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Chase S-R
Location: New Mexico Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 166
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 Posted: Thu 24 Apr, 2008 2:14 am Post subject: MRL german gothic armour |
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Hello I was wondering if any one had purchased the german gothic armour from MRL
I was considering purchasing the armour as it seems a good deal. I have however been burned by MRL in the past and was wondering if it was worth it. Its a choice between this and a new Albion. Any help as to the quality would be greatly appreciated.
thank-you 
Charles Stewart Rodriguez
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Chuck Russell
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| Posted: Thu 24 Apr, 2008 4:42 am Post subject: |
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i have gotten a few different reviews on the armour. the good reviews are about the legs and the breastplate. the okay review is of the arms and the bad review is of the gauntlets. but like you said, MRL is a hit or miss kinda product. some items can be good while someone else can get the same items and be bad. the okay review on the arms was that the elbows were rather large and needed to be smushed in a tad and the pauldrons were a little hard to move. the gauntlets need to have a major reworking to get them to work according to a friend that has them.
i would say if you know how to fix problems with armour get it, fix it and wear it  but if not, then just get the legs and breastplate and check out http://www.ageofarmour.com for the arms.
also, don't forget to check their measurements on them. nothing is worse than getting armour that doesn't fit.  you can't take it in or let it out for some reason 
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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Bill Grandy
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Thu 24 Apr, 2008 9:18 am Post subject: |
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I mentioned this in some of the threads Chad posted, but I have some of the MRL plate pieces. The arms are adequate, though they only cover the outside, and the couter is quite enormous. I've tried to "squish" it, but without proper tools I wasn't really having any success.
My gauntlets, as they arrived, were beautiful as decorations, but worthless as armour. I couldn't close my hands, and would joke that they were the most beautiful hand puppets I'd ever seen. The wrist also doesn't float, so you only move on one axis, rather than moving the wrist in any direction. Since then Peter Fuller has done some excellent armouring work on them. Unfortunately, even with his expert hands, he could only make the semi-functional, as there was only so much he could do without completely making a new pair from scratch. But he did make them so that I can hold a sword, which means I can use them for demos.
The pauldrons also had a similar problem to the gauntlets. Because they didn't articulate right, I couldn't lift my arms up very well. Peter Fuller had also done some work on mine, though, and he saved them for me. Mine now work wonderfully. So those, at least, can be salvaged by a good armourer, though truth be told, it'd probably be more cost effective to just have a pair made correctly in the first place. I was lucky in that I was able to get mine at a very discounted price, otherwise I probably would not have kept them at all.
 Attachment: 32.42 KB
I'm on the left with modified MRL pauldrons, arms and modified gauntlets. The cuirass is by John Gruber, the helm, legs and mail by GDFB.
HistoricalHandcrafts.com
-Inspired by History, Crafted by Hand
"For practice is better than artfulness. Your exercise can do well without artfulness, but artfulness is not much good without the exercise.” -anonymous 15th century fencing master, MS 3227a
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Chase S-R
Location: New Mexico Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 166
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| Posted: Fri 25 Apr, 2008 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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Thank-you all just what I needed to know!!!!
Charles Stewart Rodriguez
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Bill Grandy
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Sun 04 May, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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I recently got pics that Pamela Muir took from the last time we armoured up in class (a few weeks back), and I found a couple pictures that show off the MRL pieces better.
Attachment: 88.82 KB
You can see the fluting on the shoulders reasonably well on this shot. You can kind of see the linden leaf/heart piercings on the side, though the picture doesn't do them justice.
Attachment: 72.98 KB
I'm helping suit up Pamela here, but you can see my arms without the pauldrons.
HistoricalHandcrafts.com
-Inspired by History, Crafted by Hand
"For practice is better than artfulness. Your exercise can do well without artfulness, but artfulness is not much good without the exercise.” -anonymous 15th century fencing master, MS 3227a
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Bill Grandy
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Sun 04 May, 2008 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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And here's a picture of Ed Toton and I coveting David Rowe's new messer. David knew he would have to strike fast and true or else relinquish his new toy to us, because in a moment Ed and I would turn David into a sandwich with our armoured group hug.
And more to the point, this is probably the best pic I had of the entire MRL arm, pauldrons and gauntlets.
Attachment: 100.49 KB
HistoricalHandcrafts.com
-Inspired by History, Crafted by Hand
"For practice is better than artfulness. Your exercise can do well without artfulness, but artfulness is not much good without the exercise.” -anonymous 15th century fencing master, MS 3227a
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Chase S-R
Location: New Mexico Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 166
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| Posted: Mon 05 May, 2008 12:41 am Post subject: |
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hmm those pauldrons look enormous!
what about Mercenary Taylor (or however you spell it, spelling is not my fortay, thank heavens for spell check) through albion the armour doesn't look as pretty, but if the quality is anything like an albion sword it would be a good deal. Does anyone have this armour?
Charles Stewart Rodriguez
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Ed Toton
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| Posted: Mon 05 May, 2008 1:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Bill Grandy wrote: | And here's a picture of Ed Toton and I coveting David Rowe's new messer. David knew he would have to strike fast and true or else relinquish his new toy to us, because in a moment Ed and I would turn David into a sandwich with our armoured group hug.
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Darn tootin'! I'd like to see him try to hold onto that thing...
-Ed T. Toton III
ed.toton.org | ModernChivalry.org
My armor photos on facebook
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Brian Hook
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| Posted: Mon 05 May, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Chase S-R wrote: | hmm those pauldrons look enormous!
what about Mercenary Taylor (or however you spell it, spelling is not my fortay, thank heavens for spell check) through albion the armour doesn't look as pretty, but if the quality is anything like an albion sword it would be a good deal. Does anyone have this armour? |
Chase Mercenary Tailor and Albion are not the same company, nor do they share manufacture or quality control procedures. Mercenary tailor makes modern munitions grade armour.
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Bill Grandy
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Mon 05 May, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Chase S-R wrote: | | hmm those pauldrons look enormous! |
They're big, but they aren't out of the question. I'm pretty content with them. The couters, on the other hand, are pretty huge, and I wish those were significantly smaller.
If you can purchase the arms at a discounted price (which I did), they're not bad. If you can get the pauldrons at a discounted price and have someone work on them, they aren't bad either. In fact, I'm pretty happy with mine now that they've been modified. But unless they've drastically changed the design on the gauntlets, I'd stay away from them.
For myself, I cheat and use my Lewis Moore hourglass gauntlets when I need mobility, even though those are a century older in period than the rest of my harness. I temporarily use my MRL gauntlets for general demos, though, since they match the period, look good, and, now that they've been modified, function well enough for me to use for that purpose. Any serious WMA usage, though, would require me to use the hourglass ones (until I purchase nicer 15th c. ones).
| Quote: | | what about Mercenary Taylor (or however you spell it, spelling is not my fortay, thank heavens for spell check) through albion the armour doesn't look as pretty, but if the quality is anything like an albion sword it would be a good deal. Does anyone have this armour? |
My experience with MT is that they make a product that functions quite well. Their gauntlets are quite good, though I recommend replacing the welding gloves that they use as a base for the plates with something more supple. Some of their stuff is more period than others, but quite a lot of it is very much not historically accurate, so keep that in mind if it matters to you. It also tends to be a heavy gauge of steel, something that many groups require. So their pieces are heavier than historical pieces... but this is true of many makers, because they are fitting the needs of their market. I've heard they do custom work sometimes, and that they can do more historically based pieces on if requested, but I have no experience with that.
HistoricalHandcrafts.com
-Inspired by History, Crafted by Hand
"For practice is better than artfulness. Your exercise can do well without artfulness, but artfulness is not much good without the exercise.” -anonymous 15th century fencing master, MS 3227a
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Dan Howard
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I'm not sure that anything sold by MRL belongs in a forum called "historical arms"
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Chase S-R
Location: New Mexico Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 166
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| Posted: Tue 06 May, 2008 7:02 am Post subject: |
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Thank you again
I guess there is no where to get decent plate armour for under $2000
what do you mean I put this in the wrong forum??  
it looks historical enough 
Charles Stewart Rodriguez
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Tue 06 May, 2008 7:29 am Post subject: |
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| Chase S-R wrote: | Thank you again
I guess there is no where to get decent plate armour for under $2000
what do you mean I put this in the wrong forum??
it looks historical enough |
Your post is in the right place. Dan is just being negative about MRL's historical accuracy and suggesting it's not historical enough to belong in a Historic Arms Talk forum.
It's in the correct place.
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
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Chuck Russell
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| Posted: Tue 06 May, 2008 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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afraid not chase. i bought my plate 7 years ago and got it all save a helmet and gauntlets for between $1-2000. prices have REALLY gone uphill since then on the stuff. but if you look around you can find some for great deals from different makers.
and the pauldrons aren't THAT huge actually I bet there about right, Bill is a smaller guy. silly healthy people. hehehe I've got friends who's pauldrons need to be that big cause they keep getting the fans hung up in the back plates openings for the arm holes.
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Brian Hook
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| Posted: Tue 06 May, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Chase S-R wrote: | Thank you again
I guess there is no where to get decent plate armour for under $2000
what do you mean I put this in the wrong forum??
it looks historical enough |
The historical accuracy is in the details, and due to modern manufacturing processes and shortcuts most of MRL's stuff doesn't cut the mustard. Though that in mind, The German gothic stuff is a mixed bag some of it's good and only needs a bit of reworking (The sallet and bevor). Some of it doesn't function correctly, like the gauntlets. Then some of the pieces look a historical, like the legs (only seen them in pics though). Not to mention unless you're really lucky, the stuff isn't going to fit correctly because full gothic harness was made to fit and wasn't "off the peg". Which is a shame because the pieces are that bad if they where recreated as simple munitions pieces where fit would be less of a concern and there wouldn't be as much fluting there for less modern shortcuts giving a more historical look. As for a historically accurate harness for 2000 and under. That's not very likely unless your best friend is an very good armourer . You'd be looking at least 7000+ now a days for historically accurate well fitting German harness.
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Bill Grandy
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Tue 06 May, 2008 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Chuck Russell wrote: | | and the pauldrons aren't THAT huge actually I bet there about right, Bill is a smaller guy. silly healthy people. hehehe I've got friends who's pauldrons need to be that big cause they keep getting the fans hung up in the back plates openings for the arm holes. |
Heh, I suppose.
Actually, mine really aren't all that huge. Yes, they're a little big for me, but they function just fine. The only issue is that they can slightly poke me in the neck on the front if I do specific movements. When I wear a bevor, that's not an issue at all, though my bevor doesn't fit that well with my cuirass. I've been waiting on my mail standard to arrive from Ice Falcon, which should fix that issue.
The gap you see in the photo above is because my arm is withdrawn. If my arm is at the side, the gap isn't there.
HistoricalHandcrafts.com
-Inspired by History, Crafted by Hand
"For practice is better than artfulness. Your exercise can do well without artfulness, but artfulness is not much good without the exercise.” -anonymous 15th century fencing master, MS 3227a
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Ed Toton
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| Posted: Wed 07 May, 2008 7:35 am Post subject: |
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| Chuck Russell wrote: | afraid not chase. i bought my plate 7 years ago and got it all save a helmet and gauntlets for between $1-2000. prices have REALLY gone uphill since then on the stuff. but if you look around you can find some for great deals from different makers.
and the pauldrons aren't THAT huge actually I bet there about right, Bill is a smaller guy. silly healthy people. hehehe I've got friends who's pauldrons need to be that big cause they keep getting the fans hung up in the back plates openings for the arm holes. |
Well, I wouldn't have used the word "smaller"... Bill's tall.
The pauldrons do look large in the photos. Compared to mine, they're definitely larger, but having seen them up-close, I like how these (modified) ones fit and move, as compared to mine (which you can also see in the photos that Bill provided). Mine don't wrap around the shoulder as much as I feel they should, so when they sit nicely on the front, they open wide gaps on the back. They were part of a "custom" harness...
You guys are right about the prices, but at the same time I think it's necessary. Many of the cheaper armor sources from a number of years ago dried up, partially because they just couldn't get enough of a return on their effort to justify continuing. My harness was very inexpensive, but the makers of it are long gone.
-Ed T. Toton III
ed.toton.org | ModernChivalry.org
My armor photos on facebook
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