M16 restoration, any advice is good.

[Kaikun2001]

I have restored a german M16 Shell that was both used during the first world war and the second world war. The Shell is really solid and has no cracks or holes(all steel).I think the helmet was stored in a warhouse after the finnish winterwar and was stacked ontop off other helmets, and that’s why it has a mark in the shape of a helmet ontop of the roof of the M16. During the restoration process I bought a new M16 liner with New split pins and chinstrap posts with a new chinstrap, I think it looks great. Now for my question, there is small surface rust, nothing major. Should I try to repaint it or mess with the small surface rust?

[Adravor]

Looks decent enough with the new liner. Generally not a fan of replacing anything - but the liner and the split pins can easily be removed by later collectors.
Dont mess with the paint, these few scratches and rust spots wont hurt it.

[Kaikun2001]

Thank you for the advice, I wont mess with the paint then, Also I saved the old liner just in case I wanted to switch. I removed the old liner because the split pins were missing, also the chinstrapposts were missing, so I gave the helmet some new ones. Thoughts?

[Luftwaffe 1941]

I agree. I would leave the paint on this helmet as is. The surface rust appears to be very minor, so there's really nothing to worry about there.