Battle of the Nations

Because you know, you need some place to bend all those tin cans, unless you plan on keeping them gathering dust and rust in some corner.

What IS the Battle of the Nations? Taking the name from that OTHER Battle of the Nations ,
its more or less an international medieval full contact combat tournament. Its not reenactment - more like LARP/SCA/WWF with swords and plate armor, but non the less - its pretty awesome in its own right. There are participating teams from half a dozen or more countries in several trials - 1 on 1, 5 on 5, full 21 on 21 etc.

There are teams from all over the world but the regulations and requirements are high.
 
For more info you can visit this Ukrainian site http://www.battleofthenations.com.ua/
It has english version as well.

You can also watch this short episode series on medievalists.net
http://www.medievalists.net/2011/11/11/battle-of-the-nations-tv-series/

Read More

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. 

Read More

Mini medieval crossbow model

Again with permission here's another of maister Aule's works. Following the same design and steps in his 15th century crossbow guide he made a miniature version. Photo quality is a bit bad, but you can see what's what on the big crossbow guide.


Here it is, half way through assembly - the wooden parts are carved out already, same goes for the lever and nut.

 Close shot of the body.

 Another shot of all the parts before assembly.

 Here it is, there is just no string attached yet.

 

Close shot of the trigger lever and nut.

 And finally the finished mini medieval crossbow next to a Nokia.

 

Here it is loaded for bear.

 

 And here it is test fired on a Suchard chocolates box. I wonder if there is a deeper subtle message in here? We might may never know.

 As you can see, its the bane of all chocolate boxes.

Read More

My repeating crossbow

Well then, since we are still on the crossbow thematic - Thats my repeating crossbow  with pump action mechanism. We made it quite a while ago. Well it wasn't me either - the woodwork was done by a carpenter, the trigger by a machine shop worker. Now i don't have the schematics since it wasn't done by me( i was mostly observer), and i can't disassemble it entirely - the trigger is screwed in, but i will take a photo session to show how the parts go.
Its very simple and easier to make than the the lever action crossbow - the chinese chu ko ni. A bit lacking in power but thats mostly because well - none of us knows how exactly to dry wood for bows, and it takes both hands to cock it.
 Magazine holds a good half a dozen bolts though you can stuff in more(I don't overload it).

Here's a video of it working - firing a 5 bolt clip.

Read More

My newest addition to the armory

So, this Friday, after finishing with great success the university exam session - 5.5 average out of 6 max on the grades - that would be something like A- for you english speakers, and getting some money in my pocket, I decided to buy myself a little gift which I've been thinking about for a while. So I went to the center where there are half a dozen hunting/weapons shops and bought myself a pistol crossbow.

The absolutely cheapest variety - for about 10 bucks or so. Gotta say, so far I'm impressed by this little bastard, as the holes in my wardrobe will testify. It has good power delivery for its 20kg pull strength, and it was a real bugger to put the bow string on - I got no problems to string bows, but bows are well - bigger, I have more room for leverage.
I already did a few things to it - namely, removing the sights, which would hardly be useful anyway as far as im concerned, and adding a bit of cushioning to the cocking mechanism - my fingers are taking enough abuse as it is anyway. Basically, I'm going to mess with this one until it breaks. At 10-15$ per unit, I really don't care if it does, because its awfully cheap and even if it does all I need is the bow(its steel) and the string, I can make a new body for it.

Read More