Tatami Do... Help?

[Tachibana]

Hey all, I'm new to the forums, and to medieval reenactment in general, having just joined the SCA a short while ago. I want to do japanese, but I'm having a bit of trouble getting started.

I've read quite a lot of the material on sengoku daimyo, and what I've come up with is that I want to make myself a tatami do. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of info there about that particular type of armor, so I'm wondering a few things. Specifically, how are the plates tied to the backing, and how does a tatami do stand up to combat? Ive seen an example of one with one larger plate on the front, is that normal? 

I plan for my persona to be more of a retainer or ashigaru than a noble, so I want to paint the symbol of my household on the front. Speaking of which, how well does paint hold on to the plates through combat, and what is the best type of paint to use? Also, what material is best, aluminum or steel? I would prefer to use metal rather than plastic or leather. 

[Kozure Okami]

Hey there,
if I was planning to make a tatami dou, I would start by looking at the chapter about kote, there should be some helpful information about sewing plates to fabric. Effingham-sensei also mentioned sewing protectors into the fabric sections, or wearing some underneath, which seems like a good idea to me.
I have no idea about SCA rules, but I'm seeing a potential problem here: with your persona being an ashigaru, you'll be wearing less armour than higher-ranking characters. So you'll have to figure out how to be well protected while still looking like you're just wearing some basic armour parts. So go and study pictures of ashigaru to see if there are possibilities to sneak enough protection under your armour - or maybe drop the ashigaru and go for low-ranking retainer instead.

As for material, I would probably go for aluminum. It's not authentic, but for SCA combat you'll want much thicker plates than what you find on real armour (about 1/32"...), which might turn out to be very heavy in steel.

These are my thoughts, but please remember that I'm new to armour construction myself and my knowledge of SCA combat rules is next to zero

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2015 10:58:50 GMT -5 Tachibana said:

I plan for my persona to be more of a retainer or ashigaru than a noble, so I want to paint the symbol of my household on the front. Speaking of which, how well does paint hold on to the plates through combat, and what is the best type of paint to use?

In the SCA, all members are assumed to be nobility, so buck up and be noble. Of course, there's nobility and there's Nobility. Don't waste time and money aiming low; you'll just have to start over when you become dissatisfied. Better to start out aiming high, and achieve that gradually.

All paint will suffer the depredations of combat. The best paint for use on metal is probably Rustoleum oil-based enamel paints, but if you are not prepared to deal with how smelly and hazardous that is, go for a good exterior-use water-based acrylic. The real trick is to get a good set of brushes. Always paint in multiple layers, and follow the instructions for curing and setting the paint. As you paint, start with a larger brush for coverage, the switch to a slightly smaller brush with each layer. That gives you more control as you go, so that the edges and details come out sharp.

[Kurodachi no Mykaru]

Tatami do are kind of unusual. Do a search here using tatami as there used to be a tousando member who *loved* them and searched/posted stuff constantly (it will be far back though). For durability, powder coat.