Present and Future Projects

[Aedinius]

Greetings all, I am presently working on a number of projects which I was wondering if there are people out there who have done these projects and would like to give any advice, or even hints to help aid me in them.

Manica: I am presently working on some arm manica that will pass SCA regs and look somewhat historical. I am also adding a gauntlet which will be banded to help reduce the look of them. I am making them out of 4130, 0.032 steel. What I have come up is a solid elbow with the bands attached below the elbow and above it. I will be also making a set of leg Manica.

Lorica Segmentata Type A. I will be using the same type of steel as above and a sheet of roughly 18 gauge brass will be for the fittings. The patterns that I have been working are not yet to my satisfaction, but I do hope to get them right before the sheet of brass comes in.

Soft Kit Projects:

Subarmalis: I am in no way way a seamstress and I have no clue what materials would be best to make the subarmalis. Any suggestions would be great.

Tunics,Cloak, Scarfs, and Pants for a 3-4 century AD Roman: Any direction in how to make these patterns as well as materials would be great.

[Icelandic]

check on the "Beginner's Section"; I have a lot of links on a thread there that will help you immensely...specifically, a lot of RAT topics, and Florentius, plus Legio Hispanica site links

[Aedinius]

Does anyone know how much brass you need to make the hinges, loops, and buckles for a Type A? I am pricing brass and seeing how much of a sheet I will need as well as how long of a rod.

[Icelandic]

Taken from the 20th Legion

HINGES are made from .020" to .032" brass--3 sheets of 4"x10" hobby brass will suffice. (.015" brass can be used for the upper shoulder guard hinges, but may be too fragile for the collar plates and strap hinges.) For 8 hinges cut out 16 halves as shown--a finished hinge is a double layer. Fold each piece in half with a 1/8" rod at the fold, and strike with a square edge or clamp in a vise to form the "tube". ---You'll need 16 hinge-halves

LACING LOOPS are most easily made from a strip of fairly thin brass, .015" to .020" thick, 2-3/4" to 3" long by 3/8" to 1/2" wide. -- You'll need 24 lacing loops


As far as the buckles, Florentius says:

The raw materials. 1/8 wire will be the hinge pin and tongue, 5/32 wire will be the hoop, and 1 inch wide by 20 thou. brass strip will be the plate. Cut a 3 1/2 inch piece of brass strip, a 2 3/4 in piece of the 5/32, and 1 1/4 piece of the 1/8 -- this is per buckle[/b]

[Wes]

Aedinius...I have a large chunk of 1/8" brass, you can have some chunks off of it when I get going with scrap. Also, check aroound if you have any recycle or scrap places, old door kick plates are great!

[Marcus Julius]

I will be also making a set of leg Manica.

Soft Kit Projects:

Subarmalis: I am in no way way a seamstress and I have no clue what materials would be best to make the subarmalis. Any suggestions would be great.

Well, I've got one suggestion tying into both of these - I've made a subarmalis with five layers of heavy linen (if you're going on the cheap, the SCA's favorite fabric, trigger, works too). I added some felt for padding into the shoulders to help make the seg a bit more comfortable. It's length goes to just above the knee, and I added some padding to the area below the waste. For my thighs, that's all the armor I wear. The layers are 4 of the fabric to the outside, 1/8" felt with the last layer of linen on the inside to contain the padding.

Just this past weekend, I came across Avacal's Prince in a tourney, and he gave me a really good whack to the thigh. The soft armor did it's job perfectly. No need to make manica for that area. A slightly enlarged greave can cover the SCA safety points for the knee (I'm still trying to get a nearby armorer to help me make mine, so I'm using ordinary knee cops at the moment), and then you'll look more authentic than banded legs. If you find that the soft protection isn't enough for you, I'm sure you could add some internal splints, or put something else onto your leg that would be hidden.

Anyway, just my idea. There are more than a few Romans in the SCA, so I'm sure you can get other kit ideas as well. Check into legio IX website. You could try to get a hold of some of their members. Caius Fabius frequents this forum, and is one of them, I believe.

[Aedinius]

Thanks for the direction, and more than likely I will being doing this instead of the leg Manica. I will be heading to the fabric store to get the materials for the subarmalis and other clothing I want to get made. I am very fortunate to have a pair of very nice greaves so I have that covered. I like what the legio Ix said about the shoulder pads on how you thicken the outside more than the inside. That makes sense when you look how a seg shoulders set. I appreciae all the direction.

Aedinius

[Caius Fabius]

The current King of Ansteorra is a (Late) Roman, lol!
Hibernicus has loads of experience making SCA Roman armor that works. Check out his LEG IX links and website.
There is a yahoogroup for SCA Romans as well

[Robert Vermaat]

The current King of Ansteorra is a (Late) Roman, lol!

He IS?

[Aedinius]

Yes that is true, but I am working very hard to recreate the armor of the Romans and to keep the regualtions the SCA has on armor. So, it is a interesting balance..