Another project helmet which has been sent to me for restoration.....Bavarian officer with neusilber fittings. I have already posted photos of the wappen in that section of the forum. Problems: No silk liner but we do have an original to stitch back in. The spike and base are missing, we do have an excellent original replacement but the holes in it do not match up with the ones in the helmet shell. Last, some previous owner for some unknown reason, has applied urethane to the underside of the front visor. I am going to carefully try to use a water based paint stripper to remove this. 
The "before photos":
The helmet with the replacement spike put on. This spike is very elegant and pointed unlike most Bavarians which are often sort of "stubby". Unfortunately , the holes do not match up!
You can see the outline of the original spike base in the finish and I am using a modern brass screw post to secure the spike to the helmet. Something to note for collectors....the screw post for this star which secures the "spine arm" is always longer than the rest of the star posts. It has to be because obviously, this "arm" is going over the spine.
The interior is in decent shape but we do have an extra hole in the front of the shell which may or may not indicate that the wappen was an add on. You can see how the shell holes do not match up with the cruciform base. The modern nut and washer are from my brass repro stud.
A surprise awaits us when we pull up the sweat band.....a glued strip of felt which covers the stitch line! I have encountered this added padding before. It must be partially removed if the front visor is to be restitched. The front visor has to be taken off in order to deal with the urethane. Isn't this going to be fun??
NOT!!
Why would anyone in their right mind do this?????
The felt band had to be carefully removed from the stitch line at the front of the helmet shell. I managed not to tear it and once the visor is cleaned and stitched back on, this will be glued back into position. To be continued....
The "before photos":The helmet with the replacement spike put on. This spike is very elegant and pointed unlike most Bavarians which are often sort of "stubby". Unfortunately , the holes do not match up!
You can see the outline of the original spike base in the finish and I am using a modern brass screw post to secure the spike to the helmet. Something to note for collectors....the screw post for this star which secures the "spine arm" is always longer than the rest of the star posts. It has to be because obviously, this "arm" is going over the spine.
The interior is in decent shape but we do have an extra hole in the front of the shell which may or may not indicate that the wappen was an add on. You can see how the shell holes do not match up with the cruciform base. The modern nut and washer are from my brass repro stud.
A surprise awaits us when we pull up the sweat band.....a glued strip of felt which covers the stitch line! I have encountered this added padding before.
It must be partially removed if the front visor is to be restitched. The front visor has to be taken off in order to deal with the urethane. Isn't this going to be fun??NOT!!
Why would anyone in their right mind do this?????
The felt band had to be carefully removed from the stitch line at the front of the helmet shell. I managed not to tear it and once the visor is cleaned and stitched back on, this will be glued back into position. To be continued....
