Not been a member for long, but thinking of putting together a Russian ensemble, so I thought I best look through all my old uniform junk first. Thinking from the ground up, boots first. Now I did have some 1970's German jack boots that I would wear on motorcycling, but they must have been slung out, did have a new pair of repro German boots but they were a tight fit if I remember right......can't find them, found a pair of boots that's might be passable, kept looking through the junk (I do have a fair amount of junk, typical hoarder!) found a pilotka! Green badge and all! Don't even remember buying it, I do have some Russian medals so probably bought it with them.
A real gem of a find, so now start from the head down, keep looking, ..........might find some money!
Sounds a very good start, 1 Soviet place left at December's Rattenkrieg game if you think you can pull the kit together in time...
If I can source a tunic in time I might go for that, but if the place goes never mind.
Great stuff, we always need more Soviets! As far as footwear goes you can get away with most any kind of leather lace up boots if you wear puttees over the top. This looks better over proper unlined ankle boots of course, but anything which supports the ankles is fine really. Gear is easy, any plain brown roller buckle type leather belt is great, and post war PPSH pouches are easy to source and a gasmaskey bag is handy for carrying things around in. Any questions on Red army kit, ask away, I will do my best to answer!
I've fired a bullet on every continent. Nearly hit someone, too.
Yes, I think most of us started off with ankle boots and puttees. My "Russian" belt was a fiver from a charity shop. The Hiki Russian uniforms are inexpensive and reasonable quality.
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
Have been looking on epic mil, M43 gymnastika, £59. Is this a good one? Looks good but that's in the picture, awaiting your advice. I don't mind paying that amount if it's a good quality buy, I would rather visit to look and fit before buying, and I would like you guys to give advice on anywhere I could visit.
Also, I have a choice of boots found at home, could go the " puttee" way, but would have to buy them too! Did wear 1st war puttee's many years ago .....didn't get on with them, if I remember . Need a good way of fixing to stay on.
Have been looking on epic mil, M43 gymnastika, £59. Is this a good one? Looks good but that's in the picture, awaiting your advice. I don't mind paying that amount if it's a good quality buy, I would rather visit to look and fit before buying, and I would like you guys to give advice on anywhere I could visit.
Hikishop is worth exploring: http://www.hikishop.com/wwii-soviet-uni ... oi77qmeaq0 although the sizes can be 'irregular'. Sure others have bought Soviet kit from there before and can vouch for them.
Always good, quick service too.
Have been looking on epic mil, M43 gymnastika, £59. Is this a good one? Looks good but that's in the picture, awaiting your advice. I don't mind paying that amount if it's a good quality buy, I would rather visit to look and fit before buying, and I would like you guys to give advice on anywhere I could visit.
If you want the best, Epic is the way to go, they stock Schuster products which are made in Russia by Russians, about as close to the real thing as you can get, they also now carry the matching shoulderboards which are a bugger to find on the english speaking part of the web. If you're on a a budget or not sure then Hiki is a good option, their uniforms are good quality for the price.
I've fired a bullet on every continent. Nearly hit someone, too.
Thanks for the info, I will probably go for the Epic mil tunic then, I don't mind if it's good quality, I've had twill garments before, very hard wearing lasted a long time, I'll sort my size with them and get on it. Best do it Asap, not a lot of work at the moment, when work gets going again might not have time. The rest of the kit will have to be " ad hoc" for the moment, but I reckon I can get a close representation of what's needed. Already have Ppsh 41 and TT33 pistol.
Better start drinking vodka to set the mood!
Have been looking on epic mil, M43 gymnastika, £59. Is this a good one? Looks good but that's in the picture, awaiting your advice. I don't mind paying that amount if it's a good quality buy, I would rather visit to look and fit before buying, and I would like you guys to give advice on anywhere I could visit.
If you want the best, Epic is the way to go, they stock Schuster products which are made in Russia by Russians, about as close to the real thing as you can get, they also now carry the matching shoulderboards which are a bugger to find on the english speaking part of the web. If you're on a a budget or not sure then Hiki is a good option, their uniforms are good quality for the price.
Yep, Matt's spot on.
You can bodge a pretty respectable Soviet infantry impression with an M69 Hebe uniform if you have the Plash Palatka wrapped over your shoulder. I wear the M69 breeches, they're virtually identical to the WW2 ones. I think my belt is one I bought from a charity shop.
They're extremely impractical in the summer, but a telegroika is a very good investment. Toasty warm in winter games without disintegrating. You can get them from grey shop at the moment for about £18 shipped. i wear mine camping in the winter and it's ace.
There are some very decent guides on Soviet kit available here, I think Lardy wrote one.
Thanks for the info, I will probably go for the Epic mil tunic then, I don't mind if it's good quality, I've had twill garments before, very hard wearing lasted a long time, I'll sort my size with them and get on it. Best do it Asap, not a lot of work at the moment, when work gets going again might not have time. The rest of the kit will have to be " ad hoc" for the moment, but I reckon I can get a close representation of what's needed. Already have Ppsh 41 and TT33 pistol.
Better start drinking vodka to set the mood!
Ura tovarisch! If there's any pieces of gear you would like to borrow, let me know and I will see what I can find, I have a fair amount of Soviet kit lying about. One thing I must stress is that if you decide to pursue the Soviet side of things be careful about what you buy. There's great hoards of Cold War era kit floating about on the market and many vendors will market these items as "WW2 'Russian'/Soviet" when in reality a lot of it is nowhere near. If you're in doubt on anything, just post on here and someone will be happy to answer. With any luck I shall see you in December! 
I've fired a bullet on every continent. Nearly hit someone, too.
Thanks for that boots, I won't be buying too much right now, I Agree what was said earlier, get the basic uniform then pick the pieces with advice from the knowlegeable, I'll admit I don't know too much about Soviet kit, not been into that very much, pretty good on USA, Brit, and German uniform and equipment, through the years have collected and passed it on, wore it out, I still wear military uniform bits and pieces to work.
It makes a change to broaden the knowledge horizon, I will wear the Soviet gear to give it the worn look, my work colleagues are used to me turning up in khaki or camo, lately wearing west German pea camo, cheap and durable!
When I've done a few meetings, and feel comfortable with the "comrade" bit I'll decide to carry on or not with the Ivan look. Strange as it may seem, in the real world, I hate a communism regime more than I hate a facist regime!
Been on another thread, tank gunner posted pic's of Russian winter combat troops,( they were about alternative weapons) wearing belts with two prong buckles! Now I don't care, I've already got bits to make a single prong buckle belt, would they have been Soviet issue? Or captured equipment. Seeing as there were a few million Soviet soldiers kicking about by the end of the war I would have thought inconsistency in uniform and equipment would have been rife! I also suspect they might have consumed the odd litre of vodka as well!
Could anyone who has a Schuster uniform give any advice in the way of sizing?
Looking at the chart they have on Epic it seems that the regular 38" chest gymnastiorka is sized for those who are 5'9" and I'm about 5'11"/6'0". Going by the chart the nearest size that'll fit me length wise is a 41" long, which I think would look a bit too big on me. Can anybody shed some light?
Could anyone who has a Schuster uniform give any advice in the way of sizing?
Looking at the chart they have on Epic it seems that the regular 38" chest gymnastiorka is sized for those who are 5'9" and I'm about 5'11"/6'0". Going by the chart the nearest size that'll fit me length wise is a 41" long, which I think would look a bit too big on me. Can anybody shed some light?
I don't think a tunic being a few inches short would be an issue, they're supposed to come down to thigh level like a peasant smock and no one is going to notice it sitting a bit higher, the breeches come right up to the waist anyway so there's a fair bit of leeway. A tunic being far too baggy would be more noticeable and more frustrating to you wearing it. In reality, with the M43 becoming the norm among millions of soviet soldiers from January of that year I expect more than a handful were issued with tunics that were too short, too baggy or too long. 
I've fired a bullet on every continent. Nearly hit someone, too.
I talked to Epic, to make sure if it didn't fit I could change the one I ordered, they said no problem, I'm six foot, 46 inch chest, ordered 48, long, should be about right for me.
They reckon I'll have received it by Friday, I'll post the fitment.
Thank you Matt, I did wonder about how much the red army quartermasters cared about a tunic being too baggy, short, ect.
My main concern is the arm length really, although if possible I would prefer a tunic that comes down to the right place on my thigh, I think I'll have to email Epic and ask for the total length and arm length at some point.
Thanks Lord Elpus, that'd be very helpful.
Cheers, Moss.
Got the gymnasterka today! Looks good quality twill, better material than the pilotka I already have, but seeing as I can't remember where it came from it wouldn't have been expensive, as it was probably bought on a whim.
The size is good for me, arm length, inside,54cm (21 1/4 inch) fit me, spot on, I haven't got short arms, length from top of collar to hem bottom,87cm (34 inch) measured flat across 67.5 cm (26 1/2 inch) so that can double up. Will fit fairly baggy I'm 46 inch chest room enough to wear a British norgie underneath ( which I will be doing) so there sizing is good no problems with this, length is good too, when on.
