Does Arcane Armor provide gauntlets?

Question

The Armorer subclass of Artificer has the Arcane Armorer feature which gives the option for:

Thunder Gauntlets. Each of the armor's gauntlets counts as a simple melee weapon while you aren't holding anything in it, and it deals 1d8 thunder damage on a hit.

However not every type of armor includes gauntlets. The Breastplate for example makes no mention of gauntlets in its description.

If your armor does not include gauntlets and you use the guardian form for your Arcane Armor would you create your own gauntlets or would you be unable to use Thunder Gauntlets?

Related:
Can you infuse a breastplate with Arcane Propulsion Armor

Answer 1

Arcane Armor expands to cover your entire body and both model descriptions explicitly provide gauntlets.

The Arcane Armor feature states:

The armor attaches to you and can’t be removed against your will. It also expands to cover your entire body

Further, the two versions of the armor both explicitly provide something on your hands. The armor model rules state:

Each model includes a special weapon.

So the Guardian model comes with a special weapon, which is the Thunder Gauntlets

Each of the armor’s gauntlets...

The infiltrator model states:

A gemlike node appears on one of your armored fists or on the chest (your choice).

So both models of Arcane Armor explicitly provide gauntlets, even if the armor you converted to your Arcane Armor did not come with gauntlets.

Answer 2

Given how the arcane armor expands to cover your whole body I would think that it would create gauntlets by default even for infiltrators.