leigh kitchen

Takes a bit of effort & organisation. Helmets I'm happy to stick on top of individual household tissue rollstands, I quite fancy the systems that you & Chris have made for caps. A variation on those would be useful I think . Along the lines of a square wooden base with an upright pole in the centre along one edge. with two or three horizontals coming off the upright so you can have caps "layered" above each other. Instead of wood, I'm thinking of copper or white plastic piping & jointing......

Interesting thread on SAP insignia here: http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46634 Apart from perhaps a shoulder title or button or two, all I have in the way of SAPSAP insignia is this helmet plate. Isn'Isn't the springbok head badge you show SA infantry? Is it a police badge?

Recognise the beret Mervyn?

A recent acquisition - a small recruiting poster (measuring 15" x 10",) printed by "The Bury Times & exhorting men to join their local regiment, the Lancashire Fusiliers. The town of Bury in Lancashire had a long association with the Lancashire Fusiliers, the TF being well entrenched & supported by the community although an author has stated that the Gallipoli & Somme generation of Fusiliers encouraged their sons to join other corps come WWII. The losses at Gallipoli & the Somme had made them only too well aware of the realities of hard won glory earned storming beaches & trenches. The town still has strong links with their Fusiliers via the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers into which the LF were amalgamated in 1968. The insignia shown, a primrose coloured hackle over the white on red grenade/ LF patch is that worn on the left side of the sun helmet & later the GS cap & beret. The LF wore their berets with the insignia over the left temple rather than over the left eye as they considered that was the proper placing for the hackle which was a battle honour. On the GS cap & beret they would have been worn from WWII - about 1958 when the regulars adopted the anodised Fusilier Brigade badge worn with hackle, the TA would have continued wearing LF insignia for longer. The "XX" refers to the pre 1881 number of the regiment as "infantry of the line" - the 20th. The regiment makes reference to the "modern streamlined army" - the army's been "modernised" & "streamlined" a number of times since the end of WWI, I'm guessing that this poster dates from the late 1940's - 1960's, but probably the 1950's?

So it fits around the inside of the sweatband,. the top of the cap doesn't rest on it?

Individual officers on attachment as observers rather than as members of units?

The cap you've put on the stand - looks good, but how is the cap actually supported? How are you avoiding placing strain on stitching & fabric, is it kept in place by a light pressure around the inside?

Does anybody know if this product is any good? Comes in black, brown & neutral, is it suitable for use on pikelhaube etc or best avoided? Is it basically just leather shoe cream or polish?

Why not just keep it on a "head" and/ or pad it out with card and paper and just let it resume it's natural shape over a bit of time. I don't see any kind of problem with this cap that requires anything more drastic drastic than that like water, steam, leather softeners etc. It looks like a very simple to deal with problem if a problem at all.

My sad version of the Bavarian: http://gmic.co.uk/forums/topic/37020-bavarian-pikelhaube-officers-or-nco39s/#comment-344922

Yep, longer than 40 years I reckon. I still flinch when I think of those articles by Graham Maddox - leather's a bit dull and wrinkled? Get your pliars, sandpaper, strip the helmet. sand the leather, paint it up nice and shiny....... I found some old "Photowar" magazines from about 1970 in the garage today. I think they contain his articles on pikelhaube "restoration". I'll type them up - read them & you won't sleep easy. Was it Norman Holden or a later collector/author who mentioned the naivity of early collectors who would swap fittings around just because they look shinier or prettier? Now we have people who strip M15s down, cutting out liners, unstitching front & rear peaks just to make more money from the bits.

A Luftwaffe Flak summer cap "Deutsch Industrie":

That's the one - it could bebe Australian - I realised after I posted that I'd have done better to mention empire / commonwealth. Johns one looks like it's on KD rather than SD? Graham & Grumpy would have this badge nailed within seconds.

British army RQMS wore it above 4 inverted chevrons on the lower sleeve until 1915 when the badge became a crown within laurel wreath. I don't have books to hand, unfortunately.

.The GS Wagon appeared in different guises, including as an ambulance, The Mk II was introduced in 1905 & was the most common type in service during WWI.

Some photos I took a few years ago at a shire horse farm / museum in Norfolk - but I never got around to sorting out a proper thread on the GS Wagons. Introduced into British army service in the late 1800's, the GS Wagon was in service through various Marks I - II, drawn by 2 - 6 horses, until replaced by mechanised transport shortly after the end of WWI. This particular wagon continued in use into the 1950's, with various modifications by its civilian owner / owners. There aren't too many of these wagons around, few are known to exist in the UK, a couple in museums at Duxford & Aldershot, a few more in private hands perhaps 5 or 6 now in total? There are a more in Australia & Canada & presumably elsewhere, but they're thin on the ground.

Yes. very attractive. good in a man cave etc.

The British lead ones were being heavily fakedfaked as far back as the 70's. I have a repro one nicely paintef by me fastened to my front wall - made of resin, notlead tho'.

This soldier has been identified - "Eddy" of the 666th Foot (Devils Own?) as he appeared at Balaclava. He should've kept his ...er...balaclava on. An associate of an Iron Maiden he could be a bit of a Walt. given that he represents the charge of the Light Brigade and he's called a trooper but he's dressed as an infantry private and armed with a sword - and his regiment doesn't exist. The fact that he contains alcohol may have some bearing on his appearance and behaviour - there's no football today so I'll go cause a ruck at Balaclava But he still makes a good backdrop to my barbecue.

Can't make out a lot on a phone, but some of the medals are unofficial private purchase ones.

I'm having aa senior moment. but Volunteer / TF length of service or range judging? Just remembered - worn above inverted chevrons on lower sleeve by TQMS? I've forgotten so much - and haven't got books to hand.

Appropriately dressed & equipped for some of the areas I had to patrol on a bicycle. They'll be community police the way policing's going in Britain. I've told my wife her pension - screwed "Sheehey's home to roost " county - mounties are becoming " I'm a milkman yesterday, policeman today. delivery driver tomorrow" milicia, she's not convinced yet but time will tell......

​And Chiefs / Commissioners weren't going to want "riot" declared too often - the police then became liable for damage. When I did my basic training in 1980, the Garden Hotel, Cambridge riot of 1970 was the most recent riot in Britain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_House_riot http://www.theguardian.com/law/2011/oct/18/appeal-riot-sentencing-firm-fair