Black 'ventless' Quist M16 trans Stalhelm W/ Pickelhaube mount

[Mordecai]

Hello! This is my first post on this forum. I have a Transitional Quist M16 Stahlhelm that has black paint on it and the ventholes welded shut. I was told by the surplus dealer I acquired the helmet from the black paint and Pickelhaube mount was put on by some Biker. This is evidenced by the machine screws used to apply the mount which is way out of date for anything WW1-WW2. I also agree that the black paint is fake but I would like some second opinions. My main question is how should I go about removing the black paint while preserving the Grey and Original WW1 Green paint underneath? I doubt there are any decals underneath but there is a possibility there could be. I appreciate any feedback!





Welded shut Vent hole

[MAP]

That must have been a very cool biker helmet back in the day!

The seller was of course correct about it all being post war and most likely a bike helmet.

As far as removing the paint I will defer to others

[Mordecai]

Haha, I wont argue it doesnt make a cool biker helmet albeit at the expense of a beauty of a helmet. The seller I mentioned gave me a discount since it was damaged but he never acknowledged the fact it was a ww1 helmet. This helmet was practically begging to be saved by someone! Thanks for the reply.

[MAP]

I don't see much left trying to restore..I don't thinkuch of the original WW1 paint is left.

But you can give it a try. If not, you could always turn it back into an Uber cool biker helmet

[Mordecai]

I will say the pictures are rather bad when showing the paint underneath the black paint on the helmet. From what I can see there are 3 paint layers.
Black > Grey > Green. The grey paint does give the illusion of stripped bare metal in pictures but I can see parts of the grey paint under the black paint as it chips. I tested the cotton-acetone method on a small part of the helmet and the black paint does come off slowly. Revealing a nice green paint on the inside the helmet where there is no grey paint layer.
If I get to stripping all the black paint off I might post some pictures of it. At the minimum this will be a fun restore job if there is indeed no original paint.

[AndyM35]

Welcome to the forum Mordecai!

As MAP has said, there may not be a lot left, but let’s see. The green is hopefully the remnants of WW1 German felgdgaru, and there is chance that the grey is a dark over paint from being re-issued in WW1, or even re-issued in some format post WW1 or later in WW2. The dome does appear as though stripped completely though, and is is some type of filler I can see in 6th photo?

I’d be interested to see some images of the spike base as well, as these can be worth a little money and is a nice thing to have in it own right.

Andy

[Mordecai]

Here are some pictures of the green paint underneath on the inside of the helm. And some pictures of the Pickelhaube mount as you asked. I believe you might be onto something with the filler? The 'light grey' paint which is allot more apparent after I removed some of the black paint seems to disolve in the acetone. Perhaps it is a primer or filler? Did the Germans ever weld shut ventholes on helmets or do you think this was done by the 'biker'? A name change to this thread might be in order. I'm thinking this will be a restore project helm which I wont complain about!

[MAP]

If you plan to strip and restore it I can move this thread to the correct sub forum.

The welding of the vent holes was most certainly done post war.

Part in jest but seriously, given the extensive modifications, it doesn't make much sense to restore it to its original configuration but to make it back into a biker helmet

[Mordecai]

I will probably try to restore this helmet somewhat. Maybe I'll take advantage of the welded vents and try and make it look like a transitional style M-16 or maybe I can drill out the vent holes again and refit it as a nice display helmet! As I am restoring it I will allow you to redirect this thread where you see fit for restoration. All in all I am happy I bought this helmet anyways as I got a decent price for it. a nice starting helmet I'll say! I do own a M42 helmet and I hope to own more stahlhelms in the future! Cheers and thanks for the switft feedback!

[AndyM35]

Shame about the helmet being messed with as that’s some nice original factory feldgrau. If you do go down the restoration path, new vents can easily be purchased. This being a size 66, you’ll want lugs without the step which size 64 and under had. There were also some WW1 helmets floating around in the third Reich period with their vents removed.

Ventless M16 field grey - former SS - former SA

Transitional Heer Helmets (M16 – M18) – German Helmet Vault