Ramke Brigade parachutist, circa 1943. This would be after the American "Torch" landings in French N. Africa (Morrocco) and hence the battle of Kasserine Pass. The inexperienced and unprepared US forces were badly mauled by the Afrika Korps at this first meeting. Much gear and equipment including guns and vehicles were liberated from the smashed American force at Kasserine and the DAK was not above gathering clothing items as well. This explains our man wearing US trousers!
The shirt is from the 21C "Monte Cassino Officer" set; here it's been dyed a bit darker shade of tan (RIT 'tan') and have added some dish buttons from MDF clothing. The scallop flaps on the pockets are fitted with MDF nailhead buttons found on most of that companies clothing. I removed these from a spare set of MDF German army trousers and attached them here after painting them OD. I also removed the shoulder boards from the shirt. And of course the trousers are Dragon's and come from the Rudolph set.
The Y straps, gasmask cannister strap and belt are all from a batch of dyed elastic; the Y's are sewed by hand after fitting the leather 'donut' and junction ring to the rear. It takes about 45 minutes to do these by hand. All metal parts are painted in the ubiquitos desert sand scheme and weathering and wear was accomplished using sandpaper. I will note that the paint used is Arlenes Acrylic and the color is Yellow Ochre. This is an awesome medium that applies well and dries fast! Plus the color is dead-on.
-Wills- |
