Mark's Armour

[Mark]

Well, good news, and bad, I'm afraid. I finally managed to get my grubby mitts on my Samurai parts, so I've made a start. The bad news is that I didn't have room in the case to bring anything back to Shanghai, so there won't be any more updates until I next get back to the UK.......

I have to say, that the parts go together very well indeed. It's certainly a very high quality kit.


More anon, when I've uploaded some photos.

[Mark]

Lets make a nice easy start with the helmet. The two halves of the helmet go together very well indeed.
They are secured with a metal ring which is aligned by arrows nice a clearly and fixed with two screws. See the last pic off this post. All simple stuff.



There are some sticky out bits on the helmet. (I'm sure there must be a technical name, but I like calling them sticky out bits ) which were glued in with Unibond Repair Extreme. This is a brilliant glue for this. It's thick, but doesn't string very much. Applied with a cocktail stick, it sets in an hour or two and sticks very well indeed. The instructions aren't clear, but it looks like they are glued into the upper of the two holes. Finger's crossed this is right, otherwise I'll have to pull them out.....



Next came the two rings. These glued to each other with no problems at all, but the helmet bowl rocked on them a bit. A quick rub with a file on the base of the helmet bowl seemed to sort this out. See the second photo below. This filed area shows sliver against the black paint.

[Eric]

Nice and shiney!

[Mark]

Very shiny !

[casper]

Great start Mark and nice to see another Armour build
looks like a Blancmange mould in the first photo

[Mark]

Now on to the face mask. Nice and simple. Just a couple of pegs to glue onto the face mask, then the nose section clips in place.
There are a couple if details that go around the chin too. Two spiky things and a drain hole. I guess Samurai Warriors must have dribbled a lot
Again, I used the same glue.





This model is making a nice change from the more challenging partworks. It goes together well and isn't difficult (well, not yet anyway )

[Mark]

Next comes the Cuirass, which is the breast plate.

This comes in four parts, upper and lower, and two hinges. It's actually upside down in this photo.
It's not obvious which way the hinges go, but both the hinges are the main part of the cuirass have an L & R moulded on if you look carefully.
I left the protective plastic on to protect it against scratches, etc.

[Eric]

A good idea to leave the protective cover on, no greasy fingerprints!

I'd be unable to resist the temptation to peal it of if it were me......

[Mark]

Lol ! I was resisting saying that

[Mark]

And the last instalment for now, the first tasset.

The first few tasset plates are easy, and the full size drawing makes it relatively easy to get the spacing right. Of course, the thread (looks a bit like a flat shoe lace) stretches a bit when you pull it, and hangs straighter under it's own weight, so it's best to check this with the drawing and parts held vertically. That makes it slightly tricky. However, I don't think a millimetre or two here and there will notice on the finished model. The end of the thread was formed into a point by cutting at an angle and sealing with white PVA wood glue. This works well, but you have to be careful to keep the glue just at the very tip. Otherwise you end up with the wider bit of the thread sealed with glue, and it won't go through the holes !!

I forgot to photo the back of the parts which has the mock leather stuck to it. I started off trying to align the holes with a cocktail stick, but that proved to be quite tricky. I ended up just aligning them carefully by eye.



Here's the tasset with the first 5 plates in place.



The bottom place has some decorative thread work. The instructions tell you to leave the knot on the outside, but I couldn't get a neat looking knot.



Plan B ! Leave the knot at the back and it looks so much better. It might not be quite 100% accurate, but I'd rather have it neat than accurate to be honest.
I don't suppose anybody will notice, and if they do, I'll tell them to go away and come back with a documented photographic reference of the original to prove that I'm wrong. The clip round the ear is reserved for the exceptionally cheeky



Finally, the tasset is finished off with some yellow thread.



Sadly, this is as far as I've got, and my parts are now 6000 miles away, so it's going to be a little while before I can continue.

[casper]

Will you be carrying on with the Armour while home Mark

[Mark]

Home is Shanghai at the moment ........ However I've got a trip to the UK next month. I'm hoping to pick up some of the set then and bring it back to Shanghai.

[Mark]

I'm back in the UK briefly, and have now got a suitcase half full of Samurai bits, so I'll be able to carry on with this, if I'm not overweight or security don't wander too much about all the strange bits of metal when they X-ray the case

[Mark]

I survived all the various security checks, and only got told off once for having a suit case slightly over weight.
Now got a big pile of bits to get stuck into

[Mark]

I've managed to make some headway on this project again. I was going to start on the helmet visor, but there are some nasty blemishes in the paintwork. However, a quick email to customer services was sent, and they replied that a replacement should be with me (or at least my UK address !) in the next couple of weeks. So I've started on the next set of tassets. Same as the last set.



Next up, the cuirass side. This was glued together with Hypo cement. Not my favourite glue to be honest (sorry BA !) but it seems to work very well for this application.
The pin is simply held in place with a knotted thread.



The first tasset is fixed to the cuirass front. This is straight forward, but needs care to make sure the mountain and valley folds are right. Needless to say, the lace seems to prefer to fold the wrong way I'd got fed up with lacing by the time I'd finished this, so the next tasset and gold lace can wait until later !



Then I decided to have a change of scenery and started on the wooden stand. This is nice and fits together well but needs a tap with a hammer to get the pegs to locate fully. I will leave that until tomorrow as it was late and I didn't want to disturb the neighbours. The centre piece, shown below, had a slightly cock-eyed hole. However, a quick fettle with a sharp knife fixed the problem.



All straight forward, nice and easy so far. The model needs care rather than skill, if you see what I mean. I've got the first 20 stages with me, so I can do a bit more before I come to a grinding halt again.....

[Mark]

Here is the stand, after a careful but repeated application of a hammer ! It took a surprising amount of hammering, and to be honest, I probably should have given the pegs a wipe with sandpaper, but it went home (I did check the depth of the hole before I started !) in the end.

The stand is well finished. Nice and smooth and doesn't need any further work. It is completely covered by a cloth on the finished model, so thee is little point in putting any great effort into giving it a better finish.



Here's the Cuirass with the second tasset applied. I haven't Added the gold thread yet.



Next up, another tasset, and the shoulder guards.

[Manoverboard]

Hi Mark, Just stumbled across this build and I must say it looks very interesting ! who makes/distributes it ?
Kim.

[Mark]

Hi Kim, It's a DeAg Modelspace product. Very good quality too, and certainly something a bit different !

[Mark]

I've made a start on the first shoulder guard.

These are the parts.



The two large parts are held together with a spring steel pin. It holds itself in place as the armour is curved, and just needed a push with something hard and it slide in, no problems.



The last mechanical assembly was to fit this finger shaped part. This is held in with a pin, but you apply glue to the inside of the last hole, so when the pin is slide in you don't get glue on the moving part. I used Hypo cement, which worked really well. The needle type applicator allows you to get the glue inside the hole with no mess.



There is some thread work next. I had a quick fiddle with the thread, and it looks like it will be tricky to get it to go neatly. Still, nice to have a little challenge.

[casper]

The finish and quality of the parts looks really good Mark and the stand sounds nice and strong with the tight fitting joints
Will you be oiling or staining the wood