Many thanks to Thomas for supplying these pictures of his coat-of-plates, a copy of the armour seen in the movie "Braveheart." While attractive, this piece does not have any known historical counterparts. This armour was a custom order from Christian Fletcher. Here are the details, supplied by Thomas:
"The vest is put on over the head, then the sides wrapped to the
back, and secured with two leather straps (3/4") and buckled. The back
consists of 24 main plates ,(4.5x 2" inches), with a total of 14 smaller
plates (2"x 2"inch), 7 on each side that make up the shoulders, joining
front to back. The front has 60 plates (4.5 x 2"). The plates are
covered in cowhide leather, and held together by 4 rivets per steel
plate, and stitched around each of them. This keeps them very
secure, making each stand out, giving a decorative armour effect. The
collar is also riveted to the main body of the vest.
The vest has a decent heft...I weighed it in at 13 pounds(approx +/-). It may not stop a bullet... but it does give ya a secure feeling when
worn :-) It's funny how armour puts you in a certain frame of mind when
worn, far different than just picking up a sword, unarmoured!"
Christian Fletcher's comments:
"The steel plates are 18g cold rolled steel. These are shaped
to allow a more tailored fit than normally given by a coat of plates. By
the way, because these plates don't overlap and because they are
relatively large, this armour is more accurately described as a coat of
plates than a brigandine.
Attaching the plates to the inside of the leather shell was a
relatively simple process, though care had to be taken that the leather
wasn't crushed between the rivet head and steel plate. This problem
forced me to discard the first attempt. A typical coat of plates would
be pretty much finished at this stage.
(This) armour differs in the addition of stitching to define the
plates and liner. All of the stitching was done exclusively by hand. Because of thickness of the leather involved,this required prepunching
the holes with an awl before saddle stitching with needles. It was often
necessary to use pliers to pull the needle through.
The leather used is cowhide split. The liner is thinner
leather than the shell. Waxed cord, rather than thread, was used for the
stitching. Historically the rivets would have been tinned to prevent
rusting, but these modern rivets are galvanized (zinc) instead."
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