Afrika Korps tunic, opinionds needed.

[NCO]

Its not uncommon to see NCO boards on tunics without tress on the collar. would need to see better pics of the boards to know if they are good. Matt

Matt, agreed,,, I was only thinking if the insignia was post was added as stated you wouldn't go down the path of nco shoulder boards if there was no trace of tress on the collar.
I would probably stick to an OR's restoration.
cheers
nco

[afrikasandman]

A very good point, im surprised they didn't add the NCO tress to the tunic to be honest. Matt

[nippo]

Id say the base tunic is fine, the insignia appears to be real but its all added post war. That eagle is way too late to have been on that tunic, the skulls appear to be added as the tunic is faded all the way through evenly. The wear doesn't match the Afrikakorps cuff.... Matt

I don't understand the phrase in red
Are there differents type of tropical eagles like the normal army eagles?

[afrikasandman]

I don't understand the phrase in red
Are there differents type of tropical eagles like the normal army eagles?

An older thread, but yes there are differences. The early tunics had an eagle that was done on cotton and the later examples are on rayon. There are also different sized eagles with the earlier ones being larger than the later ones. I have never seen a smaller sized one in cotton but I have seen and owned the differnet sized ones in Rayon. They are not much smaller but it is noticable. Matt

[jacquesf]

An older thread, but yes there are differences. The early tunics had an eagle that was done on cotton and the later examples are on rayon. There are also different sized eagles with the earlier ones being larger than the later ones. I have never seen a smaller sized one in cotton but I have seen and owned the differnet sized ones in Rayon. They are not much smaller but it is noticable. Matt

Thanx Matt, now I have learned something, I was not aware off. J

[afrikasandman]

J,

I don't know if it was just a specific maker or what but I believe NzMark has one of each (larger and smaller rayon one) that are loose, but don't quote me on it. Also since I am being questioned a bit about the eagles: 1st one is a early one on cotton and the second is a Rayon example. That said there are two different sized Rayon ones but you need them side by side to see the difference in size. I think its likely a specific maker but who knows. Matt

[nippo]

Thanks for your answer Matt

[afrikasandman]

No problem, always happy to assist. Matt

[NZMark]

Matt,
Correct. Here's a photo or two to compare the breast eagles wingspans (ignoring the cap eagle at the bottom of the first photo). This is not due to 'shrinkage', they are indeed quite different in size.
Regards,
Mark
NZ

[afrikasandman]

Mark,

thanks for posting and hope you are doing well. Matt

[jacquesf]

Very informative, thanx. J

[don_kihotis7]

Nice tunic.
Regarding the different sizes of the eagles, here is another picture that shows the difference.
Note the ghosting on this sun faded tunic which i restored with a latter production eagle.

[Italo Balbo]

The tunic itself it's an original stripped one with insigna added,including the cuff title and the skulls.The brown buttons come from a LW tropical tunic IMO!
Best Regards

[Mark Gibson]

The tunic itself it's an original stripped one with insigna added,including the cuff title and the skulls.The brown buttons come from a LW tropical tunic IMO!
Best Regards

Agree with the majority of what you have said but the buttons are merely painted Heer buttons original to the tunic, not Luftwaffe examples.

Mark

[Tim O'Keefe]

Agree with Mark,

& the AKCT is a fake...

Great info on the different variations on the eagle size as well