|
|
Post by Étienne on Feb 2, 2015 15:48:46 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by lew on Feb 18, 2015 10:50:34 GMT -5
Good deal, but, for more selection, eBay members "panzerfaust1943", "combat1984" and "Spearhead Militaria" all offer one. I got my full zip Denison from combat1984 out of Hong Kong. The quality and detail is superb, plus it has the knit cuffs. I'm looking at adding a half zip, too.
I'm also looking at an 8e BPC impression. I have Windproof pants, which would work fine with the smock, but I want to pick a pair of US P42 pants.
|
|
|
|
Post by Étienne on Feb 19, 2015 16:32:14 GMT -5
Nice to know that those vendors are good, as I'm often skeptical of eBay dealers. I've been looking for a USMC P44 camo top, but Spearhead no longer has them apparently. I am thinking about getting one of panzerfaust1943's windproof sets as well. At The Front has the USMC P42 trousers on special, but it isn't available in all sizes: www.atthefrontshop.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=USUTP42. If you don't know already, their sizes run BIG, but they have gotten better about correctly stating sizes on their website lately. For instance, I wear a true waist size 31-32 trousers, but I have to order their size 30. They do shrink up a bit, however, but not much. And, I would save up for a larger order, as their shipping for single items is not cheap. good luck! |
|
|
|
Post by lew on Feb 19, 2015 18:52:05 GMT -5
As I'm sure you are aware, in our collecting field, eBay is- for better or worse- usually the only stop for many pieces. I've not dealt with Spearhead, but the other two were exemplary with regard to service and quality. I usually find a way around buying Chinese-made products, but smaller, competent shops like these I am happy to support.
I have a set of Panzerfaust's Type II Windproof sets (tagged as Algerian blazé blah) with the full zipper. It is superb and could easily pass for an original. I just ordered a set of the Type 1's with the brown-dominant pattern, hood, and drawstrings. Both will be great for Colonial paras and 2e/1e RCP. I think the Windproofs will have me covered, thereby reducing the requirement for the P42's, plus they'll work for Algérie, too.
What do you have for Indo-period boots? Also, do you have any leads on reading material specifically relating to 8e Choc? There's a book about them at DBP, but any material relating to events outside that- 1951-1962- seems scarce.
Cheers, mate!
|
|
|
|
Post by Étienne on Feb 26, 2015 17:08:37 GMT -5
I think you're right about ebay, unless one is lucky enough to find/happen across items elsewhere. One thing I wish that I could find on ebay is more used repro items...I feel that a lot of people likely got into various reenacting time periods but are no longer doing so, and that they would want to part with their gear by now. But alas I have little luck finding any decent used items (except for WWI or WWII, which come up for sale occasionally). Once in awhile I find some inexpensive camo items online here and there, but the camo pattern seems off/bad to me (mostly with windprooofs). Like you, I try to stay away from the junk repro items sold by various overseas vendors, but like any business, there are good and bad and one just has to find the good ones (like you said). A lot of people knock Chinese goods, but I've found that if the person who is in charge of the reproduction or production process ensures the quality and authenticity of the items, and the company receives a decent pattern or sample to work from, the item can be really good. For boots, I got a pair of the modern Palladium pataugas in "Otan green" off of Amazon; if you don't have a pair of them, they're pretty good once they get worn in and dirty. I also have a pair of repro M-43 "double buckle" boots (I think they're from At The Front). I thought about getting a pair of repro Mle 1893/WWI style French boots for an early war infantryman impression, but haven't wanted to spend the extra $ yet. I'll likely just stick to my ongoing plan of being able to represent a para from the 1BEP, 6BPC, or 8BPC. The best refs I have for 8BPC information are older "Militaria" and "Uniformes" magazines (if I could only read French! fr.1001mags.com/parution/uniformes/numero-272-sep-oct-2010/page-14-15-texte-integral) and Fall's book "Hell In A Very Small Place." I've seen the "Epervier" and French Indochina "Paras" book online but haven't bought either (yet?). And some original photos on the French ECPAD website, of course. Some years ago, I went through "Hell In A Very Small Place" and started a list of what the 8BPC did and where they did it...but the info within the book was sometimes inconsistent even. thanks! |
|
|
|
Post by lew on Feb 27, 2015 8:27:50 GMT -5
I have a pair of the Palladiums. I need another pair. After four years of heavy use both around town and in the mountains, they are finally starting to show wear. Still usable, but I want another pair to have on hand. That's a pretty good run for a pair of canvas and rubber shoes. Troops in Algeria only got, on average, two months out of them. I thought about going with a shoe (brodequin Mle. 45), but I think I'd be better served with the M43 boot, especially since I'm focusing on 1e RCP, 8e RPC, and 11e BPC/GCMA. I have some Militaria magazines, plus most of those books. This 8e BPC/RPC/RPIMa veterans web site www.amicale8rpima.com/ has some books for sale. Figuring out what they did during DBP is not difficult, but I'm more interested in the years before that, plus I'd love to find TOE's, ORBAT's, and personnel rosters. Cheers! |
|
|
|
Post by Étienne on Mar 15, 2015 17:54:16 GMT -5
I use my Palladiums for regular wearing as well, as I need a good summer-weight boot for outside work. I wish the Mle 50 para boots were easier to find, and I've even looked at a few substitutes that are usually too short, but oh well.
I realized that I meant to reference the circa 1990 articles in Military Illustrated by Denis Lassus. Those articles really got some of us WWII reenactors trying to put together a French Indochina impression, but with several "modifications" as not much French gear was available in the U.S. at the time. I think what a lot of us liked about it all was the combination of U.S., Brit, and French uniforms and gear. The ultimate uniform for us at the time was: Brit windproof trousers, duckhunter camo top (Army or USMC), boots (typically pataugas), and Mle 1949 bush hat or 8BPC cap for headgear. Most of the items were hard to obtain, so I think a few people obtained Belgian camo trousers, and either original or bad early repro or 1960s commercial duckhunter camo tops or repro Denisons.
The only place I've seen any usable pre-Dien Bien Phu information/photos is in the Military Illustrated articles, especially some good info on their custom headgear (if you don't have the articles I can scan them and send them to you). Wikipedia (and a few other online sources) has some very basic 8BPC history, but I can't find much on the 8th like one can on the 1BEP for instance.
Thanks for the link to the unit history, btw!
|
|
|
|
Post by lew on Mar 17, 2015 8:58:00 GMT -5
Happy to help, and thank you for yours.
Les Paras Français has a section on unit-specific headgear, 8e Choc included. I picked up a P42 camo "Bigeard" cap from National Capital Historical Sales on eBay. It's not cut like 8e Choc's specific hat with the long brim and elastic in the back, but, imagine my delight when I found pictures of them- the traditionally-styled Bigeard caps- in use by 6e and 8e BPC's and the GCMA.
Neat to know about the history of reenacting for this period. We're living in good times now with all the repro items available. Still, like you, I would love to find a pair of Mle. 49 or 50 boots. Unfortunately, I have a common foot size, so there's little hope of that happening. I have a set of P42 camo utilities and a pair of M43 boots on my list. That, plus the Windproofs and Dension Smock I already own will have me covered for most of the airborne units in Indo after 1950. I keep trying to convince Panazerfaust to whip up some repro Mle. 47/51 or 47/52 TAP camo sets, but that seems like a long shot.
|
|
|
|
Post by Étienne on Mar 17, 2015 9:40:06 GMT -5
Browsing the web for images of the 8BPC cap, I did find a few webpages on the 8th: www.memorial-genweb.org/~memorial2/html/fr/resultregi.php?nunit=8&tunit=B.P.C.%20(Choc)dienbienphu.soforums.com/f14-Le-8%C3%A8-Choc.htmAlso, digging through the website you gave me the link to I found this page which I thought was interesting: www.amicale8rpima.com/pages/morts-pour-la-france/morts-en-indochine.htmlBTW, right now, WWII Impressions has a good sale on P42 trousers: www.wwiiimpressions.com/closeouts.htmI've found their camo to age better than ATF's, although I typically go with ATF because they are cheaper and they often have good sales. The ATF camo fades to white-ish quickly, where the WWII Impressions camo seems to fade more like the originals. ATF's boots (including their M-43's) are nice, but they seem a bit "off" to me; it might be because I've had originals and the originals have aged and the leather is stiffer. The leather used by ATF's former supplier (I've heard they are finding a new supplier) is a bit too supple in my opinion, and the boots are oversized (I wear a 10.5 or 11, and I got a 10 and they are still a bit big even with a thick insole). WWII Impressions boots look more like the originals to me (although I've never owned or worn any of WWII Impressions's footwear), but they are a "bit" pricey. Again, that's why I went with ATF. But with the price of any footwear these days, $200 or so for a pair of well-made leather boots seems to be the going rate. It would be cool to get some good 47/51 or 47/52 TAP sets made, although I'm sure they wouldn't be cheap. Back in the early 1990s, as I was mentioning before, when we were trying to reenact FIW we used Portugese lizard camo, which was available in local surplus stores for cheap, as French lizard was pretty much unobtainable for us back then! Totally "farby" of course, but oh well. The best thing was that the Mle. 1949 bush hats were everywhere, and were like $5. Wish I had a pile of them now! There are a few repros listed on ebay (I think from "indochine-recreations-shop") but my big noggin' (I wear a 61 or 62!) seems to be hard to fit, as most places make only up to 59 or 60 apparently. Thanks again for all the info! |
|
|
|
Post by lew on Mar 17, 2015 16:17:37 GMT -5
Cool links. Le 8e certainly was in the thick of it, as the KIA list attests.
I was looking at boots and camo utilies from mantheline.com. I don't know if they use the same supplier, but their camo sets seem to be a little better made. The boots look awfully similar, but they don't have the same sizing advisory as ATF does, so they very well could be from a different supplier. I got my chapeaus de brousse of of eBay.fr a few years ago for about 21€ a piece. The seller had a whole range of sizes available. As of today, eBay.fr member "plainedesjoncs" has a repro chapeau in t60 and t61 and sand-colored. 22€ each. Actually, I think I bought two from him. Top rate.
If I had a Portuguese FAL or AR-10, I'd be all over their M64 lizard camo. As it stands, I have my hands full with Algeria and Indochina. Thankfully, Mle. 47/56 camo sets are pretty easily available, if not a bit pricey. I could easily make due without lizard camo sets for Indochine, but I'd kill for a 47/54 set for early Algérie para use. Earlier patterns would work as well. I used to do Civil War reenacting with an authentic unit, so farbiness does not sit well with me. Seeing Portuguese camo for an Indochina impression would drive me up the wall.
|
|
|
|
Post by Étienne on Mar 20, 2015 21:17:59 GMT -5
I think mantheline might get some stuff from Sturm and they might source the production some of their own items. I would think that their stuff is different from ATF, as ATF now sources most of their stuff from their own production lines overseas. Some of mantheline's stuff looks really good (I like their "used" section!), and some of it looks cheap. But, I haven't ordered from them, I'm just basing my opinion on their online photos which of course can make something look bad or good. Their WWII German low boots look rather like, once they got some age on them, the 1940s models of French boots to me. I don't know whether to thank you or to curse you...that guy you recommended on ebay.fr has a lot of cool stuff, and I think I'm about to spend a few hundred $ with him! Especially thanks for the hat source...I was about to make my own out of desperation (and cheapness). Would you recommend him over Tranchee especially regarding shipping charges? His seem a bit better to me. The last time I went to order from Tranchee, the shipping was too much for me to handle, so I cancelled my order. Half the cost would have been shipping, and nothing in itself was heavy. Yeah, nowadays I wouldn't do Portugese or Belgian camo, but back then in my teens and twenties I was less "detailed oriented" when it came to authenticity and it was all that was available for actual use. I've since become a nerdy thread counter, so I don't dare lower my standards to such a degree anymore!  |
|
|
|
Post by lew on Mar 21, 2015 16:53:35 GMT -5
Thank me or hate me, I'll sleep soundly at night.  I try to source what I can from retailers other than Tranchee simply for the shipping costs. Almost makes picking up your order in person seem reasonable. I've ordered from "La Bazar de Saïgon" on a few occasions and have never had an issue. I had the same thoughts on Man The Line's wares. Their P42 uniform bits and M43 boots look good enough to take a chance on. Cheers! |
|
|
|
Post by Étienne on Mar 22, 2015 8:48:33 GMT -5
I just chatted via e-mail with the "La Bazar de Saïgon" guy and he seems really nice...I'm ordering several things and he's only charging me 10 euros shipping for everything. That plus the excellent dollar-to-euro conversion rate makes his prices quite amazing. I think I might still suck it up and buy a few things from Tranchee, but nothing heavy!
Thanks again for all the advice. Now if nothing else I'll finally have a chapeau that fits!
|
|
|
|
Post by lew on Mar 22, 2015 20:33:57 GMT -5
Woohoo!
Tranchee's (actually UPS) shipping rates are based on the order cost, not weight. I've dropped a 5€ item from the order and the shipping rate dropped by about 20€. Still, for some items, they might be the best or only option.
Happy hunting.
|
|
|
|
Post by craigtx on Apr 3, 2015 16:20:17 GMT -5
Tranchee is great to do business with. For some reason, PayPal has decided that the way Tranchee has my address doesn't match my account. So they've been good enough to send me a PayPal invoice to pay. Kind of a pain in the a$$ but they've been good about it.
Craig
|
|
|
|
Post by Étienne on Apr 4, 2015 16:49:59 GMT -5
Lew: thanks for the heads up about TM and shipping; I didn't realize I could add/subtract items within the "cart" to get a better shipping rate or at least not add another 10 euros for a one euro item. Craig: that's exactly what I had to do! It's weird, but when I first began selling on ebay I had the same problem with PP (my e-mail didn't match up exactly and I couldn't receive payments properly); it made me wonder if TM's e-mail on file is the one that doesn't match their PP account? Anyway, TM sent me an invoice and all is well. I went the cheapskate way and paid only for economy shipping, so I'm still waiting on my new toys  |
|
