M-38 Helmet

[real steel]

The member "Warbuff" recently posted a tanish pink FJ helmet. Take a look at the interior rim & you can see what I am trying to say.

[M38]

Yes, it does need to have the score or groove on the rolled rim to be original. If not there, no good.

This is the best place for repro M38 parts:

FJ-Werke Home Page

I did not see bolts in any of the pictures you provided so I cannot say if they are good copies or not.

If this is NOT an original shell then no use spending any money on it at all. Need to determine that first and not sure it can be done with photos alone since it is so damaged by pitting and sand blasting. Might be best to just leave well enough alone at this point and show it to someone who knows what they are looking at first.

Cheers,
Terry

[warbuff]

The member "Warbuff" recently posted a tanish pink FJ helmet. Take a look at the interior rim & you can see what I am trying to say.

Here is the helmet he is referring to. you can see the line on the interior rim.

[The Devil's Bank]

Firstly, the "seam" isn't a "seam", it's a tiny groove and it's not straight, at a very slight angle and it doesn't go over the top of the rim, when I run my finger nail along the rim top, there's no change, no little dint or slight bump, just a straight run of the rim.
It seems "new" to me , i'm leaning towards a possible clamp type thing that maybe held it up for the sand blasting??

Some more pictures of the rolled rim..

I'm finding this thread fascinating and very interesting at the same time, thanks for your input and help.

[kradman]

When i first saw this shell i was thinking the same thing i could not see the roll on the edge ,if its fake someone has really aged it ?

[The Devil's Bank]

I've had good look at the "rolled rim", and in parts, you can just make out what looks (to me) like part of a crease.

Would this crease be in between the bottom edge of the helmet itself and the top folded edge inside?

It's hard to get decent picture of the rim, but there does seem to be some thing there, may be it's just the rust?

I've had this helmet for well over 25 years, just rusting/flaking away with it's crap paint job, needing some TLC.

I think the sand blasting has taken a lot of detail from the helmet, as in some places, it is very smooth indeed.

Any chaps in the UK who could give it a good look over??

[M38]

I think in the last picture you can faintly see a groove there. Keep in mind that these grooves were just a side effect of the manufacturing process and not something done on purpose. So the groove is sometimes fainter or heavier, straighter or more crooked, solid line or with gaps, higher or lower. I think the rolling machine that rolled the rim had a wheel that ran around the inner edge as it rolled the rim. For some reason, you only see this groove on ET/ckl and SE/hkp manufactured helmets. The other helmet companies must have had a different method or machine for rolling the rim. So bottom line, I still think this is an original shell.

Cheers,
Terry

[M38]

Here is a picture of a typical groove on an M38 rolled rim.

Cheers,
Terry

[The Devil's Bank]

Hi Terry, funnily enough, the top picture shows the groove better, when it's in the dark?? it seem to be high lighted better..

The picture above, clearly shows how faint and defined the groove/crease can be, so, from the first number 9 on the picture, going to the far left, I'm pretty much sure this wouldn't show on my one at all. From the number 7 going to the far right, it is quite prominent and I think only bits would show.

When it was first stripped, it was a lot rustier and the pitting was really heavy in places, I was trying find the original paint scheme. The sand blasting has cleaned it up considerably. Why can't people leave things alone?

A friend has just aquired a 100% M-38 and is sending me some pictures of the folded rim.

[M38]

Always hard to tell definitively things like this from photos alone. Bottom line is, every M38 should have that groove to some degree. Some are more obvious and clear than others, but it is just a by product of the production and should always be there. The shape of the shell, the shape of the flare, the shape of the brim, the shape of the bolt holes - these are all telltale signs of original shells and yours seems to be okay in all these areas. Best of luck with your continuing investigation.

Cheers,
Terry