LOTS of info here. You might be better off splitting into two threads; one for 13th century kit, one for 14th century.
I am looking to make multiple kits from different centuries. Currently, I am focusing on 13th and 14th. One of the problems about this is that it is really expensive to do both. So I am going to cheat a little and buy curtain parts of armor seen through multiple centuries that I can use for multiple kits. So again, currently I am looking to complete a 13th c. and 14th c. kits.
The nice thing about earlier periods of armor is that you can start with an earlier kit, do the "full maille" thing, and pushing forwards in time means adding different bits of plate, while still retaining most (or all) of that maille base. I suggest starting with 13th, and then moving to 14th.
Of coarse this thing will be a pain in the butt to get into so I will have to split open the back of the hauberk and add leather and strings. I would also cut open the back of the chausses and do the same.
Don't do that. Chausses will pull on like, umm, stockings. They don't need to be split, and shouldn't be, unless they're the half-style designed to be open in the back. If you want to split the hauberk, you might want to do so in the front. You might have to tweak the split slightly for that ventail style. It will pull on just like a jacket. I am doing my hauberk the same way, but it'll be months or more before I get it finished since multiple demos are coming up and I have to shift focus.
It is also historical to have mail split and laced in the front, at least in some time periods. I have a good thread about that:
http://modernchivalry.org/forum/index.php?topic=2156.0For my 13th century kit I am only going to buy one type of plate armor and that is the helm. I'm very interested in a Dargen Great helm. Royal Oak armory has a realllyyy nice one. Its $700 but man its beautiful.
Many things with armor, you get what you pay for. It is worth $700. Whether or not it is worth that price *for you*, specifically, is another question. That all depends what you'll use it for, how often, how authentic do you want your kit to be ... what else could you buy for $700 that may be more important (armor or not), should you save the $700 towards college / retirement / house, etc. It's a question only you can answer.
I am not sure what too wear under my chausses. Do I get normal wool or linen chausses or padded ones.
Wool is historical, linen is more comfortable for some. Padding isn't necessary unless you are fighting. I've seen crusader era with padded chausses *over* the mail.
I am slightly confused about a jupon. Is it padded or is it just a short surcoat?
I believe unpadded, but just a shortened surcoat. Surcoats shortened as time progresses.
What ever it is I plan to make one with straps or strings on the sides to make it just right.
Use laces and button holes. It will make it snug and is less obtrusive than buckles. I can't recall off the top of my head but there might be a few effigies which show the criss-cross on the side of mid-era surcoats.
As seen in figure 1, he has a coat of plates over his maille,( just like in figure 3 and what i believe in figure 2) also he has plate or splinted arms with, i guess you could say, splinted gauntlets, again like in figure 2 and 3.
These all look like coat of plates.
Figure 2 and 3 have those shin guards and soup can knees I was talking about.
Shin guards = schynbalds (when it is only the front of the leg)
Ya is this a historically accurate kit? Should I make this purchase? If so will I be able to use maille legs from the 13th century with my 14th c. kit?
Maille chausses, as far as I know, isn't "13th century or 14th century" except for a few details - wedge vs pin riveted, alternating solids or all riveted. The "style" (shaping) of the mail for chausses (legs) doesn't seem to change - at least not like plate does.
As seen in the top left of figure 2, he has a secret helm w/ aventail also with the maille coming up over the nose. I show figure 4 to demonstrate the helm and mittens. These are illustration pictures so they may be a bit off. Hold on, im having a bit of trouble with the pictures.
I believe they are all from the Osprey series books. I am sure at 3 of the 4 are. Graham Turner is the artist, and he specializes in medieval art for ~30 years. His illustrations are generally good. If you're going for good historical basis, they're fine. If you're going for living history quality, you always want to go to original sources... effigies, brasses, period artwork done in the time you are looking at.
It's somewhat like asking "do I want a 14th century look?" or "do I want to replicate an exact armor of the 14th century?". If it's the former, it sounds like you've got a good idea in mind. If it's the latter, you need to change what you base your kit off of.
