Hello all, I have decided to branch out and buy a British WW2 uniform for the enlisted 'tommy' D-Day /european campaign. I have looked through the kit guides on this website amongst other things and come up with a basic list of items, but I have no knowledge of how correct the items are, as in i couldn't spot a post war or just generally incorrect piece of kit. Now I would like this kit to be quite 'correct', as I learnt the lesson with my first impression (Russian WW2) that if you buy right first time, you don't have to buy again! So my basic list is BD trousers, '37 tunic, '37 webbing 'deal', gaiters, MK2 helmet, and ammo boots. Insignia i can get later although I gather it wasn't always worn on battledress uniforms.
For the trousers and tunic i'm ordering from Epic militaria, the top two on this link ( i hope these are correct pattern etc, please tell me if not):
http://www.epicmilitaria.com/section.ph ... s-headwear
Also from Epic are these gaiters, which I think are correct for european campaign
http://www.epicmilitaria.com/product.ph ... ters-spats
From SoF i could get this '37 webbing set which apparantly is original items, but the fact that they are different colour due to blanco puts me off, however could I rectify this by using 'mid green' blanco on the parts to get it a uniform colour?
http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/ProductDet ... px?id=8159
Any insight/ help would be great!
I wouldn't bother with the SoF webbing set - you won't use the large pack in battle and you would be better off with press stud fastening pouches not the strap/staple ones. No worries about differnet webbing component colours though as you will be blancoing KG3 (a darkish green/brown). If you are going to get a haversack at all then make it a small pack (dearish now though) not large pack.
So: belt, cross straps, pair of pouches first. Add a water bottle/carrier next. SoF are making repro webbing now - by all accounts the belts are fine but the ammo pouches can be a bit variable. None of it is pre-shrunk canvas like the real thing so can shrink somewhat when soaked although probably this won't mater a great deal for airsofting.
You could also try Sabre Sales - they still have mountains of 37 patt i believe.
I'm a hero with coward's legs.
As CW says that SoF webbing is wrong. However if you want to get a set fro SoF, then this one looks right.
http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/ProductDet ... px?id=1302
As far as I am aware Sabre have a lot less webbing than they used to.
People keep buying it...
Last time I was down small packs, belts and Etool covers were gone or almost gone. They had few unblancoed pouches but so what, you will skirmish in them not collect them.
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
I've got the 1937 MK3 Basic Web set (BE260) from SoF. Seems to be a good place to start on webbing
I got the BD trouser and gatiors gaiters, both look to be good quilty items. Guess I'll find out more when I use em on field
JD
Cheers guys, I think for now i'll just go for the very basic webbing- I can always build it up later. Just another question, SoF have 2 '37 belts on their website, one is £5 cheaper, is there a difference? Seems a bit odd as they look the same.
http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/ProductDet ... x?id=13827
http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/ProductDet ... px?id=1294
Also Chromely-Warner you mentioned cross straps, I assume these go up and over your shoulders from the belt and come down on your back?
Cheers guys, I think for now i'll just go for the very basic webbing- I can always build it up later. Just another question, SoF have 2 '37 belts on their website, one is £5 cheaper, is there a difference? Seems a bit odd as they look the same.
http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/ProductDet ... x?id=13827
http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/ProductDet ... px?id=1294
Also Chromely-Warner you mentioned cross straps, I assume these go up and over your shoulders from the belt and come down on your back?
yup and cross on the back,one strap has a loop at the back and the other threads through it ,then connect to the belt.
armoury
m1a1 Thompson,sten mk2,mp40,stg44,sterling,mk2 bren gun,lee Enfield no4 mk1,Mauser Kar98, Walther ppk,smith and Weston m10 and Mauser m712
Give me a big enough hammer and a place to stand and I could fix the world.
i'll kill a man in a fair fight or if i think he's going to start a fair fight or over a woman or.......
a problem shared is a problem halved ,but an advantage shared is no advantage at all
if a job's not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well
yup and cross on the back,one strap has a loop at the back and the other threads through it ,then connect to the belt.
Being on the tall side I had to fiddle around with the location of the loop, it was easy enough to unstitich it and sew it back on again though.
One day I will get around to buying some universal pouches with poppers, but the tab & loop ones are very practical (like 58 pattern webbing) and from 6' away you can't really see anyway plus they are guaranteed to take sten/MP40 magazines. MIne are also 1944 dated, which is good enough for me, even if they have sat in some warehouse for 70 years and were never actually issued.
All part of never ending accumulation of kit 
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
Thanks for all the help guys, it is appreciated 
Another question, I would like to portray a Tommy fighting in the Western theatre post-D-day, would P37 battledress be appropriate for this or was P40 the only uniform worn?
P37 is perfectly acceptable post 44.
You've got nothing to ein, zwei, drei, vier
Not only acceptable - a very good idea as you can play Brit for all periods of the war and be correct (the subject of your thread).
Then, as even today, when a new battledress is designed the old stuff isn't chucked away but replaced in an on-going basis of renewal/re-equipping, so there will be many years of cross-over.
Regarding gaiters - properly called anklets.
The ones epic list are OK. Size 2 and 3 are small. I guess you are not as big as some of us but the anklet has to go around your ankle your boot and bottom of your trouser so needs some room for all that.
Thank you very much for all the helpful comments! Just one more question (hopefully 
), was Blanco applied to litterally all the items of webbing or just parts of it?
You dont apply it to the back, the bits that rub against your clothing. 
You dont need to do sten bandoliers though they do turn up with blanco on.
Basically if you were issued it, it got blanco, if you drew it from stores for a weapon it didnt.
Belt, pouches, cross straps, water bottle cradle, E-tool cover, bayonet frog, small pack, L straps and anklets.
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
