Restoration of a Semi-Relic WWII German M42 Helmet

[peregrinvs]

I decided this was better in the vintage military gear section than the restoration section as it isn't a firearm. Hopefully you'll find it interesting.

Last year I acquired this WWII German M42 helmet. It was rusty, it had a crack in the crown and the holes had been plugged with lead - presumably to hold liquid. Some pre-cleaning pictures.
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Information

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[peregrinvs]

I then removed the lead plugs and gave it a long soak in dilute citric acid. When it was mostly bare metal I joined over the crack and a couple of holes with metal epoxy and filed it smooth.

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[peregrinvs]

After what felt like an eternity of filling and sanding, I finally got the surface mostly level and gave it a top coat of RAL 6006 Grauoliv paint - the colour for mid to late war WWII German helmets.

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[browningautorifle]

Sure looks better now, I'd have probably been more drastic and glass bead blasted it to remove rust. The rest though, filling and painting...are you looking for a replacement liner? They can be had...

[peregrinvs]

The last stage was the trickiest - spraying on the paint and then quickly but evenly sprinkling on aluminium oxide powder before it dried. This took several goes before the helmet was completely and evenly covered. In the factory, the powder and paint would have been added together with an industrial sprayer, but I don't have one so I had to simulate the effect as above. I then gave it a light coating of matt clear coat and assembled it.

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However, after taking these pictures I noticed that the aluminium oxide powder wasn't firmly stuck down and would come off when the helmet was handled. I therefore invested in some more paint, took it apart, sprayed on a few more coats and reassembled. It doesn't look much different, but the powder is solid.

Hope this was of interest. I have several other not dissimilar projects on the boil - such as a WWI British Brodie helmet - and will try and upload some pics in due course.

[browningautorifle]

There we go, yes, it looks much better now, at least it's resurrected for someone as a filler for the collection. Before it wasn't much at all. Now it's good...looks good.

[Boonie Stomper]

That is a very good job on your M42 & the pics of all steps are great. I also learned a restoration tip on a German helmet.

Awhile ago I was given a WWI M1916 Stahlhelm in incredible condition. The 3-pad liner is all there, dated 1917. It still has an intact M1891 pickelhaube chinstrap. It has all the original paint both inside & out. Therein was the problem. The external has a base coat of green/ gray and a hand applied camouflage of dark brown & black. One of the former owners (stupid or misinformed, or both) had taken a rattle can of gloss Christmas green and added his own random camo design. It hurt just to look at it, but it screamed, "Fix me".

How to remove the horrible green & and not the original finish? A friend at work told me of a process that he had used. Go to Harbor Freight and buy a hopper fed, hand held sand blaster that uses compressed air. Instead of sand as a media, use common baking soda.

I did just that, masked the interior, and in my back yard I tried it, slowly increasing the pressure. You literally could see the horrible gloss green slowly wearing down, until you reached the original. I have had it looked at by some collector's & one was an advanced collector who only does German stuff. He said that it was the one of the finest M1916's that he had seen.

I know that the primary rule for collector's is, "Don't mess with it or clean it up.", but I couldn't help it.

[bigduke6]

I know that the primary rule for collector's is, "Don't mess with it or clean it up.", but I couldn't help it.

Sometimes you have to mess to get it correct or back to how it was, such as your Stahlhelm, nice helmet and not many with there original liner.

Hope this was of interest. I have several other not dissimilar projects on the boil - such as a WWI British Brodie helmet - and will try and upload some pics in due course.

Nice job mark always good to see a restoration, I sold a shell of a M35 some years back which had a big crack on the top, on the side it still had parts of the SS rune decal, very minor parts of it, and a quick glance you would never know, I sold it on as relic but got a lot more than I paid.......

[WarPig1976]

Why did the Germans put Aluminum Oxide on the helmet and not just paint them??

[peregrinvs]

Why did the Germans put Aluminum Oxide on the helmet and not just paint them??

To make them less reflective. Pre / early war helmets had a smooth paint finish which was unhelpfully reflective.