vonkluck14
Member
Gents,
Initially I bought this 'barn find' to analyze its Raupe, and to make one for my M 1868 Infanterie Unteroffizier (see the thread: "Santa, please bring me a Raupe for X Mas").
As you can see all metal parts where completely oxidised, and the helmet was in a pretty bad shape. But is was complete, but for the "Huppenrohr" and the Wappen:
So I decided to try to restore it. First, I cleaned the metal parts with ammonia and water, and a smooth abrasive paper, and sprayed it with laquer to prevent any further corrosion:
Then I cleaned the helmet and tried to polish it with shoe cream, but I was not pleased with the result:
So after consulting Brian, I decided to have a go on a whole new shellac layer. I was lucky to find it in black finish in ready to apply bottles. I stripped the whole shell, now more resembling a worn football:
This is the shell after applying several layers of shellac. As I did not want a too shiny finish, I roughed it up with steel wool:
I was lucky to find a suitable "Huppenrohr" on the Bay, although it cost me almost as much as the helmet, but thats the way it goes if you dearly need a part...
After consulting some literature, I decided to provide it with a red plume, thus making it a Train Abteilung! the base is messing:
Here's the final result, after fitting a suitable Wappen, and giving the Raupe a new woolen skin:
What do you think of the result? As I have a couple more Raupenhelmets, I'm thinking of selling it. If anyone is interested, send me a message!
Marcel
Initially I bought this 'barn find' to analyze its Raupe, and to make one for my M 1868 Infanterie Unteroffizier (see the thread: "Santa, please bring me a Raupe for X Mas").
As you can see all metal parts where completely oxidised, and the helmet was in a pretty bad shape. But is was complete, but for the "Huppenrohr" and the Wappen:
So I decided to try to restore it. First, I cleaned the metal parts with ammonia and water, and a smooth abrasive paper, and sprayed it with laquer to prevent any further corrosion:
Then I cleaned the helmet and tried to polish it with shoe cream, but I was not pleased with the result:
So after consulting Brian, I decided to have a go on a whole new shellac layer. I was lucky to find it in black finish in ready to apply bottles. I stripped the whole shell, now more resembling a worn football:
This is the shell after applying several layers of shellac. As I did not want a too shiny finish, I roughed it up with steel wool:
I was lucky to find a suitable "Huppenrohr" on the Bay, although it cost me almost as much as the helmet, but thats the way it goes if you dearly need a part...
After consulting some literature, I decided to provide it with a red plume, thus making it a Train Abteilung! the base is messing:
Here's the final result, after fitting a suitable Wappen, and giving the Raupe a new woolen skin:
What do you think of the result? As I have a couple more Raupenhelmets, I'm thinking of selling it. If anyone is interested, send me a message!
Marcel
Ron
