THE HELMET THREAD

misanthropic_gods wrote:A helmet from both sides of the Falklands conflict!?! Sweeet..havent seen too many of those Argentinian helmets around before

Cheers Mate.

The Para M1, came from a mate in work,who was a RM medic,and was a war trophy,so I am 100% sure of it's provenance...

The other one was an ebay purchase...which I had to bid separately for...lucky for me,I won the shell and the liner...so they came back together,which is cool,as they might have been separated for ever else.This lid was on display in a Army Cadet hut,since '82,then the hut was dismantled and the displayed kit was sold off...and now it's sat in a cupboard, bit sad really but at least it will be looked after

Very cool man. You have probably seen, but I have a Soviet Tankers helmet bringback from Grenada. I have always had a certain fondness for bringbacks from these "Forgotten" conflicts.

Im glad they both made it to a good home instead of being binned

misanthropic_gods wrote:Very cool man. You have probably seen, but I have a Soviet Tankers helmet bringback from Grenada. I have always had a certain fondness for bringbacks from these "Forgotten" conflicts.

Im glad they both made it to a good home instead of being binned

Totally agree,the lids represent the "little" wars , and sadly do get binned,but at least guy's like us are preserving history

Classic 80's US M1, this woodland cover has LT rank attached

80's detachable liner cradle

M1 front seam,Medic

The liner

A VN tower of M1's

Some French Lids

Swiss,Brit,German,Swedish,Bulgarian etc

Some British lids, covering WW2,Korean War,and the Falklands/Northern Ireland

Will do in a few mins but what to look for is the company decal/sticker on the left side becuase other companys make fake ones used for air soft and what not also when you lift up the center pad there should be another tag/sticker I am going to take pictures right now to show you also to look for the fake ones are made of a very cheap and light plastic when the real one is made from kelvar and other things. Also the 4 point chin strap should have a company tag on it some where as well as the pads.

militarykid1234 wrote:Will do in a few mins but what to look for is the company decal/sticker on the left side becuase other companys make fake ones used for air soft and what not also when you lift up the center pad there should be another tag/sticker I am going to take pictures right now to show you also to look for the fake ones are made of a very cheap and light plastic when the real one is made from kelvar and other things. Also the 4 point chin strap should have a company tag on it some where as well as the pads.

Excellent thanks mate,I really do not want to get stung,as they are really expensive over here,so wanna get a good un

I will also keep my eye out if I see one for cheap at like a flea market or something and I can just sell it to you

Gary, nice collection of lids, with a great variety!!! I have always wanted to branch out and do the same, especially with WW2 Tommy/Commonwealth items! But thought better to stick with one subject for the common reasons of space and money!

militarykid1234 wrote:I will also keep my eye out if I see one for cheap at like a flea market or something and I can just sell it to you

Thanks for the offer mate,the postage would wipe out the deal though,but thanks anyway

HoovieDude wrote:Gary, nice collection of lids, with a great variety!!! I have always wanted to branch out and do the same, especially with WW2 Tommy/Commonwealth items! But thought better to stick with one subject for the common reasons of space and money!

Thanks dude.

Space is an issue...heck, money is an issue....but some of these lids have been so cheap...it's hard not to lay the cash down sometimes....my cheapest to date is 99 pence....to be frank,I'm kinda bored with some of them,but can't seem to sell em...

Some of the Nazi,and WW2 Brit lids are worth a bit...but not enough to retire on


thanks for looking Dude...I expect you to start posting your's soon

I got this French Mle 51/56 para shell from ebay for £4.99 (the wife will kill me when she finds out I can hear her saying not more junk she just dosent understand )I think it is going to be a total renovation starting with striping it back to bare metal and priming, painting and corking I have got a line on a new Mle 51 liner just got to go get it the chin strap I can make myself untill I can get an origonal

loski wrote:

I got this French Mle 51/56 para shell from ebay for £4.99 (the wife will kill me when she finds out I can hear her saying not more junk she just dosent understand )I think it is going to be a total renovation starting with striping it back to bare metal and priming, painting and corking I have got a line on a new Mle 51 liner just got to go get it the chin strap I can make myself untill I can get an origonal

Nice one Loski...there's a seller on ebay who sells a lot of otan 51's,fairly cheaply,great for the liners as they are all in good nick,occasionally he sells the Gendarmerie 51's,so as a thought you might be able to get one of these( as they have the same 3 point chinstrap your after....Gary

[quote="Easy Gee"]

loski wrote:



Nice one Loski...there's a seller on ebay who sells a lot of otan 51's,fairly cheaply,great for the liners as they are all in good nick,occasionally he sells the Gendarmerie 51's,so as a thought you might be able to get one of these( as they have the same 3 point chinstrap your after....Gary

Thanks for the info but all the Gendearmerie 3 point chin straps I have seen are leather. The shell has been stripped and primed and will be given its green paint and cork on friday, I have got a brand new liner from a guy I know, the pic above is a chin strap I made from a sten sling its a hybrid of the french and british para helmet chin straps and will do untill i get a Mle 51/56 strap.

Hi Loski ,glad you got something sorted,that strap looks very good mate, ever thought of making repro straps and selling them....there's a big market out there!!

Easy Gee wrote:Hi Loski ,glad you got something sorted,that strap looks very good mate, ever thought of making repro straps and selling them....there's a big market out there!!

The one I made cost me £15.00 for the materials and 2 or 3 hours of my time so I recon if i was to sell it the price tag would be £20 to £25 high for a copy when an origional can be had £25, but thanks for the compliment

well guys the Mle 51/56 TAP helmet is complete the chin strap is a tempory one that I made up and when I get an origonal french one I will replace it, Im not 100% shure about the finish of the shell I think using cork asper an M1 might have been a mistake and I may repaint it at some stage but as Im going to cover it with hessian under a net with a black rubber rim band in the style of the French Paras its not all that importantat this time. comments are welcome.

loski wrote:well guys the Mle 51/56 TAP helmet is complete the chin strap is a tempory one that I made up and when I get an origonal french one I will replace it, Im not 100% shure about the finish of the shell I think using cork asper an M1 might have been a mistake and I may repaint it at some stage but as Im going to cover it with hessian under a net with a black rubber rim band in the style of the French Paras its not all that importantat this time. comments are welcome.

Look's cool Graham,you should post before and after shot's....I have been known to restore the odd lid or two,and corking is not an easy aspect to restoration.

here are some before and after pics