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Re: M45 Helmets
I'm new here but I have been following the M-45 debate for years.
I'll run down what I think, there are three possibilities.
1. Actually a B/II Thale helmet, only one known to still exist in a museum of DDR stuff in Berlin, since there is only one and we know where it is, this is not it. One other point the one existent B/II has a rolled-under edge like the M-35 & M-40 Stahlheme.
2. East German prototype for the M-56, extremely unlikely but within the realm of possibility, all of the tools for helmet production were in the Soviet occupied section of Germany.
3. This helmet is faked, this is most likely scenario, happens all the time in the German helmet collecting world.
That being said the "M-45" Stahlhelm would have likely have looked a lot like this. Depending on when adopted, it might also have had a single decal, stamped vent holes, semi-glossy paint and rolled-under edges if early in the war or no vents, rough paint, flattened edges like the M-42 & M-56 or a mix of these attributes.
If I were to rate the M-56 helmet I would say that it is the very best steel helmet ever built. Only the modern plastics and computer modeling have bested the M-56 and not until 2004.
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04-01-2010 04:13 AM
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Re: M45 Helmets
Is that the model B or BII? I wished I had seen that patent application a long time ago that would have solved a lot of arguments and provided better quality fakes. 
My helmet collection contains both real and fake stahlhelme not to damage the collecting community but if you think I'm going to pay $4000+ for a helmet you are nuts. My fakes are clearly marked "FAKE" inside the crown but are otherwise as close to factory condition as I can make them. I want good quality examples sitting on my shelf. What is funny is that I rebuilt my Kevlar helmet while I was in Iraq with new Oregon Areo webbing and cushions, someday some collector will be arguing whether it is a "fake" or not. My CVC helmet will be just as contentious as it is non-standard too.
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Re: M45 Helmets
Well, a little suprised to find my liner here on a search to see if anything new has turned up on a b/II helmet lately. I made that liner in the center of the photos, and just for the record, it does indeed have the rivets holding the srings on, where the red arrows are pointing. You just can't see them because the liner covers them up. I didnt pay much attention to it when I was sticking the Czech army leather in there. I have only made one liner like that, and in any case, a small rivet or two is really the easiest way to attach the part.
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Re: M45 Helmets
After a year and a half of silence, the mouldering zombie-like corpse of this thread rises once more???
PLEEAASE Mr fahnenschmied ( flags smith ) show us some photos of your manufactured liner to settle this once and for all.
Dan
" I'm putting off procrastination until next week "
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Well that was tiring and emotional. I need a drink.
A shame Brian's pictures are mostly gone, and odd? Hmmm. It was strange the alleged creator of the M44 liner suddenly rocks up with earth shattering info and is gone into the mist just as quickly. Crazy thread.
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I have allegedly been busy with other projects, including making a bunch of iron ration sacks for WWI reenacting, repainting the Panzerschreck I built from scratch, replicating some WWI patriotic German tobacco bags, repainting a couple of reenacting helmets, cutting a stencil to make some great war breadsacks, making some new harnesses and covers for WWI canteens, and when I get a break from reworking this batch of crummy indian made muskets I'm reworking for some 18th century reenactors, I'll get back to working on my replica Telefunken Volksfernseher E1 television set. That is what I have been doing off in the mist....that, plus collecting every Ilse Werner picture I can find, tweaking my PTR44 to work, aand working now and again on a model glider I'm building from 1930s german plans...
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Alright. Do you have any photos of the liner you made that could be matched to the one in the thread?
Just to confirm: Is the liner you made the one that is in the BII helmet in post number 1 belonging to Brian? Or is it the picture of the liner out of a helmet, on top of a black leather item with the brick wall in the background?
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The liner I made is perched atop a boot, in front of a brick wall. I have never made but one liner like this. I probably don't have the proportions of the springs right, but I was happy with the chinstrap hanger loops. They are different from the wartime liners, and most reproers and fakers use them right off the NVA liner. I can't see the picture in post one for some reason, but I can assure you it is no work of mine.
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Right then, no worries. That was the reason I was a bit stand-offish with you in my previous post. I thought you were saying you had made the liner in Brian's helmet, which would be a bit of a bombshell to drop and then not reply again 
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