Hiki DAK gear?

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Stosser
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Stosser »

A few months ago, I ordered a DAK tunic and cap from Hiki.
The cap had the white soutache I requested. I washed it several times and the red lining did not fade. It's been sitting in the Kalifornia sun for two months and it has faded-out to a tan-with-a-light-green hue. All's well.
The tunic, which I ordered in XL size, could barely button around my chest. I am a 44L in a suit size. The insignia (cufftitle, breat eagle, and litzen) was absolute crap. The litzen were screen-printed cloth with a polyester backing. The eagle, altough bevo-type woven, was 5.5 inches across and backed with a piece of brown wool. The backing isn't the issue - that was done for real - but the thing was horribly over-sized and poorly trimmed. The cufftitle was screen-printed with some sort of sparkle on a rayon ribbon.
Bottom line is that I shelled out $90 for a usable hat and a tunic I can resell at an event (as a size L) for $25. I'm sure I could have returned them for a refund but I would still have been out $60+ shipping both ways.
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Stigroadie

Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Stigroadie »

THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER. wrote:Here you go Stig
Only just seen this.....
M42 style in palm print?
I'd also agree that the insignia on HIKI DAK kit is utter junk. Cut it off and burn it.

The new Dak bevo eagles from Morigi have a good colour but I cant agree with what he says about being easier to fold and cut. They are a nightmare. If you are not very careful the threads come lose and the eagle comes away from the backing giving you wandering whisps of blue and bald spots on the brown backing.
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Jagdpanther
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Jagdpanther »

Stigroadie wrote:
THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER. wrote:Here you go Stig
Only just seen this.....
M42 style in palm print?
I'd also agree that the insignia on HIKI DAK kit is utter junk. Cut it off and burn it.

The new Dak bevo eagles from Morigi have a good colour but I cant agree with what he says about being easier to fold and cut. They are a nightmare. If you are not very careful the threads come lose and the eagle comes away from the backing giving you wandering whisps of blue and bald spots on the brown backing.
Yeah, I've got to agree with that Stig - all Morigi's "easy to cut" BEVO stuff frays just as much as the old stuff, but because the "easy cut" stuff is thicker, it is too thick to fold properly (without looking a mess).... The best I have been able to do with Morigi's new stuff is to bung on one of those "iron on" patches to the rear, then cut it out - that helps keep it together a bit... ...but you are better off getting the thinner proper BEVO stuff from elsewhere (e.g. Landser in the USA) and properly folding it before sewing it on..
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Schäfer
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Schäfer »

I have bought DAK and tropical Kriegsmarine insignia from Landser.com in the USA, they are very good quality and don't fray.

John Jensen is the proprietor and his is the only outlet that I know of that supplies the correct KM tropical insignia (gold hoheitzeichen on a brown background) compared with the DAK which is mouse-grey or the generic blue-grey hoheitzeichen on a tan background.

I don't know if it will help any of you but I tend to cut the bevo to shape but leaving an overlap underneath, fold it, soak it and press it totally flat with a steam iron. I then pin it to the uniform item and sew it on before it totally dries out. This tends to stop any fraying and also holds it all together.
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Jagdpanther
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Jagdpanther »

Good advice on the Bevo sewing Schäfer - I'll try that next time 8)
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Oberleutnant Ulrich
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Oberleutnant Ulrich »

This Richard guy...the one with the good DAK tunics, what's the name of his store?
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Halle
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Halle »

Hello Arthur ,
He doesn't have a store , just goes round the shows and sells online , just type in Richard Underwood :D

Regards , Steve .
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by pepperpot »

Email me at
richard.a.underwood@btinternet.com
or
Tel 01909 518661 (9 to 5 office hours only please) uk number
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menju
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by menju »

Hi, I have two of HIKI's DAK tunics (one olive green and one yellow sand) and three M1940 caps (two olive green, and one yellow sand LW), olive green trousers, yellow sand FJ tropic trousers and olive green shorts. I normally wear size 44L, and all tunics I bought were size L, and they fit quite well. Trousers and shorts (size L, and they fit perfectly too) are made of different cloth, and type of cloth differs also between yellow sand items and olive green ones. Tunics and pants have good proportions and their cut corresponds to the originals (at least in my opinion). Olive green items do not fade easily, even with some help (chemical products and sun, but unfortunately I do not live in California, so the sun is not so intense and does not the job). Green shorts are different story, they faded quite quickly even without my help (only regular washing).
In my first order (olive green items) I wanted infantry shoulder boards and infantry soutache on my cap, and I got them. But the second time, when I wanted infantry again (yellow sand items), I received a tunic with shoulder boards having yellow piping (signals). Fortunately I did not mind too much, because I actually needed those shoulder boards or my PK DAK tunic. So I do not have any experience with replacing wrong items.
Concerning the insignia, the Afrikakorps cuff title is clearly not the best on the market, but for the money involved, it works ;) I intend either to remove it completely or to replace it in the future. When you look at most of the pictures from Afrika, you see very few soldiers actually wear the Afrikakorps cufftitles. They still did not earn them when the pictures were made. So not to wear this ugly cuff title at all is also an option. On my tunic all the other insignia looked quite convincing to me. Except on LW cap, I replaced cocarde with a better one (I kept only the LW eagle).
All in all, I think that concerning the relationship price/quality HIKI's German tropical uniforms are quite OK, very good for someone who is only starting with reenacting, or wears this uniform only once a year. ;) For advanced reenactors HIKI items of course can still be acceptable, but only after several alterations (concerning mostly insignia and cuff title). Real connoisseurs will surely buy better and more expensive replicas.
One last remark, HIKI's German tropical uniforms are not always the same, it depends from which batch they originate (I suppose there are more producers for same items), and so the material and quality vary over time.
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by VonSchnitzel »

Tropical Shorts are rather good with the colour but stay away from the very bright yellow crap
Tropical hats are average

If your going to buy from him just get the field gear like I did as stay away from his uniforms
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Peiper »

Schäfer wrote:I have bought DAK and tropical Kriegsmarine insignia from Landser.com in the USA, they are very good quality and don't fray.

John Jensen is the proprietor and his is the only outlet that I know of that supplies the correct KM tropical insignia (gold hoheitzeichen on a brown background) compared with the DAK which is mouse-grey or the generic blue-grey hoheitzeichen on a tan background.

I don't know if it will help any of you but I tend to cut the bevo to shape but leaving an overlap underneath, fold it, soak it and press it totally flat with a steam iron. I then pin it to the uniform item and sew it on before it totally dries out. This tends to stop any fraying and also holds it all together.
Just reading through some old posts, thats a good tip Schafer :wink:
personally with collar litzen i use material glue on the backs of litzens
to keep it all together after it has been cut out and folded, the secret
is to use it sparingly just to hold down the wisping bits and to stop it
from fraying then when dried sew it onto the tunic.

The same with bevo eagles etc when cutting out, have tried a cigarette
lighter too on the edges of bevo insignia after cutting it out, this seems
to work too, just holding the flame very lightly not too close near the
loose wisping ends, this seems to seal the material and stops it from
fraying anymore but only do this lightly as the material will melt, it is
just a case of trial and error as with most things but these methods seem
to work for me anyway.

Good luck, Pipes
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der Blutiger Eimer
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by der Blutiger Eimer »

For what it's worth,
To anyone considering Hiki shoulder boards, I just received a pair. I had ordered jäger green piping on bottle green boards. Received neon yellow/green on bottle green wool. Neon synthetic piping.
Here is the review I posted, in case he "forgets" to post it on his site:

The shoulder boards I received had neon yellow/green piping. Neon. Synthetic material. NEON.
Bottle green wool seems fine, construction seems fine. I will keep these and plan on manually replacing the piping with the correct color material, since the price is still 1/3 what anyone else sells them for, I don't want the hassle of returning or exchanging, and I can work with the bottle green wool.
Overall, good basis for a cheap project. Hiki, please find correct color cotton material for future production.

I have hit the piping with brown shoe polish (crazy idea) and now they're, um, brownish yellow, at least not so glaring neon, and now to keep my eyes open for a suitable replacement piping. Like I said, can't beat the price for a project, but beware the neon.
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Stigroadie

Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Stigroadie »

der Blutiger Eimer wrote: please find correct color cotton material for future production.
Is that what all the originals were piped with, cotton?
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der Blutiger Eimer
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Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by der Blutiger Eimer »

Well, I'm assuming it was NOT originally dayglo neon yellow/green.

Cotton, linen, or maybe rayon, I could understand. The color was totally, absolutely too bright, though. Like road-work crew or traffic cop vest neon.
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Stigroadie

Re: Hiki DAK gear?

Post by Stigroadie »

That colour is nothing to do with what it is made from?
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