When I was at the Preston Arms fair a few months back I purchased an M40 which was being sold as a 'nicely painted re-enactors helmet.' When I looked at the helmet studs I could see what appeared to be a post-war blue-grey Police? colour under the camoflage pattern that had been more recently applied. The zinc liner band and liner were an obvious wartime pattern post-war made re-fit, but they look as though they have been in place for years. The shell is an SE64 (batch 7309) which is in very good condition. There is no sign of pitting or any other damage.
When I got home with the helmet and had a good look at it I could also see what appeared to be a light-coloured paint under the other layers along the rim of the helmet. I wondered whether to bother stripping it to see what was underneath. But my last attempt with a post-war re-painted helmet only revealed a shell that looked as though it had been acid-dipped before being re-painted.
That is how things stayed until early today, when the temptation to see 'what lay underneath' finally got too much for me. The following pictures are what I found underneath the re-enactor's paint-job and the post-war Police re-paint. I have not photographed the inside, as I have only cleaned the outer shell. There is the definate outline of two decals to the helmet. The right-side shield shows a few flecks of silver, and in places can be seen a black narrow border to the outline of the shield. There also appears to be a brownish staining around the edges of where the shield would have been. I cannot make my mind up if this is rust staining or paint.
The left shield shows a patch of red or maybe orange where the bottom of the shield would have been. At the top just under the air-vent is a very small patch of silver with a fleck of black on it. The colour of the shell is what I found after treating with Niromore's paint stripper. The bare metal is as found with just the odd patches of shiny metal showing - which are probably due to my cleaning. I am not trying to make any outlandish claims about this helmet. I just thought some of you may be interested in seeing it. The first two pictures show the helmet as the paint removal was in progress.
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