Stiffy

Well... my last post was in Feb 2010 :) Been busy with life, new career, new baby, new games! Got caught up with RoF for a few years as I weighed it all up and desided I prefered it to OFF.... ...but now I've just bought WOFF... ...Wow! I mean... Wow! RoF who? Will be back to pester the forums with inane questions shortly!

Now... I know I'm bumping a very old thread... but wow! This really came together in the end then :) Sadly with real life getting in the way I had to sell my RFC uniform... but maybe I'll put another one together one day ;)

Hardly getting a moment to play off at the moment let alone get on the forum!!! Bring on the end of my degree! Thought some people might be interested in our latest experiment. Me and my fiance are living off of ww2 civilian rations for a while, we did it for a month last year and it was great fun (and I lost half a stone...). Here is the blog complete with photo's which we will try to udate each day. (if you hear ambient sound effects it is the blog... you aren't going mad...) http://ww2rations.blogspot.com/ Hopefully get back in the sky one day soon.... just as soon as disertations are finished!

Ive not had much luck getting any info from people about what they put on claim forms, seems like people want to keep it secret? but why? Surely a pilot would be taught how to fill in a claim form... so can someone give me some hints? Otherwise I may just switch it off as at the moment it is really reducing realism. Here is an example of how i have been doing it with absolutely no luck. 11/4/1916 16h36 Flanders St-Omer Airfield Attack Flying: Airco DH2. On this day claims: 1 Roland CII . Shot down at noon near Droglandt at low altitude 12pm 1202 hours. Witnessed by: Jack Milne Status : Pending . In reality this would have been accepted, very rare for a pilot witness to be called a liar so clearly the game engine is ignoring them due to some error in keywords perhaps? This feature has great potential but without the knowledge of how to fill it in it is really just a random guessing game rather than a simulation of a real procedure. As soon as I know how to word them they will make a great game feature!

Quick! Someone please Ban Widowmaker!!! The offensive image he has posted has made me want to go out and persecute intellectuals!!!!!!!

Oh.... and eventually you should get hold of a TrakIr system as they are good fun!... not essential though as you can pile up the kills just using the padlock and snap views. Drawback is you can't look around with the mouse in OFF so a head tracker like TrackIr offers the only way to smoothly look around. Don't worry to much though, If anything I found targeting and padlock view easier once you are used to it as you can't lose track of your target. Real benefit of trackIr is emersion into the game rather than improving chances of a kill.

Your computer has slightly higher spec than mine so should run fine, just adjust the graphics for best performance... on that note dont be surprised if OFF looks awful when you first load it. Most graphics settings start low and you have to turn them on (at least it was on my version!) I also recomend buying the new downloadable addon to OFF from the OFF website. Adds even more aircraft and some extra features. think its about $20?.... much cheaper than RoF where you have to pay cash for every single plane you want to fly!!! In fact as a point of interest, when RoF finally has as many aircraft available to buy as OFF comes with it will cost you...... $347.23 Further to your question about RoF... it has a thick layer of dusk where it sits on my top shelf.... can't wait for the day when I have a wobbly table so it will actually be some use.

Its perfectly reasonable, its best to gloss over the past and forget all about so i can't ever happen again!..... hang on that doesn't sound right.... What's next? Banning any mention of the British Empire in case we accidentally invade india?? :) Really silly thing is ebay dont allow any Bhudist, hindoo or native American items with a swastika even though they have nothing to do with the Nazi party... just because Germany (and I believe France?) have made a simple geometric shape illegal regardless of context. Lucky the Nazis didn't use a circle as thier symbol or anything with wheels would be banned!

Wow, looking great! Still on the hunt for a suitable jacket for my final version!... will update with some other bits soon.

My pilot is still alive and well and will be returning from leave soon!.... just need real life to stop getting in the way...

Looks fantastic! (if a little arrid for the western front lol). The great war society in the UK have a stretch of recreated trench complete with frost and mud... not many planes though! Hoping to join the great war society next year and will hopefully get to travel over to some of the larger US events although mostly will be on marches and original battlefields in france. Iv'e noticed looking through youtube that even though America fought in WW1 most americans prefer to dress up as Germans? Doughboys seem to be greatly outnumbered! For anyone else interested here is the link for the british great war society. Watch the vid, nice shot of a tripe going over! http://www.thegreatwarsociety.com/

Snowed under with commision work at the moment... not even time for single player! Will definitely be up for some MP when I have free time again though!

Ok, many of you know that I'm a mature student and as such not the wealthiest of people. For a while now I've wanted a replica ww1 uniform but have never had the cash. A month and a half ago I quit smoking and as an extra incentive I've decided to spend the savings on myself. So I have set myself a challenge to see if it is possible to put together something resembling an RFC uniform without paying out for expensive repros or originals. I think I should make it clear that I am not going for 100% authentic, just something that looks the part for fancy dress etc... but would not stand up to the great war society! This is what I have gathers so far for a few quid here and there..... Firstly I already had the replica wings ( put a post about it a while back) but have added a very good replica of the cap badge (is very authentic as has metal spikes instead of loops and pins, had an original raf one which had spikes). As it there is currently noone producing replica RFC buttons and a genuine set sells for around £100 I have decided to use general service buttons, these where used in ww1 whenever there was no regimental button available. All the buttons are originals, hard to date as pattern didnt change but more likely from ww2, managed to find a full set from the same maker so match perfectly. I managed to find a mint condition unissued service cap. This is Nato surplus but very little has changed in the pattern since ww1. I will fit 2 service buttons to the sides and the cap badge to the front, still need to find a ww1 style strap for it though. The tunic has been the trickiest part to replicate. Good replicas cost around £300 and originals around £500 in good condition. I have found a compromise by using a british tunic from the 1970s. The general layout of the late ww1 tunic (the one without the braid on the sleeves) didn't change a great deal until 1980. The only noticable difference is the 1970s tunic is a little shorter and the lower pockets a little smaller.... but at £10 I cant really complain! Currently the tunic has the buttons of the Ulster defence regiment but i will replace with the general service buttons. The final piece I have aquired so far is by far the best find, an original inter war pair of elephant ear riding breeches. These are very close to the pattern used in ww1 and are in pristine condition. Easily worth £50... I paid £5 !!!! Next stop.... how cheap can I get a sam brown belt??? I'll post more as I work on the uniform.

More progress towards my final uniform!!! I managed to find a company selling replica rank tape/braid for ww1 jacket cuffs as well as replica cloth pips! So I had a go at converting a jacket myself. Not quite perfect yet and this jacket is still too small around the rib cage - yes its really my ribs... I can suck the gut in!... even at 18 years old and 11 stone I had a 42" chest!... although my waist line has now more or less caught up! so will probably go on sale along with the others to fund my project further. For this jacket I machine stitched the tape which means its not as precise as I'd like... the bunching flattens itself out when wearing but could still be perfected further. All I need now is a suitable jacket with a 44" chest to begin my final project.... Next attempt should be far more acurate as will be hand stitched!

Forgot to mention, the brass D-ring is 1 and 4/8 inches wide if you decide to replace.

We have settled snow in plymouth which is very rare as this corner of the uk is usually kept warm by all that nice heat the mexicans send us over in the gulf stream! Certainly the first snow since I have lived here. And Lou.... feel our pain?... stay indoors??? You don't know the english! It snows so rarely in england (sometimes years apart) that we all get exited and go out in it! I may well go and get my own car stuck on Dartmoor for a bit this afternoon! All part of the fun!

Sorry Lou been meaning to put this photo up for a while but kept forgetting! The top belt is from my uniform and is vintage.... ww2 maybe, or possibly older... the bottom belt is modern. As you can see the british army doesnt allow any deviation from the pattern! So those rings on yours are very unlikely to be original, much more likely a later field repair, have you turned them to see if there is a weld hidden behind the leather?.. and is the back ring the same? I wonder what happened to lose the originals... It's a minor detail really though as no doubt the french belts where different in pattern to the british, and the french uniform seems to have been a lot more flexible. The lower angular rings are for holding a sword belt on ceremonial occasions.

OK so I'm begining to thing my real life is begining to get absorbed by OFF... While rummaging through some old 78rpm gramophone records in a local charity shop i saw that there was a broken one at the bottom of the box... I gave the confused shop assistance 50p for it an went on my way! But why do i need a broken record I hear you ask! Because it is Adagio for Strings! For those who don't realise Adagio for strings is the secondary theme music in OFF... the mournfull classical one. And here it is on a record using more or less WW1 technology! Although this record is most likely from the 40s the only difference in WW1 would be the type of microphones used to create the original recording. So the music from OFF.... as it would have been heard by a WW1 pilot.... couldn't resist bying it! Now here comes the tricky bit.... Although I can play 78s on this little number from my collection... ....the record is clearly in two pieces. So I need to repair it! and try to minimise the clicking from the crack once it is finished..... and then record it somehow to share with the OFF community. Wouldn't it be cool to have a recording of this playing sometimes in the ambient background of an aerodrome? Stay tuned for the next installment!

I've done a bit of research and it seems people have had good results with epoxy resin, especially as excess can be removed easily without damage to the surface. It's been pointed out that adagio wasnt actually written until the 1930s! so a WW1 pilot would never have heard it.... but it will still be interesting to hear OFF music played with WW1 technology! Now if only I can find an old record press to record the main theme to 78... or is that going too far? :)

I wouldnt try to play it on a 1930s gramophone if it was vinyl.... the metal needle would tear it to shreds :)

No its not vinyl, its a thick heavy (brittle) 78 rpm, as with most pre 1950s records it is made from shellac resin.

These any good for you Lou? http://cgi.ebay.fr/pantalon-francais-de-piou-piou-de-14-18_W0QQitemZ190360723470QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFR_JG_Collections_Militaria_Uniformes?hash=item2c5262200e

They are called Swagger Sticks... an RFC one went on ebay a little while ago for about £90... out of my price range!

Actually British troops where allowed beards up until 1939! (at the discretion of commanding officer) from 1939 it has only been permitted for combat engineers and colour sergeants. The reason it was changed at the outset of ww2 was the new tight fitting gas masks. It was often discouraged in trench warfare due to the added risk of fleas and lice but was more common in allied high command, often to ape the fine whiskers displayed by the king.

ITs nice.... but they didn't use Enfield revolvers in WW1, they used the Webley. Enfiled mark one was replaced in the 1880s with the webley because the enfield wasn't very good! Mark 2 enfield didn't come along until the 1920s. They made damn good short rifles though! Although the enfield is similar the only bit you usually see is the handle poking out of the holster which is very different to the webley, webley is rounded and black, enfield is squared off and wooden. Good find though!... I didnt realise they made a replica of any service revolver.... odd that they chose the crap one to make though lol!