THE HELMET THREAD

Fantastic James,wish I was brave enough to strip mine down!!!

Need to now then try and find suitable materials to make a make shift chinstrap for display.

Was wondering if my helmet is rarer(only joking!!!) as of the 4 I now have seen pics of,mine is the only one with the 4 holes either side for Im guessing some form of visor attachment?

Excellent info and pics,love it.

your welcome richard ,yes i imagine yours is now rarer as mine is in bits ,oops but for the good of research it was worth it ,i have no doubts it wont be a problem to put back together though ,i see the texolex maker ,i have two mining helmets that bear this maker both are like us resin m1 liners but more like a zuckerman in shape and im sure are identical to the us skullguard helmets ,i need to go drill holes in mine to look like a visor was fitted , i wonder if you could use a french f1 chinstrap cup the other end of the chinstrap webbing simply has a stiched termination so nothing fancy ,is there a rear mount on your example i forgot to ask ,  well it seems we are both lucky to think one of these will be on composite ,my fedayeen helmet is ,cheers james

James, that's wonderful! I am genuinely impressed at your courage and absolutely fascinated by the results. This thing is so different from a standard production Mk6 in so many little ways. very interesting to see its a Texolex, too. That makes at least --- I've lost track, maybe five or six other early makers before NP.

Really don't try drilling holes! Or fitting some spare bit of an F1. You have a wonderful thing in its own right. I'll be spending even more time looking at Mk6s on Ebay and the like from now on. What an incentive to actually go to militaria shows as well, and look systematically through all those boxes of old 6s that no-one elese cares about.

And yes, your excellent pics will be on CompoSite soon. Thanks so much!

[quote="thunderchild"]your welcome richard ,yes i imagine yours is now rarer as mine is in bits ,oops but for the good of research it was worth it ,i have no doubts it wont be a problem to put back together though ,i see the texolex maker ,i have two mining helmets that bear this maker both are like us resin m1 liners but more like a zuckerman in shape and im sure are identical to the us skullguard helmets ,i need to go drill holes in mine to look like a visor was fitted , i wonder if you could use a french f1 chinstrap cup the other end of the chinstrap webbing simply has a stiched termination so nothing fancy ,is there a rear mount on your example i forgot to ask ,  well it seems we are both lucky to think one of these will be on composite ,my fedayeen helmet is ,cheers james[/



French chincups are unfortunately leather and not plastic which is a shame as I do have a spare one.

richard thats a very good point ,shows you how long ago i looked over my casque's ,well ill keep a look out for that cup and give you a heads up if i spot one ,i wonder if yours has the texolex maker sticker ,if your not willing to gently tap out the rivits then would you just sneak a peak behind the rear comfort pad ,it might just be visible ,i should add my example has gone back as was with no evidence it was ever dismantled ,greg can i say it was a pleasure to help out so your very welcome and no i wont be drilling holes ,for me it was an opportunity to strip down a mk6 into its composite parts which as we know is not an option on the standard mk6's without having spare parts to make good , i too will keep my peepers out if i spot an example someplace ,your dedication to researching the humble mk6 is fantastic and to think mine is number 600 of a limited batch run of 1500 ,it certainly explains the numbering and ive never seen another mk6 penned in this way ,nice to think we have contributed to composite too so to say a thanks to you greg ,regards james

Very very tempted to take mine apart but a bit aprehensive to be honest.

fair enough ,if your apprehensive then best not too ,i think greg has all the info he needs to know now and due to there rarity you would be gutted to snap something that is irreplaceable ,cheers james

On yhe subject of MK6s,wish somebody somewhere would unearth a supply of those rubber horns as would love to take apart a MK6 i have here with no label.

Slovenian made Slovak army helmet:





https://iacmc.forumotion.com/t10356-slovak-army-veplas-helmet-with-covers#75393

The most wonderful Thetford Mk6s (or perhaps, probably even, PM6s) have finally been uploaded to CompoSite. I've had a bit of a difficult week with a load of other crap to do and a minor viral infection as well, so things have been a bit slow. But all done now, and I am most pleased to include the contributions from Richard and James. A couple of other helmets from Richard as well, in other country areas.

If either of you think there's anything regarding either I have failed to include or is worth adding, please do say so pronto! And James, is 'James C' really what you want to be tagged as?

http://www.gostak.co.uk/composites/index.htm

hello greg i just want to say a big thanks for including my mk6 on your compoSite its an honour ,james c is fine ,ive just noticed this helmet thread seems to be a lot shorter now perhaps 5 or 6 pages ? a shame really as a lot of helmets types have now been lost forever

James, you will find the other earlier part of the Helmet Thread here - https://iacmc.forumotion.com/t3678p975-the-helmet-thread?highlight=helmets+thread Some time abut a fortnight ago something happened (I don't know what, maybe some Moderator activity) and it was split. There's probably a good reason for it. However, it's all still available, which is good. It completely baffled me at first, I thought the entire thread had been deleted, then after a bit of probing around I found the 'new' bit. I wonder if any others are still looking?

And thanks again for contributing to CompoSite - without people like you (and Richard) it would be completely useless.

My pleasure Greg,every day is a school day,learn something new every day and am always checking up on the CompoSite so long may it continue.

thanks for the link to the first section of the helmet thread greg as i put a lot of time into the thread ,i thought it had gone forever ,thanks james

I have a question. What is Corlon?

No, seriously, what is Corlon? In our context - helmetty stuff - it is a word often applied to the South Korean 'ballistic plastic' helmets used all around the world especially in Second and Third World nations since the 1980s, and usually recognised as what we call the Iraqi M80 (for want of a better designation).

But what is Corlon?

I recently got hold of a South Korean helmet which, miraculously, had a makers label attached. You will recognise it, it having been shown on this thread not long back by its previous owner, Richard. Its label actually reads

SAMSUNG
CAMOUFLAGE HELMET
NYLON CLOTH
REINFORCED PLASTIC
USED
CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN
W't; 900+/- 50gr pc

Now this is interesting in itself, being as how it appears there were at least two makers (original SK makers I mean) of these helmets, Daewoo (cited in Casques de Combat, for example) and now Samsung, and it also seems there are design differences between the two (the most obvious being either a two or three rivet chinstrap fixing). But websearching for anything using the information on that label brought nothing useful. So I tried simply 'Corlon' - and to my absolute amazement I got next to nothing there either. There isn't even a Wikipedia entry for this substance! That was amazing! Almost all the hits I got related either to a floorcovering material that seems to have originated in the 1950s, or to helmet websites that refer to South Korean helmets being made of Corlon, but of course without any clue whatsoever as to what Corlon may be.

I then began to wonder exactly why in hell we've all got this idea that these helmets are actually made of this Corlon stuff. Whatever it is. I've believed it for years without actually questioning it. But why? There's no reference to it in either CASQUES DE COMBAT or Marzetti, and those books were my primary references in the early 2000s. Several websites, including the comprehensive and usually reliable Joseba and World War Helmets definately refer to these helmets as being made of Corlon. But why, and what is this stuff anyway? Where did this idea come from?

Purely on a possibly insane intuition I came up with the idea that Corlon might be some kind of glass-fibre webbing encased in a nylon shell, working on the idea that it might be a Corning glass product - you see how possibly loony this theory may be...) 'Cor' + 'lon', yeah? Desperation, really. That made no sense as a websearch either.

The only really solid info I found - and which does not reference South Korea *at all* - came via globally-renowned Canadian collector Roger Lucy, who at one time presented online a brochure from a Germany company called TECHNOLOG based in Frankfurt, who were publicising a range of military armour made of Corlon, tagged as "Corlon reinforced fibre composite with ballistic core". The brochure is undated but internal evidence (a reference to the start of the project being in 1972, and that being ten years previous to the time of writing) indicates it is the early 1980s. Two helmets are shown, one a PASGT type, the other looking remarkably similar to the well-known South Korean object. But the illustrations are indistinct as the scans are from low quality photocopies.

Following this clue got nowhere. I did find a present-day German company called Technolog but they are in Hamburg and involved in maritime equipment. Maybe the same outfit, of course, but no reference to any adventures in body armour or a move from Frankfurt on their website.
I'm actually more than somewhat baffled by this. I don't understand either what this Corlon stuff is, or why we have accepted, blindly it seems, that it is what these South Korean helmets are made of.

There may be a simple answer to all this, that I have failed to find. Do we have a materials technologist in the house? Or anyone with any real information at all? Or even a good informed guess? I am quite happy to be proved stupid or unobservant providing I actually get a sensible answer.

Probably a massive massive long shot but as exhausted all other avenues,how about contacting Samsung themselfs-may be worth a try?

Well, only if they have a properly organised archive. I've gone through a lot of Samsung and Daewoo webpages and if they still have any involvement in helmets/armour they're keeping quiet about it. I've tried contacting manufacturers in the past, but usually never even get a courtesy reply. Even when I go to some effort to use a version of their own language. Oh well.

Same here unfortunately Greg,even a go away you sad helmet collecting fool would have been something but no reply ever off anybody.

Been trying for years and years to find a British Army NI Cromwell Anti Riot Topper helmet and have at last managed to track one down,only downside is that I had to buy a job lot of them so will have some spare if anybody interested or looking for one. Thanks.

sounds like a nice haul richard ,do they come with the visor

thunderchild wrote:sounds like a nice haul richard ,do they come with the visor

I'm hoping so. They have been bought unseen and should be arriving tomorrow and with any luck or at least I hope that they will all be complete and in decent condition.

good good richard ,im looking forward to seeing one ,these if i can picture it are similar to motorcycle helmet

From what I can gather,they are exactly that,open face motorcycle helmets fitted with a visor.

Waiting excitedly in for Parcelforce in the hope that they will be delivered today.

are your camera issues sorted yet mate ,id be interested to see a picture of one once it arrives

Just arrived,7 in total,a mix of Cromwell and the earlier Stadium models. Havent had a proper rummage as in the middile of painting but they all look complete but are VERY dirty,have obviously been in storage a very very long time and all look to have suffered from the common problem of foam degridation/perishing but that happens unfortunately and cannot be avoided.