Historiker

Here are a couple of videos of my R-71 in action… MP-40 stowed in the sidecar, gas on, each carb tickled, ignition on and kick to start…

… up the road… reverse gear and return…

…up the road and back…

I just got my copy of Deutsche Soldaten : The Uniforms, Equipment and Personal Effects of the German 1935-1945 by Agustin Sainz. Wow, I can’t put this one down. A must have for the German reenactor!

Now this a was to wow the crowd at a reenactment!

I recently came across some new equipment… all I can say is wow! This guy makes some really fine - hard to tell from the original - way cool stuff!

The company is Kriegsende Militaria and they make a few very hard to find, but necessary items. First off was replica batteries for my field telephones… the Element d (T30) are a great looking copy of the real thing.

The rifle grenade or Gewehr Spreng Granat 30 are great copies of the real thing, right down to the metal plate embedded in the bakelite for launching! Now all I have to do is find a launcher attachment.

I was having a hard time fabricating detonators Nr. 8 sprengkapseln of the correct type for my replica shu mines… These are close to the real thing and all I have to do is fab the trip mechanism and I’ll have some really great examples to display at events. I can’t wait for the boxes!

Hauled the new moto back home yesterday, did a little riding around the neighborhood. Lots of little odds and ends to adjust but so far it’s a really sweet ride. Lots of fun!

Well I’m no longer the footslogging jager… I’ve purchased a motorcycle sidecar rig. Looking forward to much fun and of course mechanical work too… more as the story develops…

I picked up a couple of cartridge boxes from Bunker Militaria (they have great stuff!) They will give me a place to store stuff at shows (a good place to hide the non-period soft drinks!) and add some extra period realism to my camp site.

One of the nastier surprises used by the German forces in the latter part of the war was the shu mine. It was a small wooden box containing enough explosive to kill or horribly maim a soldier. Being made of mostly organic material with only a small amount of non-ferrous metal in the fuse they were virtually undetectable by existing mine detection gear.

I found a great source making replicas of these historical artifacts. They look just like the real thing! Next reenactment will be even closer to the real thing…

Some further information on German WWII mines can be found here…

Well I finally got my zelt tent skirt tacked together. Lots of sewing yet to do but it is done enough to hold together and to give me some idea of how it will look  and work. I like the results, make the tent much roomier inside! No more crawling into the tent! I no have room to store and protect my gear a bi while at reenactments too. Definitely need a place to cache the expensive gear out of sight!

Looking good…