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Guys, as stated above. Rich

Guys, few more pics, this time of an exercise, the name of which escapes me but we had 'sim fix' which was some sort of laser quest stuff and the exercise was to determine if we would buy Challenger or M1 Abraham. At the time we believed it but it was apparently a forgone conclusion due to the collapse of the Shah of Iran's power base. It happened down by Wolfenbüttel South of Hannover.

Hi all, I managed to complete a collection challenge that I had set myself: complete an air force uniform for the major participants in the Cold War (minus France as has already been pointed out to me!). So we have USA, UK, West Germany, East Germany, and USSR. Still have a couple of variations (officer or enlisted) to display but really pleased with how this has turned out.

Afternoon all, Well it looks like FB has pulled the plug this time. So,lets make this online forum number 1 again eh. Waffy

Finally it looks like spring is coming here too. I've been doing som service on our 67 model Peugeot 404, and getting it ready for the summer season. We had some very nice weather last weekend, with a temperature around 10 degrees celcius - about 50 degrees fahrenheit. So me and my wife packed up somethimg to eat and the kids in the 404 and went for a small roadtrip/picnic in our local area last saturday. We had a very nice day, and the old Peugeot performed perfectly. 20210417_151315.mp4

Guys, This short engagement was recorded in the Ulrich Saft book Kriege in der heimat. These photos were taken post war by a young boy that used to play on the wrecked tanks, what a play ground he had! He is now in his 80s and has recently rediscovered these pictures taken before 1949 but after the war. It shows two of the tanks from the battle although he tells me there were 3 British tanks in a row in column of march and they were destroyed on the North South road that goes past the Hotel Kroepke which is still there today. those tanks were on the road circa 3 to 400m South of the hotel just before the slight bend in the road. The Tiger was further South and I will confirm the locations later. The flak was to the North East of the road described above. The old boy (Albert) has offered to walk the locations with me but he is not in the best of health. I will do it as soon as I and he can. Rich

Hi Hans, welcome to this forum. Bit quiet but I still think it will get busier when FB etc finally pull the plug, they are dyeing to do it. Best Rich

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A multi-piece constructed linen Banner/flag that measures 56" wide and 97" drop with a printed mobile swastikas in black on a white background. There are five sets of ties along the top to tie to a pole. There are a few small marks as well as obvious fading to the central disks. There is also the maker mark in the upper corner as shown in the photo. Great bring back piece of memorabilia. £250 plus p&p

For your review...DDR NVA-Wachregiment oberleutnat in parade dress...and some more NVA-Wachregiment complete uniforms

Here are a couple of rough WW1 German canteens I have in the collection. The one with dark gray cover was one I got in a mail order auction when I was like 15. $10 I think I paid (Before the internet and Ebay!lol)

A selection of tropical pith helmets...Second pattern army was damaged by friend's son during hands on examination...appears to be easily repairable

Just got this nice Post war German Shelter 1/4 in trade. Now these use to be plentiful back in the '70's and '80's. But You dont see them very often anymore. I was happy to add this one to the collection. The WW2 ones are more plentiful! lol Infact I have a new one of those coming too.

I have a few links from a Goliath track,currently soaking in oil

Rich, it turned out to be in pretty Good shape. Check it out

£20 your way.

Had I know what these were when I was a boy, I would have got my dad to bye some of these, Back in the 60s there was a market called Portebello in London, there was a trader that had about 20-30 of them on his stall and was only saying that they were cold winter boots, they wer,nt even described as being German, but they were the same as you and Richard have shown, and at that time I can now see why they were descibed as such, I dare say that no one new what they were, or who made them,if people had known then , I dont think there would have been many sales for the guy selling them, where he got them from God only knows

Guys, we finally have an end to this ballhawks now and all markets will be open again soon. Can't Wait! Rich

Cant think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than having a cold one and chatting helmets and collecting. Hope you all are well. Would love to see more collections being post! Cheers! The Afrika Rat

I've added another M27 to the collection. This one I am very happy to have as it has nearly all of its Black/Green paint. Sadly the liner has seen better days.

Here are some pictures I took last summer, going over some bits and pieces of fieldgear from my collection. This time it was bayonets and entrenching tools, that got a good going over by cleaning dust and oiling and preservation. The prices on these things have literally gone trough the roof in the later years, unfortinently. Buying one of these from a militaria vendour today is no fun at all, as it will set you back several hundred Euros Luckily, these do still show up from time to time here in Norway for a price that I can afford. Most of these I bought in the 90's .

Started picking at mine too. Now my beloved puss cat died,i can sort new flooring and carpets. She was 22 and things were getting grim.... It was puppy-pad central towards the end. Still miss the mogg,but it was her time i think.

everything today is over priced. most think they have stuff that is worth a small fortune and in their mind think it is rear. sure ww1 German helmets are a scarce item and to find/get one all original and complete is hard to find but, the old saying is if you want it you will pay for it. why settle for a rusted junk shell? look and wait- things come if you are willing to wait.

Good christ, I never knew the MCN was reborn! I was a member on the old forum (forgot my username it was that long ago), sold my collection off and moved abroad, came back ten years later and found deac's are... more deacted (deeply upset) and everything is about a million times the price it once was (bank manager soon to be deeply upset). Oh, Bren Mk1. Oh, old spec Webley MkIV. Oh, SMLE No.1 AND No.4 who both cocked and dry fired... I'll never see another like you. Ahem. Anyway. Nice to meet you all, merry christmas, and does anyone know of any Mills Bombs going cheap?

And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours Richard, and also to all the forum members.

Guys, as stated above! €1.90 well spent! Best Rich

Spamming should be sorted now....

Here's a video I made at the RAF Museum Cosford. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, I need all the help I can get.

Guys, this is only my second one and without the internet only the 3rd one I have seen. Striking cover! With the eagle and the gold motive. 32 page book. Rich

Sure most of you already know about Mark Felton too.

Norrie, I cannot block him, Lenny is the only one who can, I can remove his post and Flag him, but he will come back, what I would like to do is string him up by his gonads

Well after having a chat with a few members, they have convinced me to stay, so I am back if thats ok with you guys, as a mod you have to try and keep the peace which I hope I have done over the years and I think I have been fair when dealing with members and I have rarely had to issue warnings, so a new start, a new me and lets get on with posting

Thanks both. We hope to do a bit of off the radar exploration. On a visit to the Somme Battlefields we came across an old Luftwaffe airfield and found some underground bunkers. Very interesting.

Just bought this Ishapore Made Bayo, dated March 1943, c/w frog..........sorry about the pics, they were the sellers.... Looking forward to its arrival...

Cheers Richard I was there buddy but a PMC for the US DoD so our kit is unknown to me, I’m doing a couple of mannequins so want to get them right as I’ll be doing fundraising for Combat Stress. Much appreciated 🙏🏻👍🇬🇧.

The ex Fred Karnos Army here from the early days of this forum. Been off grid for a couple of years mental health and physical health wise and now pretty much housebound with ME and a spinal tumour. Anyway could be worse...... 🧿 I’ll try and catch up on here but can’t promise I’ll be as active as before for obvious reasons. Paul

Hi all, I would like to tell you about an item that I no longer have,, Many years ago when I was about 15 years old, I walked into a junk shop that was local in Tottenham in London, I was looking around and there in a corner was a long bamboo shaft, on the top of which there was a rusty curved blade, This bamboo shaft had mother or pearl parts all the way down to the base where a metal like finial was attached, I payed a very cheap price for it about 7 pounds, I later found out that it was Japanese. I kept this thing for many years, until someone stole it at a fair where I had taken it to show it of along with some other items, Before it was nicked one of the guys at the fair told me that it was a very rare item, and its age dated back to 200 years, I was over the moon, as it was estimated at about a grand, and to me that was a fortune, I dont to this day know what it was called is there anyone who would know , or has anyone seen one before, It has been bugging me for years, cheers Dave

Here is a nice little gadget i came across in my local area a couple of years ago. It's a British Mark one Magnetic moored mine. This mine is part of a minefield that the british placed here on the 8.th of April 1940 (The day before the German invasion of Norway in 1940) This was actually a breach of Norway's neutrality by the British, as they placed mines in the middle of norwegian civillian sea-lanes. The mine is placed up-side-down, as the Mooring mechanism would be facing down in the water By the way, this example is empty and does not contain any dangerous substances. The magnetic mine had a rather ingenious trigger mechanism. In a easy and understandeble explanation, It had an elecric coil that would detect the signature of a large metal hull (boat or ship) that was passing by, and if close enough it would generate a low electric current, wich would set of the detonators and the main charge. The main charges on these mines consisted of a barrel containing 280 pounds (127 Kg) Amatol - wich is a mixture of TNT and Ammonium nitrate, wich would provide a huge detonating effect when set off. These mines were known to detach themselves from the anchor after some time, and would be washed ashore. The good news with these mines, is that the Mooring mechanism had a very good safety function. If the wire was to break, and the mine lost the tension on the wire from the anchor, a strong springloaded mechanism would disarm the mine, preventing it from detonating. Anyway, these mines were placed in the middle of shipping lanes in Vestfjorden. The minefield is marked on the map here: In the upper part of the map you see Narvik. And on this I have marked with a small red dot, where I live. Only a few hundred meters from where the minefield started: The anchoring mechanism on these mines, were alo a brilliant mechanical patent. Anyway, my example is standing up-side-down as you can see. The top lid is unfortinently missing. I am looking for a top lid to complete the hull of this mine, so if anyone know where I can find one of these, i would be very interested Best Regards Björn

Nice grouping indeed. Here's a picture of a female RBD employee during the war. I think her armpatch say RBD Stuttgart

Hi Tony, I was up in the loft a while back and found one similar to to one you have but mine has the markings for the Hitler Youth, I found this helmet in the basement of Detmold Barracks, Germany, many years ago, when i was but a mear lad of 14 , I was being nosey and exploring around, as we were Army Cadets , There was also a very badly rip up German uniform but it was far to gone to save, that was in a corner near the rear of one of the Boilers, I dont why no one had ever pick up the helmet before, it had no liner, but it still had the pins , in front and rear, later I added a proper liner and used the very same pins, I had almost forgot that I had it, thats what age will do to you

Guys, as stated above! Rich

Or it may be an item... The '538' is the month and year of issue, 5/38 or May of 1938, the RADBA M/L is the Reichs Arbeits Dienst Bekleidungsamt Marburg/ Lahn ( RADAB is the issuance quality control depot) and the A.D. Abt of 6/334 is Arbeitsgau XXXIII Alpenland, Gruppe 334 Salzburg, Abt 6/334 Neumarkt 1938. I look forward to what we can sort out.. G

Late to the party, but here's my 'Blitzlicht' bomb. Not in quite such good condition having gone off. I've read they were used when taking night-time reconnaissance photos. When they went off, they apparently produced 60,000,000 candle power for 5 seconds. No wonder there's no paint left on it! Quite a firework!

Sorry to say, but i think this is a fake, the whole thing is wrong, The wings are all over the place, half done, plus being a naval item theres no M which being naval it shourd have. As for when it was made German items were being faked as early as late 1945-46 and ever since

Guys, Just found a picture of me back then, it is a bit the worse for ware due to dampness as I have never looked after my stuff. One forgets that as we get older we are too a part of history! Rich

Some of my 15mm or 1/100 scale WW1 miniatures I have recently completed. I also made the ground work and structures.

Hi there, A lot of our members use our Facebook page, and that's ok. It's convenient and handy on your phone, but I made a commitment to keep running our web forum, in the same way we started in 1998. I intend to keep doing that. However, software licence fees and hosting costs mount up, around £395 or so per year to keep the forum running. I do this because I love this hobby and am passionate about sharing knowledge. It would be really good if you could help by donating towards the costs of the forum, even the price of a cup of coffee will help. It's not mandatory but would be gratefully received. If the MCN has helped you or saved you from buying a fake or overpriced item, or if you just appreciate what we can do, please help support the forum. You can donate here... https://www.militariacollectors.network/donations/donate-to-the-mcn-2020/ Regards, Lenny