Hi,
I need a little advice regarding British webbing equipment, please.
I'm painting a couple of 1/35th Brit figures during the time frame of the early 1980's. They are British SAS.
I would like to know what type of web equipment they would be wearing so I can paint the kit in the correct green shade.
Would it be '58 or '72 pattern? Or a mixture of both?
Thanks for your help.

Joe.

Hello mate ..depends on what it's for... Transport troop would be likely to use belt kit as opposed to full kit as most of it is on the truck..from memory it was amish mash of british and us pouch as prefers by each trooper. Us water bottles were popular ammo pouches and first aid kit ,each man would have a grab bag which contains especially kit fro bugging out if you had to go in a hurry .
Early 1980 58 was still main issue as I said with other bit sourced from other suppliers ..
Terry

An example of a generic belt kit set up. Some also used adapted chest rigs.
Terry

Joe,

For early 80s you've got quite a choice; SF were/are often given remit to devise and wear more or less whatever works for them. Even in the 80s I recall that special combat vests were devised and utilised. I've also seen mixes of 58 and 44 patterns, together with ammo pouches for M16 mags. certainly in Belize in 82 (where incidentally they were deployed with armed Landrovers - but still referred to as "Pinkies" despite being in green/black paintwork) most I espied seemed to utilise 58 belts and yokes with whatever pouch arrangement worked for the individual - always commensurate with what they were required to carry. The yokes would have the entrenching tool straps removed so that a Bergen rucksack could be worn, and the kidney pouches were replaced with a series of water bottle carriers utilised to carry other stuff; as these sit lower on the belt (than kidney pouches) that also facilitates the carriage of a Bergen. 44 pattern water bottles (and carrier) were popular presumably because the mug was aluminium (as opposed to the plastic of the 58 pattern) and therefore could be used for cooking.

Ammo pouches seemed to be of US pattern as mentioned above.

Finally, I noticed that when going out on patrol the weapons used were a mix of MP5s and M16s; I dimly remember seeing a HK assault rifle but am unsure as to what exact type.

I'm not too sure what you mean by 72 pattern.

Regards,

Brian

Here you go Brian ...the short lived 72 pattern .

Brilliant! I do remember after all; I came across a set in an officer's locker in the HQ office when I was in Oman. I was minded to nick it but decided not to. I think it was left over from trials with the Omani Army.

Thanks for the reminder.

Brian

Finally, I noticed that when going out on patrol the weapons used were a mix of MP5s and M16s; I dimly remember seeing a HK assault rifle but am unsure as to what exact type.

I seem to remember that the hk53 and g3 got mentioned in the books that came out

The 72 pattern was rarely used, it was a farce and not liked at all.

The water bottles were a mix of Plastic/Nylon bottles and Aluminium cups. You could cook in the cups but the metal bottles got hot, not that the taste was any better in the plastic ones, it wasn't.

It wasn't unusual to find the resparator in the 72 pattern webbing however. As stated the belt kit with an emergency (small) kit held within the mess tins was normal.

fully adjustable generic web belts were preferred so they could be quickly adjusted for length. In the Rover a complete set of 58 webbing may be found...

Keith.