Stunning, Josh! Love the out-of-door photos in the snow. The haubergeon over the upper arms and under the pauldrons look very interesting and impressive. Armet looks awesome too!

Here's my take on a Late-14th/Early-15th C. French Man at Arms. Same pieces less the arm harness from the previous image, and with a padded jupon. This is actually the look I wanted in the first place. The Churburg #13 breastplate is worn under the jupon. And I still need to get some period footwear - apologies up front. I am obviously having too much fun with Microsoft Paint.net.

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Based on the Churburg #13 harness. Haubergeon is butted mail from AllBestStuff. Rest of kit same as in previous posts; that its, bascinet, gauntlets and breastplate Indian made; arm and leg harnesses from Armstreet; Windlass falchion. I know a lot of folks consider the breastplate a bit of an historical anomaly and over-reproduced, however, I initially selected it because it was the smallest (length-wise top to bottom) breastplate that could be purchased "off-the-shelf." It fits me quite well, and has a very nice globular silhouette. And to be honest, pigeonholed that it is, I think it makes a nice contrast over the darker mail haubergeon.

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Congratulations Dean, your kit is really impressive! I really like the contrast which you mention. I think you got the late 14th early 15th "typical" knight impression very well and with the typical no offense meant, just I like the way of your classical look, nice work :) The pics with the jupon on the armour are also stunning (at least for me sure) so, congrats again!

Thank you very much, Gábor ! I truly appreciate your kind words. Warm regards, Dean

Hello everyone! I am brand new to this forum, so I thought I'd go ahead show you what I'm working with. I get most of my gear from KoA. My next addition will likely be either a bellows-face or a Gothic sallet (still haven't decided), and also some light pauldrons. I'd love to know what you guys think!

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Anderson:

I'm a newbie at this, but your photos look very cool. What period are you aiming for? Again, I'm not an expert here by any stretch, but have been active here on this particular forum. Good to see your posts in any case! Regards, Dean

Dean,

Thank you! As for period, I haven't really pinned down a specific period I'm aiming for, but the roughly the 15th century. The sword is the Windlass Towton sword, which is supposedly based the 1461 battle of Towton. So roughly around that time period. I think what little I have is fairly accurate. The chainmail coif and the baldric, are fairly generic of many time periods (and which I've used to become everything from a Viking to a medieval crusader), but with the gauntlets, the little pauldrons, and the sword, I'm slowly trying to morph this kit into something more time-period-specific. I've not seen a lot of baldrics used on kits for this time-period, but I'm pretty sure baldrics were used across a wide range of historical periods. If that's not correct, please tell me!

Next on my list is a new helmet, and some longer pauldrons that will cover more of the length of my upper arm.

I can't decide if I want the bellows-face sallet, the gothic sallet. I'd welcome any opinions!

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...ace+Sallet

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...eel+Finish

Thanks!

Anderson

Anderson,

The sword is definitely something nice to build your kit around. Personally, I prefer the Gothic or Italian style sallets, but again that's just my preference. Looking forward to your growing collection of kit!

Regards, Dean

If you want to be around 1461 the belows sallets are 30 years to late. They came up around the 1490-1500s.

Thanks for the feedback and info! Though the time period relative to the sword may be a little off, I probably will still go with one of the sallets, probably the gothic. The year for that sword is a loose approximation anyway, and I really like the way that gothic sallet looks. I'm happy as long as most of the pieces of the kit are all within the same century (give or take). Close enough for government work, so to speak. Thanks!

Please don't go for either of those helmets, especially not the sallet.

The slits in the visor are pure fantasy, I haven't seen a single original with that design.
They both look rather cheaply made as well, I'd really suggest to save up and order a custom made helmet from a proper armoursmith, it'll be worth it in the end!

Since you haven't really decided on any period yet, I would also suggest some extensive research of several periods, and decide what you like best. Going for one style, one period always ends up looking best. If you DO want to go 1460, a sallet is the way to go, unless you want to go all milanese and get one of their armets...

Mix and match only gets you so far.

To stay on topic, here's a quick shot of me at some event last year:

Here's my attempt at a Mid-15th C. Italian export armor kit. The arm and leg harnesses are the same ones used for the Late 14th-Early 15th C. kit (ArmStreet 16 gauge). The breastplate, mitten gauntlets and spaulders are all Indian made, and also 16 gauge. The breastplate is sold by Kult of Athena. The sallet and bevor are from GDFB - 14 gauge and very heavy. My wife told me not to wear it anymore - she's afraid it'll ruin my neck and spine. The spaulders are too wide and long for me, but are cheap ebay purchases, so can't complain too much. I may remove a lame to shorten it. I suppose I could add besagews and also a mail skirt. An arming jacket, also from Kult of Athena, is underneath. It's really nice as it is filled with natural fibers and breaths very well. A Windlass falchion and Talhoffer buckler are also used. I'm not sure if the buckler would've been used with armor, but I liked its look. :D

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Thanks , Elric. Appreciate your advice on the sallet. The buckler was a goof and more for show :D Kind regards, Dean

This was at the Armor Day at the Wave Hill historic site, where Bashford Dean (first curator of arms and armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC) lived till his untimely death. That's me representing Historic Arms on the left and Bob Fox representing MSR on the right.

http://blog.wavehill.org/wp-content/uploads/2...y-6-JB.jpg

What a fabulous display. Your suit of armor is amazing, James.

Thanks! It's a work in progress, though.

Hi, I'm new here too.
I've been admiring all the armour and kit on and off for a while. I used to be very into armour and even made a bit of money making and selling custom chanfrons for horses for a while, but my interests have since shifted to the 19th century.
So I wanted to post my own stuff:









This is my Death's head hussar gear.
It's historical, but not historically absolutely correct to any unit. Like a lot of people do with their armour I wanted a mix of all my favourite "Hussar" parts. So the outfit is mainly Prussian with very strong French influence (like the rank braid for example).
The busby is probably the most "wrong" part of it. It's tall, like the French style and made with ostrich feathers instead of bear fur. The feathers are from the wreck of a Scottish piper's feather bonnet, the chinstrap is from a grenadier guard's bearskin, and the totenkopf is meant tor a pickelhaube helmet.
The trousers are adapted from vintage No1 uniform trousers from a British lancer unit, the crossbelt is 1930s/20s Italian.
The sword is a new 1796 Light cav by Cold steel. I do have a couple of genuine antiques, but this one is nice and shiny and I was able to replace the guard with a nice antique 19th century 3-bar one instead and wrap it with better leather and Sterling silver wire.

I hope this isn't too far out of the line of things here? I notice it's mostly armour, but I see a few different types out things here and there.

Have no idea how to know the exact precision of its historical basis, but that hussar kit is just insane. INSANE! So very nicely done from my point in the inter-web peanut gallery!