Ordo Te'skotah's Armor

[Ordo Te skot]

I've been lurking for a bit now... not asking too many questions (since most newbie questions are answered by searches...) But, Here's my armor debut. I've read pros and cons for fiberglass, sintra, sheet metal, aluminum, etc... Being an SCA fighter, I'm used to metal and leather. I'm also a bit picky when it comes to my projects. I want my armor to be able to take a beating.

Under ideal circumstances, I'd be able to buy raw materials and go from there, but being on a tight budget, I scrounge and salvage what I can. I'm making my armor from an old highway sign that had been hit by a semi and left on the side of the road for several weeks before I "helped clean up" the side of the road and salvaged it. I think it's some kind of aluminum alloy... it's tough as nails, 1/8 inch thick, and hard to bend:

Today, I made a rough cut of the left breastplate:

it's not much so far, but it's a start. :cheers

 

[Crixler]

Kandosii! That's gunna be pretty cool! Any ideas for your color scheme?

 

[Ordo Te skot]

Thanks! I am going to go with a black, purple, and silver/natural metal scheme, much like my other (SCA) armor was... maybe with a splash of dark red here and there. I am also going to mix in a bit of medieval-style too, maybe some 3 or 5-piece knees, leather vambraces instead of the traditional gauntlets, etc.

Also, no jet pack for me, and no RF. If I can swing it, I want to get an HS aluminum helm, or one of mercfett's steel buckets.

 

[NovallTalon]

Hey lookin good there. Now you need to coat the back of em with something to keep them from cutting into you. Plasticote works well.

 

[Crixler]

Sounds cool! Good luck!

 

[Ordo Te skot]

Just broke my last saw blade... but here's what I have so far:

Thanks, and yeah, I still have to clean up, round the edges, most of the corners, and then the back of the plates will have a *thin* layer of closed-cell foam after I shape them to add some cushion and keep them from cutting into the leather undervest, which will also be armor-grade leather.

 

[BigJon]

Lookin good so far.

 

[Pesh]

So this armour is going to be combat suitable right? Weathering is going to look really natural on these beauties.

 

[Ordo Te skot]

Oh yeah... Not "SCA period", but I doubt seriously if anyone's going to question it's use... lol

Evened the edges up a bit... now comes the hard part of getting the contour right.

The really tricky part is going to be finding an SCA combat-grade helm that looks even vaguely Mandalorian... *maybe* a barbuta. I'd *really* like to have one custom made for SCA combat, and then have my regular metal "costume" bucket (once I get it made) for trooping purposes, but a custom SCA helm is lots of $$$. It would have to have a 14 guage steel top, and 16-14 guage steel cheeks and back, a bar-grille across the wide part of the T visor, etc. But it would be wicked once it was done.

 

[setra]

wow this is a great idea....SCA fighing in mando armour...u gonna be using a mando iron saber?

 

[Ordo Te skot]

Short sword and round shield.

Make a short, lightweight sword or a short flachion... or maybe a single handed axe. Make 'em come in close where I can strike fast and hard. :cheers

This set of armor will actually be lighter than my old fighting armor (which was all steel), so I'll also have a bit more mobility as well. I'm going to pound out my own aluminum elbows and knees, which will take quite a bit of weight off. I may even go with kydex for the fighting set of elbows, vambraces, and knees, and my round shield will be aluminum as well. Should have quite an advantage over the heavier steel. I'm debating on whether to reinforce my kidney belt with an aluminum belly plate, or just make the belly plate and kidney belt all one piece out of leather. I wouldn't think adding an aluminum belly plate would add that much weight though.

Here's an old pic from a Gulf Wars 4 years ago now:

I'm the one behind the shield

 

[Ordo Te skot]

I was going to do something a bit different with the chest diamond, but decided to go with the traditional rectangle in the center instead.

 

[Darth Valcar]

Looking good............ keep the updates coming...

 

[jkast not dead yet]

Looks great just watch out for the period Natzis!! I remember when I started heavys one of them tried telling me my samurai armor was laced wrong. That was untill I showed him three sites that showed the exact same lacing pattern LOL

 

[Ordo Te skot]

I love period Nazis... 90% of the time, all you have to do is point at their feet, because most of the time, they're wearing modern tennis shoes. There's always someone who is going to complain, so I just shrug it off mostly. As long as it's legal by kingdom and society standards, there's not alot that can be said. :cheers

On to progress...

So far today, I made a planishing stake, re-surfaced one of my hammers, and pounded out the right breastplate:

 

[Darth Valcar]

That's going to look great when its all shaped...... looking better and better....

 

[Ordo Te skot]

Thanks for all the compliments!

Just finished shaping the other breastplate, fixing to start cutting the belly plate:

 

[NovallTalon]

Looking awesome man! I can't wait to see this set completed.

 

[The Clayster]

I am a sintra kind of guy myself...but this is lookin cool.

 

[Ordo Te skot]

Ok, my wrist is sore now from hammering...

Got the belly plate done, and the base coat applied to the chest and belly plates: