Help with restoring an INDUSTRIAL DAMAGED M40 Luftschutz.

[ObKrieger]

You could always send it my way and then the dilemma would be lifted off your shoulders.

[GIZMO8Z]

You could always send it my way and then the dilemma would be lifted off your shoulders.

We seem to be pretty like-minded young guys... What would you do in my situation?

Let's face it... beaded helmets aren't worth much to begin with. With the damage this helmet has, it's more or less worthless. As such, I feel ok about messing with it. Keep in mind, I would never try to sell this helmet as original/ unrestored.

I can:

1. Leave it as is.

2. Leave the damage as is, but restore the helmet so the damage looks like battle damage.

3. There is a chance a fellow teacher at our districts Career and Technical Institute (high school vocational program) can work it into his cirriculum and get some students to bang out the dents/ get rid of the scratch marks. The downside is that the students may mess it up.

4. My father knows a metal fabricator and welder who has the equipment to properly bang out the dents and get rid of the scratches. The downside is that he may charge me (but it could very well be free)... and of course if he did the work then I wouldn't have students involved in restoring it.

[M18922]

2.

[big ned]

We seem to be pretty like-minded young guys... What would you do in my situation?

Let's face it... beaded helmets aren't worth much to begin with. With the damage this helmet has, it's more or less worthless. As such, I feel ok about messing with it. Keep in mind, I would never try to sell this helmet as original/ unrestored.

I can:

1. Leave it as is.

2. Leave the damage as is, but restore the helmet so the damage looks like battle damage.

3. There is a chance a fellow teacher at our districts Career and Technical Institute (high school vocational program) can work it into his cirriculum and get some students to bang out the dents/ get rid of the scratch marks. The downside is that the students may mess it up.

4. My father knows a metal fabricator and welder who has the equipment to properly bang out the dents and get rid of the scratches. The downside is that he may charge me (but it could very well be free)... and of course if he did the work then I wouldn't have students involved in restoring it.

OR No.5

You Could try something similar to this and put it up outside the firm's office.....

Regards, Ned.

[GIZMO8Z]

OR No.5

You Could try something similar to this and put it up outside the firm's office.....

Regards, Ned.

LOL. I'll run it by my mother... she's in charge of the office.

[ObKrieger]

Well it looks like it was a double decal police that was painted over postwar. The decal you have concerns about should be a police decal, not an SS. You are right about the other side being a party decal. The only funny thing about it is the decal placement. They are each on the wrong sides of each other. Having said that, they could be misplaced for a variety of reasons.

I have a single decal army M40 that was also painted black that I brought back to life. I think I did a decent job of removing the paint simply by scratching it, which I was easily able to do since the paint was incredibly thin. You could do the same if you wanted to, but either be very careful around the decals or have a professional do the decals for you. If you plan on keeping it (which I imagine you will) then the best you could do is remove the black paint, which will turn it into a pretty nice display piece. As to the damage, I would just proudly tell people that you saved it from the trash heap, but only after it went through the grinder. That in itself is a pretty cool story to tell.

(Or you could give it to me.)

[GIZMO8Z]

I have a single decal army M40 that was also painted black that I brought back to life. I think I did a decent job of removing the paint simply by scratching it, which I was easily able to do since the paint was incredibly thin.

How did you go about scratching off the paint? Any tips, or useful tools that you'd recommend?

As to the damage, I would just proudly tell people that you saved it from the trash heap, but only after it went through the grinder. That in itself is a pretty cool story to tell.

Yeah... I know... but I want it to look like it should. I feel bad that I wasn't paying attention and let the helmet get damaged in the first place. Is it bad that I want to bang out the dents and buff out the scratches?

(Or you could give it to me.)

lol, I promise I'll keep on the lookout for you! I'm just attached to this one!

[GIZMO8Z]

I've posted this in 2 other threads. If this is a problem, let me know and I'll delete this post!

We were able to save the original paint and parts of the decals hiding under the bogus black paint on the beaded M40. This is our progress so far:

[Walkwolf]

I've used the smooth, round head of a large carriage bolt to hammer out
dings in some helmets. It works well, but the paint chips off.

I wouldn't worry about any of the repainted finish or the decals on your
helmet though, as I believe them to be repro/recent additions.

The decals were positioned wrong, and should have been
located under the air vents.

[WOODSNAKE]

Hiya Giz, any advance on ya Beady?

Phill