Chain Mail Torso

TwoTonic Knight · Post by **TwoTonic Knight** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 11:36 pm

Yes, yes, I know - just "mail" is sufficient.

This is my first pass at making chain mail - I haven't tried to make any kind of collar and I imagine the detail is too fine for anything except high quality paper. This was more an experiment in laying out a pattern than anything.

Dragon Master · Post by **Dragon Master** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 11:43 pm

Cool! Quite nice. My printer would turn that into a grey blod though. Nice works, it speaks the lord of the rings to me.

Nice,

DM

Blasterman · Post by **Blasterman** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 2:14 am

Looks really good! Great job there, T-T!

That would be great for my Knights to wear under
their plate armour. Ahhh, the transitional period of
plate and mail...

LEGOFREAK · Post by **LEGOFREAK** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 4:43 pm

very very excellent design - the chain mails that I have done have all lost their details when shrunk down to fit onto a torso. this looks like it should keep it's "flavor"!

very nice
I will have to print a few out at my earliest chance.

LF

wlister · Post by **wlister** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 4:50 pm

Whoever manages to print this out and retain the details, please post it. I have been mulling over whether or not I want to purchase a new printer. Being able to see if a non-lazer printer could handle this level of detail would really help my decision. Thanks,

Will

Kev · Post by **Kev** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 5:42 pm

...now, how about figuring out a way to print that on arms?

TwoTonic Knight · Post by **TwoTonic Knight** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 5:54 pm

LEGOFREAK wrote:very very excellent design - the chain mails that I have done have all lost their details when shrunk down to fit onto a torso. this looks like it should keep it's "flavor"!

very nice
I will have to print a few out at my earliest chance.

LF

I have only printed out a test on regular paper so far. It holds fairly well, but without the full black of glossy paper the contrast is down. Thus, for cheaper paper, a larger pattern would work better - maybe double the size for the links. I'm going to make a sheet of torso prints that I have collected, add a larger link pattern, and do a print out on the good stuff this weekend.

TwoTonic Knight · Post by **TwoTonic Knight** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:57 am

This is the large link version. It's one of those things that it looks oversized here, but once it gets printed at the size of a minifig, it's easier to see and distinguish. I'll have to see them both on the quality paper before I decide which I prefer (or, Loki forbid, an intermediate size).

Dragon Master · Post by **Dragon Master** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 11:44 pm

That might be too big. Something in between would be perfect.

Why did lego never make something like this?

DM

akochan · Post by **akochan** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 1:15 am

Well DM, they did make this:

http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/973p41

As you can see it's been misnamed chainmail even though the pattern clearly looks like scale mail to me... but then what do I know. I'm not one of those people who dresses up in ridiculous costumes and goes to rennaisance fairs.

-Andy

Troy T. Moore · Post by **Troy T. Moore** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 2:04 am

akochan, definitely scale armour!! I haven't dressed up for a while

TwoTonic Knight · Post by **TwoTonic Knight** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 2:28 am

akochan wrote:Well DM, they did make this:

http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/973p41

As you can see it's been misnamed chainmail even though the pattern clearly looks like scale mail to me... but then what do I know. I'm not one of those people who dresses up in ridiculous costumes and goes to rennaisance fairs.

-Andy

The medieval period used a variety of "flexible" armor, but one of the easiest to actually print onto a minifig due to complexity and the way it "reads" is scale. You can oversize the scales and it still is obvious what it is. Make chain links too large and it starts to appear as if it is an anchor chain wrapped around a body.

To answer DM's thoughts previous to akochan, what looks good at full Photoshop size, and what looks good actually shrunk down to minifig size are two different things. My small pattern should work reasonably well with a good printer and photo paper. Anything else and it will simply become a texture. The large links look better on my test sheets with the cheap paper, and "read" better from a distance. I'm sitting down now to do an intermediate size. I'll then do a print out on the good paper, post pictures, and judge from there.

TwoTonic Knight · Post by **TwoTonic Knight** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 5:33 am

And here is the intermediate version. I decided I didn't like the black space, and added the far side of the ring (ooooo, sounds like Aubrey and Maturin meet Frodo and Sam).

Dragon Master · Post by **Dragon Master** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 7:43 am

Thats what I'm Talking about 2T Knight. I like it the way it is. It looks great. I'll have to see if my printer can make that.

And the official chain mail is definatly scale.

DM

akochan · Post by **akochan** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 2:32 pm

That intermediate one came out looking pretty good on my el cheapo HP color inkjet. Unfortuneately the stickers I used weren't absorbant enough to hold the pattern. What kind of stickers do y'all use? Or do you just use good paper and apply glue?

-Andy

Classic-Castle.com

Chain Mail Torso

Chain Mail Torso

Fantastic!