M43 Keilhose - What do you think?

[Neil Hever]

Yes - my pair is Italian material. Gabardine is still made to this day. I specifically chose it to go with a mid to late war display. It was built on the M42 Feldbluse and M42 Schiffchen along with a reissued M35 helmet with matte paint over the national shield decal. Neil

[JPhilip]

Hello,
Very nice display Neil, you even thought to add the third greatcoat strap...even if they're not of the same type as only the leather example is a quick release one, that's great....
I like the black painted cup repainted in olive green for the canteen...
The only thing i would change is the belt buckle, i would use a steel example painted in olive green, grey or even blue...
Thanks for sharing this nice display with us....

Concerning the italian gabardine, i got an info about it when i released my last book "Feldgrauen". An italian buyer/collector told me that we were all wrong to call this gabardine "italian officer gabardine". The reason ?
Italy released a low grade gabardine for enlisted men and NCOs that resembles to the latter but had not the same characteristics.
Its quality was kilometers away from the officer one. He told me that all german post September 43 uniforms made in italian gabardine had been produced with this low quality gabardine, not the officer one. I can't remember the name of this gabardine, i mean how this italian collector called it.
Thanks