How to get back original paint on M1 helmet ??

[Dominick Consolazio]

Hello, I have a front seam ww2 m1 helmet. It is in Decent condition for war. Only problem is it has several layers of post war paint. The helmet is now smooth(no cork). I old just like to know if there would be anyway to take off all the pist war paint and get to the original ww2. I'm pretty sure the original paint is still there because by the rim of the helmet you can see some cork

So any advice ? What can I use to get the pist war paint off ? Do I just pale it off or do I have to use paint stripper ??

[Walkwolf]

Acetone will work, but it will be a lot of trouble - and as these are still rather plentiful,
buy a better example. You are not really going to find much original finish if the
surface is smooth - which could be why it was painted over in the first place.

I'd paint over top of all the post-war paint with modern OD - olive drab
#34087, and add new cork/sand to it.........

[MySonsDad]

THere is stuff called GOOF OFF, you can get it at any Home Depot or Loews. Use cotton balls and Q-tips, but as WW has already mentioned, it would be far easier to just get a different helmet, probably cheeper than the cost of suplies to strip the paint off and even then, you have no idea how it is going to come out........

[Dominick Consolazio]

I'm thinking now of just putting a net over it so no one will recognize its smoothness. The paint actually does look like the correct colr for ww2 though, so is it possible that the corking could have worn off ?