Looking at putting together a Gothic Serpent kit for a Black Hawk Down event later this year. It is, by a mile, my favourite film and in all the years playing I’ve managed to do a BHD-sim only once, with Stirling Airsoft at Catterick. On that occasion, the team and I stretched only to a tricolor shirt and then ran our Multicam kits over the top. As far as impressions go, it was shit but we had a busy calendar and times were hard. Now, things are different…

A Gothic Serpent loadout has been my dream probably since the film came out, but to do it correctly is very expensive and the kit as you might imagine is hard to come by. I’ve been fascinated by the dedicated Facebook groups for that era and how exact they are with purchases. Unfortunately, I can’t stretch to that straight off the bat but I am keen to make an effort to help the event. It isn’t a kit I’d use often unfortunately because that desert tricolor is a bit bright in the UK countryside.

So far in my vast collection, I’ve mustered an ALICE belt, buttpack and water bottle/pouch. I have the full tricolor bdu’s. And an M4A1 which if you squint at half a mile is passable. It’s…a start. The event is being run by Defiant Events at HQ Airsoft near York, UK, in September. They’ve stated that there’s no need for Gothic Serpent loadouts but they appreciate anyone trying, so that’s what I’m going to do. The legendary Delta loadout.

Call it a budget build, it isn’t going to pass any expert critique but for an event like this, it’s enough to help set the scene and create some level of immersion for the players involved. And it looks way cooler than being decked out in Multicam with a Warrior plate carrier or viper vx rig like everyone else.

So, my bdu’s. Genuine tricolor desert. Good start. The actual shirts were raid modded, which involves unstitching the lower front pockets and restitching them on the upper arms, which the Delta guys preferred and is probably a precursor to our shoulder pockets on modern combat shirts – my man Bubba has a sewing machine for modifying kit so that’s a possibility. I’m not going to be a Walt and try and slap any insignia on it so that’ll do for the uniform.

Next up, starting from the top, is that iconic lid. As everyone knows, Delta ran black skate helmets with a few accessories taped on. Yeah, taped. No fancy 3d printed rails or MLOK crap. Specifically, these were made by Protec and as far as I can tell, were the classic 1973 model with a white foam insert, and both Half and Full cut were used. Basically, your normal skate helmet or one with extended ear protection. The extended version I don’t think I’d get on with although it looks easier to attach comms to. I might do a whole article on building the helmet as bits arrive – I’ve already found the original ’73 reproduced by Protec themselves, including the original logo. A pair of M44 dust goggles will sit on the front, and possibly a strobe taped on top. Iconic.

In terms of load bearing, it’s a hefty setup of a black body armour replica, black chest rig on top and then a full ALICE setup on top of that. Damn, it’s going to be warm. The ALICE I want for a few other kits anyway, and as above I’ve got a couple of pieces for it, which I’ll add to by shopping around eBay and sifting through surplus shops. There’s a pretty decent replica of the Tactical PT body armour, and the Navy Seal chest rig now made by 8fields, which is about as cheap as you’ll ever get and is fairly easy to source. I can get both new for £60, which is a big chunk of the kit done easily. I’ll be looking closely through the original photos to see if there are any other little details to add. I’m tempted as well to give a very light dusting of tan krylon, or roll around in the dirt at Dirty Dog Airsoft to avoid that “shiny new” look.

Gloves were a pair of green Nomex flight gloves, and the boots originally were black Adidas GSG9’s. As a sniper I don’t own any black boots whatsoever, so unsure whether to splash out on a pair just for this. The flight gloves are easy enough. The only other potential addition might be some black knee pads. Not all the Delta guys wore them, so I’m counting that as optional.

To the weapon, unfortunately at short notice, it’ll be an M4A1 which is too modern (by a year), with a genuine XM177 handguard, because that’s all I’ve got. To be correct, you’d be looking at an m727 or m733 (also M653 and M723) for the most part, The original M16/M4 upper receivers with the built-in rather than detachable carry handle seem stupidly expensive, so that’s perhaps a longer-term project. I would love to have an m4 with changeable upper/barrel sets to swap out for different kits. Again, it’ll not please the hardcore milsimmers but it’ll do me for an impression.

Comms – Comms can just fuck off, I’m running my baofeng and nobody can stop me.

I’ve done plenty of kits before but never undertaken one so in depth, even though I’ll be heaping out on replicas and alternatives. It’s a fascinating challenge, and time is fairly short. There’s a lot to plan in terms of weekend kit too, as it’s a different type of event to anything I’ve done before, so I’ll do a few blogs along the journey to explain how as a team we’re approaching it.

Time to get Voodoo Child on the old record player…