Completed Ulan #11 Officer

b.loree

b.loree

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Completed the 11th Ulan, all except for an original silk liner which is on the way. What was done: interior repair to both sides of shell where visor trim attaches, restitch visor, cut and fit replacement trim, source missing scales and end fitting for male scale, clean - polish wappen and all scales, rebuild both chin scales, source and stitch in original cloth liner. Obviously, a great deal of work. The visor restitch was challenging as this is only the second which I have done, the first officer.
The missing chin scales were also big problem because despite being gifted hundreds of scales by Randy Trawnik (Age of Kings) at the SOS there was only one from this lot which actually matched. I was fortunate in the fact, that the female side was complete and I could compare its original scales to possible replacements. The convex scales from this tschapka were longer than "normal", although there really is no normal in the haube world. I was lucky though, in that I had a set which I cannibalized to get the job done. :) This is a relatively large helmet probably 58cm, consequently there were 17 pieces to each scale. Remember...the bigger the head, the longer chin scales have to be to fasten around the shell. Here are the photos of what the piece looks like at present:
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IMG_5216.jpg

A couple of coats of black polish were applied to the shell after these shots were taken. Photos were taken inside because of snow squall conditions out doors :( .
 
The Tschapka is now totally complete with the installation of an original liner recently purchased off Ebay.



This was not an easy restoration, the chin scales had to be totally rebuilt. Fortunately, we had one complete side for comparison, when trying to find replacements for missing scales. Unfortunately, the original convex scales turned out to be longer than normal and I almost had to resort to making the missing pieces. However, one complete spare set was cannibalized to solve this problem. Second, the font visor stitch and cutting the new brass trim were another challenge. We were extremely lucky that this piece of original trim had a matching curve and could be cut on both sides to fit. Last, my customer had to roll the dice again and buy an original sweatband and liner off Ebay. Would it fit or not??? Fortunately, luck remained with us. :)
 
Yes Matthew! :) My thanks to our member Al aka 3Littleweasels for providing that Ebay liner. Second, thanks to Randy Trawnik (Age of Kings) for gifting me 100's of chin scales and scale pieces which he had collected over decades in this hobby. These will be used in future restorations to help other collectors. Last, thanks to all who made comments here and especially to Max our resident tschapka expert from France! :thumb up:
 
Here is the final photo of my Officers Tschapka to the 11th Ulan Regiment that Brian has been working on the last few months. She's back home now, with the last original pieces added to complete the project.

Brian did an outstanding job, bringing this Tschapka back from a "barn find" to it's original glory to become one of the centerpieces of my collection. Everything on this helmet is a period piece. A true artisan whom I recommend for any Pickelhaube restoration. Thank you! Joe


 
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