I do Russian and Slavic re-enactment 1000-1250 AD period, so here is my equipment, still havent finished the mail on my helmet yet as I ran out of rings.
This year I will buy a steel lamellar armour and a hauberk and plan on making a gambeson











And here is a picture in my clothes I made

Wow, I especially like the blunt saber. Who made it?

awesome!! i have always wanted to make a kit like that

Here are photos of my new mid-14th century kit. I have not gotten rid of my 15th century Milanese full plate kit; I just wanted a second suit.

I aimed to make it look like something out of the Romance of Alexander.

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I made the coat of plates, and the arm and leg harness. The bascinet, mail, and gauntlets were lent to me by a friend for the purpose of taking these photos. I do, however, have similar items of my own on the way or in the works, so the final result will be essentially identical to what is pictured here.

Here are a couple photos of my 16th century kit.

I'm happy to field any questions.

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Who made that? You don't see 16th century full plate kits very often. Do you have any closer shots of it?

Here's another shot:

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The suit is from Illusion.
Voiders from GDFB.
Historic Enterprises arming doublet.
Mail skirt from eBay.
The 2-hander is a Hanwei.
The other sword is a Windlass.
The rondel is a Del Tin.

I need to figure out a better way to suspend the skirt. Right now it just has a belt cinched over it.

Gorgeous kit, great photos, and a very dramatic backdrop. Where were these pictures taken, if I might ask?

American Fork Canyon, Utah

John that is a great harness!! It's always refreshing to see full plate that isn't German gothic :D

Indeed, that is a very nice harness, John. I'm critical of Illusion's lack of concern for specific details in their designs. The flow of the harness is nice and it certainly echoes an early 16th century feel (particularly from Tudor England, in my opinion), but there are numerous issues with the exactness of their construction methods and the proportions of certain pieces of the harness. For example, the pauldrons lack the proper amount of extension forward, giving less protection than historic examples. The only reason a pauldron would be made so shallow would be to allow a lance to be cradled, and this would specifically be on the right shoulder.

The biggest issue, though, is that you do not have a separate, articulated gorget - this is a pivotal piece of a complete harness, and I suspect that if you get one you will realize that it improves the overall aesthetic quality of your kit very much. For between two and four hundred dollars I suspect you could commission one to fit or pick one up from a vendor such as Mercenary's Tailor (which I've seen recent good reviews for on their gorgets). I think it would be a good investment considering what time and money you already have in the kit.

Cheers!

-Gregory

Thanks for the feedback, Gregory. I agree the pauldrons are the weakest part of the harness.

I would be interested in photos of any specific gorgets that you feel would be a good match.

In the lower price range I mentioned the example Jean just posted from Merc's Tailor is exactly what I had in mind. Of course, as he correctly stated, it would be worn under the cuirass so as long as you get the fit around the neck correct, most examples should work okay with minor adjustment. The style you're looking for would definitely be a simple one like the example above - Two pieces on the bottom to fit snugly under the cuirass with 2/3 articulated lames rising from it, held in places with rather loose leather strips that allow a range of motion.

For the money, I'd definitely contact Allan and see if he thinks he could get one that would have the proper fit for you and the right amount of curvature over the upper chest to fit smoothly beneath your cuirass. I believe that his product is probably a perfect match for the quality of your existing harness. It wouldn't make sense to get anything wildly better made or any less worthily constructed, in my opinion. If he doesn't have anything that fits you, I'd stroll over to the Armour Archive and post a thread in the classified section showing images of your cuirass and burgonet when they're on you, give a neck circumference measurement and ask for "a proper early 16th century gorget" to be made to match. You'll have armorers throwing you offers so fast you won't know what to do.

-Gregory

Without over hyping Allan, which I consider a friend as well as my go to guy for armour, he does give good service and his wait times are very short as opposed to others who might take months or years to get the product finished.

Would a gorget really go under that helm with the attached gorget?

If so...

Would a gorget be appropraite under a bevor? for a late 15th century?

Chris in answer to the first part of your questions yes. As can be seen in John's pics the gorget lames of the helmet do not, nor due to B&B plate and pauldron straps cannot sit directly on the armour below, thus there is a gap, while seemingly small a gap non the less, the gorget with neck lames serves not only as a platform for possible attachement of the pauldrons but the heavier arm harness but also via the neck lames to cover that small gap that could sometimes present itself between helmet lames and breast plate.

Note the following examples from the myArmoury period examples album http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....fullsize=1
In this clearly based on 1) the attchement points of the pauldrons and 2) the neck line of the breast plate in relation to the bottom lame of the helemt gorget there is clearly a seperate gorget beneath
Here again the same two indicators are present http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....fullsize=1

In answer to the second part i've seen both with and without, but always of simple base plate ( the big front and back plates that sit on the shoulders and chest ) and no neck lames when seperate from the sallet. See this example from the myArmoury galleries http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....fullsize=1 Note the simple base plate gorget beneanth the bevor. There are early 16th century examples of bevor/gorgets sometimes directly attached to the sallet where the bevor has a gorget like back plate with neck lames but these are to the best of my knowledge strictly of early 16ht century origin and disappeared quickly in favor of the more traditional multi- lame gorget as the close helmet became more popular.