TK6237

Thanks for posting up these pics, Rolf! I´m gonna start building my first pack this weekend, so I´m saving these for future reference. Think I´ll be using strips as well, should make it easier to break it down for transportation and storage. One question: How do join the two halves for the main boxes? Do you just glue them together along the edges?

I was expecting it to be good, but that right there exceeds my expectations by a considerable margin. Simply amazing! One question: Any chance the drum mags and/or scopes will be made removable, to make for easier transportation?

Brian pops up on page 84 (as "brianian"), and starts his lecture in the last post on page 87. Great read, thanks for the tip! To get back on topic again: I´m amazed at the level of detail you guys are able to pick up from the screen shots! Indeed the flaps on the pouches do look more rounded than on the Stollas. It seems kinda strange to me that the LFL prop department would bother with trimming the ends of the flaps; Perhaps a vintage Stolla was already a rare find back then...Seems more sensible to me that they would choose to make them themselves. Either that, or the pouches are of a make not yet identified. Either way, I can´t wait to see the end result! I´d definitely be in for one!

Hooray! That´s my favorite TD gun, along with the T-21...Can´t wait to see the final result!

...Gah?

The Norwegian MP38/40 pouches really aren´t that hard to find, and if you´re lucky, you can get them at about $30 - $40 USD a pair (one with 3 pouches, one with the extra tool pouch). You can also find fairly decent repro canvas Schmeisser pouches at around the same price on the ´Bay, and quite regularly. A set of Stolla Wien, however, are much harder to come by, and if you can find a vintage set, they are really expensive. Those, along with the small squarish pouches that the squad leader with the T-21 (and others) is wearing, seems to be the hardest ones to find. But I guess the Stolla Wien are more iconic, and therefor would be more popular. That´s why I´ll cast my vote for these. A third alternative could be a leather version of the Schmeisser pouches...Did the experts really ever decide whether or not these were actually made from canvas?

They don´t make them anymore, but a few of them are still up for sale. The price is pretty steep, though - $3650.00 USD: http://www.wwiiguns.com/shop/products.php?p=2663df I don´t know what the going rates are for a demilled MG34 nowadays, but a quick Google search resulted in a couple of auctions where the price seemed to be around $3000 USD, depending on it´s condition.

Thank you so much Jay, PM replied to! Rolf, I´d love a close up of the stock, showing how you fastened the swivel. I think I understand now how you did it, but still, a picture is worth a thousand words and all that... ...Hahaha! A real nut indeed!

Don´t know how I managed to miss your last post, but anyway...The real problem is, I got a Hyperfirm Lewis Gun, and I don´t really know how to fasten the swivel to the stock without damaging anything. I don´t know if the rubber is sturdy enough to hold a screw, or if it would just sort of work it´s way out, taking a good chunk of the Hyperfirm stuff with it. Still, I actually haven´t managed to find a swivel big enough for the Enfield sling, so if you still have one for sale, I´d love to buy it!

Dunno if you guys have done something new, but suddenly the automatic log-in is working for me. Excellent! My logged in status still doesn´t carry over to FISD though...But then I´m still not sure it´s supposed to do that. EDIT: Now my logged-in status carries over to FISD as well! Woohoo!

No Jorgs, but two Joergs: http://www.501st.de/mitglieder.php?mode=listall ...One of them, ID#3172, looks to be a TD as well, if that´s any help.

That looks brilliant! It looks to me like the end around the muzzle should maybe be wrapped the other way around, if you see what I mean. Other than that, it looks just perfect! Got my slings yesterday, but I need to find a way to affix a sling swivel to the stock. I´ve got a HF T-21, which has what I think is the ´stem´ for a sling swivel attachment on the stock, but not the swivel itself. Now I gotta figure out how to fasten a D-ring to that ´stem´, without messing it up, or having the sling putting too much pressure on the HF ´stem´, so it´ll break off. TD-252, didn´t you figure out a way to do this? You wouldn´t happen to have a close up picture of how you did it, would you? You did try to explain it to me once, but I don´t think I really got it...

Well, the login itself works fine, on all the detachment sites I´ve tried so far, but my, um, logged in status doesn´t carry over to the FISD, BS.net or CT.net...I do need to log in to each of the different sites. But then, I don´t know if the login it´s supposed to carry over. Is it? What a wonderful world that would be!

The Ebay auction is still on, my link got screwed up for some reason...Here you go: http://cgi.ebay.com/Enfield-Rifle-Slings-3...p3286.m20.l1116 ...Looks like they still got plenty of slings left, 20 pieces last I checked!

I think I wanna try fixing them together with just the C-ring first, as in this picture: ...The way the strap sort of sags, where it´s wrapped around the muzzle, suggests to me this was the way they did it. It would be a lot easier for the prop makers to do it this way too, rather than sowing them up, or adding snaps or rivets. But I´ll have to try it out first, to see how it looks. I think my slings are due to arrive some time this week, hopefully in time for the Clone Wars premiere next weekend! If you wanted to do one sling olive green, one brown, I guess you could bleach one of them really carefully, just to get some of the green color out of it, and then dye it with tea or coffee, or something like that? Looking forward to seeing your pics, Trooper1! @TD-252: If you wanna buy a couple of these, check out the last Ebay link I posted: Ebay Enfield Slings ...Cheapest source for these straps I´ve found yet. They showed up after I´ve bought mine, naturally, for a lot more...They look to be brand new replicas, though, so they won´t have the natural weathering from wear and tear like the used, vintage slings will have.

Well spotted - the one sling fastened around the muzzle do look more light brown than olive in some of the pictures. The exception would be the behind-the-scenes one, where it clearly looks green. On the rest of the pictures, it looks like they used one light brown, one olive green. Chasing after these slings, I found that they come in a variety of colors; olive green, light brown/sand, dark green and (painted) white. The olive green and light brown seem to be the ones referred to as "British", while the dark green is often described as either issued for jungle warfare or Canadian. The Canadian ones, however, doesn´t have the brass fittings, but steel ones painted black. The white ones are for parade purposes. I´d say it´s most likely that the prop department just dug their hand into a bucket of Enfield straps, grabbed a couple and slapped them on...The interesting part is seeing that there might have been two T-21s made; one with an all olive green strap, one with the olive green/light brown combo. Anyway, I think both should be accepted as screen accurate. While I´m waiting for my own slings to arrive: How does it look? Is it possible to arrange them the way I suggested? And do they appear to be the right length?

Better late than never, right?

Naturally, a couple of days after I order two slings from Australia at AUS $19 a piece, plus AUS $18 shipping, these pop up on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Enfield-Rifle-Slings-3...p3286.m20.l1116 ...At USD $9.95 a piece, plus USD $13.90 shipping. To Norway, that is. Inside US is probably a lot cheaper. He´s got 20 of them, so get´em while they´re hot! EDIT: Actually, it looks like he´s got two auctions going with 20 slings in each, making it 40 slings total right now. Yup.

What a great idea to use a back brace! I´m using just a nylon webbing belt, and it digs into my love handles something fierce...I gotta go back brace shopping. Thanks for the tip!

@Caomhanach: Quite surprisingly, it does. I was expecting at least some dissent...We´ll see, once somebody actually gets a couple of Enfield slings and attempts to recreate the look, if it´s doable and looks right. But thanks again! What I really like about this mod, is that it´s actually quite easy and fairly cheap. For you guys in the US, and everybody else with easier access to the Enfield straps than I have, it shouldn´t costs you more than about $25-$30. Also, you don´t really need any skills to do it, and I bet it won´t take any longer then about 5 minutes to complete. I, on the other hand, spent weeks trying to find the right kind of straps and buckles, going to pet shops and clothing stores, searching for something with which to recreate what I saw in the pictures, blowing off a lot more than $30 on canvas and nylon straps, studs and buckles and brass paint. So in this case, the (hopefully) screen accurate choice is actually the reasonably cheap and easy way to go. Now you can just buy the two slings, wrap´em round you gun, and viola. @TD-252: Thanks bud! Gotta shape up, now that I have a TM coming you know!

Happy to be of service! I´ve been feeding off of other people´s research, documented on these and other detachment boards since before I became a member of the 501st, so it feels great being able to give something back for a change - even though is just a sling... And I´m not even totally convinced I´m right. Although I think the pictures are pretty convincing, I need to get the slings and try it out for myself. Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated!

Hehe...Naw, I´m just slow! Shipping from Australia to Norway turned out to be AUD 18 for two slings. I can live with that. Unless I find something cheaper, and soon, I´m gonna order mine from the good people at Lawrence Ordnance.

Thanks! Found another online store, located in Australia: http://www.lawranceordnance.com/lawrance-o...s-military.html ...Just sent them an email asking for a shipping quote on their "British Pattern 1908 Sling".

Thanks guys, It´s really just a small detail you know, but I´ve been banging my head against this for a couple of months now. Finding the page where they show you how to attach the Enfield sling felt really good...I had my suspicions, but I though "Naw, that wouldn´t work", so to finally get it confirmed that you at least could do it this way, was one of those happy moments for me. There are quite a few slings up on Ebay, but they are either too expensive (I´m looking for the cheap unissued/copies, usually around $10, not the real deal, like well kept, stamped vintage ones going for up to $30 and more), out of stock or they don´t ship overseas. Or they´re the wrong color - they have them in sand color, white and dark green, and then there´s the Canadian ones with black metal fittings instead of brass... For you guys in Canada and the US, these are the cheapest ones I´ve found so far: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=213662 ...Same store, only on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Used-Enfield-WWII-Ca...2358&sr=8-2 They don´t ship overseas, though, so my search continues. Naturally, back when I first though of this, Ebay was full of these suckers. Now I order two from www.ima-usa.com, the sandtrooper´s best friend, only to get an email saying they´re sold out. Bugger. @Illinois: Yup, those are the ones.

Great work, Rolf! What color have you used for the one blueish gray main box and the bottles?