Whats the best site for South Vietnamese and Cambodian army stuff

[hochiminhtrail]

Patrick,

as promised i bought a fake patch back from Saigon for educational purpose, it cost me 2 dollars and i think it s a well known copy allready, i was looking for something that might be of some kind of interest to you.

I skiped the investement of 20 Dollars for a fake beret because they look terrible. They would fool nobody not even me, i even saw a couple of German Bundeswehr red berets with an Arvn insignias.

Cheers

Alex

[hochiminhtrail]

back

[Patrick Dempsey]

Hi Alex,

great Police photo!

Thanks for the images of the patch you bought, always good to see what is being produced for sale.

Well worth filing away for reference.

I am quite fascinated with the (attempted) artificial ageing on the patch.

Thanks for posting!


Patrick.

[nguoi tien su]

Patrick, Alex,

As far as now, no repro of the peak caps.
Back in 2001, 2002, it was very easy to find VNAF peak caps (NCO, basic officer). A big lot had been sold (by the army???) to one dealer. Unfortunately, at the time I was not interested... Now they are very scarce...

My police cap as only a size in it. I think those were made in Japan. I remember one of the box was labelled with a US contract in Japan dated 71. I will sell one next time I go back home.
I have an ARVN model with the same label in it. (see below at Dalat in Feb 1975, and note the French military attache)



photo credit : http://www.vnafmamn.com/ a wonderful source, beware, you must have your sunglasses on !

From the informations I have gathered, those with labels different than just the size are tailor made.

This one is from a school :

It has a SGN tailor label. Sorry I can't post a photo now...

As for the process of ageing the patches, they often use coffee... I'll post a pic tonight.

NTS

[hochiminhtrail]

well i was blended

great pictures on that site.

Alex

[nguoi tien su]

That is the decoction used to darken the patches....



Then they dry directly in the street. Sometimes there are about 1000 patches sunbathing...

And here is a lovely bag with very nicely done fringes for the mighty battle flags...

[hochiminhtrail]

as long money can be made the Viertnamese fakers are the same as the germans, poles, latvian ect....

But dont forget we have our own spy in Saigon now ( thank you NTS )

NTS you have just been recruited by WA, section International militaria, group South East Asia Studies

Unfortunatly we can not pay you, all expanses are on you, and we await weekly reports.


Cheers

Alex

[Patrick Dempsey]

Another fine cap!

Very interesting to read the details of the large amount of peaked caps being sold...i wonder where they went?

They do not surface for sale with any regularity at all,they must still be buried away in collections.

Intriguing.

My cap is marked to a Saigon tailor called "Than-Phat",with the typical period foil label complete with the telephone number!

Pictures to follow on the weekend.

Thanks for the insights into the fakers,not dissimilar to European faking methods really.

C'est la vie....

Patrick.

PS. Superb period photo you posted, a great many details to pore over. I wonder if the eldest French officer served in the region 20+ years earlier....?

[hochiminhtrail]

NTS

this is for you as i know you love VNAF & US advisors " US ADVISORY GROUP TAN SON NHUT AB"

Cheers

Alex

[hochiminhtrail]

you see the USAF Captain wearing his Vietnamese medal, must be after an award ceremony.

Alex

[Patrick Dempsey]

The pocket hangers and Vietnamese rank tabs are very nice.


Patrick.

[nguoi tien su]

Thanks so much Alex !!! You know this is my favorite topic !!! Do you have the date of the pic?



I am gathering as many info as possible, equipements and uniforms as well in order to write an article on this subject.

Thanks again !

NTS

[hochiminhtrail]

yes it shoud be a tour between 70 & 71

cheers

Alex

[Dave Danner]

I haven't followed the entire thread, but hopefully I can add a few things that haven't been seen yet.

Here are some photos of ARVN paras:





And a set of bullion wings that I was under the impression might be Thai-made, but I really don't know:

[Patrick Dempsey]

Hello Dave,

the pictures are indeed new and very welcome.

The wings do look very much like Thai manufacture,the style of bullion particularly.

They are very reminiscent of the construction style used on Thai PARU wings.




Patrick.