Ed's other kit, 15th century

[Sir Edward]

It's interesting, I originally bought my plate armor for combat use, and didn't put too much of an eye towards any particular style or century. Then it never happened-- our reenactment society collapsed, and the armor became one of my renfaire kits.

What sort of style/century do you think this most closely resembles? I know there are a lot of inaccuracies in the design (yes, yes, I know the sunglasses are the biggest error ).  Some pics:



Gradually I may replace some components as I find things that fit better or are more period in design. I also want to add greaves and voyders. Some nice gaunts would be good, since I'm not happy with the ones I have so far. I'm not sure what helm I'll use in the long run, though I recently got one of the GDFB sallets. The gorget that came with this harness was total crap, but using a bevor instead is kinda nice.

As far as the fit, I think I'm rather fortunate since the armourer asked for very little in the way of measurements beyond height and weight.

The legs are slightly roomy and I have trouble keeping them from riding down on my knee, since the strapping was done with a single large belt-loop centered in the front of each cuisse. I've buckled them in as short as I can and it's still slightly low. I like the idea of pointing it to a doublet, so when my Revival Clothing arming cotte gets here I may drill some holes and try to point the legs that way. The other issue with the legs is that the demi-greave digs into the shin-bone something fierce... I have to wear foam pads inside the boots that extend up under the demi-greave to make this bearable.

The cuirass is mostly a good fit but with one hugely annoying detail-- I have a little extra room, front to back, down near the bottom, but it's really snug on the hips. To the point that the rivets there will leave me blistered by the end of the day if I'm not careful. Right through the gambeson. I've been gluing foam pieces over those rivets to prevent this. This appears to be less of a problem when my body weight is higher (like now), but if I lose 10 pounds I'll probably be in more pain again.

I like the pauldrons, but they don't wrap as tightly as I think they should. If you look at the last photo where I'm turned slightly, you can see they stick out off my back a bit.

The arms haven't given me any trouble so far. While the vambraces are a little big, the arms stay in place reasonably well even without pointing them to the under-garment.

The mail fauld is still a work in progress. I'm using enormous 1/2" ID butt-rings of 14g galvanized steel. Not very period, but the large ring size makes the work go quickly when I actually work up the motivation.

Anyway, suggestions and comments are always welcome. Except about the sunglasses. haha

[Sword Chick]

 Except about the sunglasses. haha

But you know that's my favorite part!

[Das Bill]

As it is, though, it's a nice piece for Ren Fairre use. Having of course seen the armor in person, the one thing that has always stuck out to me is the cuirass. The shaping is kind of weird... the fact that it goes so low without a fauld is also sort of strange. And the fluting on it lacks a certain subtlety of period originals. I think the pauldrons and arms look pretty decent, though.

If you plan on replacing anything, the cuirass would be my suggestion. The legs do look a little wide, but they don't stick out as much... plus I know you were considering getting the Revival.us legs anyway. Maybe you should consider getting one of the GDFB breastplates? Or even this, that I posted a few moments ago:

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=76709

[Sir Wolf]

i've always wanted Ed to come up here so we could make greaves and faulds for that kit.

as it is it looks to have 14thc legs and arms, a 15c body w/ pauldrons.  i have a similar deal only i have 16thc pauldrons with my suit. its a good suit when it was made for sca and has lasted Ed a good number of years at the faire.

Ed what you really need to do is order that full suit of 14thc stuff from GDFB. come on, you know you want too hehehehehe

if Ed were to replace anything I'd say go for the body and legs first.  get the Revival legs and look for a breast and back.  the GDFB breast is nice but it doesn't have a back, and since he's going for full plate eheehe it would be a bit breezy

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, I'm still very tempted by the revival.us legs. It's funny, they strike me as almost too light, just because I'm used to these beastly legs in my current kit. They're like 14g steel or something. But they're very cost effective and look good, and seemed to fit me pretty well. And if I get those and use the greaves with them, I guess I need to finally get used to using more period footwear... heh.

The GDFB legs also seemed like a good fit, though I was very displeased with their greaves.

That breastplate on the armourarchive looks fantastic. I could also consider the GDFB one... but as Wolf said, I really want a back on it too.

[Das Bill]

the GDFB breast is nice but it doesn't have a back, and since he's going for full plate eheehe it would be a bit breezy

True, though it wouldn't be out of the question. The Paulus Kal manuscript has quite a number of guys fully armoured without backs. Some of them have mail underneath, others either don't, or else the mail is supposed to be under their garments where it can't be seen. But I can certainly understand if Ed wants to get the back.

As another thought, its possible to get the front and have someone add a back to it later.

[Sir Wolf]

some have mail with no backs true, and some look to be breastplates over thinner jacks. 

what about the windlass (MRL) breast and back. has anyone seen that?

[Das Bill]

The Windlass cuirass is surprisingly decent for the price. Christian has one. In fact, its the cuirass that Ben is wearing in Christian's first book, if you have that. Though I believe Christian said he had to work on the lames to make them articulate a little better.

The Windlass arms are decent, except that the elbows are really big. They need "squishing". I own the pauldrons, and they don't articulate very well as-is, but Peter Fuller did some work on them to make then work incredibly well, so at least they can be salvaged by a good armourer. The gauntlets are the most beautiful and expensive hand puppets you'll ever see: They barely articulate at all. Completely useless as armour, unfortunately. Peter Fuller worked on mine as well, and he made them slightly better, but there was only so much he could do without just making a brand new pair. I haven't seen the legs.

[Sir Edward]

So, I finally got to try out the new helm + bevor with my armor...  (pics wholly stolen from Sword Chick)

The legs worked a little better last night too. Some photos show them sitting a little funny, but for the most part they moved with me pretty well. I'm cautiously optimistic about pointed them to the arming cotte when it arrives.

[Sword Chick]

So, I finally got to try out the new helm + bevor with my armor...  (pics wholly stolen from Sword Chick)

Well, Sir Wolf, Christian and Das Bill know where they can see more. 

[Sir Edward]

I guess it's a private gallery right? Otherwise we could post a link.

These copies I yanked, I brightened them up a little before posting them here, since the lighting apparently wasn't real good for photos that night.

Great photo gallery by the way! I love the "I'm too sexy" comment. Haha!

(oh also, it made me realize that the attachment settings in the forum were kinda restrictive. I'm allowing 256k per post now, and have increased the total disk allocation for attachments from 10 megs to 200 megs).

[Sir Wolf]

So, I finally got to try out the new helm + bevor with my armor...  (pics wholly stolen from Sword Chick)

Well, Sir Wolf, Christian and Das Bill know where they can see more. 

we do? i dont follow

[Das Bill]

Yes, the super secret gallery... aka "That website that everyone who is not a preteenage girl is afraid of admiting they have a profile on, even though we all do by now".

Yes, I was surprised at how well your bevor worked with the harness. For those who'd seen it before, that's the GDFB one that I had that wouldn't work with my harness because of the bizarre shape of the bevor. It isn't totally perfect with Ed's harness, as there is still a slight gap under it, but nowhere near as bad as it was with my cuirass. It had gotten in the way with my pauldrons, but it seemed to work fine with Ed's.

Thank you, Ed, for posting pictures that show us from above the knee... We were at VAF, and were wearing our typical athletic pants and sneakers before suiting up. Very authentic, circa 2000 to 2010.

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, the gap under the bevor isn't too bad. Also, it allows me some range of motion with my head, and I can stand naturally. My previous sallet (made for SCA combat), forced me to hold my head slightly forward (forward and chin out), and I couldn't turn my head at all. However, it allowed great vision.

The relatively thin eye slit on this sallet is much more period appropriate, but I was surprised by how little I could see. If I looked at my opponent's face, I could not see their arms below the shoulder, or the weapon at all if it was held low. If I looked down at the weapon, I lost sight of their head and shoulders. And in both cases I couldn't see what the feet were doing. These are all things I take for granted during sparring and practice drills.

I'll need to adjust the helmet's suspension a little in any case, since it was resting on my glasses the whole time, and sat perhaps a little low anyway. If I were to try fighting without glasses, I'd be even more blind.

[Das Bill]

The relatively thin eye slit on this sallet is much more period appropriate, but I was surprised by how little I could see. If I looked at my opponent's face, I could not see their arms below the shoulder, or the weapon at all if it was held low. If I looked down at the weapon, I lost sight of their head and shoulders. And in both cases I couldn't see what the feet were doing. These are all things I take for granted during sparring and practice drills.

I think this is exactly why you see so many pictures with the visor up during combat.


Or why many period painting show men at arms wearing a sallet without a bevor, which allows excellent protection from above, but still allows good visibility from below.

The visor could always be lowered if necessary (a hailstorm of arrows coming in, for instance), but can be lifted for combat where higher visibility and air ventilation is necessary.