How to?

[Sean]

Im wanting to take the 'shine' of my helmet, whats the best thing to use to give it that 'textured finish?

[DAS MEDIC]

Im wanting to take the 'shine' of my helmet, whats the best thing to use to give it that 'textured finish?

mud and sawdust usually works well in the field, its if you want it to look pristine or used, soot, cement, charcoal or bick dust all when liberally rubbed over the surface will dull its surface and give it the "lived in look"

[Sheikh Al Stranghi]

If you are covering an existing layer of paint in the field, you can use any dirt/filthy stuff you find to get rid of the shine. When painting a helmet, you could try applying a layer of paint, then before it's dry, throw (dry!!!) sand over it. Then let it dry and apply another layer of paint, voila! textured paint. Especially aluminum oxide was used often.

[Sean]

Thanks for the tips, for this one i just want to dull it down, but also give it a worn look. Will try a few different ideas out and will let you know.

[DAS MEDIC]

try just coat of matt clear spray, a light spray over will just take the edge off the shine,
i like mucky-ing them up gives them a bit more authentic look

[Walther]

Do you want to tell them about the boot polish trick or shall I, Herr Dolman?

Neil.

[Sheikh Al Stranghi]

Hmm. Interested! The last time I put shoe polish on a helmet it ended up with a parade gloss....

[Obergefreiter Hansch]

Dig a hole in the garden, piss on the shell and bury the thing for a week. Seriously. Thats if you want that Czech "faked" look. The acids in your piss act as an aging factor. While your at it, piss on your toes to get rid of tinea!

When painting it, simply use matt paint. If you use that crap model stuff, it will shine as soon as you wipe your finger on it. And its too thin, it doesn't "chip right" when you knock it. You have to use a good, strong industrial strength paint to keep it looking original. The paint in cans sold by the Euro dealers is the best I've used for a while. At one point I was using auto acrylic, but it doesn't chip either, it peels. Too flexible.

[Sheikh Al Stranghi]

Do you want to tell them about the boot polish trick or shall I, Herr Dolman?

Neil.

I quote:

Boot polish - use alternate or even mixed lumps of black AND brown..... I tend to smear it on with one cloth....... work it in and then polish it off with another........ Dont' forget to make the inside of your helmet a shade or two darker than the outside..... Helmets faded in the sun and weather.

Brown boot polish is also good for "Ageing the liner..... work it in by hand... messy but it washes off your skin. I also use hand cream (Non scented hypoallerganic) for those "Lanolin stains" made by sweating into your leather browband........ take a matchbox and rough the edges of the liner where it folds over..... adds age and wear.

The really adventurous can hang the helmet upside down in a shed and fill it to the vent holes with water.... leave it over the winter and then come back to it and empty out. I guarantee it will look and smell like a 60 odd year old example...... recondition the leather with lanolin. Three months won't hurt it too much. The spider webs and dust acumulated will however make it the bees knees.

The terminally insane can bury it the right way up in the garden for a month. I dare you! Depending on the type of soil you have the results can be TRULY marevellous.........

And NO I'm not joking or on a wind up...... I knew one "artisan" who did a brilliant paint job on helmets and then left them in a corner of his disused cellar for 6 months at a time...... where they ended up I'm not prepared to say...... but I can assure you - You've probably admired some of them at fairs and gulped at the prices..... Single decal SS helmets can make BIG money as can Falschy lids!

[Obergefreiter Hansch]

Do you want to tell them about the boot polish trick or shall I, Herr Dolman?

Neil.

Brown boot polish is also good for "Ageing the liner..... work it in by hand... messy but it washes off your skin. I also use hand cream (Non scented hypoallerganic) for those "Lanolin stains" made by sweating into your leather browband........ take a matchbox and rough the edges of the liner where it folds over..... adds age and wear.

Also you can use hair oil when you do events. Its authentic, works well on leather and actually dod happen! That will give a great wear ration on the liner and does not make you look like little Sambo with polish all over your forehead.



The terminally insane can bury it the right way up in the garden for a month. I dare you! Depending on the type of soil you have the results can be TRULY marevellous.........

[/quote]

hehehehe...thats me then We have rich soil in our garden and the results have been- insanely fantasmaorgasmic.

In the end there are ways to pre-age a helmet using natural/authentic products- burying, uric acid, soil, dust and hair produucts that were actually used during the period and there are the "theatrical" methods- fullers earth, boot polish, painting highlights and wear points. I guess it depends on what you have available, how squeamish you might be, how creative you are, but in the end, I would go with a natural ageing any day over a make up type wear simulation. The other alternative is to paint her up and then wear it to as many events as you can and it will soon take on a persona of its own. The reason many decide to wear their helmets prematurely is not always to portray a hard bitten landser quickly, but to make the lid appear that it is 60 years old for fakers reasons.

Having said that, I am convinced black polish can give that deep tone to modern paint that just cannot be achieved with todays paint materials. However I don't use it to simulate dirt or other wear types. Thats what mud is for.

[Obergefreiter Hansch]

Im wanting to take the 'shine' of my helmet, whats the best thing to use to give it that 'textured finish?

Sean, when a rough surface was specified for all German helmet production, the factories would use aluminium filings as the specified material for the rough content of the paint. It did not rust, was hard wearing and added no weight to the helmet.

Get a piece of aluminmum and grind it on a bench grinder. Collect the filings and use these to sprinkle over the wet paint, then apply subsequent coats. You may have to do a section at a time depending on the thickness and wetness of the paint you apply as the base coat. Remember, use them sparsely, not like the cork on a US lid.

Check original pics of M42's and you'll see what I mean. I have painted a few M42's for guys in this way and it comes out ace.

Stefan

[Sean]

Stefan, thanks for the reply. I do have some scrap i can use. Will get some thing sorted during the week and get some photos of results when im done.