My last purchase: Trubia con ala

[FJCM]

This is a Spanish "M26 Trubia con ala" helmet . This one was postwar (SCW) refurbished with new liner and chinstrap and welded frontal plate for the "St John´s Eagle" Francoist Army badge. I have realised that you can tell between post war refurbished and original helmets by the size of the rivets holding the liner, they are bigger on unmodified helmets; also the rivets that hold the chinstrap are usually vented while in this one are solid.
I don´t know if I will restore it to prewar or let it as it is, hope you like it:

[SteveR]

Nice example.

[Greg Pickersgill]

Good example. But I would not want to bet money on the fact that the rivets on the refurbished (ie post Civil War) helmets are essentially different. They certainly don't look much different in photographs, and I would be inclined to think that there was no real system anyway, and that whatever rivets were available were used regardless of size.

Also, you are right in that not all refurbished examples lack the vented rivet - mine is definately refurbed, see badge bracket and paintwork - and certainly has a vented rivet. I've just checked a couple of webpages and there seems no deliberate sytem involved with that element either.

Don't try to restore it - its a very attractive and interesting helmet that has its own history! Take pleasure in it as it is.

[FJCM]

Yes, quality of these helmets seem to be sustandard even for its age. Regarding the rivets I have a Trubia sin ala NO refurbished with original rivets and field repair ones and the latter are clearly smaller and they are the same size that the ones on the M26.
I wish I had my toolbox here so we could share measures...
I´ll post detailed pictures of the Sin Ala so you can see what I mean.
I am waiting also for a refurbished Azaña I have recently bought I´ll share pictures when I get it...

[FJCM]

Quality of these helmets seem to be substandard even for its age. Regarding the rivets I have a Trubia sin ala NO refurbished with original rivets and field repair ones and the latter are clearly smaller and they are the same size that the ones on the M26.
I wish I had my toolbox here so we could share measures...
I´ll post detailed pictures of the Sin Ala so you can see what I mean.
I am waiting also for a refurbished Azaña I have recently bought I´ll share pictures when I get it...

[Tinhat]

Finally got around to dusting off my M26, it’s been a few years since I had a close look at it and I wasn’t aware of the differentiation between black and brown liners.

It’s not been refurbished or modified, but has been repainted at some point, you can see the original paint on the inner shell.

I too wouldn’t put much weight to a definitive policy on rivets, for refurbs.

Personally, I would also echo Greg’s comment on restoring it, it is an original issued helmet, changing that it would no longer be original.

Steve.

[juanjo67]

The color is a khaki color used during the civil war. The helmets used by the Francoist troops were repainted in this color, the republican helmets kept their cement gray color, although they took many turns during the war.