Opinions please

[milmuseum]

Thanks Kradspam,
I only plan on working on the outside of the helmet. Since the paint job and decal is so crappy to start with, I don't think I can go too wrong trying to get to the paint underneath. Hopefully I can get to it this weekend. I have some more pictures of my collection I was going to post also.

Burt

[JPhilip]

Hello Gentlemen,
When a liner has a brownish or reddish color, it does not mean at 100% that it is a norvegian recons. Please remember that in the past, a lot of collectors did not have the same way to behave regarding what to do with the helmet. The "fashion" now is to leave it as it is, but in the past liners have been cleaned, greased, oiled, etc....and some of these products may have change the color of the leather.
I know a M35 which has an oiled liner which looks like norvegian recons....but it's pure german helmet seized in France in 1944...
Thanks

[davejb]

True, but one of the signs are the small brass leather pins that were used, also the type of dye they used is quite distinctive and on occassions that dye is left on the rim of the liner band, another way in which i tell the dyed ones is any overbleed that seeps through the vent holes or seam of the liner, it can become difficult at times depending if the wearer had a hair cream that was continuously used which can seep into the leather and alter the colour over the years because of the oil used in the cream

[KradSpam]

I thought about that too and there seems to be no dye bleed through the holes in the liner to the reverse. I would try various spirits, starting with the least aggressive, mineral spirits and acetone have worked well for me in the past, see this thread for results with acetone https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/steel...rprise-133259/

Keep us posted with your project too, I'm curious to see what you end up with. It was a treat cleaning back that camo of mine I hope you enjoy the process

[Tom Bennett]

I Love a project like that.
I would use Acetone on the outside but maybe a tough scrub.Somtime's a wire pot scrubber will take paint away faster but be careful over decal area and use water to dillute after every stroke here. Acetone will take the red colour from the leather liner so give that a go as ive done a few and they come up nice. Depending on the condition of rivet's and washer's as being original to Helmet i would clean it while still inside:-)

Tom

[Walkwolf]

Another thing I remember about Norwegian lids is a size stamp
on the liner with a circle around it that is very large.........

[milmuseum]

Well I finally got this done as far as I am going to go. It appears that a lot of the original paint was missing before It was painted black. The black enamel paint was a bitch to remove. he must have had 3 or 4 coats of the stuff. I can see that it is a more grey Feldgrau than green. This make me think it was not a Norwweigan helmet. I spent a lot of time around the decal area and there was only a bit left before it was re-painted black. I could also feel the aluminum oxide they used in the paint, it's quite rough. Now I need to decide if I am going to re-paint it or not. There is enough paint left to do a match on the color. I am never going to sell it as it will only be displayed.

[milmuseum]

Well what do you think? should I re-paint or not? it didn't turn out as nice as I wanted but it looks a lot better than the fake black crap.

Thanks

Burt

[KradSpam]

That's not bad actually mate, and a bit of decal left too. I don't know what I'd do, probably leave it as it is. Maybe put it outside for a few weeks to develop a bit of patina. If you were going to repaint it you would be best stripping it down to the steel, and I don't think I could bring myself to do that.

I agree it is a ton better than the start

By the way I think it is a Police helmet, can you see remains of a second decal? The colour is right too. Are you 100% sure the lot nr is DA223? The lot nr database at GHW has a Q66 M40 DN223 as a double decal police. None of the lots begin DA.

[Dean]

After the war, many countries rounded up all of the German equipment that was left and captured, German helmets included. Some of them modified and reissued them to their own militaries. The Czechs and Norwegians did this with helmets. I am sure that there are others, but I can't think of them right now.

Anyway, Czech helmets were simply painted black. Norwegian helmets had the liners dyed red, the shells overpainted green, and, I believe, new chinstraps were added. When they are found it can be a real treat to remove the paint and find the original German finish underneath.

Here is what a Norwegian refurb looks like:

The Finns also did this , I believe. It looks better IMO than the black. I also like the 'patina' idea..leave it in the elements for a couple days.