Rhodesian Army loadout
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by LettuceHead » Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:13 pm
Mmmmm... Rhodesian...
Yes, true Rhodesian camo is a phony pony to find. I have a pair of the Adro reproductions that I've had for 20 years. I passed on a matching bush jacket at the time and have been kicking myself ever since. Regretting a potential purchase from 20 years ago should give people an idea how rare this stuff is.
One thing about the bush wars I've noticed is that due to the remoteness of the theatre and the harshness of the conditions, most of the combatants and especially the mercenary forces ended up looking like pirate crews. Studying pictures of British forces I have seen a mish mash of P58, P44 and P37 webbing, P08 entrenching tools and water bottles, Chinese chest rigs... you get the idea.
I've seen a few different patterns that the weapons were painted... my personal fave pattern was angled bands of khaki about 3 inches wide... simple and effective anywhere. One must remember that the range of observation and engagement in Africa was much farther than what we are used to and that patterns tended to be high contrast and large so as not to cause a 'dark blob' effect when viewed from afar.
Yes, true Rhodesian camo is a phony pony to find. I have a pair of the Adro reproductions that I've had for 20 years. I passed on a matching bush jacket at the time and have been kicking myself ever since. Regretting a potential purchase from 20 years ago should give people an idea how rare this stuff is.
One thing about the bush wars I've noticed is that due to the remoteness of the theatre and the harshness of the conditions, most of the combatants and especially the mercenary forces ended up looking like pirate crews. Studying pictures of British forces I have seen a mish mash of P58, P44 and P37 webbing, P08 entrenching tools and water bottles, Chinese chest rigs... you get the idea.
I've seen a few different patterns that the weapons were painted... my personal fave pattern was angled bands of khaki about 3 inches wide... simple and effective anywhere. One must remember that the range of observation and engagement in Africa was much farther than what we are used to and that patterns tended to be high contrast and large so as not to cause a 'dark blob' effect when viewed from afar.
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LettuceHead - Soldier
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by Colosseum » Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:30 am
The general idea behind a Rhodesian army loadout is that they used whatever they could get their hands on; mostly British and South African webbing, as well as captured stuff they took from the Communist-Terrorists (Chinese chest rigs come to mind). There was a camping supplier in Salisbury that made the Fire Force vests and the FN magazine chest rigs.
If Rhodesia had had access to the stuff the US Army threw away in Vietnam, they probably could have steam rolled the terrorists even more than they already did.
If Rhodesia had had access to the stuff the US Army threw away in Vietnam, they probably could have steam rolled the terrorists even more than they already did.
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by Stoffe » Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:55 am
That looked really nice! I have a rhodesian loadout to, probarbly the one in sweden right now! 
It´s good to see that i´m not alone in the airsoft world to think that rhodie gear is the coolest.
It´s good to see that i´m not alone in the airsoft world to think that rhodie gear is the coolest.- Stoffe
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