Col. Faulkner

Ravishingly nice figures, but it's S.A.S. troopers, not "operators". :)

Are you going to mirror him so his jacket fastens on the men's side? This guy reminds me of the medic in "Hamburger Hill". :) Good job on making them in shirts (none of that silly body armour). Do their arms articulate OK when they are animated?

For some reason this pic reminds me of "Kelly's Heroes". "The only way we got of distracting them Tigers is to let them shoot holes in us!" I must say that the mod has streaked ahead light years in quality from its early days of cardboard tanks textured in crayon. Bravo! :bounce3:

OK. One little thing; whenever you get to it, please note that the pouches on the models I sent you are the correct scale sizes. That might help a bit when you come to make yours. You'll easily get the right "bulkiness" then.

Are you going to do any more work on the webbing and helmet on this "UK paratrooper" figure? The pouches in particular really look nothing at all like they should and they spoil what is otherwise a good figure. They should be much squarer, overall green and with quick release tabs. You have got the green colour pretty much right, though. I did go to a lot of trouble to send you detailed information and example models that you could copy. I thought you might have studied those. For a proper realistic mid-80s para look delete the spade carrier clip at the back. You couldn't wear a bergan (rucksack) with that in place without risking severing your spinal column. The designers of the set in the 1950s envisaged infantrymen on the future battlefield hopping in and out of APCs, not tabbing with a ton of kit on their backs. Increased emphasis was put on humping ridiculously huge bergans after the Falklands War (partly why I still have a knackered knee today). By 1985 generally you'd only see the spade carriers on webbing worn by TAs, recruits or by men attending courses (where it's use was often mandatory - even if it meant you'd to get a new webbing yoke for the course, having cut your own one up), although a few line (ie. non-para) battalions were still not officially allowed to modify kit. It'd also be better if you replaced the two large rear pouches with three waterbottle pouches. The big pouches were crap, bounced around like crazy, bruised your kidneys and lost kit whenever the quick release tabs opened by themselves. A lot of guys, who could, replaced them with something better. Consider also adding a poncho roll to the top of the pouches at the rear for his kip sheet. For a "typical" 1985 para you should really be trying to represent issue webbing hacked about, modded and improved. For a full-on cold war scenario I'd also expect them to be carrying respirator cases (and actually wearing their NBC suits, to be perfectly honest) but I'm not going to moan about that. The DP textures and pattern look almost perfect. Some of the best DPM I've ever seen on any addon. Is that made from the texture I sent you? :D The '77 para smock was actually made from material with slightly different [darker and more saturated] colour shades than the '68 combat trousers but I'm not going to force that issue. Some details of the smock are not quite right but it still looks OK. The helmet would look much better with a DP material cover under the net (and rubber or black tape around the rim - "black nasty" is a very 1980s thing. It got used everywhere!). The helmet cover in those days was sometimes improvised from a combat jacket rain hood since the early DPM covers weren't very good. If you want to keep a unicolour helmet cover then make it brown sandbag material, not olive green like that. A bare GRP para helmet with only a net on top was never worn. The idea was that the cover killed the shine and the net was used to attach foliage and scrim. The rubber rim or tape secured the net (and was an airborne "tribal" fashion item). He also doesn't appear to have his para qualification wings and DZ flash on the right shoulder of his smock (or if they are there then they're far too small and/or in the wrong place - but maybe it's a model/animation limitation). I think I sent you good pictures of these. Anyway, no real British para would ever be seen without his wings up! Cam' cream was pretty much always worn when out in the field. Brown only - basically smeared all over. Your man in fighting order there looks a bit "unfinished" without any on. The figure is very good, though, and it's great to see some good British soldiers of that era being done! If you can work on these suggestions then your man will look like a proper "ally" para and not a random guy wearing a British camouflage suit.

Isn't the green a bit too "vibrant"? The jundys just wore ordinary olive green (or British 4 colour desert DPs). Or did you doctor the screenshot, or something? They look ready for a St. Patrick's Day parade there. Â

There was a film made of "Andy McNab's" book in 1999 - it's quite good: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120617/ Or maybe you mean a machinima film in ArmA using these fine units?

Standard Colt M16 rifles seem to have been used throughout the 1990s. Photos of 22 S.A.S. on Op. GRANBY show them with a wide mixture of variants; M16A1 with birdcage flashhider and triangular handguards, Â M16A2 with round handguards and M16A1/M203 combinations. In NI around that time they were using (undoubtedly among other things) the H&K G3 and H&K 33, presumably because those were what the RUC HMSU were also using at the time.

Yes, of course you can use them.

Having given up my addon making efforts now due to a combination of ill-health, lack of time and increasing frustration with my ineptitude at 3D modelling, I am now releasing some of the things I was working on. These may still require varying amounts of work to finish. In particular the whole UV mapping and texturing thing I could never quite work out. Some of the community might be able to finish the items to a better standard than I'd ever be able to. It'd also mean that all the time I spent on these won't have been entirely wasted. First is my "reconstruction" of the British No.9 Mk 1 Automatic rifle from the 1950s (development name "Enfield EM-2"). In the real world this never went on actual issue but was approved for service for a brief period after 1951. This model is an amalgamation of several extant real examples, and is intended to be a possible representation of an "issue" service rifle. The model is not unwrapped and is untextured but comes complete with LODs, a muzzle flash, a graphic recreating the unit optical sight, a custom cartridge case, sound effects, ammo box and magazine model. A config is also included so that the untextured model can be experimented with in-game. The bolt and charging handle are animated. It can be downloaded gratis from Here Depositfiles(c. 20 Mb) or Here Rapidshare Also on offer are two models of an FN FAL self-loading rifle. These models represent 1980s Argentinian service rifles but are generally applicable and could easily be converted by a modeller to represent other types. These are offered as untextured models only, with a few LODS and sound effects provided. They are quite close to the correct proportions but some fine tuning against a background image might be required in places. I abandoned work on these in favour of the British rifles so these are not of quite the same standard of precision or completion as those. The adjustment required is minor, in any case, and the actual details are correct. The receiver is hollowed out and the bolt carrier can be animated. These can be downloaded gratis from Here Depositfiles (c. 0.5 Mb) or Here Rapidshare

In early 1991? Bog standard M16/M203 combos and Minimis cammed up with paint (and a 66 in the top of the Bergan). In those days they didn't have any of the flashy crap that everyone seems to love to stick all over their weapons nowadays. But given the webbing they're wearing, this addon is apparently supposed to represent a patrol from some time after Granby. Photos of  that particular Bravo Two Zero callsign show them in 1970s COP vests and belt kits and what looks like an NI patrol chest rig. I'll not go into that any further, though, lest I come across as an S.A.S. groupie. The soldier figures, I do have to say, are absolutely cracking. They look double hard (whereas most soldier addons tend to have a somewhat "lobotomized" look to me). Definitely one of the more interesting soldier addons on here for a while, as far as I'm concerned.

It was all so much simpler when S.A.S. looked like this. Denims, WW2 windproofs, SLRs, bush hats and belt kit to taste. Sorted. Â

Agamoth, so is that information sufficient for you to correct the problems with the British paratrooper textures? Since you didn't even acknowledge it, I don't know. For the rest, I'll just give those Bren and rifle models out to the community, then - if you lot don't want them. With your mod approach I don't suppose it really matters about fine details so long as it "shoots". Just ignore the offer. Don't even mention it.

You forgot the black tape over the eyes! Â

The same basic idea appears in Home Guard manuals from the 1940s. It probably actually originated in WW1.

For the really authentic jundy look, his beret should be worn more in the classic "chef's hat"/"Frank Spencer" style. Â

afaik it was not an 'experimental' camo, and large number of BAOR armoured vehicles where painted in it. No, it wasn't experimental. It was officially applied to almost all vehicles of the Berlin brigade (especially the AFVs). It was extremely effective at camouflaging Chieftain MBTs up Berlin streets. The problem, of course, was that it was utterly useless once the vehicle left a built-up area. Some soviet vehicles even started to appear in schemes clearly inspired by the Berlin brigade camouflage. However, unless your mod makes British AFVs (and detailed German cityscapes) it's all rather academic since other NATO armies never used it.

Here is a pic of a modern reenactor/model wearing an original WW2 first pattern Denison smock (I know it says "reconstruction" but the smock is in fact an original). The actual printed patterns varied slightly, and the colours had a (designed) tendency to fade and run into each other when heavily worn. One detail to note if you want to capture it well is that the green and brown patches blend into each other where they lie over one another. This pattern of smock also has khaki-green wool elasticated cuffs. This was the type most commonly worn by British 1st Airborne Div. in N.Africa and Europe. Rank badges for airborne were just the same as for the infantry. On the Denison smock, officer's pips were worn on a slide that went over the epaulettes (if rank badges were worn at all). NCOs wore rank chevrons on the right sleeve of the Denison only (normally; I've seen GPR Denisons with chevrons on both sleeves). Para qualified men wore the para qualification wings on the right upper arm of  the Denison too. No other badges were worn on the Denison in WW2.

The Denison smocks on those Airborne bods look a very strange colour. It looks like green and brown on a grey backing! Is that an artifact of the lighting or something? If you want some stuff I can give you this model of a <a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/spearhead/MKIII.jpg" target="_blank">Mk III (Airborne) Bren gun.</a> It'd go better with them than the dodgy- looking Mk I they seem to be using there. And the No 4 rifle I was working on.(it's not finished but maybe you could still use some parts of it to improve the one those guys are holding). Unfortunately the PIAT model never got any farther than this state. Perhaps you could still do something with it (all it really needs is the sights and some small details)? Let me know if you want it and I'll upload it to a place where you can get it from.

 ..... Col, I've been watching your progress on these addons and you've done a fine job as you have. I can see the frustration with this stuff, as I couldn't even begin to get the patience to learn this stuff. I was just curious, as nobody else posted here, so I didn't know if you were working on it or maybe you went to a team or anything. Cheers Mate. I don't mind people asking at all. I don't subscribe to the prevailing ethos here. If I make a thread about my stuff then it means that all enquiries, comments etc are welcome. Anyway... I'm very pleased "Vilas" wants the stuff. I'll give him all the information he needs to finish them properly (he mostly wants mid-1980s Parachute Regiment but I'm hoping he'll do some line infantry too), so I don't feel that my work has all been in vain.

I'm giving most of the stuff to "vilas", now, to finish for use in his "Project '85". His team seem most likely to be able to finish these to a decent standard. I'll never get these finished by myself now, since I've pretty much finally run out of enthusiasm (dismayed with the time it all takes, disappointed with the restrictions imposed by the game, and fed up of  the shit quality of my models). At least this now means that at least some of the stuff I tried to make will get released so people can play with it. For what it's worth, the last state was something like this. I was trying to get the colours on the DPM to approach something like the real thing in-game (1968 pattern DPM Combat Dress), but it still looks wank:

I really don't like the way your rifle oscillates wildly in and out as you side step. It feels like your rifle is on a bungee and some addon rifles actually appear to dig into your character's head. The rest of it I can pretty much live with. The whole weapon handling system is pretty crude in ArmA anyway.

I sometimes wonder how many rounds I've fired in total.

Ah, thanks. What the knights of old would have called "pauldrons".

No it's not. It's a useful addition to the capabilities of the engine. It was very common to use the Starlight scope dismounted, as a hand held night viz telescope. I know for a fact that the Americans and Australians did it in Vietnam (more than one of my jungle warfare instructors were ANZAC Vietnam vets) as we (British) did in the Far East (I once had to train Gurkhas in Hong Kong in the use of the device for this very purpose) and (especially in) Northern Ireland. In any case, I'm assuming (hoping? ) that if the mod team has cracked the problem of a hand held night viz device with the ArmA engine then a weapon mounted one will be similar in its implementation (I really hope they will give us a weapon mounted night viz device).