Hello everyone
first time doing a review on an item but hear goes!

i recently acuiered a breastplate and backplate from a ebay store called RedSkyTrader (link to the store) http://stores.ebay.ca/RedSkyTrader

it was the 75$ one on sale for 70$ i offered them 65$ and thous it was sold. shipping to canada was a little steep for 35$ but hey what can you do?
i was impressed with the speedy shipping time as i ordered the item on saturday the 16th of october and it arrived the thursday after. for me this is incredible! a kult of athena book took 3 weeks to get to my house so i was very impressed.

ok opening the box,
it astonished me of the weight.... it felt too light. however opening it i was pleasantly suprised to find that not only did i get both breast and back plate but i also received a 15% off coupon in the form of fridge magnet attached to one of the plates! apown seeing this my good humor rose up fully and seen me rolling on the floor laughing.

apown first inspection their is a lot of work here to do before someone can wear it fully and comforataby. i had to hammer flat some sharp edges on the lips and i had to file off more then one sharp edge on the corners. but hey for 65$ i'm certainly not complaining. the armour is indeed 18ga steel and it even came in a generous coating of oil. i was more the pleasantly suprised to find that they had covered the leather straps before coating the armour in oil. it actually looked exacly like it did in the photos... for ebay i find this impressive. http://cgi.ebay.com/STEEL-BREASTPLATE-Plain-A...483d2c5471

fit and finish.
i'm very impressed with this economy breastplate. there is a buffed finish on the front that could use a little work with 2000grit emerycloth or another go with a polishing wheel but from a 3ft + distance you cant tell that it is not a high quality polish. the inside was coated with gray primer paint but i have striped it apown finding a little minor rust spots under the paint (probably from a little moisture before painting) the rust had since been killed and the inside scraped clean.

fit
the fit of the armour is a little off for a person of my size (6ft 190-200lb) and theirs no doubt that anyone who buys this armour will have to spend about a week or atleast a few days getting it to be wearable.. i know i will have to.
the problems i have with my armour (and forgive the bad.. bad terminology guys) is that the sides needed to be bent out to alow any form of padding to be placed inside of it.. and the shoulder straps on the back plate have to get bent both upwards (done) outwards (done) and have to be thinned out a little because they have a nasty tendency to dig into my neck.
the stapes that connect the breast and back plate my have to get replaced in the future as they are not positioned the same on ether side. as a result i have to have the sraped set to different holes.
the shoulder stapes on the breastplate as well have to have a little work done on them, however its no more then shortening of the lenght of steel strap.

recommendation.
if you guys want a cheap armour that would do sca, show, or general putzing around in and your not afraid to do a little work to make it wearable then buy it! keep in mind though thats its munitions grade at best.
if you don't however want to do work and wear it right away this armour is not for you. also if you have a waist size of over 34-36 (with 34 being the highest since thats what i am) do not get this armour, it will most likely not fit you with even a little bit of padding on the sides.


sorry about the no pictures.. once i get my camera back from my friends dorm i'll take a few of mine. (keep in mind that ive worked out some of the problems and i'm working out outher minor things.