Other Post Equipment Query

[HighlandSniper58]

Hi Guys - most of you will know from my gallery that I model British soldiers in 1/6th scale - highly detailed, dressed in proper fabric uniforms, webbing etc.

I am planning a typical example of a Brit soldier on internal security duties in N.I. in the mid-late 1980s, i.e. the good old days of SLR and 58 webbing etc.

What I am looking for is details of the kit you guys wore/used, i.e. - Uniform, (specifically combination of DPMs, lightweights etc.), what belt-kit you used (which pouches etc.) and any other interesting details - good quality photos would also be appreciated.

Purely for my own use - any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Bombardier]

Well, when I did my tour of the maze and the Crumlin in the 80's i wore the following when doing short Urban Patrols;

Lightweight Trousers
DPM jacket
DMS boots with putties of course
Beret
58 Pattern web belt with Ammo pouches front left and right, water bottle to my rear right.
58 pattern yolk with First field dressing taped to the left strap.
I cant remember if I wore my Respirator and pouch, Im sure I would have.

 

[Zofo]

Lightweight Trousers
DPM jacket
DMS boots with putties of course
Beret
58 Pattern web belt with Ammo pouches front left and right, water bottle to my rear right.
58 pattern yolk with First field dressing taped to the left strap.
I cant remember if I wore my Respirator and pouch, Im sure I would have.

We had the "boot, high leg, combat" and in addition to the above on the webbing of course were kidney pouches and on hands were "Gloves, black N.I."

 

[tosh66]

Full combats with varying boots depending on need and taste, flak jacket underneath smock, 58 pattern belt with water bottle pouch and ammo pouches left and right, but no yoke. We used to wear rear pouches if needed ie first aid kits and baton rounds etc
On my first tour my weapon was an SLR with the sling detatched from the front swivel and attached the wrist and on my second tour my PW was a 9mm pistol kept on the belt in a low slung, quickdraw leather holster.
See my pics for a detailed uniform guide as a dog handler ie a bit of a cowboy!

 

[Drone_pilot]

wore the same as Bomb but with combat trousers, i could not understand our B.C.s reasoning for full combat gear in Londonderry city centre??
when trousers lightweight would have done.

 

[tosh66]

wore the same as Bomb but with combat trousers, i could not understand our B.C.s reasoning for full combat gear in Londonderry city centre??
when trousers lightweight would have done.

Apparently the DPM trousers were flameproof up to a point. or at least when someone chucked a petrol bomb at you you would have a little longer to put it out or get 'em off. bo;

 

[Zofo]

Our flak jackets had no pockets, but with blasted great steel plates down the front - the older they were, the more the plates had slipped down to rest at the stitching at the bottom. There was always a set that appeared when everyone grabbed for the gear. Bloody dangerous - even tho' they were replaced, there always seemed to be one hanging around waiting to get picked.

 

[HighlandSniper58]

Thanks guys - exactly the sort of replies I was looking for...........keep them coming.

 

[rotorwash]

Your flak jackets had steel plates? Ours were made from interwoven layers of titanium. I had seen them stop a .30 round but I knew there was no way they would stop a 12.7. I made darn sure I knew what caliber the bullet was that was coming at me before I jumped in front of it!!! The armor we wore in helicopters was made of ceramic plates. When hit the plates would break apart but would stop a .30 round.

Did you find the beret's absolutely useless? We did in SF. Another brilliant French invention.

RW

 

[Bombardier]

Did you find the beret's absolutely useless? We did in SF. Another brilliant French invention.

Yep they wouldnt stop a fly hurting ya, but they were comfy :mrgreen:

The first flak jacket I ever wore was a mesh of some kinda fabric and didnt seem like it could stop anything, during my second tour of NI we had a much better set of armour which had a ceramic plate at the front and back, over the heart area and was much more robust. But with safer comes weight and it was a bitch to wear on a long patrol. :shock:

 

[Zofo]

Ours were made from interwoven layers of titanium
A huge lump of metal no more, no less. I never wore ceramic plates and as a result, as Bomb. says, a bitch to wear an v.v.v heavy. My shoulders sagged at 15 minutes.

P.S. Berets are the Brit way of saying here we are and here we stay! Not in a warry sort of way but in a confident sort of way!!

 

[tosh66]

The ceramic plates were designed to break the impact of low velocity rounds. As for high velocity, well a prayer might help! Also believe it or not the plates had a shelf life date and if you dropped them you had to exchange them as they were deemed to be useless!?!?

 

[rotorwash]

We wore our berets everywhere but on ops. There we wore a booney hat or just a scarf, something that wasn't always getting knocked off. The armor we wore in aircraft had one ceramic plate in front and one in back. They were sort of shaped to fit the body. They went on over the head then were secured by straps that came from the back and velcroed to the front piece. Weighed about 30 pounds. I made an assessment of priorities then took the back plate out and fastened it under my seat.

HS, soldiers in 1/6th scale must be about 12" tall? Is that similar to a GI Joe?

RW

 

[HighlandSniper58]

RW - yes, same size as GI Joe, but much, much more sophisticated. Have a look in my Album, there are a few pix there. The principle manufacturers are Dragon & Blue Box (both Hong Kong Chinese) and there are various other mamkers.

The main period covered is WW2, but there are large interest gropups for modern, 'Nam, WW1, Napoleonic and ancient.

Have a look at:

http://www.dragonmodelsltd.com/catalog/figure_pics/
http://www.blueboxtoys.com/bbi/index-page/ef_index.html
http://www.blueboxtoys.com/bbi/index-page/ww2_index.html
http://www.armourydesign.com/

Some folks just buy the boxed figures, I buy mostly loose componnets and built my own for accuracy.

 

[Drone_pilot]

Did anyone try those stupid black ridged shin guards the ones that went from boot to knee, i did once what a load of rubbish made you run like a duck, the next time it was copy's of national graphic down the combat trousers.

 

[Bombardier]

No, but I do remember wearing a device on my shin for detecting booby traps. Cant remember which one it was?, all the ecm devices had names like white sifter and purple something or other. Like I said on previous posts, "Im losing my memory" :shock:

 

[Drone_pilot]

No, but I do remember wearing a device on my shin for detecting booby traps. Cant remember which one it was?,

Come on Bomb can't be that bad you only have a choice of two, left or right.

 

[tosh66]

No, but I do remember wearing a device on my shin for detecting booby traps. Cant remember which one it was?, all the ecm devices had names like white sifter and purple something or other. Like I said on previous posts, "Im losing my memory" :shock:

Not forgetting "chimp"

 

[Bombardier]

Come on Bomb can't be that bad you only have a choice of two, left or right.

You is a funny guy, you is you know :mrgreen: :roll:

 

[eddiefrench]

I know this is way after the first post but I have only just found this site and I am enjoying reading back over all of the posts. So...

Nobody seemed to mention the crash helmet with the cobbled together visor. What a laugh!
You couldn't see through the visor after a week or two.
Another important mention is the tailoring of the kit we undertook so that we would look 'Cool'.
We had our lightweights or dpm's tailored into tight fitting 'drainees' and all jackets had to be fitted. This was against regs. at the time but nobody seemed to enforce them. Then there was the relaxed regs on haircuts. We were allowed to wear out hair a little longer and let our sideburns creep down a little.