Online vs In-person

[Thomas MacFinn]

Here's a cautionary tale:

I bought this helmet online recently. The price was great and the ad said it was SCA legal and would fit an average sized person.


This helmet was custom made for me many years earlier. The guy who made it fitted each piece to my head after he shaped it and before he put the pieces together.


I have an average size head, so I guesed the fit would be similar on the two helmets.


I was wrong. The picture I took above was taken at a deceptive angle.






Even with the helmets side by side, can anybody point out all the things wrong with the fit on my new helmet? I've seen nothing to show me the helmet isn't legal, if I could just find somebody for whom the helmet fit.

[Solusar]

Is it too small or too big?

[Iorek]

It's too small

[Thomas MacFinn]

Is it too small or too big?

It's not that simple. While the new helmet is obviously quite a bit taller than the fitted helm, the new helm is more than simply "too big".

1) Human heads are oval - they are longer front to back than side to side. The new helm is almost round. My first attempt at making it usable involved sticking it in a vice and squishing the sides in an attempt to allow enough room front-to-back to fit my head and a bit of padding in it.

2) On my fitted helm, my eyes are between the brim and the top bar. The angle on the side of the base of the new helmet implies that it is to be worn fairly low and hang below the chin in front. This also meshes up with the location of the widest part of the helm. However, if I put the widest part of my head in the widest part of the helm, I'm looking at solid metal. The bar grill is too low.

3) In addition, the top of the bar grill is narrow enough and the edge of the opening overlaps with the edgeof the bar grill so far that I cannot see over the top bar and have to add more padding inside the top so it rests even higher on my head if I want to see from between some lower bars.

[tvetree]

Nice looking hat really.Top does reach a bit more up than I think I would like.Post it up At the archive maybe you can get a bit of your money back?Be sure and post how big round at brim and front to back and side to side.Post them here also.


It's not a hat I would get to replace my current.Looks like a good starter helm just the same.Sucks it doesn;t fit.

I went thought the same thing last year.By all rights the helm i got should fit me, but it just was not going to happen.Beak on the back of my head almost as big as my nose!Need 1/4" more front to back.Squeezing was not an optoin as the sides where perfect.


Wait your local,bring that thing to a tues.We got newbies looking for gear.Post to the darkside.(Flamebridge).You still read it use it.

We also play 2nd and 4th sunday.Yeah that means this sunday 4/26,meeting before practice may be a large crowd.

[Thomas MacFinn]

4) If I do pad the helmet so that I can see, the base is so high that it is no longer legal.
5) The vertically mounted chinstrap not only doesn't go under my chin, it falls on the back half of my neck.
6) The metal of the front helmet curves inward into my forehead.

[Thomas MacFinn]

It's not a hat I would get to replace my current.Looks like a good starter helm just the same.Sucks it doesn't fit.

I don't think it will fit any human.

[tvetree]

It's not a hat I would get to replace my current.Looks like a good starter helm just the same.Sucks it doesn't fit.

I don't think it will fit any human.

Some of us are barely human.
As long as the chin stay in the helm.For someone...It doesn't matter where to top ends up at.
Yeah def made for a round head(charlie brown) with a bit to much weight on the back of the helm.Humans have wierd heads it will fit some one.

My head is very oval,add the odd knot at the back .Yeah I'm going to have issues with off the rack helms.


Post it to the flame. Really you never know.

[varadin]

As long as your head fits inside its fittable... But that is one round * helm. Your going to have to get creative with foam use on the side to get it to lay right.

Why the change in helm? your old one looks in fine condition. And aside from the huge tail on it i like the look better.

[Thomas MacFinn]

Why the change in helm? your old one looks in fine condition. And aside from the huge tail on it i like the look better.

When originally made, it had a big metal brim on the front too (which is great if people are shooting musket balls at you in 1635 but not so great for chewing up SCA opponent weapons).



In the 18 years since my old helmet was made, I've put on 80 lbs. Over the years I've made some adjustments, like adding a plate beside the bar grill but, just before I first became active in Belegarth, it became obvious that the base of the helmet had ridden up enough that it no longer hangs down the required inch below my jawline.

My choices are either having the sides of the old helmet redone or buying a new one.

[Thomas MacFinn]

Some of us are barely human. ... Yeah def made for a round head(charlie brown) with a bit to much weight on the back of the helm. Humans have wierd heads it will fit some one.

Which brings me back to my original point. Some things are great when sold over the internet. But a picture of the product isn't always enough and some need to be felt (like foam) or need to be tasted (like food) or need to be tried on (like shoes and helmets).