Props/Set Dressing

Yep ,we'll need radios . Germans could do with a few as well .

Other props .....er water bottles , one of the parachute containers ....er .....not sure much else .

Couldn't resist a bargain. Just picked up 8 good condition XTN's for £212.50 - at £26.56 each as cheap a high street toy radios!
I also have two XTN's myself as well, giving a pool of 10 radios.

Any idea how many we will need for this event (and others)? I'll flog the excess back on ebay or via forum.

I checked with Dave B yesterday that he is coming and that is confirmed - along with the troop carrier, 222 and both combis (currently being refurbed), two radio stations, tentage and camo nets.

Good stuff.

Yith is picking up four large packs with straps from Sabre at the end of the month for us to use as radio packs.

Hmm, I could do with a WW2 era rucksack for Jedburgh, I wonder if he'd pick one up for me?

You mean a Commando Bergen sort of thing? http://www.ww2airsoft.org.uk/zoom/2commando.html

I'm sure Sabre haven't got them but you could ask Yith - I suspect you'll probably end up with a post war looks-like from ebay though!

I'll bring along the field telephones and cables, and should have the exchange working by then. Will be useful for static sentry positions around the german HQ (yes, i will make 'em dig proper holes to stag on in )

You mean a Commando Bergen sort of thing? http://www.ww2airsoft.org.uk/zoom/2commando.html

I'm sure Sabre haven't got them but you could ask Yith - I suspect you'll probably end up with a post war looks-like from ebay though!

Yeah, and post-war would be fine.

I'm just using the German one I got from Zeltplane on Ebay for £15.

That's a point - I have a German-esk rucksack you can borrow Steve. It has a steel rod frame but no outside pockets IIRC - I used it at Boryszyn to cart personal stuff to HQ.

Cool, cheers. One of my own would be nice though, so I'll look into Pete's link.

Talking of lending stuff, I've found out that book on Jedburghs for you Dave. I'll bring it to Close Action on the 14th.

OK, so we have plenty of radios and four '37 large packs so far.
I've been thinking about how to make the modern kit look reasonably authentic (and awkward).

Firstly, speaker microphones are very cheap - £10 from Maplins and they have a compatible plug for the XTN. I've used them as-is for ordinary airsoft combined with an earpiece that plugs into the handset which then disables the handset speaker function. A practical push to talk comms set. http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29701

I have also hacked one to bits and used the socket and wire, a home made presel and a Bowman headphone/mike to make a Bowman/XTN combo, which worked well. This was before someone made an airsoft version of the Bowman headset

It was a bastard to do - the wires within the kit are fine and piddly, refuse to solder properly and once cable start to be cut you lose robustness. So I had a think of how to do this without cutting stuff up or rewiring. And here is my solution.

Radio goes in backpack (suitably weighted with bricks!). The speaker mike already has a push to talk button on the side. Make two 'paddle' shapes, fretted out of MDF. On one paddle fix the speaker mike. Chop the other paddle so that it can be glued onto base paddle with a centre section missing to accommodate the mike. Add a cone cut from a small pop bottle. Spray black. Cover cable with brown cloth tape.

Functionally it will be like the real thing and look OK from 5ft. Like this it will still be a speaker mike, so fellow players can hear convo (which might add to things) but it won't be very covert. So, just plug in a cheap headset (suitably sprayed and cloth-taped) and for £20 or so you have a functional looks-like mike & phones set. With no rewiring/deconstruction. Simples.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=228226

Speaking of props. Mortars. Given the SAS/Jed nature of the game, I propose that I swap the US 60mm I have on the drawing board for a pair of Brit 2" mortars (can build a pair of them for considerably less than a single US 60mm) - both will be made from Steel and Ally for robustness.

Thoughts?

Both sound good to me! A pair of 2" mortars sounds brilliant, smoke and HE at the same time!

Certainly one mortar would be ace and probably sufficient for Jed, carrying heavy tubes and mortar rounds will be a bit of a ball ache BUT two would definitely be useful and accurate for Devils Hill (or its substitute). I'm guessing it would be more time efficient to build two at the same time so I say go for it.

It's far more efficient to produce multiple items when machining manually. Set-up time is a good 50% of any job thats done right (and accurately!)

2 it is then....