My first attempt at a Reproduction Afrika Korps helmet

[Aragorn243]

Bought the helmet cheap from Sarco, $40 on sale so can't hurt it in any way. Decided to make it an Afrika Korps helmet. I unfortunately don't yet have the reverse decal for it yet. I may end up just painting over that area and leaving it off. Keeping it open for the option for now.

I didn't put a heavy coat on it, most examples I've seen show original green bleed through. The symbol is hand painted using a hand cut out stencil. Wasn't easy but this was done in one attempt. Paint isn't completely dry yet.

So hit me with your opinions, more paint, different shade, scratches?

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[Flying10uk]

What paint did you use?

[Aragorn243]

Further research into helmet decals is the tri-color was no longer put on them after 1940 so maybe I should just paint over that side. Repros show them but they also use decals which were never used for the DAK emblem, all were hand painted.

One helmet is showing a D with a line through it in place of the tri-color as a unit designation and this is white painted over the sand color.

I'm also thinking I should tighten up the paint around the tree to make it less green

---------- Post added at 06:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:53 PM ----------

Behr flat latex enamel. Basketry is the color. They make up little plastic containers of it to use as samples. I could still probably paint 20+ helmets with it.

What about sand? I've seen a couple of originals that look like they mixed sand in the paint.

[Aragorn243]

I decided to eliminate the tri-color decal and tighten up the paint around the tree. I may just slop some heavy paint on it to give it some texture. I did that some already and it looks good. Sand might be cool but not sure how to apply it, wet paint and then more on top I guess.

[Aragorn243]

The reduced green.

[Flying10uk]

The reduced green does look much better around the Afrika Korps decal. The Germans did have a Ral number for the sand coloured paint, which I can't remember off the top of my head, that is now obtainable in spray cans.

[30Three]

Looks good!
You might want to put a couple of .303 holes in for added authenticity

[CINDERS]

RAL 8031 F9 Sandbraun

[Aragorn243]

That looks awful dark. And much more brown than any actual helmet's I've seen.

But on a side note, their hats and uniforms were originally green and the sun faded them into the famous tan color. Could be the sun did the same thing to the paint.

[Flying10uk]

I've found the bit of paper which I had it written down on, Ral7028, Dunkelgelb or dark yellow if you prefer. I'm not certain that this is the correct colour either but it does look closer to what you have.