Adrian M26 helmet - treated with wax?

[bestmsdt]

Hi,
Have had this helmet a while. It was sold to me as a helmet which had seen Belgian service and it had a Belgian badge. Looking at it yesterday I realised that it was a French made helmet which made me doubt the Belgian badge, and so I carefully removed the badge to see if there was evidence that it had just been added to make the helmet more saleable.
Underneath I found the remains of a painted badge, so I put a post on the French site 'Passion Militaria' where it was quickly identified as something very interesting, the remains of the Polish eagle. This helmet would have been used by the Polish troops raised in France in 1940 who participated in the defence of France that year.
So, as the damage around the Polish badge matches the rest of the outside of the helmet clearly the Belgian badge did not belong on the helmet. However what removing the badge revealed was the original colour of the helmet. It seems that the badge was added and then the helmet was treated with something on the outside.
What I am trying to find out is what has darkened the helmet, would Renaissance Wax do this? And any suggestions for removing whatever it is to go back to the original green?
Cheers, Tony

[BlackCat1982]

Interesting bit of detective work. If the helmet has been waxed then some white spirit should remove it. I would suggest trying a very small area first, don't be tempted to put any over the Polish insignia.

[bourguignotte]

Hello,

Nice helmet.
I guess they just put oïl (W40 or 3 in 1) on top to prévente the corrosion.

I would first start with water and soap. No risk.
If not enough alcool wouldl fit. I prefer neutral alcool to white spirit as they have additive in it.
As mentioned before, alway best to test on an iden part before

Bruno

[bestmsdt]

Thanks for the input on this helmet. I decided in the end that it was a coat of varnish. My conjecture is that some muppet (I am guessing here in the UK) some years ago must have decided the helmet would be more valuable with a badge on it, so affixed an original WW1 Belgian lion. Then to make the rust patches less obvious put on a coat of varnish over the whole helmet.
Shortly after my original post I had a go with white spirit which took some of the varnish off and at least toned down the badge shape somewhat. I only did a few light rubs in the end as I decided to play safe and stop. Of course I kept away from the Polish eagle. I am reasonably happy with the result but was not able to get back to the untouched colour around the eagle.
Cheers,
Tony

[bourguignotte]

Nice. Any photo of the results?

Best

Bruno

[bestmsdt]

Hi Bruno,

Some pics of the helmet after the treatment with white spirit.

Cheers,
Tony

[bourguignotte]

Hello Tony

Very nice result. I will definitively consider this now.
And very nice helmet too

Congrats for both of these

Bruno