First Pattern Luftwaffe DAK?

[Liamc93]

Hey all

I've managed to grab this helmet super cheap and I know it's far from a top collector piece with decals missing in places and lots of the DAK paint missing but was wanting some opinions on whether the DAK camo and paint etc. are good?

Not familiar with DAK at all

Cheers

[SHEMP H]

I'm not an expert either, but it looks like the tri- color was applied over the tan paint

[AndyM35]

An interesting helmet that appears to have at least three coats of paint with the first being a light early Luftwaffe blue, followed by a darker overpaint, and lastly the tan colour (sits over the edge of the tri colour - see below). The first two period but not entirely sure about the tan paint. It may not necessarily have been DAK/Mediterranean (lacks the pinkish DAK hue), but may have been sud front? I like the paint in the rear skirt better than that on the exterior but I don’t think it’s an issue that the interior of rear skirt was painted as some were. The lack of tan paint around the rivet holes on the exterior and tan on the interior ending where liner band would have been suggests that the tan was added with the liner still in place.

Working out if the remnants of the decals, particularly the Luftwaffe one, are original, will go a long way in the helmets favour. If the decal is bad, it can be written off right there. The National shield appears to show some of its backing which is positive. The Luftwaffe decal looks like an early droop tail decal which is another big tick for this helmet. And Early Birds were only applied to SE, Q and ET manufacturered helmets, so another tick for originality. I think this one stands a good chance of being original.

[Liamc93]

Nice one - thanks, I'll see if I can get more magnification on the decals etc. when it comes but I grabbed it for £130 so I can't go wrong really! It will display quite nicely I think with my other Luftwaffe's

[Gwar]

If the tri-color decal is possibly legit, why does there appear to be paint protruding in this area ? Just an observation..

[AndyM35]

Nice one - thanks, I'll see if I can get more magnification on the decals etc. when it comes but I grabbed it for £130 so I can't go wrong really! It will display quite nicely I think with my other Luftwaffe's

Not bad as far as relics go!

[AndyM35]

If the tri-color decal is possibly legit, why does there appear to be paint protruding in this area ? Just an observation..

Agree. Would be good to see some closeups of the decals including the nat shield to ascertain where the edges of the decal actually are. If original, the blurring of the decal edges may be down to the decals being dug out like the example below? I’m not a decal guy, but someone that specialises in decals should be able to tell if they are fake especially with the feather details on the eagle.

[Danmark]

If the tri-color decal is possibly legit, why does there appear to be paint protruding in this area ? Just an observation..

I'm wondering G-man, whether this is a 'rescued' helmet ( from a post war paint job ) and maybe acetone was used to achieve that - and, whether the blurring was due to thinning agents softening the inks?

[Schwerpunkt]

The decals look legit but I can't say the same for the tan paint.
The decals look scrubbed , revealed.

[IHaveTrueGrit]

I'd personally have concerns about it all honestly. The shell is without question original, but the way both decals are sitting and the camo, it all appears to me that they were added post war to beef up a regular Luft helmet. I would believe it's likely that the helmet looks scrubbed because it was done to remove the tan paint and the decals to reveal a genuine shell underneath. Just my observations.