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Article about: I have a helmet which looks great on the inside. Looks untouched and original to me. The lacing cord may not be ( looks like a shoelace ). It is marked DA223 in the rear and Q66 on the side.

  1. #1

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    I have a helmet which looks great on the inside. Looks untouched and original to me. The lacing cord may not be ( looks like a shoelace ). It is marked DA223 in the rear and Q66 on the side. Inside there is a name which I believe was the soldier who brought it home to the US, Lt CHESLEA. Unfortunately someone painted it black and added some really bad stickers on the outside. I plan on trying to remove the black paint with paint remover and hopefully get to the original color. Any help on ID and paint removal ideas would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Burt
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  3. #2

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    The shell is original, and the liner was refurbished by the Norwegians postwar. Underneath the paint you might find the original German finish, or perhaps the Norwegian finish with a Norwegian decal.

    There are many threads on the forum that deal with removing paint from helmets. Read up and give it a try, you might find something cool!

  4. #3

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    I would have never guessed the Norwegians used these helmets after the war. Can you elaborate on the use? I can't wait to try to remove the paint to see what is underneath.

  5. #4
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    A Q m40 shell with Dyed red Norwegian liner, you can remove the dye but it takes a lot of work and the best way to do it is remove the liner completely from the liner ring, lay it out flat and use a dye remover, but if your not happy with having to restitch and reattach then just do it on the liner ring, but the liner and ring should be removed to get the whole liner cleaned, as Mo has said there are numerous methods to remove paint from the shell

  6. #5

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    Quote by milmuseum View Post
    I would have never guessed the Norwegians used these helmets after the war. Can you elaborate on the use? I can't wait to try to remove the paint to see what is underneath.
    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:
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Opinions please  

  7. #6
    KSH
    KSH is offline
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    Quote by milmuseum View Post
    I would have never guessed the Norwegians used these helmets after the war. Can you elaborate on the use? I can't wait to try to remove the paint to see what is underneath.
    You have to understand that after the war Norway was a country that had been occupied for years and as such it had had no self-controlled production of any items needed in Norway, be they of a military nature or not. And besides Norway was a rather poor country before the war even, and most of the equipment used by the Norwegian Army and other departments were obsolete and completely out of date before the war. Then when the Germans capitulated and evacuated Norway they left behind loads of equipment that was vastly superior to anything the Norwegians had (like the German helmets), and everything left behind that could be used (except what was destroyed/taken by especially the British) was seized and converted for Norwegian use. For example, the standard rifle of the Norwegian Army, Navy etc. for many years to come after the war was the German K98 as far as I know - some were converted to suit a caliber more easily obtained by the Norwegians. My grandfather still has in his possession the K98 that he bought from the Army, when the Norwegian Army finally was changing their standard rifle for something more modern - the same one he used when doing his obligatory military service as a young man.

    I hope this helps you a little bit to understand the context of your helmet.


    Hochachtungsvoll,

    Kenneth
    Last edited by KSH; 07-24-2021 at 03:44 PM.

  8. #7

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    Quote by KSH View Post
    You have to understand that after the war Norway was a country that had been occupied for years and as such it had had no self-controlled production of any items needed in Norway, be they of a military nature or not. And besides Norway was a rather poor country before the war even, and most of the equipment used by the Norwegian Army and other departments were obsolete and completely out of date before the war. Then when the Germans capitulated and evacuated Norway they left behind loads of equipment that was vastly superior to anything the Norwegians had (like the German helmets), and everything left behind that could be used (except what was destroyed/taken by especially the British) was seized and converted for Norwegian use. For example, the standard rifle of the Norwegian Army, Navy etc. for many years to come after the war was the German K98 as far as I know - some were converted to suit a caliber more easily obtained by the Norwegians. My grandfather still has in his possession the K98 that he bought from the Army, when the Norwegian Army finally was changing their standard rifle for something more modern - the same one he used when doing his obligatory military service as a young man.

    I hope this helps you a little bit to understand the context of your helmet.


    Hochachtungsvoll,

    Kenneth S-H.
    Well said Kenneth.

    At home I have a Norwegian refurb of a 1940 British MKII. I will post pictures when I get back.

  9. #8

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    Thanks for all of you replies. I really enjoy finding unusual items like this one. I just hope the paint removal works well. I'll take it slow.

    Burt

  10. #9

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    Mo for reference the BGs (German Border Guards) also used a similar helmet to the ww2 version see attachedOpinions please

    burt you're going to have a lot of fun restoring it best of luck to you

  11. #10

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    I'm not 100% sure it is a Norway reissue, they usually painted the inside of the helmets brown too. M35 liners sometimes go this colour, depends if our German friend was a Dapper Dan man too.....

    Be careful and think hard before you do anything that can't be undone. As a sidenote, that heer decal is very ugly. Good luck

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