wwii axis reenactment forum

Can anyone here recommend any particular companies for repro FJ kit in the UK? - cost isn't a problem, im looking for kit thats accurate to the originals and that'll handle some heavy abuse!

Cheers,

Jay.

Richard Underwood is your best option for top quality kit in UK but you may need to look elsewhere for a knockensack as the smocks he's selling (at least on his website) are in Heer splinter A camo - the jumpsmocks from Barry Lyndon are a much better option.

Another highly recommended supplier, but in Germany, is Zeugmeisterei who sells one of the few repro jumpsmocks in a correct splinter B pattern. Top quality service, although some items are hand made to order so can take upto 8 weeks to arrive, but well worth the wait.

hope this helps

Geoff

Cheers Geoff, it certainly does. It seems Richard Underwood has a website that could bankrupt me quite easily lol

Richards kit is pricey, but the quality is much better, you get what you pay for so they say!

The kit from Barry Lyndon,although not to the same standard as Richard's, is very good for the price, & if you're trying to put together an FJ impression from scratch, then getting some of your kit from him could be kinder to your wallet.

The best jump smocks ( Ive seen and bought)and field jackets are from 'at the front' from the US absolutely superb!

ATF smocks are good heavy material and have nice finishing standards, zips etc, but the pattern has been badly finished which let's it down.

Hi,
if you can, get an older ATF smock.
They are probably the next best thing to a Tom Gulliver smock.

best regards,
Volker

The ATF smocks (old & new) have a splinter B look-a-like pattern, but they're not correct. There are too many green blocks & they are a bit vivid also there are no raindrops on any brown blocks. The actual shapes of the blocks are wrong - I've compared an ATF smock with a Barry Lyndon one, & they have identical shaped blocks, but Barry has fixed the raindrops (I reckon that Barry bought some splinter B fabric from ATF & copied it when he was designing his smocks). I would say that ATF use better quality fabric than Barry & the overall construction of ATF smocks are very good. I've noticed that ATF have now dropped the price of their jumpsmocks to around £100 (maybe due to Mr Lyndon)

I would say that the next best to Tom Gullivers smocks are Zeugmeisterei's - they aren't cheap, but the camo is spot on.
GMax's tan dominant splinter jumpsmocks are also vey good, with a correct splinter B pattern & good detail

oli4vercammen wrote:the colours of zeugmeisterei's knochensack are a little bit dark aren't they?

The colours are dark, but then there were originals which were just as dark.

Eh!! I think you will find that sunlight will lighten things a bit! As for ATF smocks not been correct! I beg to differ!!?? Barry Lyndons and keiths are not the best! I suppose you pay your money and take your choice

dagda wrote: As for ATF smocks not been correct! I beg to differ!!??

Oh no he's unleashing the monster ........ stand back ... badger heads for his set.

Enlighten the poor misguided soul Geoff

Noily wrote:

dagda wrote: As for ATF smocks not been correct! I beg to differ!!??

Oh no he's unleashing the monster ........ stand back ... badger heads for his set.

Enlighten the poor misguided soul Geoff

Nah, he's right ATF smocks are totally spot on - its just that during the war the FJ didn't get their kit from ATF which is why all original smocks are wrong.

If you look at the pattern on an original smock closely & compare it to the correct ATF smock, you'll notice that originals have differently shaped blocks of colour & have fewer blocks of green on them than the spot-on ATF ones. Also the originals had the raindrops on the brown blocks which we all know is wrong & only ATF have noticed & put right! (even Barry Lyndon who obviously knows his stuff & has a pattern that matches ATF's block for block got this wrong & added raindrops over the brown blocks)

So word of advice to all - never compare your repro kit to original kit as often the repro may be right while the original is totally farby - no wonder the Germans lost the war

Dagda - you're right about Keith's smocks - they aren't the best - in fact their amongst the worst!

Funny bit is, the older ATF smocks were better than the newer ATF smocks. Honestly.
They had the raindrops on the brown geometric shapes.

As much as people like to bash Barry's stuff, his smocks are not that bad. In fact, they are good value for the money. Authenticitywise, they beat the much more expensive ATF smock any time of the day, so all the time I invested helping Barry with his smocks wasn't wasted.

best regards,
Volker

FJR6 wrote:As much as people like to bash Barry's stuff, his smocks are not that bad. In fact, they are good value for the money. Authenticitywise, they beat the much more expensive ATF smock any time of the day

Couldn't agree with you more.

Barry's are one of only a few repro splinter smocks that I recommend (The others being BoB film prop copies, GMax (tan dominant), Tom Gulliver (if you can find one & its for sale) & Zeugmeisterei)

Duncan had a new ATF smock, couldn't sell. Had to cut it up in the end. Still his wife had some great FJ dusters