Tropical DPM uniform

IT IS COMPLETE!
I've had the pants over two years now, and recently picked up a matching shirt from CollectinSteve.

I'm quite happy that the colours are very close, a feat not easily accomplished when tracking down mates to uniforms from this style of DPM, especially since there were so many varieties.

Hey, great match!! You're so right about trying to match DPM. Too many color variations right out of the factory. Glad things worked out.

Steve

Now to get my hands on a set of the "loud & proud" tropical DPMs with the teal, maroon and mustard colours.
Thanks again!

Hehe... good luck! The Brit collectors are sitting on most of it and the few pieces that come up for sale are fought over. I'm sure a lot of it comes and goes on eBay without noticing because of the volume of DPM available and the generally poor pictures/descriptions. I've got a shirt, but for 10 years I've only seen a couple of trousers and was not willing to pay what they were going for. I somewhat regret that now.

Steve

Camo_fiend wrote:Now to get my hands on a set of the "loud & proud" tropical DPMs with the teal, maroon and mustard colours.
Thanks again!

OK...I am lost here...exactly how many types of DPM are there & how can you tell? We need a history lesson here, at least I do...I have a bunch of DPM, but I never know what type is what..

Steven

and what does this teal, maroon & mustard one look like? anyone got a pic of it

bond007a1 wrote:OK...I am lost here...exactly how many types of DPM are there & how can you tell? We need a history lesson here, at least I do...I have a bunch of DPM, but I never know what type is what..

Steven

and what does this teal, maroon & mustard one look like? anyone got a pic of it

Steven, there are LOTS of variants of tropical DPM. It's quite confusing to keep up with, to be honest.
Trops were commonly worn by British troops in Belize, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Some sets of trops were worn during the Falklands War, also. The photo below shows that British troops in Northern Ireland in the late 80s or early 90s also wore trop DPM, to an extent.



There were several runs of tropical DPM made in two different fabrics in the 1970s and 80s. One fabric was a heavier-weight fabric almost like the "heavyweight twill" M81 BDUs, and a quick-dry fabric sometimes called "airtex" or "tea bag cloth". All the airtex fabric trops I've seen (and own) keep their colour very well and don't look that much different from current-issue DPM. However, the heavier-weight trops are another story. When manufacutred, ideally, they all "once" looked similar, but different manufacturers, printing methods, ink types, environments, and general wear affected how some sets will look today. Strangely enough, the more exotic and oddly faded sets are the most desirable among collectors, due to the unique colouration.

Photo below of the "teal, maroon and mustard" trops. Sadly not mine, but a set thats salty like this are what I'd love to get hold of.

I saw mint DPM at surplus store, for $12. What would be a good resale value?

Did you buy it or do you have photos?

It depends on the pattern and type (what issue it was, i.e.; 68, 70s, 80s, pre-CS95, etc).

There are tons of coloration variations, however few of them are specific to a particular type of uniform. The so-called Belize type is only found in the 1980s Tropical cut as far as I know, which makes it rather unique. Most of the other variations are spread all throughout the different models of uniform. However, each model tends to have a defining coloration. One that is more prevalent than others.

On top of the standard temperate combat uniforms each major issue of uniforms (P84, S95, etc.) there were sometimes tropical, arctic, desert, helicopter, sniper, para, windproof, rain gear, and probably other stuff that isn't coming right to my head. P60 and P68 were just basic uniforms AFAIK.

Even further, the S95 Desert uniform underwent several modifications without a re-designation, apparently. I've got 4 variants. Two different style of buttons, two with shoulder epaulettes, one with only a chest epaulette, and one with both shoulder and chest epaulettes. I have no idea how many variations there are.

Lastly, some of the tropical uniforms were made from different cloth, but were from the same era. There is the tight cotton/poly weave (common) and the "teabag" weave (uncommon).

Yup, there's enough DPM stuff out there to drive even the most sane collector insane

Steve

WOW thanks for clarifying the S95 desert shirt thing. I'd seen photos of the shirts with shoulder epaulets and the front rank tab and was a bit puzzled.
And to add to the confusion, we will soon have different cuts of MTP to contend with on top of the already overwhelming varieties of DPM!

[img][/img]

Me wearing my favourite Tropicals somewhere in Salisbury plain

GR

[img][/img]

Thanks for the awesome photos of "trops in action", Grim!

Me posing in South Barracks Guardroom Gibraltar 1989

&

Looking out the window of the Guardroom South Barracks in Gib at either A coy or R coy 3 RGJ doing drill practice



check out the multitude of different colours here



GR

Another one of me in Trops a bit dirty!! Some tunnel system somewhere



GR

Neat-looking trops, GR. But what I'm really looking at in the picture is that slick SLR you posed with. Those are awesome rifles!

The colour variations of the trops are truly crazy!

Yeah the SLR, we still used them in 89 as at that time I was TA (part time) but then joined the Regs (full time) the TA got the L85a1's a couple of years later, SLR was a very reliable weapon.

GR

Are you still active-duty or have you since retired from military service?

No not anymore, did some more recently but finished last year now just reserve

GR

So how do you find the dates on the tags?

Not sure if the earlier stuff had dates you just go by cut & colour (sounds like a Womens hair Salon). Incidently it's not just collectors after loud Trops, many Paras still wear them as do other Regiments, however I don't think the early ones are IRR so that coupled with the fact they burn easily was the reason we were told NOT to wear them in Northern Ireland. If guys did it was certainly against regulations when I was there.
The photo above that is suppose to be from NI I'm not to sure about as the weapons both clearly have BFA's so it's definitely not a patrol, didn't realise any exercises took place over there but could be wrong. A company called Dragon Supplies have started to remake the loud trops as they're so popular. They're based in Chelmsford I believe. Also I need to re state as far as Im aware no one particular colour was produced for a certain jungle ie one for Belize one for Hong Kong, this was just a popular wind up for New Blokes and Ruperts.
Cheers

Thanks for the info, GR! I had not even thought of the IRR (or lack thereof) for the trops... makes sense.

I was looking around journalist Michael Yon's website and came across a photo of a soldier wearing what appear to be trops in Afghanistan while out on mission. Salt-status?

Certainly looks like it, probably took them with him for use in the Green Zone, check out the US Chocolate chip net on his Mk6a held on with tan sniper tape and cats eyes band, MY has some great pics.
Cheers

He definitely gets some "ally" points with that combat kit, that's for sure!

Certainly shame it doesnt show a larger pic of the guy so we can check out the rest of his kit, was there a larger one Ben?