The Armour Archive

Edited - see red text below.

I recently bought a klappvisor bascinet from wild armoury (sold in this thread).

I asked Maxim to also add a bar-grill, which he did. The helm was in my hot little hands this morning, nearly 4 weeks EARLY.

All in all, this cost me $515 USD (about $585 AUD, after exchange expenses) delivered to my door from the Ukraine.

You can see some good pictures in the thread linked above. Some pictures of the helm on my ugly head are:



In the pictures above, I haven't attached the aventail to the helm, but it came already attached to the punched leather, ready to go.

The helmet fits like a dream and is very comfy, and the shovel-face visor works really well. I've never fought in a closed-face helm before, so I can't offer a comparison on the vision, but I didn't feel claustrophobic or anything.

Unfortunately, the bar-grill visor's hinge is stuck. I moved it through about 90 degrees by hand this morning, but in doing so bent (a bit) the hinge and flap that attaches to the helm. I am hoping some WD-40 will fix the problem, and the bend I have put in the flap will be easy to fix with my rawhide hammer.

For interest, here are some photos of the bar grill Maxim sent me before shipping:



So, in summary:

Cost: What a deal! 5 stars.
Quality: Everything was perfect, except the stuck hinge, which drops the score down to 3 stars, unfortunately.
UPDATE: The application of a squirt of WD40 and a tap from my rubber mallet fixed the problem, which was probably just due to the paint Maxim put on the inside of the visor (to stop rust) or some bumping during shipping. I'm revising my rating to 4 stars.
Communication: Maxim really held my hand along the whole process, with photo updates and everything. 5 stars.
Timeliness: Like I said, arrived nearly four weeks early, and he posted the parcel on boxing day! 5 stars.

I would recommend anyone to buy from Wild Armoury, and I'm pretty sure I will be doing so in the future myself!

Regards,

Columb

I've updated the quality rating after spending a little more time with the helmet after I got home from work.

Looks great!

Maxim has done all my armour currently. And I'm glad he did it for me!

I have two of his bascinets, a hounskull and a larger, earlier bascinet with breache. Well worth what I paid for them.

How did you all do the money transfers. I did one with him through a paypal arrangement he had, but the other transfers have put me off a little.

Cool, are you going to be sporting that in the 30 at festival?

Magnus_Jager wrote:How did you all do the money transfers. I did one with him through a paypal arrangement he had, but the other transfers have put me off a little.

Everything was done via Western Union.

Expensive as hell, but no issues.

Guillaume de Cambrai wrote:

Magnus_Jager wrote:How did you all do the money transfers. I did one with him through a paypal arrangement he had, but the other transfers have put me off a little.

Everything was done via Western Union.

Ditto. I started with the idea of doing a bank transfer, but it was just as expensive and, to be frank, too hard.

I was a little scared of using Western Union, since I've only ever heard of it in connection to scams, but Maxim's communications made me feel pretty safe and it all worked out.

Regards,

Columb

Wulfgar wrote:Cool, are you going to be sporting that in the 30 at festival?

That's the plan! But not this year, unfortunately. We are going to May Crown instead, and besides, I haven't made my CoP yet.

Regards,

Columb

Guys..do Money Gram..at Walmart
Much much cheaper
same service
they have them there

Italo Norman wrote:Guys..do Money Gram..at Walmart
Much much cheaper
same service
they have them there

I didn't think Money Gram at Walmart did over 500 dollars?

I sent money gram all the time..Western Union is too damn expensive..what is it 12 to 15 for every $100?
Mgram is like $8 up to $200...do a couple if need be? I will be ordering a helmet from Maxim tomorrow. I have done Mgrams to the Ukraine before. Should be no problem.
Ranulf

Thanks for the info. I'll have to start using moneygram. I spent a fortune on Western Union...

Apply for there rewards card...my wife and kids are stuck in the Philippines...got laid off last year before their interview in Manila..sucks..so..I send them money Money Gram...you save a few dollars with the card.
Ranulf

Or see if overseas sellers without paypal are able to do Moneybookers...


https://www.moneybookers.com/app/?rid=14474599

Quick Update:

I took this helm to practice yesterday and used it for the first time. The padding works very well, about the same calibration as the too-big loaner helm I was using, that has about an inch of padding to fit me.

The helm, on the other hand, fits really snugly - very comfy, though my hearing was reduced.

Fighting in the closed-face was VERY different - I didn't realise I was using visual cues for my shield positioning, and I took a lot of leg shots.

Regards,

Columb

bump