Does anyone have any good pictures of actual scale or lamellar armors? (historic or recreated armor is fine) I am interested in seeing the shoulder area specifically to understand how the plates were attached to cover this area without sticking up or being uncomfortable to wear.

Then check this page:

http://www.levantia.com.au/military/armour.html

I like the site, However, I can't make out any details of the shoulder area - either covered with a coif or pauldron masking the curve of the shoulder showing any detail of attachment. Still a really good site, and much better quality pics. Don't know why Osprey did not use these color photos in their warrior series Byzantine Infantryman!

reconstructed from one of the wisby finds.

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Dan, Thanks for the attachment of the Wisby find. Looks like separate attached pieces for the shoulder. Do you have any practical experience of wearing this kind of armor? Does the should piece become too rigid? Do you have any scale armor pics? The closest I've seen is a Roman scale armor, but again, there is no "overhead" shot of the shoulder area. My concern, is how these armorers kept the shoulder area flat without scales sticking up at odd angles, as the row marches back past the shoulder before switching over to lay flat against the back.

I found some nice shots of lamellar armor made in the Ukraine.
Intersting how they have put the armor together:

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Still looking for some shots of scale armor, especially at the shoulder crest.

Try poking around the Bronze Age center for some reconstructions: http://z8.invisionfree.com/Bronze_Age_Center/index.php?

There are also some good reconstructions of Roman armour on www.romanarmy.com.rat

For books, Robinson's Oriental Armour and Niccole's Medieval Warfare Sourcebook have some good sketches and photos of examples.

The shoulder section is a tricky part, and the world-wide conspiracy of artists to fudge it or hide it with cloaks doesn't help![/url]

And what about usage of lammelar outside of Byzantine empire? Im trying to reenact a mercenary warrior from IX-X century, and I'm thinking about a lammelar instead of mail, but will it be historicaly acurate?

Here are some pictures from Densus Church in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania, dated XIV or XV century, with some interesting scale and plates armor. The pictures are not so good but I will take a trip there to make better ones some day. The shoulders area seems to be made like late roman armor.
http://www.medievistica.ro/texte/arta/pictura/Densus/7.jpg
http://www.medievistica.ro/texte/arta/pictura/Densus/9.jpg

Regarding the period and foreign influences:

"Although foreign influences - especially Italo-Norman and Turkish - were considerable by the 12th century, Byzantine equipment portrayed in contemporary pictures retains several distinctive characteristics, most notably the leather fringes and pteruges at waist and shoulders. Though lamellar and scale armour remained in use until at least the 14th century, mail armour predominated.
Corselets came in various styles, usually with short sleeves but sometimes long-sleeved or sleeveless.
Lighter-armed men generally wore a hip-length leather corselet instead, this invariably having a horizontal breast-band, the purpose of which may have been to secure the two halves of the cuirass in place (though this does not explain why such breast-bands also occur in conjunction with mail corselets)."

by Jan Heat - Byzantine Armies
I hope it is a little help :)
Ciao
Maurizio