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    M43 Parade uniform


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    Been waiting for this one since July of last year. My deepest thanks to the seller for making this possible! beer.gif The set includes the tunic and cap as pictured as well as the proper blue riding breeches, although I've not had time to take pics of those yet.

    It's a full Colonel of Artillery. I wanted something I could display with a bit of glitz and this fit the bill. I've tried to make the awards logical and not go overboard. I literally spent all those months studying all the pics I could get including placement of Orders, etc., and hoping I did well. I've shown pics to Doug and a few other knowledgeable friends and they feel I did well. jumping.gifjumping.gif I hope you all agree.

    Anyhow, without further ado here's the star of the show:

    Edited by Hauptman
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    The tunic is rather on the small side and "just" fits on the torso, although as you see I cannot close the collar... just too small.

    Re: the awards, as I'm sure most of you will note, the HSU, the Nevsky and the Order of Lenin are copies. I chose one of my two WW2 medal bars and to add the Lenin I cut out a piece of stiff card stock in a long rectangle, ran it through behind the ribbons which gives it more than enough support for a static display such as this and of course does no harm to the medal bar.

    Sadly, the belt is a DDR Officers belt. I didn't want to remove the belt on my other WWII tunic display and that's all I could come up with for it for the pics. And as the tunic is so small as is the waist on the torso I can't even display it with the belt as to take the photos I had to stuff a towel in the back to make it stay up. My goal is to put on one of the belts with the brass open star buckle. I have the buckle but not the belt so hoping to get one down the road or even the complete set.

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    Okay, just did some quick ones of the pants as well as a few of the cap by itself and a couple closeups of the shoulderboards. Note on those that there was a difference in the lighting and there is no fading or other color difference between the boards... they're a match and original.

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    Many thanks for the great comments.jumping.gifjumping.gif The tabs appear to be in an heavy metal wire embroidery. The work on both those and the sleeve spools is stunning! Very heavy and extremely well done... top quality work.

    Dan cheers.gif

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    Thanks Dan, I saw them made out of metal wire on black cloth and I saw one made out of one piece of metal (I am not sure that could be a fake).

    Just a keeper as the set is complete (cap, jacket and trousers).

    Andreas

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    Dan,

    Been looking over your choice of medals (rack) and was thinking... Considering the authenticity and awesome look of the uniform, you might want to rethink your choice of medals on the rack. IMHO, the present choice seems unlikely, actually darn near impossible considering the valour awards displayed.

    Look at it this way.

    Hero of the USSR

    Order of the Red Banner

    Order of Lenin

    Order of Nevsky

    Order of the Red Star

    Order of the Patritoc War

    Medal of Bravery

    Our colonel would've earned ALL of these solely against the Japanese?? (You only have the medal for Victory against Japan) Unlikely, actually, I don't think it possible when considering the time it woul've taken to earn these in the very short period of actual combat between the USSR and Japan...

    Might I suggest placing a Victory over Germany medal in front of the Victory over Japan medal.

    I also notice the lack of any DEFENSE or CAPTURE medal... Not impossible mind you, but a bit improbable considering the other gongs...

    Personally, I would take off the 2 anniversary medals clean off the rack (a wartime issue uniform with medals issued 20-30 years later just doesn't look quite right). Add a Victory over Germany and any one of the CAPTURE or DEFENSE medals.

    So your 6 medal rack would contain:

    Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner, Bravery Medal, Victory over Germany, Victory over Japan, CAPT or DEF medal.

    IMHO, it will make your display more believable.

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    Thanks Dan, I saw them made out of metal wire on black cloth and I saw one made out of one piece of metal (I am not sure that could be a fake).

    Just a keeper as the set is complete (cap, jacket and trousers).

    Andreas

    Actually I do believe they were also done in one piece of metal. I'll ask for confirmation on that and let you know. beer.gif

    Dan cheers.gif

    Edited by Hauptman
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    Dan,

    Been looking over your choice of medals (rack) and was thinking... Considering the authenticity and awesome look of the uniform, you might want to rethink your choice of medals on the rack. IMHO, the present choice seems unlikely, actually darn near impossible considering the valour awards displayed.

    Look at it this way.

    Hero of the USSR

    Order of the Red Banner

    Order of Lenin

    Order of Nevsky

    Order of the Red Star

    Order of the Patritoc War

    Medal of Bravery

    Our colonel would've earned ALL of these solely against the Japanese?? (You only have the medal for Victory against Japan) Unlikely, actually, I don't think it possible when considering the time it woul've taken to earn these in the very short period of actual combat between the USSR and Japan...

    Might I suggest placing a Victory over Germany medal in front of the Victory over Japan medal.

    I also notice the lack of any DEFENSE or CAPTURE medal... Not impossible mind you, but a bit improbable considering the other gongs...

    Personally, I would take off the 2 anniversary medals clean off the rack (a wartime issue uniform with medals issued 20-30 years later just doesn't look quite right). Add a Victory over Germany and any one of the CAPTURE or DEFENSE medals.

    So your 6 medal rack would contain:

    Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner, Bravery Medal, Victory over Germany, Victory over Japan, CAPT or DEF medal.

    IMHO, it will make your display more believable.

    First off, thanks for the great comments! jumping.gifjumping.gif Re: the metal bar... I too felt this way but for now, with the bars available to me I felt this was the best choice My only other WWII bar is this one:

    I don't believe this one would make sense for a full Colonel/HSU. First off... as he's not AF he'd have had to have risen through the ranks to have been awarded the Order of Glory... not that this was not possible, but I feel he should have at least one Order of the Red Banner as well as the Lenin/HSU.

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    The bar that is on there actually looks like this:

    Again the Lenin is simply placed in the first position by using a strip of hard card stock cut in a rectangle and slipped through behind the ribbons.

    Re: the two bars I've shown... when I originally posted these years ago the members who commented on them felt that due to the way the ribbons were mounted that they looked to be put together bars... although all the awards are authentic. I've not yet been able to research the numbered Orders/medals on the bars to confirm this. If it were confirmed then I'd not have a problem with changing them.

    Actually to correct that... I'd not want to create yet another made up bar although my intention is that all my goodies will be passed down in the family, but there is always a chance of something getting back out in the market.

    I do happen to have both a six award and an nine award kolodka that I could put together a bar for this uniform. But I'd need to know what awards would make the most sense before I'd jump in to do it. I'd also want to do it in a way that at the very least it's a mix of original and replica awards so no mistaking that it's a put together bar. By originals I mean either unnumbered Valor medal/MMM's, Victory Over Germany medal and then replicas of the rest... as to be honest I've never seen a replica of the Valor or MMM's.

    Here's what I currently have in my replica boxes that I could use:

    I have several 20th Anniversary of the Red Army medals but they have damage on the enamel on the stars. I've got epoxy/nail polish and want to experiment with redoing them but haven't had time to fool with them yet.

    One Order of the Red Banner.

    I have a couple of sets of the Partisan medals.

    One Rescuing a Drowning Person medal.

    One Border Guard medal.

    One Order of the Badge of Honor.

    Two Odessa, one each: Sevastopol, Soviet Arctic, Caucasus, Kiev, Stalingrad, two Budapest and a Belgrade.

    Original Victory Over Germany and two 30th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces medals as well as some unnumbered Valors and MMM's.

    Any suggestions would be most welcome... if it's possible to put together a bar(s) that would be logical/make sense for this uniform out of what I have available. beer.gif

    Dan cheers.gif

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