My first attempt at a Reproduction Afrika Korps helmet

That one has a lot of varieties and several of them are pretty close to what i have. I'll probably work on it some more this weekend. Probably a sand coat and then some heavy sloppy paint on top.

Round two of painting. Added sand. Brushed on the paint, sprinkled sand by hand on it and then dab painted over the sand to firmly imbed it. This project also inspired me to get a repro cap to go along with it. Still trying to decide on which insignias I want to put on it. eBay is worthless for these as they put iron crosses where the swastikas belong. I have found a couple of places that claim to be using original patterns but just not sure about them. These two seem the best: https://www.ww2gear.com/image/popup?...XV0lJIFJlcHJv0 https://www.ww2gear.com/image/popup?...1dJSSBSZXBybw2

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../CwbYku6-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../vsHQcNu-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../KSisa4l-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../nHDBXMs-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../OFddidW-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../C481N4m-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../0mqgjy0-1.jpg

Don't think I've ever seen them with sand in the paint...mostly worn examples.

Surviving helmets were worn in Europe so sand colored ones are pretty rare to begin with. But my research indicated that they initially simply sprayed them the sand color but the sun hardened the paint and made them shine so they started putting sand on them and from that point on the sand stayed on but yes, the sand can be easily knocked off with use, putting it on the ground, carrying it off the head, etc.

This obviously represents a new helmet freshly painted and not having seen any combat. A true "rarity"

I just realized I painted the vent holes shut. This is another thing mentioned about desert use. They kept the vent holes clear.

I found an original helmet yesterday online that has sand and looks pretty similar to mine. It also looks like it may have had desert paint on it under the green.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../Bvoe4Zt-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../4mKozHg-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../iOZl2je-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../xOYv6Tb-1.jpg

Got my second repro helmet today. I'm going to turn this one into a Nationalist Chinese helmet because that's another one I'll never be able to afford. This one has a Chinese white sun on a blue background. These also were painted on, not decals but I was able to locate a stencil for it that unfortunately is in England and is going to take 6 weeks to get here, at least that's what they say.

I think the Chinese helmets are smooth however, not sure why they have sand in their example. I need to research this a bit more. All my information points to them being shipped with original paint which was smooth at the time.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../1zzu8FD-1.jpg

Original helmet

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../QfgePXm-1.jpg

I finished the helmet today. I wasn't initially happy with it as the second stencil seemed to pull a lot of paint off with it but I used very fine sandpaper on it and rubbed it down a bit and it now looks a little aged. I think I'll leave it alone. If I try removing it and doing it over I'll probably make a bigger mess of things and the stencil might do the same thing again. I think what happened was I rushed it with the spray can too close and filled it with too much paint.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../k4FxcGw-1.jpg

Looks pretty good I think.

I don't suppose the originals were perfect, especially the Chinese ones, no disrespect to the Chinese.