Lego armour version 3 finished with video tutorial

Phew! Its done. I finally sat on my behind and am now done with the lego DIY armour version 3. Gave me a headache but it was worth it.

USED MATERIAL: custom made links - 0.3mm rhodium plated copper wire, winded on 1.2mm dowel.

Since I do believe I've reached the maximum development possible for this project, I made a video tutorial on it. Its not the best, and well my camera isn't the best too, but it will do. Any chainmaille enthusiast will be able to catch up and get on with it in no time. For the rest - hold your horses, this is not for newbies. Do some easier stuff and then try to ruin your eyesight with this.

Here's the front in better detail.

 And the back.

 

Pimp my horse! 

 

 Here's the armor removal process. Its like putting on and removing a full sized chainmail hauberk, except the part where you remove the head first.  It has to be done very slowly and carefully. A stronger pull and you will open some of the links, and repairs on something THIS small can make you go nuts. (Unless you already are, like me)

 Armour removal process step 2

 And its off.

 

Here it is again compared with the lego armour version 1. 

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On micro maille - tools, tips, and basics.

Right. Now, after doing a good amount of projects involving it, its time to write in depth about micromaille.

Micro maille or nanomaille or however you decide to call it is chainmail made by rings ranging from quite small to microscopic. It is by all means NOT something a newbie should try to tackle. First things first - supplies.

Supplies for micromaille can be bought at a jeweller's supply store - a real one or online. Usually you will find copper with some plating - in my case gold-plated, rhodium plated, bronze plated copper rings, but if you have the money - you can even do real silver for example. I don't think anyone has the money to do real gold...
The links will be moderately expensive too - for the amount of money needed for a chainmail shirt, you will barely get enough to fill in your hand.

 If you need something specific, because the stores will only have preset sizes, you can buy wire and make your own links. The wire is sold per meter usually(at least where I buy) and could be well under 1mm thick.

As an example - here are microscopic links I made by myself - so tiny I could fit them under my fingernail.

2 TOOLS


First of all you will need the smallest pliers you can find and then some! Those are pretty small but they are still not very comfortable for the job - I'm thinking about customizing them a bit. The nail clipper? Well...Its what I used to cut the home made microlinks above.

A magnifying glass of some sorts, or a monocle is also a good idea - you will ruin your eyes in no time otherwise. You won't be able to even do anything if you have eyesight problems in the first place, without one of these.

TIPS

VERY IMPORTANT!
And related to the above mentioned thing about the magnifying glass. ONLY WORK AT GOOD DAYLIGHT! Don't try to work on a lamp light or if its dark! Just don't! You will be looking at an optometry cabinet in no time. Its just not worth putting on glasses for this, believe me.

Forget about speedweaving. The rings are so small the only way to actually work is 1 by 1. Its impossible to grasp them by hand properly and they tend to slip a lot, so just do it 1 by 1.

Get something with a lot of tiny boxes. Like a fisherman's case or a tool box or something. You will need somewhere to keep those links sorted out and safe from getting spilled all over the floor. Good luck gathering them if you do!

That's all I can think of for now but I will add more later probably. Might split this into several posts too.

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Lego armor - new and improved

Happy new year everyone!

Here is the second version of the armored lego. Now the chainmail is a much better fit, and the coif looks much better.I will do version 3 though - will try for classic norman armor - coif integrated in the hauberk.

The front is slit(as it should be) so walking is OK.

 The back is now symmetric and completely covered.

 The coif has a proper bishop mantle from gold plated rings. Its easy to fall off though, nothing I can about about that. Maybe an elastic tied in the rings?

 And finally - full chainmaille gear.

 The sides can't be closed off - it blocks arms movement. Better results are possible with smaller rings, but I doubt I can get any smaller - besides I don't think i can find the tools for such tiny work.

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Lego man in full armor

You love lego. There are no exceptions, unless of course you are an alien trying to take over the world or a nazi or something. So yeah the idea was simple to implement once i got to making it.  The quality of the photos is quite poor this time. I'll do a new session tomorrow. The armor itself needs some fixing too its not symmetric or a good fit yet, but the lego man was more problematic to work than the bunny.
My eyes are very tired and I just can't go on for today so yeah - fixes and new photos tomorrow.

I used rhodium rings for this one - the smallest I could find, still not small enough to look great but its ok.

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Early summary and future schedule

Phew, the year is almost done. So, while we are all busy with the holiday festivities, let's see how it all rounded up. I finished my 9th semester in the university, so far so good, but the best is yet to come as they say. I am for the time being without steady income, but my expenses are fairly low so it was not a problem. Next spring things will hopefully look different for my finances. In a happy relationships for which I'm grateful.
The new chain&plate mails will be postponed for a while -  exam session is soon to follow in January not to mention that the cold weather is hardly an incenstive to hard work. That does not mean this blog will remain without updates of course. I found good use for the rhodium and gold plated links I bought. What exactly, you will see soon enough.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New year. Let's hope it will be better than this one.
Cheers mates.

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This should keep my engines running for a while.

Bought a new batch of tiny links. Copper, gold-plated and  rhodium plated rings too. Should be a while before I have to visit that store again to buy more. Question is what to make with them :)

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