Pith Helemet

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SplinterB
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Pith Helemet

Post by SplinterB »

To what extent where they used by DAK?
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Brigardefuhrer
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by Brigardefuhrer »

They were issued early on,but you see more of the tropical peaked cap being worn.Also if you want to do army or luftwaffe,the army were dark olive drill covered material and the luftwaffe were tan.There were limited numbers of olive covered luftwaffe and even rarer blue covered ones,Dutch and Italian pith helmets were also used.A good book to get is Afrika Korps,army,luftwaffe,kriegsmarine by Robert Kurtz published by schiffer books.John
"I require able bodied men,with good horse and gun.
I wish none but those who desire to be actively engaged".
"Come on boys,if you want a heap of fun and to kill some yankees".
Nathan Bedford Forest.
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Jagdpanther
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by Jagdpanther »

The book recommended above is very good...

It is worth making the point that most of the repros made approximate to the second pattern Tropenhelm, which came into use too late for North Africa and therefore are only seen in southern Europe after German forces in N Africa had folded - so if you want to use a Tropenhelm for a DAK impression, you will need to find a first pattern one (or Dutch etc)... The first pattern were generally olive or tan and had 6 lines of stitching going down the sides of the helmet - one each front/back, two on each side - plus lines of stiching going out on the side rims, whilst the second pattern was a simplified/cheaper model constructed from less pieces of material, therefore it lacked these stitch lines (and was generally olive, not tan):

First pattern:

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Second pattern:

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SplinterB
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by SplinterB »

Great info guys cheers. Basicaly i love the pith helmets so im going to base an entire impression on it :)
this ones from epic...
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Looks more like a zsecond pattern.
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Jagdpanther
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by Jagdpanther »

Yeah, that's second pattern, no good for DAK, but fine for southern Europe - those ones come with crap insignia (including de-nazified eagle), so you will want to get some decent insignia - Morigi does those http://www.nicholasmorigi.com/catalogue ... %20GERMANY (item ref W0541S):

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SplinterB
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by SplinterB »

Nice one! :) right so south europa it is. So italian theater
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Brigardefuhrer
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by Brigardefuhrer »

I found this on the Axis history forum,the photo is captioned as Southern Russia.John
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Untitled-1.jpg (120.71 KiB) Viewed 5345 times
"I require able bodied men,with good horse and gun.
I wish none but those who desire to be actively engaged".
"Come on boys,if you want a heap of fun and to kill some yankees".
Nathan Bedford Forest.
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feldman
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by feldman »

Epic pith helmet info says: One size fits all ? Smells like crap..

This is ima-usa.com´s pith helmet - one-size-fits-all :lol:

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Oberleutnant Ulrich
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by Oberleutnant Ulrich »

So has anyone found a decent helmet with proper leather straps the ones out there have crap straps with green leather.
Arthur

Leutnant Ulrich Stab./II/JG-52
Leutnant Ulrich Stab./I./756. Gren. Reg.
Leutnant Ulrich Heereshochgebirgsschule
Leutnant Ulrich Stab./I./Geb.Aufkl.Abt.54
Halle
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by Halle »

Only proper ones I've found are on eBay.de , and they're expensive ! I've replaced the badges on mine with Morigis , they're very good - a strap shouldn't be TOO difficult - it's just the trim on the edge of the hat - I'm going to try and get a leather worker / saddler to sort that - in essence , it's easy , just a strip of thin leather , but it's attaching it that may prove problematic :roll:
Jäger Stefan Halle 3./I./Geb.Jag.Reg.100
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Oberleutnant Ulrich
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Re: Pith Helemet

Post by Oberleutnant Ulrich »

Only ones I found on ebay.de are originals and they are all small and I don't want to pay €400 for a size 57 to hang on the wall...then to redo the repros...well, we'll have to redo them completely to get the 1st pattern pith helmet correct.
Arthur

Leutnant Ulrich Stab./II/JG-52
Leutnant Ulrich Stab./I./756. Gren. Reg.
Leutnant Ulrich Heereshochgebirgsschule
Leutnant Ulrich Stab./I./Geb.Aufkl.Abt.54
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