Spasm

Martin Really nice 'piece of history' helmet you have there. Looks to be an early war replaced liner and chinstrap but probably not the drawstring. I'm guessing an ET helmet, liner being marked as 57 would make it an ET64? and shrapnel damage from a H-RTS230/245 given the shape of the dent. Any other feelings Gents? Steve

Thanks Martin I expect you'll be back Good grief, I'll get my coat

Martin, yep, I heard, he he. No need to touch it, it's great as it is. All part of it's long life story. Nice plain greys are getting harder to find, a keeper for the shelf.

Mike, praise indeed! Thank you. It's honestly not that difficult to do as it's really just tracing and painting by numbers, just very time consuming. I have a few German helmets that need a bit of erm....sprucing up. And, with the risk of being outlawed by the collecting community, I may do a similar thread showing how to bring an M35/40/42 back to life. Thanks again Mike, all praise is very gratefully received.

Ruined, send it to me, I'll give you the best scrap value.

Martin Thanks my man. Be careful, ball hammers are good for making dents as well, you'll probably be better off with a flat hammer and dolly once you've got the liner out. He he, best of luck with that. Enjoy your time here, it's a pretty cool forum with decent chaps and chapesses. Steve

Hicks - Highlight the link, then right click, then click on 'search google for...' and it'll take you to the link. Pity I don't understand German. There's another clever thingy that'll translate but I don't have the iphone app. Come to think of it I don't have an iphone either. Yes, seems to be a few memory lapses but still, great to talk to a Leibstandarte veteran, just to hear the loudness of the missing parts.

Martin, PM sent

Martin Bent split pins point to the liner being removed/replaced - that could have been by anybody from original owner to later owner. Brass pins point to pre 1940 or reuse of the originals. I would say that the rough grey green paint has been removed at a later date as some is still evident over the decal rather than being just around the decal. I still really like the helmet, who's to say what happened with the liner. These un-reinforced liner bands split fairly easily so it could have been replaced at any time - and you know what a bugger those split pins are to get in. The liner is debatable but I don't think the exposed decal is. Really depends on what it was sold to you as I suppose, but it's a really good camo helmet with a life story to tell. Cheers, Steve

Peter, Yes, that's what I said, (well maybe not those exact words). I couldn't stay long because they were busy and I was laughing too much. So I've done the moulds myself. Having bought the materials for doing moulds etc I can see why the costs are so high. The silicon mix comes in 2 brightly coloured gallon buckets (small amounts just aren't worth the price). You need to be Charles Atlas to get the lids off and then try to figure out how to get the thick gloopy stuff out in small portions to mix. Because it's so thick and difficult to measure it tends to get stuck all over the place and it can't easily be wiped up. The casts seem to be coming out ok and the two part mixing of the plastic/resin stuff isn't that bad as it's a bit thinner and easier to handle. Bubbles are an issue and trying to get the casts to look like bronze/brass isn't that easy and seems to depend on luck to get it to come out ok. But I'm getting there. The whole process isn't like DIY or building. If you need something you can climb down the ladder and go off to the shed to get that hammer, knife, saw, box of screws that you forgot. The moulding/casting thing needs to be organised, you need to have everything to hand, everything happens so quickly there's no time to go get something - especially cleaning up stuff- as a large piece of hard plastic shaped like a puddle in the middle of the carpet doesn't please the Admin Staff much. (Although it did have a nice bronze sheen to it). I'm sure the mould wasn't leaking when I poured it. They should be a lot cheaper then. Plain white casts should be in the region of £30-50 each and painted ones about £100-150 each with the bronze ones in between somewhere. The painted ones will be very limited editions as I can't see me staying interested enough to paint many. Steve

Ah, looks to be 1938 helmet then. The liner split pins look to be brass which points to it being pre 1940. There doesn't seem to be a stamp on the leather liner which puts that post 1937 (although it could of course have been replaced). And an un-reinforced aluminium liner band which dates it pre 1938. And the chin strap clearly dated 1940. For info - the aluminium single liner bands were reinforced with two riveted plates in 1938. This was due to the liner snapping by the chinstrap bales when the soldiers carried them on their webbing. The aluminium liner bands were replaced with zinc coated steel ones in 1940. The liner should be stamped on the outside of the righthand side with the manufacturer and year (be careful if you try to have a peek). Those Walhalla chaps will give you a lot more info than I can. Let us know how you get on. Cheers, Steve

Thanks Geezer, it's appreciated

Martin, Looks like you've solved the picture adding and they look pretty good to me. Manufactured by Saxon Emaillerwerke in Lauter. Can you confirm the batch number, is it 3568 or 5568? Does it have a dome stamp (an ink stamp right in the soffit)? Batch 3568 would put it right at the start of the 1938 dome stamps and just as the reinforced aluminium bands start. Batch 5568 would sort of confirm the rough texture green grey paint and a 1940 manufacture date. Looks like the chinstrap is also stamped. Nice helmet.

Martin Would be good to see some more photos. It looks to have the right "pink" shade to the tan colour that some collectors believe is required to prove desert usage. Although discussions are always ongoing. May be worth showing it on German Helmet Walhalla forum as they own more helmets between them than an entire WW2 division. If anyone can help you it'll be them. Still be nice to see some more photos including the markings under the rim. Steve

Thanks Gents. A few more photos with them painted and with an EK2 for scale

Another one, obviously German, but don't often see a stirnpanzer

In the same vein but an M15 French Adrian and wreath

Looks like a Spanish M42 'Modello Z' to me. The clip on the front is for the Spanish emblem of the time (a gold eagle with a red cross on top). They were manufactured with a leather liner band riveted to the shell and a liner that looked like an M16 three padded one. A good helmet to practice your refurbishment skills on. Not something to get too carried away on as good quality ones (although quality wasn't that good when they were new) are relatively inexpensive. I believe these were still being worn by border guards in the 1980s. Refurbishment is pretty well covered in posts with the Military Art section with step by step pictures but give me a shout if you'd like some help. Try here Cheers, Steve.

Added an EK2 ribbon, bashed up the helmet and painted the lenses

I saw some of your castings, some very large architectural pieces I seem to remember as well. It's certainly a new way to think not only how to make something but how you can mould it and eventually actually get it out of the mould. Air bubbles are also a problem so that needs to be solved as well. My latest sculpture now moulded, we'll see if I actually get some decent casts from it:

Thanks, not only do you have to sculpt it, you have to think how you'll mould it and get the pieces out of the mould. As you understand very well - a whole skill in itself. As I originally couldn't figure out how to do it (read - couldn't be bothered) I visited a specialist company and got a price from them to mould and produce the casts for me. As they do a lot of this stuff for sculpture artists all over the country, for films, promotions etc etc I also asked them how the finished product should be priced for selling. They recommended that a piece would normally be priced at 3 to 10 times the cost for casting. For this piece, 3 times the individual cost would be £250. Blimey, and some are charging up to 10 times which would put these at £810 each (would include the jolly nice wooden stand though). How many would you like sir?

Unlucky, a nice one. But that little bit of extra to win may have turned into a LOT more to win if there's another bidding. They'll be more coming along (and just think of the saved wall space And, no comment on the monkey...

Stick to his stuff without the Chimps. A very talented painter worth every penny I think. The chimp studies are ok but I really don't like the chimps playing cards, all dressed up etc. No idea why his monkey pictures attract so much money while the nice stuff is really very cheap considering the age of them.

Thanks very much Gents. A sort of new line for me and am quite pleased how these have turned out. Mike - I've sorted a stand for them now so even more stable. Funnily enough the brass effect one looks better without a wooden stand. Peter - I've only cast a few so far as they are proving quite difficult to do. I will have some available for sale once I figure it out . Prices will depend on what one is ordered as the time taken varies quite a lot. Plain white straight from the mould will be the cheapest (they are produced in 3 parts - the sandbags, the rifle and then the helmet which then slot together) then the cold cast bronze, then the hand painted on the stand (which will be quite expensive). PM me if you are interested. Thanks again All