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Soldier of Fortune aviators kit bag AN-6505-1

Greg Gale

Well-Known Member
Any suggestions for cool zipper pullers for my bag? I don't like dice, and a whistle would be too big.
 

Earloffunk

Well-Known Member
Escape whistle, leather pulls (see picture), dog tag, bomb safety pin


FD850DBF-FDFD-455A-977C-65969393292E.jpeg
 

Greg Gale

Well-Known Member
Thanks! Any good sources for safety pins?I see Aero has some nice ones, but with the shipping costs the price is higher than what I'd pay for a piece of metal.
 

Greg Gale

Well-Known Member
Aero's much cheaper :D

What would a fighter pilot have put on it? I was thinking of a .50 cal shell, but that's too big and heavy. I'll probably go with a leather tab.
 

Cocker

Well-Known Member
Would not be period correct... I could send you .45ACP or .30 Carbine shells, but I don't think this would go well through mail! :D
 

Earloffunk

Well-Known Member
Well, 9 Parabellum is period correct. And 9 Parabellum is 9x19. An empty shell should be no problem. The only thing is that Parabellum is from „the other side“...
 

Pilot

Well-Known Member
9D9A0630-0802-43BF-89FE-580017F3C44A.jpeg
80A47119-9E4A-4372-A4A7-39E08C591FAD.jpeg
A piece of Me 262 which crashed end of 1944 in the region of Strassburg ( France) . ( not the DeepSea...its just to see the size of the piece of alu.)
Maybe someone can carve something out of it....as a zipper puller...
 

Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
My theory (I used to make part of my living working with type): Since it's not a 3-D object or an insignia, they're not used to paying attention. If they had to do (say) exact embroidery label repops, they'd think differently. Unless they were Eastman.

Here are some examples that turn up in just a few minutes' GIS. Originally some bags were stenciled, some stamped. Were any silkscreened? Nowadays they are.

Originals - far right with Railway Express tag
View attachment 8227 View attachment 8228
View attachment 8230 View attachment 8234
High-end J-repro - stencil is dead-on
View attachment 8229

Other repros - very good to so-so (Eastman, center, could do better)
View attachment 8231 View attachment 8232 View attachment 8233

Soldier of Fortune - good bag, lousy stencil
(looks like the titles used on Happy Days)
View attachment 8238


This brings up the point about replicas, clones & future fraud.

How close do you want a bag, jacket etc to be ? It might satisfy you now but when you can't tell if something is real or not, the price dives through the floor.
Look at ditching whistles.......

Sefton Clothing makes great repro kit but Steve the artisan always makes sure there is at least one thing that tells others who know their onions the item is modern.

However, with German WW2 kit, it was made after the war in the same machines and of German metal and has been sold as genuine for decades.

Careful what you wish for ......
 
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