I first learned how to make fake armor when I was in high school. Back then, I was kind of a geek. I was a big fan of live action role play, and replica Armor was a necessity. If you aren’t familiar with LARP gamers, basically, we are the people you see in the park, dressed up as medieval fighters, hitting each other with foam covered swords. In most of the role playing groups (there are several) the more elaborate and authentic your outfit is, the cooler you are. Eventually, everyone moves up from the football padding that we all start out with to replica armor.
Replica arms and armor come in a bunch of different styles. If you’re using your replica armor to fight with, you want to keep it lightweight. No one really wants to walk around in plate mail. It might look good in the movies, but trust me ? it isn’t. It weighs a ton ! If you fall down, true plate mail replica armor is so heavy that you won’t be able to even get up in it! Back in medieval days, mounted soldiers would sometimes die if they were knocked off their horses from the simple weight of their armor. They would be unable to move, and would slowly die of heat exposure in the middle of the battlefield.
Of course, although you can fight with true replica body armor, you can’t fight with real replica weapons. After all, they can kill someone! Nevertheless, some of the serious LARPers get pretty close. The big difference is that, instead of using sharp swords and spears, they use dull ones. They are still solid and heavy, and can hit with quite a bit of force, but they can’t kill someone who is properly armored.
Of course, a cheaper solution is to not use real replica armor. A lot of people prefer to use lighter weight stuff. It looks like the real thing, and it is painted up with a medieval finish, but that is about it. It is actually made with foam, cloth, and other modern materials. Because of this, they also don’t use real replica swords. Instead, they use PVC pipes covered with foam. They can still give a considerable thwack, but they are light enough to bounce off of fake foam armor. Some of these folks still keep real or replica armor in their homes, but they use the lighter stuff when they are playing at combat.
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