Snaps' Samurai Armour Build

[snapdragon]

Hi folks

Here we go with the armour build. As usual we get 4 stages in a monthly pack. As I go through these stages I see that I can break this down (at the moment) to Helmet, Facemask, Front Curiass and 1 set of tassets.

First, photos of all the parts that came














































The last photo shows the braid in close up detail.

[snapdragon]

Now I want to discuss my helmet build. I did notice one or two things. One thing wasn't fully explained in the instructions, but with the experience of builders doing this I suppose that there should be no problems, but I would like to cover it.

Here are the parts for the initial helmet build gathered together.



The first thing we do is to put the two halves of the helmet together and then secure them with two screws and a joining plate. The two halves go together well along one of the ridges and on the outside you can't see the join unless you look really closely.



THe instructions tell you to line the two arrows up



Closeup of the joining plate, screws and arrows. I found that the screwdriver from the Zero build perfectly fine for this. Make sure that you get this right.




The next thing we add is 4 lugs. I found 6 in the pack. Now the instructions are not clear on where they go. So I donned my close up optivisor and had a look and then got my macro lens out for the camera.

THere are two holes. The lower one is slightly bigger than the upper one. The four lugs go in the upper holes. Here are the close up piccies!

The Lugs



The holes



Lug in place



Next Job is to put the helmet rim together. This is easy and after a dry fit to see where the glue should actually go just let it cure. The fit is actually very good and I used small dabs of liquid superglue.



The last part of the build for the helmet has the bowl glued to the rim. Once again a simple dry fit and then dabs of liquid superglue on both surfaces and then put together making sure that the tabs go in the correct holes and then left to cure. The fist part of the helmet is finished!



Once finished the armour is cleaned with a pump spray which contains a camera lens cleaner solution and lint free cloths and then wrapped in a large lint free duster to protect it.

[chill]

Well you cant say its not a unique kit..

But looks like a 'lego' kit. Very much plug and play really.

I think its a niche market product. Not much room for modding.

Maybe some pretty colours....

[snapdragon]

Next up is the breastplate. Not much to mention about this part of the build apart from that it is wise to clamp the parts until the glue has cured prepoerly.

The Parts



THe first part I attached to the main frontplate was the upper part where the straps etc will attach. Once again I used drops of superglue and clamps with rubber pads on not only to prevent scratches to the finish, but to grip the parts too



Here is a picture of the joined parts. Any smears and fingerprins are cleaned off with a squirt of Pledge and a microfibre cloth plus some elbow grease. It also adds to the shine too!!!!



THe two hinge plates are attached with the same method.



That's it for this part for the moment. No major issues to report building the first part of the breastplate apart from the obvious of looking out for scratches etc and protecting the parts. I will leave on the protective plastic on the front plate as long as I can.

Next part, the face mask.

[casper]

Great start snapdragon
nice shiny parts. K posted

[snapdragon]

Now the dust has hopefully settled on an issue and the switch in my operating system has been reset to "Grumpy Mode Off" Here is my Faceplate build.

Or rather the first part of it as there is more to come.

The parts



The fist things I attached to the lower faceplate were the ears.



I didn't have any problems and used s clamp until the cyrowhatever had cured (not long!) it now looks as if the thing can actually hear me being grumpy! although I did check with the instructions a couple of times to make sure that I got them the right way round and not the wrong way round and upside down!!!

Moving on I inserted the faceplate drain in to the hole and wondered if the Samurai drooled alot in combat!!



next comes the attachment points on each side of the facemask. I did a dry fit with each one making sure that everything was the right way round and did come across a problem





the fancy bit of the attchement point didn't quite fit!



Ah! no need to worry, It's metalwork 101 and the part just needs a bit of extra bending. Now to avoid the finish getting damaged we take action on our bending plyers first and wrap the jaws in tamiya masking tape



The part is bent to fit the contours in small stages being test fitted many times until it fits snugly. THen I applied tiny blobs of liquid cyro and attached. This was done on both sides.





The nose attachment made me think. I know that there is a moustach and beard to fit onto the faceplate and that being able to work on the nose seperatly could be a good thing and would give more room to work and so I have only fixed the left nose fixing point permanently. The right one is only dry fitted at this moment in time so I can remove the nose. It should be easy to fix properly later.





Here we have the nose in place, but removeable. for storage I will apply a bit of tamiya masking tape so no parts go astray.



That's the first part of the face mask finished. A quick squirt with pledge and a good rub with a duster to remove fingermarks



Next build post... Something which has occupied the braincell in the locker at the back of the skull ever since the first pack arrived...... THE TASSET!!!!!!

[snapdragon]

The Tassets.

In this build there are 11 sets of tassets consisting of 6 pieces of linked armour. In European armour the tassets either consisted of 1 solid metal plate that buckled on to the bottom of the breastplate or a series of metal pieces that were riveted together and then buckled on to the bottom of the breastplate. In Japan the tassets were individual pieces f armour that were laces together and then laced on to the bottom of the breastplate armour. Their design was to give both protection and movement ability to the hip and groin area. They actually cover a gap in the armour between the bottom of the chest armour and the top of the leg armour.

Let’s look at the parts.




Part Preparation
Before we can lace the parts together we have to prepare the tassets by applying a backing and also prepare the laces for threading through the holes. The instructions contain hints etc and lengths (approx.) needed for the laces and how to prepare them.
First of all the Tassets themselves. The backing is soft leather about 1mm thick and has a covered ready applied adhesive. I use one of the tips in the instructions to make sure that the tasset and backing go together correctly by the use of cocktail sticks.



Before applying the leather backing I first pull pack the adhesive covering to uncover the holes. By doing it this way I don’t stick myself to the backing or get sticky finger marks everywhere and mess things up!



Once I have the top part of the backing in place correctly and lines up with assistance of the cocktail sticks I apply the backing carefully pulling off the cover and smoothing the backing onto the metal plate.



Once done, the part looks like the photo below and I do this to all 6 tasssets.



The next part is to prepare the laces. I forgot to photograph one end (DOH!) but after cutting laces to the right length you have to unpick one end and then using sharp scissors (I actually found a razorblade to be easier) you cut a “V” end, apply a little white glue and then twist it into a thin thread which will go through the holes. Later on you can see this. The other end you glue together in a particular way. The Samurai armour makers used this.
First you fold over the end vertically and glue it.



Then fold that over horizontally and glue it.



When done correctly it gives you mountain folds on one side of the lace and valley folds on the other for the threading through so care is taken to make sure that during this process the lace is kept flat.


The Bottom Plate decoration.

This seemed to be the best place to start and to get to grips with the threading of the lace, the patterns that would be made and also the pattern of valley and mountain folds (Mountain at the front and valley at the back).
I first did a test just to see how the lace threads and a mountain fold at the front.



Once I had figured this out and read the instructions and looked at the photos several times to get things fixed in my head on what to do I set to work….

















A Samurai ball knot was tied at the end and a blob of glue applied.

The next part was to do the cross thread pattern. Once again I went through the instructions and photos quite a few times before continuing.







You can see in the above pictures that the mountain folds are on the front and the valley on the rear of the tasset. Also this section starts with a ball knot. I continue on until I reach the end aqnd then follow the sequence shown in the instructions to start going back the other way.











Once we have worked the way back to where we started then the fun and games begin



Once again I followed the instructions and photographed each step.











Once complete all I have to do is to tidy things up and snip off any threads close to the knots (both ball) and apply a bit of glue. By this time I have moved onto superglue as it sinks into the knot and dries clear.



looking from the front all looks good and the part is ready for a polish to remove fingerprints and is ready to go on the bottom of the tasset.




Building the Tasset.

Once you get down to this part it is not as intimidating as it seems, but you do have to be accurate with where each tasset sits in relation to each other. Once again we deal with mountain and valley threading through the holes and crossover areas that actually hold the tasset in place.

To help with the tasset placement we have a card that came with this pack and not only has a full size layout diagram but also a threading guide too.

At this stage I thought that it would be a good idea to mask off the front of the plates so that my finger marks would not get on the plates. Even then, once the tasset is finished I will still give each plate a polish with pledge and a lint free cloth.
I photographed each part, and so you can see the entire process. The sequence of photos makes it easy to follow and you can also see the placement guide in use as well as the beginning of the lace I described earlier as well as a close up of a ball knot.



































The only thing left to do is to thread the gold tasset lace through the sides of each tasset. This is easy to do and took no time at all as it is the same as the tasset construction but without any crossover areas. Oce again the lace was preapared in the same way and for the other 10 tassets I will add the gold lace as I am constructing the tasset. The photo below shows the completed tasset, still with the masking in place at this moment.



This ends this, the first of 14 months of building this armour. Next month we continue with another set of tassets, more helmet details and more on the breastplate section.
James

[casper]

coming along very nicely snapdragon
should look very impressive when complete

[snapdragon]

Pack 2

The Parts.

In this pack comes stages 5-8. Each stage is subdivided and you do jump about a bit, but for clarity and my own sanity and also bench space I sub divided the parts in the blister packs once again into into Helmet, Breastplate, & Tassets.
Here we have photos of each stage packs and then close ups of the individual parts. Some parts require me to do some macro shooting which I will do during the build. I did not want to break open some of the packaging as these parts are very small and losing them on a build like this is not what I want. At this stage of the build and due to the current hot and very sticky weather my build room is, despite large opening windows a veritable sweat box and I dislike working in there so I decamp into another room which is much bigger, airy, has the same light and I can sit next to and open window that carries the breeze over me and keeps me cool and my grumpy temper moderate. For space reasons I did the photography in my build room which had me sweating in minutes mainly because the lighting in there is a proper white diffused light. Some photos, despite being in exactly the same conditions have come out different to others! Go figure!

Stage 5









[





In stage 5 we have a length of dark blue lace, Helmet visor, 3 Tasset leather backings, 3 Tassets, assorted fixing screws and lugs and two parts for the crest holder.

Stage 6















In stage 6 we have gold and dark blue lengths of lace, Plum Blossom helmet detail parts, first part of the helmet neck guard (two photos – it was not easy to photograph this part), 3 Tasset leather backings and 3 Tassets.

Stage 7












In stage 7 we have Breastplate parts (2), Joining plate (2), 2 lengths of lace (blue & Gold), cord and joining pin

Stage 8

















In stage 8 we have Blue Lace, cord and locking pin, Breastplate parts (2) Locking Plate, 2 Tasset leather backings and 2 Tassets.


Again the armour parts are black lacquered pressed steel and the backing is leather which has a sticky side to it. Now rather than jump around with the build, as parts are spread across multiple stages I will divide them up into Helmet, , Breastplate and tassets. In this pack there are parts for a complete set of tassets and two tassets which will be held over until pack 3. It makes sense to build a complete set of tassets all at once rather than split it up over the month. It just makes it easier to put together.
Let’s move on!

[snapdragon]

Pack 2

As I sit here putting up the first part of pack 2 I have pack three behind me in a huge jiffy bag! The thing has come before I am ready - either that or I am working too slow!


Anyway. On with the helmet.

This time we have the peak, crest holder and the first part of the neck guard. Here are the parts



There are some very small parts and I decided to use them first and put the detail onto the first neckguard piece. The decorative parts are made to resemble plumb blossom and despite being tiny they are very well detailed. They were attached with cyro and tweesers with masking tape to provide a little extra grip and not to spoil the finish.







Next up is the peak. Once again there are some very small rivets.



I attached the peak to the helmet with tape and then used the small rivets to fix the peak in position. Cyro was used to bond the parts together along with a little careful finger pressure.





now comes the crest holder. I put the large rivet into the holder and put a bit of making tape on just to hold it in place. I then put the holder onto the helmet and marked off wher it fitted with some tape and applied a little cyro to the back of the crest holder.





This is where it went wrong. I managed to drop the last rivet fixer onto the floor and I can't find it at this moment in time. There are no spares in the pack at all, so I will have to find it!

The last bit of this build is to add the spring thing that the crest will fit on to. It just slots into place with no glue.



Here is a picture of the helmet to date with the first part of the neck guard in position, but not attached.



The next post we have more breatplate parts. Once again, comments and questions welcome.

James

[chill]

I would defo consider gloves of some description looking at the fingerprints. Unless you clean up with some sort of cleaner after.

But superb looking model none-the-less.

[Mark]

It's an Impressive looking kit. Nice finish.

[snapdragon]

I can't wear gloves to build models. My hands sweat in them and makes me very uncomfortable. It is easy to clean fingerprints off this stuff. a quick squirt with pledge and a polish with a duster and the shine is back and no fingerprints.

[casper]

I would recommend a polishing cloth used for LED tv screens snaps, i use them for my phone and sun glasses and they work very well without the need for pledge polish.

[Mark]

At the risk of seeming impertinent, have you tried washing your hands before starting to work on the model ?

[snapdragon]

Oh I say! How impertinent! LOL

Of course!!!

[baby_astons]

what happened to the samurai john, will he need to go home naked?!

[Julian]

I was catching up still, I thought this was a cross-stitch partwork at 1st...

[Mark]

How is your Armour coming on James ? We haven't heard about it for a while.