Helmet Pick-Ups - Belgian M71, French M78, Yugo M59, Ssh60 etc...

[James C]

russ i forgot to complement you and your kid on your High Altitude Pressure Helmet it looks in superb condition and is very different and unusual from the norm i like it a lot, i hope you dont mind i will share my french f1 for your viewing just to show the car edging fitted with desert storm cover also alongside is my salade covered m51 otan as you can see the cover is trimmed to suit and then finished off with inner tube hope these help and p,s my latest purchase is a british afv tank helmet from the late 70's early 80's in design its been on my want list for a number of years now but wether its worthy of posting a thread about on here is a nother matter cheers james

[MySonsDad]

Hi Russ.

No problem, when I work out to post pics on this forum, I will post up some of my French models if you like.

Car trim can be sourced from ebay fairly cheaply, and is of a similar design to the original French trim.

Opex, this would be great, thanks in advance!

Russ

[MySonsDad]

i hope you dont mind i will share my french f1 for your viewing just to show the car edging fitted with desert storm cover also alongside is my salade covered m51 otan as you can see the cover is trimmed to suit and then finished off with inner tube hope these help

James, thank you so muc hfor sharing these photos, I've not got a bit better idea of how the finished helmet should look. I'll get to working on this in the next week or so. Still not sure if we will do the trim with an inner tube or car door trim.....decisions decisions.

Those Hight Altitude Pressure Helmets are not hard to come by, they are surplus and tons of them floating around it seems. The trick was to find one here in the states as shipping these things from europe runs close to $100 USD. We were lucky enough to find one just a few states over and the seller discounted the price to basically cover the shipping cost.

Oh...and I got to get me one of them M51's. Every time I run across one it seems to have some major defect..........but we're in no hurry and will come across on soon enough. Looking for an early dated one.

Now let's see the Brit Tank helmet please!

Russ

[Opex]

Hi Russ, no problem just need to work out how to attach photo's to the text!

[MySonsDad]

Here is one last helmet I wanted to add to this batch we picked up. I have had it for some time but it’s been tucked away in the closet, with some other Soviet/Afghan period items that I picked up for the kids birthday, which just passed on Sunday.

So here it is...nothing special but if the tale is true, this is a Soviet Ssh68 that was used during the Soviet/Afghan war. It does have the “Been in the Sand Box” look. No way of knowing for sure but I guess it is as likely to be as not.







Russ

[battle gear]

your Russian Ssh68 definitely has the appearance of a battlefield pick up I have a a few and they also have that same salty faded look, I have a couple Ssh60's and couple of Ssh68's all brought back from Iraq & Afghanistan

[James C]

very nice russ i like the soviet 68 helmet a lot its got a been there and bought the T shirt look to it nice find p.s here's that brit tank drivers helmet (A vehicle crewman helmet ) i promised to show you, this is for your thread only as i still dont like posting composite helmets on the world steel helmet thread it just dont seem right, anyway here she is with matching bag what i like is the fact the bag and the inside liner of the lid is dusted with light powdery sand not unlike the inside of my iraqi m80 so you never know it might of seen action in the gulf enjoy james

[MySonsDad]

here's that brit tank drivers helmet (A vehicle crewman helmet ) i promised to show you

James, thanks so much for sharing....I REALLY like this CVC helmet and will no doubt have my eyes open in case one passes by. It sure has that "Been There" look as well....making it all that much more collectable in my opinion.

Thanks, again and looking forward to your Next Installment.....LOL

Russ

[Opex]

Hi Russ.

Like the look of your latest lid, as before it looks like it has seen some time in the sandbox.

[MySonsDad]

the French F1 with salad cover can be easily trimmed for a better fit, the ties string just needs to be moved up the next higher set of holes and then just trim off the excess material and you could also add a piece of tire tube if you like for a more secure and neat appearance

you could use a paper punch to make new holes for the tie string to pass through so it looks the same

the cover should come with metal hooks to grip the edge of the helmet and the tie string is supposed to be around the shell not below the rim

OK, I cleaned up the salad cover a bit on the M78 F-1, looks quite a bit nicer. Not sure if I'm going to add the trim around the edge or not, time will tell, but here she is with her new dress on!







Thanks for the help and suggestions guys

Russ