Personally I am very excited to see Shawn's Doniger. If he can study it carefully and re-create the nuances and get the details right, and get the grading workable... I think he could do really well with it. I will certainly buy one.
I am not sure about that horsehide, I guess we will see more of it, but hell, Shawn really is trying... And should be encouraged.
I've said it before, these AVI and 5 Star jackets are
NOT ELC, GW, BK-types... They are not at that level (at the moment). But they do serve an important niche here, as has been discussed, infinitely.
These jacket are 70% plus
there, compared to the top-tier's 90-100%... for example. But at a fraction of the cost, and thats the main point for me.
If you have an urge to patch a jacket, or try your hand at giving one a paint job, but don't want to potentially ruin your £1200 baby, or simply cannot justify that kind of money on any jacket, but still want some WW2 specific detailing - then these are perfectly good buys!
At least as good and in many cases better than some of the lower and mid range jackets currently on offer.
With my experience with AVI and from what I see of Shawn's work, practically speaking... these are at the same
quality as any original I've seen, and will last a life time. If you are
only after as-close-to-dammit detailing and authenticity, you can
only go top-tier, but be prepared to pay for that.
Anyone and everyone is free to comment and offer criticism, but respectfully and within context.
Some of you guys have had many years of experience with originals, and some valuable insights to offer up. You don't have to buy one, but pay-it-forward with constructive criticism and advice.
Then we all win at the end of the day.
The way prices are going, we will do well to encourage and support these guys where we can... Just consider a few years from now when the top-tiers are approaching the $2000 mark... Perhaps by then AVI and Shawn have a couple of really good jackets, 80 to 90% there... as far as detailing and authenticity goes, for a few hundred pounds!!! At least there will still be jackets to buy! And we will still have a hobby