so i thought, it could be for some people of interest, how my armour (as every other amour oO ) looks and works like. i wanted to make one picture with all parts, but i figured out that my camera was not able to take a huge enough picture, so i had to make several pics and put them together.

this is an original historical replica of a armour of the beginning of the 16th century. its made of steel and has a thickness of 2mm.
if you notice some weird textures on the surface of the plates, its becuase the metal deforms in the heat of the flame, befor the smith hits the metal with the hammer (you can see this especially on the lower plate of the left legpart in picture 3)

1: the breastplate. it has a V form, to protect against stabs and arrows. the breastplate is, of course the heaviest part of the armor. the adornments you can see at the corner are for protection as well. if a sword hits you, normally the blade would be directed into your arms or under the collar plate into your throat. the adorment is very thick here and avoids any injuries. the tip of any blade just collides there with the metal and cant be moved further. if you, as the knight, turn in the direction of the blade, your enemy has two chances. pull the blade back or be disarmed :P

2: these are the armplates. they normally are attached to the collarplate. but i had no space for it, so i decided to leave it for now :P
the armplates are very heavy and you cant really move your arms freely.
it is possible to drink, eat and even make pushups, but you cant clap your hands with streched arms.
the part on the elbow that looks like a leaf is the so called "bladebreaker"
you can find them on legplates and on some shoulderplates as well.
the name is a bit confusing, because they dont 'break' the enemy blades really, but they lead the drive off of the knight. if a sword hits the arm, it automatically is thrown back to the attacker. if the blade hits from above, it can stuck in that little piece of metal and incapacitates the attacker, until he pulls the blade back. you can use this time to stab back ;)

3: the legplates. i love them ^^
its amazing how flexible and light they are. you can run, jump and keel down with them without problems, just a bit more musclepower :P
they are build widely, so they wrap around your leg wich is then protected even from blows from behind. the attacker has really to stab directly from behind, when youre not prepared for an attack or the blade has to be very short. otherwise, its almost impossible the hit the flesh, cause the sword will hit the other legplate and be stopped. again, the attacker can only pull the sword back or loose the blade, because you turn around.

4: the helmet. its pretty hard to fight in that helmet. you cant really see whats above or underneath you. so you have to focus on the shoulders of your opponent. your sense of hearing is impeded, but if someone hits you, its like sitting in a church bell... BONGGGGGGGGgggggggggg......
the visor is movable, but very hard, so it cant just fall back into your face when its open (like in some medieval comedy movies :P )

5: of course my sword. its a normal long sword with an italian handguard and a leather grip with a wire coil, so you can hold it very nice in your armoured hand. the blade is 700 cm long and overall length is 910 cm so its designed for one hand, but you can use the second hand to lead the weapon and give it some extra power. it weights 1,6 kg.

if you have any questions, feel free to ask as ever ^^
but please, if you want to know about the price, send me a PM...
i would be happy to answer any other question here in the comment box :P

oh yeah and of course
copyrighted by me oO (just in case ^^ )