Help me make this more Irvin-esque!!!

[fishmeok]

Through the good offices of another forum member I have in my possesion a modern civilian Irvin-esque jacket. I'm planning to make it look more authentic (remove the hand pockets for one) but input from you guys-
Right now I'm thinking late war multi-panel. What version does it most resemble? It has Clix zippers with mongo pullers, but I will probably leave those alone.

 

[zoomer]

Won't you have slits left when the pockets are gone? What could you do short of replacing the front panels?

Can anything be done about the phoney-baloney distressed finish?

When you're done, can I hire you to build me a B-2?

 

[atkins]

I wish i could help Mark. Good luck!

 

[rich]

Hi Mark, with the absence of many panels, IMO it would match a pre-war jacket most closely. There's one currently
on ebay, with some quite good detail shots.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IRVIN-BATTLE-BRIT ... 821wt_1113

I imagine you could buy a more authentic buckle from Aero Scotland, and Eastman's will sell an elastic collar strap if you ask, depends how far you want to go I guess. What a lot of repros seem to suffer from is a non tapering arm, if you
could narrow the cuff that might be a good, but I have no idea how difficult that would be.

Good luck with it, be interested to see the end result!

 

[John Lever]

This is what Rich means -

The top one is Aero the bottom Eastman.

 

[philip.ed]

Or, if you want to be a bit more unusual, some jackets from the pre-war era had 'extra' seam (probably because they were made from the end of a sheepskin run)
here's my one on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RAF-IRVIN-Flying- ... 9040848014

sorry, shameless plug :mrgreen:

 

[Roughwear]

Just add an Aviation Leather Craft label and it becomes "the one and true Irvin". :lol: :lol:

Seriously Mark you can sew up the pockets and cover them with angled seam tapes as on some late war jackets. The positioning of the sleeve zips and sleeve seam tapes are wrong as has already been pointed out. Is it really worth all the effort when you can still buy a restorable original relatively cheaply on Ebay?

 

[fishmeok]

This is just a fun project, something to do when I want to walk away from other jackets for a while (I'm one of those guys who has to be doing something, even to relax. I like to be PRODUCTIVE... :roll: ). Also gives me an excuse to learn more about Irvins- I didn't know much about B-6's and B-3's until I fixed up a couple USAuth jackets, now I have a pretty good grip on the subject.

Sewing on tape and covering the hand pockets is maybe an hours worth of work, tops. Not much I can do about zip positioning though, especially on the arms. Don't know that I will be able to taper the sleeve ends, will have to look, the sleeves are pretty narrow as it is.

Thanks for the advice
Mark

 

[Tim P]

Can you do type A-5 pants? I can provide all the zips, braces and hardware.... not prepared to pay US Wings prices.. plus import duty. :cry:

 

[fishmeok]

I can't make a shearling jacket (or pants)- don't have the correct machines, all I can do is mess around with them...
Cheers
Mark

 

[Tim P]

worth asking though..
I agree with Andrew re the diagonal seams across the holes left by the pockets.