The White Knight - Heater shields and Barbuta helm

Where are all the good man gone?

Well, here is one. He is a character that appears very early in my Undead fantasy world's story, and to finally get there some day I need him to be finished.

He is a warrior monk, his order is maintaining field hospitals, caring for the wounded, disturbed and sick. Being a monk with access to the monastery's library from a young age, he is quite well read, serving as a defender and feldsher alike. Besides his above average knowledge of anatomy, history and theology, he is also keeping track of the new technological advancements in the sciences that might one day save humanity from being wiped out by the Undead.

Of course first he needed a white gambeson, which I sewed together with some fabric that looked as it could sell the illusion of being quilted.


I don't have the material or equipment for tiny metal eyelet making, so I glued on little leather squares and punched holes through them.


With a place holder belt and placeholder helmet.


When I made Joqonukk the Northern Warrior, I wanted to keep it simple with a simple leather vest, but then it ended in sewing together dozens of 3d printed lamellae.

Here I just wanted to put some nails in the leather vest for style and to imitate a coat of plates, but it looked too soft and fake so I ended up cutting aluminium can into a proper coat of plates we will never see again under the leather cover. But it helps a lot in making it stiff, giving it form and of course the right position of the nails is important. I chose the shiny silver ones.


It does not need to be beautiful but functional.




I never used that many nails yet, ironically I did all that on Good Friday


Strapping is rudimentary, it's one if my 1 6 nemesises.


If you look closely you can see the plates through the leather.


It can stand on it's own now. Btw it's my cheapest figure yet, clothes and equipment made from the cheapest nails I can get, my old couches leather, random fabric l, aluminium can and head 3 d printed. And I think the body was part of payment for a commission.


He borrowed a warhammer, maybe he will keep it even. Definitely want to give him a club with metal head and a heater shield.


Long from being finished, also made splint arm armor but have to sort the pics.

Wow. That’s a lot of work for what is essentially “under the leather”. Brilliant as usual. Love the gambeson.

I second Mark's comments. An excellent start. And definitely very evocative of the whole knightly order aesthetic, without being specifically dated. Looking forward to where you take this, but very impressive already.

Oooh, loving this already! Nice idea for the 'quilted' fabric, you always find such good material to mimic 1:1 fabrics and textures. Looking forward to seeing how he turns out. : )

Man, so digging this character. Backstory is a fascinating addition to this world, and the outfit is looking amazing. I agree with Skywalkersaga, you really do find the best, unusual fabrics that work so well in 1/6. The armor is stunning, and I love the look of the gambeson. Awe inspiring work as always.

Great work, as always. The pins on the leather armor look beautiful. I'm especially impressed how you managed to space them so evenly. I wish I would possess a fraction of this crafting skill.

Thats great work and even greater patience on the small parts and leatherworks, really like it. and since no one has picked up the pun yet, i can't let it go unused, "you nailed it"

Stryker2011 wrote:Wow. That’s a lot of work for what is essentially “under the leather”. Brilliant as usual. Love the gambeson.

Thanks so much! Yes, weird how this development into over engineering again.

GubernatorFan wrote:I second Mark's comments. An excellent start. And definitely very evocative of the whole knightly order aesthetic, without being specifically dated. Looking forward to where you take this, but very impressive already.

Thanks sir,  glad he feels authentic.

skywalkersaga wrote:Oooh, loving this already! Nice idea for the 'quilted' fabric, you always find such good material to mimic 1:1 fabrics and textures.  Looking forward to seeing how he turns out. : )

Thanks! I even found some pink square/rhombus styled pseudo quilted fabric we might see this some time this year. And yes, the 1/6 fabric OCD detective view is strong in me sometimes.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Man, so digging this character.  Backstory is a fascinating addition to this world, and the outfit is looking amazing.  I agree with Skywalkersaga, you really do find the best, unusual fabrics that work so well in 1/6.  The armor is stunning, and I love the look of the gambeson. Awe inspiring work as always.

Well you know more about his backstory than any other person, haha. Thanks a lot.

Tjolnir wrote:Thats great work and even greater patience on the small parts and leatherworks, really like it. and since no one has picked up the pun yet, i can't let it go unused, "you nailed it"

Thanks a lot, yeah it's a phrase that came into my mind several times haha .

Randam Hajile wrote:Great work, as always. The pins on the leather armor look beautiful. I'm especially impressed how you managed to space them so evenly. I wish I would possess a fraction of this crafting skill.

Thanks, yeah I punched the holes with miniaturized templates  glued on, I reduced the number of holes on the front by half. I punched from the metalside through the backside of the leather so the positions are right.

Similar here, but this time the metal is outside, the splint armor as mentioned before. Until now only forearm and biceps armor. Again used the old couch leather, canluminium and nails.



I simplified it, most stripes only have two nails in there. And no plates on the inside.


I punched in the holes before cutting out, then sanded and bent them .









I want to bind them to elbow armor that has yet to be made.

Very cool. It really is miniaturized real armor! And one you made yourself, rather than come to you from Pop Toys or whatever. You should be proud of yourself, but of course this is not your first achievement in this department.

That’s really slick. Very Japanese-ish. Love it.

What thin metal product did you use to make the plates?

gooboo wrote:What thin metal product did you use to make the plates?

It was a can if I read correctly.

This is very impressive. And you make it look so simple! How do you fix the nails? Do you cut and sand them, too? Is that enough to last and not scratch the fabric underneath?

Ah you're right I missed that.

I love the COP. We need more of these. Did you clench the nails on the back or cut them off and glue them?

Ovy the master armourer strikes again! Gorgeous work.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very cool. It really is miniaturized real armor! And one you made yourself, rather than come to you from Pop Toys or whatever. You should be proud of yourself, but of course this is not your first achievement in this department.

Thanks a lot! Yeah it could definitely protect the body against swings from kitchen knifes I am sure.

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s really slick. Very Japanese-ish. Love it.

Thanks! Do you mean the armguards, because Samurai armor has those long plates too, or that white head/face cover those Buddhist Sohei warriors wear?

Diana wrote:

gooboo wrote:What thin metal product did you use to make the plates?

It was a can if I read correctly.

This is very impressive. And you make it look so simple! How do you fix the nails? Do you cut and sand them, too? Is that enough to last and not scratch the fabric underneath?

Well Diana answered it already, you can use a can but there is also another material which I used for the arm sections. It's some random aluminium sheet I bought many years ago in a craft store/architecture section. The can is a bit stiffer maybe and less shiny (if not polished/sanded), but not that much. Easily cuttable with some regular scissors.
You can form them into shape easily over a pen or a nail just by pressing them.
And thanks a lot Diana, I don't sand them, I just cut them as short as possible so possible sharp edges are leveled down in the leather.

skywalkersaga wrote:Ovy the master armourer strikes again! Gorgeous work.

Thanks so much!

shazzdan wrote:I love the COP. We need more of these. Did you clench the nails on the back or cut them off and glue them?

Thanks so much, feel free to add you own versions to this world, those materials are easily accessible. If I would make another, I'd recommend using a thinner leather or fabric even so the form of the plates becomes more visible, like with the heater shields below.
I punched in holes with an awl, put the nails through, then added superglue from the backside and after it dried I cut off the nails. There are more elegent methods but it's fast and effective. I couldn't clench the steel nails, might work with other materials though. Someone making plate 1/6 armor in another forum is using some tool to flatten brass nails after cutting.


So here the heater shields I mentioned. I didn't know they were actually called heater shield in English, thought they were just 'triangular shields'. But it seems they are named after heaters because of the form, haha.

After I cut out the forms in Worbla, I heated the heater shields in hot water and bent them on some sports mat. I combined white and yellow Worbla and it looked like some tasty sugary cake. Heated Worbla smells a bit like honey too but I didn't take a bite.



Stretched some wet leather over the shield and fixed it with nails, then glued it on and later cut off the nails.


But it felt way too large. So I made a much smaller version using the same method. I had a medium sized one prepared too but the small one felt right somehow.


The backsides already look like varnished wood.


I think a shield was very fitting for a protector figure like our White Knight.


I like the texture, but it needs straps and some heraldic painting. I want to part it in three sections, any ideas for colours/colors?


That's the arm position he will have when holding the shield straight, the grip in the upper right corner of the shields backside.


It has three tips on the top, three is a very important number in his religion.


Speaking of religion, when I printed his barbute I had to remove the crosses from his mask to fit his religion. I added three holes on each side and turned the cross into some three beam sign.
It's a Trinity religious belief, revering the Mother, the Father and the Creature.




Oh and I tested a white cloak.

You've been busy. Love the shields, and thanks again for the glimpse into your process. The helmet and the cloak look very nice, too. I could tell what you did to modify the helmet. That pattern would be too simple for the shield, but how about something like this: a rectangular-ish trident a little like the Cyrillic letter š (Ш), possibly the medieval version of št (Щ), where the descending element was placed centrally and took the shape of either a straight or triangular extension, or of a little circle. A symbol like that (with some variations) and blade-shaped ends to the elements was used as a common personal device on a number of medieval coins, too. Perhaps in black or dark red it would look good on the shield.


Here it is the first letter on the penultimate line, in one of its medieval forms --

Very nice work. I like your description of his religion and the significance of The Three. (As far as answering your question about my previous comment, yes, I meant the arm guards as they reminded me of Samurai.)

Man, watching your builds come together never fails to awe and inspire me. Freakin incredible. Loving this character, and even unfinished, he has an undeniable presence. Awesome.

I simply have to admire your dedication to making that armor as realistic as possible. I like his backstory and how he looks thus far, using leather for the eyelets is a good choice.

Dude...c'mon..
The details you put into this project is unbelievable !
I have to give worbla a go someday!! So many possibilities !!

Big fan of the Gambeson! It looks perfect with the little shiny dots. And the preview on the cape is also sweet. Gonna be one hell of a white knight! 

Very cool and intricate work! I've got to get some of those tiny rivets just to satisfy my masochistic side! Ah nails, my mistake.

Outstanding work Ovy! your attention to detail is incredible!

What awesome precision and use of materials - looking so good!