I know I’ve posted a couple of different dye recipes over the years, and while each one is good in its own right I have come up with what I feel is the end all be all “how to’s” for a good looking GB1 uniform.
Here is my how to:
Take one Tru-Spec deluxe khaki uniform, cut the tags and velcro off and sew or glue the patches on. That is it.
The GB1 uniforms are khaki. There, I said it. Let the arguments begin but I too believe that the suits were a standard khaki color and there was no dye added. I know I am not the first one to have this opinion but after photographing the suits in different lighting conditions I have no reason to believe that the suits need any gray dye added.
Here is my Tru-Spec with no dye added:
Fluorescent back light with camera flash:
Fluorescent back light with no flash:
The suits appear gray enough on their own with the right lighting. What do you guys think?
Funny side note; I was at a gun show today because they usually have people selling old military surplus stuff. I actually found someone that had 2 jumpsuits made out of that ripstop nylon that the older jumpsuits (i.e. the GB1 accurate) were made out of but they were olive drab and like size 36R. I asked if he ever sees the khaki ones and he just laughed at me and said good luck finding them in that color.
Point of my story? The accurate flight suits are still out there some where but I agree that tru-spec makes a very good khaki flight suit substitute for the rest of us.
No argument here. I like the way your Tru-Spec looks. Very close to what the original suits looked like.
The only thing I want to know is that I heard the Tru-Spec is not as accurate as the Nomex as far as pockets and zippers go. There might have been a couple other things, but I can’t seem to find it right now. Any info on that?
Yes, that’s the one thing that bugs me about the Tru-Spec’s. They are missing some of the pockets on the left leg. If you look at my second picture, you can compare my jumpsuit to Adam’s (the guy with the Venkman name tag). His has the leg pockets.
The Tru-Spec is not 100% movie accurate in those respects but most people will not know that.
I personally like my Tru-Specs and there will be no argument that it is a GB suit when it is all said and done. It is of better quality and has details in it (such as brass zippers and a storm flap) that the yellowish Rothco’s are missing. I think if you really wanted to get down to it, you could cut up an extra Tru-Spec and have that extra pocket or two sewn in just for looks if you really needed it. For a budget suit, it doesn’t get much better than this IMO.
I love that last picture matt, very good for comparison.
Obviously the tru-spec’s color is very close to the movie but the lack of thigh pockets and the knife pocket on the inner left thigh make it slightly inaccurate.
It would be better for comparison if I knew what everyone was wearing. Tru-Spec is the way to go especially if you are a big boy. It’s impossible to find a cheap nomex in my size on ebay and I will NOT pay the $200 bucks for a new one. So either you slim down or go Tru-Spec until the “slimming” process is complete!
I know some people are really fixed on nomex suits but I personally prefer my Tru-Spec over my nomex suit. The nomex I have has black zippers and is not as breathable as the poly/cotton. I also think the color on my Tru-Spec is slightly better as well. The lack of certain pockets doesn’t bother me- being able to wear the suit comfortably is more important. So far, nobody has come up to me confused about what uniform I am wearing because of the different material or lack of pockets. Everyone knows when I am wearing my Tru-Spec I am supposed to be a Ghostbuster.
I have 2 tru-specs, one khaki and one charcoal, and a khaki nomex. I wear the tru-spec when its hot and will wear the nomex this coming halloween when it’s cooler.
Hey thor, take a dremel with a wire wheel attachment or some sandpaper and grind the black paint off your zippers
I think that the pic mburkit has of the original guys there is conclusive that the suits aren’t dyed and after everyone’s played the new game I think less folks will be dying their suits.
First and foremost, I am not here to start shit, nor do I want to be jumped on by a mob of angry Krusaders…
That being said, I must say that I’m pretty sure everyone agrees that the movie uniforms were in-fact NOT dyed. I’ll buy that. However, I still believe that the standard, factory direct, military issue khaki flight suitsin 1984 were just a different color of khaki or beige than what is offered today. To think that flight suits made by completely different manufacturers, separated by 25 years are the exact same color is ludacris. Now, I’ve seen pictures of truspecs, I’ve seen them up close, in-person, and they are just…too…yellow..
If you watch GB1 (we’ve all seen it a million times or else we wouldn’t be here…), you’ll notice that the suits look greyish a very good percentage of the time. Casey Casem even calls them the “Boys in Grey”. Now, I certainly don’t think the uniforms were all grey. Repeat, I DON’T think the uniforms were all grey. I do, however, believe that some dying or tinting is necessary to mimic the appearance of a flight suit from 1984. At the very least, I feel like tru specs should be color stripped because their natural color is just too…khaki. It’s all about visual “behavior”. The color of the original suits is elusive because it appears to change with lighting conditions. But, like I said, most of these lighting conditions produce a greyish-pinkish-khaki color, at least to the eye.
It comes down to this: The idea of “color” is nothing more than different wavelengths of light reflecting off of materials, hitting our retinas, and being processed by our brains. Well guess what? Nobody’s eyes or brains are the same. Therefore, what looks purple to me might look blue to someone else, and what looks greyish to me might look tan to another.
You JERK, coming in here and starting Shi . . . .haha just kidding
No, I agree with you. The tru-specs are made out of different material by a different manufacturer 25 years later. It would be stupid to say they are an exact match. I think the point of this thread is more of this: all 3 major types of flights out there right now (rothco, Tru-Spec, and the Nomex ones) are different shades of “khaki”. Out of these three types of flights suits, I (and some of the people in this thread) believe the Tru-Specs, out of the box, have the closest color to the ones used in the film. That does not mean they are the most accurate. In fact, they are missing pockets and are a different material to name just a few differences.
So how dare you come in here with your rational thinking and what have yous . . .
How dare I bring logic into the People’s Republic of GBFans! Actually, I will agree that Truspecs have the closest “out of the box” color. Especially after opening my rothco and finding a nice shade of bile. I’ll tell you this though, as far as quality, I will agree now that truspecs are better than rothcos. Truspecs have a more “substantial” fabric, not to mention the ever popular “storm flap”. Basically the rothcos have their place for those who want easy dying and don’t want to sweat their balls off (65% cotton is very nice).
I would like to interject here that if you try and color strip a Tru-Spec khaki, good luck. I soaked mine in a half full washer of hot water with 2 boxes of color remover for 2 hours and there was absolutely NO color change. I was also not going to even attempt to soak the uniforms in bleach.
I ordered some Tru-Spec khaki uniforms and I got 2 different shades. Point is, even finding a flight suit made by the same manufacturer won’t 100% guarantee that it will match others of its kind. In the case of mine, I got a uniform from an older batch with a different style information tag so I am guessing that this was just a fluke and a uniform left in their inventory from several years ago. I do make sure if I order multiple uniforms to put in the special instructions to make sure the suits match in color.
I hear you sir. I tried to color strip a navy uni that was mostly polyester and it was like pulling teeth. Like I said, there’s always a trade-off. In this case it’s the polyester content.
I will agree with this point. I sweat non stop in my Tru-Spec, its not even funny. The thing is thicker then the Rothcos for sure. I can’t wait till the fall again so instead of sweating, I’ll be nice and warm.
Which is why I prefer my poly/cotton one.