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Aspis Build Thread - Printable Version

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RE: Aspis Build Thread - Zolis - 04-20-2017

The front of the aspis was now ready to be covered with the canvas. Learning from last time, I had water ready this time! The process otherwise is the same as before. 
I did however make cuts in the canvas of the inside of the aspis and fold these down. That way when priming/gluing down the canvas, I could use a staple gun and staple down the edges of the canvas on the front to keep it taught and staple the rest of the canvas down around the rim. Once the priming was completed, I painted the front with the same red acrylic. I also cut out a section of canvas to cover the inside of rim as it looked fairly rough. Stapled, primed, and then painted the rim black. 

For the antilabe I found two gate handles that weren't too gaudy (again, this was not historically accurate but I also didn't want to spend more for the pretty stuff and this seemed like a very usable solution.) and screwed them into the aspis after measuring approximately where my hand would end up and after consulting many different artist depictions and other recreations. I then weaved twine around each end wrapping so that the grip was tight around the two gate handles. No particular method here, just wrapping the twine in a way that I saw fit until it reached a thickness that I found comfortable enough. 

And here is the final product!

   

   

   

      

I have thought about painting an emblem on the front but have not yet decided on what yet. I also have plans for this summer to make a leather insert for the porpax to help pad it a little and to keep my arm more snug in it. 

Overall, I am extremely satisfied with how it came out. I learned a ton from the construction of the aspis. If I was to ever build another I would definitely do a couple things differently. 

1. LESS WEIGHT! As it sits, it isn't terrible to lug around as I had to walk to and from school with it (1.5km) with a backpack. I would remove more material from the first layer (centre) as this is where it is thickest and contributes the most weight in my eyes. This centre part was waaaaaay thicker than what I imagined and while provides a nice solid feel, you could probably shave 2-maybe 3 lbs from the total weight. 

2. While I did reduce the size of the rim on my aspis and am happy with it, 5cm is definitely the MAXIMUM I would ever go on a rim. 4.5cm is good and I would go as far as to say 4cm would be just about perfect(?). The reason why a small rim is optimal is because with a larger rim, I find if someone smacks your aspis, you get caught very easily in the face. While I do see the larger rim providing more protection, getting knocked out in battle isn't a good thing! This is what I find personally, if any others find this a problem or would care to provide input, feel free. This is just me making an observation in my particular case and may not hold true for others! This is the great thing about forums though!  Smile I am really looking forward to hearing what others feel on this! 

Other than this I can't really complain too much about how it came out! Big Grin  Like I said before, I will try to edit in the missing pics and please feel free to ask for more pictures if you want to see better details of certain parts. 

Cheers everyone,
Eric