Hi All,

well I was involved in re-enactment for many years portraying WW2, but I have not done it for a few years now, the Kit is quite easy to get and “Sometimes” not all that expensive, However it can get addictive ,with members of groups buying more a more equiptment, especailythe WW2 period.

ne thing I did notice was at the time Most people in re-enactment seemed to go for the “German-American” groups due to basicly ,the nicer looking uniforms, I do remember a group who used to dress as Luftwaffe fighter pilots, the kit they wore at shows was very impressive,and extrememely expensive the one thing with re-enactment is you can land yourself in debt very quickly when you get immersed in the new hobby, that is one reason i chose to get out of it,

However it can be very rewarding and lots of fun, most uniforms and equiptment have now been replicated for the re-enactment groups, and is a very lukrative business for some,
one such dealer is “Soldier of Fortune” who has a massive stock of copy equiptment ,and some original.
You will find Most re-enactors trawl through as Many Militaria fairs they can to find that elusive Item, Just like yourselves with aviation parts at aero jumbles, and then there is the many Deactivated weapons for display that many buy to take to these living history events,and quite often a good group will be involved in Film Work from time to time ,
I was lucky enough to be involved in filmwork near where we live thanks to Mr Paul Dudbridge ,a up and coming film director ,
Here is a link to a snippet from one of the battle scenes from “Katies mission”
Not bad for a student on a low budget, and he is getting better with every short film he makes;) (incidentaly I am the one on the MG34 MMG in the Hay rick)
This link takes you to the main page and if you scroll down to “Katies mission”have a look at that and then find the “Short clips” Link where there are about 4 snippets from the film, the Battle and Covering fire” just shows how re-enactors pulled together to help Mr dudbridge get this filmwork done
the cost for a film company to buy all this kit for actors etc is very expensive, hence why re-enactors from all ages in our past are a god send in some ways to the film industry .

http://www.hanoverpictures.co.uk/index.html

here is a few links to dealers etc

http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/reenactors/index.asp

http://www.milweb.net/classifieds.php

Hope this is of help to you ,and might give you a idea of prices etc, if you so wished to start in such a hobby 😉

Merkle,I think your photos are of the WX1,which has 1 engine,a Napier Gazelle,and I flew `330 yrs ago; your panel is possibly off a WX 2,4(highly unlikely),or a WX60(civil)(never seen inside,but there is one in the Museum).Reason, there is an extra vertical row for instruments to the left of the normal gearbox and transmission ones,and these were for when Decca Nav.gear was used,(similar/same as Whirlwind). Navy a/c didn`t have it fitted.
The WX3 has a later Gazelle engine and it`s panel is different again from the Mk1,as it has `Flight director type instruments..
` Fly-Buy`s panel is off a WX5 but has incorrect ASIs fitted,and I don`t recall seeing those two `gene` loadmeters,unless they were a later mod,even so,must have taken a lot of v/a to drive them;
however,if you can get hold of aircrew manuals ,they should keep you straight,or if you are in the Museum,try to get photos of all WX cockpits…

Just to give you the whole picture, The photos of the complete panels .etc.
was taken from the oldest wessex in the international helicopter museum,
the panel I own is that poor naked panel on it own on the blue cloth,it needs a full set of clocks ,I have a altemeter allready, now just about another 30 odd clocks to go, and swtches etc etc ,

cutter

I think you mean a Plasma cutter, there`s no such thing as a lazer cutter. Unless there`s one on a rebel X-Wing fighter.

well if i have it wrong ,so does the firm thats been doing it many years,
they call it a Laser cutting machine, and i am just calling it , what it says on the tin so to speak

heres there link to there website, “Laser Cutting” ,

http://www.amagengineering.co.uk/

Oh and it is laser ,not “LaZer” 😀

I’m sorry I don’t believe, agree or think its funny to kill innocent animals.

No I dont either Steve !, it was just a figure of speech

Hmm,

Looks like a mish-mash of instruments in those panels – I’m not convinced that they are all correct.

I will print them out and keep them with me – it will take a while to root through the stuff, but I’ll see what I can do.

Bruce

Just Noticed Bruce, the Panel I photographed was diferent to the blank Panel I own, (see Pic)

However “FlyBuy” has been kind enough to show me his panel (see Pics above) ,Which is exactly the same as mine,
Only thing I am gutted about is the history was lost, and ive no idea which aircraft it came from, which is a shame , as to find a photo for shows etc would have been the icing on the cake .

Hmm,

Looks like a mish-mash of instruments in those panels – I’m not convinced that they are all correct.

I will print them out and keep them with me – it will take a while to root through the stuff, but I’ll see what I can do.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce !!, 😀

any help is much appreciated, the photos above were of the IHM’s Oldest
Wessex, dating from 1958-9,
this is why the panel is quite diferent to the more modern instruments seen in the later models , hence the mish mash 😀

thanks again
Chris C

Good photos will be fine.

I very much doubt that there is any commonality between Wessex and its American counterpart, and am pretty certain the panel will be entirely different.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce , well Wessex it is then ! , I put some photos on here of the early panel at weston super mare,it was the best i could get at the time as i had to climb up the outside of the wessex and hang there with one arm, whilst photographing with the other 😀

ive enclosed the pics and one of the Blank Panel that I own, thats about it,
if I can find a Pilots familerisation Booklet with a cockpit photo in I will try to get that on here as well,
thanks again Bruce !!:)

Just wondered, Did the Aussies use the wessex in Vietnam ??, I know they were in the conflict, so I imagine they used them for some duties whilst in that war,

I am going to have to find a Big Book all about the wessex and do some learning me thinks ,not the sort of thing waterstones have though i should think ??