The Armour Archive

New guy in my unit was over yesterday. I introduced him sort of sideways to the SCA (we both play WoW and he saw some pics on the PC) and to the Armour Archive. He joined up but is lacking internet at the moment so I'm posting this for him.

He is seriously interested in heavy fighting. His background is martial arts and kendo type activity and he's interested in Japanese armor, etc (Pics of Nissan Maxima doing his whup-ass routine apparently helped).

Being a completely European guy, what does it take to get set up in samurai type armor for SCA? I'm guessing most of it is handmade. He's 19 and married, but also military and motivated so I wouldn't put anything past him.

Being in Italy we have very, very few fighters around so I can't just throw him in armor and let him try it out. I advised he start out (for basic gear) with one of the $500 European armor starter kits, but I'd like some opinions.

http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/

You resource for everything Japanese in the SCA. Japanese helms, unfortunately, are often quite expensive. Get in touch with Mykaru, however, of Black Hydra Armouries ( http://www.blackhydraarmouries.com/Base/myhome.htm ), as he recently posted that he'd be making some Jingasa, which would be a very affordable option for your friend.

http://www.yamakaminari.com/
has a useful armour instruction part.

To me Japanese armour made of plastic actually looks halfway decent when its cut, painted, and sewn together right...bleah I can't believe I just said that.

Or he could go a little more expensive route and go with leather that has been laquered.

laquer is a lot more expenncive and time consuming. most of the people I have talken to endup using multipul coats and the stuff tends to get cloudy if not applied just right.

plastic armour can look decent its all about what pattern your using and how much time you plan on investing in the armour making process.

the japanese style usualy looks better then the rest of them due to the time invested in pattern development and construction.
not to mention most of them chose to use sheet palstic or are very good laying out the patterns to avoid the thick spots numbers makers mark used on the plastic barrles.

He's 19? Tell him to go plastic. The Yama Kaminari method is the way to go for the first kit. I firmly believe steel is possible, but it's not for the faint of heart or impatient of mind.

Check out this thread over on the tousando message board. His "Hoteru-do" looks great, is made of plastic and he has progress pics, with links to patterns and such.

Given time, information, patience (take the time to do it right, when you rush, it looks rushed) and a little help from internet friends, you *can* make a decent looking Japanese rig pretty inexpensively.

B. Fulton wrote:New guy in my unit was over yesterday. I introduced him sort of sideways to the SCA (we both play WoW and he saw some pics on the PC) and to the Armour Archive. He joined up but is lacking internet at the moment so I'm posting this for him.

He is seriously interested in heavy fighting. His background is martial arts and kendo type activity and he's interested in Japanese armor, etc (Pics of Nissan Maxima doing his whup-ass routine apparently helped).

Being a completely European guy, what does it take to get set up in samurai type armor for SCA? I'm guessing most of it is handmade. He's 19 and married, but also military and motivated so I wouldn't put anything past him.

Being in Italy we have very, very few fighters around so I can't just throw him in armor and let him try it out. I advised he start out (for basic gear) with one of the $500 European armor starter kits, but I'd like some opinions.

I'm a little biased, but yeah, for starting off, the plans on yamakaminari.com (or some variation thereof) is pretty easy to do (though time-consuming, especially if you want lots of lacing), fairly inexpensive (i use sheet plastic, and it takes about 1/2 of a 4' x 8' plastic sheet for a whole kit, and in the US, such a sheet runs about $65, plus lacing), and can look pretty good if you put some effort into it.

The only expensive and (somewhat) difficult to get items are a kabuto (it's been so long since I commissioned one, I have no idea what a reasonable going rate is, I just know that find armorers who make them can be tough; I've heard that $300 is not unreasonable for a lower-end functional one) and gauntlets (I go with black Kydex ones from E.G.G., which run about $150 these days)

My kit is a little bit more extravagant, and not perfect (see: mundane footwear and occasional exposed inauthentic arm protection),
[img]http://donald.luby.googlepages.com/GW_XVI-1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://donald.luby.googlepages.com/185701860-O.jpg/185701860-O-full.jpg[/img]
but compared to many, it looks pretty good IMO.

And if he needs help with any of the instructions, have him contact us (or just me), and help will be forthcoming in a reasonable amount of time (though probably not immediately before or after Pennsic).

I am so privileged to camp with Kaminari. Sir Koredono is the man.