Arm padding

[M. Demetrius]

I'm beginning an arm pad, such as we often see on gladiator statues, in pictures, and worn by reenactors. Some of you probably already have these, so can you give me a good idea about stuffing the cloth tube?

As I see it, it's a double tube, with some kind of padding inside, drawn into "earthworm shape" by a series of leather thongs tied under/behind the arm. Evidently, something like this was worn under manicae and behind ocreae, and taller ones worn on the legs by Hoplomachus and Thracians.

Any construction tips are welcomed. This is first, then a leather manica for R&D, then a metal manica.

Thanks,
M. Demetrius, aka
Vespa

[Praefectusclassis]

(Topic split & cleaned up)

[Medusa Gladiatrix]

Salvete,

@Jasper: Thanks for putting this topic now in the right forum. Here it'll be easier for everybody to find Vespa's query

@Vespa: Like I had already mentioned one of the guys of "my" gladiator group has this linen quilted manica. I checked now the book by Marcus Junkelmann "Das Spiel mit dem Tod" and he says as you had already suggested in the other thread that the linen tube is stuffed with horse hair.

On the mosaic from the Villa in Nennig (Germany) it looks like that it is a tube which they wear on their arm. The thing my fellow gladiator bought is not a tube though but is open on the inside of the arm and stays up by some linen straps sewn onto the thing as well as the leather straps which are tied around the arm above the quilted seams.

Whichever way you choose, a tube or an open manica you need two layers of strong linen sewn together which will then be stuffed by horse hair and then quilted.

I hope this helps you to do a linen manica.

[Tarbicus]

The plate manica was discussed in the thread below, just in case it's not been seen:

link from old RAT

[M. Demetrius]

I got the first prototype of leather manica made. Here's a couple of snapshots, prior to attaching the mounting straps. I'll probably round off the corners of the segments, more for appearance than anything else, as they're under the arm anyway, and don't show that much. But it looks more finished to my eye, so that's what I'll do.




Looks more like a prosthetic leg cover or an armadillo back, or some kind of insect belly in the picture. I'm planning to oil the leather once all is done, or add a stain to it to darken it somewhat.

[Robert Vermaat]

Cool!
How are the segments attached? Metal strips? Don't these chafe a bit?

[M. Demetrius]

I punched and riveted (copper rivets) soft leather strips to the backside of the leather outer. Basically the same process as I'll use for the metal ones, although I'll use heavier leather for the strips, since the metal has more weight, and I don't want the straps to stretch much.

I overlapped the "scales" about .75", or about 2 cm, so the holes were about half that far from the edge of the under side scale. They're only attached from the top of the scale above, so the rivets don't show on the outside, except at the ends.

I'll hook the straps for the buckles on as soon as I have the buckle. I think one at the top, one above the elbow, one at the forearm and one at the wrist. Far as I can figure, the two middle buckle straps should be far enough apart that they don't interfere with each other. Anybody got any ideas there?

Multas gratias,
Vespa