Further research seems to indicate that for regular US army, the interwar kit greatly resembled WWI kit (which makes sense given how drastically Army funding was cut post-WWI), other than the collar change (from stand-up collars to rolled down ones) around 1926 (implementation varied across the services, but not later than 1927).
Coats also changed in 1926 from a greatcoat with high collar, to the later jacket so any figure after that should have the familiar WWII-era coat.
Anytime during the interwar period, Officers should all have Sam Browne belts (Introduced in 1922) well into 1942 (discontinued then for reasons of economy).
Interestingly, the only headgear allowed by either the US army or the marines in the interwar period was either the helmet (as mentioned, the soup plate Brodie helmet), or the broad-brimmed campaign hat. Peaked garrison caps were only for formal occasions. At least, until 1933, when side caps (which had been used in WWI, but discontinued in 1919) were reintroduced, but only for armoured, mechanized, or Air Corp units.
Leggings were canvas gaiters or puttees and ankle boots by dismounted ranks, or brown leather gaiters and boots by armoured and mounted troops. So this mirrors the Marine image I posted above. In general interwar army and Marine daily-use uniforms were very close (again because of costs).
One difficulty in using WWI figures, is that trousers were more flared (not quite full-flared riding breeches, but something in between them and regular straight trousers - my photo above is a perfect example) from the 20's until 1938, when straight trousers began to be issued to regular infantry and other dismounted units. However, since some units (in particular, officers) retained them into the early war days, you probably have the freedom to choose or to just let it slide.
Combat field equipment should be the M1923 cartridge belt and M1928 haversack, which were both used well into mid WWII.
Complicating things is that in hotter areas, light cotton chinos or herringbone twill (rarer than the cotton) were issued, but I think that under gear and webbing you won't see much difference since the cut was the same. The main thing is that the cotton stuff was a khaki while the HBT was often olive drab (which turned out to be a big problem for visibility in early pacific combat).
This is from 1942, but is from stateside training and shows the herringbone twill uniform carried over from earlier, including older helmet:
So you might be able to use WWI figures and you might be able to use WWII, but either way you've got some converting to do.
05 March 2008, 10:15:18 PM