Fitting KM Shirt to a Mannequin!!!

[Trance_Eyes]

Hi Collectors,

Ok I have recently gone through a bit of a learning curve and wish to share it with the forum so others may have questions answered without having to go to too much head**** or expense.

I am in the midst of fitting my KM parade uniform (Grosse Uniform) to my mannequin. I encountered a rather large problem whislt doing this and will run through the information I aquired and the solution to the problem I faced.

Ok... I have a mannequin that looks a treat, It has the perfect look I wanted and I thought everyhting would be AOK until it came to fitting the shirt.

Shirt -

[Trance_Eyes]

Mannequin - Notice I have already cut the shoulders away in this picture BUT there was far more surgery to take place before there was a solution.

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So once I attempted to fit the shirt I came up with all sorts of dimension problems with the shirt vs mannequin. My inital response was that the shirt was too small. So I did some research from dealers with shirt sizes and measurements. This is what was supplied to me from one dealer.

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Once I had these measurements from more than one source and cross related them back to my shirt dimensions I realized that I indeed have the exact same size shirt and from opinions from other collectors it was the mannequin that needed attention. It has been said to me that KM shirts were made in approx three sizes and this can be assitained by the factory stamp with either a B.A.K or B.A.W - 1,2,3. With 3 being the largest. It should be noted that the size of the sailors in these days was quite thin and nimble.

Here is a few pics of my dilema -

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Another -

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And again -

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So here lay my dilema, I had a great looking mannequin with the exact feature I required but the shoulder and chest area were of too greater dimension. I now had to look at alternative options. I did some research through the search function on the WAF and came up with a great site that is dedicated to mannequins for military displays.

http://www.websterdisplays.com/fullmannequins.aspx

As you can see on this page the issue with fitting these shirts has been addressed long ago BUT unfortunately I live in Australia so importing such a mannequin would have cost a fortune, up to $1500 US quoted by Websters so it was back to the drawing board!!!

I looked locally in Aussie and found something that maybe suitable but I still loved the look of the mannequin I already had so I thought nothing ventured nothing gained and began to plan for modification.

I took to the mannequin with a grinder and cut the arms out and recessed them back into the mannequin shoulders just pop rivetting them back into place. I found this gave me the reduced shoulder width but unfortunately not enough still around the chest and back area so more surgery was required. I then cut out the shoulder blades and reduced the back by almost removing the side of the chest and back area entirely. I then compressed with thin metal plate and pop rivets what remained in the region to be a far more slim lined and then fortunately only just being able to slide the tapered KM shirt over the mannequin. I don't have any pics of my modifications but do have the final result which I am now most happy with. All mannequins will be different but this is just to highlight the issue and a potential solution as I spent a few sleepless nights worring over it and others in the future may learn from my experience. Anyhow after all the modifications here is how it looks in its glory!!!

[Trance_Eyes]

2.

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3.

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So this is how I over come such an issue and I'm now on my way to having the whole parade uniform professionally photographed. I hope this will help anyone with the same issue in the future and If you have any questions please don't hesitate to drop me a PM.

As always there are things to overcome but as I've discovered it can be done with just a little research and thinking.

Have a great day

Regards

Justin .C

[John Huff]

Wow...I can appreciate your problems having gone through them many times myself, The mannequin is the hardest part.... especially on those really hard-to-find scores....

[km-spain]

Well done Justin, looks very nice

[DonC]

I have done quite a bit of mannequin makeover surgery over the years myself - good job, Justin!

Don

[C.O.Sargent]

Yes it can be a real problem, suiteform or mannequin to big,shirt ,tunic to small.I found this to be a on going problem with panzer wrappers.

[Svante]

Yes it can be a real problem, suiteform or mannequin to big,shirt ,tunic to small.I found this to be a on going problem with panzer wrappers.

I recognice the problem.
I have to work like Jack the Ripper to put the shirt on a frigolite
torso. How small where some soldiers those days?

I think our genaration are giants compare to these guys.
You can also see caps in size 55 (I have seen 50) at which age
are your head (kopf)stop growing?
I think evulotion takes million of years, or....