My M35 Heer Helmet

[Sebastian]

You destroyed it :/

[Glenn66]

It was destroyed when it was painted black after the war.

[Schwerpunkt]

It looks like a cheap re-enactor helmet now. Its history erased and you wrecked a perfectly decent liner and chinstrap. This is more a topic for the restoration forum (if you can even call it that) as I don't enjoy such topics as a helmet collector.

[Luxembourg]

@All,
the helmet was destroyed when it was painted black! Someone repainted it first red then black and that looked reallyreally shit! He take the paint of with a cutting disc... You can´t see that on the first photo but no one wants a helmet like that also the display of it...
And i made the leather only soft, if I left it a couple of years, the leather re-become dry and bright. I don´t like war stuff that I can´t touch because otherwise it aborts...
Alex

[talltom]

personally i think you did a good job on restoring it its for your own enjoyment well done

tom

[ObKrieger]

I understand why you painted the outside, however please do not use any kind of leather treatment products on any German liner. It will just ruin it faster.

[Luxembourg]

thanks tom and ObKrieger..ok now I know that with the leather, but it was really bad and I used only natural fat. Next time I leave it like it is.
Alex

[davejb]

I dont want to appear as the one who says you did wrong, but if you had asked via the helmet restoration section of this forum you would have received some advice as what not to do, admittedly someone ruined the outside paint prior to your acquiring it , but the leather, although stiff could have been dealt with differently, if you add oils or anything that soaks into the leather deeply it helps to eventually destroy the fibres of the leather and at the same time changes the colour, a simple light wipe with some vaseline would have helped to semi rehydrate the top surface of the leather without changing the colour drastically, if you were going to change the colour as for your own personal display , there was no need to remove the black, two coats of spray would have been sufficient, to be honest i would have left it as was, and simply stated it was a repainted helmet, i am assuming you dont know when the black was applied therefore no idea what age the paint was but it had its own patina , yours has none now, except the inner original colour and the name which doesnt match the overall condition, we all make mistakes, sometimes costly ones but use this as a learning experience and if your not sure just ask

[Luxembourg]

Yeah thanks, so natural fat was wrong? I repainted it 1 year ago and the black was after the war because someone tryied to denazified it.
Yes if few of you think it was wrong so tell it me NORMAL not like that I'm an idiot who don't know anything. Everyone makes mistakes but don't speak to me like that, Schwerpunkt.
Alex

[davejb]

Fine my young friend, if its normal you want instead of friendly, you buggered the thing up, and destroyed the liner, i cant be more honest than that, but in future when looking at your posts, i will choose not to help, it seems that there are some people who can learn from experience and some that take it as an afront to their intellect, so be it, i would have been pleased at a straight thankyou for the advice, especially when i certainly didnt call you an idiot, we have all made mistakes and i try to help people in not making them again, as i said we learn from experience, as i did and every member on here, but we listened to the help and advice from people who knew more