Spasm

Thanks Gents, thanks Sgt Daly's relative asked me to paint the helmet for him. The original M16 helmet was his already so it was sent from the US for me to daub on. It was a really nice helmet, particularly after I cleaned it up. The design was already thought through so all I had to do was get it onto the helmet. Just a note for any of you thinking about sending something to the UK from the US. Import duties are 20% of the value of the item plus £8 admin fee and as the contents are insured the value is pretty well known to customs. The argument that I was never going to own the helmet got me nowhere - "pay the fee or we'll send it back" - jeez! Thanks again chaps

Thanks a lot Gents All hand made and painted. But that's me lot I'm afraid. Best to all. Over.

A few painted steel panels as a backdrop to a collection (he must have some very nice things)....

Yep, quite right, word alone won't cut it.

Interesting... I don't know how the law applies in SA but assuming it runs along the same lines as the UK then you do not own 'good title' and therefore the medals still belong to the original owners. If there was an insurance pay out then the insurance company would own the medals. I wonder what would happen if the legal owner claims the medals back through the courts. In the UK I believe there would be some compensation pay out to the person who lost money through buying something they didn't know was stolen and was then claimed by the legal owner. I obviously wasn't party to all the advice and guidance given on how to deal with the matter but if these had been my medals and they were stolen I certainly would not be paying money to get my property back.

Done for a relative of Mr Daly complete with his two MOHs and Navy Cross and the famous quote .....

These are just outstanding. I bet they look really good all set up together. Is it tempting to paint hundreds of them to get a full army look or assuming they are for tabletop battle games you've now spent all your points and just want to go mash those Visigoths. There's just not enough time......all the stuff we would like to do

Cheers guys, sorry the Jap one is gone

How great is that. Would be nice to see the photos.

A Japanese Civil Defence for Operation Jaywick and Rimau...

And another M42......

An almost totally rebuilt M42. Took ages to rebuild the rim.....

Just found out that one of my colleagues - he told me the news today - Major Craig Hallas, Army Air Corps has been listed to receive an MBE Good man, new No1s and a new dress and hat for the missus. Rounds of applause from everyone here I think. How long do I have to curtsey for when I walk into the office - one week or two?

Thanks guys much appreciated Tony - hadn't thought of one of those, thanks, next time I'm buying up the hardware shop's supply of sandpaper I'll have a look ay what they have. Boris - I'm very poor as well but you can have this weeny one for that Thanks again guys, working on a few more as we speak. The admin staff is getting fed up with finding rusty helmets all over the place. Replica wooden regimental drum coming soon as that's being moaned about as well, if I can figure out how to de and re-rope it. That big long knot around the bottom looks well complicated.

Jock Prices vary slightly depending on the time taken for the artwork. Normally, its £200 for the artwork plus the cost of the basic helmet plus the cost of the postage. The helmets above will be on the website - once the Admin staff gets around to it - for around the £290 mark. Commissions mostly supply their own helmet as they've had one sitting on a shelf for a while that they want painted to commemorate a relative or unit. If a fairly good condition helmet complete with liner and chinstrap is to be used as the donor I do point out that it does have some historical value but at the end of the day, it's their helmet. Prices for relic helmets have been going up of late along with the postage costs, where I could get one at around the £30 plus £5 for postage that's risen to around £50 and £12 (uk) and £25 (abroad) postage putting relics at a cost of £60-70 to me. I also sometimes paint replica helmets such as Fallschirmjager or Airborne helmets as these are just miles too expensive even as relics. But even these are pretty expensive for good ones rather than the horrible Chinese copies. They can cost from £50 - £90 plus postage for something decent. Bulk buying doesn't save much money and I don't really have the room for hundreds of helmets hanging around (particularly relics as I want to treat them to stop any further degrading). Any finds that you, or anyone else can help with I'd be more than happy to discuss. I'm looking forward to fame and glory in 2000 years. So, in 4014 Rodney, in 4014 we'll be........and all that. Steve

I have no words.....I used them up just now. Thanks all. I'm off to have a lie down for a bit.

Paul E-petition signed. Exactly the problem discussed in other threads about whether to donate items to museums. How bloody annoying. Its a massive place down there South of the river (I used to live next door to Woolwich in Thamesmead), another bit of the arsenal's heritage going to be sold off to developers I suppose. 1526 signatures and counting. 100,000 are needed I think so that it gets debated in the House of Commons.

Mervyn If I can paint race cars then I can paint a police helmet. I have no idea what a cox comb is but I'm sure it makes them look even smarter (I personally keep mine too short to comb but I hear plaiting is a good look). I'm sure there's no shortage of ideas for something to paint on a police helmet Of course we can sort something but remember it wasn't my idea to paint it (as above). Steve

Thanks Gents And just to make things a bit clearer, the helmet below is a good relic helmet for me as I've already taken off the mud and majority of rust. Some are a bit better and some are much worse once they've been parted from the mud and rust. It takes me longer to rebuild, restore to the original shape and preserve than it does for me to complete the finished paintwork. Restoration and base helmet colour takes about 5 days with a LOT of elbow grease, masses of sandpaper and paint splashing while the actual finished top artwork takes about 4 days. Does anyone know of a good powertool that would sand the inside of a helmet? It's a proper pain doing that bit by hand. Everything you see has been painted, the old look of the base helmet colour, the well used and worn camo or winter paint is created to look like it is original, even the decals are all hand painted to look worn and scraped. Once the helmet is finished and lacquered I paint a gloss finish over the decals so they actually look like decals. Each helmet now takes about 2 weeks to complete fully - I should be getting faster the more I do but actually the opposite is the case as I'm getting more fussy about both the finish and the artwork.

Odulf I sort of entirely agree with you. They do take up a lot of room. All of the helmets I paint (for myself) are relics and have either sat in someones shed or in the ground for many years. They are all restored from a rusty lump, sometimes more hole than helmet covered in mud, varnish or someone else's post war paint. I admit to having painted over Mk2 wardens, zuckermans and post WW2 stuff. I've also painted small parts from crashed aircraft (as can be seen in other posts). Hopefully these 'restored' items will then take their place in a collection to live on for a few more years rather than being thrown away into the metal skip at the local recycling centre. But then again, some people do collect relics. I have done other people's helmets that are in a much better condition. I advise the owners of the helmet's intrinsic historical value (like Mervyn's SA helmet done for the photo competition) but, at the end of the day, they own the helmets and would like them painted for one reason or another - to honour a regiment, memory or family member. I've thought long and hard about turning away this type of work and although I wouldn't want to custom paint an original Bugatti or Racing Green Bentley Speed Six I'd rather try my best to honour the original owner than turn away the work and let some tattoo artist get his grinder on it. I'd have no problem in painting a modern racing helmet worth a lot more than a US airborne helmet. So, in a way I agree, it's like splitting up a medal bar just for the money. But in another way....it's not. I'd be very happy to hear others' opinions on this as it's honestly troubled me for a while. I'm assuming as my artwork gets better (as I think it is) then I'm going to be asked to do more of this type of work. Opinions from respected gents on here would be greatly appreciated.

And that Russian one with the Cyrillic carvings in plaster from the Hero Brest Fortress, worn out fighters/nurse and the Gold Star awarded to Hero cities.

DAK helmet with the Fox geezer and signature, panzerkampfabzeichen, knights cross with oak leaves, swords and candy floss, blue max, DAK campaign medal, cuff title and a prowling tiger

Gents Some new helmets still to make it onto t'tinternet. The admin staff is falling behind, pffft. Winter Wiking Div with EKII and the Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten (the lettering is from the reverse of the medal and the award document) complete with Stug, SS eagle, cuff title and Wiking rubber stamp.

Eva Looks like your helmet has been overpainted with the national colours decal on top of that. Single decal helmets had the service decal not the national decal I believe. The underside of the helmet looks to have the original paint. Hard to tell the manufacturer from your photos but the positioning of the vent lends itself to an ET or Q helmet. Does it have stamped numbers and letters under the rear rim and/or under one of the ear rims? They may be hard to see under the paint. The headband should also be dated on one side if you pull it inwards slightly with your fingers - do not apply too much pressure as the band will bend, you will need to look at an acute angle with a torch. Steve

I believe it was a privately run cemetery with the first burials there in the 1830s. With cemeteries filling up in the 1920s, Arnos Vale was one of the first to have a crematorium. It became disused and neglected later in the century - during the late 80s and into the 90s I think - just shows you how quickly nature can take over. Volunteers have been working on it since the early 2000s aided with lottery funding. Some of the listed buildings are still on the risk list. It's actually a very nice place with the graves hidden in the woodland and underneath all the ivy. The front part of the cemetery is like any other, well looked after, neat and trimmed. As you walk into the woodland and across the 45 acres it becomes more disused and overgrown. A place of calm and shade amongst the trees overgrowing the graves.