Tips on how to fix my M17

[Paper]

Hello everybody,

I am a fairly new collector from Skopje, Macedonia.
I have been collecting since I was 16 years old, and the first thing I bought was an M17 Stahlhelm from WW1 for just under 100 euros.
Since then I have gotten better at spotting inaccuracies, and my M17 is no short of that.
The problem in not in the helmet itself (it is undoubtedly real) however someone decided to paint over it with black paint and slap a "Luftshutz" nazi sticker
that you can get on Etsy for 5$. Since I noticed it wasn't original paint, I have wanted to remove the sticker and paint to return it to it's rusty glory
(or repaint it in a more appropriate WW1 color), however I don't know what solution to use.
I fear it might remove some of the original paint or what's left of it.
Here are some pictures

[AndyM35]

Hi Paper,

I’d be interested to see some daylight photos of the helmet and decal as it was not unknown for original WW1 helmets to be re-purposed for a variety of post WW1 uses including Luftschutz. The helmet is actually an M16 shell as noted by the domed rivets lower down on either side. There were only M16 and M18 shells produced, however a new painted steel liner band was introduced in 1917 due to leather shortages and was designated the M17 liner band. Over the years some collectors started to refer to this as as the M17 helmet incorrectly.

Regarding the helmet, if there is any original paint left, I would be inclined to leave as is so as to preserve it. There are some good suggestions on how to remove decals in the thread below:

Removing a fake decal to save a good lid.

Would love to see some photos of it when done.

Andy

[Paper]

Hey Andy,

I will attach the better lit photos below but first I must clarify that I know 100% that the Luftshutz emblem is not original because you can get it for a fiver on Etsy, It is misalligned, and the store I bought it from has the same sticker on a Spanish helmet (with the original paint STILL ON) for the sake of tricking some poor tourist into thinking it's nazi, or to charge a more ridiculous price for it just cause it has a swastika sticker.
This 60cm M16 is most likely Bulgarian since I live in Macedonia, a country that was invaded by Bulgaria in WW1 and WW2.
The Luftshutz were more common in central Europe, and I doubt the Bulgarians had a Luftshutz division.

As for the paint, I discovered that underneath there is another layer of paint, this time the correct olive green color that Stahlhelms had.
However some schmuck repainted it black so it can look more akin to a WW2 SS helmet which I admit did fool me when I bought it at 16.
I actually like the black paint more, however I will repaint it for the sake of accuracy and because the seller painted over the chinstrap mechanism,
so I cannot attach the reproduction chinstrap I bought.

To make this shorter, I want to remove the black paint and repaint it in the original colors, and remove the sticker.
I will update this thread when I am finished with that later in these weeks

Cheers