Spasm

I absolutely love the self made ones. It's one thing to paint a bought model really well but quite another to build your own model and then to paint it. The possibilities are just mind blowing. What would I build if I could do this? What would you build if you could do this? Part of a square at Waterloo? The last standing of the 300 at the Hot Gates? PFC Martin who said "I'm 82nd Airborne and this is as far as the bastards are going"? SS Fallschirmjager 500 defending Berlin?

Paul Yep, helmet numbers are in Brian's book. Listed as M42 NS64 D291 SD LUFT 43ZSH SM He's obviously seen it - or one from the same batch - and considering that he has more helmets than the Leibstandarte Panzer Division had (and all SS ones too) it's probably a good one. Nice Stahlhelm, I like them a lot but don't actually have any other than this little LUFT - single decal, mint leather liner complete with original drawstring and chinstrap

That Elvis fatso's camel toe? Does he have a willy or is it a girl?

John So?.........now you're getting the stickers and asking for more relics how about showing us your nice sparkly newly restored panzerfaust

John Try here http://weikert.istore.pl/pl,category,173919,kalkomanie,na,panzerfaust,11.html

I think the Brigadier General's top bar is their GSM

Uwe Thankyou Mr Louis Becker Göttingen This I fill the sad duty to make you notice of the heroic death of her son Henry. In the heavy fighting at the 17.9.18 at Lancy he has must sacrifice his life his fatherland as a result of artillery Volt reefer. Unfortunately, it was despite repeated efforts unable to recover his body because the battlefield for tactical reasons had to be left to the enemies. The company sincerely mourned the loss of this brave soldier and good comrades, and will always keep his memory in honour. The Lord may you in your suffering assist. (signature) Sergeant

Easy for you lot to say. My absolute non capacity for learning languages (which has got me into all sorts of trouble) and I know ze German is easy as I hear 3 year olds can speak it over there, but a translation or jist of the letter would be cool for us unedukated shower

John I didn't realise you had the projectile as well, good find. Are both the warhead and the firing tube safe? There was a (I think) cardboard charge filled with black powder in the firing tubes in these 60 or 100s. I'm assuming its all inert. Pretty good that you have the wooden tail that used to have paper fins that were curled up in the tube. The wooden part will need to be treated differently to the steel sections. You can get wood treatments, filler etc from B&Qs (hardware shop). Lots of work to restore this, if that's what you want as it's pretty cool as it is. It does need some rust converter on it though even if you are going to restore. Easily obtained from ebay or motor spares shops. Wire brush off the larger areas of rust and brush the rust convertor and inhibitor on. It dries pretty quickly and turns black as it does. Any rust coloured bits need cleaning off and painting again, put 3 or 4 coats on. I'm assuming the aiming sight/trigger is rusted in place. It would be possible to dismantle but looks like you'd need to drill the pins and replace. Then fill as above till you get what you want. Paint desired colour from t'tinternet photos. I expect you could even find a copy of the warhead instruction sticker and put that on before you laquer. Jobs a good un

John Notwithstanding the purists amongst us who would question the restoration, I may be able to help given the amount of old cars, motorcycles and relic stuff I've done over the years. A photo or two would help but I'm assuming the restoration bridge question has been crossed. As with any work to improve anything, it's all about the foundation and what you want when it's finished. A crappy foundation will end in a temporary bodge. As it's been sandblasted I assume all the rust is gone. Are you now left with a tube with holes or is it just pitted? You say it's primed, I assume its the correct metal primer paint. The body filler needs to be able to 'stick' to whatever you are filling, if the surface is rough, i.e loads of pitting then mix up your filler and apply. If the surface is smooth - like a car body panel then you will need to scuff it up with one of those pan cleaning gilberts or some light sanding. Lots of people say you should only fill onto bare metal, take no notice, it's fine onto paint. The filling you need to do will depend on what you want to achieve at the end. A custom deep paint job will require lots of filling and sanding, military stuff is normally matt and doesn't need that sort of sanding and filling but you do need to think about what you want it to look like. Some filling is left with lumps to keep the relic, old look while others go for the ultra glossy finish. Take care to mix correctly and don't put too much hardener in. It'll go hard before you've finished which will mean you will try to use as it's hardening and it won't adhere properly. Even though body fillers say they are 'easy sand', they are not if you are doing a large area. Overfill only slightly so that you do not have to spend hours sanding back to your surface level. Try to use a machine sander rather than by hand (or use a block with sandpaper wrapped round) as you want to keep the surface flat. Once all sanded then paint with a matt filler primer (comes in rattle cans at car spares shops). This will show up all the bits you've missed or need to sand over. Keep sanding, filling, painting over bits until you've got the look you wanted. Then paint (by hand, by gun or airbrush) to desired colours. Then protect with a sprayed laquer (gloss or matt or satin). Most paints are now environmentally friendly and are latex water based. But check that what you are using will not cock up what you already put on. Test a weeny bit first but if you stay with one brand and finish from a model hobby shop then you should be fine. Loads of stuff about this available on t'tinternet but am happy to help with specific questions. Follow my post on painting Mervyn's prize helmet and you wont go too far wrong. Spaz

Linas Going from the ribbon it is the Badge of Honour of the Reserve Officers Association of Denmark instituted on 27 April 1950. Only two or three per year are awarded to whoever the association feel are in need of honour (go figure). I'm quite in need of an honour but I haven't been given one yet, no idea why, but you never know the postman hasn't been yet today. Crown Prince Frederik and Magrethe II of Denmark already have theirs. Spaz

Rick Good shout doing prints and calendars. Thanks. I'll talk nicely to the administrative staff and get her to put a few pictures on the site with signed and numbered prints. Who wants one? Thankee again Spaz

Gone right round in full circle, so I'll make this one the last as I'm sure ya'll have seen enough 1943 dated British MkII done up with the 7th Armoured Division or better known as the Desert Rats, along with an Africa Star campaign medal Thanks all

Really nice helmet, listed in Brian's book too with a 1943 zinc plated steel band

Gents Repro Fallschirmjager. 3 Division Schimpf badge on front

Here's the reverse By the way, the rusty looking FJ underneath has been through the time machine aging process and was all brand new and shiny only a couple of days ago (its a repro as is the airborne helmet)

Thanks Paul, Frank and Craig Great stuff behind this one - I expect a few of you have been there

While working in London we used to get asked to help with the odd police investigation into the sewer system (a few stories there) and was asked if I would like to visit the Black Museum in Scotland Yard. Now, not being that erm.. keen on the old Bill I took a bit of persuading to go. I never realised that only invitees were allowed in. Had some pretty hair raising stuff in there - the museum looked like something out of Victorian times, dark and foreboding. On display were all sorts of weapons that have actually been used on London's streets, Hang Man's nooses with which one hanged which infamous murderer, Jack the Ripper's letter amongst loads and loads of other macabre stuff. Glad I went but not so sure I should've. As the Yard is due to close I assume the museum will go with it. On the First Aid training did ya'll know that Annie, the doll that all first aid trainees practice CPR on(or whatever it's called these days) is actually a copy of a young girl that drowned in the sea off Norway, or was it Sweden. The distraught father was told that if any of the people who pulled her out of the sea had known how to resuscitate her, she would probably have survived. So the father donated loads of dough to help first aid training by paying for the manufacture of the training dummies, with one proviso, that they all looked like his daughter Annie.

Remember that Zuckerman I got completely wrong - all sanded off and repainted the right way round. These helmets were used by civil defence volunteers (this one marked up as FG - fire guard) but had to be privately purchased. The original liner and shoelace (to hold the liner in) is still there, along with a chinstrap. The chinstraps were bought separately and attached by the owner. This one manufactured by the Press Steel Company, Oxford who went on to supply car bodies for the Morris, Austin, Wolseley, Hillman, Rover, M.G etc. All fantastic rust heaps in their day.

12th Hitlerjugend Panzer Division helmet

Frank Yes, probably right, didn't think this thread was going to be this long. Can you delete this whole thread thing then and I'll load pictures into the Image Gallery. In the mean time until you do

Thanks Gents. Here's the FJ eagle , Luftwaffe side and FJ front

Some 'bits and bobs' I'm just finishing off. All done by me, even the decals are painted - the sign at the back was to see if I could do a resemblance of a worn and rusty steel plate - a rough for a sign done for a geezer in the US.

shamama I met the author of a research website the other week at a show near me. He specialises in the Indian theatre of operations of WW2 and also has a great deal of knowledge on research of individuals and the history of British Military. His name is Rob Palmer and was very happy to chat to me for quite a while about what he's been putting together over the last few decades. You can contact him through his website www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk I do have his phone number, PM me if you would like it. Loads of info on British regiments and may be of interest to others. Good luck Spaz

See this http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/fresh-ink-rules-out-a-career-in-police/story-fn6b3v4f-1226256304156