Modification Armour for knight and horse - arms WIP

After some more research, I discovered that the existing saddle simply does not fit a Gothic 15th century knight. So I decided to make a better matching one.

Here our dear Mr. Spock tries the new construction (in fact, it is centuries old, I only copied what already exists):



The saddle tree in more detail:



If you google "Saddle tree 15th century", you will find that the seat was a bit more narrow than this one. But as doll men need a bit more space for a certain part, I had to make a compromise.

It still needs some sanding before covering it with leather. Also the slits for the stirrup straps and the saddle girth still need to be cut out. And of course the eyelets for the different leather straps holding the crinet, peytral and crupper. Then it is done (oh, will I never finish anything?).

 

Well, right now I have to sand the tree smooth. As I ran out of buckles, I reordered some and am waiting for this order. As soon as it arrives, I will sand the saddle tree and continue.

 

In the meantime, I managed to finish his buttplates:





What is still missing, is the center part. From what I can see from another original, it was designed in a similar fashion to the crinet. That means inidividual segments articulated via leather strips. I will try to make according to this original (although this is from another set of armour):

war 1346-1480

(Not picture, first on top left). If you look very closely, you can see the top of the tail is protected by a dragon head/gargoyle. We will see how I can make this...

 

1/6? OMG, that is really tiny. Do you have any kind of WIP thread? I would love to follow that.
However, I have ordered an off-topic 1/6 knight. Although he is also very expensive, I will have to see whether I like his "underwear"...he wears a t-shirt.

Anyways, Alegria's spine armour is almost done. I will post pictures when it is attached.

 

The horsey is coming along nicely...




I am not sure about the mask/dragon/demon covering the tail. I looked a lot at this one, as it is the only one I could see in more detail:

https://www.pinterest.de/pin/450430400217010609/
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/67/4f/8e/674f8e33521bd367f7dede2b06564180.jpg

Again, this is not a real horse nor an original piece. The placement as well as the dragon ears/horns do not really make any sense to me. So I left out the horns. And why such a whole lot of empty space on the horse? Why mail, if they did cover this at the time with plate?

Here is an original piece. Sadly, no clear pic showing a back view:
Image Gallery knights horses armor

Again, for whichever reason, tons of empty, vulnerable space.

On the other hand, I found an old picture showing not gaps at least on this image:
Mittelalter, Ritter, Ritter in voller Rüstung auf dem Pferderücken, Holzstich, Illustration von Les Arts au Moyen Age, von Paul Lac Stockfoto, Bild: 47985498 - Alamy

Of course I have not idea if my construction does even remotely make sense. It is just a combination of originals I found on the net and what I know about armour and horses.

The final chapter will now be armouring the saddle and covering it with leather. Stay tuned!

 

Herewith, the horse armour is done. Of course, the rider's outfit is still lacking a bit. But I wanted to show off this gorgeous leather pants made by Darkling:








Anyways, now it is time for Raph to change his outfit,

 

Yes, I am also really happy.

Although Raph is now all dressed in his knightly underwear, the project has to take a little break. Right now, I will continue with Tony's Iron Man suit, and maybe I can manage to finish Rex's Clone Trooper armour as well. I have started way too many projects and are in dire need to finish at least some of them.

 

As spring has arrived, and my fingers do not freeze any longer in our workshop, I started a little on Raph's sabatons:



They took quite some time, and of course can't stay like that with all of those nuts and bolts. But the basic shape is laid out by now. As it is necessary to have all tools in miniature size, I decided to get myself a jeweler's hammer with different inserts. That way, I hope to be able to improve the planishing of the armour (required to get smooth surfaces).

Therefore, I will first do some experimenting before I will go over all existing surfaces. Maybe then it is possible to smooth all those tiny dimples which annoy me so much.

On the pic, you can also see the range of motion of those things. Sure it is not necessary for a BJD foot, but still...fun to play with.

The second leather strip under his sole is still missing, which will be installed after I smoothed the surfaces.

When the iron shoes are done, I will go up a bit...to his greaves.

 

That purchase of stakes and that tiny elvish (jewelry) hammer was a really good thing, IMO:



The right sabatons is more planished and looks presentable IMO. I put the rivets and the second leather strap. They are not fully polished yet, but a lot smoother. So now I will do this whole process to the entire horse attire, too (reworking single elements if of course a lot easier than "finished" pieces). But I think there can be done a lot still.

As tempted as I am to finish the riveted sabaton, now I will continue with the one not planished. I did not get much done today, as spring weather was lovely and my allergies went crazy. Despite being so tired, I am still proud of what I achieved with the one sabaton. A little high gloss polish, and it will look marvelous.

 

Well...today it itched me to try my hands at one of those greaves (lower leg armour). I started my heatgun (I do not have a forge) and heated my aluminium plate. After it got hot enough, I did some metal banging.

But after two minutes or so the thought occured to me that it might not the best idea to cause so much noise - particulary as my dear husband is working nightshifts right now and really needs his sleep. So I turned everything off and left the thing for the a later time. Hopefully I can still shape it then (Terry English's excellent video series when he creates the King Arthur suit from "Excalibur" says nothing about that - obviously he does not have such hinderances).

So I will be a good girl and finish the sabatons. Better than nothing!

 

A good piece of progress today:




I successfully shaped one back part of the greaves. It was not easy, because greaves have to follow the shape of the thighs pretty closely, because they have to hold mostly by tension and themselves and thus have a very complex shape (only curves - in and out).
The real challenge will be to make its corresponding counterpart.

Here is link to my first armor making thread: /threads/armouring-part-1-dessous-for-a-knight.474339/page-2

This armour was made of can tin, and admittedly aluminium is much easier to shape.

And I finished his sabatons:

 

Okay, I gave up on doing anything today after having tried to sand the front parts of the greaves. I am fighting heavily with pollen right now. After having looked up the pollen calendar, I knew why: 4 or 5 types to which I react badly. Maybe I will try something indoors...such as Captain America's new face. We shall see how that works out.

 

I have roughed out the shape of his right front greave. It does what it is supposed to do: it holds by its own friction. Sadly, I made the opening at the foot too big. This means there is a gap between sabaton and greave.

Luckily there is a solution to this. I will simply add some kind of "metal tongue" to the sabaton. This was also done historically. But today I do not want to cause too much noise.

 

Today, I managed to finish the rough shape of the greaves:





Of course they need to be planished, and the straps are also still missing. But then we finally can continue a little bit upwards.

 

Planishing does not want to happen...alas, then they will have to stay beat up. I may have made the greaves a tad too long though. But that's no biggie, I can easily shorten them.

Today I amfeeling quite adventurous and started on the knee cops. These are also a bit tricky, as they are basically a bowl with a center groove. So the volume needs to be calculated in advance. How I do this? Eyeballing, of course. I am very bad at maths, but I am pretty good at the art of guesstimating.

 

After some tinkering (the first iteration, which you can see on his thigh) was too big. So this is what I came up with:



As we can see, the greaves are just too long. But as I am chicken. I will wait with cutting anything until th lower knee lames are installed. Not that in the end the greaves will be too short...

 

I got only a little bit done:



There are still lames missing, and now I know the shins need to be shortened.

Sadly, my knee is still not quite working as it should, and thus I am unable to stand up for too long in a row. Hopefully I will not get an invitation for a job interview right now...literally ouch (sitting is also a problem).

I think next will come the long, last lower lame.

Otherwise, this pic has a touch of Hellraiser IMO...

 

Not much, but at least some progress:



By now, the part towards the shin is done so far (minus the hole where a pin locks in to secure that last, pointy plate to the greave - forgot the technical term). And the straps around the knee, too. Ah, good, old cellotape to hold everything in place!

 

Thank you so much! Glad that you like my work.

 

And a little more progress:

 

No, I am sorry, but I will not do,that. This is our family crest from my mother's side. Women are not allowed to show it officially, but as Raphael is a) a doll and b) a man, this is okay for him IMO. As it looks like that in the crest document (outline white on white with some shading), it will stay like that. I have the suspicion this is rather modern crest, as it was founded by great-grand uncle. I am stubborn here and leave it as is.

 

Ah, pleased don't feel offended. You couldn't know that. We are not of nobility or something like that (at least not that I know of). It is just something that hangs in my parent's house and never that Important. So its all good. She just said that she is not entitled to use it, as only male descendants can so this.

 

Started riveting the leg parts today:



Nice legs, I guess?

 

After agonizing for two days or so about how to articulate the top lames of the cuisses (no, I could not find any picture of such cuisses directly from behind, not on youtube and not on the armour archive). So I figured something out which was done with tassets (which my armour won't have, it destroys the elegant lines IMO).

So one side will have leather strips, one will be riveted.That way, there is some kind of semi-flexible articulation.

This is where we are at now:




Nothing trimmed, nothing aligned.

And I took another decision which will of course cause more work. As much as I like his gambeson, it is just not right for a 15th century gothic harness. Worse, it is too long and won't be covered by the breastplate's faulds. So Sir Raphael will get a new arming jacket made of leather. This way , I do not need to worry about the stuff tied to it.

 

Temporary break due to the manufacturing of a 15th century arming doublet...by request of Sir Raphael...

 

I decided togo with his original padded arming jacket. However, I could notfond any real proof that this configuration did not exist. After all, it was done before and after.

So I and Raph have to be fine with what he has.

 

Yay! We reached the hip:




Still lots to do...

 

Dear @Darkmare900, it is normal to fall of notifications if you follow a longer thread.

Hmmm...it is pretty much like real armouring, except that I do not use steel, but alumimium. If you want to know more about this aspect, I highly recommend the armourarchive.org forum (not that I managed to develop the skill of masters such as Mr. Robert MacPherson or Mr. Rene Kohlstruck, but I am trying). By the way, Master Kohlstruck lives some 30 kilometers or so away from me, so I am contemplating whether I should contact him...but for doll armour! I may be too shy for this.

Here is a rather bad video which shows a part of the process:



Also, I will try to arrange my collection of tools in a somewhat presentable manner so that you can see what I use.

My biggest advantage compared to an armourer working for humans: the guy who will wear the armour is always available, doesn't change his shape during summer and winter and will never complain.

 

@redsixwing: Thank you so much for this information!

Sadly, I do not have any armouring books per say. A channel I find immensly helpful ar these two:

Knyght Errant

This gentleman really studies how armour works and how it moves. He does not make many videos. But his content on his channel is pure gold.

On this channel, I learned a lot and am still learning how to make real armour:

Greenleaf Workshop

I also recommend generally these videos where you can watch the fantastic Dr. Tobias Capwell holding a lecture:







Dr Tobias Capwell: Building Medieval Plate Armor An Operator's Guide

IMHO, if you want to make "real" armour, at first you need to understand how it works and why things were made like that. Some aspects cannot be reconstucted, as obviously do not ai, to,kill each on the battlefield (we are much more efficient with our stomic stuff), and some horse tack items simply cannot be used unaltered nowadays.

Side note: the reason why this armour will be made out of aluminium is not only the weight, but also because you must not use oil on resin dolls. The first armour I made was out of can iron.It was not only paper thin, but it also started to oxidyze here and there despite a coating of clear laquer. I decided not to use it on dolls anymore.

 

To add something I forgot: I use brass pop rivets. Simply because I can set them quicker (yes, they are unhistorical. but I want to see the suit of armor finished during my lifetime).

Another limiting factor might be the size of the plates. It is fine for the 70cm guys. It was already a bit of a struggle for my 65cm SID. The larger plates are not that difficult. But think about sabatons and finger plates of gauntlets. These are the spots where it can get a bit nasty size-wise. Of course only if you want a full suit.

 

To bore you a little more, I tried a little compilation of the tools I use for cobbling the armour together:




You can see several, rather small hammers, some small dishing and raising shapes, some pieces of wood (never bang directly onto the top of the workbench, or your hubby will eat you alive). Otherwise, my tin snip, the little box with screws and bolts, some clamps for bigger parts, my rivet tool. And, the king of,them all - my poor powertool! What you do not see in these pictures is the drillpress which makes the holes for the rivets holding everything together.

As I cannot afford to have several apprentices, I use powertools. These are also not bound to worktimes. In general, particularly the hammers and shapes have to fit the final size of the plates. The smaller the doll gets, the more difficukt it will become making armour this way. But of course there are more ways to create nice armour for your doll!

 

So we finally arrived at his hips. Raphael was not yet to try his leg armour on, because I really only cut,and connected the plates. No sanding, because I did some recutting of the old plates.





Otherwise, it is now time to work our way from the bottom up to take the finishing steps. This means to polish his greaves and install the fittings. Then to install the leather rim to the top of the cuisses before I rivet them together. If I do,not do,it like this, things might get a bit difficult.

 

I did not get as far as planned today. But I managed to clean up one leg. However, By connecting the greave, knee and cuisse, the problem I feared manifested:



Original: ca. 1484 - 'armour for Archduke Sigismund von Tirol' (Lorenz Helmschmid), Augsburg, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Austria

As you can clearly see, my jacket is too long. In the original, the top of the cuisse touches the bottom of the faulds. On my armour, the top of the cuisses will tuck under. I can't let this slide.

As a first measure, I will shorten the jacket. If necessary, I think I can also shorten the top lame a tad.

 

You are very welcome! A little tip regarding pop rivets: Always use them with a washer. Otherwise, they will pull themselves out again (learned that the hard way).

 

Dear fans of doll-armouring!

As it happens in my house, old and forgotten projects have a tendency of creeping in my way of progressing running projects. This happened yesterday. We haveo bought our 3D printer (a nice priginal Prusa, by the way - if all goes well, great things may emerge from that for all of you).

But I had to make space for this fantastic machine. And I snatched up an old papercraft motorcycle, falling apart. I was just about to throw it in the bin with some other random stuff. But then the thought "Wait! It can still stand in the far corner of Tony's workshop garage." I tried to push the thought away - but I was to weak.

So yeah, armouring must take a break, I see what I can do for the darn thing which is too small for even my SID Tony Stark. But it also was a lot of work (pepakura).

I apologize for the armouring having to be interrupted.

 

I just finoshed shortening the arming jacket:



I think I will still shorten the upper lame a teeensy bit. Then we are exactly where I want the cuisses to be.

And I think he needs mail trunks. A little more protection...just in case.

 

One leg in its full plated glory:



Still tons to do. I will add two more fastening strips. One under the knee, and one at the tigh. The tigh strip is a bit difficult, as sitting on a metal buckle is rather unpleasant...I may have to figure something out.

 

I am afraid you will need tons of patience...I am not fast. But I do what I can.

 

Don't fear, ladies and gentlemen. I am busy sanding and polishing.

That's boring, so no pics right now.

I will show you the leg armour when its all done, okay?

And I still have to decide whether to give him mail trunks or not...

 

I REALLY hate these mail trunks! The butchers gloves are all nkce and good...the mail voiders are already installed on the jacket:



But by now I tried to put together the trunks for the third time, and the seams faced the wrong way AGAIN. Is it really that difficult to put a pair of pants together?

Even if I got the darn thing right, it will still not be time for the final reveal of the lower half. I forgot a very important detail...

 

Okay, I give up on the mail trunks. I cobbled them together by now. But Raphs thighs are just too big, they won't let the trunks pass!

Ah, nevermind, I will see through the remmants of the gloves if I can enlarge the leg parts.

Why am I so stubborn?

 

I will make it work. The thighs are fine now. But it turned out his...behind does also not fit. So I will use up every last bit of these gloves and, if necessary, fill i with leather.

 

Mail trunks fit almost perfectly...Raph is complaining heavily.

 

This is were we are at now:





However, in order to turn the rider into a knight, something important is still missing...