The Armour Archive

I am pretty sure I have finally figured out what I want to stick with for armour so i dont keep building new sets every month. I have drawn it up the best I can and have it online and was wondering if anyone here had any insight or comments before i start working on patterns? thanks
http://angelfire.com/tx5/kotc/bevorpictures.html

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If that is meant to be a kettle hat with an eye slot It could use a little more flairing out. At least the examples I have seen were. But then again it looks a little too flaired out under the chin. You may have to build in a bevor.

Also I have never seen a plackart held up with suspenders before.

OK,comments/insights(remember you asked)
Helm:Lose the maille drape.
It looks cool,but I think it won't pass for SCA,the helm must be at least one inch below the chin,if you do that with the brim it will look like Wierd Harold from the Fat Albert cartoon,and a thrust coming up under it will tear your head off.
Add a bevor?
Plackard with fauld:Cool,I'm planning somthing similar.
The flutes on the fauld look cluttered,reduce the number to match the flutes on the plackard.Lose the two leather shoulder straps or make the whole upper section of the breast/backplate out of leather with brig plates rivited on the inside(this is what I plan on doing) or just rivited leather for the same look.Watch Army of Darkness ,the guy whipping Ash(no pun intended )in the begining is wearing somthing like this.
The whole asymetrical armour thing:I don't understand it,you don't need a pauldron or rer-brace on your right arm but you need a besegew there?????Both your lower legs and feet are armoured(not a legal target)but your right thigh(legal target)isn't?I know Italian armour and some jousting armour was asymetrical but that was differant,both sides had armour just one side was re-inforced and/or had less mobility.
Don't get me wrong I really like the way you designed the left leg/arm I just think the right side should match.
Besegews:Strange shape,never seen any like that before.
Please remember that this is only my personal opinion and not any kind of slam.

Duc, are you a lefty?

nope, I'm not left handed. I'll point out a few things I should have to begin with:

1. the helmet will have steel slats coming down on the inside with the maille over it so it will meet sca standards. The maille is just to hide those slats. The eye slot will probably be alot thinner. I am not fighting just to win, but to represent history. I will not fight with a bar grill. Even if it means I will never win a fight. Its supposed to be a cross between a sallet and a kettle hat, kind of transitional before the kettle hat actually fully evolved into the sallet.

2. I will probably get rid of the shoulder straps on the plackart, although I have seen examples of them before.

3. I used the asymetrical armour for a reason. After looking at my armour after fighter practice, I can see numerouse smudges from the duct tape on my left arm, mostly on the pauldron. there are usually four or five smudges on my right arm and most of those are on my vambrace. After fighting in full plate and realizing that I dont like the restrictments i have when fighting with a sword, I want to cut down on armour on my arms as much as possible. I put the besegew on my right arm as well as my left for historical purposes. I have seen pics of archers and men at arms wearing padded jenkins, a helmet, and besegews, with little or no other plate. If we were using real swords and I had my tendon under my arm cut, the arm would be pretty much useless, as a slice to the top of the arm would probably really hurt, but I could usually still swing my arm. The legs, again, are more armoured on the left for the same reason. I notice more smudges on my left than my right. I will be fightin pole arm most often, and want something protecting my leading leg from wrap shots, not just tights.

4. I got the besegew style from the effigy of Lord Bardolf, who fought in the battle of Agincourt.(from "The Armies of Agincourt" in the men-at-arms series of books) Under the picture the caption reads that the besegews were normaly round or oval, but I wanted something that was different from the norm.

5. I am using greaves because for some reason, I have a tendancy to get my shin kicked. I am using sabatons because I want to stick with my steel toe work boots, but dont want them showing. The boots are thin enough that the sabatons shouldnt be outlandishly large.

Again, I mostly want this type of armour to show off in, not really to win fights. I want to keep it light enough that I can still fight after a few bouts, but not so light that I have any kind of advantage over maille clad fighters. I guess mostly that I wnat to make sure I always have someone better than me or something hard for me to do so that I can always get better at it.

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osprey books are notorious about "creating" some of their info. I would find out about non-circular besageues before going with them. The lengthy point on the sabbatons will be hard to walk in. Trust me. Mine are only about 1 1/2 inch forward of the toe and I have to walk a bit funny. I like the plackard look, if worn over a brig.

by the way, what's wrong with building new sets every month?

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"I'm not fast,
I'm Caffinated!"

In the book it shows a picture of the guys wooden effigy in england, and it has those besegews. I would actually rather have those instead of round ones, because I always have a problem with the round ones sliding under my arm too far and then it hurts like hell when I try and swing my arm down. I'm sure its the way I attach them though.

Theres nothing wrong with making a new suit every month if you have the money for it. I'm about to start college next month, so I have to move from my parents house out in the middle of no where, where no one cares if I beat on metal until 12 at night, into my grandmas house in the ritzy neighborhood along the beach, where making any kind of noise is not an option. Plus I dont have the money to pay for all the rivets and buckles that I need to complete the armour. I dont realize it until my credit card bill comes and I see I spent $500 on "accesories" that I still have to have for the armour to work. I'm just going to finish this armour and keep it until next summer and then make me a new one each summer from then on.