Never saw a replica of lorica squamata in rl let alone was able to test it. I read about it that it was weaker than mail armour like lorica hamata.

That sounds very reasonable from my experience with arms and armour. Small plates of metal can be broken more easily than larger ones. The plates must have a lot of holes in it to pin them on the linen or leather base which makes them even more flimsy. And an upward trust can slide with relative ease through the rows of scales right into your guts (in the normal kind of construction, not the reverse one). Add to this the big weight (even more than mail I think which is very heavy) and the heat problems and stay better with mail. Might be another case if you would live in bow country as scales would deflect missiles way better than mail.

Best defence is offered by the segmented plate armour (that called lorica segmentata because we have no historical name in the scripted sources). Good protection against both cuts and thrusts and against missiles. The rigid defence stops the impact of the attacks, too (no longer dangerous bruises as with mail). But it has drawbacks: not so movable as mail, bad heat exchange, inferior protection of your tigh and complicated to be build/repaired/serviced. Something only a rich and very well organised army could afford for greater numbers of soldiers. No wonder it disappeared in the turbulent 3rd century when Rome was under extreme pressure.

The idea reappeared in the form of lamellar armour of the late roman time but only for some units of cavalry, presumably copied from some eastern enemies.