As for the scales, they are printed on the top, but I'd never try gluing or attaching them to one of rad's beautiful prints. With any luck, I'll try my hand at making a new top and trying those scales sometime this year.
Thanks guys. I didn't notice them because the lighting is so dark in those pics.
IMO the scaled look doesn't look nearly as bad a$$ as something like this in real life. I just have never seen it translated well from the comics. I wouldn't change a thing about the print....but hey that's just my $0.02 :cool
The thing is, you HAVE seen it work well on film, and maybe just didn't realize it. Have you seen the
Lord of the Rings trilogy? Then you've seen scale armor (or "Scale Mail" as they call it in
Dungeons & Dragons) on screen.
Real life scale armor
In real life, various ancient & medieval societies favored scale armor for giving the protection of plate armor, combined with the flexibility of chain mail. The design dates back to at least the time of the Roman Empire, when scale armor was made of leather, and possibly metal as well. The Vikings favored it, and their armor and clothing was a huge inspiration in designing the outfits worn by the Riders of Rohan in
LOTR.
Notice the coats of scale armor in this scene:
Also, the new "dragon skin" armor the military's been testing seems to be the 21st century version of scale armor. They're just putting it inside a fairly standard flak vest/jacket. :cool
Dragon Skin armor exterior view
What's inside
So maybe all those superheroes that wore scale armor were onto something after all!
If done right, i.e. with no shortcuts, made the traditional way, then scale armor can look AWESOME on a Captain America or Aquaman costume (just don't ask me why a SWIMMER would want to weigh himself down with scale armor, 'cause for that one, you're on your own.)
thumbsup
Personally, I'd recommend going the route of anodized aluminum scales. That would allow you to have them colored blue in a way that won't easily rub off, and would keep the weight manageable so the costume can be worn more easily.
