At bloody last... cheap battledress

Good news.

yeah they look okay... but why-o-why did they do para trousers???
But meh... I was looking at getting some para trousers anyway, so I've ordered some... came to £61.07 shipped by global express with tracking.
I shall probably sport them for Autumn Mist

Hopes were up for a moment then, I want some P37 trousers.

Okay... impressions of the para trousers so far, they just arrived...

Good points
They look well made
Buttons seem well stitched on
Newey poopers seem nice

Bad points
Colour doesn't seem quite right to me, but its not too bad
Cloth is too thin.
Stitching is the wrong colour (it should be khaki/beige, but meh! almost everyone gets that wrong though!)
Buttons are repro and don't match the real ones perfectly. I may change them as I have tons of real ones
Lining seems slightly the wrong shade of beige...
Pocket lining is in dark leather, I'm not sure that's right.. It might be fake leather as well..

So far my opinion is... they're okay for airsofting, but not quite right for re-enacting. Are they worth £60... hmmm... SOF para trousers are £95, so maybe. I think though if I basically wanted trousers I'd spend £25 extra for SOF 40 pat ones.

I will elaborate when I've tried them on.

They also have denisons on there for £65ish http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WW2-British-Parat ... m153.l1262 colours not as good as the rangercamp but its only a little bit more than the belgian ones so could be used for a budget british para loadout I suppose, what you think ?

The colours do look rather garish and bold in the photos - but might look different in the flesh. Heh, it's a 1st pattern with snap fasteners to stow the tail flap on the back!

hmmm looking at the colours... spend the extra little bit on a rangercamp if you can?

Hmm,weird looking smock-theyve copied the keyhole arm vents from an early K+C smock

Okay... I've managed to compare the para trousers with my other repros (SoF 40pat and Dickie Knight 37 pat) and also try them on.

In comparison the serge is too thin and too fine. Not massively so, but enough to be noticeable. I'm not so sure its as hard wearing as the stuff used elsewhere. This does mean that they are much more comfortable than the others though. The serge is soft and luxurious in comparison...

The colour isn't bad really. Its not that brown and is moderately close to the SoF stuff... however it is very slightly too green. Not really all that noticeable though.

The fit is fine. They are nice and high waisted and fit me well. They were a bit long, but thats not a problem as I'll always wear these with gaiters anyway.

I'm not expert on para trousers themselves, being more used to the standard offerings, but from what I can see the modifications look okay...

The back-side shell dressing pockets seem to be correct and shell dressings do fit. The front FFD pocket is much larger than normal, and a shell dressing does fit in there as well. I think this is correct for para trousers, but I'm not sure. However the pocket will not fasten up when a shell dressing is in it, I'm not sure if this is correct or not!

The Fairbarn Sykes pocket does take a dagger and sheath, whether it does it correctly I don't know as I have no experience of them. However its not exactly a neat fit and the dagger does tend to hit your leg a lot when you walk. I definitely prefer the commando trouser method of doing this.

The big map pocket looks to be the right size. The newey studds are nice. However its lined with dark brown leatherette rather than chamois leather. This means when closed it looks right, but when open its obviously wrong.

So am I happy with these for £60? I'm not sure... it depends how well they survive out in the field and I won't find that out for a few weeks yet... I do have concerns about the thinness of the serge used.

Thanks for the write up Richard, I had been looking at these or similar for part of my Polish uniform.

Looking for ward to your 'after action' report on how well they hold up.

An update....

I decided to wear these this weekend for the trip to grange farm... unfortunately they didn't make it out of the house!

I was picking up a box from the kitchen floor to put in the car and crouched down. The seam split right round my bum...

I quickly changed into my SoF (or are they WPG???) 40 pattern trousers for the day.

So not so happy with the stitching of these trousers!

Heh, Webby always complains about 'poor stitching' and I dread to think how many trousers he has split.

Yeah... well I can sew these up... the material isn't damaged..

After repairing the split seam I took 'em out for a play today at the open day at F&O. They lasted me all day without problems and were very comfy.

I must say though that I think these are more of a summer BD choice rather than winter as they would have been quite cold if I'd not worn thermals as well. Even with the thermals water got through and that wouldn't have happened with my other BD trousers.

Anyway, I'm happy enough that I'll probably get a jacket to go with 'em...

after looking at your Bd blouse and a 49 patt, my local seamstress says it can be done. she cant give a price till she has done one, she will do mine in the new year and we will know then if its cheaper than buying repro.

Any thoughts on the Replicator P37 BD and para trousers Vs the Spearhead kit? I think they were quoting circa £60 delivered for trousers or jacket. As I am trying to assemble a para kit for April's event

I have a P40 BD set made up of trews from Sanjay and blouse from Barry. The match is pretty good, unfortunately I don't have any originals to compare them with so I don't know which looks more authentic. The fabric on the Indian product seems a little coarser that the Sinagpore stuff, but it's only noticeable up close. All the buttons will need re-sewing regardless as they will ping off if you even look at them harshly. If it's for airsofting rather than re-enacting I'd make a decision based on currency exchange rates.

Any chance you could post a photo of your Sanjay trousers? I've read many posts about his kit, but have seldom seen decent any photos.

Cheers
Joe

Most people's concerns with the Indian / Singa stuff seems to be with wool quality, colour and the finer details of cut. You can't really see any of that in a photo.