Loaner Breadbag projects.

[insterburger]

Drac, given the properties of nylon-- and who knows the properties of whatever nylon-like derivative the Ossis were using-- you might get more mileage spray painting them tan. In which case may as well spray paint them black. Bleach may or may not affect the color, but it's a sure bet it will weaken the fabric. Still, East German y straps are cheap enough that you're not losing much through experimentation.

[Dracul]

Insterburger, I have a good few of them and a grey combat belt. I feel like I should at least try something with these. I wouldn't mind getting more, though, those packs that you get the suspenders with are extremely handy.

[2nd Bat]

I have painted some of the East German Nylon web set ups in Black using paint specially formulated to adhere to plastic and I have been pleased with the end result.

[Dracul]

Can you e-mail me pics of those, please? I'm interested to see how they look.

Unfortunately, due to apartment living, I can't spray paint. Bleaching and dying, or perhaps just dying is my only alternative.

[insterburger]

Drac, if you can't spray paint at your apartment, take your project somewhere you can-- maybe a disused corner of a parking lot, a park, whatever. Bring along some newspapers so you don't mess up the area you're using, but just do the painting you need to do. Most spray paints are dry to the touch in under 20 minutes, so you could even do multiple coats and be out of there in under an hour. Once they're painted, drive home (with the windows open!) and leave them outside for as long as you can. Once they're reasonably dry, bring them in. They might throw fumes for a while, but nothing at all like when the paint was freshly applied.

Don't feel deterred from spray painting, you will need to do it sooner or later as you continue to fabricate stuff-- where there's a will there's a way!

[ssgjoe]

I would have to disagree with the statement that the post war cups look like Bakelite cups. But the breadbags indeed do look nice! Maybe eventually you can make full blown 100% accurate reproductions!
BTW you can get different types of hardware on eBay. Even original hardware if you need to

[Dracul]

Thanks!

The hardware is easy. Hiki has loads of buttons for cheap, and with free shipping. Can't complain there. I just have to order from an American seller if I want proper sized D-rings....

[Dracul]

Slight update.

The proper D-rings has just came in. I will be devoting late tonight and tomorrow to getting these bread bags finished finally. If I time in the weekend, I'm going to also take apart an E German tunic and make patterns from it. I have HBT material from ATF coming in, and I'm going to try my hand at making home made tunics. But, I'll save that for another thread.

In all honesty, I didn't think these would be that popular, but I have all my bread bags, except for my prototype, slated to be sold or traded off. 

[luftwelle93]

Awesome that you are now making tunics!Interesting to see how it goes.Gladly buy one of your breadbags too

[Dracul]

I'm only going to be making tunics for my own loaner needs. The materials are cheap enough. About $37 worth of materials: $30 for 2yd of HBT, and $6.50 for 10 buttons (Hiki sells 20 for $13, enough for two tunics). Like a lot of projects, the amount of time I'd put into these would greatly increase the costs. I don't know how much time it will take, but I can safely say you could buy a tunic from Hiki, pay for shipping, and have some cash left over than to buy it from me. For me though, since I'm putting in work for myself, I'm paying just $37, that's it. $7 cheaper than the HBT's at Hiki and I don't have to pay an insane shipping price on top of that.

I don't run a sweat shop here, I'm just one guy, haha. If I wanted to run one, I would have went AWOL when Hong Kong was my Libo Port on my MEU, hahaha.

[Dracul]

Got some finished! 

Hand sewing the final parts take a bit. Its going slow, but I'm trying to get a bit done every night. 

M31 and M44


M31 with loaner gear. E German belt, Czech suspenders from their mountain bag, and MP40 pouches



Got 3 left to finish for this run. 

Also! Should be getting my HBT tunic in on wednesday! So, soon I'll be working on making one and drafting a pattern from it. Will be a thread about that soon! 

[2nd Bat]

This is so cool.

[Dracul]

After FINALLY watching The Running Man and Sabotage, I got another one finished. This one specifically is going to luftwelle93! Its the better one of the M44's. I got my hand stitching process down a lot more neatly. The stitches are much straight and precise now. 

Front:


Close up of hand stitching at the front D-rings:


Inside:


Finally, the back with strap hooked on:



This one is ready to ship out, so if you can PM me, Luftwelle93, we can talk about prices and what not. 

I should be able to get the remaining two finished by end of week, and have these ready to ship out to 2ndBat hopefully on friday or saturday! 

[insterburger]

Excellent work. When you start making these out of a proper canvas, you should find yourself with quite a niche market.

You're definitely the tailor of this group-- I'm sure I'm not the only person here who wishes he could sew that well.

[luftwelle93]

It looks very good Dracul!The work is well paid off!Imagine the work you'll get once you obtain some canvas.I'll PM later once I get the time.

[ssgjoe]

Maybe once you get proper canvas and buttons you can step up to creating full on repros

[2nd Bat]

Drac,

Because i am mostly on the road for the next three months, I'll ship the tunic and helmet this weekend while i am home. I hit home friday night and head out again on sunday. Your stuff is boxed up and ready to go. Anxious to get these items for my costume department.

[volkssturm]

Excellent work.

[Dracul]

Alright, after a month and a half since I started this thread, I finally finished my first run! 

Here are the last two I just finished


Here is the "Money Shot" of everything I made. 


6 bread bags, 4 bread bag straps, one E German canteen mock up. The straps make a good impromptu sling for the M1 Carbine, haha. I'll be sending 4 of these, the mocked up E German canteen, and excess straps to 2ndBat quite soon and one bread bag and strap to Luftwelle93 soon enough. I'll be keeping my original prototype. 

Thanks for everyone's input and good words. I personally didn't think these would be liked that much, but I'm happy to finally have made something well enough to contribute here. I will be making a second run soon enough, and I will be looking into canvases and into getting the metal dish buttons. I just wish I could source the belt hooks, but at least the M44's would be correct at that point. 

I hope my continued sewing efforts, on other items, will be as well received as these were. 

[2nd Bat]

I am excited to get them. When mixed in with web gear at a distance they will enhance the look of my aggressor unit considerably. Once sufficiently soiled and buried with canteens and bayonets etc. They will be perfect for my needs.

[2nd Bat]

Got home for a quick weekend stop over and then its back on the road. When I got home I had several packages waiting. One was a couple spare magazines for my cheezy WELL carbines. Until recently spare mgazines weren't available and I ruined one trying to shorten it leaving that carbine useless. The next package was from insterberger and had a dozen metal caps for German Potatoe Masher builds using his design. The main package was a box from dracul which contained my breadbags and canteen cover. I pulled them out looked them over closely and I have to tell you, the quality of work is extremely good. If the fabric was right they'd be perfect. (I knew that of course). The finished product is excellent for my needs as once mixed in other field gear and muddied up a bit they'll look and function just great. I couldn't be happier with them. I am anxious to see how he does on smocks, tunics and helmet covers should he elect to go that route.

[Dracul]

Finally an update on this, right? Well, after a bit a searching, I was able to source 3 hole dish buttons and some belt hooks. Problem is, the "belt hooks" I found were labeled as "replacement gas mask can hooks" and I don't have a continuing source for those. Slightly odd, its the same hooks used on the post war Czech suspenders, the ones that come with their rucks. Its not perfect, but definitely a hell of a lot better than having a button on the middle strap. 

Also found a decent source for canvas! Unfortunately, I only found it in standard colors, and nothing in the large variety of colors used by the German army. So, gotta stick with standard tan/khaki for now. 

Got all the pieces cut up and ready to get going on another breadbag!



Close up on the Gas Mask Can Strap hook/Czech post-war suspender belt hook. 



Still early on in the day, so hopefully I'll get this one finished by the end of the day! 

[Dracul]

Just finished this one! 




Close up of the top portion. I think I need to elongate the belt straps some. 



Inside. Need to work on my alignment when sewing the under straps. 



How it looks with other combat gear.




Still not perfect, but those 3 hole dish buttons and hooks, regardless where they are from, are a definite big plus to the look of it.

Got a lot of work done this weekend, getting closer and closer to being able to equip a full team of Germans. Some more bread bags, some more gamaschen, and some more tunics, and a lot of work ahead of me.  

[2nd Bat]

The Italian camo was actually quite popular and definitely showed up throughout Western Europe and was seen quite a bit in the Normandy battles. It definitely found its was out of the Italian Theater!

[schmitz]

If you ripped the padding off of those y-straps they'd definitely pass the 2 meter rule! looking good.