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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2021 19:59:29 GMT
I know steel boats have been covered in fiberglass and epoxy resin to protect it from the water, but I wonder how this would be on steel armour?
I have an 18g Breast plate coming in the mail, and it has me thinking about covering all my steel armour in fiberglass and paint (and replacing the leather straps with Nylon), to protect it from the weather, and I'm wondering if it would strengthen the armour at all
Does anyone know about such things? Would a layer of fiberglass or two make it into more effective armour?
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Mar 1, 2021 0:19:59 GMT
Steel/iron was sometimes lacquered to protect it from the weather. This was common in East Asia. Epoxy is a good modern alternative.
Putting fibreglass into the mix could help, but I don't think it will do much with steel armour.
Rawhide armour would sometimes have crushed stone or glass, or sand, glued onto it as an outer layer, or between two layers of rawhide. This would help stop sharp edged arrow points from cutting through. Anything sufficiently hard and/or tough you glue onto the outer face of your armour will help, whether fibreglass or sand or whatever. The big question is whether or not it helps more than increasing the amount of steel by the same weight would help. I don't think it would. It's a different story with rawhide, since the extra stuff can be a lot more cut-resistant than the rawhide, and rawhide provides less protection for a given weight than iron or steel.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2021 5:47:07 GMT
Hmmm, you know, suddenly the idea of just lacquer sounds appealing too. Wouldn't add too much weight either I bet.
Thanks timo, I might just stick with spray paint and clear coat, since I dont know how to use lacquer correctly
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2021 14:15:49 GMT
I just realized I actually forgot the purpose of the thread lol
I was wondering if I can take costume armour to functional armour with layers of fibreglass. The element protection was mostly a bonus I was hoping for
It would still be steel, but I'm hoping the fiberglass stiffens it up to resists impact damage better, so it won't crumple in as easily
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Mar 1, 2021 20:49:00 GMT
I don't think this is a good idea. Many reasons...but to dig down to the root.
What will you be using it for?
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Post by RufusScorpius on Mar 1, 2021 20:57:20 GMT
I'm thinking additional weight, separation of the laminate (adhesion cracking from temperature changes and flex), corrosion from chemicals leached from the fiberglass, and probably other material/construct issues I haven't thought of.
I don't think covering metal with fiberglass would make costume armor functional. I don't see how the laminate of fiberglass will add any strength or puncture resistance over actual metal, unless it's a quarter inch thick or more.
For corrosion prevention, simple paint is the best route. Lots of modern primers that will protect the metal and give a good base for any topcoating you want to use. Fiberglass would have to be sanded and painted anyways, so just skip the fiberglassing step. Paint whatever color//pattern suits your fancy.
But as with everything, you could always experiment with fiberglass laminated metal armor and see what happens.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Mar 1, 2021 21:16:19 GMT
18g is functional unless you bring archery and guns into it. It's about 30% thicker than typical European plate arm and leg armour (which was often about 20g to 22g, about 0.8mm thick). It gives excellent resistance to one-handed weapons. If you let somebody beat on it for a while, they'll dent it, but the plan is that you don't let them do that. Dents on a breastplate aren't as bad as dents on arm and leg armour, anyway.
Also, things like halberds might be very dangerous through thin armour like that. But on the off-chance something like that hits your breastplate, 18g will still help.
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Post by RufusScorpius on Mar 1, 2021 21:23:40 GMT
18g is functional unless you bring archery and guns into it. It's about 30% thicker than typical European plate arm and leg armour (which was often about 20g to 22g, about 0.8mm thick). It gives excellent resistance to one-handed weapons. If you let somebody beat on it for a while, they'll dent it, but the plan is that you don't let them do that. Dents on a breastplate aren't as bad as dents on arm and leg armour, anyway. Also, things like halberds might be very dangerous through thin armour like that. But on the off-chance something like that hits your breastplate, 18g will still help. Thin armor is better than no armor. I had a buddy in the armor division. I asked him what good was a broken down tank, he said a broken tank is better armor protection than a shirt, and it makes a really good pill box. Sage wisdom. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2021 21:32:42 GMT
Thorfinn: just using it "as my armour". Just been wondering what I can do to boost the function. I imagine 18g to be enough against regular swords, but a Warhammer would crumple it lol... But then again that's what they are for.
At the moment I have a stab resistant vest with a ballistic steel plate insert. I'm guessing that it's still gonna be the more functionally superior armour, but I was hoping to mess with this Breast plate, and make it more sturdy. Got any ideas?
Rufus: yea i might do that then. At least I can give it a unique look if I feel like it. Might change the straps to Nylon tho, just so I don't gotta worry bout rot as much
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2021 21:34:34 GMT
18g is functional unless you bring archery and guns into it. It's about 30% thicker than typical European plate arm and leg armour (which was often about 20g to 22g, about 0.8mm thick). It gives excellent resistance to one-handed weapons. If you let somebody beat on it for a while, they'll dent it, but the plan is that you don't let them do that. Dents on a breastplate aren't as bad as dents on arm and leg armour, anyway. Also, things like halberds might be very dangerous through thin armour like that. But on the off-chance something like that hits your breastplate, 18g will still help. This is good news to me. I'm happy with that tbh, I always consider a halberd to be like the rifle of melee weapons: even if you are protected enough, the impact would still damage you Yea ill just go with paint maybe. Perhaps a nice steel coloured blue or green. Or I'll be my usual edgy self and go black with sanded trimmings |
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Post by RufusScorpius on Mar 1, 2021 21:47:44 GMT
At the moment I have a stab resistant vest with a ballistic steel plate insert. I'm guessing that it's still gonna be the more functionally superior armour, but I was hoping to mess with this Breast plate, and make it more sturdy. Got any ideas? Um, yeah. Duh. There's about 500 years of technology development between the two kinds of armor. You could cover the metal armor with modern ballistic body armor panels. I would feel quite save in something like that. Back to metal armor, it's next to impossible to cut through even cheap armor. You can try it yourself, but all you will do is dent it. Stabbing is something else entirely, and for that you need either really thick, hardened steel, or avoid the stabby bit of the sword. Halberds were invented because swords couldn't hurt the armor, so they made a big honking ax/hammer thing on the end of a long pole for bashing the bejezus out of the knight. Then when he fell down, they would use the pointy bit to stab through the eye slit and finish the job proper. And I agree that the idea of armor is not to stand there and just let the other guy wail away at you until the armor fails. You will be moving, dodging, parrying and so forth. Any hits should be incidental and fairly light. What would be a serious cut in an unarmored fight is less than nothing to the armor- maybe scratch it a bit. Because Hollywood lies to you and armor is worn because it works. Maybe before getting all crazy with coatings, you might want to get the armor you have hardened. Dollars to donuts that the cheap armor is simple mild steel with no other processing done. Hardening it will go a long way to increasing it's protective value without adding any weight or dealing with composites or whatnot. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2021 22:28:52 GMT
At the moment I have a stab resistant vest with a ballistic steel plate insert. I'm guessing that it's still gonna be the more functionally superior armour, but I was hoping to mess with this Breast plate, and make it more sturdy. Got any ideas? Um, yeah. Duh. There's about 500 years of technology development between the two kinds of armor. You could cover the metal armor with modern ballistic body armor panels. I would feel quite save in something like that. Back to metal armor, it's next to impossible to cut through even cheap armor. You can try it yourself, but all you will do is dent it. Stabbing is something else entirely, and for that you need either really thick, hardened steel, or avoid the stabby bit of the sword. Halberds were invented because swords couldn't hurt the armor, so they made a big honking ax/hammer thing on the end of a long pole for bashing the bejezus out of the knight. Then when he fell down, they would use the pointy bit to stab through the eye slit and finish the job proper. And I agree that the idea of armor is not to stand there and just let the other guy wail away at you until the armor fails. You will be moving, dodging, parrying and so forth. Any hits should be incidental and fairly light. What would be a serious cut in an unarmored fight is less than nothing to the armor- maybe scratch it a bit. Because Hollywood lies to you and armor is worn because it works. Maybe before getting all crazy with coatings, you might want to get the armor you have hardened. Dollars to donuts that the cheap armor is simple mild steel with no other processing done. Hardening it will go a long way to increasing it's protective value without adding any weight or dealing with composites or whatnot. You know, that's not a bad idea at all. If mild steel can be hardened, even just a bit, that would improve the armour a heck load I bet. Thanks for the advice on that. Maybe I can get my pauldrons done too |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2021 17:49:25 GMT
I don't think this is a good idea. Many reasons...but to dig down to the root. What will you be using it for? To answer what my armour will be used for: If you wanna get to the point, skip to 2 minutes in. But it's great enough to watch it all |
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