Swallow-tail cap in Hungarian m87 swirl camo

Don't know who made this or where it's from. There are no tags or markings. The guy I bought it from said it was from Africa. The camo fabric is definitely Hungarian.

I would bet a ton of money on that being one of The SWAT Shop "tailor made" Kico caps. Jeff has made a ton of these over the years, in just about any camo pattern he can get his hands on. They are all fantasy pieces. They are based on the Portuguese issue Kicos, and the South African Recce copies. However, he makes them out of all sorts of camo.

He's made a bunch in various South African Recce copy camo patterns, and these are worth getting for cheap. They are made from legitimate copy fabric, and in most cases, you'll never find an original one. Once in a while he'll have an original one, and he's always been good about advertising the difference between a geniune factory example, and his tailor made versions.

Cheers,

Mike

I've looked at the ones on the Swat Shop website. He states that they're "Vietnam Airborne/LLDB type camo. Similar to British Windproof camo but shelter quarter material."

When I see someone say "similar" I read "only if you're blind do they look the same"

Steve

These caps were worn by elite hungarian paratroopers sent to Africa to support communist rebels against south-africans ... or rhodesians ... or anybody who was "imperialist" enough.

Just kidding of course - I think the maker obtained somewhere surplus M49 shelter halves and produced such fantasy items. A few years ago there was a whole suit (in the french TAP-cut) and more berets on eBay, offered as Indochina-War relics. As I remember, the maker even added a few french-looking stamp to the garment, but there were also the original hungarian stamps ...

joni firpo wrote:These caps were worn by elite hungarian paratroopers sent to Africa to support communist rebels against south-africans ... or rhodesians ... or anybody who was "imperialist" enough.

Just kidding of course - I think the maker obtained somewhere surplus M49 shelter halves and produced such fantasy items. A few years ago there was a whole suit (in the french TAP-cut) and more berets on eBay, offered as Indochina-War relics. As I remember, the maker even added a few french-looking stamp to the garment, but there were also the original hungarian stamps ...

Hello
Maybe you speak about this set
I have keep the pictures because it is funny
I don't remember that these items have Hungarian stamp
Only fake of French stamp
Are you sure that Hungarian soldier have wear cap build in tent material?
Gilles

Hi Gilles!

Maybe more suits were made, sadly I don't have the old photos (they went "dead" with my old PC), but I clearly remember I've seen the regular hungarian 1950's military stamps beside the fake french stamps on that garment.

The suit on your picture is surely made from M49 shelter-halves, even the brown plastic buttons were re-issued. The french lizard "patch" on the side of the trousers is interesting - the faker went out from the hungarian material? Or did he think it is the "sign of autenthicity"? Mad thing!

The M49 shelter halves were made in millions in the early 1950's, as the Hungarian People's Army was prepared then for the WW III. That many shelter halves were made, the supplies last until today, although since then, more times new shelter halves (M82 and M93) were issued. Thousands of shelter halves were sold as surplus from the 1990's, and it seems somebody thought it is a good idea to construct french-like "uniforms" from them.

As for commercially made caps: wearing non-standard caps became popular mostly in the 1990's (commercial or foreign boonie hats were/are preferred by hungarian soldiers), although I've seen a few photos of hungarian paratroopers wearing non-standard berets, made of M1951 recon coverall material. Otherwise wearing non-standard caps was very unlike in the army of the communist era.

I have a bunch of pictures of a different set of what Gilles posted. Tamas, I believe these photos came from you, but I am not sure. They are dated 2004, so I have had them for quite a while.

The construction looks extremely good. I normally do not collect fake items, but this one I would like to have.

Steve

I wouldn't mind having that set in my collection either