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Barrys tunics seem to differ from time to time in quality as do his insignia, his free insignia now is very poor quality, I saw only last week with a rather nasty set of collar tabs that he had included with one, the shoulder boards where 2 diffrent sizes too, now the cut of his jackets seem way to long in the body compared to the origional ww2 German tunics, they where meant to be short, also his sizing can be way out, best to look for 2nd had stuff that you can try for size, if you ever get chance you should visit the war & peace show, loads of bargains there, Oddball got an origional m35 helmet in size 60 with a ET68 shell for less than as reop, think £40, put wanted adds on here, you should get all your bits n pieces,

Steve.D

Barrys stuff is alright, but as pointed out the sizing can be a bit screwed up. I've got two FJ Fliegeblusen from him. Both are slightly different sizes. If you do order from him, one thing to be aware of is that when you get the tunic, it's *really* worthwhile re-sewing all the buttons on. Regarding lids, the most comfy repro ones i've found so far have been from Kong Kong Keith. Far better liners than the ones Barry sells.

Boots wise, low boots and gaiters i've found to be more comfortable than jackboots.

Regarding the belt order, id really suggest you get a yoke. German gear is worn far higher up the body than US gear, and without a yoke or belt hooks i'll guarantee that it will slip down your body in use.

Insignia wise, for the best quality at good prices, try Chris at Northern Militaria. I've had quite a bit of insignia off of him, and its as good as anything that Nic Morigi sells.

Steve, interesting to hear oddball picked up an *original* ET68 shell (the size thats most sought after) for about 120 quid less than its worth. Either he found an idiot who sold it to him, or he got scammed (there's a hell of a lot of that goes on). I'd be very interested to see pics of it - and all the markings on the shell and liner - to compare them against my reference material

Yeah its a ww2 one by the looks of it but has a post war liner, its now been re painted but looks ok, no doubt he will post some pics here of it if he reads this,

Steve.D

Any chance he took down the factory production code before he overpainted it?

(bit of a research thing im doing!)

I don't think hes painted the inside,

Steve.D

thanks guys thats great. if I do take the risk and order barries stuff should i go larger or smaller?

hong kong keith - is he kcs militaria? used them before and was reasonably happy with them, so if their tunic etc is likely to be better happy to give them a whirl

oh and sorry is a yoke a set of y straps?

Don't forget to consider the retailers we have on this forum - the kit is here in the UK and is much easier to return should it not fit and you can speak to someone on the phone. Deals can be had buying an ensemble too!

I can vouch for Barry's stuff - I've not been disappointed yet. However, by the time you've added the postage, there are UK retailers who are pretty competitive. You must look at Suesue66 on ebay - he does pretty much everything, but he only has 2 or 3 pages of stuff for sale at any one time.

the thing is chomley spearhead do the tunic, trousers, breast eagle, cuff title, shoulder boards, and collar tabs all for about £85 posted. from what I've seen of the UK retailers Im not going to be able to get that price, even if I am cutting a deal because im buying a set.

Even KCS militaria are around that price or a shade cheaper although they dont come with half the extras spearhead does. I was planning on getting my other bits in the UK. Belt, bread bag, mp44 pouches etc but the bulk of the uniform just doesnt work out cheap enough for my budget

will check out suesue66 too though from the tunics etc he had they seemed to be priced at £50 each.

It maybe a bit of a non starter now anyway as I had a quote through from RSOV for a HK33 clone to make a mp44 and its alot more than I was counting on. The postage seems to be going up by bucketloads over there

RSOV have put the prices down but put the postage up, Gunner is the same, he wanted £15 postage for 3 mp-001 mags, its a case of shopping about,

Steve.D

never really used anyone else except rsov except for gunner once. who else would you recommend steve?

£68 for a HK33 from RSOV can't be too bad. I paid over £200 for my CA one

wish it was £68. he wants £84 for the gun and 2 extra mags posted. considering the guns £26 and a fairly lightish one seems rather pricey. especially when a thompson(which weighs a chunk) cost a mere £71 posted

**EDIT**

there are other cheaper uniform sets.

http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-German-Heer-Ar ... dZViewItem
which is heer armoured artillery

and
http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-German-Elite-U ... dZViewItem
which is an elite assault gunners wrap

Now I can guess what armoured artillery is but not so sure on a elite assault gunner, plus where either fit into the grand scheme of the german forces. plus from the pictures the wrap uniforms look a bit uncomfy. anyone tried one if so what were they like to wear?(quite like the look of them).

those are almost £20 cheaper tho. advice as always welcome please chaps and chapesses.

Trouble is with Barrys' stuff (and I speak from lots of experience here), is that the prices are great, the overall quality of the gear is good but the supplied insignia and buttons are SHITE. You end up spending as much, if not more, on replacements. It's easy to say "I don't care about that" but, truth is, you will (especially the razor sharp buttons he puts on german trousers! ). Factor in the costs of these things on top of the original items and you get a more accurate idea of the real price.

I've not found the buttons too bad, i do replace all the insignia though.

If you're ruthless you could probably ebay it and get a few quid back...

I've found with all my german tunic the insignia end up costing as much as the tunic even for very minor stuff. Luckily kind folk off this forum have donated or supplied cheap a lot of the bits i needed.

Reed Green AFV Uniform
A uniform identical in cut to the panzer uniform, constructed of reed green denim, was also introduced in May 1941; originally to armoured car crews only. It was intended to be worn during the summer months in lieu of the heavy wool uniform, and could also be used as an outer layer overtop of the black wool uniform in winter.

In 1942, reed green jackets cut identically to the AFV uniform began to be issued to tank crews also; these uniforms also had a large patch pocket added to the left front chest.

http://www.deutschesoldaten.com/

3.36 Special field-gret uniform worn by crews of tank destrroyer and self propelled assault gun units.

The special black panzer uniform proved to be a very practical garment for members serving in armoured vehicles. However there was only one major drawback to the uniform in that it was black. Traditional considerations, oil and grease stains apart, the special black panzer uniform was completely unsuitable for camouflge purposes. Its wearer became conspicuous immediately on leaving his armoured vehicle. Enemy reconnaissance teams and advance detachments often prematurely recognised the presence of the panzer units.
When designing a uniform for crews of tank destroyers and selft proppelled assault guns serving in panzer and panzergrenadier divisions with their need for close observation work both inside and away form their armoured vehicles, the germans decided using the same style and practical cut and design of the black panzer uniform but introduced a new version in field-grey to give better camouflage qualities.
The special uniform was made entirely of field grey cloth with all details of cut and design the same as those for the black, panzer uniform. It did hower differ inrespect to certain insignia.
The collar patches used on this short field grey double breasted jacket by those crews of different types of military units entitles to wear the uniform were as follows:
Death's head embles were mounted on patches of dark bllue-green cloth and edged with bright red waffenfarbe piping
Metal death's head emblems mounted on patches of black material edged with rose-pink waffenfarbe piping.

Normal style field service quality collar patches which, for those personnel below the rank of officer, were somethimes mounted on dark blue-green patches edged in bright red waffenfarbe piping or stitched directly onto the field -grey collar inside a rectangular surround of bright red "russia braid".

Note about pictures not shown here
The practise of wearing the metal "death's head" emblem on the collar patches of those units permitted to wear the special field grey uniform was gradually forbidden. As a temporary measure the deaths head was removed but eventually in place of the totekopf collar patches these personnel were issued with normal army field service quality collar patches. For those ranks below officer these displayed a rectangular edging of russia braid in the colour (waffenfarbe) appointed to their particular unit of formation. Normal army officers quality field service collar patches were worn by all ofiicers which also showed their particular waffenfarbe as par t of the embroidered design to the collar patch.

From German Army uniforms and insignia 1933 - 1945 Brian L Davis
And I apoologise in advance for any typos my touch typing skills are lax due to lack of practise.

Also Sturmpioneers were issued the jacket, we've seen quite a few documents/websites/book/piccies showing this and you could still do GD

Trouble is with Barrys' stuff (and I speak from lots of experience here), is that the prices are great, the overall quality of the gear is good but the supplied insignia and buttons are SHITE. You end up spending as much, if not more, on replacements. It's easy to say "I don't care about that" but, truth is, you will (especially the razor sharp buttons he puts on german trousers! ). Factor in the costs of these things on top of the original items and you get a more accurate idea of the real price.

Yes but surely he can amend those as and when, restitching the buttons on is nowt, and insignia can be replaced as and when he chooses to. Just think of the cost side and am sure somewhere near has to better than miles away in respect to impressions, remember the little bits at the top of the forum of acceptable kit (though I haven't seen anyone wear that yet its 100 times better than the very very basic option that CAN be used at a game. Christ if the insignias that bad he could just remove it all together for the time being. Buttons are relatively cheap anyways if you multibuy them.

SUPPOSED TO BE ENCOURAGING HIM he's working on a budget (whilst trying to keep on mrs rhys good side ) remember that please people. I know we all want the best, but sometimes its not easily done instantly and how many of us have changed little things ?

If you wanted to you could do early to mid war Brandenburg commando and wear no insignia whatsoever, not even national eagles. I've pics of them totally devoid of badges.