Kev Smith
For as long as I can remember I have had an interest in all aspects of Military History. As a boy, my great love was aviation. I was a founder member of the Duxford Aviation Society (Membership No.19) at what is now the IWM outstation at Duxford airfield, and spent many hours over several years happily working on the exhibits there.
Although I have never lost the fascination with aircraft ( I worked as an airframe/engine fitter for 15 years ), I realised that I would never be likely to own the objects of my affection. All collectors have a bit of the obsessive/compulsive in them, and it had to come out somewhere. Luckily, a new direction presented itself with the discovery of a wad of family letters relating to the death of my Grandfather who had been killed driving a Mark V Tank in 1918. This one bit deep, with the result that I have been collecting First World War militaria for some twenty years; "filling my house with junk" as my Mother used to say!
Collectors are also quite a social bunch, and eventually, through friends, I was introduced to the activities of the Khaki Chums. This provided yet another tangent to shoot off at, that of reproduction kit and equipment.
Over the past few years I have reproduced many diverse items, from Vickers machine guns to kilt covers, from gasmasks to 1914 pattern leather equipment. I take the view that there is nothing that has ever been made that cannot be remade, given the time, effort and stupidity. One thing that we all have in common is the pleasure of getting the detail right, and "fooling the experts" when it comes to the appearance of our repro kit. We are, after all, those annoying people who telephone to say that the Mk. 19 split pin could not possibly have appeared until six months after the period of your documentary, so who better to take on board?
It would be fair to say, that we never know what we will be asked to do next, but then, that's the buzz after all. Until Taff calls me and says "Kev, can you make a Polaris submarine?", then I remain supremely confident, and looking forward to the next challenge - What's yours?
Kev Smith.
