Kriegsmarine Reenacting

[Dieter]

For KKM EM boards, go to Bill Bureau and see if he still has any in stock (they are spot-on repros). He also can procure KKM Visor Caps from Janke, as well. But you better hurry, as he's planning to retire from the business in the very near future.

[FFpt.Fritz]

well i found the gold eagles for a good price but im not willing to spend as much as bill wants even if the quality is awsome, i have a very very low budget.

[greatpolarbear]

Well, the one thing I must say as a Kriegsamrine reenactor is that it is the most expensive German impression to do as most items are not reproduced. Anyone doing a KM impression will spend above and beyond the normal amount to do one correctly. I will further state that I will not help anyone in this impression that does not start from the "bottom", and will not denigrate my impression because some reenactors wish to do KM "part of the time" or as something fun to do once in awhile. I support all of those units that will hold to discipline as far as rank and their own rules of merit.

Anyone without serious intentions about the KM, will do their own research and purchasing without help from the ONLY KM unit to successfully portray a KM unit for more than 4 years and continue to expand our membership regardless of the costs.

Arrogant this may seem, but we have 15+ members and have been able to function at more than 30 events doing our impression. So good luck to the independents. Please try not to shame the KM too much in your inadequate endeavours unless you really wish to do the impression correctly.

Either do the research and spend the money OR give it up. Simple enough.

Good luck,

Aarron S. v. Bortz
a.k.a.
Kasimir Leopold Otto Karl Fürst von Buxhöved
Leutnant der Marineartillerie
Kriegsmarine Küstenabteilung

[FFpt.Fritz]

Well, the one thing I must say as a Kriegsamrine reenactor is that it is the most expensive German impression to do as most items are not reproduced. Anyone doing a KM impression will spend above and beyond the normal amount to do one correctly. I will further state that I will not help anyone in this impression that does not start from the "bottom", and will not denigrate my impression because some reenactors wish to do KM "part of the time" or as something fun to do once in awhile. I support all of those units that will hold to discipline as far as rank and their own rules of merit.

Anyone without serious intentions about the KM, will do their own research and purchasing without help from the ONLY KM unit to successfully portray a KM unit for more than 4 years and continue to expand our membership regardless of the costs.

Arrogant this may seem, but we have 15+ members and have been able to function at more than 30 events doing our impression. So good luck to the independents. Please try not to shame the KM too much in your inadequate endeavours unless you really wish to do the impression correctly.

Either do the research and spend the money OR give it up. Simple enough.

Good luck,

Aarron S. v. Bortz
a.k.a.
Kasimir Leopold Otto Karl Fürst von Buxhöved
Leutnant der Marineartillerie
Kriegsmarine Küstenabteilung

well that deffently sounded alittle ignorant. so far ive come up with the eagle for a good price. good priced buttons, a great price on the m43 cap eagle a cockade, and was simply wanting to know the best collar tabs and shoulder boards im sure ill find em with time. so if you dont want to help me fine. just figured your group members and you are the most educated on the subject. but hey ill gusse ill start from scratch on me research and try not to, how did you put it oh ya "to shame the KM too much in my inadequate purchases" sorry i dont have as much money to spend on this subject as others. but starting from stratch i am more likly to mess up. i know in my sielent hunter 3 simmulation game flotillia, i would help new people in getting extras and learning new tactics for the game, in a way its the same thing. i almost dont have enoughf to get what i currently found and might have to go with heer to my dismay. if anyone else would like to help me out i would gladly apprieciate it.

ps. if you are getting on me for saying cheap in my other post i ment cheapest kriegsmarine unifrom

[Drew Maynard]

dude, that's a serious pair of cojones you're waving about there. really now, was that necessary?

so if someone wants to do it as a second impression you won't help them? wow. that should help the interest in that small percentage of the 2nd World War theatre you portray, grow.

Believe me, everyone starts at the beginning and we field a myriad of questions from new and old reenactors here, but that's not the way to lambaaste someone over their choice.

Help the guy out, you could have easily said 'this is one impression that cannot be done on the cheap, there are a variety of uniforms we use and they're not commonly available.'

That's a horribly elitist and poor attitude to shove about.

[Chris Carden]

Damn, I hope there are more ww2 german units in that area. I may be moving there soon and thats one unit I DONT want to join!

[FFpt.Fritz]

Well i hope more kriegsmarine units organize other than yours sir, that is a horrible way to recruite people by the way. I thought this forum was for reenactors to discuss and help other reenators by offering advice.

[pzrwest]

He was directed to the unit website and there are links there to the suppliers all he had to do is contact the suppliers but like was said KM stuff is expensive there aren't any short cuts. If there was a bigger demand for KM stuff the manufacturers would make it and the prices would come down. Take an example FJ helmets till there was a larger demand for the FJ helmets they were very expensive but as demand grew makers started to make them and the prices came down. Supply is dependant on demand. Look how the price of heer/ss uniforms have come down. Awhile ago unless you wanted to spend big bucks for a Janke, Sturm, or other top line uniform you were left with Swedish conversions. But since the "hobby" has grown things have come down and Swedish conversions are basically out.

[Drew Maynard]

so what. pzrwest, you make stuff your self instead of buying the real deal, so what's to defend here but a grossly misplaced bad attitude towards a new reenactor. every cuts corners on price if they can and get a equatable item. we all do it, we're all guilty of it.

that being said, there's absolutely no excuse for that kind of attitude. apologies would be expected in a situation like this, you would expect.

i direct people over and over to a sticky on the top of this section, but we still offer help to people again and again, same question, day in day out.

but we don't cop attitude and say 'well hey if you want to do xyz i'm not gonna help you, because you're 'tarnishing the image'.

it's out of line, and not only unwarranted, but, unaceptable. I don't see that expanding this hobby for the better, but for the worse.

'nuff said, i could go on and on.

[SeppCaesar]

This point of unhelpfulness is proven when I asked where he gets his insignia, I am in the US Navy, and I figured I'd make an impression of my current rate (Fleet Marine Force Corpsman) so I contacted this unit asking for help where to find the insignia, they told me if I wasn't in their unit then I wasn't worth helping, They didn't care that I was in the REAL Navy, serving our country, hoping to make an impression before I shipped out ot Iraq. I guess this shows how much they care about the people who fight for their right to reenact.

When I have a wounded Marine in my care with explotions going off around me I certainly won't say "I won't help you because you if you die you'll tarnish my image"

[FFpt.Fritz]

i went to your website and clicked on the links i also looked at many pictures, part of my "research" it helped out somewhat. like i said i know its expensive but i dont have the resorces to by top of the line, so i was going to go along the lines of making it myself. buying a heer visor instead of a premade coastal one and adding kriegsmarine insignia. sewing my own buttons, even coloring my own collar tab lines if i must. so i was simply asking the style in which i should follow. i see nothing wrong with that and feel i was rudly putdown for trying to do it myself and show intrest in this subjct. most units have pictures of everything you need and what it should look like. heer and ss units alike are very helpful when contacted (i havnt contacted lufftwafta so they probly are to), i think you all just want to be the only people out there doing kriegsmarine and i bet in 10 years with a recruitment method like that people will overtake you. all a large unit has to do is start a kriegsmarien division. i know this is more expensive and really i was just really thinking about since i already have everything i need for a heer impression. all i wanted is a alittle professional advice. it might turn out to be to expensive but i was going to find everything i could for a good price and order it at once. i might try it i might not i dont know yet. so far ive only spent $170. and i have

boots
m43 cap
m36 tunic
pants
belt
p38 holster
Heer Jr lt shoulder boards (might be of use)
enlisted boards (might be of use)
and Jr Lt. Heer collor tabs. (white)

found a visor on ebay for $10. even if its crap cant pass that up. and it doesnt look that bad.
buttons i found forget there price though wasnt much.
m43 eagle 2$ visor eagle $14 visor cockade 14$

cant find gold chest eagle.

so i was just wondering what im missing but if you dont want to help me fine

[greatpolarbear]

I guess should explain myself a little more clearly.

Firstly, as the leader of our unit I have had many people wanting to buy our items only in the interest of furthering their own impressions and interests. The items needed for these impressions are becoming very rare and more expensive month by month, even the East German naval items are becoming very expensive. I have spent several years compiling a reasonable inventory of gear and insignia that is not readily available. Hence, I am not willing to part with it to non-members and suggesting sources will only make the job of doing KM harder and more expensive for those committed to the service.

Secondly, I have read on this forum as well as others, that officer type impressions seen at events without reasonable units to command OR sufficent knowledge of their impression are highly frowned upon. Especially with new people trying to enact such impressions.

Therefore, I discourage such individuals that will do little but deplete the limited and expensive supply of rare items as well as show the public the wrong side of our hobby.

I would however, suggest the following advice for new KM personnel. First, to read more about the Kriegsmarine and about the items needed to perform the impression to its utmost although practical best. Secondly, never do officer,s impressions without either unit experience or hobby experience. Thirdly, don't do any impression without the commitment needed to do it well. A coastal officer impression done well will cost about $3000-4000 even with reproduction uniforms. There is more than one uniform and more than one uniform is needed. Hell, the collar tabs for the field grey officer's uniform are anywhere from $100-150 per pair and that is just for a decent set and the little emblems for the shoudlerbaords can be over $100 as well (They are not reproduced). So imagine putting together 2-3 uniforms.

So that is my take on it.

[pzrwest]

yes I made my shoulderboards as non are reproduced in my trade. Yes I made my own A-frame because I didn't like the look and the way the cheap ones were made. Yes I built my own radio unit because originals are out of sight and no one sells them so I bought the resin front. As for the breast eagle the only place I know of is Bill Bureau. There is no way to convert a heer visor to a coastal one. The band is wrong the beak is wrong shape is wrong. Litzen can't be converted because the main body is a different color to heer. So we are stuck with the expensive stuff. As for making a set of shoulderboards for the SeppCaesar I did offer to make him a set but didn't have the metal cyphers. When you concider the time to make a set of boards, then add the cost of a pair of original cyphers the boards would become very expensive if I could have even found the cyphers

[greatpolarbear]

To Sepp Caesar,

I served in the US Army (82nd Airborne 1990-1993) in the first Gulf War, so please don't make this personal.

Not helping you with your impression is my choice. Keeping my sources and not wanting to spend more money is my choice. I respect and honor your service to our country, please believe me I do. And I thank you for it implicitly. But this is about keeping my costs down so that I can supply our unit effectively.

This is not personal, just the realities of the hobby.

[egon]

yes I made my shoulderboards as non are reproduced in my trade. Yes I made my own A-frame because I didn't like the look and the way the cheap ones were made. Yes I built my own radio unit because originals are out of sight and no one sells them so I bought the resin front. As for the breast eagle the only place I know of is Bill Bureau. There is no way to convert a heer visor to a coastal one. The band is wrong the beak is wrong shape is wrong. Litzen can't be converted because the main body is a different color to heer. So we are stuck with the expensive stuff. As for making a set of shoulderboards for the SeppCaesar I did offer to make him a set but didn't have the metal cyphers

Can you post photos of the KA shoulderboards that you made?