M15 Adrian with post war paint

**HARRY THE MOLE** · 03-19-2021, 09:13 PM

I'm all for restoring helmets, but I would respectfully suggest that this one might be a bit too much of an undertaking. With the badge missing, the prongs for holding the liner in place almost all gone, it would take more money than it is worth to put right. If you were successful in lifting all that gaudy paint to reveal the original horizon blue it might be wort it. But if you have to strip the shell bare it really wouldn't be worth the money and effort involved to restore it. Other than that it could be used as a garden planter.

Cheers,
Steve

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 03-19-2021 09:13 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Daniel** · 03-19-2021, 09:20 PM

Hello Steve
It would definitely be a lot of work. It may be worth it if I can save the original paint. I did the black light test and the post war paint glows so it was somewhat recent.
Best Regards
Daniel

**HARRY THE MOLE** · 03-19-2021, 09:52 PM

Hi Daniel,

If you do undertake the restoration, do not use anything too drastic on it. I have used paint remover in the past, but that is only a safe option if the whole helmet has been repainted. If there are patches of original colour showing through it will lift that too. I have used beeswax paste-type polish and fine wire wool with good results in the past - as you saw with my restoration of an M15 several days ago. Time and patience are the key ingredients, and only attempt it if you will not be upset by failure.

Cheers,
Steve

**Tinhat** · 03-19-2021, 09:57 PM

I would definitely agree with Steve with regards to restoring, the effort and cost required for this helmet won't reap any reward. The only positive is that by attempting to strip the paint back on this helmet you have an opportunity to learn what works and what results you get. I've only attempted it once and the results were disappointing, with this helmet, and don't take offence, there isn't much at risk.

There are a number of threads about stripping paint back on the forum that will give you options to play around with.

Steve.

**Daniel** · 03-19-2021, 10:06 PM

Thanks for the advise I will look into it. I can post the finished result here if I do it.
Thanks
Daniel

**Daniel** · 03-28-2021, 07:46 PM

Hello Everyone,
I have decided to try take off the top two layers of paint with some acetone and a cotton ball. After about a week of removing the paint there was still the horizon blue colour underneath. Before being painted yellow the helmet had rusted at some point that left pitting spots all over the helmet. I couldn't get off all of the yellow paint due to the pitting spots. I did manage to take off about 99% of it without damaging the original paint. After that I could see the faint outline of a flaming bomb infantry badge. I bought a reproduction badge and chinstrap to add on. It was a lot of work but was worth it to save the original paint.
Any opinions, suggestions, and comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel