517th M1 Pots.

Hi Guys,

As all know, the 517th were issued with standard M1 Infantry pots prior to landing in Italy in 1944, so before making their first combat jump in August '44 as part of dragoon they had to be Rigger modified to work as Airborne helmets.

I have been working for a while to get a replica made and to find a source for us, and i have finally suceeded. Chris (Fuman on the WWII Forum) has made two, i have had one and Jon has taken the other, but he is after orders from you guys so he can get down to making more. I had to wait a while, but now he knows what he needs and what he's doing it should be quick and easy. Below are some pics, i'm sure you'll all agree they're spot on!

They are at a price of £130 total, £120 for the pot and £10 for insured shipping. This is to cover his labour costs, the costs of paint (They come camouflaged) and the materials he has to source in order make the straps, and of course the fixed bail pot itself! I think that for what you get its a resonable price, but i must add they DO NOT come with Liners! But all you need to complete it is a standard Infantry liner (www.warrelics.com usually has plenty of decent original liners). Using Chris means we will be consistant, all pots will match.

Can you please place an order here if you wish to buy one, like i said, £130, and please do not commit to buy one if you cannot afford it or are likely to pull out as i do not want to mess Chris around with this, he is our one and only source and we cannot afford to piss him off!

Here are the pics.






Regards, Bez

Wow they look really good!

I will start to get some cash together and let you know when I have it.

The prob I have is I'm moveing out at the start of June so got to watch the pennies!

Sam

Oh Bez I presume that the pot is an oridgenal WWII one?

Sam

The pots that Chris use are original Wartime Fixed Bale M1 Pots. He is attempting to get them without the Chinstraps so that they don't go to waste when he removes them to replace them with the rigger Modified straps, but they are and will be Original Front Seam fixed Bale M1 Infantry Helmets.

Regards, Bez

They look great! We'll need to source some British scrim scarf material big enough to cover a few pots so we have a good mix of those with helmet nets and those without.

I think at this rate we'll certainly impress when we go to shows with this kit!!

Excellent stuff! Selling my M2 so free's up moulah for this, cheers for the heads up.

excellent stuff.

Jon i'll forward you Chris's Details so that as soon as he's ready you can get a cheque out to him.

He also said he may make some for Ebay, and i said to him if he does that to offer them out to us first just in case we have new members interested in buying one. I may also at some point buy a second to knacker up for when they were out in the Bulge and for Maritime Alps stuff.

Bez

bloody hot stuff..

good work bez, a great asset to the group having this guy. Ill be getting one asap, but like Sam pennys are short at mo as UNI is a piss take for cash this time of year.

Would we be wearing them with or without nets?

Darren

darren, the majority of photos in the bible (De Trez's book) seems to suggest the majority of guys wore them with nets. Although to have maybe 1-2 guys without wouldn't look out of place.

I'm going to source some of the correct netting for the pots as it's the scrim scarf type material used and not actual helmet netting used by the Brits.

Guys,

Chris takes a while to make these pots, so i'm simply going to order 8 from him and you can pay for them as and when. The main priority at the moment is ATF jumpsuits, so please see the seperate thread in this section.

Bez

OK thought that was the case shorty, its the small net types i do believe...

Daz

Important Notice!

Chris has readied another 6 M1 pots for conversion to 517th but has asked that those who want one sent a £60 deposit to him in order for him to source the dosh he needs to finish them.

Can you let me know ASAP if you fancy one, don't pass up on this guys, the group needs them!

Regards, Bez

Just ordered another of these beauties from Chris, but this time a knackered one suitable for a late '44 early '45 portrail!!

Hi All,

Having now had the pots through from Chris, the only thing missing is Black paint which he seems to have left off. He did this after having based his pots of Marvin Moles original which is now in a museum in Southern France. Marvins pot shows no black, but the believed reason is that it has faded. Colour photos as well as other examples prove that the pots did have black paint, and with the black added the pots are faultless.

Like Jon has mentioned, Chris also does the option of a knackered up pot with little or no camo, and some seriously fooked up straps. Reason: The 517th recieved these pots in July 1944 and did not see new ones until they were inducted into the 13th Airborne in March 1945, by watch point the helmets had seen better days, and that's putting it lightly. We cannot go into Bulge impressions wearing freshly camo'd pots. However, we're not asking you to buy two, a standard infantry pot with the straps hidden will do for the Bulge as long as it's fixed bail and looks well used.

Regards, Bez

Bez , any chance you could email chris on my behalf? He hasn't responded to my pm on the forum even though I know he's recieved it and it's been read!

Perhaps he doesn't need the money that badly?

Hi Jon,

I think what it is is that he gets very much over-loaded with requests. He's effectively doing as one man what Jmurray has a team of men and a workshop doing. Last time i spoke to him he mentioned that he had orders reaching around 30 for M2's.

I'll E-mail him and see what he says.

Regards Bez

Fair one, didn't realise he was so in demand but judging by his pots it's obvious why!

Bez or Shorty how much where these pots anyway?

Think I will get myself a f&%$£d up one first and a Dragoon one later on if we are holding out.

Sam

My Dragoon pot cost £130, £120 for the pot and a tenner for insured p&p. not cheap but neccessary for the unit!

That's not to bad though when you think what J Murray costs for example.

due to what happened last time with the pots (People backing out of an order) Chris was only make the pots if he recieves payment first.

Regardsm Bez

Does he just sell the chin straps do you know?

Sam

Hi Sam,

I'm sure that if you asked him to make you some up he would do so.

Regards, Bez

Hi All,

We have faced a little bit of a snag in regards to the 517th helmets. That being Chris doesnt want to make anymore.

Now as far as i'm concerned that's his loss, he could have made a bit of dosh from it, but he is snowed under with requests and has in fact stopped taking orders. What he wants to is shift the orders he currently has and then only make pots for Ebay, which he can do in his own time and as he pleases. There's no point me arguing with him about it, if he doesnt want to make them then fine, we'll have to look elsewhere.

At current Me, Jon, and Darren have these pots, but its not the end of the world. For initial impressions standard M1's can be used, however we do need to aim to get another alternative sorted.

There is a guy on the forum who lives in Holland who restores Helmets. His helmets aren't amazing, he uses odd looking bails etc but his straps look pretty good. I might send him across a PM to ask if he might be able to make the straps. If he can, i think we can probably handle adding them to a pot and doing the paintwork.

Alternatively, if that doesnt work i will ask chris where he supplied the part and the fabric, and get one of my mums friends with her industrial sewing machine to knock them up. Either way, we'll find a way around this problem.

Regards, Bez

Well let us know what happens.

If chris could just supply the straps for us that would be fine. J Murray / Top Pots stock fixed bale helmets and liners so we will get a helmet sorted from somewhere