Rad m-40

[francis006]

Thanks Bob ,
yes , you're right and it's what makes this hobby interesting .
its why you have to work everydays , always looking for more to discover the "truth" !!!
My pleasure if we can meet one day and discuss your helmet in hands

[BOB COLEMAN]

Thanks Bob ,
yes , you're right and it's what makes this hobby interesting .
its why you have to work everydays , always looking for more to discover the "truth" !!!
My pleasure if we can meet one day and discuss your helmet in hands

The true purpose of this forum is the exchange of knowledge. This is how we all learn. The members here can put ego aside and discuss an items merits and fraults without getting in to insult contests,
I have always had a problem with concepts that become fact through oral tradition. The first fake SS decals I saw were actually a copy of the "Q" decal. Their quality was very poor. Yet for many years, that form of decal, even on original helmets was frowned upon by early collectors. My first SS camo cover was an early model with brass rockers. I wish I had it today. However, as many of the early fake covers were made with brass rockers, all covers with brass covers became fake. My long time friend Bob Hritz has a very early helmet cover with brass rockers. If memory serves me correctly, it is on a transitional form of helmet with the vents cut flush to the shell. (It came out of the trunk of a disabled serviceman who had been in a veteran's hospital since the war. The trunk had been placed under his bed. It was a gift to Bob as a young man as Bob's mother volunteered at the V A Hospital near their home. The vet discovered of the interest of her son and told her to take the helmet to him.
I look forward to the day we can meet and even have a big orange drink or something similar!

[Historiker]

Yes, we can agree to disagree. Francis' opinion does not offend me in the least . . he's entitled to it. Let the discussion continue with even more opinions from other forum members!

Bill

[Historiker]

Thought I would provide a link to the MCF thread about the same gladiator RAD that was the focus of the WAF threads for which Francis provided links: RAD Transfers: Let's explore These Elusive and Controversial Decal - MILITARIA COLLECTING FORUM. The discussion starts with post #40 and there are plenty of photos. Note that the RAD gladiator decals exhibit the same difference in distance between the eagle's head and each wing as the decals on Bob's helmets do . . also, note that a RAD M-42 belonging to Bill Maertz pictured in post #85 on the MCF thread also exhibits this difference. Always best to get both sides of the story.

Bill

[Historiker]

There is also another RAD helmet belonging to Terry Goodapple pictured in post #161 on the MCF thread that exhibits the same difference in distance between the eagle's head and right and left wings.

Bill

[Schwerpunkt]

I was digging on the internet for more info on RAD helmets.
In the meantime 5 years have passed since this topic and I have been very involved with these helmets and specifically the decals.

I have never come across a decal like the one Bob has posted. Only one decal style on all types seen that I can agree with being original.
While open mindedness is important we also should not ignore obvious signs of reproduction.
Francis is in my opinion one of the most dedicated decal analysts we have in our online collecting community and I have not yet seen him fail with his opinions.

That said I believe strongly in doing my own research to double check facts. I have been able to study a lot of RAD decals with the USB microscope. What did it teach me is that the decal is printed exactly the same as a Heer decal. So pulver and print signature are identical. A fake will fail in two areas. 1) Design 2) Print quality more specifically lack of depth and wrong pulver.

Bob's decal is also in my opinion a reproduction. If you can compare with an original Heer under a good light source the difference in pulver should show , I expect this one to be more flat grey than twinkly silver as expected.

[DougB]

Hi Frank, nice to see you posting here again! Your study in RAD decals is commendable, and you've amassed the single largest collection of RAD helmets in the meantime.

No question the construction is a critical element to German helmet decals, and not just graphics alone, something the USB scope proves unequivocally.

[Schwerpunkt]

Hi Frank, nice to see you posting here again! Your study in RAD decals is commendable, and you've amassed the single largest collection of RAD helmets in the meantime.

No question the construction is a critical element to German helmet decals, and not just graphics alone, something the USB scope proves unequivocally.

Thanks Doug , I have been lets say lucky to acquire some good examples 2-3 years ago and than doubling my collection of RAD this year (nuts). Ivan also has 2 or 3 RAD's so Belgium is well stocked with examples now.

Just got send an EF M42 RAD by someone to inspect and it was a good one.

And best of all I hope to add an ET M40 RAD any day now. It looks promising in the first photos.

[Schwerpunkt]

BTW the reason I sunk my teeth in these a few years back is because of the person posting here as 'Bill' aka historiker.
He was selling a lot of dubious helmets on the WAF. The RAD gladiators he was selling were no good.
But there was not much public knowledge on RAD decals back then and he got away with it I think , that was the trigger for me to look for the truth.

[Schwerpunkt]

Hi Bob,

I feel compelled to jump in here as I had an experience on another forum when I put a three-piece gladiator DD RAD, painted brown, up for sale. That helmet had been vetted on yet another forum and was determined to probably be original, based on a large number of very detailled photos, by several well-qualified helmet guys. The discussion went beyond the decals to include the paint and its characterisitics and I learned a good bit from it. Suffice it to say that a discussion was immediately started when the helmet went up for sale by some self-styled "experts" on that particular forum who loudly declared the decals were phony without any basis other than "fake", bad fake", etc. You know the drill. When I asked for the basis for their opinions and pointed out to them the lack of documentation and knowledge about RAD decal maufacture and distribution, they weren't having it, yet couldn't really explain to me the basis for their opinions other than vague generalities (wrong shape, lack of detail, etc.) It was a gruelling experience and got ugly before it was done. I was put on trial and asked to prove that it was original, even though I wasn't the one raising the questions. One individual actually declared that RAD wouldn't have used gladiator helmets, even though there is a period photo of a RAD member wearing one in the Anglia/Littlejohn Labor reference! Go figure!!!!

I agree with you and believe that there were no manufacturing standards or bulk orders for RAD decals that would produce uniformity and don't for a minute think that this M-40 is anything other than original. IMHO, RAD decals were most likely locally manufactured by a number of different small shops, opening the door to minor differences in them. There is nothing to indicate they were ever produced in large numbers or on contract by the well-known decal manufacturers. There are no RAD regulations that specifiy manufacturing standards for helmet decals. In conclusion, I believe, as I pointed out to my challengers, you need to know something about the organization and its history if you want to collect the artifacts . . not just know about the artifacts themselves. Just my two cents . . thanks for listening!

Bill B.

What's in yellow is now a proven incorrect statement.
All original examples I have seen up till now (and I think I have seen all the RAD helmets ever posted online , give or take a couple) have the same style decal.