10th Pioneer Battalion Reserve Officer Restoration

As best that I know the project is not yet complete .
Target date is that it will be finished in time
for the S O S 2017
To be hand delivered then back to me.
Will you be at the show ?
It will be there for in person inspection
I am sure that Brian will post more photos when he can
Steve
 
Yes not done yet, one half of chin scales left and still applying finish to fill out dents in the shell. These would not come out despite my best tries. I also took on smoothing out the front visor and filling it in. Never fear it will be finished for the SOS and pictures will be posted.
 
Ok, some pics of what I am going to call..."Steve's Chin Scale", I did this last week but here are the pics of how it is done.

A smart man numbers the scales as he takes them apart and tries to use as many original staples as he can. In this case all staples could be used but in others...they are rusted and break. So, you make your own. You have to have a template from an original scale to make the central cardboard strip plus the thin leather backing....good luck on that!


Complete on this side but those flaps have to be folded and glued....just like the originals. A hint...notice how the staples do not overlap, they were made that way. One leg is longer than the other, so they do not touch/overlap and cause bumps in the scale. They fold over smooth.




Done.
 
Thank you gentlemen. Believe it or not, The best card board to use in "thickness" comes from the handles of canned beer cases! :lol: The case itself is too thin but the handle is ideal. The thin backing leather comes from vintage ladies gloves found in antique stores. There has been a lot of refinishing on this piece, I am at the point where I finish up with several coats of black polish to smooth out the surface. All hardware is cleaned and ready to be put back on. Pictures will be posted soon.
 
The helmet was completed today. I encourage members to check out the before and after pictures in order to do a comparison.













The shell is very dry, any attempt at wetting and pushing out dents would simply have caused major sections of finish to pop off. As it is, there were at least 25 coats of finish applied to the helmet overall. The front visor was smoothed out and finish applied. The tattered cloth liner, turned out remarkably well and my thanks to my wife Caron for the excellent restitch she did.
 
More than I hoped for .
Great work
Thanks so much
and I will pick it up at the S O S
I look forward to seeing you .
Steve
 
Looks great!

Were the wappen and spike cleaned using that foaming paste stuff you've shown in other restoration threads?
 
Thanks everyone. The wappen was cleaned with the foam/paste but the spike was buffed with jeweler's rouge and a wheel then a product called Never Dull was applied to clean off the rouge.
 
Brian ;

Looks like there was still a lot of silver there .
Also the front plate still had silver wash
I think it looks great !
It is almost like I bought a new helmet for my collection
after all these years .
Many thanks
"Talk about the Doctor , He's the Doctor feel good ! "
A line form an old song , I think .
Steve
 
Yes Steve lots of silver left on all fittings. The wappen is exceptional both in crisp detailing and remaining silver wash. It (helme) is a very nice piece quite "fancy" as my son Logan called it when he first saw it completed. My thanks for your patience in all of this. :thumb up:
 
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