Mine's a II / 58 with cheek protectors. Looking for an earlier one now without the cheek protectors.
Here's mine
Mine's a II / 58 with cheek protectors. Looking for an earlier one now without the cheek protectors.
Greg, thanks for the great input, I was hoping you would chime in as you always seem to bring a little something extra to the table. In this case, the chin straps which in fact is thinner on the helmet dated 1959. I noticed the differences in the width of the straps straight away and assumed they wider was a needed improvement from an earlier model.
I hope these two lids will clean up decent, I know I can't rid them of the rust and the earlier dated lid of the rings on the crown, I am assuming from stacking but I should be able to improve on their appearance otherwise. Not sure if I am going to hang on to them both but I must admit I have grown a liking to each of them due to the differences despite being the same pattern type.
One quick question you or someone else may have the answer to, regarding the check protectors, I notices in some of the examples shown, these were at times sewn on. Is it safe to assume this to be some type of mod that happened post issue as appose to the type of cheek protector that is on my example that must have been installed during production?
Good to see you all again,
Russ
Well, sewn-on cheek-pieces? I have *never* seen this, but of course that doesn't mean it isn;t real. I do find it hard to believe that would be a factory-finish though. An end-user modification, perhaps, but then why, the way they are fitted is fine, its actually hard to get them off. Do you or anyone else have any pics of this?
Remember, there's a whole little collection to be made of these. All told there must be around a dozen variants, including the hard to find (because its almost impossible to see in photos) flat-topped late production examples. And that's not counting ones with decals and insignia, for the real enthusiast!
Greg, Watchdog posted photos of his example. His post is just a few before my original post.by Greg Pickersgill
Eerk! Well, you're right, that's unobservant of me. But then I've got to say that's the first and only I have seen. This can't be common. If it is genuinely a production quirk that's somethng else to look for. And I haven't even got all the basic ones yet. It never ends.
Nice thread!
I have a few M56 lids as well - see post #3 in my NVA thread:
NVA "Cold War" Collection 1956 - 1990
Cheers,
Fabe
Russ really good to see you back here
Good to be back James. I'll have to play catch up, I imagine you've expended the collection considerably since I was here last!
Thank you for reminding me of this, Tht's an excellent posting and the first one that made it clear to me that there was a real difference in the actual size of the chinstraps. Any M56 collector needs to refer to that post. Good contribution.
I wish I still had a little bit of video I was sent years ago, by someone asking about the late-productin flat-top M56. It was very amusing. He had it on a table top and as much as he prodded at it it would not roll back and forth like all the others. It took me years to find one, and it really is like that. (Obviously it *does* roll a little when pushed, but settles back almost immediately.)
Forgot I also post a thread on my ones, lots of interesting posts on it
Helmet M56 NVA
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