Well it is still armour! 1916 German Stahlhelm. Those with the eye for it you can see where the inspiration was drawn from.
This helmet was a total rust bucket when I picked it up a couple weeks ago at a local gunshow.
I first removed all the rust that I could with sandpaper and then Naval Jelly. Then I applied a green paint that I had coded from an original WW1 German canteen that I have, and then painted on the geometric camo patttern commonly seen on late war German helmets. Then I aged it a little so it doesnt look totally brandnew. I know thats taboo with some collectors, but anyone with any knowledge should be able to tell this is a repaint by the pits that can be seen under the paint when viewed close up.
The better part of the series of pics is of me taking out a sherman with the panzershrek and the huge cloud of smoke behind me, then firing my p38 at them as I ran backwards into the trench. That was, until I tripped over a half buried log.
You have a whole career waiting for you on ebay ....
"The helmet my gradgrandpa brought from Verdun after having slain a huge kraut with his bayonet, helmet was taken from the body of the Hun while he was still breathing and shooting the last shoots at my grandpa, who was in turn wounded in several parts but completed the mission of conquering the entire trench alone.
He was given an authentic purple heart that you can see at my other auction for a fabolous price, don't miss these fantastic pieces of history and save on shipping".
You could pay your rent handsomely .. seriously speaking again a perfect color matching.
How did you obtain it?
I need to restore an helmet for a customer but I can't convince any shop at copying the colors from another one.
If you need particular colors, try to search someone that sells autobody paints, they are made on the fly mixing base colors, you have all the RAL scale at your disposition. Hope it helps.
Since most camo jobs were painted in the field with lose regulations on the paint, there is a wide variety to chose from. I just mix the paint by hand and match it up to originals.
Plus a decades worth of experience with originals gives me a good idea the shades to use. I have been restoring helmets for about 5 of those years with good results. This one will be used with my 1918 German infantry reenacting kit.
Ebay? I would never sell one of my restorations as an original. However I will say that there are far better "restorations" than mine out there.
Primvs Pavlvs wrote:Since most camo jobs were painted in the field with lose regulations on the paint, there is a wide variety to chose from. I just mix the paint by hand and match it up to originals.
Plus a decades worth of experience with originals gives me a good idea the shades to use. I have been restoring helmets for about 5 of those years with good results. This one will be used with my 1918 German infantry reenacting kit.
Ebay? I would never sell one of my restorations as an original. However I will say that there are far better "restorations" than mine out there.
I was just ironically educating other innocents.
You obviously keep your skills for yourself but other alas don't.
Back to our medieval hobby, I have just discovered that a friend of mine has bought a nice batch of "ebay specials" purported as medieval daggers.
He refuses to hear me and he is happy with his expensive crap.
Well it is still armour! 1916 German Stahlhelm. Those with the eye for it you can see where the inspiration was drawn from.
