AQUILA'S SS HEAVY WINTER SUITS V.1.1

revised edition) Osprey asked illustrator Jeffrey Burn to depict the warmer version of the Parks/overtrousers kit, featuring a largefur-lined hood. That version was presumably issued to special troops, among which the SS units. Grapically, EA's german MODEL did ONCE AGAIN prevented me from rendering the paddy shape of that special outfit. However, I chose the "fur-lined hood" version because it gave me the opportunity to bypass the Shoulder tabs and collar features, which are usually absent from Winter equipment, by giving them the same furry feel than hood-lining. They still show, when one looks closer, but the overall impression is great and faithful to the original "feel". B) SUSPENDERS WERE REMOVED A personal choice: most of the wartime pictures show no suspenders OVER the parka. On one of the pictures I included with this set, you can clearly see a german trooper wearing his belt, which is great news: it allows us to save it ( I am in love with the SS belt buckle *LOL*) so the cartridge pouches won't look like they were sewn right on the parka! :) C) THE FRONT BUTTONS Another dilemma: The official record says the suit was issued with 6 front buttons: Osprey shows 4 of them while some wartime pictures shows none! I decided to go for the 6 buttons version, with 5 showing above and 1 being located a few inches below the belt buckle. D) MUD STAINS OK, immaculate suits would sure look great under the sun, but let's be realistic: who could expect to spend days and nights laying down in the melting snow, kneeling in mud spots and running through a pine forest without any apparent flaws? Those killers were not bringing back their suit to mommy each night asking "please use SHOUT and TIDE to make it look like new again; I need it back in two hours"!!! So I thought mud stains would be enhancing the overall look... Am I right? E) TROUSERS Once again, I got a BIG headache while attempting to render the trousers properly: hope you will excuse me for that "average" result. Let's email EA asking them to include 3 versions for the Germun_r.dds file!!! One vith paddy pants, one with gaiters, one with the current setting ( Shorts would look great for Afrika Korp and Desert rats though!). It is actually nearly impossible to obtain a satisfying result when skinning pants for LATE WAR german troops... F) GERMAN RED CROSS As I located the correct shields for the medic stahlhelm I suddenly faced a dilemma: wich side to choose? The Eagle shield looked great, but the RED CROSS on it was rather discreet... On the other hand, the RED CROSS shield with a swastika in the center was a little dull... Let's face it: all SS skins designers (including myself) almost automatically choose to display the SS shield rather than it's opposite (swastika). The same goes for the Whermacht soldiers who, 9 times out of 10, are featuring the EAGLE SHIELD (instead of the national black-white-red decal). This time, I took the liberty to mix both sides to create a shield that shows both the Red Cross and the Eagle... I'm sticking to that solution unless you fellows ask me not to do so. UPGRADES: 1) ARMBANDS Whith no ranks or patches specialty patches, all the soldiers wearing the white camo suit were looking quite the same. The German Hauptquartier issued a serie of colorful narrow armbands that were therefore an equivalent of "tactical marks" for the winter suit. It was mainly used to identify a unit, with the color changing nearly daily, to confuse the ennemy. The armband(s) was (were) tied to the upper part of the sleeve(s) by a button already fixed on the coat itself. EA's models being what they are, it was impossible to use only one armband, as suggested by few wartime photographs and by the re-enactemnt picture dipayed in the JPEG file titled "doc.jpg" (included along with my DDS files in the current ZIP). However, a sketch fom a 1943 nazi uniform catalog suggest that 2 armbands were also used in some occasions. The Version 1.1 includes soldiers wearing such a (green) armban on EACH sleeve. 2) WHITE HELMET COVERS * NEW white helmet covers (for scouts) are offered here in a realistic way. You can see the side clips among many other details. Hope you enjoy! 3) FELT BOOTS (GAITERS) Felt boots OR felt gaiters were distributed to some of the Eastern Front soldiers for their obvious "insulating" properties. The two large leather patches on the back of the version 1.1 are in fact reinforcement straps. 4) HOBNAILS Hobnails (heels) will be featured on each of my "German" work to come. It is therefore to be considered as a "standard" feature. 5) THE PARKA On Version 1.0, I wrongly represented the parka as it would be left-buttoned: it as now been corrected. Extra dirt and sewing lines were added for more realism. 6) HEAD WRAPPING * As shown on wartime archives, soldiers were wrapping long (feldgrau, white or even black) scarves around their face to mainly protect themselve against cold weather. It is therefore correctly displayed in the actual skin. 7) WHITE MITTS* I know it is becoming quite repetitive, but we can once again put the blame on EA if we are unable to produce MITTS rather than gloves. White gloves are therefore the only actual solution. 8) "FROSTY" FACES! Well, a little fantasy that turned out to produce very good results: Who the heck could be spending days and days at minus 25o with no side effects? Those "alte kameraden" are no exceptions, and I consequently decided to put a light touch of red on their cheeks, nose and forehead to add some realism to the scene. [/quote]
[quote]MY VERSION OF THE WINTER SUIT for BATTLEFIELD 1942 __________________________________________________ A) FUR-LINED HOOD In #34 of their "Men at arms" serie (The Waffen SS, 1987