Restoring a USN MkIII Special Purpose Mask

[GasMasksUK]

Its relatively unusual for people to restore gas masks as its easier to simply buy a new one (depending if its common or not) but this one was certainly worth restoration because of it being something very rare and unusual. I know that many people are against serious restoration on items like this as it takes away the character, however this mask was too far gone to really have any potential as a decent display item.

The particular mask is something rather unusual, and very rare. Its more or less the facepiece of a USN MkIII Gas Mask that has been modified for use with Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (or so I believe) I've only seen a 5 other examples of it, hence why it needed to be saved from being thrown out, which was what was going to happen to it

I spotted it on the US ebay, other people obviously hadnt realised what it was, so I asked the seller what shipping to the UK was, and kindly the seller said it was mine for free if I paid for the shipping costs as he was going to throw it out, I couldnt refuse


The first thing I done was break the piece down into its main parts; facepiece, head harness and the hoses


The exterior of the facepiece, as you can see its badly damaged as a result of very poor storage, the voice diaphragm/exhale assembly is completely seperated from the facepiece. Its sitting on top of it just for the sake of the photo.


The inside of the facepiece, badly damaged like the exterior.


The head harness, nice and intact


The hoses, the part that makes this mask different from most MkIII Masks

The next step was to hunt down a good MkIII facepiece, and fortunately this wasnt hard there was one for sale on ebay several days after I bought the remains of the Special Purpose Mask.

After an hour or so of messing around with wire, tape and glue I attached the head harness and hoses to the good facepiece

Heres the results









Thanks

Danny

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Very interesting find and definately gone to the right Guy, its a lucky piece. Im certainly looking forward to seeing the each stage of the restoration on this beauty. Thanks for taking the time to photograph and post it.
Already I cant wait to see the next stage.
LUCKYSTRIKE

[GasMasksUK]

Very interesting find and definately gone to the right Guy, its a lucky piece. Im certainly looking forward to seeing the each stage of the restoration on this beauty. Thanks for taking the time to photograph and post it.
Already I cant wait to see the next stage.
LUCKYSTRIKE

I've just updated the post with the completed piece

Thanks

Danny

[Eric Zentner]

I like it good job Danny.

Eric

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Great job Danny, bringing that back from the dead.
Sorry for my earlier haste.
LUCKYSTRIKE

[GasMasksUK]

Thanks very much guys....I know I've stopped collecting, but sometimes the urge can't be resisted

Thanks

Danny

[Nige H]

Nice job Danny, and very much worth the time and effort to save rebuild and restore. As you stated many people throw out such things as to much bother etc to restore but its nice to see a positive result with your project.

Nige

[GasMasksUK]

Thanks Nige, I think the seller seen it as nothing special, but at least he made an attempt to sell it instead of just throwing it out. Luckily I just happened to go on ebay to see what the current market is like This is the second very rare mask that I've managed to saved from being thrown out, there should be a law against it

Thanks

Danny