Help with my M35 Helmet

[Dirk Gross]

Hi,

I bought this helmet at a hobby store in the late 1970's. It was painted gloss black, and came with slide decal SS stickers on both sides. I swapped decals with my friend who bought another helmet painted gray because I didn't want the SS set. I painted the helmet panzer gray and applied the decals. Now I'm interested in the true history of the helmet. I feel pretty certain it's authentic, but I think it was refurbished by the hobby store supplier who apprently painted it black with a fairly thick paint and probably used spray dye red/brown on the leather. I don't see any stampings on the shell. The rivets for the liner were not tight and missing the washers. They are brass but I don't see markings on them. The retaining pins for the leather to the steel ring appear to be original and not opened. I decided to start stripping the paint using acetone and you can see on the back the gray layer I applied, and the black layer under that, and the green matching the inside under that. I'd like advice on the helmet, and if there is any reason not to continue removing the black paint and the brown overspray on the liner frame? I ordered some reproduction rivet washers so I can put it back together tight. I think if the original green paint underneath is in good shape I'll leave it like that. Otherwise, is there any reason not to repaint with an original green if it isn't a valuable relic? I also wonder if there are original stickers under the ones I placed because I can see an edge there that they may have painted over. I'm hoping the acetone won't damage them when I remove the paint there.



Dirk Gross

[MAP]

What you have is an original German M35 shell that appears to have been refurbished for postwar use by the Norwegians due to the red dye they used on German liners (the liner band and chinstrap are original too)

As typical unfortunately, in the 70's these "surplus" Norwegian helmets didn't have much collector interest so they were purchased by firms like Unique Imports, who repainted them and applied fake German decals

My first helmet was one of these my Dad bought me when I was a child...and I still own it!

Not sure who repainted this shell however. Could have been a firm like Unique Imports or a local "hobby store"

Today an untouched Norwegian reissued helmet is quite collectible.

Careful with the chinstrap. Looks like it is in good condition and has value to collectors

At this point, there is no collector value (except the chinstrap), so feel free to restore it if you like

Here is an example of a Unique Imports refurbished Norwegian helmet

Re My Unique Imports Helmet

[Schwerpunkt]

I think it would be a waste of original parts to restore that helmet.

[TheGoon]

Always a shame to see these Norwegian reissued helmets messed with. But if you can remove the paint down to the Norwegian green I would leave it there and reinstall the liner and leave it as is.

[Adravor]

There can be OG decals under the Norwegian paint (I have seen definite proof of that.) but its rare, its also very possible there are norwegian decals under the top layer of paint, which would also be a nice find. With careful acetone usage you should damage neither.

In my Opinion a nice restoration project, although i would not use the chinstrap for it, as in its current state its prob. worth more then the helmet shell itself.

Here is my absolutely mint Norwegian Reissue:

[Dirk Gross]

Thanks everyone for the information. That gives me good advice for moving forward with the paint removal. I hope the original paint comes through reasonably well and I can leave it original without a repaint of the apple green. Other than that, I ordered some replica split pins to use the washers, and then I'll just reassemble and keep it for another 40 years. I'll be 100 then. I'm glad it has real history to it, and I'll keep all the parts because to me that's original (since I've owned it anyway) and that makes it uniquely mine. Maybe not very collectable but to me it's priceless.

[Dirk Gross]

Reading up on Norwegian helmets, I see they used brass pins like mine has. Did they use washers?

[Dirk Gross]

I finished stripping my gray and the previous black paint and this is what I got:



It was sanded a lot for the black paint, even to bare metal in those two side spots, and through to bare metal in various other areas. The sanding is pretty aggressive and that's disappointing. I think it's interesting that there are decal markings on both sides where they appear to have been removed at some point. I wish I could touch up those large bare metal areas but I think it would be tough to match the color reasonably well. I build models and use an airbrush but I'm not sure how that would turn out.