Samurai Armour

[Rhaven Blaack]

Recently, my eldest daughter informed me that her children (daughter 18 and son 15) have started learning (and practicing) martial-arts. Both have been doing very well and excelling nicely as well. So, I decided to take a step outside of my (USUAL) SCI-FI genre, and make each of them a set of (paper/cardstock) samurai armour.

My Grandson's favourite colour is red, I chose to make this one for him:


My Granddaughter's favourite colour is black. So, I am making this one for her:


Since I have had these templates for several years, I do not remember where I had obtained them from. However, if you GOOGLE "samurai armour (or armor)", you should be able to find them.

Without further ado, let us jump into this build. I am starting with the red one first.

I assembled the sidewalls of the base.
(*NOTE* This is a rather large model.)




The base is completely empty. So, I decided to make my own internal formers. I laminated the formers to 1.5mm thick.


The formers are assembled.


The formers are put in place.


I foled the glue tabs over.


The bottom plate is attached it place.


To give a better perspective of just how big this model is going to be, I have placed the base in front of my 15" USB monitor.


These are the parts for the for the front of the base.


The parts are assembled.




The parts are attached to the base.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Small update. This is the frame that holds the armour on the base.

Here are the parts for the frame.


The parts are assembled.


The frame is assembled.


The frame is placed on the base (without gluing it in place).

 

[Revell-Fan]

Very impressive! I'm sure your grandchildren will like these!

 

[mijob]

That is a very intresting model. I will watch yourprogress closely.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Thank you both!

 

[zathros]

Really cool!

 

[Toutenkarton]

This is a very nice initiative. Magnificent assembly

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Thank you both.

I have noticed that both templates ae in need of additional greebling. I will be featuring that throughout the thread.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Moving on to the torso armour.
These are the parts for the lower panels.


When I cut out each part, I laminated the red panels to "double" thickness and raised the cord details on the red panels.


I assembled the panels together to make a single panel set.


This shows the layered details.


All five panels are assembled.


The parts that are above the panels are part of the torso armour.


Starting to assemble the torso armour.




Here is the upper part of the torso armour. I raised the panels to show progression of the armour plating, as well as the cording details.


All of the components for the torso armour is assembled.


The torso armour is fully formed.





I make a mistake and forgot the wrap the torso armour around the frame stand before fully forming it. I cut the seem open and and wrapped the torso armour around the frame stand and resecured it properly.


Here is the corded belt.I laminated certain components to give it a more "realistic" look.


The corded belt is attached in place.


The frame stand is sitting on the base.

 

[Revell-Fan]

That looks cool! Have you thought about using straps made of fabric or elastics?

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

That looks cool! Have you thought about using straps made of fabric or elastics?

That is an interesting question. Whilst I have been working on this project, I have been contemplating the possibility of scratch building a "life-like" (albeit in much smaller scale) set of of samurai armour. However, if I do go forward with that particular project, that will be set for a much later date.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Here is a small update.

Here are the parts for the "neck" armour.


The "neck" armour is assembled.


The "neck" armour is placed on the frame stand.

 

[mijob]

It is looking great .

 

[Revell-Fan]

Awesome! Are you going to seal the parts later to give them a glossy finish?

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Awesome! Are you going to seal the parts later to give them a glossy finish?

I was thinking about it. However, I have decided against it. I think that it is best to leave it "as-is". This is part of a lesson for grandchildren, to accept certain thing "as they are" and to appreciate simple things as well. Not only that, but a bit of history as well.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Moving on to the sleeves & gauntlets.
Here are the parts for the sleeves & gauntlets.


The initial parts for the sleeves & gauntlets are assembled. I raised the red "armour" plates and cordage.
I traced out the part for the back side of the gauntlet so that the texture would be on the inside of the gauntlet.


The sleeves & gauntlets are assembled.


THe sleeves & gauntlets are attached in place.

 

[mijob]

It looks very solid and heavy.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

It looks very solid and heavy.

Thank you. It is not heavy at all. Quite the contrary, it is very light.

 

[Revell-Fan]

Impressive!

 

[micahrogers]

There was a time, back when I was studying kenjutsu that I could name every piece of that suit. Now all I can remember is that obi is belt....