Dutch BD colour

It is both greener and darker.

Thanks for the reply, but are you saying its darker and greener or exactly the same shade as Greek BD or different from Greek BD??
Basically, which is nearer in colour to Brit BD? Dutch or Greek? Could you mix and match Dutch and Greek without really knowing.
Sorry if thats all double dutch but I know what I mean..
Regards..

Thanks for the reply, but are you saying its darker and greener or exactly the same shade as Greek BD or different from Greek BD??
Basically, which is nearer in colour to Brit BD? Dutch or Greek? Could you mix and match Dutch and Greek without really knowing.
Sorry if thats all double dutch but I know what I mean..
Regards..

The greek/Dutch uniforms do actually vary in colour, some can even 'pass' for British in shade. However, to be honest, Greek or Dutch is fine if you want to portray Greek or Dutch. If you want to portray Brit on a budget, you're probably better off with '49 pattern, as the colour is the immediate giveaway if you're with a group of other brits.

Thanks for the reply..

If you want to portray Brit on a budget, you're probably better off with '49 pattern, as the colour is the immediate giveaway if you're with a group of other brits.

What is a typical price for a '49 pattern BD in UK? Can you reccomend any Internet dealers?

If you want to portray Brit on a budget, you're probably better off with '49 pattern, as the colour is the immediate giveaway if you're with a group of other brits.

What is a typical price for a '49 pattern BD in UK? Can you reccomend any Internet dealers?

The last time I picked any up, i paid about £15-20 for a set, a couple of years ago. Sizes over about 38-40 chest and 32-34 waist are becoming scarce and command a premium, though. As far as dealers go, Sabre Sales in Portsmouth is probably your best bet. They're not internet based, you'd need to phone them.

Also, you can actually get fairly passable 37 pattern repro uniforms on eBay now for about £75 a set, as well.

A while ago you could easily pick up unissued '49patt BD jackets for around £5-£10 from surplus suppliers. Trousers were more expensive, around £20-£35. Don't even bother looking at eBay or antiques fares as the uninformed insist on silly prices.

As it happens; W S Surplus, my local 'big' military surplus store here in Oxford, price most stuff reasonably, with some stuff being very cheap (Unissued lightweight resi' bags for £3!), but they got in one set of '49patt, tiny size, one of the most moth-eaten sets of '49patt I've honestly ever seen, and they want silly money for it!

What was that comment about bleaching??? I've thought about that and wondered if anybody had tried it..
Simon could you please post a rough guide to your attempts..?

Personally I don't mind that repros are a little thinner than real BDs, but then I'm in New Zealand & the thinner serge suits the weather. I have Spearhead 1940 patt BDs and they've not suffered from skirmishing at all. I'd keep Asian repros in mind if they're for airsoft skirmishes.

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I didn't really think much to the speakhead stuff I saw, I was offered a set for £100, I thought it was way over priced at that value. The set I saw was a sort of ocre, white lined and sewn with nylon. It was nearly as bad as Sanjay's one (though not as orange).

It could be he has improved. I also aw the "Officer" one, which was shockingly bad, wrong pattern etc, mainly because he copied an ATS BD.

Yeah sounds a little different to mine, though I've found that older re-enactors I've met who've owned the real stuff find it a little cheap 'n' nasty looking (which is why I chose the 1940 pattern, it looks like the product of a struggling war economy ). For the price it is ok, but then I only use it for skirmishing, if I was gonna cross into re-enacting I'd probably want a nicer set.
Mine doesn't have the nylon stitching or white lining though, so maybe he has changed his BD- I read on another forum that his German uniforms have improved after customers drew his attention to inaccuracies and mistakes. Plus my flatmate is a trained designer, so I got her to tailor it for me, meaning that a good deal of the original stitching has been replaced. Since then, it's been dragged through winter mud and boggy fields and leopard crawled across stony gravel in summer, I've skirmished it in thick native bush as well as pine forest & even slept wearing it a couple times and still no rips, tears or wear so far. Could be a good alternative if you want to skirmish without having to risk damaging a set of originals or if you've got a set of bests for walking out/living history stuff then these could be a good substitute.

^above^
The officers BD looks a good colour.

Am I meant to think this or not?

I've recently picked up a War-Aid greatcoat; it's the first one that I've found that is big enough, at a sensible price, in the best part of a year of looking !

Now I know that's it's 'genuine', but to me it doesn't look 'right' - the material is a better quality than the Brit-made greatcoats and it's a greener shade. It's perfectly acceptable for mid-late war but there's something in the back of the brain that says 'it's not right' because it's not what one expects to see.

I've just picked up a set of repro denims (possibly SoE brand) and one of their side caps.

The denims have washed out and are now almost beige. They don't look 'right' to me because I expect them to be a shade of green, even though I know that denims ranged through most shades of green, and brown through to light brown/beige.
The side cap is the smooth fabric, greenish version not brown serge, however it's an almost perfect match for the War-Aid greatcoat, and (I believe ?) side caps were made under that scheme, so it becomes 'viable', allbeit a tad American; I am looking to replace it with a serge version though, as and when one becomes available at a decent price ............. because it's not 'right'

The Officer's photo above looks fine to me, btw - a slight mismatch of colours looks more authentic, to my eye

Sorry for necro posting but recently I got a dutch bd set and an original 43 dated great coat (I think its 43 as the labels pretty much gone and above the arrow I can see the end of a 4 and a 3) and the colour is pretty much a perfect match, the dutch bd is just a slightly darker shade.

Sorry for necro posting but recently I got a dutch bd set and an original 43 dated great coat (I think its 43 as the labels pretty much gone and above the arrow I can see the end of a 4 and a 3) and the colour is pretty much a perfect match, the dutch bd is just a slightly darker shade.

Yes, it may match, but the serge used for period Brit' greatcoats is nothing like the serge used for period Brit' BD - It it thicker, tighter weave, and more importantly, far greener

Sorry for necro posting but recently I got a dutch bd set and an original 43 dated great coat (I think its 43 as the labels pretty much gone and above the arrow I can see the end of a 4 and a 3) and the colour is pretty much a perfect match, the dutch bd is just a slightly darker shade.

Yes, it may match, but the serge used for period Brit' greatcoats is nothing like the serge used for period Brit' BD - It it thicker, tighter weave, and more importantly, far greener

I keep finding the anally retentive would have been buggered in the 1940's...

I keep finding the anally retentive would have been buggered in the 1940's...

Hehe, yes indeed. It would be neigh-on imposable for someone to acquire BD, GS cap and greatcoat where all the serge matched. Such a variety of manufacturers, and qualities of serge used for different items could guarantee that you'd never get a full matching set from stores - but they wouldn't have been "buggered", as if they were that picky about colour or quality, there was always private purchase tailoring.

...the anally retentive would have been buggered...

Nearly an oxymoron!

They could have got it privately made, if they were anally retentive and wealthy.

Yes, the whole private purchase thing is a Kop out for re-enactors with the wrong kit.
It was not an option for enlisted men in most armies. They simply did not have the money for such luxuries. Even if they did they would be unlikely to waste it on combat kit. Try to find examples of British enlisted ranks private purchase kit. You'll have more luck waiting for a rocking horse to manure your roses.
Only officers had the chance and to a lesser degree warrant officers, most armies required their commissioned ranks to furnish their own uniforms. Warranted ranks might invest to ensure they looked razor sharp next to their charges.
Garrison troops, ESP those who had been there a long time might start to have things tailored. The Germans in Normandy show an unusual percentage of green wool collars for that time in the war. Two main reasons. Clothes in garrison used last longer than combat kit and receive better care. Thus older patterns of kit are more prevelent and they have access to local tradesmen/women who can alter garments. Thus later patterns of tunic, M40 through M43 show up with green wool collars. They were thought smarter and better for catching the eye of the local belles.
The only example of enlisted use of private purchase I can think of that involved a number of troops was the adoption of the 'PX' overseas cap by some American units, even that was not universal within the unit.
It is easier to lose the idea of private purchase than it is to weave it into your impression.