not full of ventilation holes, the occularium should be much smaller, and it should have a wrapper to go with it; my mail standard should be worn inside the cuirass, not outside (and it shouldn't be rusty...), the gauntlets should have scaled fingers; I should have mail footies instead of segmented plate sollerets. Additionally, there are also a couple of mild issues of proportions being slightly off in one or two components. An educated eye may be able to spot other errors. Since these photos were taken, I have swapped out the synthetic SCA padding in the armet for a more authentic liner.

Though not visible, the soft kit worn beneath is pretty standard clothing for the second half of the fifteenth century: wool hosen and an arming doublet (with "no shirt upon him..."), with pretty ordinary turnshoes. I would not have worn the sollerets (which are based on a supposedly Italian pair c.1460 in the Royal Armouries) except that the photographer insisted. I am wearing a tailored haubergeon underneath the harness, which seems to have been common practice among Italians at this time. If I had taken a moment to think about it, I might have remembered to don my separate mail skirt underneath it in order to achieve that spiffy doubled mail skirt look one sees so often in contemporary Italian artwork. I also have brass trim for all the mail elements in the works.

In addition to working on correcting the above-mentioned issues with the kit, I intend to give it a better polish and smooth out all the dents it has accumulated over a decade of SCA use. I am also in the process of arranging to have the whole thing case-hardened at some point in the very near future.

Finally, ignore the Cold Steel pollaxe--it was all I had available.

Wow, this kit looks fantastic! Realy good)