This doesn't make a great deal of practical sense to me. To rivit the metal strips without showing rivit heads, they'd either need to be made/cast with integral studs on the back for peening (cast sheet iron splints are unlikely, I think), or drilled with counter sunk holes in the outer surface and the rivits inserted from the inside, clipped, peened into the countersinks, and filed and polished to match the surface of the splint. On high quality armour it would be difficult to finish this well without damaging the leather between the splints. The gaps would be in this case either be internal splints attached much the same way, or rows of rivits or washered rivits peened on the inside to add some of metal's resistance to cuts to the gaps.

Who says the metal is iron? It is just as probably Lateen at this juncture with armour experimentation. I've wondered this as well, and I've seen such defences depicted on infantrymen into the mid 15th c.

I've thought that it may have an alternating series of strips, one inside, one outside, and so on, although this seems obtuse. The rivets holding the bars on themselves may just not be depicted as being unimportant. How many rivet heads are shown on bare metal surfaces in most illuminations? If the strips are thin gauge - say 20 gauge re-enforcing leather , then they are flexible enough to rivet to a water hardened shaped defense (without requiring special shaping themselves), while still adding to it's strength. This is all wild speculation as no such defence exists to my knowledge.

It would be an interesting bit of experimental archaeology to try to reconstruct some - only using proper historical methods of course.

The material I have readily available is a brass doorplate. It's about 16ga of some unknown brass alloy.

As far as I know, you are being a pioneer going this route. I have never seen a serious attempt at the reconstruction of this armour attempted. I have thought of trying this myself based on some examples seen in Louis de Bruges copy of Froissart.

Were I you, I would attempt it using the historical techniques that have been most recently written up - sometime two years ago a fellow was examining the development of plate defence in Italy and had done research into production of cuir bolli defences and came up with some interesting information about water hardening and baking over moulds. That's the route I would try were I to attempt a reconstruction of the mid 15th c. defences I referenced. It is a pity that all we have for Medieval leather defences is that 14th c. vambrace in the Royal Armouries.

Please keep us up to date on your progress. I'm keeping a photo log of our brigandine reconstructions.

It's apparent that I need a great deal more research to do this one properly. There isn't really any point in doing it any other way.