Mannica pattern???

[Nerva]

I'm trying to make a mannica at the moment. Would anyone out there have a pattern or design?

[Caballo]

Hi,

This may (or may not) be helpful?

http://www.romanarmy.net/manica.htm

Cheers

Caballo

[Nerva]

That was my first port of call :wink: You see, I'm a lazy bugger and I', hoping to get a drawing of some type. I think Tarbiculus made one? he certainly wears one.

[martijn.wijnhoven]

Maybe you are already familiar with this, notheless M.C. Bishop illustrates the finds of a copper-alloy segmental armguard from Newstead in his book Lorica Segmentata (page 70). It is a scale drawing (1:2) of all the individual pieces that have been found. This might be a good starting point.

Note: some of the plates that constitute the armguard are displayed with the inner face showing, some with the outer face. Still a bit of a puzzle.

Regards,

Martijn

[M. Demetrius]

I made one this way:

Decide how far around the arm you want it to go, odds are not more than half way, or you'll have considerable trouble putting it on. :wink:

Measure how far it is from the elbow to the wrist, and make reasonable sized bands, mine were just under 2", or 50mm. Count up how many you'll need. Then you do the same for above the elbow.

The lengths of the bands will grow wider as you go up the arm. Some bands may be the same size as the ones next to them. It depends on the dimensions of your arm. You can't necessarily make them the size that the originals were found, because that might be a different sized arm...it won't fit you correctly if it is.

My plates overlapped about 1cm, or approx 3/8". The rivet holes for the internal strap should be concealed under the overlap. The straps that hold the rig on your arm will need to be placed so they fit your arm. One above the bicep/below the deltoid is crucial in placement, otherwise it won't stay up. One by the wrist, of course, and one below the elbow to keep the thing from moving around too much when you bend your arm. I saw another that had one above, and one below the elbow. Function is the decider, in my book. If it doesn't work with three, add another. They made theirs to work. We should, too.

[Matthew Amt]

Maybe this one?

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/manica.html

Remember that the pattern as laid out will be longer than the finished product because the plates will overlap.

Have fun!

Matthew

[Caballo]

The pattern in Leg XX may also underestimate the number of lames?

In Mike Bishop's Lorica Segmentata, the parts are estimated at:-

-Shoulder plate - 1
-Lames - c. 35
-Leathering copper-alloy rivets -90-120
-Internal leathers - 3-4
-Padded fabric and leather lining - 1

Cheers

Caballo

[Matthew Amt]

The pattern in Leg XX may also underestimate the number of lames?

Could be! As I recall, I pretty much followed Robinson's reconstruction of the Newstead fragments (which he interpreted as a thigh guard). (Aha, that's what the text indicates, too! Nice to have a backup memory...) And it turns out that my own manica has 20 plates all together, rather than the 14 shown in my own pattern, so clearly I made changes!

This looks like one of those pages I slapped together with whatever I had at the time because someone was bugging me about it. Will it ever get updated? Hmmm.....

Matthew