The Armour Archive

If you have any you want to dispose of, please hit me.

My 10 year old daughter wants armour. What is a father to do?

Thanks!

Glaukos the Athenian

Wade makes the best Kid Armour

Leo has some nice stuff too

HE sells little plastic great helms that look realish

Glaukos the Athenian wrote:If you have any you want to dispose of, please hit me.

My 10 year old daughter wants armour. What is a father to do?

Thanks!

Glaukos the Athenian

Lamellar- a good kid's project that can grow with the child if they remain interested.

Plastic is the way to go!

There is plenty of plastic "Armor" looking TOYS out there... If you want to give her REAL ARMOR.. I'ld make it metal.. Aircraft aluminum.
And (as the other gentle said) lamallar is a 'Grow With You" kind of armour.
Imagine if your first Crown (or ANY) tourney, you got to fight in the (evolved) first suit of Real Armor you ever owned...

Plus with a little preshaping and simple instruction... the Kid can make or expand the suit themselves.... After all construction wise: their just metal lacing cards... every so often a new row or column... and during the growth spurts one of each..
With tapered forms you can even do vamb and greave sets that can grow.

Are there any patterns so I can make her a torso armour out of aluminum lamella?

I believe she would like something like this:
http://content9.flixster.com/photo/73/9 ... 83_gal.jpg

But without the crazy face of Collin Farrell...

I have three pieces of armour that I use for demos for kids, that are kid-sized. However, I'm not looking to part with them. Two were accidentally made too small for a customer, so I got a deal on them. The third is a welded stainless mail shirt from Darkwood. I got the medium mail shirt which costs $185, and my daughter wears it like a hauberk. It's light enough that she wore it for several hours on Hallowe'en. I believe that these are made by ring mesh, who might be able to do a smaller one.

Make it out of steel. You know you want to... It really is nicer than the full sized stuff because there is less of it. Plannishing/grinding/buffing are annoying per square foot - fewer is good.

Seriously, what do you need? a breastplate and helmet? Not that hard. Tom and James did 2 one day visits where they cranked those out for James' kid.

I did my cheapy many years ago between Thursday and Monday one week. It wasn't great, but it was armour. The rest of the kid armours I have made took a lot longer. Don't do riveted mail if you want it to be quick.

There isn't any real reason to do aluminum or plastic for weight. My kid is a skinny as a rail and not athletic and he doesn't have problems with the stuff I make - and I don't make it terribly thin.

One nice thing about making real armour is you will enjoy it long after the kids outgrow it. I love having the stuff lying around.

Wade

Kids' heads tend to be larger in proportion to their bodies than adults' are (like puppies' feet- they grow into them). You should be able to get away with a small, lightweight adult helmet and pad it out or add a good suspension liner. That way she'll take longer to outgrow it. Her neck is going to be shorter, though, so helmet height will still be an issue. Unless she actually wants to fight in it and not just wear it for costume purposes, I would do something that sits just on the top of the head like a Norman conical or cervelliere.

Klaus, father of a future fighter

I agree with Wade. The 14th century arms that I made years ago for Robyn of Rye were of stainless; they had fully cased vambraces and a rerebrace (and were designed for Heavy Weapons combat remember) weighed in at 1 lb 12 oz each. A harness made for youth combat will be startlingly light.


Frederich

Ok, so who makes economicaly priced armour for children with a way to contact them? I have been looking for a basinet and some other 14th century items for a while now?

Edward

Find a butted mail shirt. You can get them cheap these days. Remove a couple of sections to size it. Add a bit back as she grows. As mentioned aboove, if it's for costume, you can have her wear it with a Norman nasal helm and you're set with a more real set of armor rather than plastic.

Edward, sending you a PM.

Sir Tas can help you out. with the lamalar lacing I think Duke Logan is selling some lightweight brass something or other. Check his webiste.